4/18/2021 Normal Service

Are scripture reading for this morning comes from first John chapter 3 verses 16 through 24, and it's the new revised Standard Version.

We know love by this. They laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help. Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in truth and action and by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn has for God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. Beloved if our hearts do not condemn us we have boldness before God and we receive from him whatever we ask because we obey his Commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his Commandment that we should believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he is commanded us all who obey his Commandments abide in him and he abides in them and by this we know that he abides in Us by the spirit that he has given us the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

butter spray or May the meditations of our hearts in the words of my lips be pleasing in your sight. our Rock and Our Redeemer

amen

I want to bring some attention to your text to text that we have here. In the first part of the scripture that says the author writes we know love by this that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. .

Another translation says we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. but like the author is saying we ought to lay down our lives for one another but if you're reading this you clearly have not laid down your lives for one another. So what else can we do? What's the next thing that we can do? And his butt. If someone has material possessions and sees brothers and sisters in need. but refuses to help

to help

Sarah and I went on a on a weekend getaway with supposed to be one night and it ended up being too and

I don't remember the first night. When we go away, we like to Priceline places. We couldn't afford to stay. Otherwise anybody else ever do this like a good 4-star. Do you go for $99 kind of thing? That's the kind of person I am. I'm like we can go enjoy time in the city. Okay, so we did that right and it was a nice hotel and get all the amenities and things you just have a nice time and then the next day we needed to go to the mall. So we were over by the Galleria Mall there in St. Louis. and sometimes there's parts of the city that hide.

poverty and there's some spots right around the hotel that we stayed out downtown that have been revitalized in the last 15 years. And so they're parts that probably 20 years ago. I wouldn't have went. But now we're walking back to the hotel after dinner and I kind of know where we are.

Who knows if you get off the beaten path you come face-to-face with the reality of some people's reality. And not our own.

This is one of those situations.

The next day we go to the mall and we are going to the to the Galleria but we make us that we make a stop on the way there too large strip mall to go to the Nordstrom Rack and we were there getting out of the car at the Nordstrom Rack when I heard the most beautiful music.

Big John

we stepped out of the car and it was a gentleman. playing an accordion

most beautiful accordion

next to him was his wife. holding a sign it said out of work. Pray for us. Please help.

There was a box.

And behind that box and his wife. Where's three young children?

cure in front of an affluent Shopping Center

asking for help.

Through doing and providing this service that he knew.

the gifted music

the reality of that situation Was that I felt helpless. To help I felt powerless to help. There was nothing I could do to change that man situation. Couldn't pay his rent couldn't give him a job. Couldn't hire him for a gig. the powerless

sometimes when we go to the more populated areas we can feel powerless. To respond to the need that is always looming.

We can feel so powerless that we don't even feel like we can make a difference.

and that is where God tells us were wrong. God does not call us to solve other people's problems. God calls us to help. God calls us to help. That's it.

to help

you know that.

The ten bucks. I dropped in the Box. with a family of five

can't do much.

But I think there's something more there. There's the honoring of God. in him There's the letting him know that he's not alone. There's the thank you for this beautiful music.

That's what God calls us to do. But in doing that we also create beautiful music for god. That's how God is proved to the world around us. It is not through standing up in proclaiming but through loving. And being with one another and sharing in one another's burdens. That's how we prove it to the world. That's how we prove the love of God.

We were supposed to come back. last night And I would love to stay that we just spent the whole night dancing the night away and then just couldn't go down the road any farther and that's why we had to stop. But the truth is we're 40 in my eyes, aren't that great and there was construction zone. So I just pulled over cuz it was raining. The reality, is that okay. So we we got there and we knew we had to leave early the next morning. So we're up at 5:15 this morning. We're out the door the hotel by 6 or in Troy, Illinois. I'm a hunger guy. So Sarah feeds me immediately in the morning to make sure I calm down. Okay, so I was looking for a spot right in a decided Burger King in Troy, Illinois with the spot on the way to get on the interstate. We pull into Troy Illinois, and we are informed at the Burger King that they do not open until 7. and immediately

my fat kid math goes into works. We can be to the Burger King in Vandalia by 7 and we can go there. Cuz once you got something in your mind that you want that that's what you want. Right? And so we're pulling out of the Burger King and we saw the little bump. I don't know what it was Sarah's like should we pull over I said no, it's fine. We'll go. Okay. So we go. We get to Vandalia about 7:10. Perfect. 8:15 to not start not start time for Toledo. It is start time for Toledo. We got to be back by then. Perfect. We're making time as we're waiting for our food, but tire sensor light comes on doing form us that are tire has 22 pounds of pressure when it normally has 38. And I'm just like sitting here watching it drop and drop and drop. Don't worry. I'm not losing the food. We're going to figure that out first and then we'll figure out the tire. So so we were there and we decide to fill up. And so we fill up the air and we begin the journey. Can find any Fix-A-Flat and then so I had to call in a Range cuz I knew we were pushing being late for Toledo. So I had to call somebody make sure they could lead songs for the first part of service. And that whole neck stretch we were just trying to figure out you know, and try that and just pray that we would make it like safely. Right? And so we made it to Effingham again before it dropped back down to 20 can cuz evidently the faster you go you're tired does something I'm sure you Math and Science folks could figure this out. But the faster we went the less are we lost? Until we hit like anyway, we will kind of faster and then it started going down fast again, so we sold it back down and so there's a speed at which which is above the speed limit which is where you can keep that tire pressure kind of decent it so we made it to Effingham before we had to read get more air. And you know it was in that moment in those moments when I was driving just like old man. I really hope that this tire doesn't doesn't go flat right and just think what if like, I don't know what if I don't know what if

You don't work. We're really not all that far off. from playing accordion in front of a Nordstrom's none of us are there but for the grace of God go I

there but for the grace of God go I

we made it.

My wife took my entire sermon for a children's moment if you want to do short version.

But that's how God works in the world around us everyday. We can see God at work every day because God is at work everyday to people that simply encourage one another and love one another in real and tangible ways. You don't have to worry about solving somebody else's problem. Just coming along with them on the journey. to share God's love with them in ways that you can

May God encourage us.

To prove God's presence to the world.

You are action. simply helping others