Transcription downloaded from https://services.pcumc.org/sermons/27401/may-29-2016/.

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[0:00] Welcome to all of our youth who are here from the 30-hour famine.

[0:23] They're here to worship with us, and they've been up for... How long have you been here for? A long time. When did you get here? 10 o'clock yesterday.

[0:37] They haven't eaten since Friday dinner. I think they eat after worship. Are we breaking our fastness communion? Awesome. Awesome. Praise God. Praise God. Well, thank you for coming, and thank you for doing that.

[0:49] This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:11] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:25] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:41] Welcome to Pendleton Center United Methodist Church. I'm Scott Dabb. If you are new to our church, please pick up a gift at the connection site in the back of the sanctuary after worship. And please fill out your friendship card to get on the mailing list, sign up for activities, and for prayers and concerns or notes for the staff.

[2:00] Enjoy the service. We do welcome you to worship this morning. The clipboards that are going around are for the Youth Mission Trip Chicken Barbecue, which is going to be on June 11th. So sign up to help out with that.

[2:12] Mission Trip Car Wash and Hot Dog Sale is next Sunday. There's information about that in the Little Good News in your book, so take a look at it. Next Saturday evening, we'll be having a hymn sing, and Sunday it'll be Music Appreciation Day.

[2:27] This is a wonderful time to celebrate what God has blessed us with to worship God in music. And next Sunday, another Little Good News announcement.

[2:38] There will be an outing at the Buffalo Zoo for families. You're welcome to join everybody for that. And Pastor Bob is going to be retiring. This is a mandatory thing as far as the United Methodist Church is concerned because of the blessed age he has reached.

[2:57] And we're going to have a special reception for him on June 12th after the 1030 service. So you want to hang around for that and congratulate Pastor Bob on all of his years of service to the church.

[3:10] And let's see. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise for this day. We ask that you would be with us as we worship.

[3:22] Help us, Lord, by your Spirit to center our hearts and our minds on you, to push away all of those things that would interfere with us being able to worship you, that distract us.

[3:36] Help us, Lord, to fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place. Be with us, that our worship may bring glory to our Heavenly Father.

[3:52] It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Would you stand as you're able, please, and come and join us with our opening hymn. Amen. Amen.

[4:10] Amen. Amen. Come, thou almighty King Help us thy name to sing Help us to praise Father all glorious, for all victorious, come and reign over us, ancient of days.

[4:41] Come now incarnate word, turn on thy mighty sword, our prayer attend.

[4:52] Come and thy people bless, and give our world success, spirit of holiness on us descend.

[5:05] Holy holiness on us descend. Help the weak comforter, thy sacred witness bear, in this glad hour.

[5:20] The whole mighty heart, now rule in every heart, and there from us depart, spirit of power.

[5:34] To thee, great one in three, eternal praises be. And evermore, thy sovereign majesty, may we in glory see, and to eternity, love and adore.

[5:58] And this weekend, we celebrate a very special day. We celebrate Memorial Day. It used to be, Sue Waseo was reminded me, called Decoration Day.

[6:11] The reason we called it Decoration Day was because that was the day that folks, families, and friends went and decorated the grave sites of those who had fallen in service to our country.

[6:24] Memorial Day is the day, Memorial Day is the day that we remember all of those folks who have fought and died so that we can gather here freely, so that we can worship God, so that we can proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without persecution.

[6:43] Memorial Day, we celebrate those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Let's sing.

[6:53] Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing.

[7:21] Have a wonderful song following the process of our freedom. Let's sing.

[7:35] Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

[7:55] He has sounded for a trumpet that shall never call retreat. He is sitting at the hands of men before His judgment seat. Oh, we swear by soul to answer Him, we chewed and by beat. Our wrath is marching on.

[8:17] Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

[8:38] He is calling like the glory of the Lord in our way. He is listening to the mighty. He is honoring to the brave. So the world shall be His footstool and the soul of the slave. Our God is marching on.

[9:00] Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

[9:22] The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Will you greet one another in the name of Christ and the peace of the Spirit? The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Will you be with you?

[10:02] Where are you from? Do you have any children who'd like to come down this morning? Come on! Here we go.

[10:19] Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. How is everybody this morning? Good morning. Yeah? Is it a bright sunny day out there? Yeah?

[10:30] Yeah? You think it might rain today? It might a little bit, right? But it's going to be nice and warm. Nice and warm. I want you to do something for me. Are you ready? Okay?

[10:41] I want you to think about it. You are playing a game called follow the leader. How do you play that game? How do you follow the leader? What do you do?

[10:54] You have the leader. You have the leader. And what do you have to do with the leader? Yeah? So, so, when you follow the leader, do you have to see what the leader's doing?

[11:09] Do you have to see so you can follow them? So you can go wherever it is that they want you to go, right? Okay. Now I want you to do this. Ready? Cover your eyes up and close your eyes.

[11:21] Keep them closed. Keep them closed. Keep them closed. If we were playing follow the leader, would you be able to follow with your eyes closed? No. Why not?

[11:33] Because you can't see. Yeah, only if you peek through a crack, you could, right? Yeah. That's right. If you peek through a crack. But you really can't, can you?

[11:44] It's really hard to follow the leader if you can't see. Well, we have, you know, when we follow Jesus, we follow Jesus by following the Holy Spirit. Can you see the Holy Spirit?

[11:57] You can't see the Holy Spirit. How do you follow the Holy Spirit if you can't see the Holy Spirit?

[12:08] I know you have to listen real hard, not with your ears. And you have to look real hard, but not with your eyes. You have to look and listen with your heart. Yeah.

[12:25] Because only in your heart that you can hear the Holy Spirit's voice and that you can see where the Holy Spirit is leading you. Okay?

[12:36] So whenever you want to hear from God, I want you to listen for the Holy Spirit with your heart and look with your heart. Do you have something you have to be thankful for today? What do you want to share?

[12:50] My mom and dad and family. My friend. My friends and family. Friends and family.

[13:05] My mom and dad. They're my brother. The Holy Spirit. What do you want to share? We're going to share.

[13:16] We're going to share. Heavenly Father we thank you for the children, we thank you that their hearts are always open to hear from you. We thank you, Lord God, for their special kind of wisdom.

[13:30] To know that they can't follow you by looking or by hearing with their eyes and their ears, but that they have to look and listen with their heart. We ask that you would bless them and bless their family.

[13:44] Keep them always. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I think you can go off to church school now. They've got something special planned for you. And we'd like to invite Kathy Evans to come forward.

[13:56] She has something to share with you about a very, very special ministry. Good morning.

[14:20] Good morning. I want to thank the leadership of your church for inviting me here. Touching Lives Ministry is based out of just a little bit south of Philadelphia.

[14:34] And so it would seem unlikely that I would be here sharing with you today. But I'm blessed to have a sister who is a part of your congregation, Diana Fritz.

[14:49] And so she shared about Touching Lives Ministry. And I am here today. So I want to thank the administration here, especially Pastor Tom, for this invitation.

[15:06] Touching Lives Ministry started in 2009 as a nonprofit organization as the result of a book that I wrote that same year about a baby that my husband and I lost at 16 weeks in pregnancy.

[15:25] Excuse me. Excuse me. I wrote that book largely because I am a nurse in labor and delivery at the hospital that I work in.

[15:38] And it was written to help couples go through the heartbreaking loss of a baby. And after it was published, we didn't know what to do with the royalties.

[15:52] And so we finally felt the Holy Spirit leading us to use the royalties from the book to pay the legal fees for the 501c3 that is now called Touching Lives Ministry.

[16:06] The Lord took us through many twists and turns to southwestern Kenya, a very remote village on the shores of Lake Victoria.

[16:19] This is a picture of the land that was donated so that we could build a hospital there. But of course, first, a hospital has to have clean water.

[16:32] And so we drilled a well. And we had a water treatment system built and attached to that well.

[16:43] And so now, for the first time in generations, that community has access to clean water. Some of the other ministries that we do are free medical camps.

[16:56] We take a medical team the last week of July, first week of August every year, and we do a four-day medical camp. During that camp, we see between 2,000 and 2,500 patients.

[17:13] We do dental work. We take non-medical people to help with registration and escorting patients. We do children's ministry.

[17:25] We do a mini vacation Bible school for the children, another reason why we need non-medical people on our mission teams. We also provide Bibles to the community in their native dialect, Lua.

[17:45] One of our other ministries, this is one of our newer ministries, is that we sponsor medical students, RNs, any dental, any kind of medical-related student.

[18:00] We sponsor one half of their tuition, and in return for that, they promise us one year of service at the medical center.

[18:10] One surprise ministry that God led us to is to bring a young man, Brian Wasonga, who has had a horrific infection in his right leg and knee, to the point that it came very close to killing him.

[18:31] And of course, he also came very close to losing his leg. And on November 11th, last year, he arrived in the United States to get medical care here that he could not get in Kenya.

[18:47] And we're actually hoping that by the end of June, that he will be able to come visit you, and you will be able to meet him and get to talk to him a little bit about his experience here.

[19:01] He is 17 years old, and he has said that he has felt the Lord calling him to be an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital in his village, so that no other children become as ill as he did, because, really, of just falling and scraping his knee when he was playing soccer.

[19:25] These are some of the ministries that Touching Lives is doing. And so the question is, how can this congregation join us?

[19:38] Well, we covet your prayers. And, you know, I've heard that many times. I grew up in the church, and I've heard many people say that, and I thought, well, that's nice.

[19:50] You know, I know they want more than that. But since starting Touching Lives, prayer is why we are still doing what we're doing. Yes, we need money.

[20:03] Yes, we need people. But without prayer, even if we had people and money, we would not be able to do what we do. We need mosquito nets. A sick mother with malaria cannot take care of her children.

[20:19] We need very simple items, triple antibiotic ointment. Vitamins are so crucial. And we need people to go.

[20:34] And I will be in the back after the service. Some of our materials are back there. If you have any questions for me about going or sending someone or how you can join our online prayer team, I would be just thrilled to talk to you about that.

[20:56] Thank you again for allowing me a few minutes to share the ministry that God has allowed us to be a part of. God bless you. God bless you.

[21:35] So as we're thankful for all the gifts that God has given us, let's return to him our gifts, ties, and offerings. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[21:45] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[21:56] Amen. Amen.

[22:09] Amen. Thank you.

[22:39] Thank you.

[23:09] Thank you.

[23:39] Thank you.

[24:09] Thank you.

[24:39] Thank you.

[25:09] Thank you.

[25:40] We have a few prayer concerns this morning. Kim Sosnowski had emergency surgery on Wednesday. She's doing well, but she and Steve and her daughter could use prayers.

[25:52] Judith Nichols fell and broke two bones in her finger and her wrist. So prayers for healing there. Penny Leidenfrost's mother passed away last week.

[26:04] And we found out that Bonnie Frank, Pastor Bob's wife is in Buffalo General with some heart troubles so they could use our prayers also. Should we go to the Lord, we come to you this morning with so many things on our hearts and our minds.

[26:26] Many spoken and many spoken and many unspoken. We'd like to take a moment to bring those unspoken needs and joys to you.

[26:40] You are the great healer, Lord.

[26:57] You are the great healer, Lord. We pray that you just touch those that are in need of healing. Whether it's mind, body, spirit. Pour out your healing touch on those needed.

[27:09] We ask that you be with those who may have recently lost loved ones. Let them feel your comfort, your peace, your presence with them.

[27:23] Lord, this Memorial Day weekend, we thank you for those who gave their lives to keep our freedom. So that we can meet this morning and praise you openly.

[27:34] We pray for those that are still serving in the military. We pray that you keep them safe. Bring them home to their loved ones.

[27:47] Watch over them. We ask you into this place, Lord. Fill each and every one of us. Fill our hearts with your Holy Spirit. We ask that you be with Pastor Lisa today as she brings the message that you've laid on her heart.

[28:04] Thank you for all you've given us, Lord. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen. Shall we now hear from the word of the Lord?

[28:15] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[28:26] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[28:49] Good morning. Our scripture reading today is taken from the Gospel of John, chapter 16, verses 12 to 15. Hear these words of the Lord, and this is Jesus speaking.

[29:02] I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.

[29:14] He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me, because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

[29:29] All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said, the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. This is the word of the Lord.

[29:40] Thanks be to God. Thank you, Lori. I love Pentecost. You can see, you can tell, the red and stuff is all still up.

[29:56] Right at this point in the church calendar, we should have green up here, because it's ordinary time. I'm not quite sure what ordinary time means. I've never had an ordinary time in the kingdom of God.

[30:08] I think that I love Pentecost so much, because, you know, we talk about it being the birthday of the church. You know, this is when the church was born, Pentecost.

[30:19] But what Pentecost really, you know, for me is that God pours out his Spirit into us. And we receive everything we need from God to do everything God has called us to do.

[30:37] I think that's a time of celebration. I think we should be celebrating Pentecost every single Sunday of the year, and Monday through Saturday, too, because we need the Holy Spirit to do everything we need to do, right?

[30:51] Now, in the passage that Lori was just reading to us, Jesus promised to send the Spirit of truth to lead his disciples. As I was asking the children earlier, how do you follow someone you can't see, that you can only hear, but not really with your ears?

[31:14] When I was in lay ministry at Kenmore United Methodist, which is the church I was in before I got appointed, before I came here, and all of that, the youth group, I don't know if this youth group's ever done that, but the youth group experienced an activity called a trust walk.

[31:31] And it was designed to bond them together, to teach them to trust one another in anticipation of a mission trip that they were going to be going on. It was also intended to teach them the importance of listening for the Holy Spirit's voice and obeying the Holy Spirit's voice.

[31:51] The students were paired up, okay? One of each pair was blindfolded, couldn't see a thing, and the other leading. The path that the leader or the guide had to lead the blindfolded student on was a twisting and turning path through the church.

[32:12] And they could only lead by giving verbal directions. They couldn't touch their partner in any way, only speak what their partner needed to know about where to go.

[32:25] So, close your eyes for a minute. Close. Relax. I want you to imagine with me for a minute. Imagine you're the one blindfolded.

[32:40] I'm your partner. And you have to walk a path somewhere where I'm going to tell you. Following only the direction of my voice, telling you where to step, when to turn.

[32:58] Ready? Take three steps forward. Stop.

[33:12] Take turn to the right. Now walk forward for five steps. Okay, stop.

[33:26] Take hold of the railing on your right hand. Okay. Now step down.

[33:41] You can open your eyes now. Because the students were blindfolded, walking the path was just a little scary.

[33:53] But when they listened carefully and heeded their partner's instructions, the path was relatively easy to navigate, even with the blindfold. It became easier as they went along because they got used to hearing, used to listening to their partner's instructions.

[34:12] But when they didn't pay attention or they moved too fast, they tripped. They stumbled. They ran into walls. They ran into each other.

[34:22] They were instructed to allow their partner to experience the consequences of not listening. Of course, not to the point where anybody would actually get hurt.

[34:38] The students discovered that they needed to pay attention to their guide's instructions. When everyone walked according to their instructions, they were all fine and progressed very neatly through the church.

[34:52] But when even one didn't. It caused a negative impact on the whole group. Jesus' disciples must have felt like they were blindfolded.

[35:07] They didn't know what was going to happen next. Jesus had been telling them that he would be leaving them soon. And that it would be a good thing.

[35:19] They can hardly even believe Jesus is going away. It isn't real to them yet. Some of them still aren't entirely convinced that Jesus even came from God. Although they've caught glimpses of that truth.

[35:34] And they believe he's supposed to be leading them. They are conflicted about what Jesus is saying. They don't know what he means.

[35:46] That he will send them a guide from God. But he can't tell them everything about what's going to come yet. Because they aren't ready to hear it. Probably wouldn't make sense to them anyway.

[36:01] I don't know if it would make sense to me. Perhaps following Jesus wasn't going to lead them where they hoped it would. And you kind of get a sense of the confusion and uncertainty they must have been feeling.

[36:17] Jesus had put them on a path. A path they'd walked together for three years. They don't know how they're going to be able to continue walking that path without him.

[36:34] Trust. Trust is a big issue in all relationships. The students at Kenmore Church sometimes weren't sure the directions they were receiving were right.

[36:48] They were afraid their guide might be making a mistake. Or might even deliberately send them into a wall. Sometimes kids do things like that, right?

[37:02] Yeah. Not with mean intent. Not meaning anything terrible or harmful by it. But just because it would be funny to see their friend walk into a wall. In the youth group situation, there was no real danger.

[37:17] And the kids all laughed when they bumped into each other. You guys would be laughing if you were bumping into each other, right? Yeah, huh? They also, though, became a little bit leery about trusting that every single direction they were given was true to the path.

[37:35] It didn't matter whether the directions were simply a mistake, just faulty instructions on the part of the guide, or if they were intentionally misguided a little bit, the blindfolded students began to approach each step with less trust and more caution.

[37:57] People need to trust each other. People need to have confidence that they're being guided safely. There's a new group here at Pendleton Center Church.

[38:09] I don't know if you've all heard about it. I know some of you have, but some of you are attending it. It's called The Guardians. It's made up of folks who are responsible for looking after their elderly loved ones.

[38:20] You know what I mean. They take care of going to the doctor visits with them and making sure the housework and the yard work are getting done. They go and do the shopping and check on making sure that the bills are all getting paid.

[38:33] Right? They keep an eye out for trouble, too. There are so many scams out there today. People trying to take advantage of the good hearts of elderly people.

[38:48] My mother shared a story with me recently. It seems she received a phone call from a young man claiming to be her grandson. On the phone, he said, Grandma, I need your help.

[39:04] But please don't tell Mom and Dad. I was in a car with some friends and we were pulled over for speeding. Well, we were speeding, so I guess we deserved it.

[39:16] But Mom, Grandma, when the police asked us to get out of the car, we found a bag of marijuana under the seat. It wasn't mine, Grandma, honest.

[39:27] But we all had to go downtown with the police. I need money to get out. My mother said, Is this Aaron?

[39:43] The young man on the phone said, Yes. Where are you? I'm in a holding place. What number are you calling from?

[39:57] He said he didn't know. But to please not tell his mother about this, just send the money. Thinking fast, my mother asked him, What's your mother's name?

[40:12] Of course he didn't know. My mom's pretty sharp for an 80-year-old lady. But someone else might have been led astray by that young man.

[40:26] Things are so complicated for elderly people and their families today. Many have experienced the results of refusing to look at the reality of the elder's health needs, their living conditions, and financial situation.

[40:43] They keep themselves blinded to the facts of growing older. The children often see their parents through the eyes of their younger selves, running and playing together in the yard.

[40:58] Those first driving lessons, dad telling you, Yeah, it's okay that you hit the house a little. Calling them in the middle of the night when the new baby kept crying and crying.

[41:15] They remember the days when their parents were strong and totally self-sufficient, when they could still rely on them for anything they needed. And elderly parents, too, often prefer to see themselves that way.

[41:33] Seeing their children as much younger and needing them for help. So, the legal documents that are designed to protect them, things like wills and health care proxies and power of attorney forms.

[41:52] They get neglected. Safe at home. Remembering how strong they once were. They don't want to remove the blindfold and look at the reality of what's coming.

[42:05] So, when the move to the nursing home and eventually death finally comes, it's a time full of problems and conflicts.

[42:19] There are people who can guide us and our loved ones through all the necessary preparations, but we have to be willing to hear the truth and to accept it.

[42:34] Accepting the truth was hard for Jesus' disciples. Their primary concern was that Jesus was telling them that he was going to leave them soon.

[42:46] But Jesus promised them that even as he had come from the God they believed in, the God of their ancestors, the spirit of truth would also come to them from that very same God.

[43:03] Jesus assured them that the spirit would be given everything Jesus had and would give it to them. He told them that the spirit, like Jesus himself, would only speak what he hears from the Father.

[43:24] So they didn't have to be afraid. They could listen for the voice of the spirit of truth and be guided in the same way Jesus was guiding them. If Jesus' disciples could accept this important truth, they would be able to move into the future with the same confidence they felt when Jesus was right there next to them, guiding them.

[43:52] And Jesus would be glorified as the spirit takes what belongs to the Father and the Son and gives it to all the disciples.

[44:05] Ultimately, the disciples' mission, like ours, was to go into the world and tell the people about the everlasting love of God the Father, about salvation in Jesus Christ the Son, and about the power of the Holy Spirit to keep on spreading the good news.

[44:25] Because of the coming of the spirit of truth, they would be able to share God's truth, the truth of God's saving grace everywhere they went.

[44:37] And people would hear them. Jesus read the Holy Spirit into his disciples. and he poured out the Holy Spirit onto them on Pentecost.

[44:54] And every time they needed God's power to go forward and do what he called them to do, Jesus poured it out the more.

[45:07] The guardians are learning. Together, they're learning to trust the Holy Spirit to lead them. their elders have very real needs and they want the Holy Spirit to guide them to the right people for help and to give them the right words to say so that their loved ones will trust them.

[45:28] No one knows what the future will bring. Not all of it, anyway. But we can be sure of some things. We live in a world full of people who know about things we don't know about.

[45:43] and they can help us. Like the people who specialize in elder law and care, they can guide us along difficult paths so we don't stumble and lead us into knowledge that will help us in our families, wherever we are in our families.

[46:05] Each of us is blessed with knowledge and expertise peace in this life that can help others. We can guide them where they need to get to with our help.

[46:22] But the most significant thing Christians can do for other people in this world is to help them find the truth of who God is and how much God loves them.

[46:36] The spirit of truth sent to Jesus' disciples is the same spirit of truth who lives in us today, church. When we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, we will affect others' lives in ways we cannot begin to imagine now.

[46:54] We can't see it all yet because we're just listening, looking, trying to follow the spirit's leading one step at a time.

[47:07] But the truth of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the truth and we can trust that when we let the spirit of truth guide us, we will be blessed and God will be glorified.

[47:22] Amen? Amen. Without the Holy Spirit to guide us through the twists and turns of life, we might as well be walking around blindfolded, bumping into walls and bumping into each other.

[47:37] Like the students guiding each other around the hallways and rooms of the church, Jesus doesn't physically take us by the hand and show us the way to keep us from stumbling.

[47:48] But he breathes his spirit into us. If we only ask, if we only open up to receive, then all we need to do is let go of what we think we know.

[48:11] Listen for the voice of the spirit to guide our hearts. God's spirit will open the eyes of our hearts and then we'll know that we're being led by all of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[48:32] As we're able, let's stand and sing and pray and ask God to open us up to receive all that God has for us today.

[48:43] love What a good God is ud Open the eyes of my heart, Lord Open the eyes of my heart I want to see you I want to see you Open the eyes of my heart, Lord Open the eyes of my heart I want to see you I want to see you

[49:46] To see you, my mint again Shining in the light of your glory Pour out your power and love As we sing holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy I want to see you Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy Holy, holy, holy

[50:48] I want to see you God is with us God is here Just open up and receive It will change you But the presence of the Lord is in this place Breathe God in Breathe God in Joy in the presence of the Lord is in this place I can hear His mighty power and His grace I can hear the breath of the Lord is in this place

[51:49] Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place Would you be seated for just a moment?

[52:09] We come before the Lord Sometimes we believe we've given our whole self over to God And we find out That we gave God everything but that Other times we come before God and we surrender absolutely everything to God And then A couple days later When we need something we think we take some of it back I think It's because we're afraid Like the kids walking through the path Like the disciples with Jesus I think Often The church today is afraid That if we really open up And if we really give our entire whole self to God And if we really surrender To Jesus God's going to ask

[53:12] Something of us that we're Not sure we want to do But God leads us Little by little Step by step You don't have to be afraid of God We just need to open up and surrender All that we have And all that we are Let's pray Heavenly Father I have sinned I have thought that I gave all myself to you But sometimes I was afraid Sometimes I took some of myself back for me Forgive me Lord Help me Lord Help me to surrender all of myself To you Like Jesus surrendered

[54:13] All of himself For me I want to serve you Lord I want your Holy Spirit in my life Lord Moving in power Leading me step by step And giving me a voice In this dark world In Jesus name I pray Amen You know God loves you so much Before you even knew what sin was Or what it meant Jesus went and died on the cross To save you Just you Even only one of you If there was only one person In need of saving from sin Jesus still would have died So you Would be saved In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven

[55:13] Glory to God Amen Let's pray for that outpouring of the Spirit on us this morning Spirit of the living God Fall afresh on me Spirit of the living God Fall afresh on me The Lord invites us to his table

[56:18] That we can come forward And say I want to receive Lord I want all you have for me I want you to bless me like crazy So that I can be a blessing to others God will meet you here God will meet you In the bread And the juice As we celebrate Everything that God has done for us Everyone is welcome at the table If you love God Earnestly repent of your sin And seek to live in peace As a disciple of Jesus Christ You are welcome At the table this morning You don't have to be a member here You don't ever have had to come here before You can come to the table If your heart Is seeking God So come and receive The Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Let us give thanks to the Lord our God It is right

[57:19] And a good and joyful thing Always and everywhere To give thanks to you Father Almighty 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 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 release To the captives And recovering of sight

[58:19] 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 church You delivered us From slavery To sin and death And made with us A new covenant By water and the spirit When the Lord Jesus ascended He promised To be with us always In the power of your word And the Holy Spirit On the night in which He gave himself up for us He took bread And he gave thanks to you He broke the bread And gave it to his disciples He said take and eat This is my body Which is given for you Do this in remembrance of me

[59:20] When the supper was over He took the cup And he gave you thanks And praise And 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 Poured out for many For the forgiveness of sin Do this as often As you drink it 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 Christ has died Christ has risen Christ will come again

[60:21] 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 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 thanking Through your son Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit In your holy church All honor and glory Is yours Almighty Father Now and forever Amen Shall we pray together With the confidence Of children of God The prayer Jesus taught us Our Father Who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done

[61:21] 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 For thine is the kingdom And the power And the glory For ever and ever Amen Will those who are serving Please come forward screwed второй third third yhte third esperandosama ~~ester  FOR ever and ever l Thank you.

[62:50] Thank you.

[63:20] Thank you.

[63:50] Come waiting for God to enter your heart. You're welcome to say a prayer at the altar, at the prayer rail. I'm sorry, we don't have an altar in this church.

[64:02] You're welcome to come to the prayer rail and have prayer and anointing with oil to light a candle. If you want to say a prayer with a candle, come and receive what God has for you. Be blessed.

[64:12] You're welcome to watch another prayer.

[64:30] Thank you.

[65:00] Thank you.

[65:30] Thank you.

[66:00] Thank you.

[66:30] Thank you.

[67:00] Thank you.

[67:30] Thank you.

[68:00] Thank you.

[68:30] Thank you. Thank you.

[69:30] Thank you. Thank you.

[70:30] I'm going to tell you something that a lot of people don't like to hear. God doesn't pour out the Holy Spirit into ourselves and into our lives so that we can enjoy it and keep it all to ourselves and go, hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the Lord, I just love Jesus.

[70:50] A lot of people think that.

[71:20] And that's going to be the thing to work.

[71:50] Who do you want to say, who do you want to say, who do you want me to share Christ with? Because when I share Christ with God?

[72:28] People change, people change, amen? People change, amen? So as you go out, spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ, go out to be a blessing and to share what God has called you to share wherever it is that you go.

[72:46] Be that change. Be that change. Share the spirit wherever you go. Amen? Amen? Amen.

[72:57]  Go in peace. Go in peace.