Order, Words, & Voices
07.10.22
Order
Pre Worship Music
Opening Song To God Be the Glory Lynn
Prayer Rick
Song Great Things Lynn
Reading Acts 9:1-19 Isaiah online & Petty inperson
Songs Who You Say I Am Lynn
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Message Unexpected Journeys/People Rick
Song Make Room Lynn
Closing Peace Rick
Post Worship Music
Words and Voices
Music
To God Be The Glory
CCLI Song # 23426 Fanny Jane Crosby | William Howard Doane
Verse 1
To God be the glory great things He has done
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin
And opened the life gate that all may go in
Chorus
Praise the Lord praise the Lord
Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord praise the Lord
Let the people rejoice
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son
And give Him the glory great things He has done
Verse 3
Great things He has taught us
Great things He has done
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son
But purer and higher and greater will be
Our wonder our transport when Jesus we see
Chorus
Praise the Lord praise the Lord
Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord praise the Lord
Let the people rejoice
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son
And give Him the glory great things He has done
Prayer
Lord, we gather today because of our desire to know you.
We gather because of our dedication to seeking you.
We gather because you are our God, our creator, our redeemer, our hope and peace.
You, God, have shown us mercy, compassion, and grace even though we do not deserve them.
You, God, have offered us eternity and peace even in this moment.
You God, have shown us what it is to love as you are love.
God, may we, in this morning, in this moment stand ready to say yes to your unexpected journeys.
God, may we, in this morning, in this moment say yes to your unexpected people.
[Join me as we say the Lord’s Prayer]
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.
Forgive us our trespasses,
and teach us how to forgive those who trespass against us.
And, God, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the glory forever.
Amen
Music
Great Things
CCLI Song # 7111321 Jonas Myrin | Phil Wickham
Verse 1
Come let us worship our King
Come let us bow at His feet
He has done great things
See what our Savior has done
See how His love overcomes
He has done great things
He has done great things
Chorus
O Hero of Heaven You conquered the grave
You free every captive and break every chain
O God You have done great things
We dance in Your freedom awake and alive
O Jesus our Savior Your name lifted high
O God You have done great things
Verse 2
You’ve been faithful through every storm
You’ll be faithful forevermore
You have done great things
And I know You will do it again
For Your promise is yes and amen
You will do great things
God You do great things
Chorus
O Hero of Heaven You conquered the grave
You free every captive and break every chain
O God You have done great things
We dance in Your freedom awake and alive
O Jesus our Savior Your name lifted high
O God You have done great things
Bridge
Hallelujah God above it all
Hallelujah God unshakable
Hallelujah You have done great things
(REPEAT)
You’ve done great things
Chorus
O Hero of Heaven You conquered the grave
You free every captive and break every chain
O God You have done great things
We dance in Your freedom awake and alive
O Jesus our Savior Your name lifted high
O God You have done great things
Reading
[Isaiah] Thereligious leader Paul, went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues allowing him, if he found any Jesus followers in Damascus, to bind them and take them to Jerusalem. As Paul was on the way to Damascus a light from heaven flashed around him. Paul fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Paul, Paul, why do you persecute me?” Paul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now, get up and enter Damascus, and then you will be told what to do when you get there.”
[Petty] There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Paul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision that a man named Ananias will lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” Ananias responded, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and now he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.”
[Isaiah] The Lord said to Ananias, “Paul is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
[Petty] So Ananias went and laid his hands on Paul and said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from Paul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Acts 9:1-19
Music
Who You Say I Am
CCLI Song # 7102401 Ben Fielding | Reuben Morgan
Verse 1
Who am I that the highest King
Would welcome me
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh His love for me
Oh His love for me
Chorus 1
Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
Verse 2
Free at last
He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes He died for me
Chorus 2
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
Bridge
I am chosen not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me not against me
I am who You say I am
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
CCLI Song # 7117260 Dwan Hill | Helen H. Lemmel | Lauren Daigle | Paul Mabury
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Message
“Can God create a stone that is too heavy for even God to lift?” It is a question, designed, no doubt, to lead a person of faith to question the omnipotence of God. This particular quandary has been reshaped in various wordings to adapt this paradoxical question to any one of the Abrahamic faiths. “Can Allah create…”, Can Yaweh create…”, Can God create…”.
A quasi theological paradox is intentionally designed to present a lose-lose dilemma for anyone believing in an omnipotent God. Either answer lands the believer in a place of potentially discrediting their faith. It is basically the same set up as the Pharisee’s question of Jesus, “Should we, the followers of the true God, pay taxes to Ceasar, who claims himself to be God?” Either answer option that Jesus was seemingly limited to would would leave him in an untenable state, discrediting God or rebelling against the Roman oppressors. However, Jesus had a third answer that was rooted in truth and holiness at the same time.
The apostles, and those they mentored to become leaders in the New Testament church, may have not been queried about an uxliftable stone, or the righteousness of paying taxes, however, they most likely did have paradoxical questions weighing on their own minds. Questions that came not from skeptics, but from themselves as they faced a reality that often seemed in conflict with the leadings of the Holy Spirit. Questions such as…
- How is it possible that the God’s Spirit would lead us to speak when no one chooses to listen?
- Why would God call us to a proclaim his love to a people who only seem capable of hate?
- Is is even possible to extend Jesus’ mercy and compassion to a people who are permanently positioned to only see themselves?
- How can we proclaim the message of freedom from a prison cell, or worse, in our own death?
And most often, they probably were asking,
- “How is it that I have ended up here when I we were so sure the Spirit was leading us there?”
It is quite probable that the group of ‘good news’ preachers, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and eventually Luke, that we see in today’s passage, had this paradox on their minds as they attempted to get to Asia where they had mutually agreed was the place where the Spirit was leading them. Note, the apostles and other future leaders did not make their decisions of where they were to go, nor did they decide the people they would go to, it was a group decisions of all going, and, often, a decision of the church sending them to a place and a people. Just prior to our passage today, this group of preachers, as well as their church, had felt that the Spirit was leading them to go to Asia Minor.
“They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them to go there; so, by passing Mysia, they ended up in Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When Paul told the group about the vision, they immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, because they were convinced that God was calling them to proclaim the good news to to the Macedonians. The four left Troas sailed by Samothrace and then finally landed in Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. Then, they were stuck in Philippi for several days, many of which were unpleasant days.” (Acts 16:6-12)
This group of preachers, called by God to be one place, stuck in another place, had questions not that dissimilar to our own questions. We, too, often ask God why we have landed in an unexpected place, or with an unexpected people – questions that address what we did or what we should have done, questions asking if God is still there, if God has abandoned us, and if God has run out of patience with us.
These leaders though, ultimately had to frequently return to the truth they had heard since their childhood, words that have been given to us as well – truths that remain as powerful today as they did when they were first given.
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me?” To which the prophet Jeremiah responds, “Oh, the Lord God! It is you God who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for you.” (Jeremiah 32)
Jesus said it in fewer words, “With humans much can be impossible, but with God everything is possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
So, yes, God can create a stone that is too heavy for even God to lift, and yes, at the same time, God can lift that same stone. For God, there is a third option that is impossible for us as humans to see and understand – much like the paradox of Jesus being 100% God and a 100% man, or the paradox of Free Will and Sovereignty.
Paul had only recently become a follower of Jesus. He, along with most of the leaders of the Jesus followers, was Jewish and in his mind he thought following Jesus was the natural step of his faith not an entirely new faith. After all, Jesus was the promised Messiah that he, and all of those who shared his faith had been seeking. This was Paul’s path, his journey, in his mind this was the natural progression and the destination he expected. Christianity was the next unexpected journey of his faith. This was why we see him voice such despondency in the rejection of Jesus by his fellow Jews.
Being Jewish, and recognized as a Jewish leader, Paul usually would to a local synagogue on the Sabbath in whatever place he was, there he could preach the gospel when asked to speak. But in Philippi, he goes to a river on the Sabbath, suggesting that the city does not have a synagogue. This was probably because Philippi did not have many resident Male Jews. Jewish law required that at least ten male Jewish heads of households should be available for regular attendance before a synagogue could be formed (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 1.6). If the minimum of ten cannot be met, a place of prayer was selected for an informal Sabbath gathering in some peaceful setting, either in a building or outdoors. Those present would recite the Shema (a couple lines from the book of Deuteronomy 6:4-5). This became their prayer, basically the equivalent of our Lord’s prayer.
So, in this probable setting, the four preachers find the “place of prayer” near Philippi, where, possibly only women were present, not the man from Paul’s vision. Women were a minority population and an unexpected people for this group of preachers. The traveling preachers were allowed to speak some words of wisdom, offer some exhortation, and deliver a blessing.
I can imagine how the other three quickly volunteered Paul to speak.
‘Among the group of women was a woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, who was listening to Paul; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. She and her household were baptized. Lydia urged the four preachers, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon them.” (Acts 16:14-15)
Philippi was neither Paul, nor Lydia’s, home town, they were both in this unexpected place. Paul had no idea why he was there and Lydia was there on business. It was the Sabbath, a day of rest for Lydia, it was the Sabbath, a day of preaching for Paul. Both went to a faith gathering of others that shared their faith.
Lydia was a worshipper of God. We can assume that this was the God of the Jews since she finds the Sabbath gathering while in Philippi. We do not know if she was a Jewish follower of God or is she is a gentile who has made the adult decision to follow the God of the Jews. Lydia, much like Paul, was dedicated in her search for the coming Messiah. She has chosen to make her life an intentional journey of faith to seek and search for the Redeemer – even though, she was seen by others as a business person.
Lydia was a successful business woman in a lucrative field. She not only set the example of a genuine faith, but she also becomes an encourager and financial supporter to the apostles’ work and mission. I think also, that she was an example, an encourager, and possibly also a financial supporter of women in a society that did not respect for recognize women in the public square.
Lydia listened as Paul Spoke, and in that moment she heard and believed that Jesus was the Redeemer. After Lydia and her household were baptized, she invited the preachers to her home fulfilling the God set standard of hospitality and respect to the men. She offers everything she has as a sacrifice of her faith. Her immediate sacrifice is instant powerful evidence of her genuine and authentic faith. She had wholeheartedly listened to Paul, and now she asked Paul, and the others to listen to her life.
Lydia wanted these preachers to listen to her life through the words of actions, her heart. Her question was, ‘Am I on the right track, am I doing this right?’
Lydia, and her family understood what it meant to treat others in the way God desired, a way of respect and honor, a way that paints a picture for all of the Grace with which Jesus met others, the manner in which God expects us to treat others, a moment free of judgement and condemnation, a moment of humility freed from arrogance.
Lydia’s example of radical faith evidenced through radical hospitality, in such an unexpected moment, is more of a lesson teaching us how to remain diligent in the midst of an ordinary journey. Lydia made the most of every moment, looking for the holy in each place she lands, in every person she meets. Consider this.
- When Paul meets Lydia she is a follower of a God that that was foreign to her, God was probably not the god she grew up with. However, she had made the decision, as an adult, to follow this God. She had wanted more, she had been open to the moving of the Spirit she did not know, she longed for truth. She found this in the same God of Paul.
- Lydia, had an open mind, she was seeking truth, she had broken free of the lies planted in her mind. So, wherever she was she took the opportunity to look for that truth. She had not permitting anyone to limit her search for truth or to close her mind. Those dear to her, Political bullies, and even controlling pagan religious leaders had not been permitted to stifle her search. Her God had promised a deliverer, she was expecting and ready for that hope.
- In having an open mind, she was ready for an open heart. It just took the touch of the Spirit for her to receive the news of the Savior Jesus.
- Lydia, like all believers, didn’t settle for the truth she knew, she continued to seek and search and critique each new nugget of truth she was offered.
God is often in the unexpected places and God is often in the midst the unexpected people. We just have to look, listen, and using the stepping stones our faith, in order that we will be ready to receive.
The calling of each of the disciples was possible because they were already seeking. The transformation of Paul was because he was on his own messed up mission of hope for the coming Messiah – they all had open minds. A woman, in an unexpected moment, after a decade long issue of bleeding, reached out to Jesus, the one she had been seeking.
This is actually a questions for believers. While we think a point of saying ‘yes’ to Jesus is our final journey, we fail to recognize that there are many more questions to ask, and many more paradoxes to ponder, all meant to help us better know God. I think this is what we will experience in eternity, a peaceful continued journey of knowing God more.
What are we doing with the moments on the way? What are we finding in the midst of the journey. How much do we miss. How often do we turn away because the Journey or the People are not what we expect.
This past week I had an unexpected moment on a tram in Amsterdam. As I boarded and sat down, a woman turned and asked me is she was on the right train. I was not a very good person to ask, I hardly understood her question. In the midst of speaking I recognized that she was from Ukraine. I reacted like she was a celebrity, asking how long she had been away from her home (3 months), and if she still had family there (she did, her husband, and then I forgot that this could be a holy moment, she needed to make sure she got on the right tram to get her to the train station. But, being a gawker, I asked ‘Is her husband fighting?’ – she waved her hand as tears began to well up and turned her head away. She just needed some reassurance she was going the right direction, I just wanted to talk to a person that was close up to a world tragedy I had been hearing about. She just needed the comfort of an answer which I failed to give her because I didn’t even attempt to recognize this life moment for her.
A evangelistic leader from a couple of decades ago developed an entire ministry on this concept of moments. It is a ministry that was, and is, successful still today. I am beginning to wonder, though, about his approach to holy moments. His approach to all moments was that they were to be filled with words of religious persuasion, with an agenda to convert others to Jesus. If he laid his head on his pillow at night and realized that he had not shared the gsopel that day, he would jump up and go out onto the street and grab the first person he saw to share the ‘good news’. I had a time when I thought that was admirable, there was at least one sermon I preached in which I expressed admiration for that man. But as I interact with a hurting world, and even more, as I look at what Jesus did with every moment, I’m beginning to think we are missing opportunities with our moments, opportunities to be the ears, hands, and feet of Jesus in the midst of a suffering world.
We live imagining that our moments are holy because they are for us to accomplish something. Something Holy like convincing another of our faith. Sometimes moments are just to listen, and some, not so many, are for us to just shut up and listen. We use the phrase “To understand another we must walk a mile in their shoes.” Bene Brown says that it is actually it is impossible for us to walk in their shoes, instead, we have to listen to others, and their stories of this moment, and believe them.
Brent Brown also says, “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments – they are right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.’
What are we doing with our moments?
Let’s pray.
Music
Make Room
CCLI Song # 7122057
Evelyn Heideriqui | Josh Farro | Lucas Cortazio | Rebekah White
Verse
Here is where I lay it down
Every burden every crown
This is my surrender
This is my surrender
Here is where I lay it down
Every lie and every doubt
This is my surrender
Chorus
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
Verse
Here is where I lay it down
Every burden every crown
This is my surrender
This is my surrender
Here is where I lay it down
Every lie and every doubt
This is my surrender
Chorus
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
Bridge
Shake up the ground of all my tradition
Break down the walls of all my religion
Your way is better
Your way is better
Chorus
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
Chorus
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
And I will make room for you
To do whatever you want to
To do whatever you want to
Closing Peace
May the Peace of the Lord go with you.
And also with you.
Go in the peace of the Lord
Order, Words, & Voices 