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[0:00] Good morning, everyone.

[0:23] This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. If any kids want to come up and help sing, that would be fantastic. Come on. This is the day.

[0:39] This is the day. The Lord has made. Let the Lord has made. Let us rejoice. Let us rejoice.

[0:51] We're glad in it. And we glad in it. This is the day. The Lord has made. Let us rejoice.

[1:03] We're glad in it. This is the day. This is the day. The Lord has made.

[1:14] The Lord has made. The Lord has made. The Lord has made. Hi. Welcome to our church. I'm Mike Maciejewski. And I'm Julie. Please fill out your friendship card to get on the mailing list, to sign up for any activities, any prayers or concerns, and any notes you want to send for the staff.

[1:30] And if you're new to our church, please be sure and pick up a gift that we have for you in the back of the church at the Connection site after worship. Thank you for coming today, and welcome to Pendleton Center Church.

[1:41] We do welcome you to Pendleton Center United Methodist Church this morning. Just a couple of announcements and such. There are two clipboards somewhere in this room, and there's only two clipboards for the entire congregation because they're to sign up for a specific date.

[1:56] So if we have duplicates, that wouldn't work very well. But they're to sign up for flowers and to donate toward communion and the bulletins, things like that. So there are two clipboards if you see them, keep them going.

[2:07] They need to reach everyone in the room, okay? The other thing is we have the Mother's Day carnation. So if you ordered a Mother's Day carnation to give to your mom, those are here to pick that up after worship.

[2:18] There's a Mom and Me tea on Saturday, May 14th. See the little good news for all of the information about that. And then next Sunday, the youth that are going on the mission trip are going to be doing a car wash and hot dog sale.

[2:30] So bring dirty cars. And also, we'd love some donations of some hot dogs and rolls and things like that. So check out the little good news for that all this week. If you can give donations, that would be fantastic.

[2:42] So let's come to the Lord this morning as we prepare for worship. Lord, we thank you and we praise you for giving us this opportunity to gather together and praise your name.

[2:55] We pray that you will fill this place with your presence, inspire us, encourage us, lift us up, and fill us with your Holy Spirit. And may everything we say and do be a blessing to you, shouting out our love for you.

[3:08] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'd like to invite you to all stand if you're able as we sing together, O 4,000 Tones to Save. O 4,000 Tones to Save.

[3:32] My great Redeemer's Praise. The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.

[3:44] My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of Thy name.

[4:00] Jesus, the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease. Tis music in the sinner's ears, tis life and death and peace.

[4:17] He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make no power less clean.

[4:29] His blood availed for me. He speaks and listening to His voice, He'll let the dead receive.

[4:42] The mournful broken hearts rejoice. The heart of the world be real. The Lord be with you.

[4:53] All right. All right. All right. Please greet one another with the peace of the Spirit. With the peace of the Spirit. I'd like to invite all the kids to come on up.

[5:07] Any kids want to come up? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[5:18] Yes. Good morning guys. Do you know what today is? Yes.

[5:28] Yes. Yes. Today is Mother's Day. Yes. Yes. We have these really pretty flowers here that people are going to be giving to their moms. And Mother's Day is a really, really interesting holiday because we celebrate our moms because they've given so much to us.

[5:45] What have your mother's given you? They've given you a lot of toys. Love, yeah. What else has mom given you?

[5:59] What? Flowers? You give me flowers from mom? That's a good question. What do you give to mom? Do you think, first of all, do you love your mom?

[6:13] Okay. If people were to watch the way you treat your mommy, do you think that they would know that you just love your mommy? Say, oh, I want to give my mom a hug.

[6:24] I just love my mom so much. Yeah. Those moms are great. You know one of the best gifts we can give our mom is to love her like crazy. We just love them.

[6:35] And you know what one of the best gifts our mom gives us? It's bringing you guys here. Because the greatest gift she can give is to share God with you. And the greatest gift you can give others is to share your love for mom.

[6:50] For others is to share that love out. So, thank your mom for bringing you to church. Because she does that because she loves you so much.

[7:02] Right? So, if you are wanting to say what you're thankful for, raise your hand. My friend.

[7:14] My friend. My friend. Family. The beads that help. Family.

[7:25] Family. Family. Family and friend. Over there. No.

[7:38] Okay. Over here. Parents night out. Parents night out. It's a good gift to mom.

[7:48] Let's pray. God, we thank you for all the love that you give us. We thank you for giving us people in our lives that love us.

[8:00] And we pray that you will continue to show us your love and show us how to love one another. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Oh, you guys can go off to Sunday school now.

[8:17] And we'll invite Anne-Marie Zahn to come down and share with us about Nicaragua Mission. Good morning, everyone.

[8:38] Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. And I do appreciate being invited back again. I said it wasn't your fault that I'm here, but I am here. And I appreciate that time.

[8:50] And on this day of Mother's Day, of course, we all think we have the best mother in the world. And I know I did. I miss her deeply. But when you think of mother, what a mother is.

[9:02] A mother, from the moment that child is conceived, her life isn't her own. A mother is a woman who gives her body, her time, her life, her care, her concern.

[9:23] And it's part of her to the day she breathes her last. Her children are always her children, no matter what.

[9:34] And some of us are not blessed to give birth the way our mothers did. But we are mother-like. And I think of that when I come to the congregation here because you've been a mother to children, to people you don't even know.

[9:55] I know the children, they decorate the buckets that you fill with oil and sugar and salt and toys and clothes.

[10:07] And I know it takes your time. I know it takes your funds. But it touches others in a very, very, very real way. It touches them in a way that they realize that they're important to somebody.

[10:23] And that motherliness has to extend not only to your immediate family, but your motherliness has to extend to people in your community, in your church, in your workplace, in your school, and into people you don't even know.

[10:46] And I have to say our people appreciate you. They appreciate who you are to them. And I'm going to give a small story about how our people are. They're not a people who say, give me, give me, give me.

[10:58] We're poor. They're not like that. You know, in Nicaragua we have what we call a canasta básica. A canasta básica means there should be enough food for a month, which means coffee, sugar, salt, oil, tortillas, rice, beans, a whole slew of things, even chicken.

[11:19] Well, that's a rarity in some places. But anyway. And I remember a lady came to visit. And she heard about the canasta básica and we took her to the marketplace into a supermarket, so to speak, in Managua.

[11:32] And she bought a whole slew of things. And she wanted to give it to a random family, somebody who was very, very poor. And we did. We found a family. She took the basket of things to them.

[11:43] And there was a little girl there. As the lady came in, she gave the basket of things to the father. And the little girl's eyes just popped. And she said, Daddy, are we rich now?

[11:57] And the father said, yes, we're rich. But not because of what's in the basket. We're rich because this lady thought of us. We're rich because somebody cared about us.

[12:10] We're rich because we are important to somebody. That's what richness is. And she taught the child a lesson, or he taught the child a lesson.

[12:22] And I see that all the time in the country. And I see it's the poor. The poor, the poor seem to have more of a heart, more of a motherly concern.

[12:33] I don't know why that is. But I see it all the time. And just to demonstrate that, I gave a child, a little girl.

[12:45] We went up into one of the missions, and we gave the girl a little doll. It wasn't fancy. It was just a little doll. And she was thrilled, of course. It was probably her only toy. And when we went back about two or three weeks, even a month later, I saw the same little girl, but another little girl had her doll.

[13:06] And I said to the original one, I said, where's your doll? She said, I gave it to her. And I said, well, now you don't have a doll. And she said, no, but she does.

[13:18] There is no line drawn where you cannot give or should not give or will not give.

[13:30] It belongs to all of us. It belongs to all of us. And sometimes it costs us more than it does to others. That's not the point of how much it costs us.

[13:43] What the point is, how do we give it from our heart? What does that mean to somebody else that we can do something for others? We can't do everything, but we can do something.

[13:57] And that's what Mother's Day means to me. A mother cannot give you everything, but she gives you the most important thing. She gave you herself.

[14:09] God bless you and God love you. Thank you so much, Anne-Marie, for sharing with us what a wonderful blessing it is.

[14:19] As we continue in our worship, let us consider prayerfully all the blessings that God has poured out into our lives and how God would call us to be a blessing to others as we bring our gifts, tithes, and offerings.

[14:40] Thank you.

[15:10] Sing it up!

[15:38] Lord, I'll know how majestic is your name in all the earth. Lord, I'll know how majestic is your name in all the earth.

[15:53] Your heavens declare your greatness. The oceans lay out to you. The mountains, they bow down before you.

[16:04] So I'll join with me. And I'll sing. The heavens declare your greatness. The oceans lay out to you.

[16:15] The mountains, they bow down before you. So I'll join with me. The mountains, they bow down before you. And I'll give you my praise. The mountains, they bow down before you.

[16:26] The mountains, they bow down before you. And I will worship you. The mountains, they bow down before you. The mountains, they bow down before you. Honestly, I will love you. The mountains, they bow down before you.

[16:37] And I will worship you. And I will worship you.

[16:50] I will worship you I will worship you, God I will worship you Sing, we will worship you Sing it out We will worship you We will worship you, God We will worship you, Lord The heavens declare your greatness The oceans cry out to you The mountains, they bow down before you So join with the earth and sing The heavens declare your greatness The oceans cry out to you The mountains, they bow down before you

[17:51] So join with the earth and I'll give my praise to you So join with the earth and I'll give my praise to you So join with the earth and I'll give my praise to you Praise God from all the things come Praise God from all the things come Praise Him all creatures here below Praise Him all creatures here below Praise God from all the things come Praise God from all the things come Dear Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and pray

[18:59] For this day For the opportunity to celebrate with you All of this earth And the things and the people that are in it That you have given us Lord, we lift up this offering before you We ask that you bless it and give us wisdom To know how to best use it for the furtherance Of your kingdom Bless us As we give Not only of these offerings But of all the gifts that you have blessed us with We want to know how to use them To serve you To grow your kingdom And call many to faith in Jesus Christ Lord, God bless especially This offering for Nicaragua Make it to be a blessing To all of the people there Who are touched By the love of the ministry That comes from this place In Jesus' name we pray Amen Please be seated And as we come

[20:03] For the Lord in prayer We have the wonderful blessing Of it being Mother's Day Happy Mother's Day one and all And we can all rejoice in Mother's Day Because we all have one Yeah?

[20:19] Whether here on earth Or you know wherever Depending on what's happened in life We celebrate our mothers And there was a wonderful Methodist woman Around the time of the Civil War Who decided Having And she was a nurse And she had seen All of the ravages Of that war And how horrid it was And even returning home After the war was over with The terrible animosity among people Families torn apart Being one side or the other Against each other And she wanted to institute A Mother's Day Because she believed That mothers More than all people And those with The motherly Way about them That Anne-Marie was speaking of Have a unique way Of bringing peace And reconciliation Into the world That was the origin

[21:20] Of Mother's Day It wasn't about Hallmark cards And chocolates And going out for brunch Sorry ladies I know But it really was About honoring those With the capacity To truly love In that way So as we remember Our mothers And the mothers In our midst Let's remember All of that We have another joy Diana Rooney Had successful surgery To repair an aneurysm That she had in her head And she is home recovering And that's a blessing It's a real blessing Ken Reed We need to keep him Lifted up He's experiencing Some health concerns Ron Ellman's daughter And his sister-in-law Both of them Are suffering From broken legs Not the same incident But they've both got it So we need to pray For them And you know Keep them lifted up Too And we want to pray For Melissa Rada's family On the death Of her uncle I think it was yesterday Yesterday or the day before And that family Is feeling that loss

[22:20] With these concerns And those that are In your heart Let's turn to the Lord In prayer Gracious Heavenly Father What a blessing it is To come before you To worship you To express with great joy How grateful we are For the love That you pour out Into our lives We come before you now Before your throne of grace And ask For your mercy In all of these situations We pray for those Who are sick And infirm And ask that you Would touch them By your healing power That they would be made whole From the tops of their heads To the soles of their feet Pray for those Who care for them That they would have Compassion and patience We pray for those Lord Who are grieving Losses of all kinds

[23:22] We pray that you Would help them Bring them peace In the midst of the storm Lord we pray for All of those people In our communities And in the wider world Who don't know you We pray that they Would be drawn By your spirit Come to you To realize Who you are And to call upon Your name And to say We pray Lord That we would be The vessels Through whom You reach them We pray that you Would give us Words and actions That demonstrate Your love And grace And mercy And when we have The opportunity To share why We care about them So They would hear How much we love you Because you loved us

[24:24] First Father we pray For all of those Throughout the world Who are bringing That message Even as we speak Especially Lord God Would you bless Those who are In danger For doing so Those who are Putting themselves And their families Their very lives In jeopardy Just because They speak the name Of Jesus Help them Be with us As we hear your word Let it wash Over us And touch us In our hearts And our souls And our minds Let it change us Into the people You have called us To be And encourage us To go out And boldly share Your message Be with Pastor Sherry As she delivers The message That you have given To her for us This day Let it be a blessing To her And a blessing To us Give us Eyes to see

[25:25] Ears to hear And hearts And minds To understand And to receive What you are Pouring out For us This day Most of all Lord Make all of our Worship Be a blessing To you That is why We came In Jesus name We pray Amen Shall we hear From the word Of the Lord Good morning Everybody I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed That dance Worship presentation That Pastor Lisa

[26:27] And one of our Little ones Gave this morning That was very touching And I just wanted To sing along With it You know But anyhow Thank you Our scripture reading Today is found In the book of Acts Chapter 8 Verses 26 Through 39 And now an angel Of the Lord Said to Philip Go south To the road The desert road That goes down From Jerusalem To Gaza And so he started out And on his way He met An Ethiopian Eunuch An important official In charge of all The treasury Of the Kandek Which means Queen of the Ethiopians This man Had gone to Jerusalem To worship And on his way Home Was sitting In his chariot Reading the book Of Isaiah The prophet The spirit Told Philip Go to that chariot And stay near it Then Philip Ran up to the chariot And heard the man

[27:28] Reading Isaiah The prophet Do you understand What you are reading Philip asked How can I He said Unless someone Explains it to me So he invited Philip to come up And sit with him This is the passage Of scripture The eunuch Was reading He was led Like a sheep To the slaughter And as the lamb Before its shear Is silent So he did not Open his mouth And in his humiliation He was deprived Of justice Who can speak Of his descendants For his life Was taken From the earth The eunuch Asked Philip Tell me Please Who is the prophet Talking about Himself Or someone else And then Philip began With that very Passage of scripture And told him The good news About Jesus As they traveled Along the road

[28:28] They came to some water And the eunuch Said Look Here is water What can stand In the way Of my being baptized And he gave orders To stop the chariot And then both Philip and the eunuch Went down Into the water And Philip Baptized him When they came up Out of the water The spirit of the Lord Suddenly took Philip away And the eunuch Did not see him again But went on His way rejoicing This is the word Of the Lord Thanks be to God Is it on?

[29:14] There we go Philip went on his way Spreading the good news And it is good news God is good Amen How many believe God is good?

[29:26] Woo! Yeah We are here this morning Rejoicing Because God is good That's why we gather In worship We're like Woo! God! Yeah! Because God is good And so Philip Got it He got that God is good And he's going to spread That good news Throughout the land Now a little bit Of background For all of this We have The beginning Of the book of Acts If you haven't read it Read it It's a good book In Acts We have That the Jews Had traveled To Jerusalem To celebrate The Passover And in doing so They would have been there When Jesus Was tried And crucified And rose again And so you had Lots of Jews That all came To Christ And they were all Gathered there Now the people That were gathered There were two different Kinds of Jews There were the Jews Who were born And raised in Israel And they spoke Aramaic And they knew all the customs And they were accustomed

[30:27] To that And then there were What they called The Hellenistic Jews And the Hellenistic Jews Were the ones That were not born And raised in Israel But instead They had spread out And they spoke Greek And they were really exposed To the Greek customs And culture And they all melded together And they were all Coming to Christ And they were all Trying to figure out How to get along With one another And there was A little bit Of injustice going on And it came To the disciples Attention that The Hellenistic widows Were not getting The proper amount Of food And things were not Being distributed Fairly between The Hellenistic Jews And the other Jews And so already We've got division Going on And so the disciples Said well obviously This isn't a very good thing We're going to fix this And so they figured That they would get Seven people To make sure This doesn't happen again And when they started To do that They said Here's the criteria We're going to choose Seven people And they need to be known To be full of the spirit

[31:27] And wisdom And Philip was one of those people Known to be full of the spirit And wisdom Now Stephen Who we heard about last week He was also one of those Full of the spirit And wisdom And they had at that time Because of Stephen He was stoning to death And he was martyred All of the Jews scattered In fear of persecution So they're all going off All over the place And Philip himself Starts actually living out What Jesus said In Acts 1-8 When he said You will be my witnesses In Jerusalem And in all Judea And in Samaria And to the ends of the earth Philip Is going to start doing that So he'd already been Spreading the good news In Jerusalem And he starts going off All the way through Judea Spreading the good news And he goes to a place Samaria Now Samaria Was where the Samaritans lived And the Samaritans

[32:28] Were people That the Jews Did not like In fact they were shunned They were thought of As no good And to be avoided At all costs Which is why Jesus When he chose To do his parable About the good Samaritan It's an oxymoron Because in the Jewish mind At that time There was no such thing As a good Samaritan They were bad But Philip Because he's so full Of the spirit So excited about The good news He understands That there are no boundaries In this anymore There is no There are no people To whom this message Isn't good for anymore And so he breaks That boundary And he goes up To Samaria And he starts spreading The good news And they're responding And people are coming To Christ And there's miracles Being performed And it says That in Acts 8-8 There was a great joy In that city He's spreading the word It's good news And this is where Our story begins An angel came To Philip

[33:28] And said Go south To the road The desert road That goes down From Jerusalem To Gaza And Philip did it Right there I was like He just did it?

[33:39] Really? No questioning No stalling No excuses The angel said Go do this And he's like On it I'm going I don't know about you How ready are we To do that If God tells us To do something And we're like On it We're even hearing God tell us What to do And yet Philip Just goes and does it Without question I mean that takes A lot of trust That takes a lot Of commitment Philip It's actually A very long way To go from Samaria All the way down To where he was going And it doesn't say And he questioned The entire time And he tried to figure out What was going on Because the angel Didn't say You're going to go To this area For this reason To create this No You need to go You just need to go And the reason Why Philip was able To do that Is because he was Already full of the spirit He was connected And we can be That connected too In fact we should Be that connected too But how do we get there

[34:40] Well we get there Through prayer It's a relationship thing Either through prayer Through bible study And most especially In my mind Through worship It's a time When we gather together And we get on The same page with God And we say God is God And you are great And you are good And I'm on fire And I get filled up With the spirit And that inspires me To go When God says go Because it builds That trust Now He goes on To this road And there's An Ethiopian He's in a It says he's in a chariot And he's going down Now the Ethiopian Was a man Of Very important stature He He was a servant To the queen Which means He's high up there Which made me think You know So why'd they call Philip I mean Why not Peter Peter's like a big wig In the group You know Peter got the training He got Peter Certainly it's his job To do this sort of thing No

[35:41] They said Philip to do it Why Because it's everybody's job It's not just for the people In authority It's not for Just the people With all of this deep training It's for everybody Everybody To go when you're called And witness to the good news Of Jesus Christ And so He goes He goes The road To this Ethiopian Now this Ethiopian Is not only very powerful He's very wealthy Because he's reading The scroll of Isaiah And right then It was something That would be handwritten It would have been Extremely expensive But most importantly This Ethiopian Was extremely committed He traveled It said that he went To Jerusalem To worship Now he went Travel from Ethiopia To worship That They say that it would take him Assuming 25 miles a day It would have taken him Two months to get there

[36:41] And two months to return That's commitment That's huge commitment Because he was inspired He wanted to worship God How committed are we To worship God?

[36:57] Around the world People are committed To worshiping God I'm not going to say In this country we are Some are Certainly all are here But Around the country Around the world rather Around the world You have people That will walk Ten miles For the opportunity To praise God And worship You have people Who are worshiping In underground churches In fear of persecution They may be killed for it But it's more important That I worship God We have people In the Philippines There's a picture We have here You have it there?

[37:34] There we go They're worshiping God In a flood After a hurricane How many of us Would have done that? How many of us Really make it so important?

[37:46] I am so on fire For God God has changed my life And I'm going to worship And I'm going to Break down every barrier To make sure I'm there And worshiping God In America Truthfully I almost wonder If we've just made it Too easy It's really easy You can come to worship Anytime There's churches All over the place And yet We don't go Some do obviously Again you're here But on majority We've got a problem In our entire country Of people not really Recognizing That God is God And God deserves To be praised And we need to be Filled up with that Good news Regularly Refilling that commitment And that relationship So the angel said Go up to that chariot Now the chariot's moving That means He's running So Philip asked Natalie walks all this way To get there Now he's like Okay we need to get To the chariot And the chariot keeps moving And so he's running Alongside the chariot And he's running

[38:46] And he's listening To what he's saying That in and of itself Is a huge commitment Runners fascinate me I have some friends Who run And I say Wow that's inspiring You run That's great And they've talked They've talked me Into buying this app Couch to 5k With the idea That I would get Toward running The 5k So far I got The couch part down I just can't I try But you know It takes effort It takes stamina It takes motivation And if we're going To do that In our faith life That means We got to get up Off the couch We got to move But you got to get Moving By motivation What's our motivation In this world In a relationship With Christ So Ethiopian Was reading Isaiah Now that right there Tells Philip That he's open To the idea Of hearing about God

[39:47] And I think that's huge In evangelism You know there's People out there That are just Closed off to it You know and we pray For them We pray for them But there are people Out there Who want to know About God And they're open to it And wanting to hear And we need to tell them And we start thinking Why do we need to tell them Why?

[40:10] I mean certainly There's churches everywhere They can buy their own Bible There's movies There's all kinds of stuff Why do we need to tell them? Because they need to hear it From us It's a personal thing It's a relational thing Some of us say It's not my job But it's everyone's job To share And they really Don't know But we have to pray That we have our eyes open Our ears open Our minds open And our hearts open To the movement Of the Holy Spirit Who's going to lead us To the people That are open To hearing the good news And they are out there They're all over They want to hear it We have a lot of people Who say Well you know I don't know where to start I don't know what to share These people I mean obviously They know the story of Jesus They don't A few years ago We had this woman Who came in It was Palm Sunday

[41:11] And I recognized That people weren't Getting all their palms And so I'm running around Before worship Handing a palm to everybody You know And I handed it to her And she just looks at it Like I was from Mars She's Why'd you give me that?

[41:25] Well it's a palm And she's still looking at me Like And so I'm thinking I'm thinking She's thinking It's because it looked really lame You know It's just like It's a long string It's not the palm And she's like Why would you give me that?

[41:38] I said Well it's because It's supposed to represent When the people were waving Palm branches On Palm Sunday And they were shouting Hosanna Because Jesus the King Was coming in on a And she jumped out of her seat And she said You did what?

[41:53] They were doing what? And she was so excited I mean she wanted to hear And so I skipped the opening hymn Sometimes I do that And we went in the back And I told her All about Holy Week And she had never Heard the story before And she was just Eating it up And she's like Wow So I gotta tell you I was invited to church A little while ago And I came And truthfully I came because I thought it would look good To my recovery leader And maybe look good On a job application I was just gonna go But going to church This has changed My life She said I've never been so excited About anything in my life This has changed my life I'm clean now And I can't imagine Anywhere else I'd rather be We need to share There are people Hungry out there Who want to know

[42:55] Who need to know But do we want to? Do we really want to share? I mean let's be honest How many of us say Wow I can't wait to go out there And share It's so Well What's preventing us From doing it?

[43:10] My friend Jeannie Prendergast Reminded me of a story A while ago And we were camping With them And a bunch of other friends And sitting around a bonfire And my son Joshua Was four years old At the time And he was gonna Get ready He was getting ready For kindergarten And he had received A letter in the mail From his new teacher And he was so excited To go to kindergarten And he was telling her About it And she said And she can't wait To meet me Wow He was excited The idea that she would want To meet him But isn't that the message?

[43:53] God The creator Of the universe Wants to meet Me Wants to be in a relationship With me And wants to be In a relationship With you And he was so excited About being in kindergarten And he was so excited To be with this teacher And he'd go to kindergarten And he'd come home And he was so excited To tell me Every little detail about it Wow Kindergarten's amazing How many of you Know a teenager?

[44:26] Or remember Being a teenager? How long does that last? How long before They start saying Boy it's really nice That they canceled School today How was school today?

[44:38] Yeah I don't want to talk about it Yeah You know It's a dangerous road With it Because we can get We can get the same way With our spiritual life When people first hear The good news of Jesus Christ And it comes in And they internalize it They're like Wow God wants to be with me Wow And after a while We just get to be In a routine And that excitement That thing That inspires us The spirit That fills us Dissipates And we start making Worship Of our creator Something that's just A routine It's Eh Eh Matthew 18 3 says Truly I tell you Unless you change And become Like little children You will never enter The kingdom of God The kingdom of heaven So how do we do this?

[45:36] It's with a sincere heart Worshiping Not because it's a routine Not because we have to Not because we're even Supposed to Well we are But we come sincerely Wanting to express Our love And our gratitude For the God Who loves And saves Us That's why we come To worship God sent Each and every one Of us A love letter And he wants to be In relationship With us We've been talking About on earth As it is in heaven How do we fix This broken world?

[46:17] And clearly we cannot Fix the broken world On our own This is a God thing But we are instruments Of God Assigned to his mission And in our set today We have A representation Of the kingdom of God The tree of life The tree of life Was there In the beginning In the book of Genesis And it's in the garden Of Eden And along with it Is the tree Of the knowledge Of good and evil And it was when Adam and Eve Chose To disobey God And ate from the knowledge Of the tree Of good and evil Bringing sin Into the world That the tree of life Was cut off What?

[46:58] Susan God bless her She created the tree Out of the cross And isn't that exactly What we're talking about? The cross The death And resurrection Of Jesus Christ Who made it then That the tree of life Of eternal life Is now available To each and every one of us Only through that And it says In Revelation 22 They're talking about The tree of life again In the end times And it says The leaves for the tree Are for the healing Of the nations We can heal the nations By bringing the word Of Jesus The salvation The good news We have the words Of life And people are hungry For it The Ethiopian Was reading Isaiah 53 And if you continue on What he was reading Isaiah was packed full

[48:00] Of messages About the Messiah And in verse 12 It says The Messiah Would bore The sin Of many And made Intercession For the transgressors That's what Jesus did So who are the sinners Who are the transgressors Yeah It's It's It's something That the people Get a little hung up on If they're not Christian And they have Put up walls And they say Well if you're saying You're a Christian You're saying you're perfect It's like Oh Trust me I'm not perfect I'm far from perfect But I am forgiven And I have a relationship With an almighty God Who loves me We're not saying We're perfect We're saying That Jesus Died for our sin And we are forgiven What do we say What is the message

[49:01] We're giving to people It's a simple message People don't People when they're Hungering for that They're not looking For a theological Dissertation About the eschatology Whatever They want to hear The basics God Loves you God Wants to be In a relationship With you God Died for his righteousness For you You can be forgiven And have eternal life John 3 16 Says that God so loved The world He gave His only begotten son That whoever believes In him Will never die But have eternal life It's good news It's for the kingdom Of God Which is for everyone And we should be So excited About that That it should bubble over We should be changing The world But you know We're not going to Change the world It's one heart

[50:01] At a time One person At a time One person Giving of themselves To reach out To one person And making an impact It changes And changes And changes Naomi Naomi Lasky Was so excited About what God's doing In her life She decided to share too Check out That it will be And for several years The past several years I've had the privilege Of being on the worship team that goes to DeGraff Memorial Hospital Long-Term Care Facility and doing a worship service there once a month.

[50:57] We have a scripture reading, we have a short message, and we sing lots of hymns. The residents love it so much that they love the music mostly.

[51:09] And they like, even if they can't sing, they tap and sometimes clap their hands and just love the music. And there are two of them, a man and a lady, who the lady has sung in church choir all her life.

[51:27] And she just loves to sing. And another guy that cannot talk anymore, but he can sing. And he helps to lead our singing.

[51:38] He's got such a beautiful voice. And they all know their hymns and love them. And these people just really enjoy our being there. And when the service is over, we go around and talk to them.

[51:50] And they just hang on to our hands and thank us over and over and over for being there. It is such a joy to minister to these people.

[52:00] You just can't help but go home blessed. Wow. What a blessing. It's a mission we're all called to.

[52:12] It's a mission that's not impossible. We can do this. And some of you, some of you are called to create new faith communities.

[52:24] Some of you are. Some of you are created. Actually, some, all of us are called to create faith opportunities in others.

[52:39] All of us are called to share in big ways and little ways. So how are we called to share? First, we have to get in line with the Holy Spirit. But we may be called to go and spread the news around the world.

[52:52] We may be called to international missions. We may want to go off to Nicaragua or to Sudan or Ethiopia or somewhere. We may be called to that and say, wow, these people are real need. I want to share the gospel message with them.

[53:05] Do it. You may be called to go to Samaria to share the news there. It's really on your heart. The people are broken and it's a place you're not really comfortable with. Maybe you're going to go and witness in a prison or in the inner city or in hospitals.

[53:20] You're saying, I want, I really feel I need to do this. Maybe you're being called to witness in Judea, someplace that's more comfortable.

[53:31] It's your school. It's your work. It's a place where you know the people and are comfortable. Maybe you're called to minister at home with your own family.

[53:44] I got to tell you, I think that's the hardest one. I think that's the hardest one of all because especially when you're living with people and you're in family relationship with people, walls are put up.

[53:58] And any of us who have family members who are not Christians, who have not accepted the gospel message, will share that it's like they just don't want to listen to a family member.

[54:11] We try. We pray. But truthfully, we need you to be the answer to our prayers.

[54:24] We all have people we love that need the word, that need the good news. We want them to share in that love. And it's going to take our prayers moving you to reach them.

[54:42] What a blessing it would be. What a blessing we could have. And what's the message? 1 Peter 3.15, it says, A lot of times this is thrown out there as, therefore you should study the Bible.

[55:10] Yeah, obviously we should study the Bible. Obviously we should know our scripture. Obviously we should know the foundations of our faith. But I don't think that's what this is talking about. The reason for the hope means, number one, people are watching us and looking at us.

[55:24] And they see in us, by the way we live, by the way we choose to be, hope and joy of God. And they want that.

[55:35] I want what they have. And what's the reason for that? The reason that I have hope? It's a very simple message.

[55:46] And it should be contagious. There was a man at local pastors licensing school. And there were several refugees there. And this one was also a refugee from Sudan.

[55:59] And they were all studying to be missionaries and pastors. And his name was Aaron. And he was truly ends of the earth to me. I mean, he was just so different and so cool.

[56:10] He was so on fire with God. I swear you could see God just bubbling up inside of him and spreading out. And he's like, whoa, this God thing. Wow, wow. And he was just walking around spreading joy everywhere he went.

[56:25] And he got us all singing this song because he wanted to share. And he was trying to communicate with us all the same. And so he starts off with, God is so good.

[56:37] God is so good. God is so good. He's so good to me. And then he taught it to us in his language.

[56:48] Now, I don't even know how to pronounce his language. It's capital M, little A, capital B, A-A, and Mamban. But I know how to sing that song in his language.

[56:59] And he taught it to us. Joang ekepoitse. Joang ekepoitse. Joang ekepoitse. Ekepoitse.

[57:10] Yati. And I had put that out of my mind. But when I was reading this scripture, I found myself actually singing that song in his language.

[57:23] The seed was planted. I knew it. Planting seeds all over. The gospel message.

[57:34] The good news. The good news that we share. And we need to share it. Because people really, really want and need to know the Lord.

[57:46] Now, there's a possibility. Someone invited you here. And you may not be really keen on this whole God thing.

[57:57] You don't really understand it. You're not sure that you want it. Mom dragged you here. I'm going to say, I want to pray for you.

[58:11] Because you have a choice to make. And I pray that you will choose to open up your heart to the possibility of allowing God to be in relationship with you.

[58:24] There may be folks here who have accepted Christ. And yet, the relationship with God, they're no longer running.

[58:39] No longer rejoicing. I pray that you will reconnect to the source. That you will find rejoicing that spills over and bubbles out of yourself.

[58:56] So that you can't help but proclaim the good news. I pray that you will find that again. So that you will move and run when God says move and run. And you are open to sharing.

[59:08] Because it's so important. And God is so good. And there are some of you here today who are on fire for God. And you say, I know God.

[59:21] And I love God. And I'm here to worship God. And I'm here to praise God. And I can't wait to get out there and spread this. I pray that you will move and be an answer to my prayers.

[59:35] And to your prayers. And you will have an impact on the people that we love who desperately need to hear the word. In a world that is so broken and desperately needs to hear the word.

[59:49] It's not an impossible mission. It's not at all. We can do this thing. We can. And we're all called to do it. And so as long as I live, I'm going to testify to love.

[60:02] We can. We can. All the colors of the rainbow All the voices of the wind Every dream that reaches up That reaches up to find where love begins Every word of every story Every star in every sky Every corner of creation

[61:04] Lives to testify For as long as I shall live I will testify through all of me Witnesses, silences, and prayers are enough With every breath of tea I will give thanks to God of all For as long as I shall live I will testify to all From the mountains to the valleys From the rivers to the seas Every path that reaches up Every path that reaches up to all the kings Every simple act of mercy Every self to kingdom come

[62:05] All the hope and every heart will Speak from the world as love For as long as I shall live I will testify to love For me a witness Sin as I do Since it works not enough Without a breath of tea I will give thanks to God of all For as long as I shall live I will testify to love I will testify to love I will testify to God Without a breath of tea I will give thanks to God of all For as long as I shall live I will testify to love Testifying to God's love.

[63:03] That's why we're here. And that's why we go out. We were created in God's image. And God wants to be with us. And we are made to worship and to praise.

[63:27] Before the day, before the night, before the world revolved around the sun.

[63:41] God on high, stepped out into time, and wrote the story of His love for everyone.

[63:51] He has filled our hearts with wonder. So that we always remember.

[64:08] You and I are made to worship. You and I are called to love. You and I are forgiven and free.

[64:18] And you and I embrace surrender. You and I choose to believe. And you and I will see.

[64:33] We are meant to be. All we are and all we have is all the gift from God that we receive.

[64:53] Brought to life. We are meant to be.

[65:08] He has filled our hearts with wonder So that we always remember You and I are made to worship You and I are called to love You and I are forgiven and free And you and I are pretty surrendered And you and I are that choose to believe And you and I will see That we were meant to believe Even the Christ of God Even the heaven child At the sound of His holy name So that every voice we know And that every leave our doubt

[66:10] Is worthy of all our praise You and I are made to worship You and I are called to love You and I are forgiven and free You and I are made to worship You and I are called to love You and I are forgiven and free You and I are made to worship You and I are called to love You and I are forgiven and free You and I are forgiven and free You and I are forgiven and free You and I are forgiven and free You and I will see You and I am forgiven and free

[67:17] You and I am forgiven and free Who we were meant to be.

[67:31] We were meant to be in a relationship with the almighty God. Worshiping and praising and spreading that to this broken world.

[67:42] That's who we were meant to be. And what's the reason why we come back to worship. And we need to recognize when we do. That we've not always followed that path.

[67:55] And that we are sinners in need of God's grace. And that's why we're so desperate for Christ to be in our lives. And so I invite you to join me in a prayer of confession.

[68:10] Dear Lord Almighty. I have sinned. I've not always followed you. I've not always shown my love for you.

[68:21] I've not always shared my love for others. I've been weak. I've been afraid. I've not been obedient.

[68:34] And I've not been loving. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Fill me with your grace. Forgive me for my wrongs.

[68:46] Open my eyes. Open my eyes. Open my ears. Open my mind. And open my heart.

[68:57] To your will and way. That I may be a blessing for you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

[69:09] Amen. You're the good news. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. And this proves God's love. God's love.

[69:20] For you and for me. So in the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Glory to God.

[69:31] Amen. Amen. I come with joy to meet my Lord, forgiven, loved, and free.

[69:56] In all that wonder to recall, His life lay down for me. His life lay down for me.

[70:08] And thus with joy we meet our Lord, His presence always near. He seems such friendship better known.

[70:18] We see and praise Him here. We see and praise Him here. Amen. Our God invites us to the table to join with Him at supper and receive all that He has for us.

[70:38] It isn't just a time to remember, although it is that. It's also a time when we sit down together with Jesus.

[70:50] It's a mystery. We don't understand how it happened. We can't understand why it happened. God loves us. God loves us, so God meets us here at the table where we're invited to be.

[71:08] Everyone is welcome. If you love God, repent of your sin, and seek to live in peace as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are welcome at the table.

[71:20] Jesus said it was okay. So come. When we take communion in this church, we take it by intinction. That means someone will break off a piece of bread and hand it to you, and then you dip it in the cup, and you take the juice and the bread together.

[71:39] You are welcome at the table. You are welcome to receive Jesus. Come. He is here for you. The Lord be with you. I'm also with you.

[71:50] Lift up your hearts. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to hear our nation's name. It is right, and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

[72:07] 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, brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and set before us the way of life.

[72:30] 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.

[72:46] 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.

[72:57] By the baptism of his suffering, death and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit.

[73:11] By your great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of your son from the dead, and to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

[73:27] Once we were no people, now we are your people, declaring your wonderful deeds in Christ, who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

[73:39] When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always in the power of your word and Holy Spirit. And on the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, and he gave thanks to you and broke the bread.

[74:03] He said, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

[74:21] And when the supper was over, he took the cup and he gave you thanks and praise, then he gave it to his disciples. He said, Drink from this, all of you. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new covenant poured out for you.

[74:35] It is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. On the day you raised Jesus from the dead, he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread.

[74:51] And in the power of the Holy Spirit, your church has continued in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup. 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.

[75:17] 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 wine, 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.

[75:39] 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.

[75:53] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit and your Holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.

[76:03] And shall we pray together with the confidence of children of God, dearly loved, the prayer Jesus taught us.

[76:14] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[76:26] 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.

[76:41] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Will those who are serving please come forward. Amen. Amen.

[77:31] Amen. Amen. Thank you.

[78:02] Thank you.

[78:32] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[78:44] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The table is ready.

[78:58] You're welcome to come. There will be gluten-free served over on the other side. Come, light a candle, or stop at the rail for prayer for anointing with oil. Come, worship the Lord.

[79:10] Come expecting God to bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[79:26] Ten- multiple times. Infrance with Master. Amen. Amen.

[80:30] Amen. Amen.

[81:30] Amen. Amen.

[82:30] Amen. Amen.

[83:30] Amen. Amen.

[84:30] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. to our Savior, Lord.

[84:43] Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord. Alleluia, alleluia, give praise to his name.

[84:59] So God was preparing the way in that Ethiopian ahead of time, making his heart ready to hear the message, but Philip moved on it and was able to spread the good news.

[85:13] And with that, the Ethiopian became completely committed, accepted Christ on the spot, and became baptized, devoting his life to Christ.

[85:24] And you never know the impact of what you say, what seeds you plant are going to do. That Ethiopian was so moved by his faith that he went back to Ethiopia, spreading the word, witnessing all over, and they created the Ethiopian church, which spread like crazy, and is still around today.

[85:45] Little seeds that we are all called to plant in the lives of others. And you're all, we're all called to be an answer to someone else's prayer, to minister to the people we love.

[85:56] May the power of the Holy Spirit move you to rejoice in God's love, grace, and goodness. And may you be blessed to be a blessing, sharing God's good news with others.

[86:10] Go in joy. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.