Order
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Pre Worship Audio (10:15am)
Music 1 (10:30am) Worship Team
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Mighty Is Our God
Prayer Grace/Lily
Scripture Luke 15:11-32 Linda
Music 2 Worship Team
Revelation Song
Trust and Obey
Message Passionate Persistence Rick
Congregational Response
Benediction Grace/Lily
Music 3 You are my One Thing Worship Team
Community (Gallery View) Rick
Closing Peace Response Rick
Closing Audio
Words and Voices
Music 1 (9 slides)
[Congregation Stand]
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
CCLI Song # 28263
Verse 1
I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk let me walk close to Thee
Chorus
Just a closer walk with thee
Grant it Jesus is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be dear Lord let it be
Verse 2
Through this world of toil and snares
If I falter Lord who cares
Who with me my burden shares
None but Thee dear Lord
none but Thee
Chorus
Just a closer walk with thee
Grant it Jesus is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be dear Lord let it be
Verse 3
When my feeble life is o’er
Time for me will be no more
Guide me gently safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore to Thy shore
Chorus
Just a closer walk with thee
Grant it Jesus is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be dear Lord let it be
Mighty Is Our God
CCLI Song # 60867
Don Moen | Eugene Greco | Gerrit Gustafson
Chorus
Mighty is our God
Mighty is our King
Mighty is our Lord
Ruler of ev’rything
Glory to our God
Glory to our King
Glory to our Lord
Ruler of ev’rything
Verse
His name is higher
Higher than any other name
His pow’r is greater
For He has created ev’rything
Prayer (3 Slides)
[Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer]
Our Father which 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, for ever.
Amen.
[Please be seated]
Scripture (11 Slides)
“There was a man who had two sons. The youngest son said to his father, ‘Give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’ So the father divided his assets between his two sons. A few days later the younger son left and went to a distant region where he squandered his wealth.
When the youngest son had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region and he was quickly in need.
So he hired himself out to feed the pigs in the fields. By this time, the son would have been happy to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, yet no one, even the pigs, gave him anything to eat.
When the son finally came to his senses he said to himself, ‘All of my father’s employees have enough food to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I’’m going home and will say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I’m not worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your employees.”
So he set off and went to his father’s house. While the son was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to his father, ‘ I have sinned against heaven and before you;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now the older son was in the field, when he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He asked one of the slaves what was going on. The slave replied replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’
The older brother became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even anything so that I might celebrate with my friends.
But when my brother came back, after wasting your money on prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
But we have to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”
Luke 15:11-32Music 2 (12 slides)
Revelation Song
CCLI Song # 4447960
Jennie Lee Riddle
Verse 1
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Holy holy is He
Sing a new song to Him Who sits on
Heaven’s mercy seat
Chorus
Holy holy holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of kings
You are my ev’rything
And I will adore You
Verse 2
Clothed in rainbows of living color
Flashes of lightning rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor strength and glory
And power be to You
the only wise King
Chorus
Holy holy holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of kings
You are my ev’rything
And I will adore You
Verse 3
Filled with wonder awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your name
Jesus Your name is power
breath and living water
Such a marv’lous mystery yeah
Chorus
Holy holy holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of kings
You are my ev’rything
And I will adore You
Trust And Obey
CCLI Song # 7056336
Chorus
Trust and obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Verse 1
When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey
Chorus
Trust and obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Verse 2
Not a shadow can rise
Not a cloud in the skies
But His smile quickly drives it away
Not a doubt nor a fear
Not a sigh nor a tear
Can abide while we trust and obey
Chorus
Trust and obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Verse 3
Then in fellowship sweet
We will sit at His feet
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way
What He says we will do
Where He sends we will go
Never fear only trust and obey
Ending
Trust and obey
Message – Moved (11 Slides)
In March of this year, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, presented its yearly “World Happiness Report”. This report documents Happiness rankings among the 156 countries around the globe. Each country is ranked using the following factors as a determinates – [Slide]
Basically, these were used to determine an overall sense of confidence in, and stability of, the country. This year’s research took place as covid immunizations were on the rise, but covid new variants were also appearing – it also took place as the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan and before Russia invaded Ukraine. The top 10 happiest countries found to be, [Slide]
Around this same time, Pew Research, researched countries of the world as to what percentage of each country would say that they do not believe in the God of the Bible (this meant no belief in God as related in the Bible at all, as well as no belief in any ‘higher power’). Their findings found, [Slide]
Why am I sharing this with you. I was interested in the overlap – I wondered, ‘Are those who believe in God happier?’ I found that
[Slide] Nine of the top fourteen countries that named as the Happiest, most content, stable, confident, fulfilled, and peaceful, are also among the top fourteen countries where there is the least belief in the God of the Bible.
This is is not the answer believers like to hear. It is not a good marketing tool. We equate contentment, stability, confidence, fulfillment, and peace, as states of being that found when we live in a healthy relationship with God – however, these stats reveal just the opposite.
Now, our training, especially as trained Evangelical Christians, is to be prepared for these sceanarios that make us look bad. We think, ‘Surely someone is to blame for this disconnect, . We accuse the data of being manipulated to destroy our credibility. Bbut, there is enough truth here to call us to attention. We must permit the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to us in this moment, to show us truth instead of holding on to excusing ourselves.
The real questions we need to ask are,
What version of the Biblical God is the world seeing?
What version of the Biblical God are we communicating?
How does our day to day life, combined with our worlds, depict God?
What do WE actually believe about God?
[Slide] Do WE actually have a true and healthy perspective of God?
[Slide] This is the question to which we must respond We must lay down our defenses and take an honest look at ourselves – not because we are guilty of something, but because we, in not seeing God,
fail to enjoy God’s abundance.
Our world is not going to experience peace, our leaders are not going to be able to truly stand for life until we truly know God. We have had a shooting almost every day this past week including 2 in Oklahoma – but our leaders continue to say it is a time for grief not policy – (when will our grief permit a moment for rational policy?)
Our prayers asking that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven do not have a chance in heaven, until we, all believers, all Christians, all Evangelicals, have a correct portrait of God in our heads and hearts.
In our laser focus on the after life, conversion and baptismal numbers, we have missed the focus that Jesus had – contentment, stability, confidence, fulfillment, and peace. The time when religion and the religious were being a ‘Social Benefit’ but over the past couple of decades, religion and the religious have shifted to being seen as a ‘Social Cost.’ Christian Evangelicalism along with Chrisitanity, are all caught up in this shift.
This is not necessary a bad thing, it may actually be a good thing, a good thing for Christianity, a good thing for Christians – it may just be our moment of epiphany – our moment to genuinely recognize God as we stand in God’s presence.
This brings us back to the Gospel of Luke, where, for the first time in Luke, we not only have the religious officials at the proverbial table, but they are sitting next to ‘sinners and tax collectors’ (tax collectors are not only considered sinners but also collaborators with the oppressive Roman occupiers). Jesus is talking to them all, they are all at an equals, Being equals is not always acceptable, so there is grumbling, which is the catalyst for Jesus’ three parables.
[Slide] François Bovon refers to Luke 15 as ‘an invitation to all of us to not be too irritated by the conversion of others.’
(François Bovon, Swiss biblical scholar and historian of early Christianity)
[Slide] David Jacobsen, stresses what he calls the ‘metaphorical power’ of, these three parables in which “Jesus, from within the Jewish tradition tries to recast redemption of others, in a different vision of the divine purpose which is precisely how these parables conclude.”
Not to give away the ending, but in all three parables the ending is a joyous celebration of everyone involved, of those not involved but invited to the celebration, and even God and the angels! Everyone one except for one who is not joyous or celebrating, he is unable to join in because he is stuck in the old thought. He chooses to cast blame instead of letting himself find a way to celebrate the abundance in which he had been immersed in all along.
Three parables. Two about being lost, and one about intentional leaving.
The parable of the prodigal son, which Peyton read for us, tells the story of a son who make the choice to leave, rejecting his father. Leaving is a personal choice, but the father realizes that it is totally the son’s choice. The father knows that it is a journey the son must take and a choice he must face. ‘Will he continue to live a life of leaving and rejection?’ The father therefore waits, looking from the porch for any hint of the son’s return. The son, who made the choice to reject and leave, always know the way home, remembers the abundance there, and will have to lay aside his own pride and turn back to home.
The other two stories are of lostness.
Leaving is an intentional choice, purposeful and acted on in a purposeful manner, rejecting where we are, and to whom we belong. A deliberate choice followed by an even more deliberate action. Rejection and Departure.
Lostness, however, is different. Lostness is a series of small, minor, choices. Not the big moment but many small moments that bring us to a place where we suddenly don’t know how to get there.
I think this is where we are in society, much like many Old Testament societies, we have become lost. Our focus has become absorbed with this post earthly life, in our gradual acceptance of that thread of thought, we have forgotten Jesus’ teaching and examples of how to live abundantly here on earth. This is the main focus of the majority of Jesus’ actions and words. Instead, our focus has become a ‘means justifies the ends’ mentality, we have forgotten about shared undeservedness of grace, we have let go of Jesus’ mercy and compassion, we have allowed religious officials and politicians to repaint our picture of God.
A coin was lost in a crevice in which it was unable to get out – no blame is given. A sheep had unintentionally and somewhat intentionally left the herd to find better grass to eat. Small steps, each seemingly innocent movements, steps that the sheep would have know were bad choices, each step taking him further away until he could not find his way home. Each one further into the lostness, each one further from home and herd.
The real focus of these parables, however, is not the lostness, or even the why of the one who deliberately walked away – they are all stories of the one left behind. A Father, a coin owner, a shepherd. The stories are of the responses, the lessons all three. Much that has been forgotten and replaced in our image of God. The three reactions are not actions of shame or guilt, but of an agony of loss. The father sits and waits, knowing the choice of return belongs to the son. The woman cleans and turns the house upside down, the shepherd who leaves the 99 other sheep to find the one that is lost. All three were desperate, all three were passionately persistent, all three rejoiced when they finished.
Notice, in all three of these parables three is not a focus of shame. Their actions of leaving or getting lost are not really the point, the focus is on the rejoicing when they are back home. When they are in a place of contentment, stability, confidence, fulfillment, and peace. The emphasis is not on repentance but on the absolute aspect of being home and being found. A moment when, as Jesus explains, “there will be more joy in heaven, joy in the presence of the rejoicing angels of God.”
In our passage last week, as Jesus spoke to the Isrealites who had gradually become lost as they had taken small self seeking steps until they didn’t realize they were lost, unaware that their religion was worthless, and their view of God was incorrect – [No Slide] “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34a). God looks the same way at us, ‘desire us to let him gather us, to see him anew, a correct perception that is no longer corrupted by our own self seeking, our own lostness.
Plain and simple, God is a God of Love. God does not seek us out of a bitterness or vengeful spirit, it is out of love. God does not judge or condemn, he searches to rescue and uplift. God does not seek to restrain or hold us down, but to free us so that we can live in his abundance.
When Mary recognized the her son Jesus was going to rescue a wedding party, she revealed to us all what it is to have a correct view of God. She didn’t try to take over the situation, she didn’t shame the servants for not being careful about the amount of wine served to the guests, instead, she just said, ‘do as my son tells you to do.’ She pointed the people behind the scenes to Jesus and she let go. She understood God, she trusted God, she didn’t need to direct.
That is how we reach our world, not through holding on, keeping control. We show God to a world when we truly know and understand God. When we recognize what happens when we truly know God, the God of the Bible, not the God made up by man to control others or to meet a quota. We know God because we have seen him in Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon, preached about the compassion of God, “I suppose that when our Saviour looked upon certain sights, those who watched him closely perceived that his internal agitation was very great, his emotions were very deep, and then his face betrayed it, his eyes gushed like founts with tears, and you saw that his big heart was ready to burst with pity for the sorrow upon which his eyes were gazing. He was moved with compassion. His whole nature was agitated with commiseration for the sufferers before him.”
(Charles Spurgeon, Sermon No. 3438, 1914, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, UK)
We know God when we see him reflected in the actions of Jesus. When Jesus grabbed the hand of the sinking Peter saying ‘Let’s work on your faith.” When he lifted up the woman caught in the act of adultery saying ‘Maybe it’s time you step out of the darkness, when he said to Thomas in a moment of doubt, ‘Let me show you evidence,’ when he stood next to Martha and just listened, when he knelt down next to Mary and he joined her in her grief, or when Martha interrupted him as he yelled to Lazarus to come out of the grave, saying to Martha, ‘look, there he is.’
God is not out to get us, he is out to love us. His character and very nature demands this. God cannot help but be a God of compassion and grace.
While, it is true that God’s grace is not deserved by any of us, that none of us is worthy, however, God’s breath was breathed into all of us at creation, and that makes us a constant target of God’s grace and mercy because we are all loved by God.
For over 1700 years, religiosity has repainted the reality of God, turning him into a God of hatefulness, vengeance, and brutality. Remaking God into an unloving and unempathetic overlord who calls us to mimic this false narrative of God is. It is time that we all take a step back to take an unhindered look at Jesus to see the God that is love.
In the movie Don’t Look Up that arrived on streaming during Covid, a young man named Yule, calls himself an Evangelical Christian even though he has obviously walked away due to his inability to reconcile the portrait of Jesus that has been painted for him by his evangelical religion. He still believes however, believing in the portrait of Jesus painted for him as a child by his Sunday School teachers. A portrait of a loving God who does not allow politics to dictate his faith. As the movie ends, destruction is near, everyone is about to die. Yule sits with his newly chosen family around a table of those facing death just like him. Those at the table begin to wonder if they should pray, being non-religious, none know how to pray. Yule, who has been looking down at his dinner plate during the conversation, says, “I’ve got this.” He takes hold of the hands next to him, an act copied by those around the table, and begins to pray, praying to the God who he knows, not the image his religion has destroyed.
[Slide] “Dearest Father and Almighty Creator, we ask for your grace tonight, despite our pride, we ask for your forgiveness, despite our doubt. Most of all, Lord, we ask for your love to soothe us through these dark times. May we face whatever is to come in your divine will with courage and open hearts of acceptance. Amen.”
It is time that we all speak to our God and begin to look at what God truly looks like. A conversation that allows us to let go of the false narrative that have been taught to us. An engagement that will allow us to have a deep understanding and trust that can change a world.
Response – Benediction (6 slides)
Leader: May we re-meet God, may we take a moment to release our false perceptions, our false narratives of who and what God is.
Response: God is Love.
Leader: May our corrected view of God move us to a holy life, one that shows the world God’s compassion and mercy.
Response: God is Love.
Leader: May our transformed faith lead us to let go of the weapons we have been given by religion. May the world see the true image of God in our lives.
Response: God is Love.
Leader: May we be receptors of God and communicators of that grace. A grace that we did not deserve any more than others deserve grace.
Response: God is Love.
Leader: May our lives be walking demonstrations of God’s mercy and of God’s compassion.
Response: God is Love.
Leader: May we be a people of Love.
Response: God is Love.Response
You Are My One Thing (4 slides)
CCLI Song # 7030069
Hannah McClure | Paul McClure
Verse 1
Your voice ever close You called me
You never gave up pursuing
I fell in love You stole my heart
Your hand ever near I hold to
I long for Your heart to know You
Just to live in Your fellowship
Chorus
Just to be close to You
Just to walk next to You
This is my one thing
You are my one thing
(REPEAT)
Verse 2
My eyes ever fixed upon You
To live like a child to trust You
I’ll hold on to this treasured love
My life ever set at Your feet
I give You my heart completely
To live this life always by Your side
Bridge
I have to know You all that’s within me
Cries out for Your presence God
Nothing compares there’s no one else
Jesus You’re my one desire
Chorus
Just to be close to You
Just to walk next to You
This is my one thing
You are my one thing
(REPEAT)
Community (3 Slides)
- Next Sunday, Take It Easy Sunday, NO Worship Gathering June 12
- Pray Peace. Prayers for Ukraine – donation link at GFNorman.com
- Sunday, June 19, Acts 1:14; 2:1-8, 14-18, Guest Speaker – Kristen McAtee
Peace (3 Slides)
Leader: As you leave this place, may the peace of the Lord, go with you.
Response: And also with you.
Leader: We gather here because of God’s love for us.
Response: We go from here because of God’s love for everyone out there.
Leader: Go in the peace of the Lord. Have a great week.
Order, Words, & Voices 