[0:00] Thank you, Butter, Nancy Jagdarsky for the show. It's done. Check our merriven to advertise. Check the money away from you in outcast! This is the real product from the source車!
[0:14] I love the говоряgeekreprob weiletbunk today! Thank you.
[0:53] Thank you.
[1:23] Thank you. Enjoy your service.
[1:55] You know, I really like Joan Kirkland, but don't do what she does. That just creeps me out. You know, when you start moving around like this, I can't figure anything out. It unsettles me. Stay where you belong.
[2:07] Okay? Good morning, everybody. Good morning. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:30] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:47] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[3:00] Shall we pray together? Dear God in heaven, we just pray that you would come in this place in a special way today. Help us to experience fully the power of the Holy Spirit.
[3:11] Pour down into our lives your wonder, your joy, your amazing love, and help us to experience God in this place. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'd like to invite you, if you're able, to stand as we're going to sing together and lean together, leaning on the everlasting arms.
[3:43] What a fellowship, what a joy, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.
[4:02] Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.
[4:21] Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path rose from day to day.
[4:36] Leaning on the everlasting arms, because we're leaning, leaning, because we're leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms.
[4:50] Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread?
[5:02] What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my Lord so near.
[5:14] Leaning on the everlasting arms. We're leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms.
[5:28] Leaning, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.
[5:39] My apologies to those of you who have vertigo. You're kind of like spinning around right now. The Lord be with you. So seated. Please be seated. Hi, my name is Terry, and I'm the chaplain of the Christian Motorcyclists Association.
[5:53] The Christian Motorcycle Association is an international organization that was formed in 1975, and it is committed to reaching the lost for Jesus Christ by equipping the saints and joining together with like-minded ministries.
[6:11] CMA started a once-a-year fundraiser called Run for the Sun, and when it first started, it was to provide a motorcycle for a Guatemalan pastor.
[6:23] But now it has grown up and has provided transportation for more than 13,000 pastors, evangelists, and Christian workers around the world. Over the past 30 years, CMA has been able to extend our outreach to millions of people throughout the world.
[6:40] By partnering with three like-minded ministries, we've been able to place the message of hope and salvation in front of millions of people in 192 different countries around the world, resulting in over 24.5 million salvations.
[6:58] 20% of the funds are used to support the Open Doors ministry, which was originally founded by Brother Andrew in 1955. This project takes Bibles to countries where other ministries do not go.
[7:10] The second 20% is donated to Missionary Ventures International. This mission project sends mission teams and pioneers new missionary outreaches in over 60 different countries.
[7:22] CMA has supplied 6,000 motorcycles, 6,800 bicycles, in addition to boats, horses, snowmobiles, and even a camel.
[7:32] 20% is donated to the Jesus Film Project, and through this project about 13 million people have indicated decisions for Christ. In the remainder, 40% of the funds are used to fund home mission projects that CMA supports.
[7:47] Some pray, some go, some send. Will you help? Amen. Amen. Amen. And you will find in your bulletin an envelope for a special offering for CMA.
[7:59] I'm hoping that the Lord will lead you to support this organization. They do some wonderful work, as you can see. I, as we go into our section of joys, I have to tell you, from the welcome video, I am one person who was, when I was a parishioner in churches, notorious for sitting in a different place every week.
[8:22] Okay? I did this because I wanted to meet new people, and also because I wanted to see things from different vantage points. I'm sorry. That's what I do. And I noticed this morning that the Putneys are over there, and they're usually over here.
[8:37] And they came in after the welcome video, so I don't know what's going on. The bovas usually are over here, and I don't know. So y'all are listening. That's good. And we'll just drive Pastor Tom crazy.
[8:48] It's okay. We'll take good care of him. We do have a joy to share with you. Prim Eleanor Irvin, the daughter of Eddie and Chrissy, was born on June 20th.
[9:00] Prim is the granddaughter of Ellie Drake. And so we're very excited to welcome that addition to her family. What other joys do you have to share this morning? Oh, you must have some.
[9:13] Yes. A young man by the name of Mike came to my husband and asked for prayers for his mother. He came in private. I don't know if he's a believer, but he said, I want prayers for my mother who needs valve surgery on her back.
[9:27] Went to the prayer warriors, repressed him. He came to my husband the other day, and he said, my mom doesn't need that surgery anymore. Amen. So blessings for your mother and your mother.
[9:39] Amen. Amen. Prayers for healing answered, and people just being able to know the joy of the power of God. What other blessings do we have this morning to share?
[9:50] Yes. Yes. Wow. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful.
[10:01] So you were working with the wildlife refuge and able to help in a way that was of benefit to the people around you. That is a great thing in the community. Thank you. Other joys?
[10:13] Yes. We did. We enjoyed a wonderful celebration with dinner. Dinner was fabulous, and all kinds of people shared, all kinds of memories and blessings.
[10:25] Pastor Jean will be starting on July 1st at Trinity on the Boulevard, and we just sent her off last night with a really wonderful celebration. Others? Yes. Amen.
[10:50] Amen. Amen. We are wanting to lift up all of our graduates, those folks who have worked so hard to get through school and who are moving on to bigger and better things. Yes, we celebrate with our graduates. Yes.
[11:01] Thanks for all the prayers from the people of the church and the pastor. Jan made it to the church this morning.
[11:11] Amen. Jan's here. And due to prayer, we give all the glory to God. Amen? Amen. Other joys this morning? As we continue with our hearts filled with thanksgiving, filled with praise, let's bring our gifts, tithes, and offerings before the Lord.
[11:28] Amen. Why should I feel discouraged?
[11:49] Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home?
[12:06] When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is he.
[12:16] His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[12:27] His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[12:38] Let not thy heart be troubled.
[13:05] His tender word I hear, and resting on his goodness, I lose my doubts and fears.
[13:21] Though by the path he leadeth, but one step I may see. His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[13:41] His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[13:52] I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For his eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[14:13] Whenever I am tempted Whenever I am tempted Whenever clouds arise When song gives place to sigh, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to him.
[14:52] His care he sets me free. His care he sets me free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[15:08] His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[15:20] I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. I sing because I'm free.
[15:31] For his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
[15:45] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Praise God.
[16:00] Praise God, from whom all blessings come. Praise him, all creatures here below.
[16:12] Praise him, all of the heavenly hosts. Praise God, from whom all the Holy Ghost.
[16:23] Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise for this day, for the opportunity to come and worship you, to offer of ourselves all that you have given us, blessed us with so abundantly.
[16:45] Lord, we ask that you take these financial gifts that we have offered, bless them, give us wisdom to know how to best use them for the furtherance of your kingdom, and bless especially the offerings for CMA, and bless them in their work as well.
[17:02] Lord, we desire to draw many people to faith in Jesus Christ. We pray that all of these gifts will be used for such things.
[17:13] In Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. We have a couple of concerns to share and want to be able to join with you as well with those things you might be concerned for.
[17:26] Sam Garrig is back in the hospital. She's over at Roswell. She's just got an infection that needs to be dealt with, and she's asked for our prayers, that she can get back on track with her healing process.
[17:38] Joanne Hanischewski is in rehab at Northgate. And Dan Foyt had a procedure, and we want to make sure that we keep him in our prayers as well. What other concerns do we have this morning?
[17:51] I'm not seeing anybody. Everybody's good? Yes. Your mother-in-law is in need of prayer?
[18:07] Yes. All right, we will pray. We will pray, Becky. Thank you. Others? All right. Yes, Judy. Family is going through divorces. Just the families and the children are going through the whole process.
[18:21] Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Judy. Family. She's asked for prayers for families who are going through divorces. And let's pray for marriages as well, for the strengthening of marriages, especially in our Christian faith.
[18:34] Any others? Yes. One of the adults who's a mother-in-law, is a mother-in-law, and someone's trying to come back down and some of the children.
[18:45] Oh, dear. Thank you. Oh, my goodness. Yes. A docent at the zoo who was attacked by a dog and has suffered some rather nasty injuries.
[18:56] We need to pray for him. We need to pray. Any others this morning? With these concerns and those that are on your heart, let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Join me at the rail if you like.
[19:21] Creator God, Lord of all that is, you know what we need before we even ask.
[19:32] Yet you call us to prayer. So that we might be filled with your heart of compassion for this world, for all of the people who are in it.
[19:47] So that we may see things through your eyes. And the desire that you have for our redemption would be made clear and strong inside us.
[20:02] Father, we pray in Jesus' name now for all those who are sick and infirm, who need a healing touch from you.
[20:14] Restore them in their spirits, their souls, and their bodies, Lord God. Draw them close to yourself. Help them, Lord.
[20:26] And help all of us who are caring for them. Give us strength. Give us compassion. Give us patience. Give us patience.
[20:37] Give us the grace we need to minister your love to them. And to be vessels that bring healing.
[20:48] Father, we pray for those who are grieving losses. Whether the loss is new or the loss has been something that was far away but is being remembered this day.
[21:02] We just ask in Jesus' name for your peace and your comfort to those whose hearts ache. We pray that you would fill them with joy knowing that you hold them and their loved ones in the palm of your hand.
[21:21] We pray that in the beauty of summer, they would see the abundance of life and rejoice in it as they rejoice in you.
[21:36] We pray, Lord God, for the work of the Christian Motorcyclists Association. We pray that they will touch many hearts and many lives.
[21:47] We pray for each one that they have touched. That they would continue to grow in faith. To grow in grace and mercy and to share your love wherever they go.
[21:58] As the message continues to move forward. We pray, Lord God, for all of those who don't know you. We just ask in Jesus' name that by your grace you continue to draw them toward yourself.
[22:14] That you give them eyes to see. Let the scales fall from their eyes so that they would see you. Let their hearts be open to receive your love.
[22:28] Let all the arguments against you be silenced in their minds. Just for a moment. That they would hear from you.
[22:41] And those arguments would never return. Help us, Lord. Transform us in our day-to-day life as we seek you.
[22:53] Here in this worship service as we hear your word and sing your praise. Transform us. And make us able to be witnesses for you. In ways that the people who need to hear from you.
[23:07] Will be able to hear. Help us, Lord. To help each other grow in faith. Help us to grow in you.
[23:20] Be with Pastor Tom as he delivers the message that you have given him for us this day. Let it bless him, Lord. Let it bless us.
[23:31] And may all of our worship be a blessing to you this day. For that is why we came. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord?
[23:45] Amen.
[24:06] Good morning.
[24:29] Today's reading is Acts chapter 4, verses 31 through 37. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
[24:43] All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
[24:57] And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them that all that were no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put them at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had the need.
[25:17] Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned, and brought the money, and put it at the apostles' feet.
[25:28] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I'm a gospel choir. Just you?
[25:43] Yes, I'm a choir. Did you eat them? Simon? Where's the rest?
[25:59] Where's the rest of them? Okay, great. Well, I can't wait to hear the act. Good. Good luck. Still can't see any of this choir, can you?
[26:12] No. One, two, three, four. I open my mouth to the Lord, and I won't turn it back.
[26:28] I will go, I shall go, to see what the end's gonna be. I open my mouth to the Lord, and I won't turn it back.
[26:40] That's clever. I like that. I shall go, to see what the end's gonna be. I open my mouth to the Lord, and I won't turn it back.
[26:53] I won't turn it back. I won't turn it back. Still can't hear that. I shall go, to see what the end's gonna be.
[27:05] To see what the end's gonna be. I lift my hands in total grace.
[27:19] I lift my hands in total grace to you.
[27:32] Amen. I think this America's Got Talent is one of the coolest shows, because you just never know what's gonna happen.
[27:50] And how it's gonna happen. I saw a guy one time on it, blew a bubble, you know, like bubblegum bubble, the size of a person, and then stepped inside it. What?
[28:00] It's like a weird show, and I like it. Shocked everybody. Where'd they come from? Is that what you came for today? Did you come to be shocked? Did you come to be surprised? Did you come to be entertained?
[28:12] Did you come to see, what did Pastor Tom do this week? I know sometimes you talk about that, especially when I bring camels and things like that. Did you come to be informed?
[28:24] Did you come to learn something? Did you come to discover more about how you should live? Did you come because you felt you should? Or did you come to experience the living God?
[28:36] In verse 31 of this passage, it says, After the people prayed, we're after the people prayed, right? The place where they were meeting was shaken.
[28:47] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke boldly the word of God. They were shaken.
[28:59] Shaken. Shaken. Shaken. Shaken. Shaken. Shaking. Could you imagine if you were to come today to worship and God would shake up your world?
[29:12] I think we need our world shaken up. Amen. I think we got a lot of stuff that we need changed in our world. It doesn't say that they had a little feeling or a tingling of the Holy Spirit.
[29:24] It doesn't say that they heard a still small whisper of the Holy Spirit. It says that they were filled up. Filled up with the power of the Holy Spirit.
[29:37] And that makes a difference. I've only gone to a few churches in my life to serve as a pastor. I've happened to be here for like, I'm going into 29 years in July.
[29:48] That's quite a long time, isn't it? And every time I go to a new church, this is the passage I preach from. The Spirit of the Lord is on me. Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
[30:02] He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. Recovery of sight for the blind. To set the oppressed free. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
[30:12] The Spirit of the Lord is upon us. It's here. It's present. It's with us. And in a world full of brokenness and pain and hurt and trouble.
[30:23] Where everybody's arguing and fighting with each other. We need the Spirit of the Lord more now than maybe a lot of times in our history. These people needed it too.
[30:35] They were in a time when they were occupied by the Roman government. They were fighting with the Romans. They were arguing and fighting with the Persians. They were fighting amongst each other.
[30:45] The Sadducees and the Pharisees couldn't agree on how do we worship God. Not unlike the Christian faith in our country today. We have all these different places where we go to worship God because we can't get along.
[31:02] There's something wrong with that. Amen? I mean it's okay that we want to do things differently. In this series we're talking about the Holy Spirit and we're also talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
[31:12] Which will come differently on different people. And you'll have a different way of expressing your faith in. Different way of being in your understanding of God and even worshiping God.
[31:23] But the people of God, the people that call Jesus Christ Lord are one people, one spirit, one God. We are not divided if we're His.
[31:37] And that only happens when we let the Spirit of the Lord come upon us. That's why we're talking about it all summer. Because the most important and powerful thing that we can have happen in our faith life, in our church today, is going to be to allow the Holy Spirit to change us, to transform us, to make us different.
[31:56] And it can fix a lot of the problems we have. Because the Holy Spirit causes us to produce a different attitude. In fact, they even call them the fruits of the Spirit.
[32:08] Have you ever heard of these? Do you know any of them? Love? Love? Love? Impatient one up here.
[32:22] Yeah. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You know, one of our parishioners had a friend that she wanted to have remember those. So she had them embroidered on the bath towel.
[32:33] Isn't that cool? You get out of the shower and there they are. Right in front of you. We started every day, every day, before we went, to get into all the frustrations of life. Don't turn on the news first.
[32:44] Don't read the paper. Don't do any of that stuff. Just start with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and something we have very little love. Self-control.
[32:55] What a change it would make in us. It would release a unity like they had here. All the believers were one in heart and mind. All the believers were one in heart and mind.
[33:08] Their heart was the same. Which led their minds to be the same. Which doesn't mean they thought alike. Because they didn't. We know that from reading the scripture. It means they weren't going to fight over things that weren't that important.
[33:26] John Wesley once said it. He said, in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in everything. In everything. Love. A heart thing.
[33:37] We talk about loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But we can't love God with our soul. And we can't love God with our strength. When we're a divided, arguing, confused people.
[33:49] They were one in heart and soul. And no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own. But they shared everything with whoever had need.
[34:01] That's almost inconceivable for us. Can you imagine that all the stuff you spent all your life collecting up. All the things that you are absolutely certain are yours no longer are.
[34:12] They belong to everybody. Because really we don't own anything. Everything we have will someday, as the Bible says, be taken from us and given to someone else.
[34:26] So what do we do with it while we have it? We've been talking about what makes a house a home. You know, we sometimes call this the house of the Lord.
[34:37] I don't like that. I don't want it to be the house of the Lord. I want it to be the home of the Lord. Amen? I don't want it to be a building where we talk about God. I want it to be a family where we live out what God wants to put in our lives.
[34:53] Have any of you eaten a meal in your home? I've got one cooking over here. See how it's doing? It's cooking. You may not be able to smell it, but it's cooking.
[35:05] Yeah. We eat meals together. Now, do we, when we eat meals together, each go off into our own little rooms and eat whatever we feel like? Maybe you do. I don't know.
[35:16] Do we say this is my food and not yours and you can't have it? Or do we figure out how to make a meal work? The other day, my wife and I were having dinner and there was only a small amount of regular spaghetti in the house.
[35:32] So we gave that to my grandson and my wife shared her gluten-free spaghetti with me. That was her spaghetti, not mine. They gave me something to eat and I was happy to have it.
[35:45] We share. When we go to dinner together, we make a meal and we eat what's provided. And that's what the church is supposed to be like. We have a dinner like that up in Niagara Falls.
[35:56] We just invite the whole community. They all come together and they eat what we give them. And once in a while they say, why can't we have this? And I said, it's a free meal. What do you want? You'll get what you get.
[36:11] There are things that we may not like. I'm not a fan of broccoli. The first President Bush said I didn't have to eat it. So I've always gone by that philosophy.
[36:23] There's things that we don't want to eat. But there's a difference between not having all the elements of the meal and somebody taking them from us. My wife makes broccoli and I'm welcome to eat it anytime I want to.
[36:37] It says that we're no needy. Not one brother had some and another had none. Not one sister got a big share and the other got a little share. But all were taken care of.
[36:49] In 1 Corinthians chapter 11 they describe an unhealthy church. It says, When you come together it's not the Lord's supper you eat. For when you are eating some of you go ahead with your own private suppers.
[37:00] As a result one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing?
[37:12] Should I praise you in this? Is it good when some of us have a lot and others have nothing and go without and are in need?
[37:23] I grew up in a family. We had five kids so there's seven of us usually at the dinner table. Oftentimes eight or nine depending on if a friend was around. And there was always a fair amount of food piled in the middle.
[37:33] But it always went around the table quietly, calmly and properly the first time. And everybody got to fill their plates up with their food. It wasn't like the first one got all the food and everybody else had to go with whatever they got.
[37:48] Everybody got a portion. There was always enough for everybody to have some. And if there wasn't enough they made sure that somebody got some. That's what God does.
[38:00] In verse 33 he says, With great power. Great power that comes from the Holy Spirit. We need power of God right now. The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
[38:14] And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them that there were no needy persons among them. Nobody. Because grace worked so good that we made sure that there would be no one in need.
[38:28] That's what a church is supposed to be like. That's what a community is supposed to be like. In fact that's what a nation is supposed to be like.
[38:38] No one in need. And need by the way is not the same as greed. Right? We may have some that have more than others. But we make sure that everybody has what they need.
[38:52] I have to tell you my household. The first time around it went around very peacefully and quietly and calmly. But seconds were for whoever was fastest. If you've ever eaten a dinner with me you'd think like I'm at a race or something.
[39:05] I was. I was. You want more? You got to get there first. I think some people will end up with more. We shouldn't be jealous or envious or somehow resent that somebody else somehow was more fortunate than us.
[39:23] Especially people that are part of our family. You shouldn't be jealous of your brothers or sisters for goodness sakes. They're your own family. And we shouldn't be jealous of each other. Because someone has something nicer than another.
[39:35] But we need to make sure first and foremost before anything else that everybody has what they need. And that doesn't just mean food. And it doesn't just mean money. It means whatever we need it may be somebody to talk to.
[39:49] It may be somebody to run an errand for them. Or it may be somebody to help them as they're walking in and out of the church. What is the need that each of us has?
[40:00] And this is how they did it. It says, From time to time, Those who had houses or land sold them and brought the money from the sales and gave it to the apostles' feet to distribute it to anyone in need.
[40:16] What that means is, What they didn't need, What was in abundance, What they could never end up using ultimately, They sold from their abundance to give to those in need.
[40:28] Yesterday we had a rummage sale up at Niagara Falls. It's kind of an interesting rummage sale. Because it's not the way we do it here. There's no prices on anything. No prices. People walk in and they say, Well, how much is that?
[40:41] And we say, How much you got? You know? And basically people give us whatever they give us. Because we don't do the rummage sale so that we can make money. We make money doing the rummage sale.
[40:53] There's a difference. The rummage sale is simply about taking the stuff that we have that we don't need, That's in abundance, That we couldn't possibly fit into the closets, The cupboards, The storage units, And garages, And basements, And attics of our houses.
[41:05] Because you know they're already overflowing With junk. You know this. And we give it to some people who so desperately need it. You follow the difference?
[41:18] You should see the people go through those clothes. They're getting their new outfits for their children for next year when they go back to school. Their new outfits are the things you don't want anymore.
[41:31] To take from the abundance we have and give to people in need Is what Christians are supposed to be doing. But this is hard. I don't want to imply to you that what I'm suggesting is easy.
[41:45] It's hard. It goes through everything we've been raised to believe as part of this society. That whoever gets there first, whoever works the hardest, deserves to keep their stuff to themselves.
[41:57] And if you give it all away, you know what you're going to end up with? It's not that hard to figure out. Nothing. Yeah, you know, there's a problem with this philosophy.
[42:11] You see, it didn't work. It sounded great, and it looks good at this point in the Bible. And the reason they did it was very simple. They believed Jesus was coming back in the next six weeks to maybe three months.
[42:25] What would you do with everything you have if you were absolutely certain you had a vision from God himself who told you he's coming back in three months? Would you care about what you have saved up for 20 years from now?
[42:37] You know it's all done. What if you knew an asteroid was going to blow up the planet in three months and we're all going to go to glory? How would you live? How would you prioritize what you do?
[42:48] It'd be very different, wouldn't it? They said, let's just give it all away, and we'll go to church every day and just praise God and worship God and get ready. But it didn't happen.
[43:00] It didn't happen. And so the rest of the Bible tells us about how from there on out, all the other churches in the Roman Empire had to take up collections to take care of these people in Jerusalem.
[43:13] It's not easy. It's not easy. Because we're not sure what we need. We're not sure how much we can give.
[43:24] We're not sure what will happen. And certainly, it's not a good policy for you to give everything away because then we have to take care of you. That's not really the right way for us to do this.
[43:36] What does God expect? There's a story in the Bible. You might have read about it. Jesus was out teaching on a mountainside.
[43:47] And as he was teaching, the day got longer and longer and longer and started to get to evening. And the apostles were a little worried because they said, these people have been here all day and they don't have any food. Jesus, you've got to send them home so they can go home to their houses and get something to eat.
[44:01] And you know what Jesus said to them? Anybody know? You give them something to eat. Exactly. You give them something to eat. And they went, are you crazy?
[44:14] How are we going to do that? There's a gift in the Bible called hospitality. Some of you are wonderful at hospitality. To be able to see the needs of somebody else and care for them.
[44:27] To take them in when they may not even realize that they're in need. One of the most moving experiences of the Holy Spirit that I had was back in the 1970s when I used to go to Jesus festivals.
[44:42] Now, you might not know what that is. That was the Christian version of Woodstock in some sense without all the other stuff. Okay? So, if you can picture like 100,000 people out on a farm in Pennsylvania just worshiping God.
[44:55] So, my friend and I decided to go to it. So, what we did was we got dressed like we normally did in the morning. And we went out to the highway and did this. I'm not recommending this to any of you young people.
[45:08] We hitched it from home to Pennsylvania. I don't know what my parents were thinking, but that's what we did. We just hitched hike to this farm in Pennsylvania. And we spent a week there praising God, worshiping God, and enjoying the blessing even in the midst of a mudstorm.
[45:26] We didn't have any money. We didn't have a backpack of food. We didn't even have a change of clothes. I know that's pretty scary, isn't it? Think about it, right? We just went.
[45:39] And you know, it wasn't until about a couple days ago when I was working on this sermon that I thought, Huh? I wonder where we got food from. We didn't have any money. We didn't have any food.
[45:51] But somehow, we survived and ate for the whole week. How did we do that? And it dawned on me that there were Christian people there that took care of a couple of not very bright young men who decided to go and worship God and hadn't thought about how they're going to live for a whole week.
[46:10] We were like those people out on that hillside with Jesus. And somebody said, Give those kids something to eat. Where'd they come from?
[46:21] Who do they belong to? Who do they belong to? Hospitality. Just the sense where you see somebody in need and so you take care of them.
[46:31] Have you ever fed a hungry person? I have a lot of times. You don't have to give them money and worry about where it goes. Just take them into a restaurant and buy them lunch. They don't want to go in the restaurant.
[46:42] You don't buy them anything. You see how that works? It's pretty simple. But if they're hungry, feed them. If they need clothes and you have so many you can't fit them in your closet, give them something to wear. Remember, if you've got ten sets of dishes, give a set to the people who just started out life and don't have any.
[47:01] Because hospitality simply means that we care for people like family. So this becomes the home of God. Not just the house of God. And the disciples said, Do you know, Jesus, how many people are out there?
[47:16] There's like thousands of them. How do you expect us to feed all the... It would take us two years to earn the money to buy them one meal.
[47:28] Funny how it seems to come down to money with a lot of people. Such a large group. You can't care for everyone. They even defined it as they took care of the believers.
[47:41] Those who were part of their church. But you know, taking care of our church, that's a lot of people. I read in a book this week that you can only really hold in your life 150 people.
[47:53] Any more than that and you go into overcapacity and you can't quite handle them. I want you to think about that. There's more than 150 people here. And this isn't the only congregation I preach to in a weekend.
[48:06] And you're not all here. We've got a couple thousand. How could I possibly care for all of you? I know you call me pastor. And that's a title I have.
[48:18] In the Bible, it's a gift. And a pastor is someone who cares for people. Who loves on people. Who just naturally sees a need. And fills it.
[48:30] My wife is a wonderful pastor. Pastor Gene is a wonderful pastor. I try to do the job. It's a little different. My gifts are a little elsewhere. I do it. I care.
[48:40] I try. But I have to be reminded from time to time. So that I can see. But you can't pastor a thousand, two thousand people. You just can't physically do it.
[48:54] So what we need is we need a whole lot of people. Who have that gift of caring and loving and nurturing. Because you can all pastor thousands.
[49:07] In fact, if you just multiplied the people in this room. Imagine the amount of people that we could care for. If you could take care of 150. Even 100. Even 50. Even 15.
[49:18] You can't take care of everyone. But you can take care of some. And we take care of a lot. We provide for people in our church. We provide for people in Nicaragua.
[49:30] It's going through a civil war right now, by the way. I don't know if you all know that. Pray for them. Especially the mission we have there. We provide for people in Niagara Falls. In Buffalo. We go out on the streets.
[49:42] I say we. I'm not doing it. Our people go out on the streets in the middle of the evening. And give out a meal to people that come out of the bushes and out of the parks. Did you know we do that?
[49:54] Because together we can do amazing things. You put a little meal together on that clipboard. And together it becomes something amazing. But it requires another gift.
[50:08] There's a gift in the Bible called the gift of giving. Not what's the minimum I can do. But the people who say, I wonder how much I can afford. Some people have a gift of giving.
[50:21] Some people give. Other people have a gift of giving. When I filled out the surveys on spiritual gifts. I was surprised to find out that my number one gift was.
[50:34] Giving. I'm like, what? That's just weird. I never thought I had a gift of giving. Truth is, most people who have the gift of giving don't realize it.
[50:45] Because they don't feel they're giving enough. Because I don't. When you see more needs that you can possibly take care of. You feel like, how can I do that? But together. Together.
[50:55] We can do amazing things. Do you follow? Follow? Astounding things. If we just let the Holy Spirit truly and honestly work in our lives.
[51:10] People wonder why they have so many problems. People wonder why they're so broken up. People wonder why their spirits get torn apart. People wonder why they get so angry at life.
[51:21] When we have the power of God available. We just let it work. Let it flow through our lives. Romans chapter 12 says to us, Love must be sincere.
[51:35] Hate what's evil. Cling to what's good. Be devoted to one another in love. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. That's hard to do. Never be lacking in zeal.
[51:47] But keep your spiritual fervor. Serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope. Patient in affliction. Faithful in prayer. And the Holy Spirit will pour down on you.
[51:58] And shake things up. But we have to be people with integrity. People that what we say today is what we live tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
[52:14] Faithfulness. Consistency. That's hard. I came home from the cottage last week. And my refrigerator wasn't working right.
[52:25] Anybody ever have this happen? I hate that. You know, I don't ask much from a refrigerator. Keep things cold. That's it. Right? We came home and my wife says, The freezer is cold.
[52:35] The refrigerator is warm. I'm like, I know what that is. I fixed that. That's the part that opens it up. But Del said, I hate that.
[52:47] So what I did, just so you know, is I tried an old trick that sometimes works. Not always, but once in a while it works. I unplugged it. Now you've got to unplug it for a little while because you've got to let the compressor kind of ease down a little bit.
[53:01] So I know it had to be unplugged for like 10 minutes. Have you ever waited 10 minutes? You can't stand there looking at it. If you do, it'll freak you out. It's like watching that pot boil and waiting.
[53:12] You can't do it. You've got to walk away. So I went and did some other stuff that I knew would take me about 10 minutes because I couldn't. I went back and I looked at it. I said, Go away. Go away. And then I plugged it in. Now here's the good news.
[53:24] It worked. It worked. My refrigerator is working fine now. I don't trust it anymore. Do you know what I'm trying to say? I don't trust it.
[53:35] It's not an old refrigerator. I just don't trust it. It didn't work for me once. It worked for me every day for the last two years, but it didn't work for me once, and I don't trust it anymore.
[53:46] Do you hear me? You can be consistently good, loving, faithful every day. But it's like saying, I want to be faithful in a marriage 364 days a year.
[54:03] If we want to see the power of God break out, we need to be consistent. We need to be so committed and so faithful that God can work in us in such a powerful way.
[54:15] So the real question is, whose are we? We call ourselves Christians. Are we people who belong to Christ? Not if we have hate. Not if we have selfishness. Not if we try to hurt one another or fight or argue with each other.
[54:28] That won't bring the Holy Spirit. It needs to be sincere. Something you can trust. Do you know how Jesus ended up feeding the 5,000?
[54:40] Anybody remember this? They came to him, and they had what? Two fish and five loaves of bread. Where did they get it from? They took it from a little boy.
[54:54] Yeah, these 12 grown men went up to this young boy and said, Give us your lunch. Really? Can you imagine this? These 12 hulking guys around this poor kid who brought his lunch and said, Give me your lunch.
[55:06] What's he going to do? So we gave him the lunch. There's a boy here who's got five loaves of bread and two fishes. We took it from him.
[55:18] Well, at least that's one way of looking at the story, isn't it? Because, you see, we tend to think of what's mine is mine, and I'm not giving it, even if you need it, and even if I have it.
[55:33] You know, we like to make a meal for the people we love, but what about people we don't know? There's a legend about a fellow who was walking through a village, and when he came into the village, he was hungry, and he said, Is there anybody who has something for me to eat?
[55:50] Could you share a little something? And they said, No, if we give you the food, we won't have any. So he went down to the stream, and he had a pot with him, and he filled it full of water, and he took a couple stones.
[56:05] He tossed them in the pot, and he just sat there stirring the soup until one of the villagers came along and said, What are you doing? He says, I'm cooking stone soup.
[56:16] The guy said, You can't make soup out of stone soup. He says, Oh, it's a delicious soup. It's wonderful. It's great. The problem is, it's missing some carrots. The guy said, Well, I got some carrots. He said, Well, go home and get them.
[56:27] So he went home to get the carrots. In the meantime, somebody came along and said, What are you doing? He says, I'm cooking stone soup. He said, You can't make stone soup. He says, Oh, it's delicious. But the problem is, I don't have any potatoes. And this went on and on with chicken, with spices, with noodles, with all sorts of things that the people brought and put in the pot and they watched him cooking the stone soup.
[56:46] And then after about 45 minutes, he reached into the pot, not with his hand because that's pretty hot, and he took out the stones and he said, Dinner's ready.
[57:01] Who would like some of my stone soup? See, I don't think the little boy was muscled out of his lunch. I think the little boy gave his lunch and God took that generosity and made something amazing.
[57:19] He made something out of nothing. He fed 5,000 people from two fish and five loaves of bread because one little boy said, Here, you can have my lunch. It's more than I need anyways.
[57:30] I can't eat two fishes and five loaves of bread. Who can eat that? Even a strappling young boy out in the middle of a Pennsylvania field can't eat that. And so they ate together.
[57:42] And that generosity transformed them. You see, our actions prove that we have transformed lives. By their fruits, you will know them.
[57:53] So here we have Barnabas whose nickname is Son of Encouragement. Wouldn't you like that to be your nickname? Son of Encouragement. We should be naming people like they did in the Bible. They named people in the Bible by who they were.
[58:03] Peter was Rocky, you know, on this rock I'll build my church. I don't know what my name means, but it doesn't matter. You should look it up. And he gave, not because these were his people.
[58:16] He was from Cyprus. These weren't even his folks. But he gave from what he had that he didn't need. His actions matched his words.
[58:29] I was in Chautauqua. Chautauqua's kind of an interesting place because it's really, it's a summer community for very wealthy people now. Started out as a Sunday school training ground by Methodists, but now it's a very wealthy community.
[58:41] Except there's a few little pockets of places where poor people can go and stay. They're usually owned by the Methodists, okay? And one of the places is the parsonage for the church down there where a friend of mine was living and I stopped to say hello to him and we visited all afternoon and when it started to get towards dinner time, he said, why don't you come for dinner?
[59:00] I said, no, no, I couldn't impose. He says, no, no, no. Get a hold of Jackie. Come on over. We'll have dinner together. Now I had known him since before I became a pastor. He was my pastor. So we finally said, okay. So we came for dinner.
[59:10] You ever go to dinner like this where you have a plate and there's a piece of chicken on it half the size of what you would have eaten? And there's a potato half the size of what you would have eaten.
[59:21] Did you pick up what's going on here? And then on the stove, there was a pot of broccoli the size of that pot over there. And I went over and I took the scoop and I started piling it on my plate more and more.
[59:39] My wife is just looking at me like, what? It was the best broccoli I ever ate. When somebody's generous with you, are you able to say thank you? By receiving it, even if it's not what you wanted.
[59:52] Even if it wasn't what you were expecting. Because you see, generosity and the power of generosity is in the giving and the receiving. And saying thank you and being blessed.
[60:05] They won't care what we know until they know that we care. Shake it a baby now. Shake it a baby. Twist and shout.
[60:16] Twist and... I was saying to somebody earlier, we don't dance enough in our church. You know, we need to get up and get moving. God wants to shake us up, fill us with the Holy Spirit, transform our lives, move us until we have experienced the power of God that will change our nation, our families, our community, our world.
[60:36] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the good news and proclaim it to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
[60:56] And today I proclaim the Spirit of the Lord is in this place. God has come to move us and change us and transform us. In the city that we live, every city soaring calm, many people live in dark, every minute, every hour, hear the heart and death raise.
[61:34] From a million broken hearts With a need so great Where do we even start? Let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands And set the captive stream And my faith Follow after you Oh, change the world And let it start with me For giving us the hope And pray for everyone I don't want to miss my name
[62:35] And the plan that you've begun You will promise You will promise to me To the edges of it all Make everything that keeps me From your God Let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Free my mind from all distractions Free my hands And set the captive stream Move my feet to follow after you Move my feet to follow after you Oh, change the world And let it start with me Take my life All that I have called my own Everything I am is yours alone Let it start with me
[63:39] Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands Use my hands Use my hands And set the captive stream Use my hands Free my hand Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands To set the captives free Who might be to follow after you Oh, change the human balance I will be It's a song for redeemed
[65:10] Rise from the African place It's a song for forgiveness Round out the Amazon race The song of Asian believers Filled with God's holy fire It's every tribe, every tongue, every nation Love sung for the great choir It's all God's children singing Glory, glory Hallelujah He reigns He reigns It's all God's children singing Glory, glory Hallelujah He reigns He reigns He so loved it He's born Lord Put it right above the foes
[66:10] Proud of been the heavenly soundicar He gigs From the towers of the people The faithful gathered underground Of all the songs From the dawn of creation Some were meant to persist Of all the bells Run from a thousand stables None ring newer than this It's our God's children Singing glory, glory Hallelujah, He reigns He reigns It's our God's children Singing glory, glory Hallelujah, He reigns He reigns And all the powers of darkness Tremble at what angels do Cause all the powers of darkness
[67:12] Can't drown out a single word When all God's children sing out glory, glory Hallelujah, He reigns He reigns And all God's children sing out glory, glory Hallelujah, He reigns He reigns And all the powers of darkness Tremble at what they've just heard Cause all the powers of darkness Can't drown out a single word The Holy Spirit is in this place The Holy Spirit is reaching into your soul He wants to fill you completely And drive out all the darkness All the demons All the brokenness And the way we start that Is by saying We're gonna get rid of the brokenness
[68:14] We're gonna confess our brokenness And let God pull it away from us Shall we pray together? Dear God in heaven Dear God in heaven I have sinned I have broken your laws I've been hateful Hurtful Selfish Forgive me, Lord Open up my heart To others And to you Open up my soul And pour your Holy Spirit in Fill me up Shake up my life And turn it towards you In Jesus' name we pray Amen Here's the wonderful news God has been waiting To pour out his power upon you He's been waiting To fill your life With the presence of the Holy Spirit He's been waiting To pull the brokenness out of you In the name of Jesus Christ
[69:14] Your sins are forgiven Glory to God Amen And now as forgiven children of God Let's turn to our neighbor And share the peace of the Spirit With one another That's a It's this one That's a
[70:15] All to Jesus I surrender All to Him I freely give I will ever love And trust Him In His presence Daily live I surrender all All to Jesus I surrender On Thee and His feet
[71:20] I bow All to Jesus I surrender Only at his feet I bow Worldly precious all forsaken Take me, Jesus, take me now I surrender all I surrender all All to thee, my blessed Savior I surrender all It's right that we surrender all to our God and Savior.
[72:14] He surrendered all for us. Amen? He did. He gave up himself. He gave of everything so that we would be able to come, to be restored to relationship with God, to join at this table where we are invited to celebrate with God, to receive from God the blessings that God pours out into our lives.
[72:44] Everyone is welcome. If you love God, repent of your sin and seek to live in peace. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are welcome at the table this morning. Come expecting to receive. Come expecting to meet with Jesus in a very, very special way.
[73:03] You don't have to be a member of this church or a member of any church. In the United Methodist Church, we trust that God invites everyone.
[73:16] Every time. Every time. Every time. Every time. Every time. Every time. Every time. The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
[73:27] It is right and a good and joyful thing. Always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
[73:38] You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.
[73:49] You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn.
[74:03] Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
[74:15] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Holy are you and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.
[74:31] To set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
[74:43] By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
[74:54] When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always in the power of your word and Holy Spirit. On the night in which he gave himself up for us, Jesus took bread.
[75:08] He gave thanks to you. He broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat. This is my body, which is given for you.
[75:27] Do this in remembrance of me. And when the supper was over, he took the cup. He gave thanks to you and gave it to his disciples.
[75:38] He said, Drink from this, all of you. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin.
[75:50] Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. And so in remembrance of these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
[76:14] Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here. And on these gifts of bread and wine, make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
[76:35] By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
[76:46] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your Holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Amen. Shall we pray together?
[76:59] With the confidence of children of God, the prayer Jesus taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[77:16] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[77:31] For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Will those who are serving, please come forward. the God who canned God, will men of truth, Thank you.
[78:35] Thank you.
[79:05] Thank you.
[79:35] Thank you.
[80:05] Thank you.
[80:35] Thank you.
[81:05] Thank you.
[81:35] Thank you.
[82:05] Thank you.
[82:35] Thank you.
[83:05] Thank you.
[83:35] Thank you.
[84:05] Thank you.
[84:35] Thank you. Thank you.
[85:35] Thank you.
[86:05] Amen. Thank you.