[0:00] I want a person who can't find anywhereå‘¢ A person who can't find the way As I'm more, I want you to tell It looks so great I have a voice Take a fade It looks so good By opening up Thank you.
[0:57] Thank you.
[1:27] Please pick up a welcome folder that's at the connection site or the welcome and information desk. We'd like to know you were here, so everyone, please put your name on the friendship card you'll find in the bulletin.
[1:40] If you would like to receive the church newsletter or need an update of any information, please be sure to fill out the address, email, and phone number. On the back, you can write prayer concerns, blessings, or notes to the staff.
[1:56] Please enjoy our service and have a blessed day. Good morning. Good morning. This is the day the Lord has made.
[2:07] Let us rejoice and be glad. This is the day.
[2:19] This is the day. This is the day. That the Lord has made. That the Lord has made. Let us rejoice. Let us rejoice.
[2:30] Let us rejoice. And be glad in it. And be glad in it. This is the day. That the Lord has made.
[2:41] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day. This is the day. That the Lord has made.
[2:57] Will you join with me in prayer? Dear Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for those of us that are here to worship you today, Father. Please help us to get the message from Pastor Lisa and help us to feel your presence here with us today.
[3:14] In your name we pray. Amen. If you're able, we invite you to stand as we sing, Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast.
[3:26] Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast.
[3:38] Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast. Let every soul be Jesus' guest. Ye need not one be left behind.
[3:53] For God hath bid all humankind. Sent by my Lord on you I call.
[4:04] The invitation is to all. Come all the world, come sinner thou. All things in Christ are ready now.
[4:20] Come all ye souls by sin oppressed. Ye lastless waters after rest. Ye poor and maimed and false and blind.
[4:35] In Christ a heart ye will confine. My message as from God receive.
[4:47] Ye all may come to Christ and live. Oh, let his love your hearts constrain. Nor suffer him to die in vain.
[5:04] This is the time no more delay. This is the Lord's accepted day. Come bow this moment at his call.
[5:19] And live for him who died for all. The Lord be with you. And also with you.
[5:30] Please be seated. Thank you.
[5:49] This Super Bowl, 140 million people will tune in to watch the big game while 50 million Americans are facing hunger. That's over 500 stadiums filled with people in need.
[6:02] And there's another need. A need to move beyond ourselves. To pull together to make a difference. Tapping the energy around the big game, Super Bowl of Caring mobilizes ordinary people to do extraordinary good in their local communities.
[6:18] Super Bowl of Caring was started with the youth pastors prayer. Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat.
[6:29] What is Super Bowl of Caring? Super Bowl of Caring is you. It's everyone who strives to make a difference. It's a timeless way to address the current needs of your local community.
[6:41] And we have a lot of work to do. With 140 million of us tuning in to the Super Bowl, what if we all decided to work together to serve our communities? We could make incredible plays in the fight against hunger and poverty in this country.
[6:56] One dollar, one can at a time. One dollar, one, at a time. Amen.
[7:12] And all of your donations for Super Bowl Sunday, for making sure that people have enough to eat, you can put your donation in your offering plate. I think there's something back in the back of the sanctuary, a soup pot that you can put something in later on.
[7:26] And that is a wonderful way to bless the people of this community. The clipboards that are going around are about the Seneca Street dinner. We always are needing to support the work that we do downtown at Seneca Street.
[7:41] We join with many other United Methodist churches taking our turn in helping in that effort. Please support them. And we have a prayer vigil coming up this Friday and Saturday.
[7:52] Please sign up to take a time. The instructions are on the clipboard. You can either sign up to pray from home and let us know when you're going to be doing that. Or you can come in during any time of the day or night.
[8:06] Just sign up for that. We have some special security procedures that are in place in the back of the sanctuary. There's also a table with some information about what we're going to be praying for.
[8:20] And you're welcome to pick those up on your way out. And now I think Scott James is going to come on up here and ask about the joys and concerns of the congregation today. You can grab a mic up there and we're all set.
[8:31] Good morning.
[8:46] Good morning. As we start off this time where we give our joys and concerns, we have one. Kelly Grimmer had a 10-pound baby boy on January 30th.
[8:57] So another addition. Very nice. Very, very nice. Ten pounds is a lot. I'm glad I wasn't there for that. What other joys do we have?
[9:12] Yes. I mentioned the great granddaughter. She was only eight pounds. Very nice. And grandchildren are wonderful, aren't they?
[9:22] Grandchildren are wonderful. Yes. I have a new grandson. He was now 12. A new grandson. His name is Silas.
[9:33] Silas? Okay. Silas. Okay. Very good. Was there somebody else up there? Put up their hand? No? Okay. Yes, Kelly. I just wanted to thank the church for supporting Boy Cup dinner last night.
[9:45] I know many people were there. They had a very successful dinner. And much of that is to thank the church. So thank you for that. As I understand, it was close to 500 dinners. Okay.
[9:59] Very nice. Very nice. Other joys and concerns. Or not concerns. Joys. Other joys. It's a beautiful day.
[10:11] Yes. Yes, that is a joy. I mean, the cold weather has some benefits. I hear it kills the emerald ash borer. So, okay. You know, I'm happy for that. But it's nice to have a break.
[10:23] Any other praises? Okay. As we remember all these wonderful things coming on with all the children being born and what a joy they are.
[10:34] Our grandchildren and sons and daughters. Let us remember the Lord as we give our tithes and offerings. Thanks. Thank you.
[10:53] So, you Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, to Thy heart to sing Thy praise.
[11:25] Singed of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
[11:36] Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung my flaming tones above. Praise the mountain, thanks the planet, mount of Thy redeeming home.
[11:55] Here I raise my heaven and ease her, hither by Thy help I come.
[12:14] And I hope by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
[12:26] Jesus taught me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God.
[12:36] He to rescue me from danger, interpose His precious blood. Oh, to praise Thou great a tender, daily I've done strength to be.
[13:03] Let Thy goodness, like a feather, bind Thy one, gave heart to Thee. Let's sing it, sing it, sing it, sing it, sing it, sing it, sing it for Thy course of love.
[13:31] Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. How to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Come to leave us, Lord, I love.
[13:42] Use my hour, door, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Come, Thou fount of every blessing To Thy heart to sing Thy grace The men in the valley of life Theapolis The América The méloun Blog The茶 The faktor The lacking
[14:47] The delicacy Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that we get together together as our people.
[15:00] And we thank you that we have this opportunity to give back to you the blessings that you've given to us. Lord, look after these blessings, multiply them, and encourage the people that these blessings are used for.
[15:13] In your name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. We come now to a time in our worship where we reach out and try to learn what's going on in the lives around us.
[15:38] So are there concerns that we'd like to lift up to the family here? I'm sure there are.
[15:49] Oh, yes. For sure.
[16:04] For sure. We know we have people that we know that are struggling. And we know that if they could come and have a family of Christ and be a part of Christ, that their worries, their issues would be greatly relaxed and their life would be much more enriched.
[16:23] Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead, Jackie. Yes. Andrew Foyt just passed away. Yes. After a traumatic brain injury. Karen? Karen? My God.
[16:34] Oh. Karen? Yes. Yes. Andrew Foyt just passed away. Yes. Yes. It's amazing how that works. One problem leads to another. But we all need people of faith. Karen?
[16:45] Karen? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's amazing how that works. One problem leads to another. But we all need people of faith around us so that we can be encouraged and know how to take the next step in our lives.
[17:04] Other concerns? From my back side, my mom had a brain hemorrhage. Okay. Other concerns? From my back side, my mom had a brain hemorrhage. Okay. Other concerns? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[17:15] It's amazing how that works. Yes. It's amazing how that works. One problem leads to another. But we all need people of faith around us so that we can be encouraged and know how to take the next step in our lives. Other concerns? From my back side, my mom had a brain hemorrhage.
[17:26] Linda, who had a brain hemorrhage. Okay. Other concerns? Yes. Okay. If we could pray before the Lord.
[17:40] Most high and holy God, you are wonderful and a mighty God. And we know you're here with us. And we know that there are times when it doesn't feel like you're close, but you say that you're here.
[17:53] And we really have to take a moment and adjust our view. Adjust our view and just remember that this world, being that it is a broken place, but you're still here to guide us through it.
[18:12] Even as we go through these trials. And some of these trials involve watching others. Involve watching others who are suffering.
[18:23] And we hear some horrible things that are going on. We know that some of our family, Mr. Deming is in rehab at DeGraff.
[18:37] So we pray that you be with him as he's in DeGraff recovering. And we hear of Linda who had a brain hemorrhage. And we know that can be an awful thing.
[18:48] And then we hear of others like Amy who is having another trial. And it just seems that it goes on and on and on, Lord. Please.
[19:00] Please. Please watch over the people that we care about. Bring people of faith around them. Bring people of faith around them so that one, they can know that you're there.
[19:13] They can know that you're there and they can know that you care and that you have people around them that care. And please, Lord, be with those that maybe their only issue is they're alone.
[19:28] And they don't feel your presence. And they need people. They need people from you that go by your name to come around them. And just touch their lives.
[19:41] And then we hear of others that are struggling with addictions and things. And they need you, too. And they need your people that go by your name to go out to them and touch their lives.
[19:57] Touch their lives and let them know that they care. That they care that their lives be changed and that they come back. They come to a place where they'll be welcomed and a place that will encourage them and a place that will help them find you who can give them strength to make good decisions.
[20:20] Lord, as we go through this day and we remember that it is Super Bowl Sunday and there is a big game today, help us also to remember those who are in need.
[20:33] Maybe they're hungry. Help us to look for opportunities, Lord, that you provide us. That we can go and serve those in need. Now, Lord, as we go into the service and we listen to Pastor Lisa, if you would touch her, Lord.
[20:50] Touch her and bring your anointing power on her so that she will speak your words and we will hear the truth. And we will, ourselves, will be encouraged and ready to go forward.
[21:01] In your name I pray. Amen. Now if we could hear from the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[21:13] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[21:24] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[21:38] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[21:48] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus passing by.
[22:06] He said, look, the Lamb of God. When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, what do you want?
[22:20] They said, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? Come, he replied, and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him.
[22:34] It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.
[22:46] The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, we had found the Messiah, that is, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, son of John.
[23:02] You will be called Cephas, which when translated is Peter. The next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, follow me.
[23:16] Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and about whom the prophets also wrote.
[23:32] Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nazareth, can anything good come from there? Nathanael asked. Come and see, said Philip.
[23:45] When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. How do you know me?
[23:57] Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you. Then Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the son of God.
[24:11] You are the king of Israel. Jesus said, you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.
[24:22] He then added, very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. This is the word of our Lord.
[24:34] Thanks be to God. Thanks, Louis. So the passage that Louis just read is in the beginning of John's Gospel and it's considered to be one of the stories of Jesus calling his disciples.
[24:52] The heading of this section in my Bible describes the story as being about Jesus' first converts.
[25:06] What do we mean when we say Jesus called them? Of the five people we read about Jesus spending time with in this passage, he actually only told Philip to follow him.
[25:21] John the Baptist was with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus pass by. He said to Andrew and John's disciples, look, the Lamb of God.
[25:34] And Andrew and John's other disciple, Andrew's friend, started following Jesus. This was probably not the first time John's disciples had heard him talking about Jesus.
[25:49] The Jewish people of that time and place were talking with their teachers about how to live good lives as God's people and what it would be like when the Messiah really came.
[26:03] How they should be preparing themselves for that. John was the one who told the religious leaders that he was not the Messiah, but was the one who was calling out in the desert, The Jewish faith had then, just like now, many different ways of being Jewish, very similar to our denominations in Christianity today.
[26:37] Different teachers and leaders all had disciples. Andrew was one of the disciples, Andrew was one of John's disciples, and he and the other person who was with John that day followed Jesus when John said, Look, there's the Lamb of God, as Jesus passed by.
[27:00] John didn't go with them. He stayed back as if he had prepared his disciples to leave him at the proper time. And they were following Jesus.
[27:14] Do you ever get the feeling that you were being followed? Sometimes it feels scary. You don't know who it is, but you get the sense that someone's there.
[27:26] Do you go faster? Or do you turn around and confront them? Sometimes it's annoying. You know, like when your little brother or sister is following you somewhere that you don't want them to go.
[27:45] But there's also the friend. That friend who runs after you going, Wait up! Wait up! That's someone you'd be happy to see.
[27:55] You turn around and wait for them with a smile on your face. You might even backtrack to meet up with them quicker. Remember, Andrew and his friend were following Jesus.
[28:07] But they didn't call out. They wanted something. But what was it? Did they leave John to confront Jesus about why their own teacher had told them he wasn't the Christ?
[28:21] Did they want to know why John had pointed Jesus out to them? What would you want to know about this man your teacher had called the Lamb of God?
[28:35] When Jesus turned around, he asked them what they wanted. Of all the questions they could have asked him to get the conversation started, all they could think of was, So, Jesus, where are you staying?
[28:55] I wonder if they felt like we sometimes feel when we finally get to talk to someone we'd really like to get to know, but we just can't think of a single thing to say.
[29:08] Jesus, though. Jesus meets them where they are, right in that awkward moment. When they don't have anything really relevant to say to him, Jesus responds in a way that makes them feel like they were welcome to follow him, even if he didn't ask them to.
[29:27] It's after they see him and recognize he's the guy they've been talking about with John, that they go after him. Once they step out, Jesus says, Come, and you will see.
[29:45] Jesus didn't call them, and he didn't call Peter. Andrew did that. After spending the day with Jesus, Andrew went to find his brother Simon and tell him that after spending time with Jesus, he and his friend realized they had found the Messiah.
[30:04] And the scripture says, Andrew brought him to Jesus. So Jesus now has three people who we find out do make the decision to become Jesus' disciples.
[30:15] But none of the three were converts from their Jewish faith. They weren't even converts from their teacher John's teaching.
[30:29] They had begun to find the promises of their faith coming to pass in the one they believed to be the promised Messiah. when I was a little girl, I attended St. Paul's Catholic Church in Kenmore.
[30:47] Some of you know that. I loved the stained glass windows that were pictures of the Bible stories I was learning about in my little kid catechism classes and during the Sunday Mass.
[30:58] I loved the smells of the incense and the candles as I walked in all dressed up on Sunday morning and the way my shoes sounded on the marble floor.
[31:13] I loved touching the water as I was walking in and making the sign of the cross. Every week to remember my baptism, it was a sign that I belonged there.
[31:28] I loved the liturgy, sitting, standing, kneeling, singing, reciting the prayers and responses in much the same way we do here when we celebrate Holy Communion and say the Lord's Prayer together.
[31:44] I understood that God loved me and had sent Jesus to die for my sins. I believed God had sent the Holy Spirit to help me be the person God meant for me to be and I tried everything I believed that God wanted me to do to be who God wanted me to be.
[32:03] It was a child's understanding of faith in serving God. One day as a young adult, I met Jesus. And in that moment, I knew I was entering into a dimension of faith in God that I had not known before.
[32:21] Like Peter and Andrew, I had no idea what it meant. I didn't know what to say. I just knew I wanted to be with Jesus.
[32:34] I wanted to stay with him. I think that's something we see in the way Andrew and his friend came to be Jesus' disciples. The first most important aspect of discipleship is spending time with your rabbi.
[32:55] John had been their rabbi, their teacher, but John knew that he had taken them as far as he could. John told them that a man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.
[33:08] John could baptize with water for repentance, but Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit, something John could not do. And John called Jesus the Son of God.
[33:25] Many people follow human leaders. We follow Dr. Phil to find out how to have better relationships. We listen to Oprah to find out what the best books are to read.
[33:39] There are a gazillion people's diet and exercise plans we can follow to try to improve our health. And, and, Marie Kondo is the go-to person to help us figure out what of our stuff we should keep and what we should get rid of.
[34:00] But Christians, those who are really disciples of Jesus Christ, have only one leader, Jesus. We need one another, of course, to continue to point each other to Jesus, especially when we're having a hard time.
[34:21] But none of us human beings is a substitute for God who gives us life in Christ. None of us can impart the wisdom for life that only God can.
[34:32] None of us can truly know what God's position is about anything in this life unless we're spending time with God, hearing from Him, like Andrew and his friend did when they went to see where Jesus was staying.
[34:47] just hanging out just hanging out with Jesus and listening to Him is the first most important thing that defines us as disciples of Jesus Christ.
[34:59] It's the thing that makes it possible for us to recognize and believe that Jesus is who He is. Peter's encounter with Jesus shows us more about being a Christian disciple.
[35:14] first, Jesus didn't call him. Andrew did. Christian disciples tell people about Jesus and call them to meet Him.
[35:31] Then, once Peter met Jesus, Jesus began changing Peter. Remember? Peter's name wasn't Peter, it was Simon.
[35:43] The first thing Jesus did when He met Simon was to give him the name Peter. When I first met Jesus as that young adult, I began to see things about my life and the world around me differently than I had before.
[36:02] God had immediately begun changing me. Some ways I had acted before, suddenly seemed very wrong.
[36:14] Things about the world I thought I understood were suddenly turned upside down. The more time I spent with God in prayer, reading my Bible and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me, the more I knew that human ways of perceiving this world are not often accurate, at least not according to how God sees things.
[36:37] As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I know that if I want to make good, holy decisions about my life, I have to discern God's position and choose to agree with God.
[36:51] As a Christian leader, I know my most important task is to tell people about Jesus and point them to a growing, developing, living, ongoing, perpetual relationship with, not me, with God.
[37:13] My job as your pastor is to walk with you on the way while I'm here. Not to let you live vicariously through my faith in God, but to show you what it looks like to be a disciple and to encourage you to do it with God.
[37:33] Christian disciples spend lots of time with God and they tell people about Jesus. Philip is the next disciple to come.
[37:45] He's the one Jesus found and then said, follow me. Jesus had decided to leave for Galilee. According to John's gospel, everything that's happening so far was going on in Bethany.
[38:01] Bethany is outside Jerusalem. Wait, let me draw you a map. Are you ready? Got to follow this map. Down here is the Dead Sea. Okay? Up here is the Sea of Galilee and between the two of them is the Jordan River.
[38:17] Connect them. Okay? Now, down here by the Dead Sea, just a little ways west of the Jordan River is Jerusalem and about halfway between Jerusalem and the Jordan I'll come over here so you all can see over there is Bethany.
[38:37] See it? Alright, hang on to that thought so far. Now, Bethany is outside Jerusalem between Jerusalem to the west and the Jordan River by the Dead Sea at the east.
[38:49] So, Galilee is about 90 miles north of where they were. They had a bit of a trip ahead of them.
[39:00] But the passage also tells us that Philip, Andrew, and Peter were from Bethsaida. That's a few miles past where Jesus was headed, up around to the top of the Sea of Galilee.
[39:19] You don't learn much about Philip here except that he realizes Jesus is the Messiah. He finds Nathaniel and Philip tells Nathaniel about Jesus.
[39:37] There's a lot of finding and following as Jesus begins gathering disciples. Andrew and his friend follow Jesus after John points him out.
[39:47] Andrew finds Peter and tells him about Jesus. Jesus finds Philip who for some reason decides to follow just because Jesus says follow me and then Philip finds Nathaniel.
[40:07] Nathaniel. He's the only one who raises a concern about the whole thing. He wants to know whether anything good can come from Nazareth.
[40:22] That's where Jesus was raised. Now Nazareth is on the outskirts of Galilee. Back to the map. Remember the map? Okay. Back to the map. Nazareth is on the outskirts of Galilee up here.
[40:35] It is almost directly north of Jerusalem. Straight up about 90 miles or so. Outside of Nazareth heading a little more towards the Sea of Galilee just for your information is Cana.
[40:51] You all know what happened at Cana? That's where Jesus goes to the wedding and turns the water into wine in the next chapter of John. It's only a few miles away from Nazareth.
[41:03] Jerusalem and Bethany are on the southern end of the Jordan River. Nazareth is north of Jerusalem near the northern end of the Jordan by the southern end of the Sea of Galilee right near Cana.
[41:16] Not only is Nathaniel questioning what's happening Jesus' hometown the very place Nathaniel is unsure about but that's where they're headed.
[41:30] In response to Nathaniel's question Philip says the exact same thing Jesus said to Andrew when Andrew asked where Jesus was staying.
[41:42] He said come and see. I think this is an important third thing about being a disciple. Disciples ask questions.
[41:57] They don't follow blindly just assuming they're going in the right direction because it seems to be the popular way to think about things. Of all the people we encounter in this passage Jesus is remembered as saying the most to Nathaniel.
[42:12] He affirms Nathaniel's faith even though Nathaniel was asking questions. Here is a true Israelite in whom is nothing false.
[42:25] This statement draws from the Psalms and the prophet Isaiah that Nathaniel would have known. It expresses that Jesus recognized Nathaniel as a devout Jew who loved and served God the best he knew how but not knowing who Jesus was.
[42:46] Nathaniel thought maybe that Jesus was merely flattering him. Maybe just to try and get him to follow along with this other band. He had already got Philip. So he pushed his question harder.
[42:59] How do you know me? And Jesus said he saw him under a fig tree. The fig tree was a sign for the Jewish people.
[43:10] It was a symbol of peace. It still is. But more than that, it was a place where devout Jews would sit and meditate on God and pray.
[43:23] I've always read this passage thinking that it meant Jesus saw Nathaniel in some kind of spiritual way. Like he wasn't actually there but was seeing Nathaniel in a vision and then told Nathaniel about it.
[43:38] It might have been that way. Might have been that Jesus just actually saw him under the fig tree. It doesn't really matter. Even if Jesus actually saw Nathaniel under the fig tree, his statement still means that Jesus recognized him as a devout Jew who would recognize God when he encountered God.
[44:01] Nathaniel did. And Nathaniel chose to follow Jesus too. So what do disciples of Jesus do? They go after Jesus when they see him.
[44:14] They spend time with him to find out who he is and what he thinks. They find others and tell them about Jesus and tell them to come and meet him.
[44:26] They follow Jesus themselves and they ask him questions. so they will understand better. Then we see the result of our faith.
[44:40] Jesus is quoted as telling Nathaniel you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Wow!
[44:51] Who gets to do that? Who gets to see that? Disciples do. You see church we get to see things as God sees them.
[45:05] And that's really different from the way this fallen world sees things. Our culture has taught us that there are things we should value and things we should not.
[45:16] Our culture is not in tune with God. If we are Christian disciples we will know what God thinks.
[45:28] we will have as the scripture promises us the mind of Christ. So how do you think God sees all the stuff that's happening here?
[45:45] Is there something wrong in a nation where tickets to a football game range from just under $3,000 to as much as $120,000 that people are willing to pay?
[46:06] While in the same week a Vietnam vet with PTSD named Larry freezes in a bus shelter because he doesn't see that he has anywhere he can belong that isn't out in the cold.
[46:18] old. I never met Larry but I have a friend who knew him. She said that he didn't want anything more than he needed.
[46:30] She offered him money for a meal once but he refused because he had eaten that day and he thought she might need her money. What does it mean when people choose to live in ways that we don't think is right?
[46:47] on either end of the spectrum. Hmm. I was in Israel again I learned again and saw again the Bedouins. The Bedouins are Arabs who live in Israel in wilderness and tents and makeshift shacks that they can pick up and move around as they move with their meager flocks following around and people want to know why doesn't someone help them?
[47:17] especially the Americans on the bus. And the Palestinian guide will tell you they don't want help.
[47:29] They want the freedom that their lifestyle allows them. Is it better to let them live as they choose or to force them into another way of life that we think is better?
[47:46] A way of life where people can choose to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to watch a game. them. What about when people have no choice?
[47:59] Like the masses of poor people that Mother Teresa cared for. She had no way of helping them out of their condition. She could only love them where they were at.
[48:12] That was her call. That and to make others aware of the many injustices of life in this world, no matter how hard we human beings try, we cannot fix this.
[48:27] I find it fascinating and terrifying that the poorest of the poor in this world accept the infants they're blessed with and do their best to care for them while affluent Americans celebrate their humanly granted right to deny life to those they decide are unwanted.
[49:00] In other parts of this world, governments limit the number of offspring people may create and because of that, cause their citizens to respond by ensuring those of excessive number or the wrong gender do not live to burden the system.
[49:22] Human beings do not know what to think about the world because we do not know what our creator thinks about the world. Those people who choose to follow Jesus, they're seeking God.
[49:41] They, like Jesus' early disciples, were seeking answers to the complexities of life that only God could provide. I remember when I thought I could see with human eyes how to solve the problems of the world.
[49:58] Then I met Jesus and I got a whole new vision. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I do claim to know the one who does. Human beings are forever and always drawn to God by God's spirit.
[50:15] That's why Jesus knew Andrew and his friend were following him. That's why they were welcome to spend time with him because God loves us.
[50:27] When we respond to God, he begins to change us so that we will be more like Jesus. That's why when we have that discipleship relationship with God, he will not mind.
[50:42] when we ask questions about why things are the way they are. God will give us God's mind and we will understand that the way mere human minds perceive things is usually not right.
[51:03] We need God to help us. We need God to save us. Thank God we have a mighty Savior. Amen? Thank God we can follow.
[51:16] We can be Jesus' disciples if we choose to look for him, if we choose to follow him. Thank God that we have been called to call others.
[51:28] Thank God for those of us who have faith that we can know him better, that we can learn from him the answers to all the troubling questions we have today.
[51:45] Will you pray with me? dear God, I have sinned.
[51:56] I have not perfectly done everything you want me to do. I have neglected to do some things you want me to do.
[52:10] forgive me, Lord. Give me the desire to spend more time with you so I can know you better.
[52:26] Help me see the world the way you see it so I will know what to do. Change my heart so I will want more and more to be like Jesus in every way.
[52:48] In Jesus name I pray. Amen. God's spirit is calling us today. God's spirit is calling us to seek him and to allow God to change our hearts.
[53:00] From wherever we're at, however long we've been walking with God, whether this is the first day we even heard about walking with God, wherever we're at, God is calling us to allow the spirit to change us more so we can have more of God.
[53:19] Let's sing about how God is changing our hearts. Let's make it our prayer that God would change our hearts. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.
[53:34] Glory to God. Please, please sing. Please. Please. Please. Change my heart, O God.
[53:54] Make it another truth. Change my heart, O God. May I be like you.
[54:09] You are the power, I am the clay.
[54:23] Hold me and make me this is what I pray. Change my heart, O God.
[54:37] Make it ever true. Change my heart, O God.
[54:51] May I be like you. take me love, see I want you breaths.
[55:13] ç—› life, let it be never the age. Thank you.
[55:49] Everyone needs forgiveness. God is self, a Savior. A whole foundation.
[56:05] Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save.
[56:16] Forever honor of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave.
[56:28] Amen. So take me as you are me.
[56:44] All my fears will heal you. I surrender. I surrender. Fill my life again. Give my life to follow.
[56:55] Everything I believe in. Now I surrender. I surrender. I surrender.
[57:06] Oh, oh, oh. Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save.
[57:19] Forever offer of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave.
[57:30] Shine your light and let the whole world see. Sing it for the glory of the risen King. Jesus, shine your light and let the whole world see.
[57:46] Lord, you sing it for the glory of the risen King. Savior, He can move the mountains My God is mighty to save He is mighty to save Forever, author of salvation Be those and conquer the grave Jesus, conquer the grave Jesus, conquer the grave And it's about those things for everybody involved in any situation
[58:51] That's the hard part That's the hard part Living in peace and love with everybody on all sides of a question Because if we live only with the people on the side that we agree with And if we love only the people on the side that we agree with We perpetuate the divide Our actions, our words need to be loving to everyone involved Whatever the question is The love that we share with people on all sides of the question That's what helps us find the answer And God will meet us wherever we're at In this moment As we're preparing our hearts to come to the table We can practice sharing that peace Find the people you don't usually share the peace with Find those people
[59:51] And share peace with them God's peace be with you Peace be with you Peace be with you Peace be with you What's the matter? You got a cold?
[60:19] You can do the flu shot Could be the flu and we just didn't get it that bad Thank you.
[61:04] No sin to hide, but you have set him from your side to walk upon this guilty side and to become Lamb of God.
[61:27] Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the Holy Lamb of God.
[61:41] Oh, wash me in his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
[61:55] So lost I should have died, but you have brought me to your side.
[62:11] To be led by your step and God, and to be called Lamb of God.
[62:25] Oh, Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the Holy Lamb of God.
[62:39] Oh, wash me in his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
[62:54] Oh, wash me in his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
[63:09] Amen, amen. This is where all the love is remembered. This is where we can receive the love of God in a unique and amazing way that only the sacraments can provide.
[63:24] Everyone is welcome to come to the table of grace. 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 this morning.
[63:39] So come. Come with faith to receive all God has for you. Come seeking to know God better. Come seeking to know from God how God would have you walk on and move on as a disciple of Christ.
[64:01] 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.
[64:19] 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.
[64:33] 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.
[64:46] And so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn. Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might.
[64:59] 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.
[65:10] Holy are you and blessed is Jesus Christ, who called you Abba, Father. As a mother tenderly gathers her children, you embraced a people as your own.
[65:23] You 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.
[65:37] 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.
[65:49] On the night before meeting with death, Jesus took bread and 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.
[66:09] Do this in remembrance of me. And when the supper was over, he took the cup. Again, he gave you thanks and praise. And he gave it to his disciples, saying, Drink from this, all of you.
[66:21] This is the cup of my blood. The blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it.
[66:35] 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.
[66:54] 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 juice, we may show the presence of the living Christ and be renewed as the body of Christ for the world, redeemed by Christ's blood.
[67:19] As the grain and grapes once dispersed in the fields 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.
[67:36] 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. Will you pray with me?
[67:49] With the confidence of disciples of Christ, the prayer Jesus taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[68:00] 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.
[68:15] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
[68:26] Amen. Now will those who are serving please come forward. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[69:08] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[69:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
[70:08] Thank you.
[70:38] Thank you.
[71:08] Thank you.
[71:38] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[71:49] Thank you. I'maman. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[72:24] Thank you.
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[77:54] Thank you. Thank you.
[78:54] Thank you. Thank you.
[79:54] Thank you. Thank you.
[80:26] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[81:00] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.