Home Improvement
World Communion Sunday
Call to Worship
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread”
(1 Cor. 10:16–17 KJV)
*Praise # 236 The Old Rugged Cross
*Invocation (Lord’s Prayer) Eternal Lord, as we gather in worship, we declare that it is you who made us and not we ourselves. In your infinite wisdom, you made one race—the human race—to populate the world. By the power of the Holy Spirit may all your people everywhere be bound to you in union so strong that no barriers shall separate us. For Christ’s sake, and the Church, we pray.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
*Gloria Patri (Sung together) #575
*Psalm for Today Unison Psalm 37:1-9 NRSV
1 Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers,
2 for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
Our Offering to God “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:14 NIV).
*Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication O Lord, open our eyes that we may see your goodness. Open our hearts that we may be grateful for your mercy. Open our lips that we may give you praise. Open our hands that we may give these offerings according to your will, and may they be used for the building of your Kingdom.
Just for Kids
Scripture Reading Lamentations 3:19-26 NRSV
19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
*Hymn of Prayer # 373 I Surrender All
Pastoral Prayer Gracious God, we come together as Christians from all over the world to share in the bounty of your table. We gather to share the cup of life and the bread that provides strength for our journey. We gather speaking many languages and worshiping you in ways unique to our culture and heritage. But in our diversity, there is unity. And so we humbly offer to you our lives and our spirits, just as we are, knowing that you can use our brokenness to bring about healing and wholeness in your name. And so, on this World Communion Sunday, we lift our prayers to you, knowing that you already hear the yearnings of our hearts. We lift prayers for our global neighbors, especially Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for those persons living in fear or poverty, and for those who have lost hope. Give us the courage to recognize and name the pain of our global neighbors and to reach out where we can. In your mercy, Lord, hear our prayers. We lift prayers for those close to us,… some of whom we name in our hearts: the sick, the addicted, the abused, the imprisoned, the depressed, and those grieving some loss in their life. May they be comforted and fed by the bread and cup of new life. In your mercy, Lord, hear our prayers. Pour out your spirit upon all the nations of the earth, and upon all whom you have named and claimed as your own in Christ’s name. For all the blessings in our lives and for your promise to always be with us, we lift our prayers of praise and thanksgiving.— Susan Gregg-Schroeder
*Hymn of Praise # 287 My Faith Has Found a Resting Place
Scripture Text 2 Timothy 1:1-14 NRSV
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
8 Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
Message Home Improvement
Around our houses there is always something that needs to be repaired or improved. A house in many ways is a work in process. Our families are a work in progress, we are personally a work in progress, and the church is also.
We believe that families and children are an important part of what God is doing today.
Kids are not the church of tomorrow; they are the church of today.
The discipling and training of our children is very important. It is critical to their survival and survival of the church and survival of the community and even the state and the nation.
In referring to a young woman who became queen of a powerful nation at a critical time in history … 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this? Esther 4:14 NLT
Every generation has been brought into existence “for just such a time as this.” Every generation is important in God’s eternal scheme and has a purpose to fulfill.
This requires being connected relationally with God, much like a power cord must be plugged into an electrical outlet.
A drill cannot do what it is designed to do, if it is not connected to a power source - neither can we unless we are connected to God.
You don’t have to grow up to serve the Lord. Kids in the Bible didn’t grow up first. Many served the Lord effectively BEFORE they ever grew up.
Josiah became king at eight years of age. Later in life he would go through Israel smashing idols and leading a return to God. The nation turned around because one kid knew he didn’t have to grow up to begin serving God. Josiah was not interested in becoming a future servant of God, he served God as a kid. The Bible calls him the best king Israel ever had.
A young servant girl walked up to the rich, powerful Syrian commander Naaman and suggested that he travel to Israel where Elisha would minister healing to his leprosy on behalf of God. Naaman agreed and the rest is Biblical history.
Jesus referred to that history when he launched His ministry in Luke 4.
Samuel, a young boy brought to the temple by his mother, heard God’s voice reveal the fate of Israel while Eli, the high priest, seemed oblivious to the danger Israel faced. A kid, not the high priest, heard God’s voice.
Could there have been anyone else in the crowd of over 5000 who brought lunch the day Jesus taught the huge group? A boy stepped up and offered his lunch in faith, enabling Jesus to multiply it to the mass of people.
David slaying Goliath is the classic example. A shepherd boy takes on Goliath in front of the adults. When David was through, Goliath never bothered anyone again. Even though David stood on God’s covenant, faced a giant and won; he was still a kid.
Mary and Joseph found Jesus at twelve years of age in the temple "about His Father’s business." That’s the objective: to bring kids to a place where they are "about their Father’s business" BEFORE they grow up. ////
Each generation is important to God. (pause)
Each generation must … humbly learn from the previous generation and sacrificially teach the next generation. Each generation must sacrifice time, convenience, money, to invest in future generations.
Investing does not mean they will look like us, but releasing them to be what God has for them.
Parents, you have a great responsibility.
Paul has a high goal for our young people … he tells Timothy to Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. 12 Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity 1 Tim 4:12
For children to be good examples to their peers, they must see good examples from the previous generations.
Again, looking at Paul’s words concerning Timothy-
5 I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. 2 Tim 1:5
Timothy was nurtured by two previous generations. If we neglect to pass onto the next generation what we have learned, it will die with us. Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. Psa 145:4
The power of the word of God will work for kids. 14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Tim 3:15-17 // We need to remind ourselves that the context of Paul’s statement is in reference to Timothy having learned the word as a child.
We have to encourage children to trust the word of God. Build faith in our kids. Tell them about a God who will come through for them. When you tell a Bible story, emphasize the faithfulness of God.
Don’t major on minors. David picking up five rocks is not the point of the story. Walking in the power of God’s covenant is the message from David and Goliath. David believed he had a covenant with God while the adults weren’t so sure.
The lion’s den is not the message of the story about Daniel. The king could have thrown Daniel into a rattlesnake pit. The point is that Daniel stood up every day and declared his trust in the Lord by praying with his window open. Daniel is a story about the supernatural protection of God for people who lived in a pagan environment.
Kids need to know that God is just as alive and trustworthy as He ever was.
Never forget that … "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17).
The younger generations need your generation to teach and encourage them to … dream dreams and reach for the impossible, to fulfill God’s purpose for their generation.
Teach children to know God, to seek knowledge and wisdom.
Do not let them settle for a level of knowledge that gets a decent paying job just so that they can live comfortably.
Learning and growing should be a life goal for children of all ages.
Given discipline, young people will learn self-discipline; given training, they will learn to live useful lives. In almost every case the failure to develop character is directly attributable to a lack of proper influence and guidance in the home. Former FBI director (JE Hoover) ////
Christian families today do not fare much better than families in the world … Forty percent (40%) of all children in America go to bed without a father in the home to tuck them in. (Source: Sara Mclanahan and Gary Sandefur, Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps) Fourteen percent (about 1 in 7) of all thirteen year olds have had sex. (Kaiser Family Foundation) Thirty-three percent of all babies in America are born to unmarried women (Source: Newsweek) Eighty-three percent (83%) of teens say that moral truth depends on the situation. (Source: Barna Research Group) We have a tendency to wring our hands in despair over facts as disturbing as these.
The Bible says the wise men in Esther’s day "understood the times" (Esther 1:13). Sometimes the knowledge of our times can seem overwhelming. The Bible calls that "fretting." God speaks to this point blank when He commands His people not to fret over evil doers (Psalm 37:1,7,8 and Proverbs 24:19). God is not in the least overwhelmed by the state of our world.
Be wise and understand the times you live in. But never forget that where sin abounds, grace abounds more (Romans 5:20).
You play an important part in the lives of our children.
God Himself is our example. God is both a nurturer and a disciplinarian.
God wants to restore love in our families …Malachi 4:5-6
“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Deut 6:6-7
… Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Eph 6:4 NASU
Lack of proper childcare/training/discipline/love, boundaries, will provoke a child to anger. Start training your children when they are young. Many times we treat young behavior as cute / but you are allowing them to establish behavior that will bring you grief to you and them later.
Take the time to find out what the Bible says, allow it to be the measure for life.
A tape measure is a tool that can help to build a house properly.
I can measure wood to cut it accurately, I can measure and order trusses to fit the house.
If I use my own measure and ask them to build a truss according to my own measure, it will not work.
Lack of proper discipline can make children very unenjoyable to be around.
Each child can choose to make bad decisions and chose the wrong paths to go down through life. As parents/adults, we have a great responsibility toward the next generations. But we are not alone.
For nothing is impossible with God. Lk 1:37
Acts 5:27–39 27 Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. 28 “Didn’t we tell you never again to teach in this man’s name?” he demanded. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”
29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross. 31 Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. 32 We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, the high council was furious and decided to kill them. 34 But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while. 35 Then he said to his colleagues, “Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men! 36 Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. 37 After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered.
38 “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
World Communion Sunday reminds us of our global ties and the value of generosity toward others. The early Church was having a tough go of it. Having been energized by the Spirit on Pentecost, they were preaching a controversial Christian message everywhere anyone would listen. The Jewish authorities were not amused, so they had the disciples arrested and brought before the council for questioning. In the midst of the explosive deliberations, a rabbi named Gamaliel stood up to offer some wise counsel about tolerance: “If this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to stop it.” Fortunately for the apostles, the council took Gamaliel’s advice and let them go. Gamaliel was a voice of moderation in an intolerant religious atmosphere. His instincts were inclusive and progressive.
I. There are two kinds of tolerance. There is a permissive attitude that says, “anything goes, nothing matters, live and let live.” That wasn’t Gamaliel. His was a tolerance of conviction. He was loyal to Israel’s covenant. He believed in God; in fact, his attitude toward the disciples was rooted in his belief about God. This really is a pivotal point in the gospel story.
It was a situation where all the apostles could have been put to death at once, and there might be no Christianity today. But God always seems to have some Gamaliel type around to preserve his cause.
II. What does this teach us about causes that appear to be lost but, in the end, are not?
Do they win? When two men came after dark to bury Jesus’ body, it looked, for practical purposes, as though they had bet on a lost cause. But that was before Easter! God uses Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. / The disciples were before the Sanhedrin, in danger of being annihilated before Christianity barely got started. But then God uses Gamaliel. // Conversely, some movements appear destined to win. Adolph Hitler’s Germany was a formidable force in the world in the 1930s. With military might and an agenda intent on conquering the world, it looked for a while as if it would happen. The extreme claims and actions of the Nazis came to nothing in the end of the war. Things come and go. Gamaliel knew that. / Be patient. / Wait and see. Things are not always what they appear to be. You have to “winter and summer” with some movements before you realize what they’re really like. There are always things about which people were very sure once upon a time, that they aren’t so sure about anymore. Sometimes, what people thought was the will of God, later seems to clearly not have been God’s will.
III. Throughout history, God has worked in ways few of us understand. To his everlasting credit, Gamaliel seemed to recognize that, which is why he advised: Be careful here. God may be at work! I think that Gamaliel was saying: God is big. Too many people in our day have a God who is too small. Gamaliel sees to it that certain things don’t get done, like destroying the disciples in Jerusalem. // It fell to Peter to be the leader of the early Christian movement, but he couldn’t have done it without Gamaliel’s universal spirit. Thus we celebrate the ministry of Rabbi Gamaliel on World Communion Sunday, because on this Sunday we are reminded that Christ has called us to a table that is universal, that encompasses all the diversities of this world— a table that sees difference as a gift, not a burden. It’s time to gather around the table. In the spirit of Gamaliel, I invite you.—Dan Ivins
*Communion Hymn # 220 Break Thou The Bread of Life
Communion 15I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body,for we all partake of the one loaf.
3For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body,which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
*Hymn of Response # 207 Blest Be the Tie that Binds
*Sending forth
The bonds of love that bind us
are greater than the boundaries that separate us.
*Postlude
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d Mt 26:26–28; 1Co 11:23–25
e S Ro 12:5
h Gal 1:12
j 1Co 10:16
l 1Co 10:16
m S 1Co 1:7