Through the Day: Celebrating God’s Presence in Each Moment

[0:00] 아멘 Good morning.

[0:45] Good morning. And happy Father's Day to all those men in our lives that we celebrate today. Whether they're our fathers, our teachers, our mentors, we celebrate you and the fact that you've had in everyone's lives today.

[1:00] So thank you for being part of our lives. All the announcements we have are in your bulletin today. And we thank you for being here and all those online.

[1:10] And we do have a little video to show you because VBS is coming up in August. So we have a video done by the youth today. Everybody wake up.

[1:27] Oh, gee, it's time for VBS. I want to jump up and down, I'm going to spin right around, I'm going to praise your name forever.

[1:44] I'm going to shout out loud, I'm going to buffalo and grab, I'm going to send my grace to heaven. 2부에서 계속 됩니다.

[2:19] 1부에서 계속 됩니다.

[2:49] 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다.

[3:01] 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다.

[3:13] 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 1부에서 계속 됩니다. 2부에서 계속 됩니다.

[3:31] 2부에서 계속 됩니다. everybody come on every boy and girl let's give this a whirl we're making way no stopping keep moving oh sign me up they know how to worship and praise good morning everyone and happy Father's Day and good morning to everyone online so amazed by your goodness I'm going to invite you to stand as we praise this morning with when morning guilds the skies and my praise when morning guilds the skies my heart awake in Christ may Jesus Christ be praised a life and work and prayer to Jesus I repair may Jesus Christ be praised the night becomes as day when from the heart we say may Jesus Christ be praised the hearts of darkness fear when this sweet chant they hear may Jesus Christ be praised may Jesus Christ be praised bring joy sorta

[5:58] Jesus Christ be praised Be this while life is thine My canticle divine May Jesus Christ be praised Be this the eternal song Through all the ages long May Jesus Christ be praised Lord, I wish I could praise you With adequate words To leave me speechless

[6:59] And I so long to sing you The song you deserve But it would be endless I long to rule your heart I bring you something new I tell how great you are Till my praise to you Is like an ocean breeze Blowing on your days Like the summer sun In its warm and rain Like the gentle rain Makes the strength of the need That's what I want My praise to be Like a fragrant rose In the early spring Like an eagle's sword And its presence And its presence Wings Whatever, Lord, you may leave from me That's what I want My praise to be To you Everything I forgive you

[8:05] Already possess Lord, I'm so unworthy I'm just one of the brilliance To stand and confess And yet still you hear me Your heart is open and wide You long for what I bring I bring some value To stand and confess This simple glory Is like an ocean breeze Rolling on your face Like the summer sun In its warm and praise Like a gentle rain Is a symphony That's what I want My praise to be Like a fragrant rose In the early spring Like an eagle's sword When its presence swings Whatever, Lord, you may leave from me That's what I want

[9:06] My praise to be To you Lord, I want my praise to be Like the breeze Of summer spring Lord, I want my praise to be Like the eagle's dragon Like an ocean breeze Like an ocean breeze Blowing on your face Like a summer sun With its warm embrace Like a gentle rain Praise a symphony That's what I want My praise to be That's what I want My praise to be That's what I want My praise to be To you Whatever, Lord, you may leave from me

[10:08] That's what I want My praise to be To you You may be seated Amen And good morning, church What a great and glorious God we serve Amen So much to celebrate today As we come to worship We've already talked about Father's Day Let me add my happy Father's Day To all the fathers and father figures out there We also have Juneteenth happening And also make a note That in your bulletin today There's a list of our graduates People who have moved to different levels of education We want to celebrate them as well So much happening So many good things As we come to worship We're starting a new series this week

[11:09] Series called Bless to Me And what this is about Is how we understand How God blesses us And appreciating the blessings We have in our lives In a different way And so Keep that in mind As you think of All that we just talked about To celebrate So as we open our hearts And as we go to God In worship and praise I invite you to join me In this word of prayer You might think that blessing Lives in the story that you can see That it is curled up In a comfortable spot On the surface of the telling It lives in the story Inside the story In the spaces in between In the edges The margins The mysterious gaps The enticing And fertile emptiness This blessing Is adored

[12:10] A doorway And portal A passage And path It is more ancient Than imagining And makes itself Ever new This blessing Is where the story is Amen John Wesley told us To do all the good you can By all the means you can In all the ways you can In all the places you can In all the times you can To all the people you can For as ever long as you can Mission is rooted The United Methodist Church Is rooted in mission And so today For our mission moment We have a video From Nicaragua And we ask that you Prayerfully consider Your donations to them It's so good to be back To this wonderful faith community

[13:10] Which I consider A good place to come I have friends I have friendly faces I have people I know And I think I'd like To start today With a little story I read I heard Of Africa With a tribe Almost hidden And he put a basket Of fruit Under a tree And he called Three children And he asked them If they want to win A prize And of course They held it up And he said Well the three of you When I say go The first one To get to that basket Gets to keep The whole basket Of fruit So he got them All set up And he's ready To record What is their reaction To winning something For themselves When he said go Surprisingly enough All three held their hands And walked together To get the basket

[14:11] And he asked them Why did you do that Why didn't somebody Run and get it For themselves And their answer was How can one be happy And the other two not And the leader Of that community said As I am So we are So we have to think In this tribe So hidden Has something So basically Written in their hearts How much more Do we As Christians Have to think How I am So we are It's the we It's the me The we And the the And I know This community For so many years Has concentrated On others In so many ways I've seen it I've been a part of it Nicaragua Has benefited From it And I wanted

[15:11] To thank you Thank you For staying A part of us Especially now When Nicaragua Is in such Awful conditions Awful conditions With the government Awful conditions With things Entering the country We have to Move our funds Bank to bank But what we do Is we keep Our projects going Without our projects Without the cows The pigs The digging With wells The helping The elderly Without there Our people Have no hope So as I am So we are And the we Is us So let's depend On the me The we And the the And may the the Continue to bless you Your kindness Your trust Your faithfulness Your generosity God bless you God bless you

[16:31] To Lord Oh to Lord Oh to remember me To Lord Oh to Lord Oh to remember me To Lord Oh to Lord Oh to remember me Way beyond the blue I've got a home In glory land That outshines the sun I've got a home I've got a home In glory land That outshines the sun I've got a home In glory land That outshines the sun Way beyond the blue Do Lord Do Lord Oh to Lord Oh to remember me Oh Lord Do Lord Oh to Lord Oh to remember me Do Lord Oh to Lord Oh to remember me Way beyond the blue

[17:33] This little light This little light on Honey This little light on Time Want a güzel Script To leag Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine I took Jesus as my Savior, you take Him too I took Jesus as my Savior, you take Him too I took Jesus as my Savior, you take Him too Way beyond the blue This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

[18:36] Dear Lord, oh dear Lord, oh do remember me Dear Lord, oh dear Lord, oh do remember me Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me Way beyond the blue Way beyond the blue Way beyond the blue Way beyond the blue 아멘 아멘 아멘 아멘

[19:54] Shell 아멘 아멘 아멘 아멘 아멘 아멘 알아 아멘 We have to do some rearranging.

[20:22] So while we're doing that, it is time for prayers and concerns, joys and concerns. So does anybody have any joys or concerns that you would like to raise up today?

[20:36] Thank you, Scott. Carol. Okay.

[21:07] Okay. So Carol's friend, Fredzine, who's still going through cancer treatment. So we want to keep her in our prayers. Oh. Teresa's having an angiogram procedure on the 30th, so we'd like your prayers for that.

[21:25] And we're really hoping and praying that this is the one that really helps her. So we want to lift up Teresa and her angiogram on the 30th.

[21:37] Joy? Yes? I just spent a week with my sister in Arizona. Okay. Sister time. And next weekend, I will be with both of my daughters off at the lake, which is, we don't get them both into Buffalo very often.

[21:50] Fantastic. So wonderful time with family. Yes. Okay. Linda. So being together, celebrating anniversaries, and then Linda has an upcoming procedure this week.

[22:18] All right. We also want to make sure that we celebrate all of those who are graduating this weekend, whether it's high school, college, and those students who are moving up.

[22:31] I know my class is moving to middle school on Tuesday, so they're very excited but a little nervous. So we want to make sure that we keep all of those children in our prayers and their families.

[22:43] So please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, this joyous day to celebrate the men that are in our lives.

[22:54] We recognize and we lift up those who are still mourning, who feel the loss, who don't have that ability to celebrate. May you comfort them and know that they're with you and that each of them know that their loved ones are there giving them a hug today.

[23:14] We pray for our world, our nation, our leaders, our church. We pray for our community and our friends.

[23:27] We pray and we thank you for this joyous day, for the just ability to be together and spend time with family. God, we lift up those who are having procedures in the upcoming weeks.

[23:42] may you watch over them and their families. May you watch over their doctors and nurses and caregivers. Make them skilled in their work.

[23:55] God, we raise up those who are suffering from those who have COVID still or cancer or have questions that need to be answered.

[24:06] God, we also have those that are struggling with mental illness and we want to raise those up this week. May you help them and guide them with your love and your care.

[24:23] God, help us to go out in the world and be your face, your hands and feet that we show love, that we spread peace, that we help comfort those who need it.

[24:41] God, we've raised up joys and concerns to you, but some of us still have some in our hearts. We offer those up to you now and we thank you and we praise you with joy and thanksgiving.

[24:56] In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Today's scripture is from Psalm 113 and Matthew 5, 1 through 12.

[25:37] From Psalm. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants. Praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.

[25:52] from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.

[26:08] Who is like the Lord, our God, the one who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.

[26:26] He seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children.

[26:38] Praise the Lord. And from Matthew, Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.

[26:50] His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. He said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[27:04] Blessed are those who mourn, for they be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

[27:23] Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

[27:38] blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

[27:59] Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

[28:11] This is the word of the Lord. Blessed be God. would you join me for a moment of prayer, please.

[28:37] Gracious and loving God, we are indeed thankful for this moment, thankful for this time, thankful for the ways in which you have moved among us and made us aware of your presence.

[28:48] And now, Lord, with our hearts wide open we come praying that you would plant that seed in us that you know we need, one that will grow and bear fruit for the honor and the glory of your name.

[28:59] Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen. So, when was the last time you counted your blessings? I'm betting some of you that might be a daily thing, some folks might keep a gratitude journal, something like that, but when was the last time you intentionally took a second and counted your blessings?

[29:23] For some of you that seems to be a challenging question. So, I'll tell you what, let's take a minute, let's do it right now. I'm going to give you a minute, and I want you to consciously count your blessings.

[29:36] Go. Go. Go.

[30:08] Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. 감사합니다.

[30:46] Okay. Hopefully, you were still counting. I mean, because that's one of the things we're going to be talking about over the next few weeks.

[30:57] But, when you think about counting your blessings and being aware of your blessings, one of the things that we want to spend our time on, especially our focus today, is this idea of what made the list.

[31:09] Like, how did you know what to count? Presumably, there had to be something in your head that said, this is a blessing that I have to acknowledge right now.

[31:20] So, you have to have at least some working criteria for what a blessing is. Yes? Because if you don't have that, then you couldn't have done the exercise.

[31:31] Now, for a lot of us, when we think of blessing, we really need to expand the way we think. Because our culture gets us into this place where we start to think about blessing in a lot of wrong ways.

[31:47] And it's important, especially as followers of Jesus, who want to follow Jesus in the best way we can, who want to love God to the best of our ability, that we not get this idea of blessing wrong.

[32:01] So, let's think about this for a minute. What is a blessing? What makes something a blessing? And it's one of those things where, you know, I'm betting five minutes ago you were probably pretty good in your understanding of what a blessing is, until I started poking at it.

[32:20] Right? But that's kind of why we got to do this. Because, when it's one of those things that you understand it until somebody would ask you to tell you what it is.

[32:37] Because then the words kind of get stuck. You'd probably run to your list. You'd say, well, this is one and this is one and this is one. But that's not the same as defining a blessing.

[32:48] So, I too struggled with this when I started to prepare. It's like, well, what exactly is a working definition of a blessing? So, I did what all good people do. I went to the internet.

[33:01] And I said, okay, well, what's the answer? Now, I feel like they'll do it on a commercial because you don't have to print the internet, but I need this here. Right? So, that said, Dictionary.com defines it this way.

[33:15] It's a special favor, mercy, or benefit. Now, the second definition they give you is a favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness.

[33:31] A favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness. That's probably a good working definition for most of us in the culture, right?

[33:43] If we think about 2022 life, somebody says, count your blessings. If you looked at your list, most people would have probably qualified with what we just read. And that's not inherently a bad definition, but we're going to unpack how we understand blessing today.

[34:00] Because one of the reasons why this definition is not adequate is because of what it makes us do. Now, our series materials, just a little research, talked about how did we get to this understanding of blessing that we tend to work from.

[34:17] And what they tell us is this. That the word evolved over time. Like it started in Middle English, and it was used as blessing then.

[34:31] And that evolved from a term called blestien. And before that, it was a word called blodsong. Blodsong.

[34:42] And this is important because that particular term was used to refer to a blood mark or a sacrifice. Meaning something was marked by blood and is thus set aside as special in God's name.

[34:55] So you can see how the term kind of evolves. And that's important to us. Now, why we need to spend a minute with this is because this idea of what we think blessing means.

[35:13] Because depending on what you think blessing means has implications for how you understand your relationship with God. And that's why we want to get this right.

[35:26] Because if in your mind blessings come out to be a particular type of thing, then you see God a particular way. And we want to make sure we don't get that part wrong.

[35:41] Which is why we want to unpack this a little bit. Here's the mistake we often make, right? Because you will hear people say things like, have a blessed day. I use that one from time to time.

[35:52] You will hear people say, you know, birthday blessings to you today. Or, you know, just the most common one, when somebody sneezes, somebody says, God bless you.

[36:03] And so the term gets thrown around. And maybe we've kind of taken a little of the meat out of it by the way we use it so casually.

[36:15] Because are we really calling down a gift from God that bestows happiness every time you hear somebody sneeze? Well, you see my point then.

[36:26] Right? Right? So what are we really talking about? What are we really talking about? See, I think as a culture and as a people, and this goes to people who follow Jesus as well as people who don't, is that we have gotten some of the mistake with blessing in two ways.

[36:45] First, we limit what they are. We tend to think of them as a particular type of thing. Which, to put it bluntly, we tend to think of them as material things.

[36:58] Now there are even particular areas of faith, types of faith that get really caught up in this. People take this approach of, you know, the more toys you have, the more stuff you have, obviously the closer you must be to God.

[37:15] Now this was the way churches operated for a long time, and as we said, some still do. Thankfully, the United Methodist Church does not fall into this trap. Okay? But people still tend to make that link, whether they do it intentionally, or whether it's just kind of something we've been conditioned to think about.

[37:35] That if, you know, I have all this stuff, then I'm blessed. But, that really puts us in a funky place with how we understand God then, right?

[37:50] Because, that means, if you don't have a lot of stuff, well then maybe you're not a blessed person. And, what about the truth we all know?

[38:06] Which is, there's people with a whole bunch of stuff that don't seem to be very nice people. So what would that say about God just giving people a whole bunch of stuff, if it's an indication of God's being a good, God in a good place, right?

[38:23] So that just doesn't seem to connect. And if we think it's all about stuff, well then, essentially, we've reduced God to this sort of sugar daddy.

[38:39] That just keeps pumping out gifts all the time. And that's essentially all we want from it. And that's what we're coming. But, if we really want to see how weird that idea is, let's think about three things.

[38:53] I want you to think about just things that can happen any day. Things can all happen on the same day. First thing I want you to think about is simply getting out of bed in the morning. Getting out of bed in the morning.

[39:06] Second thing I want you to think about is finding $50. $50 you didn't expect. Just $50 comes into your life unexpectedly. Third thing I want you to think about is falling down and breaking your arm.

[39:19] Three things. Getting up out of bed. Finding $50. Falling down and breaking your arm. Now, when people think about blessing, if you see getting up out of bed as blessing, well that puts you in a particular place.

[39:42] That says certain things about how you understand God and God's work, right? That what God does in your world and how God looks at you. But some people would not see the getting up out of bed thing as necessarily a blessing.

[39:57] Because we've been taught to think of blessings as these prizes. We've been taught to think of them as things. So something like getting up out of bed in the morning doesn't qualify if it simply comes down to nice stuff.

[40:10] But then we move to the $50 thing. So you find $50 unexpectedly.

[40:22] And you go, cool. Right? And so you think, well this is clearly a blessing. But here's the challenge. What happens on days you don't find $50?

[40:36] Are you still a blessed person then? What happens if it's only $10? Seriously, think about that for a minute.

[40:50] Does a blessing have to be at a certain level to qualify as a blessing? If you only found a quarter, would that count?

[41:01] Especially if it wasn't yours and you didn't expect it and it showed up. Would you think, well that's nothing important. Therefore it must not be a blessing. Yet, it was unexpected and now it's yours.

[41:17] But because it's not enough, it doesn't qualify? What does that say about what blessings mean to you?

[41:29] Third thing. Falling down and breaking your heart. The problem here is that when bad things happen, sometimes people will then say, well, God must have turned off the blessing machine.

[41:45] Because now I have a problem. Something bad must have happened. Therefore, I'm not blessed anymore. But if you go back to what we said before, if you're one of those folks who goes back to the getting out of bed thing, and that counts in your blessing list, well, on the day you fell down and broke your arm, presumably you also got out of bed.

[42:13] So what does that tell you about blessings? And how they work? Or what they might be? See, that's fundamentally where we need to spend some time.

[42:25] Because if in your mind the blessings only count as reward trophies. In other words, you've done a nice thing, so I'm going to give you this, says God.

[42:38] Then what might we be missing? What does that tell us about who we think really God is supposed to be for us in our lives?

[42:51] If all we do is move through day after day thinking, where's my stuff for today, God? My mom, in all her infinite wisdom, used a phrase once that I thought was really powerful.

[43:08] And it's just one of the nuggets she gave me that I hold tight. She would regularly say, remember, God does not raise spoiled children. I want you to think about that for a minute.

[43:22] God does not raise spoiled children. And if all you think God's job is, is to keep pumping stuff into your life, what are you saying about who God is to you?

[43:37] And if you wake up a day and you didn't get as nice a stuff as you were expecting, or enough stuff, or something bad happened and you were mad because it took your eye off the stuff.

[43:53] What does that tell you about who God is to you? See, blessing is a much more complicated idea than this.

[44:08] Yet culturally, we've been taught to think that it comes down to a list of prizes. Prizes, excuse me, comes down to this list of prizes. But, I would challenge us to expand our definition.

[44:28] Because blessings, from where I sit, and this is just me talking, is that a blessing is a manifestation of God's love in your life.

[44:39] Because we need to remember something really important.

[44:53] And that is this idea that God's not obligated to do anything for you. Yet we seem to start from this part that seems to think, well, God, you're supposed to do this.

[45:10] And when that's our thinking, we forget. And God really doesn't owe you anything. God's not obligated to do a single solitary thing for you.

[45:27] God does things for you because God loves you. Remember that. It's not that God filled out some sort of contract and is now obligated to produce these results.

[45:44] God does things for you only because God loves you. God loves you. And if your understanding of that love is limited to physical toys that God gives you every day, what are you saying about what you think love looks like?

[46:04] Because, think about all your other relationships. When you think about the people in your life that you love, is that how you express it for them?

[46:20] That you simply keep pumping toys into their life? That's all? Or is your love bigger than that? Does your love manifest itself in other ways?

[46:34] Would they be able to point to things that you do, that you say, that you have shown them over time, that makes your love real?

[46:48] And things you do for them, not because you are obligated, but because you love them. And if that's where it starts for you and you relate to that concept, what have we said to God when this idea of God's love in our life only comes down to a list of stuff?

[47:20] Another way to think about this idea of being blessed is let's look at Scripture. When we think of some of our biblical heroes, for example, say John the Baptist, would you consider him a blessed person?

[47:35] Now you've got to remember who John the Baptist was. John the Baptist was a prophet who lived in the desert, wore camel hair, ate locusts and honey, showed up and called the people to repent, and not always in the most polite of ways.

[47:59] Now, it's really hard to look at John the Baptist that way and then remember that Jesus himself said, of all the prophets, there's not been one greater than John.

[48:12] Would you consider John the Baptist a blessed person? Because if he is, then think about that list of stuff thing.

[48:24] Because he didn't have any of that. He didn't have any of that. Another way we get this idea wrong is think about another hero from the Bible.

[48:40] Hero might be pushing it, depends on your perspective. But think about Solomon. Solomon, the great king known as the wisest of all. Now, when you look at Solomon's life, clearly Solomon rolled real hard.

[48:57] Solomon was wealthy. Solomon's wealth was legendary. Okay? But we forget something about Solomon. First, he was born into wealth.

[49:09] We shouldn't take that off the table. Secondly, remember that Solomon, when he ascended to be king, God came to Solomon. He said, essentially, because I want to keep my promise to your father, tell me what you want.

[49:27] And Solomon asked for wisdom, so that he could rule well. And that pleased God. And because that pleased God, God said, not only will I give you the wisdom, I'm going to give you more stuff, so that there will not be a king like you, ever.

[49:50] But here's the thing. Remember that Solomon didn't come from a place of just seeking the list of toys. That's key. The other thing that we often leave out when we think about blessing, is this idea that, well, that implied that Solomon was going to be the best of the best.

[50:08] And he also wanted to be the king that God expected him to be. That not only did Solomon get the stuff, he had a list of responsibilities and obligations because of that.

[50:20] Not he got it because he had fulfilled them, but because he had gotten it, that meant he had them. 그의 목적이 생각합니다.

[50:33] 그러니까 백älut가 다른時候 Because we get this piece with blessing wrong when we put it in relational terms.

[51:05] Because as I said before, we have been conditioned to kind of think that we get nice things because God likes us. Not because God loves us, but because God likes us.

[51:17] In other words, we've been special somehow. God says, hey, I see you. Let me just throw you a solid. Now, there's some truth to that.

[51:30] There's some truth to that. Now, I said it in a somewhat facetious way, but there is some truth to that. But some truth is not the whole truth. And what we want to be clear about is this idea about being blessed in this relational way.

[51:45] Is that if we come from this place and we take our list of stuff as an indicator that we are doing it right in God's eyes. Well, that could be a problem.

[52:02] Because the problem comes in that we put the emphasis on us instead of the emphasis where it belongs, which is on God. Let me say that again. When we do it that way, we put the emphasis on ourselves and our behavior as opposed to God and God's behavior.

[52:22] Because remember what a blessing is. If a blessing is a manifestation of God's love in your life, then where the emphasis should be, where the energy should go, is look at how generous, kind, and loving my God is.

[52:40] Not how cool I am. But that's what most of us have been conditioned to think. In other words, I got a blessing because I'm special.

[52:52] Not I got a blessing because God is generous. And if that's where our energy is, if that's where our thinking is, then you see how we get this notion of blessing twisted.

[53:07] And if we get this notion of being blessed, twisted, into thinking that I get this rewards list, like points for flights, right?

[53:21] I get this rewards list. Again, the question you've got to wrestle with is what are you saying about who God is to you? What are you saying about who God is to you?

[53:42] Now, if you really want to mess it up, let's listen to what Jesus said. Because you heard Sandy read today, the Beatitudes.

[53:55] And over and over again, you hear the word blessed. But remember what Jesus was doing. Jesus was helping us remember that this idea of blessing, the way we understand people who are blessed, is that the world he was speaking to, like the world we were just talking about, had it kind of twisted.

[54:18] And so Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, when the culture had been saying, well, blessed are all these people we look at as holy people. Jesus said, blessed are the meek, when the culture was saying, look at all these brave warriors.

[54:36] Jesus said, blessed are those of you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, when the culture was saying, hey, get yours. And Jesus was saying, you are loved, those of you who are in this place.

[54:52] You are seeing those of you who are in this place. God has not forgotten you. It's the world that's telling you that somehow you're out of step. But God never said that.

[55:07] And the same way we move through the world, and we have fallen into these traps about what being blessed looks like, and we look at people who don't have a lot of money, who may not live in the nicest house, who may not come from the nicest neighborhoods, and we think, or we think pity thoughts around them, and then tell ourselves, well, look at all this stuff I got, and we have forgotten about who our God really is.

[55:40] And what are we saying about who God is to us, if our primary measure of how well we are walking with God is, how good my day is, and how much stuff I have.

[55:58] That's why we got to talk about what it means to be blessed.

[56:13] What it means to be blessed. Because if a blessing is a manifestation of God's love in your life, think about all the ways in which God shows you love regularly.

[56:31] Because having a problem doesn't mean you aren't loved. Being challenged to pay your bills doesn't mean you aren't loved. Being medically challenged doesn't mean you aren't loved by God.

[56:46] having a few bad relationships or having suffered trauma doesn't mean you aren't loved by God. It also doesn't mean that God isn't at work in your life.

[57:02] But if your focus is on those things, and those things have made you lock in on the idea, well, maybe somehow God doesn't love me.

[57:13] or maybe somehow I'm really far away from God. That's not a God problem. That's a you problem.

[57:30] Because as I said, if your list of blessings had things on it like I did get out of bed today, God let me laugh with a friend.

[57:45] God let me worship in safety. God put a smile on my face. God showed me an amazing sunset. I'm surrounded by people who love me in addition to knowing that I'm loved by God.

[58:00] And it wasn't just this list of toys. Think about how differently you would move through your day.

[58:13] Think about how differently your heart might feel. Think how differently your thoughts might be if that's where your spiritual focus was. Rather than the culture telling you everything you are not.

[58:27] rather than a world that tells you what you need to get in order to be happy. Instead of appreciating all the ways in which God is saying I love you over and over and over and over again.

[58:46] But that's what's happened to us, right? That we've taken this idea of blessing and we've made it so small that it's actually hurt us.

[59:01] Because it's kept us from appreciating who God is how God works and all God is trying to do in us on us and around us.

[59:13] And that's what brings us to our series. Because when you think about this when you can list all of those ways in which you are just aware of how God loves you and shows you love all the time then you can celebrate God's presence throughout each day.

[59:39] Because you are aware of how God is moving how God is doing how God is thinking how God is showing you love regularly. and when that is in your brain when that flows from your heart you celebrate God all the time.

[60:00] How do you not celebrate a God who does these things for you all day every day. And again that doesn't mean you won't have problems.

[60:13] It doesn't mean that everything's going to go exactly as you planned. but never fall into the trap of thinking that unless you magically find $50 every day or unless you're driving a certain type of car that you're not blessed.

[60:38] Because when you know that when you understand that then you can say just like we heard in the psalm today praise those servants of the Lord praise the name of the Lord blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore from the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord's name be praised that flows from a heart that knows how God is at work in their life that knows God's presence that knows God's work that knows God's hand and heart not just God's stuff that's who we are striving to be that's what this idea of being blessed really means so the next time somebody says to you have a blessed day or somebody says to you God bless you hear that differently and know how

[61:42] God already has I've shared this here before but it's so appropriate that I'm bringing it up again I was at a presentation a long time ago and the presenter his name was Ray Buckley said something that I have taken to heart and I have always stayed with it and what Ray said was this we are a blessed people not because we are so good or we are so great but because our God is both hear that one more time we are a blessed people not because we are so good or we are so great but because our God is both hold that remember that and know how blessed you truly are amen and amen loving and gracious

[62:44] God we thank you for the ways in which you bless us we thank you that you have shown us that blessing is far more than simply the material things we possess but that love made real in our lives all the ways in which you provide these gentle gestures that remind us of who you are and that you are with us and that you take care of us these are the reminders these are the blessings that help us to understand just how amazingly loving and generous you are let us always hold that close let us always remember that's who you are and let that be a cause of our celebration let that be a cause of our responsibility to remember that this is who God is and I have surrendered my life to God so let us not feel entitled let us not feel self important let us remember that all that we are all that we have flows from you and we are indeed your blessed children amen one of the great gifts of

[64:18] God to us is the ability to celebrate at God's table let us ready our hearts as we prepare to come to the Lord's table this morning the Lord be with you lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the Lord our God it is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you almighty God the creator of heaven and earth you formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life when we turned away and our love failed your love remained steadfast you delivered us from captivity made covenant to be our sovereign God and spoke to us through your prophets who looked for that day when justice would roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream when nation would not lift up sword against nation and neither would they study war anymore 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 heaven and earth are full of your glory hosanna in the highest blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest holy are you and blessed is your son jesus christ your spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor to proclaim the release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people he healed the sick fed the hungry and ate with sinners by the baptism of his suffering death and resurrection you gave birth to your people delivered us from slavery to sin and death and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit at his ascension you exalted him to sit and to reign with you at your right hand on the night in which he gave himself up for us

[66:36] Jesus took bread he gave thanks to you he broke the bread and he gave it to his disciples and he said take and eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me when the supper was over he took the cup he gave thanks to you and he gave it to his disciples and he said drink from this all of you this is my blood sign of the new covenant which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins every time that you drink it do this 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

[67:37] Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and cup make them be for us the body and blood of Christ that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood by your spirit make us one with Christ one with each other and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet through your son Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in your holy church all honor and glory is yours almighty God now and forever amen and let us pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray 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 those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil and then is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen torée r corridor inches esta esta esta confused ed棲 honest la 감사합니다.

[69:48] 감사합니다. 감사합니다.

[70:48] 감사합니다. All literally means all.

[71:39] No one is excluded. You don't have to be a member of the church. You don't have to have done anything special first, except to want to commune and be at the table with him.

[71:50] We ask that you use the center aisle, come to the front, and then receive the elements from a server. Server will break off a piece of bread, hand it to you, then move to the cup, dip that into the cup, take both elements together, then exit by the sides.

[72:05] There's a gluten-free station here at the far end of the sanctuary. If you would prefer prepackaged elements, we ask that you come to the front, ask for them from a server, and receive them because communion is God's gift to you.

[72:22] So the spirit beckons, and our Lord calls. Come and receive God's gift. build the broken territories in the 91st Museum of confession.

[72:34] He makes й vitrily just His first time to receive the clear awakens.

[72:53] Losers and winners Saints and sinners One day we'll see His face And we all bow down Kings will surrender their crowns And worship Jesus For He is the love The unbending love He is the love of God From the red winter The mountains and the rivers

[73:56] Whispers holy name Awesome and holy Friend to the lonely Forever His love will reign And we all bow down Kings will surrender their crowns And worship Jesus For He is the love The unbending love He is the love of God He's the light of the world And Lord of the cross

[74:59] And we all bow down Kings will surrender their crowns And worship Jesus Jesus Worship Jesus Worship Jesus For He is the love The unbending love He is the love of God He is the love of God Jesus And on the line And he is the love Him

[76:01] And hereafter He is the love of God To he is the love And the Shock And hereafter And hereafter Jesus And hereafter His love And hereafter The unbending love He is the love And hereafter 아멘 He is the unfailing love of God in that previous song and we open this morning and the chorus reminds us of the simple things and All the many blessings throughout the day Like an ocean breeze blowing on your face like the summer Sun with its warm embrace like a gentle rain plays a symphony like hearing a mother

[77:12] Well, she is a mother put a father and his daughter share a beautiful blessing with us this morning and three generations of putney's up here today Embracing that music but above all it's the Body and blood of Christ and that's why we praise him so I'm gonna invite you to stand as we close with that's why we praise him So we'd be right and style he came to He came to be The loving word our light he came to die He came to die so we'd be right and style he came to rise to show his power and That's that what we do

[78:13] That's why we That's why we praise him That's why we sing That's why we offer him our everything That's why we bow down and worship this king Because he gave his everything But He gave His everything He came to live Live again in us He came to be Our conquering King and friend He came to heal And show the lost ones His love He came to go Prepare a place for us That's why we praise Him That's why we sing

[79:15] That's why we offer Him Our everything That's why we bow down And worship this King Cause He gave His everything Cause He gave His everything That's why we praise Him That's why we sing That's why we offer Him Our everything That's why we bow down And worship this King Cause He gave His everything Cause He gave His everything Remember that you are a blessed people

[80:28] But a friend of mine Actually improved upon that A friend of mine named Harold He's a pastor in a different district He says remember that you are not just a blessed people You are a beloved people And it's because you are a beloved people That you are a blessed people And remember that you are a blessed people Not because you are so good Not because you are so great But because our God Is both Let that be your truth And praise God For that Now in the name of God Our Creator and King In the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord And our Savior And in the name of the Holy Spirit Our Counselor And our Advocate May God bless us now As we leave to love and serve God And all God's children Amen Amen

[81:30] Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen 한글자막 by 한효정 한글자막 by 한효정 한글자막 by 한효정 한글자막 by 한효정 한글자막 by 한효정 한글자막 by 한효정