Sermon - Sun Apr 03 2022
Bring everyone welcome in the name of Jesus Christ. So glad you are joining and worship with us today. Welcome to those who are joining With Us online. And I think, of course, my mom is out there. Hey, Mom, you know what? She listened to this sermon twice bless her heart, you're almost as good as Nancy. Fowler. She has to listen to it three times, bless her heart. All right, today. If you are watching online, today's communion Sunday. So procure, your own elements at home will be at the table together here in person and you follow along with the letter g at home. If you're watching, it does read books and the pews or not. They're just for paperweights, put your name on them, passing down passing back. See you sitting with you say howdy at the end of the service their time and talent thing in there. Now. I know you probably, like, I fill this out about 17 billion times, Well, I have found that we don't have. I don't know where those things are those paper. There's somewhere. We don't know where they are. Nancy. Arms is got us on a computer program. Now that we are going to take that data, put it into this servant keeper computer program. So that if we need somebody with a truck, we just type in truck and you're going to get a phone call. W a c e opportunities. Rick's got a class Monday night with that Wednesday night, Wednesday afternoon blessings this week. We've got a special event with the rainbow Fellowship. Matthew Bynes was actually going to be with that group. If you want to join along, get to the website, get on Zoom contact, the office or Scott and Becky muetzel for a passcode after service. You probably heard we're having a event. Pray for the Ukraine. On our campus, join us 125. Anytime will be a Bridge. Walk, some music, some food, from learning about the culture and the people of the Ukraine, and our chance to show solidarity for peace in that region. Food truck, Thursday be here. We're going to eat food out in the parking lot. Have a good time. It's going to be great. If you want to help there's some sign ups out there. See, Jill Baker. She'll have helped spur. She's up here now, but she'll be up there later and come and enjoy and we'll sit around. We'll have a good time. Easter is coming quick, Palm Sunday next week. Big deal. We're having a lot of fun. That we always don't have fun. But we're going to have more fun outside after church, but first fried chicken, that was my birthday. Thanks to me. I said Fried Chicken if we're having the event, we're having chicken. So we're having chicken and then we're going to go out. Bluegrass Band games, Easter egg hunt is going to be a lot of fun. Join us Easter Lily about the last chance. If you want to Easter lily, go out that form, get your money in and then finally Good Friday's coming up 7 p.m. A great service pin. Satve quiet reflective on just what it cost for us to be here in the house of the Lord celebrating the joy of Resurrection each and every Sunday before we begin, the Prelude. I heard that I'm new but I heard that at some point y'all used to do. The thing called like the Peace of the Lord be with you. They may remember that the Peace of the Lord be with you. All right, stand up greet. Your neighbor, say Howdy. And then we'll we'll get back to it in a minute.
Alright, alright, enough of that. We're Presbyterians, you know, we got to get back to decent internet in order. Play. That was fun. Y'all really do know how to do that. Well, done. Well done thus almost and it's not some 96 says sing to the Lord. A new song. For God has done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm have gotten the victory. We stand to celebrate and to sing a new song to the Lord who has given us victory in our Lord. Jesus Christ. Let us prepare our hearts for worship.
Praise be to you, Lord, the god from Everlasting to Everlasting. Yours Lord is the greatness and power and the glory, and the majesty and the Splendor for everything and having.
Yours Lord is the kingdom. You are exalted as head over all wealth and honor come from you. You are the ruler of all things in your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
But I stand as we sing, Our hymn of praise.
The god to whom we make, our confession is The God Who Loved Us so much that God took on mortality, choosing to limit the Divine in order to understand us and be with us. Trusting in that love. Let us make our confession together. Almighty and most merciful god Kindle within us. The fire of Love That by it's cleansing flame. We may be purged of all our sin and made worthy to worship you in spirit and in truth through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. Hear the good news for the sake of Christ reconciling work. God will have no God will no more, remember our sins or the sinfulness with which we have to struggle throughout our lives. God damn car explodes, right? Price. I'd never come in Christ. We are forgiven.
You made me seen it and I invited all our children to come up.
Anybody. And I heard I was not here last week and I forgot to I wasn't here. But I brought my car. Y'all come on over here. That's a long way away over there. Come on over. There you go. Did you do this last week or the week before? I did a couple of things. Did you do only did for unload the groceries and put them away? Swept the floors and mopped. Wash my car and Cecily's. Gave a man, a bag to a homeless lady and prayed with her. But I did for, I was good. Don't forget. Don't forget. We are God's handiwork made in Christ to do. The good works that he has brought something in here today. We are talking about our heart. If I got a heart, a heart. You don't have a heart. Where is it, where in the scriptures? Today says, I'm a good person out of the good treasure in their heart, brings good stuff. That puts good stuff in her heart. And what do I have in here?
Might be a parade. What is that? a mirror, right, but it's got a funny side to Okay. Now everybody make like a real mean face. Make me a mean face. Are you seeing me things? I can see that me and see you mean face. If you give that mean face. What are you going to get back?
I need you get if I give you a meme face.
What are you going to give me back? You're not. Give me a beat face back. Probably. All right. What about how about? A sad face? Give me a sad face. Oh, yeah, that's pretty sad. Ask me whatever you want, and I'm going to give it to you. All right, so if I get it, What are some of what am I going to get back from? People? Probably going to be sad, too, because I'm sad. How about a happy face? Happy face. Happy face.
What kind of what the Bible talking about? What's in our heart? If we give out good things? Good things are going to come back. God's going to take those good things and he's going to make good things happen. But if we give out bad stuff, then probably bad stuff going to come back. So a good person, which is you because God has made your hearts good in Christ, out of the good Treasure of their heart, gives out good. An amazing. And then the Bible goes on and says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if I have a happy heart then I'm going to say good things. I have a mean hard and sad heart. Probably not going to come out very good. So let's try to ask God to help us have a big full heart of good stuff. So they won't be looking to me. We see good things hanging and then that means everybody else is going to say good things to Let's give that a try about. Pray with me. I'll say a line and you say it after me. Dear Lord. Help us. to have your spirit in our heart show that We may be good.
To the world around us. In Jesus name. I meant. All right. Thanks for coming up. You can go to kidsconnect and we'll see you next time.
Will the ushers please come forward?
Here's what I believe. I believe night, always gives way to Dawn. I believe war always gives way to peace. I believe death is always Shattered by life. I believe God is doing a new thing. Every minute of every day. God is at work around us and within us. For the homeless, a place to live for the hungry. A Feast for the Thirsty, a cup of Cold clean water that run us over for the weary rest for the lonely, a friend for the sick healing and wholeness every minute of every day. God is making all things new giving and giving. Again we are called to be part of God's work of generosity. We are called to give to surrender our time talent and treasure to this God, Work of making all things new. The offering will now be given and received.
Where am I?
Let us pray. Loving God With Us, money. Make a whole new world with these gifts, help make real, what your profits declare that morning crying and pain, will be no more with these people help make a world where everyone is loved a world where Justice and compassion roll down like a mighty stream, a world where everyone has warm food, cool water, Healthcare and Friends. A world where death is no more. I'm in.
from Psalm 137, the first four verses,
By the Rivers of Babylon. There we sat down and there we wept, when we remembered Zion on the Willows, there we hung up our lives for their, our captors asked us for songs and our tormentors ask for mirth saying us one of the song of Zion. How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
And from the Gospel of Luke, just a couple of verses from chapter 6.
The good person out of the good Treasure of the heart, produces good and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces Evil 4. It is out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Why do you call me? Lord Lord. And do not do what I tell you. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight. This day. Oh Lord. Our Rock and Redeemer. All men.
Well, this is the last one of our be messages. We've been talking about how we become in Christ Jesus, through his gift on calvary's Cross. We started with be transformed and then I spoke about be reconciled and we talked about be holy last week. Pastor, Chuck talked about becoming again a part of the family, the son that had gone far away. And yet through the love of the father, unexpected uncalled for and completely out of cultural context receives the sun Back Into Sunshine ship as a air. Became today. I want to talk about be an agent of transformation, how we become the hands and feet of Christ in this world, in which we live on the Old Testament passage. But of course, we'll bring in the new, but that's almost a whole nother, another topic, but it does fit and I'll show you how how in just a minute. Remember School, show-and-tell number show until I love show and tell her. That's our little cabin up on top of the mountain. It's very simple and it did snow. So it woke up, knowing we completely rebuilt, the cabin and there you got, I think eight or nine layers of mountains off our front porch. Just beautiful, but inside very cozy, as not for everybody. One room cabin, you know, it's got a wood stove. No indoor plumbing. No electricity. It's very, very simple. It's not for everybody, but it is completely getting away. You are literally on the Mountaintop and we enjoyed sitting by the French Broad River on the way back to North Carolina. Maybe you've been there. Beautiful River, just calmed sitting there, chilling out. And then we got home. Oh my gosh, what y'all do? While I was gone? Crazy likes, Crazy Life, move so fast. It's going amazingly crazy all around us. I mean, we were there we were unplugged. I turn the phone on except one time a day cuz we have electricity. Just make sure the kids are still alive. You know, that kind of thing, but didn't do anything, but we got home and the world hadn't slowed down a bit, and it was even more crazy. Maybe kind of like, my little friend, never have a hamster. When you were when you were in school, see if this works.
There you go. In the how you feel. But then, you know what's going to happen. It's coming. It's coming at you. We are in that crazy wheel of whatever this world is. It's a White Water World. Now, we were at the French Broad. That's number one easy. I mean even though my mom says she wouldn't do it. If she could ride a class one wrap it. It's not a wrap. It, it's like a float trip. Getting a little boat and sit down, and have your beverage of choice, and just kind of float down. No problem Class 2 is a little more difficult, not big deal. You might get wet. It's okay. Class 3, put on the helmet, got to put the helmet on. Scouting is advised. Where's the little nooks and crannies? How do you get through class for scouting? Is mandatory. You've got to have a scout. You got to know where the little Eddie's and we're all the rocks. So that you don't get blasted out of the boat class 5 danger. It's dangerous. You better have expert guide to help you in a class. Five is the other most limit of navigability death is likely. Don't want to do it in class 6. I've been on a 34 I've never been on the five, but it's pretty crazy. I seen a lot of people on at 5 and this is what maybe they look like.
Is it really love?
Backsplash tiles, are spinning around. You got water in your face. You got water in your lungs. It's fun, right? You pay for that? We live in a White Water World of change. Let me illustrate. Just by the amount of information that we have out there in the world for you to choose from 1776, 1884 years. The amount of information in the world took 100 for years. But look at the trend. Less and less time. 20 years, 10 years, 4 years, and some 67 through 70. Some of you guys were part of triplin that, thank you very much.
In 2006, 2050 amount of information available in the world, doubles every two and a half months.
That is unbelievable. Let me put it in another way. In 2011. There were about 330, MB of traffic on the internet. 2013. 667 exabytes. 2015. Wiethop 10 B. In 2020 were going to have forties that A B and B 2025. We're going to have 175 zettabytes of traffic on the internet. Now, what all that means is that you can figure it out.
What it means to me is, okay. Remember those little floppy disks things in a little CDs? Some of you probably still have those, I still have 8 tracks and cassette but the floppy disk. Okay. So if you wanted to take 175 zettabytes and put them on your little desk, you know, so you take it and you're doing that, you're repeating that you're paying out and then you just make this stack and you make a stack and you take that stack is getting pretty tall and it goes around the world 22 times. Or hey, okay, that's too much work. I'm just going to download my hundred and seventy-five zettabyte so I can have all the information in the world. At the fastest computer speed that we have now. Do you know how long it would take to download? 175? Is that a b 1.8 billion years?
We live in a world of white water, change it. It's a future shock or said Future Shock. Is that dizzying disorientation of the premature arrival of the future its culture shock in your own Society.
Don't know how many of, you know, I wish them for decades in Africa and it's not surprising to you. I wouldn't think of the missionary that we learned the language of the people. We saw, we learned what they ate. We learned while they dressed, we learned what the beads meant. We learn their traditions and their Rites of Passage and although in a different culture. That's what missionaries do. So that we could bear witness to Christ in a culturally competent and contextually sensitive manner. So we did that. Does that mean that everything in that culture was great. Absolutely not. We love myself people but some stuff in their cultures. Absolutely horrid. I have you ever heard of FGM female, genital mutilation. So these people pretty young girls. They absolutely decimate. Their genitalia as a young child. Why it's horrible. It's awful or rather than taking the Bible and beating them on the head years and years and years of conversation in learning their culture and figuring out how to have a conversation about this and showing them different ways. Now, some muscle leaders have put forth laws in the land of their area. That this is against the law of the land. And not only that they have gone to Travel Leaders and said we need to stop doing this. My side pastors are now speaking out against it and saying this is not what God's people do for the culture is changing and conforming, so that people are cared for so that people are not harmed anymore. because,
some folks went and we're part of that culture, not just ask, but many.
We look at the heavens. Godzilla, where Godzilla, where the bigness of the world he made? Song number eight. When I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars without has established, what are human beings that you're even mindful of them? And yet you have created them and glory and honor just a little lower than the Angels. God has made us in the midst of this craziness so that we can be God's hand and feet. But how do we sing George song in a foreign land? How is it that we seen God song in a foreign land. We live in a foreign land skate and often when we are in that, we have a shot and our shock is a spiritual shakashaka faith. Not a, not a future shot, but a face shot. The physiological world, the physiological world. We have. We have shocked. Maybe you have Riley Julio when you had your bike wreck. You were in shock. I was in that finger. I didn't have it at one time. I chopped it right off. I was going in Shop, Cecily said, you better get in the car, get in the car, honey. You're going to pass out getting the car and there was me and my finger, only thing I can think about was what shop you forget about, creativity. You forget about what you're doing, how you're thinking, what you should and shouldn't do, your body. Does Doan's into survival, repair fix the problem. I can't think of anything until my finger got better. I can still use it. Thanks to my surgeon.
In the spiritual world in the church world. We are in that kind of shot because we see this world around us and we don't know what to do with the university for years, but maybe the church hasn't quite figured it out. We don't live in a Christian culture anymore, folks. The church no longer has its preferred position that it did when you were young. It is not a given that we are respected. Know we are less respected. We are. Thought of poorly, we have left knowledge of the Bible, in our culture. We have a less amount of respect. We have people who like, ESPN have made their commentators no longer use a david-and-goliath example in sports because nobody knows who those people were.
I thought in the Bible Belt Old Testament, New Testament. I have a class of 50-60 people. They're clueless. They have no idea what's in the Bible. No idea this in the Bible Belt because there's less knowledge of God there. There's an opposition to Christianity. Even there is the preferred position of the church has been eroded. The gap between the values that we have as Christians in the Bible is so Divergent from the values of society that there is a giant impact. And what we have done is the church, especially in the west as we've gone into shock. And you know what happens when you go into shock, you think about survival?
We got to survive.
So, how come you come once a week? We solve our wounds have our service, and then we go back out in the free. Try to survive another week. Then we come back and do the same.
That's not going to reach the world. That's not going to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's not going to show people who are in a foreign land. The love of God, we are not able to sing the songs of the Lord, in a foreign land. If we do not. Learn the language of the foreign land, understand the culture of the foreign land, understand the thinking of the foreign land, realize what it is that the values are of the people who live in that foreign land and that foreign land is not here. The foreign land is out there before. Land is the world, a world that desperately needs to have the knowledge of the love, in the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ, and we are not taking it to them. We are not doing it. We are worried about us and I understand that. But if the church with a Capital C is going to survive, we have to be followers of Christ and go. Where Christ Legion Christ is leading us out and that is a challenge. It is difficult. It is dangerous. It's like getting on a Class 5 or a Class 6 rapid, it's risky. I don't want to do it. I'd rather sit in my my chair on the side of the French Broad and just watches, it goes by, I get that. Cuz that's my struggle to most sermons preachers preachers. Things that bother them in this bothers me. Because what we have to do is be the church in the world and that world is a foreign landscape quarterback, but I do speculate that the church has called out one, could do better. We could do better. What if, what if those early Jews in Babylonian captivity. They heard the words of the Prophet. They knew that they were to plant Vineyards and live life and have children. It was going to be a long exile for them. If instead of saying, oh, woe is me. How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land? What if they had said that I'm going to sing my song to Yahweh while I'm plowing my field. I'm going to open my business and I'm going to show these Babylonians. What it means to live and work, as a business person with the ethics of the great. I am deciding. I'm going to follow the example of Daniel who made his choice to dump for God and change everything. I didn't do it. As a matter of fact, when they came back to Jerusalem after their. Of bondage and in Babylonian captivity, the temple was rebuilt. It was a much smaller version of what was originally. And the scripture say, you couldn't understand the people's response because somewhere rejoicing and somewhere weeping, because it wasn't like it was
The church is never going to be like it was because the church engages and responds to the world. And if the church is always like it was it will never rise up to the great calling that God has for the church. To be the salt to be the light, to be the Exemplar of the kingdom of God in a society that is hell-bent on going, the complete opposite direction.
So, yes, it means taking risks. It means that we have to go to the ugly places. We have to get uncomfortable, we have to Feed people who are hungry. Have clothes put on people who are threadbare Lord. I have so many clothes in my closet, don't you? I mean, thank God for Cecily. I just wear the thing that's on the top. I'd wear the same thing everyday, but she goes in and fixes it up. So I wear different stuff and moved my shirts around in the closet cuz I just go in. I grabbed the first thing.
Open my cabinets, whose cabinet in full, none of us. All our cabinets are full. But they're hungry people. There's somebody in the office that came just this week. Young lady. Down and Out, living in her car. I gave her four, five of the Manna bags to like, I just, I don't know what I'm going to do. Living in her car, lost a job. I don't know her story, but she's hungry. So now we're home. She needs clothes. If she needs a job. Where's the church? That's what the church needs to do.
We got to go to those places. We had a visit people in prison, have to work for peace and Justice. We have to be on the side of those who are breaking down. All the ism's of this world racism classism sexism. What about the sex trade? Oh my gosh. We don't want to look, we don't think about that is ugly. It's it's a multibillion-dollar injury in history. We need to be fighting for the release of those who are caught up in that for a horse. And yet, what am I doing? I'm sitting in my office. Hope this is not about you as much as it about me. Is it hard?
It's risky and it will cost us more than we can ever know but it is, what would call to do. And the great thing about it is, we may be riding that class 5 that class 6 even wrap it in that water may be hitting Us in the face and getting down on a windpipe. And we may even fall out a few times along the way. But there is a guide with the pillar in the back and when I fell out of the boat before I even pass the boat, I remember that God had my life jacket yanked, me back, and that's what Christ does for a fake. God knows every rock on that River. And Christ will pull us in when we need help and it got us where we need to go Christ, will give us everything we need to do the work that God wants us to do. We can be agents of transformation. If we allow God, to do it through us. We can sing God's Praises in a foreign land. If We allow God to be our voice and our hands and our feet.
Brent, from Colossians chapter 3, We read in everything, whatever we do. Whatever we do in word or deed, do everything, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My prayer is that we will just simply think about this. Think about it, pray about it. As we move toward Palm Sunday, the great celebration. And then Holy Week and Good Friday. And what the meaning of this piece of wood here. Is it a myth? Is it real? Do I value this? Is God speaking to me? And if God is speaking to you. Remember what Jesus said in Luke? Why do you call me? Lord, Lord, and don't do what I say. I believe God is speaking to each one of us to do our part in the making of the kingdom of God on this needy needy Earth. And I simply ask you to join me in prayer for me, thinking about what is our part. What is your part? What is my part? How can we make a difference? And let's go from this place, committed not to hang up our harps on the Willows. But the sing, the Praises of the Lord, in this foreign land.
Diane.
Hours a day for 2 weeks. Then she made me do it. Why? Because she called back to Ukraine once a day and hopes that her parents cancer. If they don't, they didn't bomb. This is the time for all you have to do is come outside, come and eat some of her pioli's and I can get them for church. And this place. I don't want her that we're crying that, we have, I am, I went to a Ukrainian friends and said we have to do something and this big mess. It was made outside as what happened to something to something. Thank you, Diana. Talk to these women there. If there is pain. By one of their thing that there's several ways that you can donate for Delia and her husband. Have a mission in Ukraine.
Emergency relief group who I talk to who they work with churches in all over the Ukraine, Poland raining. And when they need something they call and they get the money. Are you crazy women and the things that are behind their send you money back to people, they know any questions. Thank you Diane. Let me take you in the people who are on the video watching cuz I'm sure they couldn't hear you. This was Diane. Barrera, one of our members by the real heart, for the Ukrainian people that God has put on her mind. And she's helped to organize this event on our campus today and she's just spoken passionately about our needs to step up to do something, and I applaud her efforts and hope we all will will support that in some way. We are to be those hands and feet and God will touch you. God will touch you with something for Diana. It was this caused for peace, and I've been to Ukraine. I, I know I know that place. But God will give you a task. God will show you what God wants you to do, and how you can be a part of this plan that he has. So that the songs of the Lord, maybe sung, even a landscape that seems very foreign to us. Let us go with that. That passion in that commitment. Oh, man. But a stand is we saying our him a sponge.
What's affirm what we believe through a portion of confession of 1967? In Jesus Christ, God was reconciling the world to God. So Jesus Christ is god with humankind. He is eternal son of the father who became human and lived among us to fulfill the work of reconciliation. He is present in the church by the power of the Holy Spirit to continue and complete his mission. This work of God, the Father Son and Holy Spirit is the foundation of all confessional statements about God, humanity and the world there for the church calls all people to be reconciled to God and one another Maybe cleaners.
Come to the stable, you who have much faith, and you, who would like to have more? You who have been in this Sacrament often and you who have not been for a long time or perhaps ever? You who have tried to follow Jesus and you who have failed. Come it is Christ who invites us to meet here.
When is spring?
Almighty God. This is your table that you have prepared for us. We can pass that we are unworthy to come to it. And yet, in spite of ourselves and our shortcomings, you invited us. You've made a way for us to come. Until we do come this day and we put before you all of our Brokenness. All of the things that we should have done or wished. We had said
Ways we wish we might have lived Our Lives had. We could do it over again. Lord, we know that you can make all things new and in this Sacrament you do just that. So we pray that as we Endeavor to be agents of transformation. This world you would give us the strength through this meal that these elements of bread and cup would be set aside from their ordinary usage. This day to that, which you have ordained that they may be for us to spiritual food. We need to venture forth into this White Water World before in landscape, but as we go to have a song on our lips, So that we may sing the Praises of the Lord. Even in this foreign land. We do pray this in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to sing together.
The Lord Jesus on the night of his arrest took bread and after giving thanks to God. He broke it.
And he said to his disciples. This is my body broken for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.
Let us eat together.
In the same way after supper, our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ, took the cup and said this cup is the New Covenant sealed in my blood, as often as you drink. It remember me, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim, the death of the Lord until he comes again, but us take this to our comfort.
Precious.
Kabul.
Precious.
Call Pablo.
Call Paul home.
Roses.
Call Bob.
This is the cup of Salvation. Let us drink of it.
Thank you. Lord for feeding us at this your table. Maybe be empowered to be your hands and feet in this world that you made and that you love all men. But a stand as we sing Our Hymn of discipleship.
No, one said following Jesus is easy.
Call Christ his life to give us the ability to be his hands and feet in the world today. Let's take up that challenge. It's the greatest calling of this life and of all eternity. Let's get on those Rapids and ride that River. And as we go, May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all this day and forever. More almond. And all God's people said go in. Peace.