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[1:28] Thank you.
[1:58] Thank you. Enjoy the service. Good morning. Good morning. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:08] We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:24] Let us rejoice. Let us rejoice. And be glad in it. And be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:40] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:55] Shall we pray together? Dear God in heaven, we just pray that your Holy Spirit will just come to anoint us this morning. To touch us that whatever we do, whatever we say, whatever we sing, whatever we pray, will be what will cause you to make happen in our lives what we need to happen today.
[3:12] That draws close to you. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. I'd like to invite you if you're able to stand as we're going to sing together, faith of our fathers.
[3:27] This is not to negate the faith of our mothers. It's also very important. faith of our fathers living still, in spite of dungeon fire and soul.
[4:00] Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy. Whene'er we hear that glorious word.
[4:12] Faith of our fathers holy faith. We will be true to thee till death.
[4:24] Faith of our fathers we will strive. To win all nations unto thee.
[4:35] And through the truth that comes on God. We all shall then be truly free.
[4:46] Faith of our fathers holy faith. We will be true to thee till death.
[4:58] In the mark of our fathers we will love. Both and men fall in all our strife.
[5:10] And preach thee to us. And preach thee to us love knows how. By kindly words and hurtless life.
[5:21] Faith of our fathers holy faith. We will be true to thee till death.
[5:33] The Lord be with you. And also with you. Please be seated. We have two opportunities for ministry this morning. One is to help with our Seneca Street dinner. And the other is to help with the hanging of the greens.
[5:44] Which is just a couple weeks away. We're going to decorate this place. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Today we celebrate in honoring our veterans. And we do have a thankful moment in your bulletin to help with veterans ministries.
[5:58] And so we give this to you for your consideration. Hi, I'm Cheryl Lepsch. I am the clothing room coordinator at the Buffalo VA Hospital.
[6:11] And this clothing room is supplies our sick and injured veterans with items that they need. I am here to give you a little bit of an insight on what we do here in volunteer services at the VA Hospital.
[6:28] This is a clothing room. And a lot of our patients will come in in the middle of the night. They don't have anything but boxers on. And obviously we can't let them leave without dignity.
[6:40] So this room that you see, we have shirts. These racks usually hold all sweatshirts. But this year we are low on sweatshirts. That's all we have.
[6:51] We supply socks, underwear, t-shirts, personal care items. The toothpaste, toothbrushes, all the things that you have been collecting for us for months. We are so appreciative of.
[7:03] Our shelves are getting extremely low. Any financial donations that we get. We personally have a tax exempt to go out to Walmart and purchase these sweatshirts, sweatpants, t-shirts and underwear.
[7:20] Shorts in the summer. And this year we are in extreme need of coats. We normally hand out approximately 300 coats. So anything that you could do to help us would be greatly appreciated.
[7:34] And I would like to thank you for your support in the past and your future support. It's greatly appreciated by our veterans. Amen. And you will find an envelope in your bulletin where if the Lord is placing that on your heart to be part of that ministry, you're welcome to give as we take up our offering.
[7:53] I would like right now to ask all of, as we're able, any of our vets in the room, if you would stand so we can recognize you and thank you so much for your service. Please.
[8:04] God bless you. Amen. We are grateful. We are grateful for the opportunity to gather in this place and to worship freely.
[8:22] To be able to honor God and worship God and gather together without fear. And it is the work of our armed forces that has always preserved that freedom and liberty.
[8:34] And we are grateful. We are so grateful for your service. We are also excited to hear that Joanne Popaleo has gone home from the hospital. She's Teresa Zimmerman's mom and she's doing very, very well.
[8:46] So we're grateful for that. Do you have any other joys this morning to share? Okay, everybody say, the joy of the Lord is my strength.
[8:59] The joy of the Lord is my strength. Amen. And as we remember the joys that God has blessed us with, everything that God has put in our hearts to lift up, we will bring our gifts, tithes, and offerings before the Lord.
[9:10] Out of thanks, out of thanksgiving, out of gratefulness in worship. Thank you.
[9:41] Thank you. Thank you.
[10:11] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[10:41] Thank you. Thank you.
[11:11] Thank you. Thank you.
[11:41] Thank you. Thank you.
[12:11] Thank you. praise think you and shout out by willing to church., especially today you esgotten what you are speaking to once.
[12:35] dear Heavenly Father we do give you thanks and praise for this beautiful day and for the opportunity we have always to gather and to worship you we ask that you would bless this offering give us wisdom to know how to best use it for the furtherance of your kingdom and we ask a special blessing on the offering made on behalf of those vets who are in need we just ask Lord God in Jesus name that you would touch them bless their lives help them to know how much they are appreciated and make us able to give the help that we need to give in Jesus name we pray amen please be seated and concerned that I would lift up this morning is that I found out that Dick Anderson is going to be in need of surgery I think he's in the hospital now and we want to we want to pray for him and lift him up and Anna Kay as well as I'm sure she's very concerned about that what concerns do you have this morning to lift up go ahead Judy
[13:51] Jack Jack okay Jack for healing amen any others yes yes yes yes thank you thank you Sue yes she's a little girl I want to lift her up and I'm going to ask for prayers for her husband's family as we know that we know that he passed away and then six weeks later his twin sister passed as well this is very hard of course on the family and on Sue too Lord we just continue to keep her lifted up and the rest of the family thank you Pastor Tom Gracie who's having surgery down in Buffalo general she's a little girl little girl want to lift her up and her family others thank you Becky thank you Becky yes traveling mercies for all for the next several and many weeks especially with the weather being what it's what it is depending on where you're at right we have it's gorgeous up here I understand the south towns they closed the thruway yesterday with all the weather and what it was so we want to just keep everyone be mindful to keep people in prayer as they travel yes the fire the fires in California yes I have yeah I have a friend yeah yeah I have I have friends whose families are right in that neighborhood and and yeah everything's gone everything's gone thank you others yes Karen yeah yeah yeah surgery for Amy who's Amy's having surgery on her feet because of some issues from a prior surgery that are problematic any others this morning yes yes
[15:57] Jan is having surgery on her wrist and her elbow and when is that Tuesday Thursday Thursday thank you Jan any others this morning with these concerns and those that are on your heart whether you join me from your seats or at the rail let's turn to the Lord in prayer Almighty God Almighty God You are Our Heavenly Father Creator of everything Creator of everything The one who knows everything Including what we need before we even ask We are so grateful to come before you Lord We know that you hear us We know that you will provide the best answer there is Father we pray in Jesus name For all of those who are in need of healing
[17:01] Those who have cancers Lord God those who are nearing the end of life Those who are facing surgeries Those who are facing surgeries Those who are in whatever way in need of a healing touch touch touch them in their spirits their souls and their bodies Lord as you know they are in need Bring wholeness to them and draw them close to you Father in Jesus name we pray for all of those who are grieving losses What a sad and terrible time Help them Lord God to find peace in you draw near to them by your spirit Comfort them Lord And send them comfort
[18:04] Give them peace as they come to understand the hope of eternal life there is for all people in you give them peace as they come to understand the hope of eternal life there is for all people in you pray in Jesus name that you would just bless them we pray for people who are traveling here and there Lord God all of the places that we have to be to visit loved ones to meet obligations there are all kinds of reasons why we have to travel we just pray for safety we pray that all those who leave us will return to us just ask for your blessing upon them and upon the vehicles that they're going in bless them as they're on the roads Lord God and give them wisdom give them wisdom to know when to when to set out and when to stay put father we pray for all of those who are in the midst of disasters of all kinds natural disasters Lord we pray for their comfort we pray for their safety we pray for those who are still recovering from hurricanes and fires and tornadoes that have happened it takes such a long time to rebuild Lord
[19:54] God be with them by your spirit and send help pray in Jesus name Lord God for all of those who are suffering as a result of the actions of human beings shootings shootings Lord God people driving while they're intoxicated Lord all of the kinds of things that bring harm to others we just ask in Jesus name that you would bring peace to our world and make us to be people who can bring that peace help us to be instruments of your peace in this world teach us to know your ways and to be able to share them with others help us Lord not to be complacent but to go forth as you have called us to to be a witness for Christ wherever we go to be part of the solution to the problems of this world be with us as we worship this morning make our worship to be pleasing to you bless pastor Thomas he brings forth the message you've given to him for us this day and even as we are blessed by being here Lord let us be a blessing to you in Jesus name Amen shall we hear from the word of God speak for Christ may ichite me much answered yes with me not read yes be yes say oh
[22:06] Good morning, and isn't it nice to see the sunshine again? The reading this morning is from the book of Exodus, chapter 16, verses 2 through 12.
[22:24] In the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt.
[22:35] There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve the entire assembly to death. Then the Lord said to Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you.
[22:51] The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.
[23:11] So Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites, In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him.
[23:24] Who are we that you should grumble against us? Moses also said, Then Moses told Aaron, While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
[24:02] The Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread.
[24:13] Then you will know that I am the Lord your God. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Carol.
[24:25] You know, my mother had this way of talking about dinner right after we ate lunch. Anybody else have that?
[24:37] You know, just as soon as lunch is done, she says, So what are we going to have for dinner? I'm like, How do we have food? We spend a lot of time on things like that. The basics. Food. How to take care of our home.
[24:50] Pay the bills. How could we make a life for our children? We even go to church sometimes, when it works out in our schedule. We trust our leaders until we don't.
[25:03] Have you noticed that? Until things don't work right. And then we grumble. And we blame our leaders. It's their fault when something goes terribly wrong.
[25:17] Just sit right back and I'll tell a tale, a tale of a faithful ship that started at this tropic port upon this sailing ship. The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure.
[25:31] The passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour. A three-hour tour. You see, you have to understand what happened here.
[25:45] They left Egypt to go to Palestine. Being conservative, it would take about ten days to get from Egypt to Palestine. Oh, and they said they were going to stop at the mountain of the Lord, which was probably about a day and a half out of the way, but let's make it three.
[26:01] So let's make it 16. Let's just add and make it 20, just to be real generous. And it says in verse 1 of this passage, it's been 45 days.
[26:16] Excuse me. Something's wrong. Maybe you haven't noticed Moses, but we are in the middle of the desert. There's no 7-Elevens. There's no Applebee's.
[26:27] There's no Topps grocery stores. There's nothing out here. And we've run out of food and water. Now, some people would say, oh, they're so bad for grumbling, you know, because grumbling in and of itself is kind of a miserable thing, you know.
[26:44] Moses brought us out here. You know, they don't really go out and say what they're thinking. They just grumble it around. But I consider this kind of holy grumbling.
[26:56] We have no food. Kind of a basic need. Right? And we're in the middle of nowhere. What do we do when things seem to be going the wrong way in our lives?
[27:14] Sometimes we have to remember what the kids sing about. Our God is a great big God. Because usually we have too small of a God. In this passage, they start blaming Moses and Aaron because they messed up.
[27:32] But you know, the problem with leaders is they're just human. They're like you and me. They're really no better than you and me. You do know that, right? Leaders are just folks. People like you and me.
[27:42] I wouldn't want to be entrusted to any more responsibility than I have in life. I already feel like I have too much. They're not God. God is a whole different thing.
[27:55] God is who a ruler should be pointing to. God is who a leader should be listening to. And then sharing what they hear. In verse 6, it says, Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt.
[28:13] Shouldn't they know by now? Let's recap the story. We've got a burning bush. Then we've got all these plagues that happened in Egypt. Firstborn die. They go out into the southern part of Egypt.
[28:26] Find themselves up against the Red Sea. And what happened last week? The Red Sea parted it too. They walked across on dry land. And Pharaoh's army got drowned.
[28:39] Oh, Mary, don't you weep. Don't you think by now that they should know that God is God? Don't you look at these people and say, What's wrong with these people?
[28:49] They've had miracle after miracle after miracle. How many miracles does it take for us to really believe and trust in God? How much do we have to get before we will feel satisfied that God is loving us and taking care of us?
[29:08] Do we really believe that God is providing what we need? This is the most prosperous culture that has ever lived on the face of the earth.
[29:18] Do you all know that? The people of the world want to come to our country to become our poor people because they believe our poor people are better off than anybody in the world.
[29:31] Just think about that. We live where blessings have been dumped on us by the boatload. And we're not satisfied.
[29:42] We're not happy. We're not trusting in God to take care of us. And so we complain, God, it's not fair. My life's not going the way I want it to.
[29:54] We start grumbling. Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble. And here's the interesting part. It says, And God heard their grumbling. God heard their grumbling. And he didn't zap it with a lightning bolt.
[30:06] That's what we would have done, right? You ungrateful little, right? What did he do? He heard their grumbling and he says, Guess what? Don't worry about it. Chicken sandwiches for everybody.
[30:17] The bread will fall out of the sky. The quail will come down. You can have chicken sandwiches for the next 40 years. Now we'd be saying, Not fair. We don't get hamburgers.
[30:28] You see, that's the problem, right? Right? But he heard it and he took care of them. He provided for them. We need to remember that our God is a great big God capable of doing more than we expect.
[30:43] Making something out of nothing. Providing for us. As Matthew says to us, I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you'll eat or drink, or about your body, what you'll wear.
[30:54] Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow or reap or store away in barns. And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than a bird?
[31:06] And by the way, by worrying, by being anxious, you add a single hour to your life. Truth is, we all know. We take days and days and days away from them.
[31:18] Our God needs to be a great big God and we need to remember what God has given to us. There's a practice that we used to practice in our culture generally.
[31:29] My family still does. Before we ate a meal, we thanked God. We call it table grace because it reminds us every day, every day, day after day after day to remember that everything we need comes from God.
[31:45] Give us this day our daily apple pie. See the problem? because we're not happy with bread.
[31:57] We don't really trust God. We don't even really listen to God. In verse 4 of this passage, it says, the Lord said to Moses, I'll rain down bread from heaven for you.
[32:10] The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. Will they listen to God?
[32:23] Will they follow God's rules? God's rules that are intended for their good. Well, let's look down a little further. It says in verse 17, the Israelites did as they were told.
[32:34] Some gathered much, some little. When they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much and the one who gathered little didn't have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
[32:48] Here's the fascinating thing. We don't need more than we need. Do you understand that? I'm not asking for a show of hands.
[32:59] I don't even want you to raise your hands because it's embarrassing. How many of you throw away food? Every week. Lots of food. You buy more than you need.
[33:11] I do too. Okay? You buy more than you need. I don't know why we do it. And we put it in our refrigerators until it rots.
[33:24] We put it in our cupboards until it goes past its expiration date. which only means that that's the date that you can't sell it after. You can eat it after that but don't go by what I say.
[33:38] Do we really get more? Here's something I noticed. When they sell paint, they sell it by the quart and they sell it by the gallon. Now, a quart of paint is about half the price of a gallon of paint.
[33:53] So, if you need two quarts, right, what do you do? You buy a gallon so that you can have half gallons of paint all over your basement and garage.
[34:06] Am I right? And you've got half gallons of paint you will never, ever, ever use. But I can get twice as much for the same price. I gotta have it. I'll store it up and keep it for the day that I'll mix all those colors together and paint my kids' room that color and say, isn't it cool?
[34:27] Really? Like the little cans of soda pop, right? Drive you crazy. They cost more than the big ones. Can we really consume more than we need?
[34:39] In verse 20, it says, some of them paid no attention to Moses or God. And they kept part of the manna until the morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.
[34:52] When we try to keep more, we end up with rotten lives. More work. Trying to take care of and store away half-empty paint cans we'll never use.
[35:05] trying to figure out where to throw them away because we can't just toss them in the garbage. Tossing food out that makes our refrigerators smell because we don't listen to God.
[35:20] I'm going to give you a little life lesson. Pretty simple. A way to have all the money you ever need. Sound good? All right? If you're young, this will probably work.
[35:31] Okay? This is the first thing. You pay the bills for everything you need. That's the first order of life. If you need it, you make sure those bills are paid because if you don't pay those bills, they'll take it away.
[35:47] So if you need a cell phone, you go out and buy a cheap one because you don't need, this isn't one, a thousand dollar cell phone. Now if you can afford one, fine. But you really don't need it.
[35:59] So get what you need and pay those bills. That's the first step because otherwise if you steal from your bills, you know what will happen? Somebody will come and take your stuff away, even your fancy cell phone.
[36:12] Number two, don't steal from your future. If you're in your teens or twenties and you start putting away 10% of everything you make for the rest of your life, you should be financially comfortable for the rest of your life if you invest that.
[36:27] If you're in your 30s, you've got to do a little catch-up so you're in that 15-20% range. If you're in your 40s, you've still got a chance. You've got to put away about 20-25%. If you're in your 50s or 60s, buy a lottery ticket because you're already cooked because you stole from your future to pay for your life today.
[36:46] So you went out and bought all your wants and now you're finding you won't have enough when you're older. And don't steal from God. Oh, we knew it was about getting money for the church, didn't you?
[36:58] I don't care where you give the money. I don't care if you give the money to some other charity. I don't care what you do. God asks us to give some money that we have away. He actually says 10%. Why does he say that?
[37:09] Because it's just enough to make us really feel like we did something real but not so much that we can't afford to have something to live on. And he says in watching and test me in this and see if I don't pour out pour out showers of blessings.
[37:23] Open the floodgates of blessings on you. But do we really trust God? Would we really do that? Would we really believe that God will take care of us?
[37:34] If I promised to make up the money for you if you came up short at the end of the year, you'd trust me. But would we trust God to pour out the blessings? And most of us, we really don't trust God much more than them.
[37:47] We need to listen to God and we need to trust God. We need to do something more than that. My verse for today comes from 2 Peter. It's in the first chapter.
[37:58] It's verse 3 and 4. We're going to look at 3 first. God's divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. Through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
[38:12] God calls us. God calls us to a special promise. God calls us to a special life. He said in verse 4 that life is a test to see what we'll make of it.
[38:26] If we look in verse 10, it says we'll see the glory of God. While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
[38:37] People say, I just want to hear from God. I just want to know what God wants from me. I want to see God. And we can see the glory of God if we're willing to look for it and if we're willing to live for it.
[38:55] Life is a test. The freedom that God has given to them to come out of Egypt, to come out of slavery, to come out of brokenness, to come out of a meaningless life, to come out of a life filled with sin and pain costs something.
[39:11] And we're in a culture that feels that the whole point of life is to have no cost. We don't want to have to take time to make meals. We want takeout meals. We want ready-made meals, simple and easy, well-paying jobs.
[39:28] The other day, I was mulching up the leaves in my yard and it was windy and I'm thinking, blow, blow, blow those leaves away.
[39:40] Of course, you know, the wind was coming this way and you know where I live. It's right next to the church. The truth is, we want it easy. We don't want manna from heaven that we have to go out and collect up.
[39:53] We want it to fall right into our laps. We don't want quail to come down that we've got to go out and catch. We want it to be directed to fly right through our campfire so they come out toasted and we can't eat them right away.
[40:06] And we don't want to have to have the bones to pick out of their skulls. We just want to sit around, like they said, the flesh pots of Egypt, and amuse ourselves to death.
[40:22] That was the name of a book. That our culture is going more and more in the direction of amusing ourselves until we destroy ourselves. This country, this culture, your families, this church will not be destroyed from the outside.
[40:39] They'll be destroyed because we become idiots. People so focused on nonsense. Do you know that there are people that spend their day watching stuff like this?
[40:51] on nonsense.
[41:05] F noon in the裡 watching сноваせ You never knew cucumbers had such an effect on cats, did you?
[41:27] But literally, people will spend hours and hours and hours and hours amusing themselves. Because you don't want to go out and face the struggle.
[41:39] But it's in the struggle. It's in the effort. It's in the test that God gives to us that we become great. That we become part of what God wants to bless.
[41:50] It's not just laziness. It's really more a sense that we've just kind of zoned out in life. And God wants us to do more than that.
[42:01] He wants us to participate. Participate in the dream. The dream isn't just going to fall into our world. It's something that we need to participate in. We need to become part of.
[42:13] We need to live our life into it. God wants to give our lives purpose. And he has intentionally created a dream that you can do.
[42:25] Not just watch it happen. He intentionally put the manna and the quail out in the desert where the people had to go and get it. Because it was part of making the dream happen.
[42:38] 2 Peter verse 4. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises. So that through them you may participate in the divine nature.
[42:50] Having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. God is a dream. He wants to make it work in our lives if we're willing to seek the dream.
[43:01] Live for the dream. Work for the dream. They were grumbling. God Moses brought us out here in the desert to die. What's the matter with him? They're grumbling at Moses.
[43:15] It wasn't Moses' idea to take him out in the desert. In fact, Moses didn't even want to go. Do you remember that? He didn't even want to do this thing. It was God's idea.
[43:27] It's God's dream. Some people don't want God's dream. They want to go back to the flesh pots of Egypt. They want to go follow their evil desires.
[43:38] Egypt. Egypt represents a meaningless quest. A life spent doing nothing that ever really matters.
[43:51] Amusing ourselves. Until we delude ourselves into thinking what we're doing really makes a difference. And will matter.
[44:03] I was thrilled that our Buffalo Bulls knocked off the number 13 team in the country. How cool is that? Go Bills.
[44:13] Bulls. Forget about the Bills. Bulls. Nine and one. Our Buffalo Bulls football team. I like this. This is cool. But we can get so caught up in the entertainment that we start to make it the purpose of our lives.
[44:32] And we don't recognize where reality begins and ends. Like this lady here. Gladys. Gladys.
[44:43] Come in, Gladys. Gladys. Hi. Gladys. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.
[44:59] Marge. Marge. Tell me what's wrong. Martin! Left! He's gone!
[45:10] This time he's gone for good! Oh, Martin, that's all. But when did it happen? Yesterday! And a buck didn't even leave a number! Oh, now, Marge, come on. Now, you've got to pull yourself together.
[45:21] Now, you know how crazy Martin gets. He's probably a little bit angry, that's all. I bet he's on his way home right now. Ha ha ha ha ha! This time he's gone. He's gone for good! He's never coming back!
[45:33] I'm gonna... I'm gonna... Oh, my God! No, stop it! Now, stop it! Let's at least find out he's gone for good, all right? Now, come on! Oh, my God!
[45:44] Martin, you've come back! I've come back. There you see! I've come back to pick up my clothes and tell you I'm running off with my secretary.
[45:57] Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! You laugh! I went to visit a man who was so lonely because no one stopped by to see him that he thought that he belonged to this family where the crazy parents lived across the street and some guy named Raymond was his best friend and we get caught in it.
[46:24] As if the purpose of life is to find comfort, sit in a chair, find a way to amuse ourselves, watch sports, and just play.
[46:39] They're complaining because God's plan is so difficult. It's not simple. It's not easy. There's some unpleasantness, isn't it? Today is Veterans Day.
[46:54] Today is Veterans Day. And it's a day we honor the people who have gone before us. Not just those who have served, although that's wonderful that they served, but the ones who even died.
[47:05] My father fought in two wars. He was a hero. Then he fought fires in Buffalo. He was a superhero. He was a man who went out and did it while others watched it on TV.
[47:21] I watch the war movies. I get all excited about them, but I haven't done anything. I talked to a recruiter the other day and he said nobody wants to join the military anymore.
[47:32] They can make more money doing something else. Thank God not everybody felt that way. So I pulled out a tie today. Everybody always wants to know what's on my tie.
[47:44] This one says WWJD. What would Jesus do? We like to use that, you know, for ethical decisions. But really, what did Jesus do? Jesus died to his glory.
[47:56] Jesus died to the easy way. Jesus gave up his life. So that we could live. See, God knows what he's doing, even if we don't understand it.
[48:08] Yes, the glory of the Lord was out in the desert. He called them out into the desert. Out into a place where he could make them into a people that were united. That had no distractions.
[48:19] That tough people. A people who understood who God was and understood what community was. No phone, no lights, no motor car, not a single luxury.
[48:30] No TV! No cell phone! Aaaaaaah! My cell phone went down to 4% the other day.
[48:41] I've never had my cell phone go down to 4%. The lowest I ever go is like 50%. Which tells you how much I use my phone. When people find out their cell phone is running out of battery, they literally freak out!
[48:55] Have you seen it? It's a phone! That's all it really is! But it's become our lives. Amusing ourselves to death.
[49:07] What would Jesus do? There was a scene like this where the people were out in an uninhabited place. And they came to Jesus and they said, Dude!
[49:19] There's no food around here! We're all hungry! Remember this? And Jesus gave them all a fish sandwich. He didn't use quail that time. He used fish!
[49:30] And you know what? They said, this is pretty cool! So, a few days later they came back to him and said, Dude! We'd like another McFish sandwich please! He says, really?
[49:43] And he answered them this way in chapter 6 of John. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here's the bread that comes down from heaven. Which anyone may eat and not die.
[49:56] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
[50:08] When I was a kid, my parents used to say, You better eat your dinner. You know, there's starving people in India or China. They usually flip back and forth between them. And being the wise guy I was, I'd say, Why don't we put it in a manila envelope and ship it to them?
[50:21] That's why I sometimes had trouble with my father. Not recommended for you young people. But the truth is, the world now can feed itself.
[50:32] I don't know if you know that. We're down to like 15% of the world lacks the food they need. And if we just took the food that we throw in the garbage and gave it to the rest of the world, we could feed those hungry people four times over.
[50:46] Just with the food we throw away. We have all the food we need. But the world is still hungry. And what it's hungry for is not the bread of earth, but the bread of heaven.
[50:58] Because we've starved our people from it. In the last few weeks, I've been in the funeral homes a lot, doing funerals. I went with the confirmation class at the funeral home. And you know what the funeral directors say to me every single time?
[51:10] Will you do funerals if we call you? I said, dude, I got all I can do to keep up with the people connected to our church. They said, well, you know, like 60% of the people who come to us don't have a church.
[51:23] 60% of our senior citizens don't have a church. Don't have God in their lives. They're studying for their final exam, and they don't even know where to find the answers.
[51:35] The world's desperate and hungry. What are we doing? Watching TV, playing on our cell phones, trying to find a more comfortable chair, when God is calling us out into the desert.
[51:54] It's not easy because God isn't so present out there. It's not easy because we might find it a little more difficult out there than hiding in here. But God is calling us to change a world, to bring a world to the grace, the power, the love of God, so that we can become an amazing people of God, the heroes like those people in Exodus we read about.
[52:22] And we can transform generation after generation with the love of God that we have in our hearts. God wants to do it.
[52:34] But He doesn't want to do it by Himself. He wants to do it with us. He wants us to participate. He wants us to be part of the process.
[52:45] He wants it to start with you and with me. That's all. God doesn't want us to do it in theύs for tomorrow. How about you, when he did it, The Von Bara in devenostrum, Every city soaring town Empty people live in darkness Every minute, every hour Hear the cry of desperation From a billion broken hearts With a need so great Where do we even start?
[53:29] Let it start with thee Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands and set them free Put my feet to follow after you Lord, change the world And let it start with me You have given us the orders There's a place for everyone I don't want to miss my mission In the plans that you've begun You have promised to go with me To the edges of it all
[54:29] Change everything that keeps me from your fall Let it start with thee Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Fill my hands and set them free Fill my feet to follow after you Lord, change the world And let it start with me Take my life Oh, that I am on my own Everything I am Everything I am Your Lord Let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion
[55:31] Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands and set them free Fill my hands and set them free I am on my own Share shovel my hands and set them free My hands set the captain free Who I need to follow after you For change the world And let it start with me Let it start with you You know, sometimes all we want to do is just get by in life
[56:36] Enough food to eat Some place to live Hope our kids somehow survive this crazy world But you know, I was raised in the house of a hero And I was raised not to just do what's okay Not to just get by But to do something amazing God has a promise for your life To do something amazing To be a hero To step out into the wilderness And trust God And watch Him do something That will make your life amazing Mm-hmm Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Here in this warm and weary land where many a dream and a lie With a tree planted by water
[57:39] We never will rock dry So living water flowing through God we thirst for more of you Fill our hearts and flood our souls With what desire Just to know you and to make you know Lift your name on high Shine like the sun The darkness running light We know we were made for so much more More than Mary Rides Time for us to hold and just alive We were made to die To your world we're digging deep
[58:53] To know our Father's love To the world we're reaching out To show them who we love There's many water flowing through God, we thirst for more of you To fill our hearts and fill our souls With what we desire Just to know you and to make you know We lift your name on high Shine like a Sunday promise from in line We know they were made for so much more Than for their merry life It's time for us to know more than just a ride We were made to thrive
[59:54] Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Just to know you and to make you know We lift your name on high Shine like a Sunday Darkness run and die We know we were made for so much more Than for their merry lives
[60:57] It's time for us to know more than just a ride We were made for so much more Something amazing God wants us to participate in his dream Do you realize that?
[61:39] God wants you to be like God To this world And all we have to do is put away our fear And our worries And put away our amusements And get down to real living So I'm going to invite you to pray with me Dear God in heaven Dear God in heaven I have sinned I have sinned I've worried about the wrong things I've ignored what you were doing I've ignored what you want Call me out into the desert Help me to trust you Help me to trust you Help me to believe in you Help me to believe in you Change my life Change my life Forgive my sins Forgive my sins Help me to be amazing Amazing grace Amazing grace For you For you In Jesus name we pray In Jesus name we pray Amen Amen Today God has got a new beginning for you Brand new start In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven
[62:39] Glory to God Amen And now as forgiven children of God Shall we greet one another With the peace of the Holy Spirit Christ my friend It's with peace Yeah It's with peace Yeah It's with peace Nice shirt Thank you Yours too I'm just like calling So Yeah I didn't hear So nice to play that song Yumi and Scott Let's play a song at the right tempo We played a double tempo Take our bread We ask you
[63:39] Take our hearts We love you Take our lives Oh Father We are yours We are yours Yours as we stand At the table you stand Yours as we eat Though let our hearts forget We are the sign of your life With us yet We are yours We are yours We are yours We are yours We are yours With our bread We ask you Take our hearts We love you Take our lives Oh Father We are yours We are yours Lord The one that doesn't care about us or that set things into motion and is just watching from above God is here God is with us and God loves us everyone is welcome to come to the table whether it's the first time you've come to church or you've been coming all your life if today in this moment you are saying in your heart
[65:20] I want to be part of what God is doing in the world you come to the table God has welcomed you God has invited you if you love God repent of your sin and seek to live in peace as a disciple of Jesus Christ you are welcome to come to the table the Lord be with you lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the Lord our God blessed are you our Alpha and Omega whose strong and loving arms encompass the universe for with your eternal word and Holy Spirit you are forever one God through your word you created all things and called them good and in you we live and move and have our being when we fell into sin you did not desert us you made covenant with your people Israel and spoke through prophets and teachers in Jesus Christ your word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth and so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending him holy holy holy Lord God of power and might heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest holy are you and blessed is
[66:46] Jesus Christ who called you Abba father as a mother tenderly gathers her children you embrace the people as your own and filled them with a longing for a peace that would last and for a justice that would never fail in Jesus suffering and death you took upon yourself our sin and death and destroyed their power forever you raised from the dead this same Jesus who now reigns with you in glory and poured upon us your Holy Spirit making us the people of your new covenant on the night before meeting with death Jesus took bread gave thanks to you and broke the bread he gave it to his disciples saying take and eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me when the supper was over he took the cup and again gave you thanks and praise he gave it to his disciples saying 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 do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me and so in remembrance of these your mighty acts in
[68:15] Jesus Christ we offer ourselves and praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ's offering for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts that in the breaking of this bread and the drinking of this wine we may know the presence of the living Christ and be renewed as the body of Christ for the world redeemed by Christ's blood as the grain and grapes once dispersed in the field are now united on this table in bread and wine so may we and all your people be gathered from every time and place into the unity of your eternal household and feast at your table forever through Christ with Christ in Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours almighty God now and forever amen shall we pray together the prayer Jesus taught us our the prayer Jesus taught us our Father who art in heaven who art in heaven heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven 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 and the glory forever and ever amen will those who are serving please come forward
[70:03] Thy will be angels JD who aku physicians I who amor was the Lord as good as anything my God Whoo� Thank you.
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[72:03] Come and join us with your Lord. Thank you.
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