Transcription downloaded from https://services.pcumc.org/sermons/27436/hope/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] This is the day that the Lord has made. [0:20] We will rejoice and be glad in it. If any kids want to come up and sing with us, they're welcome to do that. This is the day that the Lord has made. [0:40] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made. [0:55] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made. [1:10] Hi, I'm Julie Maciejewski. Most Sundays, you can find me right here at the Welcome and Information Desk in Mission Central. I'm the member of the hospitality team that doesn't walk around the building. [1:22] I stay right here where you can find me. If you are new to our service, please pick up a welcome packet that you can find at the back of the sanctuary at the Connection site. And for everyone, we would like for you to fill out a friendship card. [1:37] If you would like to receive our newsletter, be sure to fill in your address. On the back, you can put down prayer concerns, blessings, or notes to the staff. Welcome to Pendleton Center Church and have a good day. [1:50] It is good to see you all this morning. I want to mention a couple of quick things. First of all, if you're looking to go to the Boy Scout dinner this Saturday, look for a Boy Scout. They should have a ticket so you can get one from them. [2:00] It's a wonderful dinner this Saturday night. Also, tonight there's a gathering service, a worship service with a little more contemporary feel and music. So if you want to come back and have a little more time to worship, we invite and encourage you to that. [2:14] There's a prayer service Monday night if you'd like to come and join for that. It's a smaller group and it spends a lot of time, as it sounds, in prayer. Wednesday night, I'm going to start a new Bible study in the book of James. [2:27] So if you're looking for a place to plug in, I'll be starting that this Wednesday. The week after, Pastor Gene is starting a new study in the book of Malachi. And there's a lot of other Bible studies in the church, too. [2:37] These are just a couple that are starting right now. Let's take a moment and turn our hearts to the Lord in prayer. Dear Lord, we just ask that you would enter into this place in an incredible and powerful way that we might experience the wonder, the presence, the Spirit of God. [2:54] Touch us, bless us, help us to be what you want us to be, to receive your Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hear these words from 1 Corinthians 15, verses 42 through 54. [3:11] If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam, a life-giving spirit. [3:24] The spiritual did not come first, but the natural. And after that, the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth. The second man of heaven. [3:35] As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. [3:52] I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [4:03] Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a flash. In the twinkling of an eye. At the last trumpet. [4:14] For the trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised imperishable. And we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable. [4:25] And the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable. And the mortal with immortality. Then the saying that is written will come true. [4:38] Death has been swallowed up in victory. This is the word of the Lord. The Lord. Please stand as the Boy Scouts enter in with our flags. [4:51] Good morning. Father, please stand. Thank you. [5:13] I pledge allegiance to the blood of the United States of America. [5:31] Thank you. [6:01] Thank you. [6:31] Thank you. Thank you. [7:31] Thank you. Thank you. [8:31] Thank you. Thank you. [9:03] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to invite the children to come on up and join us now. [9:27] If any of the kids want to come on up. Come on up, kids, if you want to join me. [9:43] I want to ask you a question about this glass. [9:55] Is it half empty or half full? Half full. Half empty. That's kind of tricky, isn't it? Yeah, because it could be half empty. [10:08] Or it could be half full. It depends on how you look at it. You know, your life is like that. We can sometimes look at our life and say, oh, woe is me. [10:19] I have so much time in bed in my life. Oh. Or we could say, my life is fun and wonderful and amazing and great and terrific. Do you know which one God wants us to do? [10:30] The second one. Now, God wants us to look at the blessings and the hope and the possibilities and the dreams and the wonderful joy that he intends to put in our heart. Okay? So focus on that. [10:41] Every day you should get up and say something good that's going to happen in your life. And then go out and live that. All right? What are you guys thankful for this morning? Raise your hand if you want to share something. That we can have food. [10:57] Okay. My family and friends. Family. My family. Friends and family. [11:12] Bye, Mom. All right. Lord, we thank you for all these blessings we have. The good things in our lives. And we pray that you'll help us to remember them every day. [11:24] And remember that you're the best blessing for all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, you guys go out to church school. All the kids are welcome to go out to church school now if they'd like to. I'd like to invite our Boy Scouts to come up and share a thankful moment. [11:38] All right. [11:54] Good morning, everyone. I'm here from Boy Scout Troop 98. My name is Zachary Guagliano, and I am the SPL of our troop. What that means is I basically just take order in charge of all the boys and keeping them from keeping this church nice and clean. [12:10] So I'm here today to talk about a thankful moment of why I am thankful for Scouting and what Scouting has done for me throughout my life. I'm going to keep it nice and brief and short. So basically, I joined Scouting back as a Bobcat, which is in about first or second grade normally. [12:27] Now I'm in ninth grade, so I've stuck along with it, and it's kind of become something for me. We meet once a week. My favorite memory from Scouting is just all the times when we are together, out, playing around, and then how quickly something can get off task. [12:48] But then all the boys together, working together, will make it go swell and nice and smooth again. So next weekend, we have our Italian night. [12:59] That's next Saturday. It's from 3.30 to 7 o'clock. That's another one of my favorite things to do. We serve all of the lovely folks of the church and from the public, and we put on a great meal for you guys. [13:14] So if you would like to come out, we'd love to see you then. If you're interested in joining Scouting, just talk to anyone in one of these shirts. We'll love to hook you up. Our troop is, we got a lot of boys eagling out, but we don't have a steady inflow. [13:28] So if you got anyone, know anyone, that'd be wonderful. That's all I got, really. So thank you very much. Have a good day. Thank you, Zach. [13:44] Thank you, Zach. And now as we continue in our worship, let's bring our gifts, tithes, and offerings before the Lord. Beautiful Savior, King of creation, Son of God and Son of Man. [14:30] Truly I love Thee. Truly I serve Thee. [14:40] Light out my soul, my joy, my crown. [14:51] There are the meadows, there are the woodlands, broken flowers of blooming spring. [15:12] Jesus is fairer. Jesus is purer. [15:25] He makes our soaring spirits sing. [15:35] Sovereign Lord. Sovereign Lord. Sovereign Lord. We exalt your holy name. [15:59] Sovereign Lord. Creator, Redeemer, the King of kings adore. [16:12] Praise your name. Praise your holy name. [16:22] Sovereign Lord. Sovereign Lord. Sovereign Lord. Sovereign Lord. [16:35] We exalt your holy name. Sovereign Lord. Sovereign Lord. [16:47] Senator, shelter, Isaiah, and Father. [16:58] 22 years since everyone can have�. What have I been told on earth born?' Amen. [17:40] Praise Him, our Lord, the heavenly host. Praise God, His God, and Holy Ghost. [17:57] Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we do give you thanks and praise for this day and for the opportunity to gather together and worship you. [18:07] Lord, we lift up all of the gifts that we've offered this day, knowing that they come from you, as all good gifts do. Bless them, Lord, multiply them, and give us wisdom to know how to best use them for the furtherance of your kingdom. [18:24] Bless also, Lord God, our brothers in Christ, these Boy Scouts and their leaders, as they offer up their time, their service, their gifts. For your service, in Jesus' name we pray. [18:38] Amen. Please be seated. We have a number of concerns to bring before the congregation this morning as we come to our time in prayer. [18:52] Let me see. We have Charles Coles, who is the father of Diana Fritz. He is very ill right now, and Nancy Himes' mother, Virginia, is battling cancer. [19:04] We want to keep that family in our prayers. Sandy Foll, who we know from the Lakeview Animal Shelter, has a broken femur, and it's not healing, and that's a very difficult thing to get healed. [19:17] We need to keep her in our prayers as well. The family of Jim and Lori Gondek are also in need of our prayers. They have a number of things going on right now. Their daughter, Amy, is suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. [19:30] Jim's brother, Richard, is still recovering from his health issues, and Lori's dad is having a pacemaker put in. All happening right now, so that family's really, really got it going on. [19:41] We also need to lift up Dan and Fawn Jones' family. Dan's dad, John, passed away on Wednesday, and we just heard this morning that Carl Cole's father died yesterday, and we want to keep him and his family in our prayers as well. [20:02] He had been in hospice, and Carl was on his way out west to be there with his dad, and he died before Carl was able to get there. So we want to keep that family in our prayers as well. [20:15] As we go before the Lord in prayer, we know that you also have needs that we will lift up, and you're welcome to join me in prayer from your seats or to join me at the rail. Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father, we come before you now knowing that you are the great God of all creation, the one who hears and answers our prayers, who knows what we need before we even ask, and yet, Lord, you call us to pray. [20:58] You call us to join with you as you are concerned for all those things that we are concerned for, and you rejoice with us in all of our joy. [21:12] Be with us now, Lord, as we lift up these folks who are in need of healing, those we have mentioned and those that we hold in our hearts. [21:26] We ask, Lord God, that you would touch them with your healing power. We trust in you as the God who hears and answers prayer. we know that you will touch them and make them whole. [21:41] We know that you know exactly what they need and that you bring healing in to your good measure according to your perfect will. [21:56] We ask that you would draw each and every one who is sick and infirm into your presence, Lord. Let them know your peace that passes all understanding. [22:08] Be with those, Lord, who are grieving loved ones. Lord, we just pray for your presence to be with them. We pray for the comfort and love of your spirit to surround them. [22:26] We pray, Lord, that you will strengthen their faith drawing them close to yourself. Lord, we pray for our nation. [22:42] We pray for this world. There is so much struggle and so much turmoil, Lord God. We just ask in Jesus' name that you would help us to see your purpose in all that we are enduring here in this earth. [23:04] We pray, Lord God, that in the midst of so many voices crying out for justice in so many different ways, that we would see your idea of justice, what you have made justice to really be. [23:24] so often, Lord God, we rely on ourselves, the way we see the world, the way we think things should be. Help us to see things the way you see them. [23:40] Help us to seek justice, not according to our selfish ambition or our desires that are not perfect. help us to desire to see and do things according to your will and your good purpose. [24:03] Help us to understand what is right and just and merciful according to your terms, not our own. [24:16] Lord God, we pray in Jesus' name that we may be lights in dark places as we shine forth your great love and your mercy wherever we go. [24:30] We thank you for those things that are in us that are good because you have put them there because you are the one who has made us good. We ask, Lord God, that now as we continue in worship, as we hear your word, as we continue to pray and to sing your praises, that you will wash over us and transform us. [24:53] Take away those things that are of ourselves that are not from you. Make us to be like Jesus. Be with Pastor Thomas. [25:06] He delivers the message that you have called him to share with us this day. Let it be a blessing to him and to us. all our worship would be a blessing to you and we go forth from this place knowing you more, seeing you more. [25:31] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. [25:44] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. [25:59] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God fed the earth and the heavens. [26:11] Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth, and no plants had yet sprung up. For the Lord God had not yet set rain on the earth, and there was no one to work the ground. But streams came up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. [26:24] Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. [26:38] The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. [26:49] A river watering the garden flowed from Eden, and there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is Pishon. It winds through the entire land of Avila, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good, and a romantic resin and onyx are also there. [27:03] The name of the second river is Gihon. It winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris. It runs along the east side of Asher. And the fourth river is Euphrates. [27:14] The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. [27:26] For when you eat from it, you will certainly die. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. This morning, we're looking at the book of Genesis. [27:38] We've been walking our way through the book of Genesis, reading right from the very beginning, to see what it has to say to us about the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. How can we access the kingdom of heaven more completely in our lives and in our world? [27:54] And this is what we call a creation story, how people were created and made. In the ancient days, they had a lot of mythology and lots of different ideas of how people were made. [28:07] Most of them started off a little differently. In the Bible, it starts off by saying the world was good and made good. In most ancient stories, it says the world is bad. [28:20] It's scary. It's dangerous. It's spooky. It's a kind of place that you're going to get hurt if you don't watch out for it. How many of you have ever been to Iron Island Museum? [28:33] Anybody? It's right here in western New York. We're looking at little-known facts and places to visit in western New York. Iron Island Museum. It's in Lovejoy. [28:44] You know down there in the Bailey Clinton area? And it talks about the history of Lovejoy. But it's also haunted. It has spooks in it, they say. [28:57] And so the ghost hunters have come from around the country to check out Iron Island Museum. Maybe you should go check it out. We have different ways of looking at our lives. [29:09] And sometimes, without even realizing it, we put brokenness and confusion and a sense that the world is messed up into our world. Rock-a-bye baby on a treetop. [29:22] When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Really? Seriously? We sing this to little tiny babies and children? [29:35] Don't worry. We'll stick you up in a tree so you can fall and shatter. Really? Have you ever thought about the stuff we put into our world, which is really just a theology of brokenness? [29:52] Yeah, my better days are behind me. When I was a teenager, I was strong and healthy. Now, life stinks and pretty soon I'll die. You ever heard anybody say that? You see, the problem is that life is made up of different ways of sin. [30:13] For some people, life is just a series of possibilities, probabilities, and coincidences. Some people believe that all we are is a combination of water, dirt, and chemicals. [30:25] And we can understand it. Even this passage says God made us out of the dirt. It was dry ground until water came up and brought life to the world. [30:36] From the dust we were made to dust we will return. Have you ever noticed at the end of life, some people are reduced down to a little pile of dust? [30:49] Is that what we are? A little bit of dust? A little bit of dirt that comes and goes? To some degree we are. [31:01] We're the children of Adam. And so it's true. We are mortal. We're vulnerable. There's brokenness and pain and disappointment and sin and problems and struggles in our lives. [31:16] 1 Corinthians, which Sherry read for us earlier in the service, says that we're taken from the dust of the earth. And as was the earthly man, Adam, so are we. [31:30] Made from dust to dust we will return. Anybody ever hear the poem, The Dash? It's kind of an interesting poem. It says that a person got up at someone's memorial and spoke about how they were born at a certain point. [31:47] And then they have a date on the other end of the tombstone. And all of our lives is contained in that dash, that little line. And the question is, what are you going to do with your dash? [31:59] What are you going to do with that place in between? Iron Island Museum is based on the dash. The dash of the place called Lovejoy. [32:11] Lovejoy was a booming kind of community, prosperous. It was a place where there was always industry and strength. That's why it's called Iron Island Museum. [32:25] Right around the corner we have the grain elevators. These things were amazing. Ships came from all over the Great Lakes to deposit their grain in Buffalo, New York, where it was refined and sent out on trains or the Erie Canal or all sorts of different ways. [32:39] You know, these things are not all over the world. Those of us who live in western New York, we think you can go visit grain elevators and they're just sort of kind of big, hunky, concrete things. [32:50] But they're not common. There's very few places that even have ever seen anything like this. And to us, they're all over the place. They represent our industrial past. You can go and see them. [33:02] I think there's even a place you can go inside of some of them. Kind of cool. In the past, we used to build cars in Buffalo, New York. Did you know that? There were car companies headquartered here like the Pierce Arrow. [33:16] There's a Pierce Arrow Museum downtown. You can go look at the cars we used to build. Pretty cool cars. They were considered some of the best cars in America. They were built right here in Buffalo, New York. [33:27] Now we can see them in the museum. Another part of our past was those very trains that carried the grain away. Anybody here ever been to the Central Terminal? [33:40] Central Terminal. This amazing edifice on the east side of Buffalo, about three blocks from the Iron Island Museum. The concourse was spectacular. [33:52] With the big buffalo on the clock and filled, filled with people. It was when our dash was strong. And what we felt successful, Buffalo, New York, was the eighth largest city in America. [34:09] It was the powerhouse of this country. It drove the economy of our nation. What is life? [34:24] What's it all about? Is it what we do in that time in between, that dash? What's the purpose of our lives? The writer of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon said, I know there's nothing better for people than to be happy and do good while they live. [34:44] To eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil. This is a gift of God. God made us to eat and drink and be happy and do good and enjoy the work of our hands. [35:02] It's part of what life is about. God, it says, made a garden. We don't know exactly this garden's location, but it actually mentions the Tigris and Euphrates River, which are in the region of Iraq. [35:16] The other rivers no one's ever really found. We're not sure what they are. There was a garden. It was a beautiful garden. Eden means pleasure. [35:28] It was a garden of pleasure. A garden of joy. A garden of blessing. Where we were placed as human beings to work in. [35:40] God has put us in this world for a purpose, and that includes work. Not work to be misery, but work that we enjoy, work that we're proud of, work that we find amazing, work that touches our very being. [35:54] And God intends us to live in joy and pleasure and goodness. [36:06] We are not just dirt. We're not just a random collection of chemicals that happen to somehow, in some weird way, find themselves into our location. [36:18] For much more than that. In the book of Corinthians, Pastor Sherry also read, The first man, Adam, was of the dust of the earth. [36:29] And the second man, Christ, is of heaven. As was with the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth. And as is with the heavenly man, so are those who are of heaven. [36:41] Just as we've borne the image of the earthly man, we shall bear the image of the heavenly man. You see, the difficulty is, too often we see our lives as just being that dash. [36:58] And then it's done. But as Christians, we don't believe that the dash is the most important part on that dateline. The most important part is, that comes after the second date. [37:12] Because we believe that there's life after life. And that gives us something called hope. And hope is a key to the kingdom of heaven. With hope, we can access the wonder, and the joy, and the pleasure, and the intention that God had for us. [37:29] All of us. Adam means humanity. All of humanity. That's what the word actually means. That we were made to access the wonder, the incredible blessing of God. [37:42] We are not just piles of dirt. We are the children of God. As Corinthians said, we are children of Christ. In verse 7 of this passage in Genesis, it says that God breathed into us. [37:57] Breathed into us. And we became living beings. The word actually is nephesh in Hebrew. [38:09] And what we usually interpret it to mean is souls. We became souls. We became something more than just dust and dirt and creatures of this world. [38:20] We became something related to God in heaven. We are something more than just this shell that carries us through our lives. We are living souls. [38:32] Children of Christ. Children of God. And because we have a promise of eternity, we have hope even when life seems hopeless. Amen? It's a key to the kingdom. [38:44] If we lose hope, we lose everything. Amen. In Ecclesiastes, it says that we're supposed to do good. We're supposed to enjoy our lives. [38:55] God made us to do good, to be good, to know good, to live a good life. All the trees in the garden were available for us to eat from. Oranges and apples and pears and bananas. [39:09] We could eat from all the trees in the garden, even the tree of life. There was only one tree we weren't supposed to eat from, right? Only one tree. [39:21] It was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's a troubling thing. And we will talk more about this when we talk about evil, that snake, in a couple of weeks. [39:37] But I want to talk to you about this tree. You see, the problem is when we see this, it makes us start to think that what God doesn't want is God doesn't want us to have knowledge. God doesn't want us to be smart. [39:50] God doesn't want us to know things. But you see, this is a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And what you need to remember is God made us, and when he made us, he said that we were good. [40:05] He already put the knowledge of goodness in us. You have the knowledge of goodness because you're created in the image of God. So you already know good. You see, God wasn't trying to keep the knowledge of goodness from you. [40:18] God was trying to keep you from the knowledge of evil. You see? God wants you to have the knowledge of good. God wants you to live in the knowledge of good. [40:29] God wants you to understand the good and the blessing and the pleasure and the joy. God just doesn't want you to taste from the knowledge of evil. Because when we eat from the knowledge of evil, it leads to brokenness and pain, struggles, and death. [40:51] When we were little children, do you remember? We didn't think about those things. We had joy. We had wonder. We had blessing. Every day was an adventure. We didn't think about how our parents drive. [41:02] We just trusted them and thought they were good drivers. Right? We lived in a world where there were no problems, and who cared who was president? It didn't matter. Every day was just an opportunity to live into the goodness that God created. [41:18] But then we taste of that evil, and we start to focus on the evil, on the temporary, on the broken, and the failures, on the sin. [41:32] And so we looked at this mighty city that was Buffalo, and the grain elevators became empty, deserted, piles of concrete on the waterfront, and who's going to even be able to afford to tear them down? [41:48] Just eyesores in the life of our living. The central terminal, the roof started giving way. There were rats and creatures and vandals going in and breaking up the beauty of the central terminal, selling what they could, destroying what was left. [42:08] And if you go to the Lovejoy area, where Irons Island Museum is, you will find places that look like a war zone. Instead of prosperity and strength, it looks like death, and brokenness, and pain, and destruction, and despair. [42:28] We started talking that way. And so, even though we were created for some wonderful purpose by God, we can find ourselves stuck in sadness, and anger, and brokenness, and envy of other people, just try to do what we're supposed to do. [42:47] We feel like everybody else did something better. It even feels like God himself has left us alone to bless somebody else. It's easy to get focused on the brokenness, and the pain, and the struggle, and the knowledge of evil. [43:08] God didn't intend for that. And so, through Jesus, he gives us a way back to goodness. A way back to the garden, but it means that we have to refocus who we are. [43:23] We have to put aside some of the things we've decided are necessary, and become someone that we remember being. In the book of Matthew, Jesus said, truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. [43:39] Unless you can find a way back to that joy, that trust, that hope, that possibility, those dreams, and blessings, and wonders, of being a child, you'll be stuck outside the garden, and in brokenness and pain for the rest of your life. [43:57] God wants us to have hope. It's not easy. In life, we have some people we refer to as handicapped. [44:09] They have something about them that they were born differently. Maybe they can't walk like some can, or their arms aren't the same, or maybe they have something wrong with their eyesight, or their thinking. [44:21] There's lots of ways people are handicapped. It's difficult. We try to give them a little extra, because they have struggles right from the beginning. We sometimes refer to my mother as being handicapped, but my mother wasn't handicapped. [44:38] My mother was crippled. That might sound harsh, but it's different. My mother had run, and played, and danced, and done all the things that we do, until one day, she was struck by polio, and she couldn't walk anymore, like other people. [44:55] She couldn't run. She couldn't dance. You know, it's hard to live a life when you see other people that have things you don't have. It's even harder when you've had them, and you no longer have them, and you feel that loss. [45:11] You see, and that's what happens at a certain point in our life. We start to feel like we've lost something, like something's missing, like somehow it got broken. I learned about hope from my mother. [45:23] My mother was the kind of woman that didn't let this difficulty, this brokenness, define her. She was smiling all the time. [45:35] She was the life of every gathering she ever went to. Everybody knew my mother. Everybody liked my mother. Even when my mother was 82 years old and confined to a wheelchair, my mother had a boyfriend in North Carolina and a boyfriend in New York, and another guy who went up to New England because she wouldn't marry him. [45:57] Three guys chasing after my mother. I'm like, what? Because in spite of the fact that she had things broken about her, she refused to live in the brokenness and always lived in hope and the promise that God gives to us. [46:18] Someone once said, success doesn't lead to happiness. Happiness leads to success. We think if we could just be successful, we'll be happy. [46:28] But the truth is, there's lots of people our world would call successful that are not happy. And there's a lot of people our world would say are not necessarily successful the way we'd want to be that seem to be happy. [46:43] Because some choose life, goodness, and the fruit that God gave you naturally. 1 Corinthians 15 again says to us, so it will be with the resurrection of the dead. [46:56] The body that's sown is perishable, but it's raised imperishable. It's sown in dishonor, but it's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness, but it's raised in power. [47:06] It's sown in natural body, but it's raised a spiritual body. And if there is a natural body, there is a spiritual body and there is hope. We don't just live in the dash. We live beyond the dash, beyond the date, beyond this world. [47:22] And blessings and joy that God intends for us. And that hope can change our world here, right now. They did a study. They took people who were considered clinically severely depressed. [47:38] Severely depressed. They took 50 of them. And they had them do one thing. At the end of the day, they were supposed to think of three things that went well that day. They said, they don't have to be great successes. [47:51] It could be like, I like my dinner. You know, I got to work without being killed. I mean, it could be real simple, easy things, but three things that went well that day. [48:01] And they did this for one week, seven days. At the end of seven days, can you imagine these people went from severely depressed to mildly depressed. Imagine what would happen if they did it longer. [48:13] and if they did it more. We call it counting your blessings in our faith. Philippians says it this way, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. [48:36] Can you imagine if you started every single day, every morning of your life, and face life like this little girl? Look, I can be a sart. [48:47] Now, my whole house is great. I can do anything good. I like my school. I like anything. I like my dad. I like my cousins. [48:58] I like my aunts. I like my Allison. I like my mom. I like my sisters. I like my dad. I like my hair. I like my haircuts. [49:09] I like my pajamas. I like my stuff. I like my rooms. I like my whole house. My whole house is great. I can do anything good. [49:21] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can do anything good, better, than everyone. Better than everyone. Every day, if you started by getting up and going, I love my house. [49:33] I love my family. I love my job. I love my time. I love my church. I love this world. I love the weather today. I love everything. We'd be living into the blessing that God intended. [49:48] And we can do this. This isn't something that requires us to go up into heaven to make happen. We can do this. God has put it in us. [49:59] He's giving us the ability to live to the knowledge of good instead of evil. Yes, life can stink sometimes. But then we live into a beautiful thing and we can choose the good as it was meant to be. [50:19] And you can actually go see it. See, the amazing thing is out of the dust, God can make beautiful things happen. Iron Island Museum. [50:32] Let's see what it looks like. Let's see what it looks like on the inside. What does it look like? It is a church, an old Methodist church. [50:43] An old Methodist church that somewhere along the line evidently lost its purpose, forgot about preaching the good news, forgot about bringing the good message that God loves us and there are possibilities in this life and beyond this life and that there's hope no matter what. [50:59] Which is what we as Christians, if all people in the world, need to be doing is to lift each other up. and talk about the wonders, the blessings, the possibilities that God gives to us. [51:13] There's another church that sometime you should visit in western New York because it's amazing. We take the teenagers there. It's called the Basilica. This is located in Lackawanna, you know, like do you want to come to Lackawanna, that place, you know. [51:27] Whoever goes to Lackawanna. The most glorious church probably in any region of the United States. It's phenomenal that we have this church in our community. [51:39] But what's amazing about this church is not just its architecture because you would picture this as being a museum, but when you go to visit, a lot of times they'll say, shh, there's people in here worshiping God. [51:54] It's not a museum. It's a living, breathing example of God giving hope to the hopeless, joy to the broken, possibilities to people who are feeling as if their lives are falling apart, life to those who are facing the end of life. [52:18] John, in chapter 3, verse 16, said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life. [52:30] That's an amazing thing. We will not perish. We'll have eternal life. And we know that verse, most of us, and we've said that verse, but it's followed by one that's probably even more amazing. [52:43] It says, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn it. He didn't come here to tell us how broken we are, but he came here to save the world through his grace. [52:56] God wants to step into our brokenness. He hasn't abandoned us, even if it feels that way. He hasn't left us alone. He steps right in and changes our reality. [53:11] Just like this. Let's go to the end. I'm a foolhard. [53:43] God takes our brokenness and pain and pulls it away from us and turns it into joy. And so Paul said in Corinthians, listen, I'll tell you a mystery. [53:59] We won't all sleep, but we'll all be changed. In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. [54:12] For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. And when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true. [54:25] Death has been swallowed up in victory. God did not intend for us to live to the fruit of evil and death, but to live to the good we were created for. [54:36] And he can make incredible things out of dust. He can make our셨�EEK. Par Bouいます All this thing I wonder if I'll ever find my way I wonder if my life could really change at all All this earth Could all that is lost ever be found [55:37] Could have gotten come up from this ground At all You make beautiful things You make beautiful things Out of dust You make beautiful things You make beautiful things Out of us All around Hope is springing up from this old ground Out of chaos Life is being found In you You make beautiful things [56:39] You make beautiful things Out of dust You make beautiful things You make beautiful things Out of us You make beautiful things You make beautiful things You make beautiful things You make me new You make me new You make me new You make me new You make me new You make me new You are making me new You make me new You are making me new You make me new [57:40] You are making me new. You make me new. [57:51] You are making me new. You make beautiful things. [58:06] You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of dust. You make beautiful things. [58:17] You make beautiful things out of dust. You make beautiful things. [58:28] You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. [58:44] You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. [58:56] You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. [59:08] You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. [59:19] You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things. [59:30] What lapse of peace When fears are still When strivings cease I conquer My all in awe Here in the love of Christ I stand When Christ alone Who took my flesh Fulness and body Helpless faith His gift of love And righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save To walk and watch As Jesus died The wrath of God Was satisfied For every sin On Him was made Here in the death Of Christ I live There in the ground [60:51] His body made Light of the world Like darkness And saints And mercy For in glorious day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands In victory Since grace has lost His grip on me For I am His And He is mine And He is mine On will the precious God arise No will in mind No fear in death This is the power of Christ In me The life of Christ The life of Christ The life of Christ The life of Christ The life of Christ Jesus Commends my destiny He will bow around No scheme of men [61:54] And never pluck me From His hand Till He returns For calls me home Here in the power of Christ Sin is brokenness From God When we live To the fruit of evil When we live To the brokenness And the pain And the discouragement And the anger And the hurt We live in sin We live in separation From the God That wants us [62:54] To live better Not just in The life to come Which He does But in this life as well God wants us To be filled with hope But to be filled with hope We need to be empty Of the brokenness And sin So I invite you To confess Before God This morning Dear God in heaven Dear God in heaven I have sinned I worry about the wrong things I obsess on brokenness I feel hurtful I feel hurtful And hurt I feel painful And pain I live in depression And anger And envy And fear Forgive me Lord Drive out The evil Drive out The evil The sin The brokenness [63:56] The brokenness And fill me with your hope Your life Your goodness That I might be a child of God With the breath of God In Jesus name we pray Amen God has decided Before you even came here That He wanted to step Into your brokenness And change your life In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven Glory to God Amen We are a moment You are forever Lord of the ages [64:58] God be more time We are a labor You are eternal Love everlasting Reigning on high Holy, holy Lord God almighty Where he is Of and who was slain Highest praises Honor and glory Be unto your name Be unto your name We are the broken [66:01] You are the healer Jesus, redeemer Mighty this is name You are the love song We'll sing forever Bowing before you Blessing your name Blessed be your name Holy, holy, holy Lord Holy, holy Lord God almighty Lord, holy Lord God almighty God almighty He is the lamb He is the lamb Who was slain Highest praises His name Be unto your name [67:01] Be unto your name Be unto your name Be unto your name In the midst of our brokenness God sent his son To be the one who suffered the penalty for our sin And it's a free gift that we can receive All we have to do is ask All we have to do is be open God invites you to the table this morning to share in that redemption that God has prepared for you in his son We are all welcome at the table If we love God, repent of our sin and seek to live in peace as disciples of Jesus Christ Whether we come to this church or another church, whether we go to no church, if today is the day that you want to say yes to Jesus and come and receive all God has for you [68:07] You are welcome at the table 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, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth Before the mountains were brought forth or you had formed the earth from everlasting to everlasting, you alone are God You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the 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 there in ending hymn [69:10] Holy, holy, 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 in whom you have revealed yourself, our light and our salvation In his baptism and in his baptism and in table fellowship, he took his place with sinners Your spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering 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 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 [70:14] And on the night in which he gave himself up for us, Jesus took bread and he gave thanks to you He broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying, take and eat This is my body which is given for you Do this In remembrance of me And when the supper was over, Jesus took the cup He gave you thanks and praise and gave it to his disciples saying, 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 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 [71:14] In union with Christ's offering for us As we proclaim the mystery of faith 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 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 be feast at his heavenly banquet 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 Shall we pray together with the confidence Of children of God The prayer that Jesus has taught us Our Father [72:15] 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 For thine is the kingdom And the power And the glory Forever and ever Amen Will those who are serving Please come forward Amin Son of 各位hem [73:21] And he Amen Thank you. [73:56] Thank you. [74:26] Jesus Christ invites all those who seek after him to come to the table of God's joy and presence and blessing. Come and receive the body of our Lord. Welcome to come to the rail also for praise, for healing and anointing, or to light a candle. [74:40] Come and join us. Come and join us. [75:10] Come and join us. [75:40] Come and join us. [76:10] Come and join us. [76:40] Come and join us. [77:10] Come and join us. [77:40] Come and join us. [78:10] Come and join us. [78:40] Come and join us. Come and join us. Come and join us. So, in the middle of worship service, I just received note that Kim and Tina's mother died and Bob Wurtenberger passed away this morning. [78:54] There are things that happened to us, but we know that God lives, but we know that God lives beyond the dash. God lives beyond the dash. [79:06] God lives beyond the dash. God lives beyond and the dilate the earth, but in the middle of the frickin' bearer, so with as the côté of this tower and the 소�ới nasRA came from it, so we know that we know that we know that we can see those we love and many can see those we love and glory. [79:20] It depends on the way to life, and God blesses us with possibilities of life in this world. So we know that there's an old story about a Savior who came from glory, who gives us victory in the midst of life. [79:33] Let's sing. Let's sing. [80:04] Let's sing. [80:34] Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. [80:46] Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. [80:58] Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. Let's sing. See About the angels Singing And the old redemption Story And some sweet day I'll sing out there The song of victory Oh victory With Jesus My Savior Forever He sought me And bought me With His redeeming blood He loved me I knew Him And all my love Is to Him He plunged me To victory Beneath the cleansing blood P Im [82:12] In thece I know Because I know He's revealing Luh atrape And all my love Is to him A reason the night Is to him And all my love Are you and all my love Fighting Thank you. [82:57] I ask the kids, is the glass half empty or half full? [83:21] Settles that issue, doesn't it? But we're not meant to live in the pain and the struggle. It will come to us. It will come to us in waves. [83:32] It will come to us unexpectedly. It will come to us when we don't want it. But God did not create us to live in the evil. He created us to live in the good. [83:44] So why don't you get up every day and say, I love my house. I love my wife. I love my family. I love the way I can still dance now. I love this beautiful, weird tie. [83:56] I love the Boy Scouts. Woo! I love the bugle. I love the people who've gone on before us to glory. And I love that God gives us the promise of glory forever. [84:09] Amen? Go in his peace. You're welcome. You're welcome. Go to God. Go in your peace.制装ance în mod. Noっぱsul state, americキ. Go in his peace. Go in your peace. [84:21] Go in his peace. Go in his peace. Go in yourości Disgracia. [84:32] Go in your spouse cir Absolute. Go in your life. Go in your most. Go in your life. Go in your first life. Go in your ability to start Hopefully a Kollege Incibel has forgiven.