[0:00] Welcome to Niagara Falls First and Pendleton Center United Methodist Churches. The Lord be with you. And also with you. I invite you to our call to worship. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[0:20] This is the day. This is the day. That the Lord has made. That the Lord has made. Let us rejoice.
[0:32] Let us rejoice. And be glad in it. And be glad in it. This is the day. That the Lord has made.
[0:44] Let us rejoice. And be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day. That the Lord has made.
[0:59] Friends, would you pray with me? Almighty and gracious God, we are thrilled to be in your presence this morning. Let our hearts be open to your movement among us as we come to you in worship and praise.
[1:14] We ask this in the name of Jesus, the mighty one whom we all serve. Amen. I'd like to invite you all to stand, if you're able, as we sing together, Maker in Whom We Live.
[1:29] Maker in Whom We Live In Whom We Live In Whom We Are and Move The glory, power, and praise receive for thy creating love.
[2:12] Let all the angels run, give thanks to God on high, While earth repeats the joyful song and echoes to the sky.
[2:30] In kind of deity, let all the ransomed race render in thanks their lives to thee for thy redeeming grace.
[2:45] The grace to sinners show, ye heavenly hearts proclaim, and cry salvation to our God, salvation to the Lamb.
[3:02] Eternal, triune God, let all the hosts above, let all on earth be the record, and dwell upon thy love.
[3:19] When heaven and earth are led, before thy glorious face. Sing, O saints, thy love have made, thine everlasting grace.
[3:36] Please be seated. Good morning again, friends, and welcome to worship here at Pendleton Center and Niagara Falls First United Methodist Churches.
[3:47] It is a joy to be with you this morning, and we are coming with a special spirit of joy, as our VBS was a tremendous success, and it was wonderful. We thank all of you who were able to participate, and we look forward to how God is moving in your life, and hearing the stories of blessing that you have to share about your experience with it.
[4:06] We ask that you would take a moment to fill out the friendship card. It asks you for some basic contact information, and if you have a blessing or a concern that you wish to have us lift up in prayer with you, please add that as well.
[4:22] There's also a children's activity sheet available for you on the website, and if you would download that, you can have younger ones who are with you worshiping also participate in a different way that will engage them.
[4:33] This week, we're also asking everyone who may be interested in participating in Grief Share, a ministry that is a support for those who have recently lost someone in their lives, to consider registering for that ministry on our website.
[4:47] It will begin on August 20th, and so please take a moment or spread the word about that if you know someone who needs that particular form of care. And now as you consider your offerings, friends, you know you can give directly through transfer, or you can give electronically.
[5:04] You can also send gifts to the church if that is easiest for you. So, with that said, let's prepare our offerings. Thank you.
[5:18] SANTA Thank you.
[5:54] Thank you.
[6:24] Thank you.
[6:54] Thank you.
[7:24] Thank you.
[7:54] Thank you.
[8:24] Thank you. Thank you.
[8:56] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, everyone. I'm Pastor Sherry. Can you say that? Pastor Sherry.
[9:07] Yeah, that's what my name is. And I'm anxious to get together with all of you someday soon and we can get to know each other's names and more things about each other.
[9:18] And one of the things I wanted to do today was to talk a little bit about my pets. Do any of you have pets? I'll bet some of you do. I've had pets most of my life.
[9:29] Most of the time it's been dogs but sometimes I've had other pets. I've had fish and hamsters and right now I have a dog. I'd like to introduce you to her.
[9:41] She's being a little lazy right now. This is Dakota or Dakota May and she's a sweetheart and we just love her. She's part of our family and she is such a different little girl than the other dog that we used to have.
[9:57] She is, well, first of all, she is very, how would I say, rambunctious. Hmm. She likes to bark a lot.
[10:09] A whole lot. She likes to bark and run around and run around and run around. She's a border collie. So basically she thinks that it's her job to make sure that she's with me all the time no matter where I go.
[10:21] She's attached to me. She's making sure that I'm going the right way. So if I go and I'm walking some way, she's right there with me. And she goes and she circles around and makes sure I don't go anywhere else. And if anything's going on that she might be a little concerned about, she makes sure I know about it because she barks.
[10:36] And she is a member of my family. And then this one over here, this is Micah. And I don't know if she's actually going to come to me because Micah is my kitty.
[10:47] And she is so different than Dakota. So Dakota likes to hang out and be petted and loved and hang with me all the time. And Micah is not a dog.
[10:59] She's a cat. And Micah the cat, well, Micah the cat likes to do her own thing. Very much her own thing. She doesn't want to be petted unless she chooses to be petted.
[11:13] And she'll decide that usually in the middle of the night. I'm not quite sure what's up with that. It must be a cat thing. But you know what? No matter what, I love them both. They're totally different.
[11:25] Totally different. But I love them both. And we take care of them. You know, there's a lot of things that they can't do on their own. And so we make sure that we take care of them. And that's part of the way that we love them.
[11:37] So we make sure that we are... There she goes. She's just going away. We make sure that they are fed and that they have water and that they get to go outside.
[11:49] And that they are just loved up because we want to make sure that our pets are cared for. And we treat each of them with love even though they're completely different. And the same thing is true with people.
[12:01] You know, people can be very, very different, but we can still love them just the same. We love everybody. Do you remember what Pastor Lisa taught you a while ago? When God's love is in our heart, we can love everybody.
[12:16] And it's so true. When God's love is in our heart, we can love everyone no matter who they are, where they come from, what they look like. It doesn't matter at all.
[12:27] God's love allows us to just love everybody. And so we're thankful for that, aren't we? Because loving people are just such a good thing.
[12:38] And so we're going to say a prayer of thanksgiving for that. Are you ready? What Pastor Kathy has taught us. This is me. This is God. Nothing in between.
[12:49] Ready to pray? Repeat after me. Dear God, thank you for making me. Thank you for loving me.
[13:03] Thank you for all the different people in my life. Thank you for Jesus. Amen. Amen.
[13:14] Let's share some love as we continue in worship. I'm feeling good, good, good in a crazy way.
[13:31] God's love changed me more than I can say. Can't keep this in. Gotta let it out. Gonna tell the whole world that your love is spinning me round and round.
[13:44] Yeah, it's turning me upside down. I can't believe the way you love me more than I can contain. I'm unaending and fat and lipid. straight and gerne sharing L zers I gotta turn around and give in.
[14:00] Give it away. Oh, I'm gonna give it away Oh, I'm gonna give it away I want the world to know just how I feel They gotta know, don't know your love is real You love me just the way I am Gonna tell the whole world that Your love is spinning me round and round Yeah, it's turning me upside down I can't believe the way you love me more Than I can contain I'm gonna turn around and give it Give it away Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I'm gonna give it away Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Your love is spinning me round and round
[15:01] Yeah, it's turning me upside down I can't believe the way you love me more than I can contain I'm gonna turn around and give in Your love is spinning me round and round Yeah, it's turning me upside down I can't believe the way you love me more than I can contain I'm gonna turn around and give in Give it away.
[15:28] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm gonna give it away. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
[15:39] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm gonna give it away. Good morning. Before we go to the Lord this morning in prayer, we're gonna pray for the family of Gene and June Smith.
[15:56] Jean has been admitted into hospice, so let's keep that family in prayer while we're going before the Lord this morning and our time of prayer.
[16:08] Amen. Father God, we just thank you for your holiness. We thank you, Lord God, that you are there for us when we need you. You are there for us when we're going through difficult times.
[16:23] And Lord, we pray for the Smith family right now as they're going through a time, Lord God, that's challenging and that they just really need your comfort and your strength at this time. We pray that you would minister to this family, you would minister to Jean, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would comfort him and be with the family, Lord God, as they're going through the grief process already.
[16:45] And Lord, I pray that you would just use your Holy Spirit to do what the Spirit needs to do to minister to them in a way, Lord God, that's supernatural. Thank you, Lord God, you give us opportunities to trust you.
[17:00] Lord, help us to learn to trust you more, especially during the difficult times that we're going through with this church in the world and the country and, Lord, all the different decisions that are being made, Lord.
[17:16] I pray, Lord God, that through the process, Lord God, that we would trust you, we would trust in your plan, we would trust, Lord God, that you would be able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we ever ask or think.
[17:31] We thank you, Lord, for the trust you have given us and we pray, Lord, that you would help us to grow more. I pray, God, that you would be with those that are going through difficult situations, Lord, that you would be with them in the midst of it, whether it's financial or health issues, a mental health, whether the challenges are just so overwhelming.
[17:59] Lord, I pray that in the midst of it, Lord God, we would see your beauty. We would see, Lord God, that you are working on our behalf. Help us to seek you more.
[18:11] Help us to know you more. Help us to love you more. And help us to love our neighbor more. Lord, I pray that we would find ways to bless others.
[18:25] We would find ways, Lord God, to seek you and to be still and know that you are God. And Lord, I pray for our church.
[18:37] I pray for our pastors. I pray, Lord God, for the trustees and all the people that are working diligently around this time, Lord God, to make the decisions that they need to make.
[18:49] And Lord, I pray that you would bless, bless our church, Lord Jesus. And Lord, we ask in your name that you would do a work in our hearts.
[19:07] Lord, our hearts would seek you more. Our hearts would long for you. And Lord, I pray that you would touch us, Lord Jesus. And right now, we ask, Lord God, in our stillness, in the quietness of our prayer, Lord God, that you would instruct us, Lord, to be able to listen to you more as we quietly wait.
[19:37] And Lord, we just come to you asking for the protection of our families, of our health workers, of our essential workers, of the people that are out on a daily basis wearing masks and just being put in situations, Lord God, that would put them at risk.
[20:07] And Lord, we pray for your protection on them. And Lord, we pray, Lord God, that you would be with the rest of our service. Lord God, that your sweet Holy Spirit would just minister to us and that we would feel, Lord God, your presence in our life as we trust in you more.
[20:27] Thank you, Holy God, for listening to us. Thank you, Holy God, for breathing on us. In Jesus' name we pray together. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
[21:06] Thank you.
[21:36] Thank you. Thank you.
[22:36] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[22:48] Thanks be to God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[22:59] Thank you. Thank you. It's about encouragement. It's about joy. It's about hope. And we're currently in a sermon series all about the future with hope.
[23:13] And Paul's message is all about hope because he acknowledges the hope of love growing even more. That love is already within us as Christians.
[23:24] That love is already within Philippian church that he was writing to. That church was built with Gentiles, with Samaritans, with women, with people with transformed hearts that knew what it was like to be accepted and loved.
[23:40] And the same is true for us. Love is here. Love is here. Love is deep within us. And that's a reason to celebrate because God is doing wonderful things.
[23:53] And Paul writes in verse 3, being confident of this, that God who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
[24:04] And so that's reason to celebrate. God is doing amazing work in each and every one of us. The love that is grown in us is going to grow even more.
[24:16] It's kind of like growing zucchini. So here we are out in our vegetable garden. It's been a few years since we had a vegetable garden with seminary and all that.
[24:27] It just wasn't going to happen. But this year we were inspired. And so we worked to put all of these veggies in. And in the process I had these seeds, these zucchini seeds. And I didn't have any more space in the raised beds.
[24:41] And I really wanted to plant them and just see what would happen. And so I planted them in the dirt. And it's not very good dirt. We didn't do anything to the dirt whatsoever. But I put them in the dirt.
[24:52] And I was hopeful. I was waiting. I was hopeful. And just hoping that something would grow. And it was almost as if I would come out every single night and look and just say, Are they growing yet? Is there anything happening?
[25:03] I don't know. Is anything happening? And watching and watching and watching. And it seemed like forever nothing was happening. And I was almost giving up on it, honestly.
[25:13] And then all of a sudden, a little bit of green. A little bit of green happened. I was like, yes! All this time it was happening. And I didn't even know it. God was working on it.
[25:25] And as it grew, it kept waiting for it to grow more and more and more. And it still seemed to be taking forever. And then, bam! Bam! Oh my goodness! Zucchini! It grew.
[25:36] It grew so big. Check this out. Check this out. This. This is zucchini. Oh my gosh! This is enormous. It's huge.
[25:47] I've got zucchinis everywhere. There's flowers everywhere. So it's going to have even more zucchinis. And the zucchinis are just everywhere. I mean, check it out.
[25:58] We have huge, huge. Oh my goodness. Here, check this one out. Harvest time! We've got zucchini.
[26:08] Now we have to figure, what are we going to do with it? We've got a lot of zucchini. So our love, our love is just like growing a zucchini plant.
[26:19] God's love is planted deep within us. And maybe right now, it's in the form of a seed. Maybe right now, for you, it's starting to sprout. Maybe it's starting to grow.
[26:30] For all of us, it's starting to grow. And God is working on each and every one of us. So that we grow, and we grow, and we grow, and we grow, and we grow, and we grow, and we grow even more to an abundant harvest.
[26:41] An abundant harvest. And this is a message of hope, not only for us, but for others. Because when we experience the abundance of God's love within us, that seed planted within us starting to grow and bear fruit, that fruit goes out to others.
[26:58] And they experience God's love through us even more, even more, even more, even more. Until we become more and more like Jesus and transform this world.
[27:11] And that's a great thing, right? It's a needed thing. Amen? I mean, Paul said, I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
[27:27] I thought, what does that mean, to love in knowledge and depth of insight? And so, to kind of figure this out, I came up with an acronym. So I'm hoping this will help in understanding that.
[27:40] The acronym is love. And love is all about relationships. So I've got two words for each letter. And their first letter, with learning about how to love in knowledge and depth of insight, is to listen and to learn.
[27:55] Listen and learn. Listen to the Holy Spirit. And learn who God is and who we are in Christ. And with others, active listening.
[28:07] Active listening. Without trying to figure out what we're going to say next. But really opening ourselves up to hear what someone else is saying. What are the cries on their heart? Listening with compassion and openness.
[28:20] Listening to someone else's story. So you can hear someone else's experience. Someone who lives a different life. Knows different things. Really listening is loving.
[28:34] Just like we have a desire to know God more, we have a desire to know people even more. And with that, we learn. We learn. We learn who someone is.
[28:44] What's on their heart. What's their experience. Because so often, people just want to be heard. Paul continued. And he said, So that you may be able to discern what is best.
[28:59] And so there are so many different types of people. So many different types of experiences. And all of their stories have different responses. But they're all founded in love.
[29:10] But love can be expressed in so many different ways. Different ways of expressing love. And getting to people really listening. Really learning.
[29:21] Helps us discern how best to love someone else. And love makes everything better. Love makes everything healthier. Kind of like zucchini.
[29:34] Zucchini. I mean, love makes everything better. And zucchini, honestly, in my opinion, can make everything better. Now, there are some of you veggie haters out there.
[29:46] And I just want to acknowledge that. But the reality is, you can put zucchini in anything. Anything. In fact, at one point, my kids decided they didn't like vegetables anymore.
[29:57] It's like, well, I wasn't going to have that. But they wouldn't eat them. And so, take zucchini. And you can infuse every single dish with zucchini. Just sneak it right on in there. And it makes it healthier.
[30:08] It makes it better. It makes it full of love. Because why do we do that? Why do we sneak some veggies in there? Because we love someone. We want them to be healthy. And zucchini, actually, can take on the flavor of anything you put it with.
[30:22] Really, it can be savory. It can be sweet. It can do pretty much anything. And so, just like zucchini, our love can be transformed. Snuck into different sections and situations as needed.
[30:36] You know, sometimes you don't want to let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. That's a kind of love. And other times you want to be bold and show straight out this kind of love.
[30:47] And we have zucchini fritters and zucchini noodles. They're called zoodles. And zucchini bread and zucchini cake and zucchini, zucchini, zucchini, zucchini. Who's Googling all their recipes?
[30:59] I am zucchini in everything, in every way. Adapting to the situation. Adapting to the dish. Love adapting to who people are.
[31:10] The Holy Spirit revealing to us what type of dish they really need. How do they need to be loved? And so, there are so many different ways to love.
[31:23] And so many different ways for zucchini. And we just want to make sure that we're loving in the way that people are known. And so, we come to O.
[31:35] O is observe and be open. So, observe. Observe God moving. Become aware and trusting that God is always with us. God is always with us.
[31:46] Moving somehow. Being observant of when the Holy Spirit is calling us to step into action. To step into an opportunity. Just like the seed planted. You know, we're trusting.
[31:57] We're hoping. And yet, we know that God is working. And so, we're observing. Are we paying attention? So that when something starts to sprout, we're there.
[32:07] And we step into that opportunity. And with others, we observe as well. Really seeing the people around us. Not just the people in our tight circle. But Jesus really saw people.
[32:20] And they're usually the people that were not seen by others. Samaritans. Women. Lepers. People on the outside of Jewish society.
[32:31] And Jesus saw them. Saw them. And it didn't matter who they were. It didn't matter if they had it all together. Or if they didn't understand.
[32:43] He saw them for who they really were. And he was open. Open. Open to them. And he reached out to them. Wherever they were.
[32:54] Wherever they were. In whatever state they were in. He reached out to them with openness. Now, open. The word open kind of freaks people out sometimes.
[33:05] You know, people have issues with the word open. So I just want to define that for you. Open does not mean that we have to agree with everything someone says. Or agree with everything someone does.
[33:17] Or agree even with everything they believe. But open does mean that even if there are differences, we love people anyways.
[33:29] Open. Observing people. Reaching out. Open to the opportunity of sharing God's love. And sometimes, sometimes, if we're moved by the Holy Spirit to do so, we even tell the truth in love.
[33:48] In that openness. Sometimes. Which is different though. Different than what we're seeing in the world. Different than the screaming and berating and condemning that we experience in today's world.
[34:02] You think about Jesus with the woman caught in adultery. And he extended grace. He extended grace to the woman.
[34:13] And after he extended grace, he simply said, go and sin no more. No shouting. No shaming.
[34:25] No stoning. Just releasing in love. And we don't hear the rest of her story. But I know a seed of God's love was planted in our heart that day.
[34:40] And we need, this world needs more of that kind of love. An open kind of love that offers acceptance and grace.
[34:51] And I hope, I hope that we can all think of a time when someone has treated us with that kind of grace. With that kind of love.
[35:02] It's powerful. And that will cause our love to grow even more. And sometimes, by being open, by carrying the abounding love of grace of God with us, that it becomes who we are, we can touch people in this way without even realizing we're doing it.
[35:22] And small acts that just seem normal to us. They seem like nothing to us. Make a powerful impact for others without even realizing that God is moving in it.
[35:35] And so we move in God's love. Always in God's love. Seeds of God's love planted. And, you know, we may never get to see how it grows.
[35:48] But we still go and move in God's love and find that God moves in many unexpected ways. Just like this.
[35:59] So one of the things we do at our house is we compost. It's because we want to be good stewards of the environment, of God's creation. And so what that means is that when we're slicing and dicing veggies and you've got all the extra scraps and such, we just gather it together and we honestly just come back and we dump it in a big old pile.
[36:18] And after time, it turns into just dirt. And it's good dirt. It's healthy dirt. It's good for growing things. But this year, this year, without us doing anything at all, God surprised us.
[36:30] Totally unexpected. Check it out. We have in our compost pile more zucchini. More zucchini. There's big, big, big, big, big zucchini growing right here.
[36:42] I might even let it go a little bit bigger. But we've got big zucchini and we even have tomatoes. We have so much just growing unexpectedly because we were just caring for the planet. And God said, surprise, I've got even more for you.
[36:59] Even more? Yes, even more. And there is such hope in knowing that God is always working within each and every one of us.
[37:11] That God is loving each and every one of us. And that God's love never, ever ends. That our growth in love will never, ever end.
[37:25] You know, you cannot arrive in love and just say, right now I have full capacity for love. Just when you have experienced the overwhelming power of God's love within us, God says, surprise, I've got even more.
[37:43] And with us the same way as we become so filled up with that love, surprise, we have even more to give. More and more and more and more and more and more.
[37:55] Because God loves us, each and every one of us. Which brings us to V, value and virtue.
[38:06] Value in growing in our love with God to understand more and more our own sacred worth. That we have value. That we are beloved children of God.
[38:18] And the more we grow in this way, the more we recognize the divine value in everyone else. In everyone else. That all people are created by God.
[38:31] And all people have sacred worth. And all people are valuable children of God. And all people needed to be treated that way. And we have virtue.
[38:42] Paul wrote in his epistle, in his prayer, So that you may be filled with the fruit of righteousness. Or a virtue. That comes through Jesus Christ.
[38:54] To the glory and praise of God. So this kind of love is more than being kind. It's more than being nice. It's love that is of God.
[39:08] And points to God. There's something different about you, people say. When they experience a Christian moving in God's love.
[39:21] It's more. It's so much more. Giving to people out of the abundance of love. And people see and experience and know God through the way that we love one another.
[39:33] And we love everyone. We love. And that's a virtue. Virtue is expressing the goodness of God. Not for our benefit.
[39:44] But for the benefit of others. In this letter, Paul continues. And in chapter 2, verses 3 through 5, he says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
[39:54] But in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests. But also to the interests of others.
[40:05] Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus. The attitude of Christ Jesus. Agape love.
[40:18] Agape. That's the word that was used. The attitude of Christ Jesus. And the night in which Jesus was betrayed. He made a choice.
[40:29] And he knelt down and washed the feet of his disciples. Because he loved them. That same night, he taught them, saying, A new command I give you.
[40:42] Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. And by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples.
[40:53] If you love one another. And so that takes us to E, which is empathy and embrace. And empathy is responding to people, whether they are grieving or in pain or hungry or lonely.
[41:08] And not just saying, oh, gee, that's too bad. Not just shooting out a little emoji. But actually walking alongside people. When people were hungry, Jesus fed them.
[41:21] When people were sick, Jesus healed them. When they were lost, Jesus showed the way. And the Holy Spirit will help to show us what we need to do to walk alongside people as well.
[41:35] With that kind of love. And we embrace. And, you know, in this time of COVID-19, we say, well, what does it mean to embrace? We can't hug anybody. And I feel that.
[41:46] I feel that deeply. We want to be able to embrace. But, you know, embracing can come in other forms. We can't embrace physically. But to embrace is to offer ourselves.
[41:58] To make a connection. A real connection. A sincere connection. And sometimes loving in this way is praying with someone. Or just being present to someone who is lonely.
[42:12] So they can know that they're not alone. In this time, maybe we write a note or we give a call. Reaching out in some way to let someone know that they matter.
[42:24] That's what love is. Our attitude the same as Christ Jesus who gave himself on a cross for us because he loved us.
[42:42] Dying on a cross for us, for our sin, for our brokenness, because he loved us. In spite of who we are, in spite of what we've done, Jesus loves us and asks us to love others as he loved us.
[43:00] Even if they're different. Even if they think differently. Even if they live differently. Even if they have not always been loving to us. Jesus said to Peter who denied him three times, Do you love me?
[43:16] And when Peter replied, Yes, of course. Of course I love you. Jesus said, Feed my sheep. Just like zucchini.
[43:28] Zucchini can be used to feed so many in so many different ways. Love can feed a spirit. Love can feed a soul.
[43:39] Love can feed a life. Love can feed a soul. Imagine if planting seeds of love were like planting seeds of zucchini. It would take over the world.
[43:52] Imagine love spreading out, growing high, growing wide, producing so much that it's put into everything and shared with everybody.
[44:04] Just imagine how it could change the world with that kind of compassion, with that kind of love. This is a message of encouragement, knowing that God's love is in each and every one of us.
[44:25] A message of hope for a future with abounding love while we also recognize that we also, all of us, have more growing to do.
[44:37] And so I invite you to pray a prayer of confession along with me. Won't you pray? Lord, I have sinned. I have not always accepted your love for myself and others.
[44:54] I've held on to shame. I've held on to blame. I've not always forgiven others. I've held judgment in my heart and mind.
[45:07] I've not always accepted others. I've not always been loving to others. Sometimes I've been too focused on myself and I haven't seen the needs of others.
[45:28] I've not responded to your call. I've not always been a faithful witness of your love. Forgive me, Lord.
[45:42] Free me. Continue to grow seeds of love within me. And enable and empower me to bring your harvest.
[45:53] your harvest of love into the world. Let a movement of your love start with me.
[46:08] Amen. Amen. Now hear the good news. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. And this proves God's love for you and for me.
[46:20] In the name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven. Glory to God. Amen.
[46:31] Amen. Holy, Lord Amen. Amen. Amen.
[46:45] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Empty people live in the darkness every minute, every hour.
[47:00] Hear the cry of desperation from a billion broken hearts With a need so great, where do we even start?
[47:13] Let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my life from all distractions Fill my hands, shut the gun free Move my feet to follow after you Lord, change the world and let it start with me Forbidden us, the orders There's a place for everyone I don't want to miss my mission In the plan that you've begun Your promise to go with me To the edges of it all And change everything that keeps me from your call
[48:13] Let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Bring my life from all distractions Use my hands, shut the gun and pray Move my feet to follow after you You'll change the world and let it start with me Take my life Take my life All that I call my own Everything I am is alone Let it start with me Open up my eyes Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands, shut the gun and pray
[49:16] Fill my heart with your compassion Free my mind from all distractions Use my hands, shut the gun and pray Use my hands, shut the gun and pray Fill my heart with your compassion Fill my heart with your compassion Fill my heart with your compassion Fill my heart with your compassion You'll move my hands, shut the gun and pray For my feet to follow after you Don't change the world and let it start with me Let it stop We are one in the Spirit We are one in the Lord
[50:16] We are one in the Spirit We are one in the Lord And we pray that our unity Will one day be restored And they'll know we are Christians By our love, by our love Yes, they'll know we are Christians By our love We will walk with each other We will walk hand in hand We will walk with each other We will walk hand in hand And together we'll spread the news That God is in our land And they'll know we are Christians By our love, by our love Yes, they'll know we are Christians By our love We will work with each other
[51:17] We will work side by side We will work with each other We will work side by side And also we will Farm And we will walk with each other And save each other And we will call it our King And tell each other And every one is world That God is a great And we will walk together And we will view it And give each other And we will grow love We will come together And we will listen And also we are Christian By our love And each other And they'll know we are Christian And we will Hawking And be their love Yes, they'll know we are Christian And they will have harm And we will watch our help And we'll bring up our love The final voice very little By our loveؤing we are Christians And make our love And they'll know we are Christians By our love Germany our love All in tongue And all praise to Christ Jesus His only Son And all praise to the Spirit Who makes us part And they'll know we are Christians By our love, by our love Yes, they'll know we are Christians By our love So today's message is a message of hope
[52:23] Hope for the future Hope in God's love And I hope that you're encouraged Knowing that God's love within all of us Is like a zucchini kind of love That'll grow and grow and grow When Jesus taught us to pray He started off by saying our Our All of us Together And so I invite you to pray The prayer that Jesus taught us By saying Our Father Who art in 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 others Who trespass against us 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
[53:25] Amen Amen May it be so You know the other day I was in Niagara Falls And we were having a meeting there Trying to figure out Reopening in that site as well And ran into Carol Carol who came with zucchini Tons of zucchini And she's like here Would you like some more zucchini But I I have zucchini So we have more to share So lots and lots of zucchini Anybody want some zucchini?
[53:53] And when I was there in Niagara Falls I was reminded of what They have on their bulletins Each and every time The thing It's their mission statement It says We strive To know God's love For us Through Jesus Christ To accept that love In discipleship And share that love With the world Giving it away Because we have An abundance God's love in us Is like a zucchini plant And it produces Lots of zucchini And we produce Lots of love Because Of God's love within us And we do that In discipleship What does that mean?
[54:32] Servant ministry With an attitude Of Christ Jesus And so people Are making masks People were Participating in Vacation Bible School This past week And it was wonderful And right now We're working To figure out How we're going To reopen We closed The building Because we love you And we've been Putting on Online worship All this time Because we love you And we want To reopen And continue Online worship Because we love you But we need Some help with that We need people To minister In this way In love We need people To step forward Because of the love Of God in them And because You love all of us As well So we need people Who hopefully With a medical background Will be there At the doors To help check people in And people To usher People to their seats We're all six feet away And people who will Be there to help
[55:33] Clean afterwards We have to clean And sanitize everything Because we love you We want to open In a way that we make sure Everyone is safe Everyone stays healthy Those are decisions Made in love In knowledge Depth of insight So we can discern What is best What is best And what is best Is we want to open So consider If God's love Is moving you To serve in this way And be encouraged Be encouraged Because God's love Is in each And every one of us And so I'm actually going To do a challenge Today I really I generally Don't give homework But I'd love for you To take some time This week To read the book Of Philippians You see A whole book In my Bible It's four pages Four pages So I invite you To take some time To read through The book of Philippians
[56:34] To meditate on it Because it is a book Of not only love But of joy Celebrating who God is Who we are in Christ And who we are In Christ with one another So we are filled With that joy Amen Joyful, joyfully adore thee God of glory Lord of love Hearts unfold and fast before thee Opening to the sun above Melt the clouds of sin and sadness Drow the dark of doubt away
[57:35] Give her all the voice of gladness Fill us with the light of day Now our giving and forgiving Ever blessing Ever blessed Ever blessed Well spring of the joy of living O sing death of happy rest Now our Father, Christ our brother How do live in love are thine Teach us how to love each other Lift us to the joy divine Mortals, join the mighty chorus Wish the morning stars began The fear and peace ringing for us
[58:36] Might be home within its hand Ever singing our tree onward Winters in the midst of strife Joyful music is the sunroof In the triumphs of life So go this day with a zucchini kind of love Infusing every person in every moment With love in all different kinds of ways With an abundant harvest That is growing more and more and more and more And even more Love for God and love for people And as Paul said And this is my prayer That your love may abound more and more In knowledge and depth of insight So that you may be able to discern What is best And may be pure and blameless
[59:37] For the day of Christ Filled with the fruit of righteousness That comes through Jesus Christ To the glory and praise of God Go in that kind of zucchini love Amen Sunday Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen.