Living a Life Worthy of the Lord

Welcome & Announcements

Good morning, everyone. It is so good to be with you all today.

Before we continue with our worship, I just have to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you so much for the wonderful, warm reception you hosted last week. The food was amazing, but the fellowship was even better.

In the week and a half that I’ve been here, so many of you have gone out of your way to make me feel right at home. From handshakes and smiles on Sunday to friendly greetings around town, you have shown me such incredible hospitality, and I am so deeply grateful.

It’s a joy and a privilege to be your pastor, and I am so excited for the journey God has for us here at Ashtabula First. Thank you for welcoming me so graciously.

And now, to begin our time of worship, I invite our acolyte, Jeff, to bring forth the light of Christ to illuminate our gathering.

Prelude

Call to Worship

Leader: Children of God, are you listening? Have you noticed? God has planted seeds of hope among us.

People: We have heard of this hope!

Leader: Are you listening? Have you noticed? God nurtures hope among us, helping us bear the fruit of faithfulness in this world.

People: We seek this hope as we learn to live in faith.

Leader: Are you listening? Have you noticed? The hope of God’s good news forms you to love one another with the love of Christ.

People: We cling to this hope as we grow in love of God, self, neighbor, and all creation.

Leader: Children of God, come! Come, let us worship God who graciously offers us the gift of hope.

All: Come, let us worship God who empowers us to put our hope into faithful and loving actions!

Opening Hymn God of Grace and God of Glory UMH#577

Opening Prayer

Holy and Gracious God,

We come together from our scattered lives, bringing our joys and our burdens into your presence. We seek you in this sacred space and in the fellowship of this community. Quiet the distractions of our hearts and minds, that we might worship you in spirit and in truth.

Prepare us to receive your Word. Give us listening ears, understanding minds, and willing hearts. May the time we spend together in prayer and song refresh our spirits and draw us closer to you and to one another.

Be present with us now, O God, and transform us by your grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Scripture Reading 1 “Amos 7:7-17”

Amos 7:7–17 NIV

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.” Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying: “ ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’ ” Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say, “ ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’ “Therefore this is what the Lord says: “ ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’ ”

Hymn Sing

Lord I Want to Christian #402

Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us #381

We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder #418

Scripture Reading 2 “Colossians 1:1-14”

Colossians 1:1–14 NIV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Sermon "The Plumb Line and the Lifeline"

Sermon: "The Blueprint and the Power"

Introduction

Good morning. Have you ever set a truly inspiring goal for yourself? Maybe it was the start of a new year, and you decided, "This is the year I'm going to run a marathon." You bought the new shoes, you downloaded the training plan, and you could already picture yourself crossing that finish line, strong and triumphant. Or maybe you decided to learn a new skill—to play the guitar, to learn a new language. You had a vision of what it would be like to sit and play your favorite songs, or to have a conversation with someone in their native tongue.

The goal is beautiful. The vision is inspiring. But then comes the reality. The 5 a.m. alarms for training runs in the cold. The fumbling, sore fingers that just can't seem to form the right chords. The frustrating gap between the beautiful goal in our minds and our limited ability to achieve it. The desire is there, but the capacity is missing.

I believe the Christian life can sometimes feel like that. We hear the call of God to live lives of justice, mercy, and love. We see the beautiful vision God has for the world—the blueprint for a truly good life. And then we look at ourselves, at our own limitations and failures, and we feel the gap. The goal is beautiful, but how on earth do we get there?

Our scriptures today speak directly to this. The prophet Amos shows us God's beautiful, uncompromising blueprint for a righteous life. And the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, shows us where we get the power to start building it.

The Blueprint for a Beautiful Life (Amos 7:7-9)

When we hear from the prophet Amos, it's easy to focus only on the judgment. And make no mistake, it is a moment of judgment. God stands with a plumb line—that simple, honest tool that reveals what is true and straight—and the verdict is clear: the wall of Israel is crooked. It's a society that looks religious on the outside but is full of injustice on the inside.

But I want us to see something else in that image today. The plumb line isn't just a tool for condemnation. It is also a picture of the goal. It is a representation of God's deep desire for us. God isn't just saying, "Your wall is crooked." He is reminding them, and us, of what a straight wall looks like. He is holding up the blueprint for a beautiful, strong, and just community.

What does that blueprint look like? Amos tells us elsewhere. It’s a community where you don’t "trample on the poor" or "crush the needy." It's a place where merchants use honest weights and don't take advantage of the vulnerable. It’s a society where the courts aren't biased toward the rich and powerful. The plumb line of God measures our public life, our economic life, our social life. God’s vision is for a world where, as Amos famously cries out, justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Not a trickle of justice, but a river. Not a seasonal creek of righteousness, but a constant, powerful, life-giving stream.

That is the goal. That is the vision. It is not a harsh standard meant to crush us; it is a beautiful invitation into the kind of life we were created for.

But when we look at that blueprint, and then we look at ourselves and our world, our honest response has to be, "I can't build that." We don't have the tools. We don't have the strength. The gap between God's perfect blueprint and our crooked reality seems impossibly wide. And if that's where the story ended, it would be a story of despair.

The Power to Build (Colossians 1:9-14)

But thank God, the story doesn't end there. The Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Colossae, gives us the other half of the equation. He has the same high standard. He prays that they might "live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way." But he doesn't just give them the goal; he tells them about the power source.

Paul's prayer is the answer to the "how?" question. He prays for them to be filled with the "knowledge of God's will"—that's God handing us the blueprint. But then he immediately prays for them to be "strengthened with all power according to his glorious might." That's God plugging in the power tools.

And what is this divine power for? It's for the hard, day-to-day work of construction. It's for "great endurance and patience." God knows this is a lifelong project. He knows we will get tired and frustrated. So He provides the strength not just to start, but to continue. Endurance isn't about gritting your teeth for a week; it's about faithfulness over a lifetime. It’s the strength to keep showing up for a spouse in declining health. It’s the patience to keep loving a child who is making destructive choices. It’s the perseverance to keep working for justice in a world that seems indifferent. This isn't a flashy, spectacular power. It's a deep, quiet, rugged power. It's the power to keep going.

This is why grace is so much more than a pardon. It's power. The fact that God "has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" is not a "get out of jail free" card that lets us ignore the blueprint. It is a change of status. It's like we've been moved from being a bankrupt, unskilled contractor to being a fully-funded, fully-equipped apprentice working alongside the Master Builder himself.

Think about what it means to be an apprentice. An apprentice shows up to the job site every day, even when they don't feel like it. They watch the Master. They listen to the Master's instruction. They pick up the tools and try, even if their first attempts are clumsy. They make mistakes, and the Master patiently corrects them, showing them a better way. They learn by doing, by being present, by staying close to the one who knows how to build. That is our life of discipleship. Through prayer, through scripture, through fellowship, through service—we are apprenticing ourselves to Christ, learning to build a life that is straight and true.

Grace doesn't cancel God's high standard. Grace empowers us to finally begin living up to it.

Conclusion: A Grateful Response

So what does this mean for us, today, as the people of Ashtabula First? It means we can look at the high calling of God without despair. The goal is beautiful, and the good news is that in Christ, we have been given the power to start building. Our lives are meant to be a construction site where God's glorious power is at work, slowly but surely, making our crooked walls straight.

And our response to this incredible gift is simply gratitude. But what does a life of grateful response look like? Paul gives us a hint earlier in his prayer. He prays that we would be "bearing fruit in every good work." Gratitude isn't just a warm feeling we have in our hearts on a Sunday morning. It's the rich soil out of which the fruit of a worthy life grows.

What is that fruit? It’s the small, daily choices we make because we know we are loved and empowered. It’s the patience we show to a frustrating coworker because we remember the patience God has shown us. It’s the kindness we offer to a stranger in the grocery store because we are overflowing with the kindness of Christ. It’s the decision to serve on a committee, to volunteer for a mission project, to make a phone call to someone who is lonely—not because it's a duty on a checklist, but because it is a joyful, grateful 'thank you' to the God who has given us everything.

This is how we become like that apprentice. Our good works, our acts of service and love, are our 'thank you' notes to God. They are the evidence that we understand the gift we have been given. This gratitude also fuels our endurance. When the work is hard, when the wall still looks crooked, when we feel like giving up, gratitude reminds us of our 'why.' We keep going not in our own strength, but because we are so thankful for the Master Builder who has rescued us, who is working alongside us, and who has promised to see the project through to completion.

This brings us to our offering, which is itself an act of thanksgiving. And today, I want to invite you into one more moment of grateful reflection. You’ll find some paper and pens in the pews. The question I want us to consider is this: Where have you seen God's power making our church wall a little straighter?

Let me explain what I mean by that. Think back to the sermon. We talked about God’s beautiful blueprint for a life of justice and love. And we talked about how God gives us the power for endurance, patience, and kindness. So, where have you seen that in action, right here at Ashtabula First?

Maybe you were sick, and you received a meal or a phone call from someone in this church, and you felt God's power of endurance holding you up through them. Maybe you saw it in one of our mission projects, when we came together to serve our neighbors, and you caught a glimpse of us living out God's blueprint for justice. It doesn't have to be a big, dramatic moment. It can be small and quiet. A conversation over coffee that gave you hope. A line from a hymn that strengthened your spirit. A prayer offered for you that you could truly feel.

I want you to take a moment and try to picture one specific instance. One moment where you saw God's power at work in our community. In a moment, our organist will begin to play, offering us some space for this quiet reflection. As the music plays, I invite you to take a moment to write that down.

(PAUSE for music and reflection)

Then, if you feel led, you can place that note in the offering plate as it comes by. Think of it not as something to be read aloud, but as an anonymous offering of thanks. A quiet story of hope that will be a gift of encouragement to the leadership of this church.

Our financial gifts, and these small offerings of hope, are all ways we can respond with joyful thanksgiving. They are how we bear fruit from a place of gratitude. Now, as the ushers come forward, let us prepare to give back to God from the abundance we have so graciously received.

Offertory & Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

The Abingdon Worship Annual 2025: Worship Resources for Every Sunday of the Year Theme Ideas

Gracious God, bless these gifts.

May they bring your love, justice, and compassion

to where they are most needed in our world.

Help us be good neighbors to everyone we meet.

With gratitude and love, we pray. Amen.

Morning Prayer

"Let us now unite our hearts in prayer. As we have offered our gifts, let us now offer our very selves—our joys, our concerns, our gratitude, and our needs—to the one who hears us, who knows us, and who holds us in everlasting love."

Pastoral Prayer:

"Gracious and loving God, in the quiet of this moment, we breathe in your peace and breathe out our praise. We give you thanks for the gift of this day, for the gift of this community of faith, and for the incredible, unshakeable hope we have in you. We thank you that you don't measure us by our own strength, but that you meet us in our weakness with your glorious power.

Lord, we pray today for those among us who are living in that space of endurance. For those who are facing long illness, walking through the valley of grief, or navigating difficult family situations. For those who feel weary in body or in spirit. We ask that you would pour out your strength upon them—not a strength that magically removes the burden, but a deep, abiding strength that makes it possible to endure with patience, and even to find moments of joy in the midst of trial. Remind them that they are not alone, but are held by you and surrounded by the love of their church family.

We pray for the life of our world and our community here in Ashtabula. Where there is injustice, Lord, make us instruments of your righteousness. Where there is division, make us agents of your peace. Give us eyes to see the needs around us and hearts willing to respond with the same love you have shown to us.

And Lord, we also lift to you our joys. We celebrate new life, new opportunities, moments of healing, and answered prayers. We thank you for the laughter, the fellowship, and the countless small blessings that reveal your constant presence with us.

Hear now the prayers we hold in the silence of our own hearts... (Allow for a space of silent prayer)...

Gather all our prayers, spoken and unspoken, into your loving heart. Continue to shape us, guide us, and empower us, that our lives might be a testament to the hope we have found in your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, and who taught us to pray together, saying..."

The Lord’s Prayer

Closing Hymn O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee UMH#430

Benediction

Go now from this place, not burdened by the standard of the plumb line, but liberated by the lifeline of grace.

Go, to live lives worthy of the Lord, strengthened with all the glorious power of God for endurance, for patience, and for joy.

And as you go, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has rescued you; the love of God the Father, who has transferred you into His kingdom; and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, who empowers you, be with you all, now and forever.

Amen.

Postlude