[0:00] Good morning, church. Joshua Connection, what a special day we have for you today. Today is the day we celebrate our junior church third graders moving up into the big sanctuary.
[0:13] So on that day when we all come back into the sanctuary, all of our third grade friends are going to be with us. That is an exciting and wonderful thing. And so as we usually do, we're going to have the junior church lead in your opening worship.
[0:30] So be with us. You're going to want to get a couple things. You're going to want something, a tambourine to shake, or maracas, or maybe a couple of sticks to click together.
[0:41] And if you don't have anything like that, you could use two spoons or you can just clap your hands. As we begin our worship today, we are celebrating what God has done in the life of all of our church families and especially those third graders who are going to be moving up.
[0:59] So as we begin and open in worship, let's remember this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[1:21] Let the Lord has made. I will rejoice. I will rejoice and be glad in it. And be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[1:34] I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[1:45] This is the day that the Lord has made. That the Lord has made. I will rejoice. I will rejoice and be glad in it.
[1:58] And be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:14] This is the day that the Lord has made. This is the day that the Lord has made. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[2:33] This is the day that the Lord has made. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made. And now, church, will you join in prayer with me?
[2:50] Dear God, thank you for being with us this morning. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to save us from our sins.
[3:10] Thank you for the Holy Spirit who always reminds us of everything Jesus taught and of how much you love us.
[3:31] Help us to worship you real well this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.
[3:44] And now it's time to enter into God's presence with singing and dancing and clapping hands. Make a joyful noise to the Lord and play those instruments.
[3:55] I am so glad that we have the video of this song from last year that we can sing and rejoice and be excited with. So pick up your tambourine or pick up your sticks or pick up your spoons.
[4:08] Clap your hands together and march around your living room because we are going to enter his gates with thanksgiving in our hearts. I will enter his courts in praise.
[4:26] I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice that he has made me glad. He has made me glad.
[4:38] He has made me glad. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. He has made me glad. He has made me glad.
[4:48] I will rejoice for he has made me glad. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in our hearts. I will enter his courts in praise.
[5:02] I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. He has made me glad.
[5:14] He has made me glad. I will rejoice for he has made me glad. Oh, church, isn't it wonderful to be in God's presence, to have entered in where the Holy Spirit can touch all of our lives.
[5:28] God is so good to us. And one of the things we do in junior church is to sing and dance and clap our hands and make that joyful noise to the Lord. Right now, I want you to stand up.
[5:40] We're going to do that song called You Are Good. And I know the children know when we do You Are Good, we all stand and we hold hands. And at the beginning of the song, we just walk around.
[5:53] We walk around the circle with our friends, with our families, and then we're going to have a part where we go into the circle and come out of the circle and go into the circle and come out of the circle.
[6:07] And then, when we get to the part that says, we worship You, Lord, lift up our hands and wave them before God. Just be worshiping God and so excited about the presence of God.
[6:21] And I know that some of you can't get up and march around a circle with your friends. That's okay. You can clap your hands with us while you sing the song. And when we get to the part where it says, we worship You, you can lift your arms up and you can wave your hands too as you sing, we worship You.
[6:39] Hallelujah. Again, we've got a video from last year and you can watch what's happening with the circles of the children and their helpers up in the front. Follow along.
[6:51] You're going to have a wonderful time dancing in praise and worship to our Lord. Lord, You are good and Your mercy and glory forever.
[7:10] Lord, You are good and Your mercy and glory forever. You are good and Your mercy You are good and Your mercy and Your mercy forever.
[8:18] You are good and Your mercy forever. And I know that children really can give us a wonderful example of childlike faith. The scripture even teaches us, a little child shall lead them. It's kind of a paradox that in the midst of our children growing up, we should say that a little child will lead.
[8:38] It's a wonderful thing though to be able to celebrate these children. They're going to be receiving a Bible, a special Bible that we always get and give to our third graders who move up.
[8:51] And so I want to celebrate all of the children who are from our third grade junior church who will be receiving those Bibles. Celebrate with me. Grace Mahalski, Grace Mahalski, Connor Heineman, Charlie Remillard, Brianna Larmond, John Lickers, Mason Moss, Lauren Brown, Lorelei Dutchess, Caitlin Fendrick, Drayton Fowler, Caspian Gustafson, Victoria Ruhlman, and Liam Terry.
[9:30] We are so excited for these children who are moving on, who are going to be sitting up in the big sanctuary with all of their friends and family when we return here.
[9:40] Jesus loves us so much. He is truly our best friend because he has shared God's love with all of us. And we know, I know you know how to do it, Junior Church, and I bet all of the friends and family know now too, when God's love is in our heart, we can love everyone.
[10:03] And it's such a blessing to be able to share God's love with everyone because God shares God's love with us. Right now, we're going to remember what a wonderful friend we have in Jesus.
[10:16] We thank you for celebrating with us. We thank you that you have been so gracious as to allow the Junior Church children to be able to lead you in the beginning of worship.
[10:30] And so now, let's sing together that beautiful song, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. What a Friend We Have in Jesus What a Friend We Have in Jesus What a Friend We Have in Jesus Everything to God in Prayer Oh, what peace we are in forment Oh, what needless pain we bear Oh, because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer
[11:33] Have we trials and temptations Is there trouble anywhere We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer Can we find a friend so faithful Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer Are we weak and heavy laden Are we weak and heavy laden Are we weak and heavy laden Are we weak and heavy laden Are we weak and heavy laden Compered with a love of care Precious Savior, still our refuge Take it to the Lord in prayer
[12:36] Do thy friends despise forsaking thee Take it to the Lord in prayer In his arms he'll take and shield thee Thou wilt find us all is there The Lord be with you And also with you Welcome, I'm so glad that you're here with us In worship this morning And we ask that if you haven't done so already That you take a moment And you fill out the friendship card There is a link for that So it's a digital friendship card And on that friendship card You just put your name on it If we've not had any communication before Put your email address on there And we can get connected We also have a section on there For prayer concerns And we do pray over those So if you'd like to have Your prayers lifted up Please put that on the card And also a section for blessings God is so good And is blessing us so much And we have an opportunity to share that
[13:37] And we want to rejoice along with you And all of those are actually projected The next week in worship Also we want to invite you In this time To areas of discipleship So we have If you're on Facebook We have the Peace UMC Fellowship Group And I'd like to invite all of you Who are on Facebook To join with that Because we have opportunities For devotion and prayer and music And it's just a wonderful community gathering We're also beginning small groups soon And so if you're interested In gathering with a small group To be able to talk with each other And grow in faith And talk about your faith journey And how you're doing with God If you are interested in joining that Please let the office know We've got some people Coming on board with that And we're hoping to get that started soon We also Every week we have Our children in worship Today is As you know Is already moving up day And we also have for that A children's activity bulletin So you can download that
[14:38] And your kids can have something To color in Throughout the whole worship experience And part of worship Is giving back to God Because worship is An experience of God And we reflect back to God What God has done for us Our commitment Our love And so we give back to God And so we have a time of offering And so for our offering time this morning We're going to be hearing From Susan Wasayowicz Yes ? ?
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[15:34] Thank you.
[16:04] Thank you.
[16:34] Thank you.
[17:04] Thank you.
[17:34] Thank you.
[18:04] Thank you.
[18:34] Thank you.
[19:04] Thank you.
[19:34] Thank you. Thank you.
[20:06] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[20:42] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[20:54] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[21:10] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[21:58] Holy Spirit will set us on fire, but not the fire of impatience, not the fire of wanting it to be the way we want it to be, but I hope it's the fire of leaning into God, leaning in hard and trusting that the Holy Spirit will show us the way and the power of Jesus Christ will give us peace and the power of Almighty God who created all things will show us and guide us and help us.
[22:41] I will see you soon. This is going to be my last week here out in Colorado and I look forward to being with you soon. Take care.
[22:51] As we enter into our time of prayer, I want to remind you that if you go to Penn State, Penn State, you can find a friendship card that you can fill out online.
[23:03] It will give you a place to put messages to the staff and the pastors and also a place to include your joys and your prayer requests. So please be involved in that and let us know that you were here.
[23:17] Now, our message for our ongoing prayer vigil comes from prayer team member, Marsha Buhlman.
[23:28] She quotes Isaiah 41 verse 10. Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you.
[23:40] I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Marsha writes, as we face the transition of two pastors leaving and two new ones coming in all the changes in the world and our relationships with each other, let us remember that God constantly throughout the scriptures tells us not to be afraid.
[24:07] He's still there loving us, guiding us in our search and will never leave us or forsake us. Let's welcome our new pastors, even as we say goodbye to Pastor Tom and Pastor Lisa, with the love of God that is in our hearts, the love that God has given us for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[24:31] And I do pray that you keep that prayer prompt in your minds as you pray for the church in this week. Pastor Kathy asked for prayers for a new grandbaby who was going to be on the way.
[24:44] Well, this past week, I think it was on Thursday, Pastor Kathy's new grandson was born into the world. So let's rejoice with them and keep them in prayer as the baby begins to grow and Kathy's family gets used to a new child and a new grandchild.
[25:05] And now I know that you have concerns in your hearts as well. So let's take all of these to the Lord in prayer.
[25:23] Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for your great love for us that you call us to pray.
[25:33] You know our needs before we even ask. And yet you want us to join together with you. We love you so much, Lord, and now lift up our concerns before you.
[25:50] We are lifting up all of those, Lord God, who are sick and infirm. Those who are in need of a touch from you. Whether they need healing in their spirits, their souls, or their bodies, Lord God, we know that you know what they need.
[26:04] So touch them, Lord. Be with them, Lord. Bring healing to those who are suffering because of the COVID-19 virus.
[26:15] Bring healing to those who are suffering from cancers of all kinds. Bring healing to those who have been injured, to those who have illnesses like COPD and all kinds of other things, Lord God.
[26:30] The list is so long. There is so much sickness and disease in our world. Please touch people, Lord God.
[26:40] Let them know your love and mercy. Be with their doctors and their nurses. The other medical professionals who are working with them and their family or friends or whoever it is who is serving in caregiving in their lives.
[26:59] Encourage them, Lord, and draw them near to yourself that they may desire to draw closer to you. We pray also, Lord, for those who are grieving losses.
[27:15] All kinds of things have been lost during this time, Lord God. Lives have been lost. Jobs have been lost. Time learning has been lost. Ways of life have been lost.
[27:29] We just pray in Jesus' name for all of the grieving that is happening through all of the changes that are going on right now.
[27:41] We just pray in Jesus' name that we would know your presence, that your people would feel your peace and your compassion as you just wash over them with love.
[27:55] Help your body, Lord God, the church, to reach out to one another with comfort, with encouragement.
[28:07] And give us what we need, Lord God, to reach out to those who do not know you. Let them be drawn to yourself, Lord God.
[28:18] Help them by your grace, by your spirit. Draw them near. Give us the words that they need to hear to know how much you love them.
[28:33] Help us, Lord, to be good and faithful witnesses to you. And, Lord, we pray for all of the things that are going on in this world, that are going on in our nation, that we just ask in Jesus' name, Lord God, that your people would be able to witness for you of your mercy, of your love, of your justice, of your power to bring change that is necessary.
[29:03] Change that has been too long in coming, but that seems right now, Lord, to be coming in your good time. Lord, I am grateful, we as your people are grateful that we have been hearing the gospel message come forth from places we have not heard it come forth in many years.
[29:22] People who might never have heard your message of salvation, your message of love and faith and mercy and justice, Lord, they're hearing it.
[29:33] Help us as your church to be faithful to that message, to not let people see us and think that we really don't believe what we say, that we really don't act out what we say we believe.
[29:51] Help us, Lord, to believe what you would have us believe, to walk in the ways you would have us walk, to be the people you've called us to be.
[30:03] In the midst of these difficult times, that true lasting change, bringing us all closer to your kingdom in heaven.
[30:17] Let it be, Lord, on earth as it is in heaven. And now, Lord God, as we continue in our worship, let your word continue to wash over us.
[30:29] Let the songs of praise that we sing fill us with your love and your mercy. Let the message that Pastor Tom brings to us this day fill us with hope. Give us a sense of direction that's coming from you.
[30:45] And let all of it together wash over us and transform us into the people you need us to be in this hour. We pray that all of our worship will be a blessing to you, even as you bless us through it, that we may go forth and bless your world.
[31:05] And now we pray together as Jesus taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[31:23] Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come.
[31:58] Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come.
[32:18] Thy kingdom come. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord? Thank you.
[32:58] Thank you.
[33:28] Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever.
[33:42] His faithfulness continues through all generations. This is the word of the Lord. Lord, I've been hanging up things in my house lately out at Silver Lake as we're moving in.
[33:54] We're trying to figure out where everything belongs. And Pastor Jackie and I have collected these crucifixes. Now, they're not the kind that normally hang in a house, which are kind of small. These are good size, you know, maybe two, two and a half feet tall.
[34:07] Where do they go? And where do we put our chalices that we've collected? And where do we put all the things that speak to us about God? Where is the soul of our house?
[34:18] At church, we consider this room to be the soul of our house. We have a sanctuary, which some people think is a waste of space. And we should make a sanctanasium, a kind of a gymnasium, fellowship hall, you know, sanctuary all mixed together.
[34:33] Because it's a good use of space. But we set aside a room specifically to worship God. Because when we walk in this room, we think, God. All the things that are going around in the rest of our lives drift away.
[34:48] And when we come here, it just sets our hearts, our minds, our souls, our lives on God. And we treat it with special attention. It's not the place we run around.
[34:59] It's not the place where we act out. It's not the place where we might shout so much. Oh, it says, shout for joy to the Lord all the earth. That just sounds so wrong, doesn't it?
[35:10] Shout to the Lord. In church. I don't know about you, but since I was like about this big, I've had people tell me, shh, be quiet, we're in church.
[35:22] Right? It seems like this is almost inappropriate, this shout for joy. We grew up in something called modernism.
[35:34] At least I did. We're a little past that right now. But it's a time when we were very focused in a maybe obsessive way about education, about learning.
[35:46] Believe it or not, for those of you who are younger, we were taught to sit and listen for an hour and a half to a lecture and actually hear what was being said. Now, in our modern world, that doesn't make any sense anymore.
[35:59] We've got to have a scene change. We've got to have something happen every couple of seconds. In fact, this kind of preaching is tough for me because you're used to me wandering around. It's hard to do here. And that helps you to focus.
[36:12] But in worship, we were taught to be quiet and listen to the lecture. And so it even changed what we saw as worship. And in fact, what I'm doing now became, for many people, the most important thing about worship.
[36:27] We need to hear a sermon. The sermon is the core of worship. Now, it's good to learn. And we're going to talk next week about loving God with all our mind.
[36:37] But we need to be careful that we don't turn worship into an exercise in education and behavior modification. Jesus makes me want to shout, lift my heels up and shout.
[36:52] Can you imagine that? We'll do the wave. We've done that in church. I remember one young man, he was dancing down here one Sunday morning. A couple of the older people were like, you shouldn't be doing that.
[37:03] You shouldn't be doing that. David danced before the Lord. King David, we've been talking a little bit about him. King David danced before the Lord when they brought the Ark of the Covenant in. And he was getting so demonstrative and just really getting into dancing that his wife, Michal, said, you are embarrassing.
[37:23] Did you do that to show off for the servant girls? Really? Seriously? And David said, I'll embarrass myself in front of anybody when I'm praising God. It really wasn't a good thing for their relationship.
[37:35] We have these struggles sometimes between husbands and wives. But this was really a situation where Michal was feeling that somehow there's only an appropriate way to act at all times.
[37:48] And we've become a people that sometimes we begin to lose the real sense of worship when we think it's all about just being solemn and quiet. And there's a place for be still and know that I am God.
[37:59] But there's also a place for shout for joy to the Lord all the earth. Love the Lord your God with all your soul.
[38:10] That's what we're talking about this week. Love the Lord your God with all your soul. We talk about that being prayer and worship. Worshiping God.
[38:21] What is worship? How do we even know what it is? In 1 Corinthians, we get a short definition. Here's something that Paul said should be a part of worship. What then shall we say, brothers and sisters?
[38:34] When you come together, each of you has a hymn or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
[38:46] Now there's a couple of things that were left out in there, you know, because it doesn't talk a lot about prayer, which is part of worship. And it doesn't talk about the offering, which is part of worship. And it doesn't talk about the sacraments, which are part of worship.
[38:59] There are a number of things that we do, but there are elements that are part of what we do to worship. And they transform us from being just in a regular place in our being to a sacred place.
[39:18] That's why we have a sanctuary, because it's a sacred place. In verse 4 of this psalm, this is my wife's favorite psalm, by the way, it says, Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.
[39:33] Give thanks to him and praise his name. Two things that are lifted up by the psalmist here are praise and thanksgiving.
[39:44] Something that sometimes in some churches we've lost a sense of. Other churches, they seem to have a lot of it. Praise. Why do we praise God?
[39:55] In verse 3 it says, Know that the Lord is God. That almost seems kind of strange, doesn't it? God is God. But that's part of the reason we come to praise God.
[40:09] It's not because God needs us to say, Oh, you're so wonderful. It's not that God has a self-esteem problem. It's that we need to praise God.
[40:21] When we praise God, we remember that God is God, and we remember nothing else is. One of the reasons we need to come to worship and we need to praise God is because we need to remember we're not God.
[40:37] We need to remember nothing else is. Nothing in our life. All the things that we focus on day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. The things that we become almost obsessive about, they're not God.
[40:50] They're part of God's creation. Praise is an expression of God and the presence of God that fills our hearts with joy.
[41:04] The joy of the Lord is my strength, the scripture says. You know, things can be depressing, and right now we've got all kinds of depressing things in the culture around us, in our world around us.
[41:15] I've gotten to the point where I really struggle to even turn on the news. I want to know what's going on, but I really don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that everything is falling apart and everything's negative and everything's bad.
[41:31] And I also don't believe it's true. But we don't hear a lot about that. What we hear about is all this depressing stuff. And when we come to church, the last thing we need is to get depressed.
[41:44] And yet, so oftentimes, what people present as a religion is really depressing. It's a focus on sin and on brokenness and on temptation.
[41:55] And we even, as preachers, get tempted to focus on the negative. Because somehow we've learned that we have to present a problem, a fault, a depressing thing, so that we can teach you that you need to change.
[42:11] Because if we don't convict you with something wrong, you won't transform who you are. And there's some truth to that, and conviction is helpful in helping us to grow. But there's also something about growing because we're drawn to the wonder and the joy and the blessing that is God.
[42:28] And just allowing God to flood over our souls draws us to something that's better. Reminds us we're not God, but that we can be filled with the joy of God.
[42:49] And by the way, it says the entire creation. The entire creation will shout for God. Shout for joy to the Lord all of the earth.
[43:00] We need that joy. We need music that has joy. It speaks to the music. It actually says that. It says, where is that?
[43:12] Verse 2. I'm on the wrong page. It says, worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. Now, I know that there's sometimes that a song with pathos can move us and change us.
[43:27] But I've got to tell you the truth. When we just get rocking on some great song and just celebrating, it feels good. Lord, you are good, and your mercy endures forever.
[43:39] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hosanna. Hosanna. The blessed words of our faith that lift up our faces and give us joy.
[43:50] Praising God is a part of worship. An essential part that the psalmist is drawing us to. And thanksgiving. Praise and thanksgiving. God is the one who created us.
[44:02] God is our parent. God is the one who brought us into this world. And we need to show that we're grateful. Honor your mother and father. Because they brought you into this world.
[44:14] They gave you life. They took care of you when no one else could or would. They carried you when you couldn't walk. They fed you when you didn't even know how to eat.
[44:26] God provides everything for us. We are his people. The sheep of his pastures. We actually belong to God. We belong to the good shepherd.
[44:37] And the good shepherd protects us. His rod and his staff. They comfort us. The good shepherd provides for us what we need to eat and to feel safe and to walk through this world.
[44:49] And so we give thanks to God. Because he gives us everything. And we need to thank God. For everything. For everything.
[45:00] Instead of thinking somehow we made it happen. It's something we did. I know that it's important that we learn in worship.
[45:11] We'll talk about that next week. I know it's important that sometimes we have a quiet time to hear God whisper in our ears. I know that there's an appropriate place for us to come in reverence before the Lord.
[45:25] But the psalmist here is also saying to us. We really need the joy of the Lord. We need it. We need it because we come here in the midst of what sometimes feels like brokenness.
[45:41] And lately it feels like an awful lot. When I was young there was a song Buffalo Springfield had called, There's something happening here.
[45:54] What it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a gun over there telling me I got to beware. There's battle lines being drawn.
[46:08] Nobody's right when everybody's wrong. Young people speak in their mind. Getting so much resistance from behind.
[46:20] It's time we stop. Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going around. I grew up in more turmoil in the streets, more protests, more riots in one day than we've seen in this entire episode.
[46:40] Not to diminish what's going on. I'm just telling you that that's my childhood. That's what my young years were. I have an understanding of what it is to feel as if that somehow you're being manipulated.
[46:56] You're 18 years old. You can carry a gun and go to war, but you can't vote. That's what our life was. Because of the color of your skin, you can't drink out of a certain water fountain.
[47:11] Brokenness. And here we are back to a struggle. I don't think anybody really thinks that all police officers are evil.
[47:22] And I don't think anybody really thinks all protesters are evil. And I don't think anybody thinks they're all good on either side either. David wrote a psalm. And this is what it says in there.
[47:34] Turn from evil and do good. Then you will dwell in the land forever. For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed.
[47:45] The offspring of the wicked will perish. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. David described as a man after God's own heart.
[47:56] Amazing that he could write about the justice of God, which is an essential part of the Christian faith. And yet David not only got in an argument with his wife, Michal, he went and had an affair with another woman.
[48:13] And if that wasn't enough, he had that woman's husband, who was one of his loyal soldiers, sent to the front of the battle to be killed so he could take his wife. Even though he was married to the princess, most beautiful woman in the land.
[48:28] Oh, and he had a couple of other wives besides. That wasn't enough. David, who spoke so profoundly about justice and righteousness, also was broken.
[48:40] Nobody's right. And everybody's wrong. There's just a lot of struggle here.
[48:54] And the difficulty is, is if we try to find righteousness through our own efforts alone, we will find out that every one of us has capacity for good, but every one of us has capacity for evil.
[49:05] That in all of our hearts, there's, there, there's the ability to have both. And so what we need is we need to draw near, draw near to the very source of goodness and justice itself.
[49:21] You see, worship invites us, invites us into the presence of God. Not that God isn't everywhere. It's just when we worship, we make God present in our life in a more powerful way.
[49:34] And when we do that, we bring goodness and love into our life. So that more of our life will be filled with goodness and love.
[49:45] Because instead of filling our lives with rage and hatred and anger and brokenness, we can fill our lives with goodness and love and hope and possibilities and dreams. How else can people forgive when these horrible tragedies occur?
[50:02] And yet you hear it time and time again. When something awful happens to a Christian. I can give you the examples. And they forgive. Because they've drawn close to the God who is love and is goodness.
[50:22] We have pictures of our parents in our house. It's an interesting thing. Our parents have passed away. And yet we keep their pictures. They're a part of our lives.
[50:34] They are the ones who created us. They are the ones who not only gave birth to us, but created what we think, what we believe in, who we are. And we don't want to forget them ever.
[50:49] We even have a little stone thing that we hang on the tree that looks like my father's face. We just found it somewhere. And it was like, there's my dad. So he stares at me when I'm sitting on the front porch.
[51:02] I'm not sure what that means, but it does something to me. Because my daddy's watching me all the time. And I'm glad he's watching me. And I'm glad we remember him.
[51:15] And I'm glad we make a space in our house for our parents. But we also have to make a space in our home and in our lives for our heavenly daddy.
[51:28] Because just being around God changes things. In the book of Psalms, in 107, it says, Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
[51:41] Give thanks to God, for he is good. Not that God does good things. The definition of what is good is God.
[51:52] Somebody called Jesus good teacher and he said, Only God is good. God is the definition of good. What God says and does is good by definition.
[52:04] And being around him changes us. In verse 5 of this passage, it says, The Lord is good. His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues to all generations.
[52:18] Only God is good. And if we fill our lives with that presence of goodness, if we take time to draw that in, we will be better people.
[52:30] Philippians says it. You've heard me share this passage before. Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble. Whatever is right, whatever is pure. Whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.
[52:40] If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. And then you will be more like God.
[52:53] Filled with his goodness and his love, which endures forever. In 1 John chapter 4, it says, Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is loved.
[53:04] You want to know what love is. Love is not passion. Love is not a feeling. Love is not chemistry that we might have for a person. Love is defined by God. God is love. The closer we get to God, the more we are around God, the more we will feel love, and the more we will be able to express love.
[53:22] God defines it just like he defines goodness. His love, as it said in verse 5, goes on forever, forever, and forever. You see, we condition our love.
[53:35] We sometimes think our love is just an occasional thing. The old humorous story about the young couple went in to get an engagement ring, and the young woman said to the young man, Well, let's just make it a small one.
[53:50] After all, this is only our first marriage. Only our first marriage? I was telling somebody just today, I said, you know, my wife's hair color is shifting.
[54:02] She was this gorgeous brunette. But when she started changing her hair color and becoming blonde, I would be across the sanctuary, and I'd see her walk in, and I'd go, Wow, who's that gorgeous woman?
[54:14] Then I realized it's my wife. Because I still think she's gorgeous. I still think she's wonderful. I still would choose her. And it's not because of what she looks like.
[54:25] It's not because of the physical passion. That's a wonderful thing. But it's because the closer we get to each other, and the closer we get to God, the more we start to understand love.
[54:37] Love is patient. Love is kind. Love doesn't keep a record of wrongs. You know that passage from 1 Corinthians 13. And you could just replace love with God.
[54:48] God is all those things. In 1 Peter chapter 4, it says, Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. The only way we break through the brokenness between us is by seeing the other person as someone to love.
[55:10] Our problem is we have right now people who are trying to dehumanize the other. So long as we can treat somebody as if they're not truly human, they don't really measure up to who we are, they're not one of us, then we can hate.
[55:28] But once we see them as our brothers and our sisters, as people who are walking through life together with us, then we have to learn to love. And we can break through all the struggles.
[55:43] In verse 5, it says, His love endures forever. Forever. Even when we're not faithful, God still loves us.
[56:00] As any parent would know, their love for their children is not conditioned by whether or not their children are perfect.
[56:14] It pleases us when they do things that honor us or that make us happy. But our love for them endures even beyond that.
[56:25] God loves us. His love endures forever. Even through our unfaithfulness.
[56:37] David found restoration with God. Now I don't want you to misunderstand. David had to pay a penalty. None of us would want to for his disobedience and his brokenness because it was so public that it hurt an entire nation.
[56:51] And so the consequences of his sin were horrendous. But the one thing he never let go of was God. And so God didn't let go of him.
[57:03] And David, even with his failings, became the greatest king Israel ever had. An amazing thing. That's the God.
[57:14] The God of love and the God of goodness that we need to invite into our hearts, invite into our homes, invite into our church. Because when we experience that, we experience the joy of the Lord that makes us want to shout.
[57:31] Romans chapter 12 speaks a little bit about worship. So let's be a little odd of a verse. It sounds like this. I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
[57:45] This is your true and proper worship. That's a strange thing. Offer our bodies as a pure sacrifice is worship.
[58:04] Sometimes when we look at the word body, what it really means is our essence, who and what we are, all of us. Jackie and I were looking around in our house to see where would we hang a crucifix.
[58:17] We found a room here and we found a room here because we had two crucifixes. But then I was looking around our house and I realized there's not a room in our house you can go into where you won't see God. I don't know if everybody likes that, but if you come into our house, you're going to see God.
[58:33] God is literally in every single room in our house. And not just in one spot. All over the room. It's just who we are. And because of that, we're reminded that God is with us.
[58:48] Jackie has put angels in all the windows in our family room. She's got a lot of angels. Now she's put in little churches. So that she feels God is looking down on us and protecting us in the room we spend the most time in.
[59:01] In our dining room, we have the words of faith and we have reminders that we give thanks to God for what we're doing.
[59:14] One of the crucifixes ended up in our bedroom along with other symbols of our faith. Everywhere we go, offering ourselves, offering our complete selves as a sacrifice, or in other words, as a commitment, as a giving to God, giving everything we are to God in all that we are.
[59:40] That's worship. Worship should be a part of every aspect of our lives. Gathering in a room like this with a bunch of people, and I hope that will happen very soon.
[59:53] We'll see what it's say. Not quite yet. That's worship. Gathering in a small group of people, it says, where two or three are gathered, God is there also. Gathering even by yourself, alone in prayer with your God.
[60:08] Or maybe singing to God. That's worship. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul.
[60:19] Worship Him in your home. Worship Him in your life. Worship Him in your heart. Worship Him in your church. Worship Him in everything. And everywhere.
[60:30] It's easy to get discouraged. Sometimes we just want to quit. I understand that. I've had many points in my life, might be during a day, or during a month, or during a season, when I just want to say, I'm done.
[60:48] I'm done. I'm going to walk away. You might think I'm doing that with retirement, but that's different. That's a shift. It's a life shift. I'm not quitting God.
[61:01] But I do want to quit life sometimes. I just feel like it. But when I spend time with God, and I let the joy of the Lord fill my life, just the presence of God changes me.
[61:18] When I am down, and oh, my soul so weary, when troubles come, and my heart burden be, then I am still, and wait here in the silence, until you come, and sit a while with me.
[61:42] You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains. You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.
[61:54] I am strong, when I am on your shoulders. You raise me up, to more than I can be.
[62:08] Walking through this life, alone, is not what God calls us to. He calls us to walk with him, and walk on his shoulders.
[62:23] The book of James says, submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you.
[62:36] The source of love, the presence of goodness. God is good, and wants to be good in you, and bless us, forever and ever.
[62:50] That's what it means to worship God. God is good, and I will punish you, and much harm to God.
[63:17] We rejoice that you can't do good in you. There wreath of mothers are new, and I will ask you to quote together, You are good, you are good when there's nothing good in me. You are love, you are love on display for all to see.
[63:30] You are light, you are light when the darkness closes in. You are hope, you are hope, you have covered all my sin.
[63:42] You are peace, you are peace when my fear is crippling. You are true, you are true in my wandering.
[63:58] You are joy, you are joy, you're the reason that I sing. You are life, you are life when your death has lost its team.
[64:12] Oh, I'm running to your arms, I'm running to your arms.
[64:22] The riches of your love will always be love. Nothing compares to your embrace.
[64:34] Light of the world forever reign. You are more, you are more than my words will ever say.
[64:48] You are Lord, you are Lord, all creation will proclaim. You are here, you are here, in your presence I'm made whole.
[64:59] You are God, you are God, you are God. Of all else I'm letting go. Oh, I'm running to your arms, I'm running to your arms.
[65:17] The riches of your love will always be love. Nothing compares to your embrace.
[65:27] Light of the world forever reign. Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing.
[65:40] No other name. Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing.
[65:51] No other name. Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing. No other name.
[66:03] Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing. No other name. Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing. My heart will sing. No other name.
[66:17] Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And oh, I'm running to your arms.
[66:30] I'm running to your arms. I'm running to your arms. The riches of your love will always be love. Nothing compares to your embrace.
[66:45] Light of the world forever reign. Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it.
[67:10] Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it.
[67:22] And you're in forever. Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it forever. Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it forever. People from every nation and song, From generation to generation, We worship you.
[67:45] Hallelujah, hallelujah, we worship you. For who you are. We worship you.
[67:56] We worship you. Hallelujah, hallelujah, we worship you. For who you are. We worship you. We worship you. We worship you. For who you are.
[68:07] You are good. You are good. Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it forever. Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it forever.
[68:21] Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it forever. Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it forever. Lord, you are good, and you're mercy and do it forever.
[68:36] And you are good. Lord, you are good, and you are good. worship you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
[68:48] We worship you, who you are. We worship you.
[68:59] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We worship you, who you are. You are good, All the time, all the time, you are good We worship you, hallelujah, hallelujah We worship you, who you are We worship you, hallelujah, hallelujah
[70:00] We worship you, who you are. We worship you. The Lord be with you.
[70:14] Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right everywhere and in everything to give thanks and praise to God who has created us, who has given birth to us, who has brought us into this world and will take us to the next one.
[70:35] And so we turn our lives over in all that we are and all that we do to our God who gives life and joy and even breaks our brokenness.
[70:46] God wants to take away our sin. God wants to take away the things that are wrong with us. God wants to take the evil out of our life. When we draw close to him and worship, that helps us to draw close to goodness.
[71:01] But we still need to confess. We still need to open our hearts to the grace of God. So I invite you to a prayer of confession. Dear God in heaven, I have sinned.
[71:13] I've done things I shouldn't do. Sometimes I don't want to do. I pray, Lord, you'll forgive me.
[71:25] That you'll turn my heart, turn my life, turn my actions, and turn my soul to be closer to you.
[71:39] Forgive me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And God has said that his love endures forever, even endures through our brokenness and our sin.
[71:54] And his grace comes into our lives to transform us and change us and make us perfect today. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.
[72:08] Glory to God. Amen. Amen. This week, I have a couple things I'd like you to do as a response to the word of God. I want you to walk through your house, first of all, and see where is God.
[72:22] Where do you have reminders of God for you? What are the things that you have in your house? Where are the places in your house that open up your heart and your mind to worship God every day through the course of your life because God is a part of your house?
[72:39] The second thing I want you to do is I want you to remember that just like me, we are not perfect, and no one is perfect. So I want you to look at other people and see the goodness in them.
[72:53] I want you to look at other people and see how you can be a joy to their lives and the presence of joy in their hearts. I want you to look and see where around you, you can bring love.
[73:07] So that as God changes our lives when we come to worship him, we can take that wonder that God gives to us, that joy, that love, that hope, and bring that to other people.
[73:22] Do that and see if you can't help change others as God changes us. God is our blessing. God is with us this day and always.
[73:33] And so with all the people in heaven and earth, we pray that his Holy Spirit would rest in our lives this day and fill us with his wonder, that we might experience the power of being God to this world, that we might be the wonder of God in all that we can be.
[73:52] And we pray, Lord, that you'll bless our prayers and our commitments in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. And now as Jesus taught us to pray, let us join together in saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[74:10] 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.
[74:24] 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. Amen.
[74:35] Amen. Amen. O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the world my hands have made.
[75:17] I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout, the universe displayed.
[75:34] Then sings my song, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art, then sings my song, my Savior God to thee.
[75:57] How great thou art, how great thou art, And when I think, and when I think, that God his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in, that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died, to take away my sin.
[76:37] That sings my song, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art, that sings my song, my Savior God to thee.
[77:01] How great thou art, how great thou art. Love the Lord your God with all your soul.
[77:14] Draw close to God, and you'll be drawing close to goodness, to joy, to love. And we need more of that right now. If you're starting to feel as if life is pulling you down, and causing you to feel despair, the best thing you can do, is get closer to Jesus.
[77:32] Bring him into your heart, into your life, into your home, and God will transform you with joy. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hosanna. May God be with you.
[77:43] Go in his peace. году's a world of Sp Tottenham. capable ofでき Cateriaans. Terence is a budgetary of the Lord ofetus. For겁nings is a place in the center for all generations.
[77:55] If you have a lifetime of pleasure, the life is a place in defence of the Lord of Jesus, to come to himself and receive a constant effort of any rights of others. выход of our son.
[78:10] He was spared a single time being with you, Thank you.
[78:42] Thank you.
[79:12] Thank you.