Order, Words, & Voices

Order, Words, & Voices 10.02.22

Order, Words, & Voices

10.02.22 Collaborative Faith

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Songs: How Great Thou Art Christian

Lord I Need You

Call to Worship Steve M.

Song: Breathe of Me Breath of God Christian

Reading Judges 4:1-7 On Line – Mitch & Duffy

Message Collaborative Faith Rick

Song: What A Friend We Have In Jesus Christian

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music (11 Slides)

How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God

When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds

Thy hands have made

I see the stars

I hear the rolling thunder

Thy pow’r thru’out

The universe displayed

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

And when I think

That God His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die

I scarce can take it in

That on the cross

My burden gladly bearing

He bled and died

To take away my sin

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

When Christ shall come

With shout of acclamation

And take me home

What joy shall fill my heart

Then I shall bow

In humble adoration

And there proclaim

My God how great Thou art

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

Lord I Need You

Lord I come I confess

Bowing here I find my rest

And without You I fall apart

You’re the one that guides my heart

Lord I need You oh I need You

Ev’ry hour I need You

My one defense my righteousness

Oh God how I need You

Where sin runs deep

Your grace is more

Where grace is found is

where You are

And where You are Lord I am free

Holiness is Christ in me

Where You are Lord I am free

Holiness is Christ in me

Lord I need You oh I need You

Ev’ry hour I need You

My one defense my righteousness

Oh God how I need You

Lord I need You oh I need You

Ev’ry hour I need You

My one defense my righteousness

Oh God how I need You

My one defense my righteousness

Oh God how I need You

Call To Worship/Lord’s Prayer [Slides at Prayer]

The first four of the ten commandments concentrate on our worship of the one true God. ‘You shall have no gods before the one true God’. ‘You shall have no idols to the false gods’. ‘You shall not abuse the name of God’. And the fourth is, You shall “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God… The Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.”

Twentieth century German theologian Karl Barth calls the corporate observance of the Sabbath Law, and the Sabbath day itself, an ‘Interruption’.

A call on us to limit our work, to not allow it to be our identity. A day of humble submission and respect directed to God. An opportunity to turn from thoughts of our work and achievements and instead to recognize the heart and meaning of God’s work. An intentional and deliberate day, a moment, for us to reflect individually as well as cooperatively on God and His work. A contemplative deliberation of our own salvation. The call challenges us to a consistent recurring interruption of our work with a Sabbath. A holy interruption giving us a holy day every week – allowing us to then see the holy in every day of the week. (Karl Barth, paraphrase)

Today, we gather for this interruption to the daily routines of life. This morning, we gather for this moment of interruption, we set aside those things that demand our attention, and instead, we consider the heart and meaning of God and God’s holy work. Today, we rest, we pause, we reflect. While every other moment of our lives may seem to be absorbed, in this moment, in this interruption, our attention is on God.

May we now fous ourselves in this interruption with the prayer of Jesus, please stand and join together with me.

[Slides Begin] 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, while we forgive those who trespass against us.

And God, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

‘Please be seated.’

Music (3 Slides)

Breath on Me Breathe of God

Breathe on me breath of God

Fill me with life anew

That I may love what Thou dost love

And do what Thou wouldst do

Breathe on me breath of God

Until my heart is pure

Until with Thee I will one will

To do and to endure

Breathe on me breath of God

Till I am wholly Thine

Till all this earthly part of me

Glows with Thy fire divine

Reading [No Slides]

Once again, the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord gave them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, and Sisera, the commander of Jaban’s army. Soon, the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help, for Sisera had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.

At that time Deborah was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

Deborah summoned Barak, the leader of the Israelite’s army and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Position yourself at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera to meet you with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand.’ ”

Barak said to Deborah, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” Deborah said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak and his warriors.

When Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him. Deborah said to Barak, “Get Up! For this is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The has Lord gone out before you.”

So Barak went with ten thousand warriors following him. And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and ran away. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; not one was left.

Sisera fled to the tent of the woman Jael who came out to meet him saying, “Come in to me; have no fear.” So Sisera went into her tent, and she covered him with a rug. Sisera said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you if anyone is here say, ‘No.’ ”But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and a hammer and, going softly to Sisera who had fallen asleep from weariness, Jael drove the peg into Sisera’s temple, until it went down into the ground and he died.”

Judges 4:1-21

Message – Collaborative Faith [6 Slides]

Judges 4:1-7

After the Babylonian exile, and the return to the promised land, the name ‘Jew’ became the accepted name for the people who had been set apart by God. A promised people who traced their ancestry back to Abraham and the promise given to him by God.

A name is a significant label, it is usually given to us without our input – we grow into it or we spend our lives attempting to prove it wrong. Rapper Kanye West recently changed his name to Ye. Musician Prince, at one time, changed his name to a symbol which could not really be voiced, so people began referring to him as ‘The artist formerly known as Prince.’

The promised people began with the name ‘son of Abraham’, then they became the ‘sons of Isaac’, then, the ‘sons of Jacob.’ Then, they were welcomed to Egypt as the ‘Hebrews’ – a name most likely derived from the Hebrew words ‘eber’ or ‘ever’ meaning‘ ones who crossed over’. ‘Crossed over’ conceivably referring to Abraham’s journey across to Canaan and his descendents journey from Canaan crossing over the Euphrates River into Egypt. This name was just a name until it became a derogatory slam as the Hebrews transitioned from welcomed guests to despised and enslaved foreigners. These Hebrews, however, labeled themselves ‘Israelites’, named after their ancestor Jacob, who God had renamed Israel.

And so in today’s passage, the Isrealites, were living between their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and their eventual slavery in Babylon. During which time they learned about the God of whom they knew little about. They learned, they followed, they disobeyed, they rejected, they were corrected, they cried out to God, they were delivered, they experienced peace, then they did it all over again, and again.

Moses, followed by Joshua, consistently instructed the people to Obey the Torah, the Law of God. The people did, but mostly they did not. They entered the promised land and soon failed to do what God told them to do which was to wipe out all the residents of Canaan, the promised land. This sounds harsh but the reason was – the Canaanites were evil and the Israelties were weak. God knew that if they were absorbed by the Cannaanites, or if the Isrealites aborbed the Canaanites, the Isrealites would eventually adopt and incorporate the practices of the Canaanites – life practices that were morally corrupt and religious practices that included child sacrifice. The Israelites did not remove the Canaanites and therefore, as God knew they would do, they became like the Canaanites – meaning – you usually could not tell the two peoples apart.

So, after the death of their leader Josua, God gave the Isrealites the Judges. Not like a courtroom judge but more like a regional military mafia thug leader, leaders who were as evil, if not worse, than the Canaanites. It was a brutal time for the Canaanites and for the Isrealites – largely because of these Judges. These Judges were all ultimately horrible except for the one female of the bunch – a judge named Deborah.

This one bright spot in the book of Judges is Deborah who is full of faith in the God of the Isrealites and gifted with power from God of the Isrealites. As the Canaanites were unifying together to wipe the Isreaites from the land of Canaan Deborah called on the military leader Barak to give him God’s instruction for the battle against the invading Canaanite army. It was a simple plan that was enough, it detailed the pre-organization required of Balak as well as the work that God would do and the victory that God would give to Balak. Balak accepted the call on one condition, the condition that Deborah would join Balak on the battlefield. Deborah agrees but cautions Barak that, if she does go with him, he will not be the proclaimed hero. The hero would instead be a woman.

It is a story that puts a spotlight on the different perspectives as well as the different expectations that bring us to an understanding, or misunderstanding, of the story. You have probably heard this story taught or preached in a way that sets Balak up to be a:

A coward
A misogynist
Basically, self absorbed prideful arrogant wimp

Why else would Deborah have to bait him to accept God’s call? The only way to overcome his cowardice would be to appeal to his vanity. The only way to create in him a reason to go to battle would be to keep a woman from being glorified. Essentially, Deborah had to take this shell of a human being and convince him to trust God by appealing to his ego and his male arrogance.

What if that is not an accurate understanding of Barak and Deborah? What if this is more a story of two people who understand faith, and especially understand the value of the collaboration of their mutual faith? What if Barak understood that faith is holy when it is vested in the true God, and holyer when it is multiplied by a combined alliance of others of that shared faith.

What if Deborah’s motivation was not to goad Balak into accepting God’s call but to test it? What if she wanted to make sure this was not all about an egomaniac who would eventually use this victory to gain more power for himself? What if she wanted to see if he was willing to follow as well as to lead? What if she needed to know he understood that leading armies into battle would still require following the God of the Victory in the Battle?

What if both of these individuals understood Proverb 27:17 long before the writer of Proverbs was even born? What if they both grasped the idea of Iron Sharpening Iron? What if both knew that they were the iron that needed sharpening?

What if…?

Long before a team of experts engineered the iPhone, Steve Jobs had an idea of a phone unlike all other phones. He also recognized that he needed others to make his idea a reality.

Long before Christians had multiple Bibles scattered on shelves and in drawers throughout their house, a team of past and present collaborators worked with Johann Gutenberg to make God’s Word available to the average believer.

Long before we were able to sit in a dentist chair and have a quick Xray of our teeth, Pierre Curie shoveled back breaking mounds of earth to assist his wife Marie in discovering the radioactive element radium.

[Slide] “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.

[Slide] Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecc. 4:9-12)

[Slide] “If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

[Slide] Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.

[Slide] Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness.

[Slide] And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:1-8)

So let’s step back to that name, for Deborah and Barak and the ten thousand man army, the name was Israelite. This name was not just their bond, it was not just their nationality, rather, it was the defining mark of their faith, a faith now reinforced with ten thousand and two Isrealites. An army glued together by a shared faith, and a faith given by a name, a name based on their common ancestor Jacob, an army about to face the army of Sisera. That opposing army, led by Sisera, is estimated by ancient Jewish historian Josephus, to have amounted to 900 chariots, 40,000 generals, and possibly upwards of 4 billion soldiers, dwarfing the 10,002 Isrealites now ready for battle. They shared a common faith built on a common God, identified by a common name, strengthened by a common trust – a trust in and a trust on the God of their name – Jacob’s God. The God of promise. There was sheer power in the armies of Sisera, but there was more power in the army of the God of Balak, of Deborah, and of their much smaller armies. This power, a faith collaborated among this small gigantic group that would never need to use their swords because the God they trusted had gone before them.

We boast in our armies until we face the full force of our battle

We trust in our house until we see the fortress of our foe

We hold to our knives until we feel the sting of their swords

We crouch securely in the cave until we hear the boots of our attacker

And yet,

We know a strength when we stand together

We experience a peace when our trust is shared

We identify by the one who has gone before us

We hold to hope of the promise repeatedly assured

And so we commit,

To hold on tight to the one who is faithful

To affirm our faith in our mutual redeemer

To strengthen our stance in our collaborated trust

To grasp the reality even when it is invisible to our sight

For,

We do not go alone into darkness without the foreknowledge of light

We do not go together armed only with human might

We know that our hope rests in the creator almighty

We know in our very core lives the God who is power, justice, and love

Let’s Pray.

Music [3 Slides]

What A Friend We Have In Jesus

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer

O what peace we often forfeit

O what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer

Blessed Savior Thou hast promised

Thou wilt all our burdens bear

May we ever Lord be bringing

All to Thee in earnest prayer

Soon in glory bright unclouded

There will be no need for prayer

Honor praise and endless worship

Will be our sweet portion there

Community [Slides]

[Slide] Next Sunday, Guest Speaker Randy Ridenour, Professor of Philosphy at Oklahoma Baptist University
[Slide] Fall Bible Study – Beginning this Wednesday, October 5 (5 weeks)
[Slide] Cleveland County Crop Walk, Sunday October 16 @ 1:30pm, locally and globally, Food and Shelter has doubled it number of clients served by 100% since Covid hit (numbers have not gone down)

Closing Peace [Slide]

May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction [Slide]

“Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father and as you go, remember: By the goodness of God you were born into this world. And by the grace of God you have been kept even until this very hour. And by the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you have been redeemed even as you are being redeemed. So go in peace.”

Order, Words, & Voices 09.25.22

Order, Words, & Voices

09.25.22 When You Have No Voice

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Songs: To God Be the Glory Lynn

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Call to Worship Renee, Christian, Nikki, Emily,Linda

Song: My Deliverer is Coming Lynn

Reading Numbers 27:1-11 On Line – Randy

Song Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord Lynn

Message When You Have No Voice On Line – Rick

Song: Way Maker Lynn

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music [Slides]

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 2

O perfect redemption the purchase of blood
To every believer the promise of God
The vilest offender who truly believes
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives

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 1

Great is Thy faithfulness
O God my Father
There is no shadow
Of turning with Thee
Thou changest not
Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been
Thou forever wilt be

Chorus

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning
New mercies I see
All I have needed
Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me

Verse 3

Pardon for sin
And a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence
To cheer and to guide
Strength for today
And bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine
With ten thousand beside

Chorus
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning
New mercies I see
All I have needed
Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me

Call To Worship/Lord’s Prayer [Slides at Prayer]

[Renee] Our Call To Worship today comes today from Psalm 40 verses 1-10 and 16-17. These are King David’s earnest words of thanks and gratitude for God’s deliverance combined with words that reveal David’s continually growing understanding of the God he seeks to worship and praise.

[Nikki] Psalm 40 is a proclamation of our ever present voice, a reminder that we have a voice even in times when we are the most silenced.

[Christian] “I waited patiently for the Lord; God bent down to my level and heard my cry. God drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

[Linda] God put a new song in my mouth, a song immersed in praise sung back to our God. May we all see, fear and put our trust in the Lord.

[Emily] Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods. God, you have multiplied, O Lord God, your wondrous deeds and even your thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with you.

[Renee] Were I to attempt to proclaim all your wondrous deeds and try to tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

[Nikki] You do not desire sacrifice and offering, instead you give me an open ear to hear. You do not require burnt offerings and sin offerings, instead you give me eyes to see.

[Linda] I search your Holy Words to find what it is that you desire of me, what I am to do, and as I discover your truth I respond with the words, “Here I am; I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

[Christian] I do not restrain my voice from telling the glad news of your deliverance to the great congregation. I have not hidden your redemptive words within my heart, instead I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

[Emily] May all who seek you God rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation constantly say, “The Lord is great!” God, I am poor and needy, but you take notice of me. O my God, You are my help and my deliverer; I will trust your presence and your timing.

(Psalm 40:1-10, 16-17)

[Nikki] Please stand and join together as we use our voices to share in the prayer that we first hear from the voice of Jesus.

[All] [Slides Begin] 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, while we forgive those who trespass against us.

And God, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.

Amen.

Music (Slides)

Chorus

My Deliverer is coming
My Deliverer is standing by (2X)

Verse 1

Joseph took his wife and her child
And they went to Africa
To escape the rage of a deadly king
There along the banks of the Nile
Jesus listened to the song
That the captive children used to sing
They were singing

Chorus

My Deliverer is coming
My Deliverer is standing by (2X)

Verse 2

Through a dry and thirsty land
Water from the Kenyon heights
Pours itself out
Of Lake Sangra’s broken heart
There in the Sahara winds
Jesus heard the whole world cry
For the healing that would flow
From His own scars
The world was singing

Chorus

My Deliverer is coming
My Deliverer is standing by (2X)

Bridge

He will never break His promise
He has written it upon the sky

Chorus

My Deliverer is coming
My Deliverer is standing by (2X)

Chorus

My Deliverer is coming
My Deliverer is standing by (2X)

Reading [No Slides]

Zelophehad, a man of the Tribe of Manasseh, a tribe whose land came within the promised land not east of Jordan (where the Reubenite and Gadite tribes chose to keep their land)

Then the daughters of Zelophehad, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, came forward. The four sisters stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness; he was not among the congregation of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the congregation of Korah but died for his own sin, and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”

Moses brought their case before the Lord. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father’s brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them. You shall also speak to the Israelites, saying: If a man dies and has no son, then you shall pass his inheritance on to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. It shall be for the Israelites a statute and ordinance, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

Numbers 27:1-11

Music [Slides]

Chorus

Open the eyes of my heart Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You
I want to see You

Verse

To see You high and lifted up
Shining in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy holy holy

Chorus

Open the eyes of my heart Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You
I want to see You

Verse

To see You high and lifted up
Shining in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy holy holy

Bridge

Holy holy holy
Holy holy holy
Holy holy holy
I want to see You

Message – When You Have No Voice [No Slides]

Numbers 27:1-11

In the summer of 1962, on a hot and humid Arkansas Sunday, two cars came to pick up Lela Mae and her nine youngest children—ages two to 14—and take them 150 miles to Little Rock’s bus terminal. Lela Mae had believed the promise of a local segregationist lawyer, a promise that she was going to have a better life for her children, better jobs and better housing if she got on a bus heading north. Southern segregationists, furious over civil rights advances that dominated the 1950s, were determined to prove that the northern states were hypocrites in their concern for anyone who did not share their skin color. Part of the false promise made to almost 200 Arkansans included a personal greeting from the President of the United States once they arrived in Hyannis Massachusetts. As the buses grew nearer to Hyannis, the passengers quickly changed into their nice interview clothes expecting job interviews would be the first thing to be done upon arrival, after meeting the president of course, and then they would proceed to their new homes and lives. Instead, they realized they were part of a political stunt as they were dumped near the Kennedy house, over a thousand miles from home. (‘Reverse Freedom Rides’, Gabrielle Emanuel, 02.29.22)

These people tricked into boarding the bus did so out of a human cry for dignity, a human cry for a voice. A cry to not be victims but to have a seat at the table just like other humans.

The daughters of the passed Zelophehad – Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, had recently become invisible. While gender assigned them a lesser place in society, the death of their father, and absence of other male family members, was about to make them totally undefined and non-existent. They were crying out for a human right to a voice and personhood.

So, the five women, in much the same stance that five women stood before you this morning, stood before Moses, the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. For these five women it was surely an intimidating moment. Nevertheless, they stood for justice – they stood challenging a long unchallengeable way of thinking.

These women were third generation Isrealites out of slaverey. Their father was second generation. With no remaining male family members, the lineage of the women was about to end. No male to carry on the family name and no male to claim the promise of personhood for their family.

Old Testament land inheritance laws are a bit muddied, but what happens here with the women in Numbers 27 is a game changer in the understanding of the inheritance laws. Previously, the understood guidelines were basically that ‘a man’s principal heirs were the sons born to him by his wife/wives). In the absence of sons, the next in line were the deceased father’s brothers,paternal uncles, and finally the nearest kinsman of his clan.’ (Bruce Wells, Professor, Saint Joseph’s University)

Land was sustenance and land was existence. Society told these five women they had only one known option, become invisible until a man chose them to be his bride. As they thought about this ‘only’ option they realized that this option also made their father invisible and their ancestors invisible. The more they considered this ‘only’ option the more they realized that it was a truly unacceptable option. They came to a holy alternative, they decided to question the status quo, to challenge the standard way of thinking – it was a risky unprecedented move. This action, to question and challenge, could have ended with an official decision making them, and their lineage, permanently invisible.

However, they did it anyway, they stood before Moses, the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting bringing their call for justice. Through them, from this point forward, women were not invisible in regard to inheritance issues. These women, and all women, had made a successful call for personhood, and it reverberated for generations.

Moses and the leaders heard the plea from these women and, instead of falling back on the usual response, they chose to take the challenge to God. God agreed with the women. The way it had always been done was questioned and challenged and justice prevailed. The issue of personhood was changing from being a cultural issue to being an issue of God’s creation, God’s created.

It is important to grasp that all of this took place before the Isrealites crossed over the Jordan into Canaan, the promised land. It was before Moses’s final teachings, it was before any battles were won to gain control of the land, it was before Moses said his final goodbyes and even before Joshua was anointed as the replacement for Moses. It was long before there was actually any land to acquire, any land to divide.

This is what makes this entire story, and especially the gall of these five women, even more extraordinary. They were seeking justice for themselves, their family, and even for their ancestors based solely on a promise. The actual plea they made was still conceptual. There was no land, only a centuries old promise of the land. Yet, it was that promise that served as the foundation of their passion. It was their belief that ahead of them was their promised land, and that in that land they too would have a seat at the table as well as a voice.

Look at the lessons of truth we see in this small story!

The women faced a lifetime of living as victims or, instead, taking the risk, they set their sights on personhood.
God affirmed his promise to the earthly powers that had control that these women were of equal standing among all of God’s creation.
God was not bound by man’s misunderstood interpretations of the law and life.
Moses and mankind exhibited an amazing understanding of authority in asking God before falling back on their own way of understanding truth.
Trust in God was the thread that weaved throughout this entire story. The women trust God enough to take a risk, the men trust God enough to lay down their pride and arrogance to ask God.
The women’s fight for personhood ended up not just being for them. In the end, they stood for all marginalized people whether due to gender or any other labels. Their cry went far beyond land and inheritance. Their risk gave them a voice, but, in doing so, opened the ears of the leaders so that they too would hear God’s voice.

Our lesson – Once we have risked letting God take us outside the box, we have no preparedness for where he will take us. Our only preparation is to listen to the voice and direction of God trusting God all the way.

Heber Brown III, former Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Md grew tired of visiting members of his church for diet-related illnesses. He was exhausted offering just prayers and scripture at their bedsides. He knew they were invisible, they lived in a produce desert. He wanted to put feet and hands to his prayers through God’s truth. The closest grocery store to the church, one that offered fresh produce, but it also was a high end business – he thought maybe there could be a partnership. As he went to look into the possibilities he wondered the aisles of the store landing in the fresh produce section. There he found an amazing array of produce. Then, as he looked at the prices it hit him that even in a partnership, any partnership would be another effort at charity, it too, would not give his people dignity or a place at the table. This would not bring the people to true personhood. He left frustrated without talking to the leadership of the store and headed back to Pleasant Hope Baptist Church. He knew the people needed a road to personhood not just another version of victimhood. Reverend Brown thought of the daughters of Zelophehad. He thought of their desperate out of the box thinking, their passion to be seen and heard. He wondered what risky act like standing in front of Moses and elders would look like. He was tired of the standard lie he told himself that the problem is just too big to solve. As he arrived across the street from the church he took a look – there, he says, he had an

“epiphany. If we couldn’t afford fresh food, why not use church land to grow our own? That’s just what we did. On about 1,500 square feet of our church’s front yard we now grow greens, broccoli, tomatoes, squash, and herbs. We sell the produce at rates that beat the pricing of local markets and the garden has deepened our ties to our local community as well. The vision grew to the point where now under the banner of the Black Church Food Security Network, I help other African American congregations establish gardens on their land and link the churches with historically marginalized Black farmers to provide a pipeline for fresh produce from “soil to sanctuary.” I realized rather quickly that what we were being led by God to do in our ministry context was not simply transactional, but rather transformational.”

This story is not about feeding the hungry, housing the unhoused, it is not about wars and injustice, it is not about gender inequality, it is not a call to action. It is a call to question and challenge. To search for the truth and decide if the interpretation of truth you are given is truly true.

Five women, sisters, chose to stand against the ingrained traditional way of thinking – the ‘Godly ways’ according to those before them. They stood against the thought that change cannot happen. They refused to believe that God stood with injustice instead for justoce. They chose to not sit as victims and, instead, stand for change. They joined a parade of the countless individuals and organizations that have challenged and questioned the long held translations and interpretations of God’s truth.

The Syrophoenician woman, knowing that she was considered unclean by the followers of Jesus, still challenged Jesus on his statement comparing her to the dogs. Jesus agreed and changed the view of the disciples forever.

Gentile Conelius was instructed by God to speak with the Jewish Christian Peter. Knowing that was unacceptable to Peter’s interpretation of God’s people he hesitated and soon Peter entered Cornelius house. Changing Christianity forever.

The bible is replete with stories of those who asked questions and voiced challenges. Stories of those sought personhood knowing that they were created for nothing less.

Are you ready to take the risk and do the work to follow the footsteps of five invisible women who just wanted a seat at the table?

Let’s Pray.

Music [Slides]

Verse 1

You are here moving in our midst
I worship You I worship You
You are here working in this place
I worship You I worship You

Chorus

(You are) Way Maker Miracle Worker Promise Keeper
Light in the darkness my God that is who You are

Verse 2

You are here touching ev’ry heart
I worship You I worship You
You are here healing ev’ry heart
I worship You I worship You

Chorus

(You are) Way Maker Miracle Worker Promise Keeper
Light in the darkness my God that is who You are

Tag

That is who You are
That is who You are
That is who You are
That is who You are

Bridge

Even when I don’t see it You’re working
Even when I don’t feel it You’re working
You never stop You never stop working
You never stop You never stop working

Chorus

(You are) Way Maker Miracle Worker Promise Keeper
Light in the darkness my God that is who You are

Community [Slides]

[Slide] Next Sunday, Collaborative Faith, Judges 4:1-7
[Slide] Fall Bible Study – Beginning Wednesday, October 5m (new start date) at noon (5 weeks)
Cleveland County Crop Walk, Sunday October 16 @ 1:30pm, locally and globally, Food and Shelter has doubled it number of clients served by 100% since Covid hit (has not gone down)

Closing Peace [Slide]

May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction [Slide]

Order, Words, & Voices 09.18.22

Order, Words, & Voices
09.18.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Songs: How Great Is Our God Christian
Build My Life

Call to Worship Rick

Song: I Love You Lord Christian

Reading Exodus 15 In Person – Martha

Lord’s Supper/Song I Love You Lord Christian/Rick

Message A Witness Rick

Song: How Can I Keep From Singing Christian

Howdy

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music [8 slides]

How Great Is Our God

The splendor of the King
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice
He wraps Himself in light
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
And trembles at His voice

How great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
And all will see how great
How great is our God

And age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the End
Beginning and the End
The Godhead three in one
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb

How great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
And all will see how great
How great is our God

Build My Life

Worthy of ev’ry song we could ever sing
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring
Worthy of ev’ry breath we could ever breathe
We live for You

Jesus the name above ev’ry other name
Jesus the only one who could ever save
Worthy of ev’ry breath we could ever breathe
We live for You
We live for You

Holy there is no one like You
There is none beside You
Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who You are
And fill me with Your heart
And lead me in Your love to those around me

I will build my life upon Your love
It is a firm foundation
I will put my trust in You alone
And I will not be shaken

Call To Worship/Lord’s Prayer [13 Slides]

Call To Worship
When humans worship God the creator, articulating our praise and adoration because of who God is and what God has done, we are, whether we realize it or not, summing up the praises and adoration of the whole creation.

This is why our physical expression is natural. As we sing, pray, and dive into the word that is God’s good news – in all of this, we recognize who God is, and all that God has done.

As we go deeper allowing praise to impact our innermost parts, through repentance, forgiveness, our humanness experiences the physical relief and settling of peace, and the relief of joy – for that moment, our burdens are lifted.

And as we allow our minds to dig into deep thought and consideration, our hearts to fill our eyes with tears, our hands raised or our heads bowed, or, it may even be that a solitude plants us in our seat to absorb God to whom our focus has turned – in that moment, in this moment, everything ceases to be about us.

This is what was happening when Moses and the Isrealites began spontaneously singing and dancing after their successful crossing of the Red Sea.

This also explains why Miriam and all the women picked up tambourines and continued singing and dancing throughout the throng of stunned, and now free, Israelites. This is why we gather, this is why we sing, listen, and pray.

Yes, we will soon be thirsty again, we will soon forget the provisions of the creator, grumbling will replace our praise. But, in this moment, as the waters calm, we praise because we remember. May we now share in this moment. May we now join the Isrealites and permit God to set our feet on dry ground and may we now look back and gaze upon all that God has done.

May we set aside concerns about future chariots, horses, and soldiers. May we lay aside coming storms and as well as our probable hunger and thirst. May we, in this moment, recognize and remember our mighty, loving, compassionate, merciful, and grace filled God. May we worship, may we praise.

Prayer [Please stand and share in the voicing of the Lord’s Prayer and then remain standing following the 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,
While we 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 power, and the glory forever.
Amen.

Music (1 slide)

Music

I Love You Lord

I love You Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You
O my soul rejoice
Take joy my King
In what You hear
May it be a sweet sweet sound
In Your ear

Reading [No Slides]

After God rescued the Israelites from Pharaoh and his armies, Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted. God has hurled Pharoah’s horses and drivers into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense, God has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord reigns for ever and ever.”

As Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophet, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver God has hurled into the sea.”

Exodus 15:1-2, 18-21
Lord’s Supper/Music (No Slides]
Introduction
The observance of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is often approached as a holy moment restricted to those who are holy and able to come to the table in a state of holiness. However, when Jesus first instituted this practice, he did so at a table full of his disciples, men who had no real idea what he was talking about, who probably felt that Jesus was acting unusually weird. It was a group that included one who had already betrayed Jesus, and another who refused to believe that he could be the next to betray his friend. It was also a group who after this holy time, would argue about which of them would be the greatest. No, they were not a holy group, they were humans, humans who needed God’s grace, humans who needed this holy moment to prompt them to remember all other holy moments. This was a moment much like the moment when the Isrealites spontaneously sang and danced in recognition of God’s mighty work. It was, and it is for us today, a moment when we, together, remember that God was human just like us and took our humanness to the cross, and that Jesus was also, and is also, holy, unlike us – and that he hung on that cross to death and then walked out of the grace to life. Like the Isrealites at their rescue and redemption, today we do the same at our rescue and redemption, we eat and we drink, remembering the act of the almighty God in the flesh and in the divine. As we open up the and eat the bread, let us remember and rejoice.

[music plays while elements are distributed and partaken of]

Music

I Love You Lord

I love You Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You
O my soul rejoice
Take joy my King
In what You hear
May it be a sweet sweet sound
In Your ear

Message -a witness [16 Slides]
Exodus 15

The Isrealites were having a party, and, at this point, if there ever was a group that had a reason for a party – the Isrealites did. They were now free, they were no longer slaves. They were now humans and not property. And now, they had a sea between them and Pharoah. God was the guest of honor at this party. This party also involved the first party song, actually it is the first song sung documented in the Bible.

The song was told the story of God and their experience with God,

[Slides] “I will sing to the Lord, for God is highly exalted. Both horse and driver have been hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense; God has become my salvation. The Lord is my God, and I will praise God, my father’s God, and I will exalt God.

[Slide-leave up to next slide] The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. God has hurled Pharaoh’s chariots into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered the mall; they sank to the depths like a stone. Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy.”

The song told all their their story of deliverance that was accomplished by God’s mighty hand. The more they sing, the more it stuck in their minds. As they sing, Moses’ sister, the prophetess Miriam, runs and grabs her tambourine, and all the women run and grab their tambourines (apparently this was something they was always kept accessible, it was even a priority when you were dragging your luggage across the sea bed while being chased by Pharoah’s armies). The women began playing the tambourines and singing the constant vital reminder.

[Slide-leave up to next Slide] “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”

It was a party where everyone was involved and everyone was going to go home with a lasting significant party gift, the forever echo of their story in song. More importantly, a story of their great and almighty God, as witnessed by their own eyes, feet, arms, mind, emotions, and every part of their being.
Since they did not have paper and pencil, they did not have the printing press, most of them were not literate – this story needed to resound for them and that was best done in a song. A song that would remind their minds and fill their hearts. It was the evidence of what God had done – a moment that could only be believed if you had, yourself, experienced it…which they had. The song was actually their debriefing, a moment to consider all that had happened and all that they had seen. A moment, and a song, that would be a vital stepping stone for the trust and strength they would need in future days..

It was a moment that came out of an intense experience orchestrated by God. If we go back a couple of chapters we see the behind the scenes workings of God to bring them to this moment.

[Slide] ‘When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.

[Slide]They are not ready to trust me in battle yet.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for [thinking they were ready for battle.]’ (Exodus 13:17-18)

[Slide] ‘Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites they are to camp by the sea. Pharaoh will think that the Israelites are wandering around Egypt in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.”

[Slide] And, God continues, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart regretting letting them go, so he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord.”

[Slide] So the Israelites did this.’…and then as Pharoah and his armies were advancing on the Isrealites ‘the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

[Slide] That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

[Slide] And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.’ (Exodus 14:1-5, 29-31)

[No Slide]In this orchestrated moment we see and understand everything else about the story of the deliverance of the Isrealites. Everything was done in order that the people would realize that their deliverance came from God, that their deliverance was by God. In this Sea Parting moment had experienced God’s power personally, it was through all five senses, they saw, they heard, they touched, tasted, and even could smell the water. It was personal which is what they needed. They had fully witnessed the power of the Almighty God. They saw that God could be trusted, and was present, even when they would be up against any wall – an unforgiving sea or a mighty army.

Ten times they had seen the heart of Pharaoh hardened and, in response, the power and might of God was present. This eleventh time, as their backs were against the sea, a moment when they could not help but feel the hopelessness of fear, God was present.

[Slide] Christian Writer Donald C. Fleming says, “The song that Moses and the people sang was more than just a song of rejoicing over a fallen enemy. It was above all a song of praise to God, whose character the people had come to know better in the events of their deliverance from Egypt.

[Slide] God was the God of power who saved God’s people and overthrew their enemies, a God of frightening majesty and holiness who so directed the forces of nature that arrogant, rebellious people were destroyed. Yahweh executed God’s judgment on Egypt’s gods and proved to God’s people that the Lord was the only God.

[Slide] Moreover, God was their covenant Redeemer, and was faithful to promises. In addition the victory gave Israel confidence for the future. As God overthrew mighty Egypt, so God would too overthrow less powerful nations that Israel would meet on the journey ahead.

[Slide] Having redeemed God’s people from bondage, God would surely bring them into the land they had been promised. (Donald C. Flemming)

[No Slide] The power of this song, like the power of this moment, was to prepare the people for the battles ahead, the moments where they again will feel as if they are backed against the sea. Will they keep this story in their minds and hearts and continue to remember the details of the experience? Will they let this understanding enhance their understanding of God through the experience? Will they allow this to lead them to a true worship of God?

When Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus with Moses and Elijah, Peter’s first response was to freeze this moment in time – to stay there on the mountain. He desired to remember the moment and hold only to the experience. Peter, James, and John would need this experience as they went on to survive as Jesus was arrested and then as they led the New Testament Church. However, Peter attempted to push them to stay in the moment, the experience. “Let’s build houses and just live up here, me and the guys could watch Moses, Elijah, and Jesus talk and hang out forever1” His focus was on the experience, not how it could help him better trust God. Staying on the mountain, trying to always replicate the experience would stunt their growth and cripple them as leaders. They need to move forward.

On the other hand the prophet Isaiah also had a moment, an experience with the true God, through which Isaiah experienced the power of the Almighty God. When it was time for him to move on and grow from the experience he was ready. ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)

We cannot stay in a moment, we must allow the moment to grow us in our trust of God and to move us forward.

When the Isrealites saw, experienced, and felt the mighty nature of God, when they, through the avenue of a song, remembered the details of God’s power, they faced a decision. Do we stay here on the opposite side of the sea from Pharoah smugly taunting him or do we move forward to God’s promise? Do we relegate this experience to a great memory, or do we go forward with it? Do we allow it to lead us to true worship of the true God? Do we allow this to move us to worship which will move us to a deeper knowledge of God and trust in God? Do we stay here or they do we take this experience, this enhanced understanding and go forward?

This was a crucial moment, the very next thing we see with the Isrealites, actually in chapter 15, is a crisis. They are hungry and thirsty and yet had no water or food. They began complaining, grumbling about Moses and forgetting the God who was present as well as mighty.

NT Wright theorizes that there are ‘two golden rules at the heart of spirituality. [Slide] (1) You become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship. Those who worship money become, eventually, human calculating machines. Those who worship sex become obsessed with their own attractiveness or prowess. Those who worship power become more and more ruthless. So, what happens when we worship the creator God whose plan is to rescue the world which will be accomplished by Christ the Lamb who was slain? The answer comes in the second golden rule of spirituality, because you were made in God’s image, [Slide] (2) Worship makes you more truly human. When you gaze in love and gratitude at the God in whose image you were made, you do indeed grow. You discover more of what it means to be fully alive.’ (NT Wright,

Let’s connect the dots:

God rescued the Isrealites from slavery through ten mighty acts. But, God knew that through the personal acts these people did not make a personal connection between themselves and God. It had all happened from afar. Moses, God, and sometimes Aaron, were the ones involved with Pharoah, not the average Isrealite.
God sent the people out of their way to shield them from a battle they were not ready for and to another moment they desperately needed.
God set the Israelites backs against the sea leaving them with unswimmable waters on one side and Pharoah’s approaching armies on the other.
God gave the people a first person moment with God. The waters split and the Isralites reached the far side before the armies reached them. Personal- they experienced it with all five of their senses.
God let nature take its natural course, the waters fell, destroying Pharaoh’s army and resources.
The Isrealites debriefed through a song they would remember and recite, lyrics detailing their personal encounter with God, this would be the beginning of their journey of trusting God. Their worship of this God would deepen as their knowledge and understanding of the God they worshiped grew. They would be the witnesses of this moment to those not present in the moment.
The Israelites’ trust of God would grow as their experiences with God continued.

Is your worship dependent on your growing understanding of God or is it stuck somewhere in the desert?

Let’s Pray.

Music [4 slides]

There is an endless song

Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring
And though the storms may come
I am holding on
To the rock I cling
How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart (want to sing)

Community [2 Slides]

[Slide] Next Sunday, When you have no voice, Numbers 27:1-11
[Slide] Fall Bible Study – Beg. September 28 at noon (5 weeks) – seeking interest for evening study

Closing Peace [1Slide]
May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction [1 Slide]
“Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father and as you go, remember: By the goodness of God you were born into this world. And by the grace of God you have been kept you even until this very hour. And by the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you have been redeemed and you are being redeemed. So go in peace.”

Order, Words, & Voices 09.11.22

Order, Words, & Voices
09.11.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Songs: We Cry Out Lynn

Call to Worship/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Song: Open My Eyes That I Might See Lynn
Great Things

Reading Exodus 4:10-26 In Person – Nikki
On Line – Randy

Song Oceans Lynn

Message I Got You Rick

Song: Open Our Eyes Lord Lynn

Howdy

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music [12 slides]

We Cry Out

Verse 1
Oh Lord we cry out we’ve been lost
We need Your mercies oh God
We repent for our ways and we turn to You again

Chorus
Oh God we cry out for Your mercy
Oh God we cry out for Your grace
Oh God we cry out set us free
Oh God we cry out once again (once again)

Verse 2
Oh Lord we cry out we’ve been lost
Change our hearts to Yours oh God
We repent for our sin and we turn to You again

Chorus
Oh God we cry out for Your mercy
Oh God we cry out for Your grace
Oh God we cry out set us free
Oh God we cry out once again (once again)

Call To Worship/Lord’s Prayer [10 Slides]

Call To Worship
Worshiping the God we see at work in Jesus is the most politically charged act we can ever perform. Christian worship declares that Jesus is Lord and that therefore, by strong implication, nobody else is.

Our acts of worship, whether corporately or silently alone, commit us to alliance, to following Jesus, to being shaped and directed by him. Worshiping God reorients our whole being, our imagination, our will, our hopes and our fears away from this world.

Worship orients us to a world in which love is stronger than death, where the poor are promised the kingdom, to a world reflecting the holiness and faithfulness of God.

Worship plants a flag that supersedes all the flags of nations including our own. Worship challenges tyrants who think they are, if not divine, at least holy.

Worship creates – or should create, if it is allowed to be truly itself – a community that marches to a different beat, that keeps in step with the Lord. We are the Body of the Messiah. (NT Wright, Simply Jesus 217-218)

Prayer [Please stand and share in the voicing of the Lord’s Prayer and then remain standing following the 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,
While we 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 power, and the glory forever.
Amen.

Music (32 slides)

Open My Eyes That I May See (Open My Eyes)

Verse 1
Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free

Chorus
Silently now I wait for Thee
Ready my God Thy will to see
Open my eyes illumine me
Spirit divine

Verse 3
Open my mouth and let me bear
Gladly the warm truth everywhere
Open my heart and let me prepare
Love with Thy children thus to share

Chorus
Silently now I wait for Thee
Ready my God Thy will to see
Open my eyes illumine me
Spirit divine

Great Things

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

Bridge
Hallelujah God above it all
Hallelujah God unshakable
Hallelujah You have done great things

(REPEAT)
You’ve done great things

Ending
You have done great things
O God You do great things

Reading [No Slides]

[Nikki] Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who makes humans mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it me, the Lord. Now go, and I will be with you, I will tell you what to say.” But Moses begged, “Please send someone else.”

[Randy] God’s anger was kindled against Moses, and God said, “What about your brother Aaron, the Levite? You know that he can speak well. I will tell you what you are to tell him to say. He will speak for you to the people; he will be your voice, and you shall guide him behind the scenes as to what to say. Take this staff in your hands, with which you shall perform the signs.”

[Nikki] Moses went back and said to his father-in-law Jethro, “Please let me return to my own people in Egypt and see if they are still living.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” God then said to Moses, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who were seeking your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt carrying the staff of God in his hand.

[Randy] The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you will say to Pharaoh, ‘God says to you: Israel is my firstborn son, yet, when I said to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” You refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

[Nikki] As Moses and his family and workers were on their return to Egypt, at a place where they spent the night, God met Moses and tried to kill him. But, Zipporah, Moses’ wife, took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, touched his feet with it, and said, “Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So God let Moses alone.

[Randy] God then said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So Aaron went, and met Moses at the mountain of God. There, Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord, and all the signs God had given. Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and performed the signs in the sight of their people. The people believed, and when they heard that God had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
Exodus 4:10-26
Music 17 Slides]
Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

Verse 1
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand

Chorus 1
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Verse 2
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sov’reign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

Chorus 1
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Bridge
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Saviour

Chorus 2
I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

Message – I Got You [19 Slides]
Exodus 4:10-26

[Slide 1- leave slide up for these three paragraphs] As we stood on an extremely crammed subway, attempting to keep our bags from rolling into others at every ‘stop and go’ of the train our train made an unexpected jolt forward, I was thrown backwards. In the midst of my fall I heard the words, “I got you.’ Almost immediately, I realized that the large scary looking man standing behind me was now holding me, keeping me from hitting the ground.

‘I got you’, I don’t think I will ever forget the voice. ‘I got you’ It would be a perfect Hallmark movie moment except that he already seemed tired of me by the time I thanked him later.

Chapter 4 of the book of Exodus may be one of the most stuffed full chapters in the bible.

As a whole, it is the story of Moses going from hiding to avoid everyone, the Egyptians as well as the Isrealites – to his journey with his brother Aaron and his wife Zipporah to return to Egypt.
It is a story of Moses, a story of Aaron, and a story of Zipporah.
It is a story of the anger, patience, and grace of God.
It is the story of the determination of God in his calling of us.
It is a story of a mark of blood to identify an entire people.
It is a story of doubt, of unfaithfulness, of the fear of God, and mostly, the mighty power of God’s calling.
It is a story of God and a story of man and God.

It is also possibly among the 10 weirdest Bible chapters in the entire Bible.

It is a layered collection of stories – each layer dependent on the other layers.

The layer of the story of Moses, who, after 40 years on the run, had an unexpected run in with God.

A story of God calling Moses back to Egypt to deliver the Isrealites and a story of Moses pleading with God to choose someone else.
A story that reveals the anger of God towards Moses’ resistance to God’s call, and, at the same time, a story that depicts God’s patient grace in wooing Moses to accept this journey.
The most important thing to recognize about Moses, however, is his struggle with faith – it may be more accurate at this point to say religion rather than faith.
Moses was born Israelite, raised with the worship practices of the Egyptians and their gods but also had a sprinkling of the Jewish practice of worship of their monotheistic God.
After Moses’ marriage, he probably accepted the religious practices of his father in law Jethro, who was a Midanite priest.
Midianites were the descendants of Abraham and his second wife Keturah (or third depending if you count Hagar a wife). The specifics of the Midianite worship are fuzzy but may be more reflective of the worship of Egyptian gods than the God of the Israelites.
The household practices (including faith) of Moses, his wife Zipporah, and their children was most likely Midianite.
There is no record of Moses’ circumcision, although many Jewish Midrash writers believe Moses, along with Adam, Seth, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Job were born circumcised. (Midrash of Ki-Tetze, & Rabbi Nathan)
Moses was probably a bit of a mess in regard to spirituality, person devotion, and the God or gods he claimed to worship. Moses definitely held a majority of the blame for not circumcising of his son, he probably had not shared the elements of his own faith(s) with his son or family.
Hesitancy may be the biggest factor in Moses’ apathy towards his own faith and that of his family, a hesitancy to commit, an apathy towards trusting any of the God, or gods, of his religions.

The layer of Moses’ brother Aaron

Aaron was called to be a mouthpiece for God’s message through Moses.
Aaron’s calling is not voiced in the pages of the Torah, or our bibles, but nevertheless he appears to have accepted with an open heart.

The layer of Moses’ wife Zipporah

Originally impressed by Moses’ kindness, however, she appears to have had no voice in her own marriage to Moses.
It is possible she was determined to stick with the religion of her father rather than accept the practices of the worship of the God of Jacob.
The fact that her son was not circumcised may have been as much her determination and disbelief in the God of Jacob as it was Moses apathy to commit to any faith.

The layer of Zipporah’s father Jethro

A descendant of Abraham and his wife Keturah.
A Midianite priest, not a Jew.
Probably aligned more with the Egyptians than the Hebrews,
Jethro took in Moses for 40 years and gave his daughter Zipporah as a wife to Moses.

The thread that brings these layers together is, of course, the mission of deliverance for the Israelites. A thread that requires personal faith, acceptance, surrender, encouragement, and sacrifice.

As we approach the layers of Exodus 4, Moses was still trying to figure out who he was.

Was he Egyptian or was he Hebrew, or, was he Midianite.
Was his God the God of the Isrealites or the gods of the Egyptians and possibly the gods of the Midianites?
Could hold on to all the faiths that have touched his life?
Did he have to sacrifice all but one of these faiths?
Was he truly ready to take on the label of just one of these faiths?
Was he really ready to even be identified as a person of any faith?
Was he ready to lead his family to accept one faith over the others?
Was it his place to lead his family to turn their back on the gods of their grandfather Jethro?
Was Moses ready to make this the sacrifice, was he ready to lead them to the same sacrifice?

As God met Moses, Moses’ faith was a frayed thread. His hesitancy to take a stance held him back from full surrender to God – full trust in only one God.

This was not a unique hesitancy in humankind during Moses’ time, it is not a unique hesitancy in our time. It is the same thread that holds us back from the fullness of God’s calling, or, as Jesus called it, a full and abundant life.

Seldom is our core problem that we are sinners, nor is it because of forces and influences outside of our control. Those are actually just byproducts of our true foundational hesitancy – we fail, or refuse, to trust God. Without that trust, the issues of sin and blame are a waste of time.

Moses’ calling was to proclaim to Pharoah, the Egyptians, and to the Isrealites that “Israel is God’s firstborn son” yet he, Moses himself, was resistant to fully believe that. No wonder he couldn’t speak well, he didn’t believe fully. His issue was not sin, it was not outside forces, it was his heart and his mind. His life made it obvious that he did not trust God with those persons and things most precious to him.

Let’s look at the basics of the story

[Slide 2] Moses meets God (God in the form of a burning bush). God tells Moses that he, Moses, is to be God’s avenue of deliverance for the Isrealites.
[Slide 3] Moses deflects God’s call with a series of questions for God such as ‘What is your name?’ and statements of insecurity such as ‘I don’t talk good.’
[Slide 4] God answers, confronts, and even provides visual illustrations countering Moses’ questions, statements, and doubts.
[Slide 5] Moses still attempts to avoid God’s call – kindling God’s ‘anger against Moses’ climaxing with God gifting Moses his brother Aaron to speak for Moses. Aaron was Moses’ ‘I Got You’ person for Moses on this journey.
[Slide 6] Moses asks his non-Hebrew father in law for permission to leave and do as God had instructed. Possibly another attempt to resist God thinking that Jethro will surely say ‘no’ to the exit of Moses, his daughter, and his grandsons – Jethro’s answer of ‘yes’ and “go”.
[Slide 7] God, with his anger still kindled, determined to kill Moses. Much like God’s wrestling match with Jacob this takes place after dark. A bizarre moment that is, quite frankly, a moment too deep for us to even consider.
[Slide 8] Zipporah influences the outcome of God’s plan to kill Moses by circumcising their son. She took a stance on the God she now believed in, a stance that came out of the fear of God. Zipporah was the next ‘I Got You’ person gifted by God to Moses.
[Slide 9] A less hesitant and more confident Moses meets with Isrealite leaders in Egypt telling them all that God said to which, ‘The [leaders] believed, and when they heard that the Lord had given heed to the Israelites and that God had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.’ Moses is fully in thanks to Zipporah’s ‘I Got You’ moment.

God called Moses to a mission. The call itself holds a promise for Moses, not a promise of comfort, safety, or even success, but a promise that God would be present with Moses. A promise that God was his true ‘I Got You’. Through the events of chapter 4 Moses recognizes that the only way he can follow God and lead others is if he trusts God fully, a belief sufficient enough to sacrifice his spiritual options and trust only God.

[Slide 10 – I Got You – leave up through slide 11] Later on, the Isrealites were turned back from their initial entry into the promised land because they failed to trust God. For their own good they were denied entry because their trust was not ready. This entire population, who were all to be the ‘I Got You’ persons for each other, to be the reminders to each other of the faithfulness of their God – reminding each other that God, indeed, was their ‘I Got You’ – failed to be there for each other.

[Slide 11 – leave up through Slide 12] NT Wright says, “God calls us to active participation, to a new life that is both God’s gift and a deeply humanizing power, a new breath within us.” (NT Wright, Broken Signposts 65)

[Slide 12 – leave up through Slide 13] Moses’ calling was to be a light to the Israelites as well as to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The calling was simple – show them God, speak truth, live out a dependence on God, and God’s truth, daily in front of the eyes of all God placed in Moses’ path. This is our calling as well.

[Slide 13 – leave up through slide 14] The problem was that Moses was going to Egypt to rescue the circumcised people of God. For Moses to have an uncircumcised son would be blatantly hypocritical. Moses could not do this, he would be carrying the false gods of the Egyptians to the people who knew the one true God. Moses’ personal life had to be in order. This is our problem as well.

[Slide 14 – leave up through slide 15] Moses’ biggest hurdle to trusting God was his own reflection in the mirror. He only saw and heard what he thought and believed about himself. ‘I can’t speak. I don’t know who I am or what I believe. I am a fraud and they all know it. I’m not ready for this. I’m not good enough. No one will support me on this journey, I will be all alone.’ This is our hurdle as well.

Moses had an eyesight problem, he did not see what God saw in him. He did not see what God had been preparing him for his entire life. This is where our eyesight fails as well.

Following the resurrection, Jesus stood on a beach, feet in the sand, visiting with his disciple Peter. Three times Jesus asked Peter the question, “Do you love me” Peter’s defensiveness rises with each time the question is asked.

[Slide 16] “Peter, do you love me?”
”Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
“Feed my lambs.”

[Slide 17] “Peter, do you love me?”
”Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
“Tend my sheep.”

[Slide 18] “Peter, do you love me?”
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
“Feed my sheep. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go. Follow me.”

[Slide 19] Offended and exhausted, Peter nodded toward the disciple John, “What about him?”
Jesus answered, “How is John your business Peter? Follow Me!”

In this brief uncomfortable conversation with Jesus, Peter’s pride, arrogance, position, and entitlement was chipped away, sacrificed – all these unholy things that had to be wiped away before Peter would be ready to be the apostle during the beginning of the church. For Moses it was the need to let go of the old in order to be able to fully be able to grab ahold of the true, to trust God.

For us, the call requires the same – What keeps us, what keeps you from fully trusting, and following, God?

Let’s Pray.

Music 4 slides]

Open Our Eyes

Verse
Open our eyes Lord
We want to see Jesus
To reach out and touch Him
And say that we love Him
Open our ears Lord
And help us to listen
Open our eyes Lord
We want to see Jesus (X 2)

Community [3 Slides]

[Slide] Next Sunday, Exodus 15:1-21, ‘a witness’
[Slide] Fall Bible Study – Beg September 28 at noon (5 weeks) – seeking interest for evening study
[Slide] Lunch & learn with Dr. Samuel L. Perry; Topic: Christian Nationalism and the Local Church, This Wednesday, September 14 11:30am – 1:00pm. Free Lunch and copy of Book, RSVP required and space limited. Registration link at gfnorman.com

Closing Peace [1Slide]
May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Order, Words, & Voices 08.28.22

Order, Words, & Voices

08.28.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song: One Thing & He Leadeth Me Lynn

Prayer Rick

Reading Genesis 39:1-20 In Person Segun

On line Sherri

Song: I Will Trust In You Lynn

Message Unfair Rick

Song: I Will Trust In You Lynn

Howdy/Community Dave, Segun, Sherri

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music [23 slides]

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

Higher than the mountains that I face

Stronger than the power of the grave

Constant in the trial and the change

One thing remains

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

On and on and on and on it goes

It overwhelms and satisfies my soul

And I never ever have to be afraid

One thing remains

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

In death in life I’m confident and

Cover’d by the power of Your great love

My debt is paid there’s nothing that

Can separate my heart from Your great love

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

One thing remains

He leadeth me O blessed thought
O words with heavenly comfort fraught
Whate’er I do where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me

He leadeth me He leadeth me
By His own hand He leadeth me
His faithful follower I would be
For by His hand He leadeth me

Sometimes ‘mid scenes of deepest gloom
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom
By water’s calm o’er troubled sea
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me

He leadeth me He leadeth me
By His own hand He leadeth me
His faithful follower I would be
For by His hand He leadeth me

Prayer [5 Slides Midway through]

God, you are the God of presence. You, O God, were present with Joseph as he sat in a prison for a crime he did not commit, you were present as Elijah hid in the back of a cave fearing the vengeance of a Queen, you were present with Jesus as he sat in a jail cell listening to cries outside his window screaming for his execution. Even when we do not see or sense your presence, you are there. Help us to trust that you are always with us, so that we might live faithfully in this world.

[Slides Begin] [Join me as we voice 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,

While we 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 power, and the glory forever.

Amen.

Reading [No Slides]

[Segun] Jacob settled in Canaan, the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. When Jacob and Rachel’s son, Joseph, was seventeen years old, he was shepherding the flocks with his brothers, the sons of the servants of Rachel and Leah. Joseph brought a bad report of his brothers to Jacob. Jacob, now called Israel, loved Joseph more than any other of his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made Joseph an ornamented robe. But when his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than them, they hated Joseph and could not speak peaceably to him.

[Sherri] Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. Joseph said to his brothers, “Listen to the dream I had. We were all there, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

[Segun] Then Joesph had another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

[Sherri] When Joseph told the second dream to Jacob, his father sternly corrected him saying, “What kind of dream is that? Are we all, me, your mother, and your brothers, going to bow before you?” So now, Joseph brothers were even more jealous of him, and his father kept the matter in mind.

[Segun] Later, Joseph’s brothers stripped him of his robe and threw him into a pit. With Joseph sitting in the pit, the brothers sat down to eat, and when they looked up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead on their way down to Egypt. Joseph’s Brother Judah said to the other brothers, “What will we gain if we kill Joseph? Instead, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, after all he is our brother, our own flesh.”

[Sherri] The brothers agreed. As the Midianite traders passed by, they lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And the Midianites took Joseph to Egypt.

[Segun] With Joseph gone, and money in their pocket, the brothers took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood and took it to their father Jacob saying, “We found this coat, it may have been the coat you gave to Joseph, we are not sure.”

[Sherri] Of course Jacob recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” Israel tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. Everyone tried to comfort Israel, but he refused to be comforted. By this time the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, the captain of the Pharoah’s guard. (Genesis 37:1-11, 23-36)

Music [23 Slide]

Letting go of every single dream
I lay each one down at Your feet
Every moment of my wondering
Never changes what You see

I’ve tried to win this war I confess
My hands are weary I need Your rest
Mighty warrior King of the fight
No matter what I face You’re by my side

When You don’t move the mountains
I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters
I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust I will trust
I will trust in You

Truth is You know what tomorrow brings
There’s not a day ahead You have not seen
So in all things be my life and breath
I want what You want Lord and nothing less

You are my strength and comfort
You are my steady hand
You are my firm foundation
The Rock on which I stand
Your ways are always higher
Your plans are always good
There’s not a place where I’ll go
You’ve not already stood

Message – Unfair… [? Slides]

Genesis 39:1-20

[Slide 1 – leave up to slide 8] There are two threads woven through the life of Joseph. Both are a blessing and both are a curse…sometimes at the same time. The first thread is [Slide 2] Clothing – a very elemental basic need which can define the difference between life and death, but for some it can be the very definition of our personality and presence. The second thread [Slide 3] Favor/Affirmation is not a need in the sense of life or death, but more of an ethereal need. A need that carries us mentally and emotionally through life, a needed boost to our confidence and a subtle motivator that lifts us up when we most need lifting up.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow list these two threads as being the base, and then the foundation of the very tip, of our hierarchy of needs.

Over the past weeks, we have observed some miserable folks, all of whom have been treated in ways that are unfair, undeserved, unredeemable, unimaginable, and even unconscionable. The curtains of the lives of Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, and last week’s story of Dinah give us just a miserable perspective on a life burdened by the choices of others. Each story left us with a stench in our nostrils and an echoing in our minds of injustice and mistreatment, silenced voices and unnoticed lives.

Today, as we look at the story of Joseph we get a much broader view. We get to see Joseph from teenager to grown adult. We see him through multiple trials, mistreatment, victories, setbacks, and ultimately the fulfillment of God’s promise to him. Joseph’s story, quite frankly, is painful, it is a story which I would rather skip to the ending, skipping the pain. But, if that were the case we would be unable to see ourselves in this story. For it is the middle of Joseph’s life that allows us to see our own lives. [Slide 4] Joseph’s story is our story, it is the preparatory flicker of the story of Jesus. The story of Joseph is our reference point for the apostle Paul’s words he spoke in Hebrews 12 –

[Slide 5] “…let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [Slide 6] Consider Jesus who endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart…Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. [Slide 7] Pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and through it many become defiled. Hebrews 12:1b-3, 12-15

To understand the breadth of what Paul is saying let’s first look at Paul’s use of the same words elsewhere.

[Slide 8] “We know that our old self was crucified with Jesus so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”

Romans 6:6-7

The sin, sin that entangles us, is not just our personal sin, we must realize this to proceed with truth but to also navigate life in this world while still holding on to our faith – Paul is also speaking to the sin of humanity, the sins of those around us and those far from us historically and geographically. I may genuinely seek to care for God’s creation, but I will still be left with the impact of abuses of others. I may chose to seek and speak truth, but I will still be living with the impact of those who spread deceit and conspiracies. It is not just my own sin that negatively impact me.

Jesus was without sin, but still, there on the cross Jesus was covered in the sin of all mankind – not his sin, the sins of others. We all bear the brunt of sin, that weight of all of sin becomes the weight of sin we all carry. While we see in Joesph a young man who was not perfect, who faced correction just as we all do, but the pain and misery he experienced was not just the results of his sin.

Let’s look at these two threads through the extraordinary, and yet very disturbing and unfair, life of Joseph. We first meet Joseph as a sixteen/seventeen year old teenager. A bit cocky, seemingly unaware of social clues, blind to his own entitlement, yet strangely attuned to the presence of God. The first of two sons/children, to Jacob and Rachel, and the eleventh son, twelfth of thirteen children to Jacob. Right away, on our first introduction we see the these threads of clothing and favor become a burden.

Jacob shows his unabashed favor of Jacob by giving just him, not his siblings, a beautiful coat – a still clueless Joseph wears the coat, he wears it a lot, which quickly becomes a constant reminder to the brothers that Joseph is dad’s favorite.

Next, Joseph tells his brothers of two dreams. Both dreams were prophetic, predicting a future status and greatness for Joseph. Again, a clueless Joseph, while wearing the same cursed coat, highlights his own favoredness by telling his siblings. When Joseph tells Jacob, his father attempts to educate Josphe on the fact that no one likes a showoff, and his brothers respond by hating Joesph even more, a whole lot more. Soon, the brothers have stolen Joseph’s coat, sold Joseph into slavery, and reported to their father Jacob and that his favorite son is dead.

The story goes on as the slave traders sell Joseph to Potiphar the captain of the Egyptian Pharoah’s guard. Potitphar was quickly impressed by Joseph’s intelligence and, yet again, favored Joseph enough to make him the master of the household. Potiphar’s wife also favored Joseph, but not for his intelligence. She sought to seduce him but Joseph consistently rejected her advances until the only escape was an actual escape, Joseph fled from her and in running away, she ripped off his garment, holding it screaming that she had just been assaulted by Joseph.

Joseph now lands in prison, treated worse than a slave, now treated as a criminal of the most disgusting kind. Favored by no one, now wearing the ripped clothing of a nobody. During his time in prison there were glimpses of hope, but none came to fruition. It wasn’t until the Pharaoh had his own dream, that Joseph was remembered and favored once again. Joseph was favored again and quickly rises to second in command to the most powerful man in all of Egypt.

Now in a position to either prove a point and curse his enemies with his favoredness and royal clothes, or he could use this favoredness, and these clothes, to bless all, including his enemies. He chose the later, ultimately not just saving all the Egyptians from starvation but also his brothers and entire family.

Notice the change that has taken place so far in the life and actions of Joseph. No longer cocky and blind to others, now seeking to bless rather that missing the pain of those around. But we must also remember the pain along the way, the time spent in misery and waiting, the endless waiting, the apparent absence of God. The isolation, powerful but still miles away from family, considered unclean and unacceptable to those that surrounded him, alone.

Joseph’s story ends with Joseph favored and clothed. Reconciled to his family and respected by his enemies. The most powerful ruler in the world, came to him with favor and gratitude and Joseph gave a destitute people the seeds needed to sustain life. When his brothers came repentant and fearful, Joseph raised up their heads and gave them forgiveness and hope. When Joseph ultimately settled with his family, he settled in the clothes of royalty, and the favor of the nations.

[Slide 9 – leave up for 2 paragraphs] As we take a full view of Joseph’s life, we actually see three threads woven through his story. Clothing, Favor, and Promise. The tip of Masolov’s hierarchy. Joseph had now experienced the finality of the promise given to him way back when he was a teen. The difference now is that he is ready to see the completion of the promise through the eyes of gratitude, compassion, mercy, grace, and love. A Perspective he didn’t have as a cocky, seemingly socially unaware teen, blind to his own entitlement and privilege.

Here is the key for Joseph, he understood that even in slavery he could be free as long as he kept his perspective focused on the promise. He grasped the essential nature of not living life as a victim, even when he was a victim, because what he saw was God’s future. Somehow, ans this is the amazing aspect of Joseph’s journey, he always remembered the promise of God, he always filtered the events of his path through the power of God’s promise. He never allowed any moment, set back, or even victory, to define who he was.

Joseph held on, even when no one else stood by him, even when God seemed distant and absent. Even as a teen, Joseph sood alone. His father tried to silence him and his brothers tried to eliminate him. Joseph was alone in living with this promise – but, he held on, even in despair he held firmly and knew this was his hope. When he was victim of his brothers sinful brutality, Joseph knew this was not the final chapter – he chose to not live as a victim, he looked ahead. When he was sold as a slave, he continued doing his best enriching a master who would disappoint Joseph. When success crumbled, instead of leading to freedom he sat in prison, still knowing this was not the end of this story. He helped those who hurt him, he assisted those who imprisoned him, and he remembered the promised hope set before him.

See, a victim stays in a pit, but one who chooses to not be a victim climbs out. Slavery is a reality, but the impact depends on our state of mind as much as our actual circumstances – freedom is living on a different path even in the bottom of a dungeon cell when no one on the outside is willing to advocate for us.

This is not to say there was not pain, that there was no doubt, that there were not times whenJoseph desperatly cried out to God. There will undoubtedly be pain. It would be a rejection of all the examples of the believers in scripture and even more, it would be a willing blindness to our reality to suggest that pain and misery do not exist. But, the takeaway of the story of Joseph is about our life, a full look, a full life. A demonstration of the life that Jesus came to give us all.

Joseph suffered, he was treated unfairly, he grew out of his teen arrogance, he succeeded, he was framed and imprisoned, he saved a nation, and all the surrounding nations from starvation. Joseph forgave. Joseph worked to see others succeed. Joseph survived. Imprisonment did not stop him, slavery did not define him, victimhood did not stick to him. He held to the God who gave the promise that carried him through a life of suffering, rejection, and pain. He lived life in peace, he lived life in fulfillment, he lived because he was looking ahead to see God.

Promise.

Herbert Lockyer counts that there are over eight thousand promises in the Bible. For most Bibles that equals out to over five promises per page. Promises such as

“It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Luke 12:32

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.”

John 11:25

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

John 14:1-3

“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.”

I Corinthians 6:14

“Creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

Romans 8:21

And of course, “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me

Jeremiah 29:11-14a

Incidently, a promise that took seventy two years for the people to be able to see.

We too, stand on promise. We too, hold onto promise. We too, go through times alone and times of pain. We too do not do them out of the notice of God, nor do we go through them in a place too distant for the promise of God to hold true. We stand, we persevere, we live, we seek, we flourish on the promise of God.

Let’s Pray.

Music [5 slides]

Community/Howdy

Howdy…. [No slides] Interview

Dave: Today’s Howdy online and unperson interview is with Segun Bodunde who is here with us unperson, and Sherri Stiger who is on line from McAlester, OK.

Where did you grow up?
If you are employed, share with us the work that you do, if you are retired share the work you did before retirement.
Share three facts with us about yourself that we may not know.

Community Announcements [2 slides]

[Slide] Next Sunday, The God They Did Not Know, Exodus 1:8-2:10
[Slide] Miserable Endings, Wednesday Lunch and Bible Study, ? @ noon, schedule at gfnorman.com, bring your own lunch. Final summer study, Hezekiah, II Kings 18-20

Closing Peace [1Slide]

May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction [1 Slide]

“Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father and as you go, remember: By the goodness of God you were born into this world. And by the grace of God you have been kept you even until this very hour. And by the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you have been redeemed and you are being redeemed. So go in peace.”

Order, Words, & Voices 08.21.22

Order, Words, & Voices

08.21.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song Cornerstone & Holy Holy Holy Christian

Prayer Rick

Reading Genesis 34:1-29 Nikki & Dona

Song Seek Ye FIrst Christian

Message Vengeful Forgetfulness Rick

Song Seek Ye First Christian

Howdy/Community Steve

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music [10 slides]

Cornerstone

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name

(REPEAT)

Christ alone cornerstone

Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love

Through the storm He is Lord

Lord of all

When darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone cornerstone

Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love

Through the storm He is Lord

Lord of all

When He shall come with trumpet sound

Oh may I then in Him be found

Dressed in His righteousness alone

Faultless stand before the throne

Christ alone cornerstone

Weak made strong in the Saviour’s love

Through the storm He is Lord

Lord of all

Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy

Lord God Almighty

Early in the morning

Our song shall rise to Thee

Holy holy holy

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons

Blessed Trinity

Holy holy holy

All the saints adore Thee

Casting down their golden crowns

Around the glassy sea

Cherubim and seraphim

Falling down before Thee

Which wert and art

And evermore shalt be

Holy holy holy

Though the darkness hide Thee

Though the eye of sinful man

Thy glory may not see

Only Thou art holy

There is none beside Thee

Perfect in power

In love and purity

Holy holy holy

Lord God Almighty

All Thy works shall praise Thy name

In earth and sky and sea

Holy holy holy

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons

Blessed Trinity

Prayer [5 Slides Midway through]

God, you have chosen to be the friend of sinners, you have chosen to be our friend. Lord, we are grateful that your life, death, and resurrection cleanses us from our sins. May you plant peace in our hearts where sin once ruled. Father, may that peace bring forth a harvest of love, holiness, and truth.

[Slides Begin] [Join me as we voice 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,

As we learn to forgive the trespasses of others.

And, God, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.

Amen.

Reading [No Slides]

[Nikki] Hamor who was the prince of the region, had a son name Shechem who took Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, and laid with her by force. Afterwards, he went to his father, Hamor, and begged, “Get me Dinah to be my wife.” Hamor went out to speak to Jacob, around the same time as Dinah’s brothers were coming in from the field. When the brothers heard they were indignant and angry, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Dinah.

[Dona} Hamor said to Jacob, “My son Shechem loves your daughter with all his heart; please let them get married. As a result, your sons will marry our daughters and our sons will marry your daughters. You will live among us, and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it and get property in it. Let me find favor with you, and whatever you say to me I will give. Put the marriage present and gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you ask me; only give me your sister to be my wife.”

[Nikki] Jacob’s sons were angry because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah. The sons said to Hamor, “We cannot give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. You will have to become as we are and every male among you will have to be circumcised. Then your sons will marry our daughters, and our sons will marry your daughters, we will live among you and become one people. If you will not do this we will leave with our daughters.”

[Dona] Hamor and Shechem said yes and did not delay getting circumcised. Then they spoke all to the men of their city, saying, “These people are friendly with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters.”

[Nikki] Hamor and Shechem continued persuading their contemporaries, “If we do this they will agree to live among us, to become one people – we just have to all be circumcised like the sons of Jacob. Their livestock, property, and all their animals be ours. Only let us agree with them, and they will live among us.” And all who went out of the city gate heeded Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

[Dona] Before the men were healed and pain free from the circumcision, Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, took their swords and came against the city and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. Then the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, they took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all their children and their wives, all that was in the houses,.

Genesis 34:1-29

Music [1 Slide]

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

And His righteousness

And all these things

Shall be added unto you

Allelu alleluia

Message – Vengeful Forgetfulness [10 Slides]

Genesis 34:1-29

A couple of weeks ago I said to a fellow pastor, “I am so ready to be done with Jacob!” I was tired of his manipulative self-centeredness, but even more, I was tired of the damage left in the wake of his life. Basically, looking back, I was tired of the honest realistic account of this human who reveals to us our own humanness, and our own human mess. It reveals that nothing is new.

But, last week we saw the impact of Jacob’s life, but this was a look at a life in the midst of being transformed and changed by God, Jacob by no means became perfect, but his selfishness became a little less selfish and the manipulation became a little less manipulative. The time taken in the old testament to tell the story of Jacob gives us an honest realistic account of humans and the human mess revealing the process of transformation that is the same process for us – if we, too, are willing to allow God to do the work, if we are to allow Jesus, the evangelist of transformation, to do the work of salvation in our lives.

This week, we are still looking at Jacob, but we see him in a very different stage of life. He is still the husband to two wives, sisters and competitors for his affection, each struggling through her own battle with jealousy; two servants, each of which also are the mothers of some of Jacob’s children – a role neither asked for but were pimped out Leah and Rachel, their masters. And, the addition of twelve or thirteen children (he either has a newborn at this time or one on the way) who surely brought Jacob to regret many of own youthful transgressions. Jacob has 11 or 12 sons at this point, who range in age of a thirty year time span. And, what may be his real shock of life, he now has a teen age daughter named Dinah, as in around a sixteen year old. Imagine, she was done with puberty, she had her driver’s license, and she was ready to conquer the world, but still she was constantly under the overly watchful eye of parents who had learn how to keep a watchful eye from their parents and grandparents not to mention the watchful eye of these brothers. All of who felt that Dinah should remain at home and in no way interact with the world. And so the story begins.

[Slide] “Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the region… (Genesis 34:1)

The New Living Bible may give us a better look at this significant opening statement.

[Slide] “One day Dinah, Leah’s daughter, went out to visit some of the neighborhood girls… (Genesis 34:1, TLB)

She was going to the mall to hang out, to see what was going on. To see the life that she wasn’t experiencing under the thumb of this football team of older, controlling, brothers.

This is a pretty accurate filter for us to use as we begin an understanding of this story. Dinah was getting out of the house for a while in order to see what was going on with the other teen girls. She wanted to live a little, like all the other girls were living. So, she went out to see what she was missing.

And she saw the world, and she saw the one guy that everyone wanted to see. She saw the son of King Hamor, she saw Shecham, probably the most eligible single guy within miles. Dinah had probably seen Shechem before, as her father, Jacob, would graze his cattle on the land of Hamor, Shechem’s father.

Jacob and Hamor tolerated a relationship with each other because it was a mutually beneficial relationship- mutual to both men. Neither probably cared for each other but they could use each other, and each sought to milk the relationship for all that was possible and even more in the future.

So, Jacob’s relationship with Hamor caused this whole story to be very complicated, fiscally risky, and actually life threatening.

[Slide] “Shechem, son of King Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he took her and raped her.” (Genesis 34:2 TLB)

[Slide] “Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the King of the land, saw Dinah, he took her and lay with her and raped her.” (Genesis 34:2 NASB)

[Slide] “Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, King of the region, saw Dinah, he seized her and lay with her by force.” (Genesis 34:2 NRSU)

While this moment is described as rape. With the nuanced help of historical experts and the recently enlightened thought we have gained through the Me Too movement, we can see this as more than just a rape. Rape, in the writers during the Old Testament times, would frequently use the word rape, even when the act was not a violent act. Often times it was a consensual act on the part of the victim. However, it was used to express a sexual act that should not have taken place, an act that could doom the future of the participants, especially the female. While this engagement between Dinah and and Shechem may have been consensual, it was still an act violating Dinah. If nothing else, the fact that Shechem was a man of political power, and that his father held the fate of Jacob’s business in his hands, it would be easy to understand how a teenage girl could easily be considered a victim of such a uneven power dynamic.

The odd thing in this story is that Shechem is truly in love with Dinah, and that DInah does not express a desire, nor does she seek a way, to return to the home of her father, mother, and brothers.

There are two different possibilities of what is going on in the mind of Dinah at this point:

She recognizes the cultural thought that since she had sex outside of marriage she has been truly defiled, she is now forever unclean. No one will marry her and no one will accept her, even her family. She had no choice but to stick with Shecham.
She truly shares the love for Shechem that he has for her. She hopes to spend the rest of her life with him.

Hamor and Jacob speak about their 2 children marrying, but Jacob is distracted by what his sons will do when they come in from the fields and hear the news of Shecham and Dinah. Then, Jacob becomes silent and the story no longer is truly about Dinah. The story becomes about the mob mentality that comes on the back of Dinah’s brothers’ pent up rage at the injustices of their own lives. From this point, until Dinah’s brother kill Sheceam, his father, and their community, Dinah is silent, nothing else is said about her, she is just used so the bothers can execute their vengeance, fully forgetting the why and who of their rage. It is not until the brothers force her to return home that we hear anything about her again.

On their own, long before checking on their sister, long before they even remember to rescue her from Shecham’s house, they jumped into mob mentality. And, in the midst of the calculated mob mentality, they put aside everything good and devise a plan of deceit and manipulation to not only punish Shechem, but to brutally kill Shechem and all of his family and community.

And in the midst of all of this, they forget their hurting sister. They forget that she too is human and has a voice. They forget that she needs them more than she needs their acts of misplaced retaliation.

In the midst of their vengeance, they forgot the reason for their vengeance. It was no longer about her, their sister, but more about themselves.

That is what happens when we become consumed in a state of vengeance without first seeking the facts. When someone has hurt us, or those close to us, the pain, if we permit it, grows to become a monster that just wants to lash out at the first opportunity. When vegeance takes the place of healing and purpose we lose our ability to see anything but the rage of retribution.

[Slide] Vengeance leads us to forget who we are. The brothers of Dinah used their precious identifier of circumcision, a sacrificial mark that that identified their God and served as a reminder of the glue that held them to a promise. But the brothers they allowed this to mark of God’s Fatherhood to be cheapened and meaningless. They not only forgot their sister, but they forgot their God.
[Slide] Vengeance leads us to turn our backs on loved ones in order to hold on to our anger and rage. Regardless of Dinah’s thought threads, she was a young teenager, now left alone, confused and facing a future of misfortune. She was facing life as an outcast, the brothers, in her view, were taking away her only hope.
[Slide] Vengeance is selfish – it is a selfish act in response to a pain that is seldom our pain to confront. There is no redemption in vengeance, there is no gain in vengeance, only destruction. The acts of Dinah’s brothers diverted even Jacob’s attention from his daughter to, instead, the actions of her brothers.
[Slide] Vengeance is the an unholy rush to not be held accountable to the promises of God, to the teachings of Jesus. God says Love God and Love others. Jesus said, I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

(Matthew 5:44)

[Slide] Jesus also said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment,” (Matthew 5:21-22)

[Slide] And, Jesus put this into practice when, as he hung on the cross as an innocent man, hanging in our place, he looked upon those who had screamed for his execution, and said to God, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

I entered the hospital room of an elderly lady who had only recently found out that cancer had spread throughout her body and was now feasting on her brain. A handful of relatives were in the room as the family had been notified there was not long until she would be non-responsive. As I approached her bed I asked what she was thinking about at this moment. She responded that she was thinking about heaven. As we began to speculate on the subject a relative interrupted to loudly share her disgust with the healthcare system, particularly the inconveniences that were caused. I knew this relative and had heard her complaints before but this time there seemed to be an added element of venom and hatred in her voice and her posture. Suddenly, the room was filled with the vengeful voice of this very vocal woman and suddenly the idea of talking about heaven was a far away concept – at a time when it was a very near reality. We never got to talk about the peace and comfort of eternity, instead, we were infected with the hostile voice of this loved one – one who had been forgotten in this moment. The moment had been stolen. The one in pain, the one who needed the moment most was denied the precious opportunity and it was never given back to her.

God calls us to love, not to make the pain of others our opportunity to enact vengeance.

God calls us to love, just as Jesus did as he hung on the cross for each of us.

God calls us to peace, just as he exampled throughout his earthly life.

God does not call us to hatred, God does not call us to hang onto our own hurt or the hurt of others, grasping the resentment and bitterness.

God calls us to abundance, a fullness of life, not a life shackled and hindered by anger and vengeance.

Music [1 slide]

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

And His righteousness

And all these things

Shall be added unto you

Allelu alleluia

Community/Howdy [2 Slides]

Howdy…. [No slides] In Person Wave

Community Announcements

[Slide] Next Sunday, Unfair…, Genesis 39:1-20
[Slide] Miserable Endings, Wednesday Lunch and Bible Study, Wednesday @ noon, schedule at gfnorman.com, bring your own lunch. Elijah I Kings 17-19

Closing Peace [1Slide]

May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction [1 Slide]

Order, Words, & Voices 08.14.22

Order, Words, & Voices
08.14.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song       Take My Life and Let It Be   Christian
Prayer                               Rick
Reading       Genesis 31:14-35               Musgroves online
Andrea inperson

Song Here I Am Lord Christian

Message Stealing god Rick

Song Take My Life and Let It Be Christian

Howdy/Community Dave
Musgroves online
Andrea inperson

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music [4 slides]

Take My Life and Let It Be

Verse 1
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated Lord to Thee
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Verse 2
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee

Verse 3
Take my voice and let me sing
Always only for my King
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee

Verse 4
Take my love my Lord I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store
Take myself and I will be
Ever only all for Thee

Prayer [5 Slides Midway through]

God, you are the God of change, you are the God of transformation. In your first recorded actions, you took destructive chaos and transformed it into productive order. You took darkness and transformed it with illuminating light. In death you bring life, in hopeless you bring hope, in fear you bring peace, and in defeat you bring victory. God, you take us when we have settled for less and transform us with your storehouses of more. God, we see ourselves as worthless and you give us hint after hint of our great value. God, may we willingly open our hearts to your change and transformation.

[Slides Begin] [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,
While we learn 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.

Reading [No Slides]

[Andrea] Jacob realized that Laban did not regard him as favorably as he did before. The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your ancestors and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and said to them, “Your father does not regard me as favorably as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him to harm me.”

[Mitch] Jacob told his wives that the angel of God had said to him, “Leave this land at once and return to the land of your birth.” Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? Or, are we just are regarded by him as foreigners? He has sold us, and has used up the money given for us. All the property that God has taken away from our father Laban belongs to us and to our children; do whatever God has said to you.”

[Duffy] Jacob did not tell Laban that he intended to flee. He arose and set his children and his wives on camels, and took all his livestock and property that he had gained to return home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Before they left however, while Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her Laban’s household gods.

[Andrea] Laban and his men pursued Jacob for seven days until they caught up with Jacob in the hill country of Gilead. But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said to him, “Take heed that you say not a word to Jacob, either good or bad.” Laban asked Jacob, “Why did you steal my gods?”

[Mitch] Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods and said to Laban, “Anyone among us with whom you find your gods shall not live.” Laban searched the tents of Leah and her servants, and Rachel and her servants, but did not find his gods.

[Duffy] Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban searched the tent but did not find the gods. Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry but I cannot rise before you, for I am in the womanly way.” So Laban searched but did not find the household gods.
Genesis 31:1-35

Music [6 Slides]

Here I am Lord

Verse 1
I, the Lord of sea and sky
I have heard my people cry
All who dwell in dark and sin
My hand will save

[Chorus]
Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go, Lord, if you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart

Verse 2
I, the Lord of snow and rain
I have borne my people’s pain
I have wept for love of them
They turn away

[Chorus]
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go, Lord, if you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart

Verse 3
I, the Lord of wind and flame
I will tend the poor and lame
I will set a feast for them
My hand will save

[Chorus]
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go, Lord, if you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart

Message – Stealing gods [14 Slides]
Genesis 31:14-35

[Slide 1]Today we begin with two women standing in a field. Sisters who generally would not be standing together anywhere, especially not in a field. Two humans known primarily by their titles daughter, mother, and wife. Both also bore a culturally expected demeanor and behavior – to be silent, their voices were not be heard. They would be passive, without their own opinions or preferences, life would be planned out without their input. This would all result in an accumulated bitterness and resentment that was to be silenced and stuffed deep inside. Two women, who, like all women in their time, were property, barely human, striving to survive this curse of gender inflicted on them long before their birth.

[Slide 2] In this field we also see a man, a man known by his name not his title – Jacob. A man of privilege, a man who was permitted to have a voice, a man who was allow to live with the expectation to be served. A man who was in charge of his own life, making his own decisions without the input of others, especially without the input of a wife, or wives.

Jacob, however, made the radical decision permitting God to change him, to transform him, to cleanse him of his own self-centeredness, his own arrogance, his priority of self presentation, and his own entitlement. Previously a man was defined as a deceptive scoundrel, but now, he had stepped, very conditionally (with conditions defined by Jacob) on the path set before him by God – the God of promise, who kept all of the promises made to Jacob. We now see the new Jacob, walking on God’s path, a path of transformation and change, a path of the God of his father and grandfather.

[No Slide] Usually when we look at Jacob’s life, and, for that matter, the lives of Leah and Rachel, we focus in on the huge moments, moments when the woman are tucked safely away and Jacob becomes the center of the huge story. Huge moments such as Jacob’s wrestling match with God and surviving, Jacob’s frightening reunion with his brother Esau and surviving, and even Esau’s unexpected act of forgiveness which also ends with Jacob surviving. In limiting our focus, though, we miss the pillar moments of all Jacob’s huge moments. Moments such as today’s revelation of God’s ongoing transformation of these two women as they move beyond their titles of daughter, mother, and wife, and gain a name, they gain a voice, and, most powerfully, they gain control in the direction of their lives. These two women move from victims to participants, they move from an existence of survival, to an existence of choice. They even gain the opportunity to choose their own God.

So, we begin with these two women who now have a name, Leah and Rachel, standing in a field with their mutual husband Jacob. Jacob, who had worked for fourteen years to own these two women, now he stands with them, as equals, in a field willingly and jointly committing to take a risky step, all the while, knowing that everything, including life itself, is on the line. Another aspect of Jacob’s transformation is that he is now making a decision for which he only holds one third of the vote.

This was the first moment that all three were on the same page and on the same path. Willing to do what had to be done. Saying yes to God’s plan to return to the land of Jacob, which would be yet another fulfillment of God’s promise made to Jacob. For Leah and Rachel, it was a moment of accepting the leadership of this God, the God of Jacob’s father and grandfather. A God, and ancestors, who neither woman knew.

Remember, Jacob did not have to be in that field listening to the opinions of his wives. He did not have to include them in his plan to leave Laban. Jacob didn’t even have to include them in the decision to leave their father. But Jacob did include them, and it is in that small story detail we see God’s transformational process in action.

This is why it is so important to take note of this story – it is a moment that screams God’s transformational process. A process that was taking place among each of these three even before they huddle up in the middle of the field. It is a huge process of personal and character change that had gone unnoticed for over fourteen years, and now here was the evidence – even in this moment of fear and doubt, God was present and at work in them and all around them, they had been changed. Evidence is a powerful tool in our faith and our faith walk.

[Slide 4] Josh Baldwin sings “Help me remember when I’m weak that fear may come, but fear will leave. You lead my heart to victory you are my strength and You always will be. I see the evidence of Your goodness all over my life, all over my life, I see Your promises in fulfillment all over my life, all over my life. So why should I fear? The evidence is here”
(Ed Cash / Ethan Hulse / Josh Baldwin)

[Slide 5]The Evidence.

[Slide 6] Jacob realized the problems of his culture, he recognized that he did in fact need the input of his wives.
Jacob recognized that he could not proceed without the strength of these two women.
[Slide 8] Jacob came to the radical conclusion that this was their decision to make as as much as it was his decision.
[Slide 9] Rachel and Leah were no longer known by their gender, now they had a name, and, even more radical, they had a voice. They stood up for themselves, they recognized the injustice of their life, they said, “That’s enough!” Transformation had taken place all over their lives.

[No Slide] The prompt for this huddle in the field was that the brothers of Leah and Rachel had become jealous of Jacob. They feared that Jacob was stealing their father’s affection and would therefore steal their inheritance. If they knew anything of Jacob’s they would have recognized a patter. As the brothers voiced this concern to their father Laban. Jacob could sense the cooling in his relationship with Laban, and that he had fallen out of favor with his father in law. God told Jacob that it was time for him and his family, to leave, to return to the home of Jacob’s father Isaac. To face the consequences of his former self and to truly trust God.

Upon hearing of this from Jacob, Leah and Rachel were in agreement with their husband using their voices they said. “Our father has treated us as property and taken that which belongs to us.? We must leave our home. We must join you in trusting the God of your father.”

The three stood in the field for an amazing moment of agreement – a moment that would empower them to say yes to God’s instruction, a moment that would enable them to step on the path leading away from their home and into the unknown. There was strength in this moment, a moment of unity. There is always strength in unity.

Before they left, however, Rachel steals the false idol statues of her father. The motivation for her actions are a mystery.

Possibly she still felt the need to hang onto these gods for safety, maybe there was still a dependence on them.
Possibly she knew the materials that made the gods was valuable.
Maybe she did not want these gods to empower her father to force them to return home.
Some Jewish scholars believe that Rachel’s actions were an attempt to turn her father away from these false gods.

Imagine, stealing someone’s gods. Imagine a god who can be stolen from you. Imagine a faith that is useless unless there is a tangible object defining that the god is present. What is a god that can be stolen, a god that must be seen, what is faith when it requires us to be able to touch or feel or see?

When Laban catches up with the fleeing three, he attempts to woo them back with kind words. Then, when this approach did not work, he hurled accusations upon Jacob – “You Stole My Gods!” An accusation that Jacob did not understand since he did not know about the actions of Rachel.

When a search of their belongings does not reveal the stolen gods, Laban proceeds to search his daughters. Almost comically, as the men approached Rachel, she said “I would get off my camel except it is my period…” which caused Laban and his men to step back and terminate their search.

It is a bit uncomfortable applauding Rachel’s deception. Lying to her own father. Something doesn’t seem right about it, but still Laban does not find the gods and gives up his fight to forcibly return Jacob, his daughters, and his grandchildren to his home. Yes, Rachel’s lies to her father are uncomfortable. However, it does bring a smile to the face when we consider that this formerly voiceless woman had now bested the master of deception himself.

As Laban left, Jacob turned his family and his possessions towards his own father’s house. The real struggle was ahead, a brother who had reason to kill Jacob was waiting. Death and total loss was a very real possibility. But Jacob, Leah, and Rachel were on the path, a path that required a total trust in the God of the path. Now, however, Jacob was not alone – he now had the support of these two wives; no longer could he live in a state of selfishness. He would soon wrestle with God, he would face his angry brother, and, if he survived all of that, he had to start all over back home. All of this now possible because of the transformation that had taken place within Jacob – Jacob was now ready to return to the promise passed down from God.

[Slide 10] There are four things we must understand from this passage –

[Slide 11] Transformation was already God’s work in process – God was showing himself in the ongoing transformation. Transformation is happening as long as we are allowing the change to take place. It doesn’t happen when we are guided by self, when our actions are controlled by our arrogance and self entitlement. It only happens when we are changeable, when we say yes to correction from God through all types of persons and events in our lives. If we are willing, God’s work of Transformation is a constant in our life.

[Slide 12] Transformation is not complete in an instant, often life transformation is not even noticed until we experience the effects of it. Once we look, listen, and recognize God in our midst, we have our first real understanding of God’s mercy, compassion, and love. We do not have to be guided in being a person of justice, we just have to listen, we just have to look, we have to be ready for God’s to be in the voices, the person, the events, the moments, the choices that are all on our path. Our transformation takes place when we willingly submit ourself to God.

[Slide 13] Justice is a natural outflow on God’s path – Rachel and Leah’s voice spoke of injustice, Jacob heard the cry of injustice through these two voices. The three were prompted to take heed to God’s call to leave. The prophet Micah would later affirm God’s displeasure that the reality of injustice in the lives of Rachel and Leah, “God has already told you over and over, what is good, and what God expects of you, live in justice and call out for justice, strive to love and to be kind, and, walk humbly with.” (Micah 6:8) Transformation changes our perspective of life, we begin to see things through filter of mercy, compassion, and love.

[Slide 14] Rachel’s Deceit was not a reflection of Rachel’s character, it was a tragic indictment on the gods of Rachel’s father. Regardless of the reason for Rachels theft, the point is that she was taking something that could be taken, she was revealing the hopelessness of these gods. The strength of our God is evidence in the sacrificial actions of our God.

[No Slide] This story, and the lives of these three is a story of faith. Faith to step on an unknown path, faith to be led by an unknown God leaving all that is known and understood. Faith is risky, faith is dangerous, fatih costs something, it requires sacrifice. Faith is only possible when it is built on the faithful God.

We stand on God’s path, we struggle on God’s path, we fear on God’s path…but still, we look for good, we look for holy, we look for the workings of God. We trust God.

God’s holy path leads to the person of Jesus. The only one who can bring transformation, the only one who can prove us righteous before God. Are you permitting God to change and transform you, are you looking for God’s transformational actions, are you looking for good, holy, and God?

Is it time for you to stand in the middle of the field as evidence of God’s transformation?
Let’s Pray

Music [2 slides]

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated Lord to Thee
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Take my voice and let me sing
Always only for my King
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee
Community/Howdy [Slides]

[Zoom Spotlight] Howdy…. [No slides]

“We continue our Howdy Moment today connecting our online participants and our in person participants. On the 2n and 4th Sundays we are interviewing our online and inperson readers, today we are meeting Mitch & Duffy Musgrove and Andrea Anthony of Norman OK.”

What is the temperature outside where you are right now?
What is your current profession, or, if you are retired, what was your profession?
Please share 3 Quick facts about you that will help us know you better?

Community Announcements

[Slide] Next Sunday, Vengeful Forgetfulness, Genesis 34:1-29
[Slide] Miserable Endings, Wednesday Lunch and Bible Study, One time day and time change, Tuesday, August 16 @ 11:45am, schedule at gfnorman.com, bring your own lunch. Judges 6-8 (Gideon)
[Slide] Kentucky Flooding Relief, Red Cross banner link at GFNorman.com
[Slide] Today following worship – short business gathering for bylaws amendment affirmation.

Closing Peace [1Slide]
May the Peace of the Lord go with you.
And also with you.

Benediction [1 Slide]

Order, Words, & Voices

Order, Words, & Voices
08.07.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song       To God Be The Glory       Christian
Prayer                               Rick
Reading           Genesis 28:6-22           Segun & Steve M.

Song Blessed Assurance Christian

Message Worlds’ Worst Inlaw Rick

Song Blessed Assurance Christian

Community/Howdy Steve
For Howdy, Steve will be leading in online. Just put the screen to gallery view until he is finished. Then Community announcement will be put on screen

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music
To God be the Glory

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

O perfect redemption the purchase of blood
To every believer the promise of God
The vilest offender who truly believes
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives

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

Prayer [Slides Midway through]
(Prayer comes from Micah 6:8 and Jesus’ prayer-Matthew 6:9-13)

LORD you have told you what is good. You have revealed to us that we are called to love mercy, to call for justice, and to walk humbly with you. May we passionately walk humbly with You. May we not be afraid to look critically at the sins of our forefathers to see how they have influenced us away from mercy, justice, and humility. May we choose to let your sacrifice cleanse us of our arrogance, ignorance, and selfishness. Help us to listen and hear You clearly so that we will not longer walk by pride or self-sufficiency. God, may we walk with You.

[Slides Begin] [Join me as we say the Lord’s Prayer]

Reading [No Slides]

[Steve M] Esau saw that Isaac had been tricked in blessing Jacob and that Isaac had sent Jacob away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there and that as he charged him saying, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

[Segun] So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women were forbidden by his parents, Esau spitefully went and married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and the sister of Nebaioth, Ishmael’s other wife, to be his wife in addition to all the wives he already had.

[Steve M] Jacob left Beer-sheba and stayed that night in the wilderness because the sun had set. Jacob was not yet to the homeland of his Father Abraham and mother Rebekah. Jacob put a stone from the ground under his head and lay down to sleep. During the night, Jacob dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

[Segun] As the dream continued, the Lord stood beside Jacob and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your grandfather and the God of your father Isaac. The land on which you now lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.”

[Steve M] God continued to speak to Jacob, saying, “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” Jacob was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

[Segun] Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that had been his pillow and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you.”

Genesis 28:6-22
Music
Blessed Assurance
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation purchase of God
Born of His Spirit washed in His blood

This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long

Perfect submission perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy whispers of love

This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long

Perfect submission all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest
Watching and waiting looking above
Filled with His goodness lost in His love

This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long

Message – World’s Worst InLaw [? Slides]
Genesis 29:15-28

A question that has haunted philosophers and theologians of most of humanity – ‘Are we, as humans, at our most basic nature, good or evil? ‘

This past week we have heard about the countless individuals who have poured into Kentucky to inconspicuously assist in the aftermath of the historic flooding. In Oklahoma, many of us stood on the front lines witnessing the sacrificial acts of so many from around the nation and world following the OKC Murrow Building Bombing. During the recent Russian’s invasion and war against Ukraine we, along with many others, gave generously and many were able to do more, to help the displaced and wounded of the war.

On the other hand, we have see the most evil of the evil. We are historical witnesses to the systematic racism and the impacts of past attempts entire cultures here, within in our own state. We have watched as those wearing the tags of prophet and Christian have sought, and still seek, to deny the truth of the ancestral trauma of people groups here in our own state, our neighbors.

We consistently see evil and good in the same place, often the same times.

This has been a conundrum, no, it has been a battle, since thinkers began to think.

[Slide]5th century, theologian, and philosopher Augustine of Hippo, dove into Scripture, determining that there is no good in humans; there are only evil humans. That apart from God, man has no innate ability to be good or to do good because no good remains within.

[Slide] Seventeenth century Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, from his own experience watching the brutality of the British civil war, determined that humans are fundamentally selfish creatures driven by a desire for power. Desires which lead to anarchy and hatred.

[Slide] In the fifteen hundreds theologian, pastor, and reformer, John Calvin, penned called the church to reformation with the concept of Total Depravity saying ‘that sin affects every facet of our nature. It does not mean that sinners are as bad as they possibly can be. Nor does it mean that humans lack a conscience, or that the world is entirely miserable and incapable of making any progress or appreciating the beauty evident all around. Total Depravity does means that no part of our personality is uncorrupted: the mind, the emotions, and so on. (Dogmatic Theology, 2:257).

[Slide]13th century priest, Thomas Aquinas’ held that our original sin simply wounded human nature. He argued that it does not make us averse to virtue, although it weakens us in this pursuit and brings the penalty of death.

[Slide] And, contemporary Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, argues that, ‘despite our history of evil, humans are fundamentally good.’

The problem with the ponderence of these views of humanity is that they, themselves, often do more to negatively influence the manner in which we see and treat humanity than they do to prompt a Christ like compassion and mercy towards humanity. Even in the consideration of these theories, we must never cease to consider the very breath, the very life, within us is from God. Even in our rejection of God there is still breath that is life.

Honestly, I’m not sure that the question is ‘Are we good or evil? ‘ but, instead, how does God, and how do we permit God to, guide us towards a life that is worth his exhaustive creative effort he God put forth in creating every single one of us.’

Before I allow my words to confuse this truth, let me state the point – We, with our evangelic fervor to lead others to accept Jesus, basically a moment to fill up heaven, we have forgotten that salvation, according to the apostle Paul, is a life long work, not to secure salvation, but to experience it, to live it. Salvation is a journey, it is not a prayer and it is not just about heaven and hell. Heaven and hell in a futuristic sense is not really the primary point of what Jesus did. The picture painted in the life of Jacob, in this week’s passage depicts what the Good News truly is – God takes us where we are, and who we are, and guides and leads us from there. It is never about the amount of our faith, or the extent of our belief, it is always totally about God. What God did, what God is doing, and what God will do in our world. It is a journey in which God guides us to life, full life, here on earth and forever. Jesus, addresses life here on earth than anything else, he even includes it in the prayer he teaches us. Salvation is our journey from evil to good, of unrighteous to righteous, of settling for unholy as opposed to living a life long search for the real and consistent holy that is God.

This is the journey of Jacob. Up to this point he has been horrible, however, now we see him stepping onto God’s path of change and transformation. It is not a one time moment of emotion but the beginning of a life of a willingness to change and learning, a life of sacrifice and patience, a life of looking for good, looking for holy, and looking for the acts and movements of God in his life now. It all begins now with Jacob facing the choice of his path – holy or self.

Jacob’s journey gives us a glimpse of what it means to seek good, and holy, to willingly allow God to lead and transform. Walking alongside God’s and his holy patience in the midst of our unholy existence, evidence that God is gracious and that God’s grace is lavished on humanity.

Jacob, to this point, battled for supremacy with his brother while still in his mother’s womb. He deceived his father and stole his bother’s inheritance. Jacob ran away, to escape the consequences. This all took place before Jacob reached the age of twenty-five. On his journey running away, Jacob apprehensively meets God and steps gently onto the path that is set before him.

Jacob had grown up learning of the God of his father, now it was time for his own faith to grow roots. On his escape God appeared to Jacob, introducing himself and reiterating the promise made to Abraham – a promise now given to Jacob.

[Slide] “Know that I am with you,” God said, “and I will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:13-15)

[Slide] Jacob’s response to God was tepid at best. He responded from a hesitant heart but an open mind, “God, if you will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and if you will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then you shall be my God, and of all that you give me I will surely give back to you one-tenth.” (Genesis 28:20-22)

It’s an ‘if-then’ statement, it would be seem to be a very self centered, self protecting, commitment – “God, if you will continually do this for me I will give a percentage if my gain back to you.” However, if we think about it, Jacob had really just experienced his first personal moment with God, all he knew to do was to do what his grandfather had done. This was the fork in the road moment for Jacob. For the first time, Jacob makes a commitment to God that was a little less selfish than all his previous actions. Baby steps on his journey, but he was now willingly on the path. Moving from evil to good a small bit at a time under the tutelage of God.

Sometimes a less selfish step is our biggest step ever.

Jacob met his uncle Laban, the man who would become his father in law – the World’s Worst Inlaw. Soon, Jacob sought to marry Laban’s daughter. Laban calculated the price for his daughter as seven years of hard labor. After Jacob completed paying off that deft, Laban deceptively gave his daughter Leah to Jacob instead of Rachel. Laban, then, made a new financial arrangement with Jacob to actually sale his daughter Rachel an additional seven years of hard labor.

Laban relegated his own daughters to being a commodity for his own gain. Jacob, who previously would have never allowed something like this to happen to him, incredibly, he stuck around for over fourteen years of slavery. He didn’t angrily cut his losses and leave, but he stayed. This all began with his first less selfish step as thought beyond himself. Somehow, Jacob saw God’s constant presence and work. Jacob stayed the path, old Jacob would have run, but now, he was on the path of improving and transforming. Jacob continued to trust the God he was getting to know and, all the while, continued his role in God’s plan of redemption for all mankind.

Jacob was not a full convert to God at this point, God still had much to patiently prove as he moved Jacob from evil to good. Jacob had food on his plate and clothes on his back, a daily proof of God’s prescence.

The sisters Leah and Rachel, were dumped deeper into a pit of worthlessness, bitterness, and isolation. Their sisterhood would be forever damaged as they fought for Jacob’s affection. They didn’t know it yet, but this was the kickoff for their journey, the widening of the river of God’s promise. It was through them, and their servants, that diversity would be a constant reality of the Israelites. They would all be part of God’s promise, and God’s promise would now be a part of them.

Leah and Rachel, also were at the start of their own path, a journey of self-awareness, their own empowerment, their own journey – they would soon even stand up for themselves. They would not be forgotten by God, even this God they did not yet know. They would not be forsaken, they would not be ignored, devalued, or even dismissed. God saw them, God heard them. God would heed the pain of Leah, and Rachel, meeting their needs and addressing their pain. Providing them purpose, descendants, and a place.

This is our bridge of understanding good and evil. The moment when God meets us, introduces us to himself, promises to remember us, and then, even with our own marginal promises, God sustains us leading us in our life path and purpose.

The Apostle Paul later put it into a nutshell.

“What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. You lived in responsive obedience to God. Now keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.” (Philippians 2:12-16)

Let’s Pray

Music

Blessed Assurance

O what a foretaste of glory divine

Heir of salvation purchase of God

Born of His Spirit washed in His blood
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long

Community [Slides]

[No Slide – gallery view\ Howdy Moment – this week – gallery view of everyone online for inperson attendees to see
[Slide] Next Sunday, stealing god, Genesis 31:14-35
[Slide] Miserable Endings, Wednesday Lunch and Bible Study, Noon this Wednesday at Fellowship Center, schedule at gfnorman.com, bring your own lunch
[Slide] Kentucky Flooding Relief, Red Cross banner and link at GFNorman.com
Next Sunday short business gathering for bylaws insert.

Closing Peace [1Slide]
May the Peace of the Lord go with you.
And also with you.

Benediction [1 Slide]

“Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father and as you go, remember: By the goodness of God you were born into this world. And by the grace of God you have been kept all the day long, even until this very hour. And by the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you have been redeemed and you are being redeemed. So go in peace.”

Amen.

Order, Words, & Voices 07.31.22

Order, Words, & Voices
07.31.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song- Great is Thy Faithfulness
Prayer Rick
Reading (Inperson Only) Renee & Martha

Song- Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Message A Haunting Oracle Rick

Song- Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (vs1 and chorus)

Community/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music
Great is Thy Faithfulness
ChorusGreat is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning
New mercies I see
All I have needed
Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me
Verse 1Great is Thy faithfulness
O God my Father
There is no shadow
Of turning with Thee
Thou changest not
Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been
Thou forever wilt be
Verse 2Summer and winter
And springtime and harvest
Sun moon and stars
In their courses above
Join with all nature
In manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness
Mercy and love
Verse 3Pardon for sin
And a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence
To cheer and to guide
Strength for today
And bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine
With ten thousand beside

Prayer [Slides Midway through]
Prayer comes from Genesis 49:25-26 and Jesus’ prayer-Matthew 6:9-13

God, you are our father, you will help us, you, the Almighty will bless us with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. God, the blessings of you, our Lord, are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains and the bounties of the everlasting hills; the blessings given from your hand are life sustaining and enduring throughout eternity.
[Slides Begin] [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,
While we learn 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 : Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
ChorusLeaning (leaning on Jesus)
Leaning (leaning on Jesus)
Safe and secure from all alarms
Leaning (leaning on Jesus)
Leaning (leaning on Jesus)
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Verse 1What a fellowship what a joy divine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
What a blessedness what a peace is mine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Verse 2O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way
Leaning on the everlasting arms
O how bright the path grows from day to day
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Verse 3What have I to dread what have I to fear
Leaning on the everlasting arms
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near
Leaning on the everlasting arms

Reading [No Slides]
[Martha] Abraham breathed his last and died at one hundred and seventy-five years of age, old and full of years, and was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac.

[Renee] Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The twins struggled together within Rebekah, and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?”

[Martha] So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other; the elder shall serve the younger.” When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle, so they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore the two boys.

[Renee] When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he was fond of game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that, for I am famished!” Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” So Jacob surrendered his birthright to Jacob. and Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew.

Genesis 25:21-28

Message – A Haunting Oracle [No Slides]
Genesis 25:21-28

We closed last week with the image of Rebekah falling off her camel as she had her first look at her fiance, Isaac. It was a fall, brought on by an extended moment of gawking activated by a joyful realization that her future husband, from a distance, appeared to be ‘perfect’. The journey to her new home had not come without certain doubts about this unknown man, he was double her age afterall – but now, from her landing place on the ground, she felt good about her decision.

We did not see Isaac’s reaction to Rebekah, the continued passage tells us that, “Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent that had belonged to his mother, who had died years earlier. Isaac took Rebekah and Rebekah took Isaac, and Rebecca became Isaac’s wife, and Isaac loved Rebekah. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” (Genesis 24:67)

Today we pick up the story twenty years later. We know little of what took place during those two decades except that

Abraham died at the age of one hundred and seventy-five.
Ishmael, who had twelve sons, made a return appearance to help Isaac with Abraham’s funeral.
Isaac and Rebekah, the only link to God’s promise and the future have had no children, no descendants. Sure, Isaac’s parents waited almost 40 years for their promised descendant, and they were much older that Isaac who was not 60 and Rebekah was around forty years old. Even with this history, this was becoming more concerning.
Isaac says a prayer for Rebekah to get pregnant. We don’t know if this prayer was just the tip of the iceberg of prayers said by Isaac and Rebecah, or if this was a one time incident.

There are many additional questions as we pick up the story…

Were Isaac and Rebekah concerned about their lineage? Had they given up hope? Had the history of Abraham and Sarah calloused them to God’s promise?
Did they actually connect themselves with God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah? Had Abraham’s death jolt Isaac into a reality check moment?
Were they still in love or had their childless story evolved into bitterness and insecurity?
Did Rebekah still have an innate understanding and life practice of God base call to all humanity – love and respect?

The story of Isaac and Rebekah, is connected to all history by a thread extending from Noah, Abraham and Sarah, to the Prophets to Jesus and the apostles, to us and beyond. A thread connecting all of humanity as we attempt to reconcile our impatience with God’s perfect timing. Rebekah and Isaac held to this thread asking God, ‘Will you ever act on your promise?!’ For those who have taken part in our Bible Studies over the past couple of years, regardless of what book of the bible we have looked at, at one point or another we have asked the question ‘Why does it take so long?!’

And, the truth is, sometimes the waiting is difficult if not impossible. It is hard, and sometimes our impatience, followed by our taking our own actions, cause us to be blind to the work that God actually does do. Sometimes we are left with the loss of a loved one, or a neverending lifetime ahead of caring for a loved one. Sometimes we are left with nothing but the rest of our days dealing with the collateral damage of our bodies that fall apart on the way to an earthly death. Sometimes our own choices land us in an endlessly hopeless existence, and more often, the choices of others plant us deep into a life of frustration and pain in a seemingly eternal miserable cycle. Sometimes our call to God for action results in an answer from god that we do not want to hear. Sometimes we cry out to God for relief and change and we end up with news of worse things to come. Sometimes trusting God is the most insurmountable challenge of our lives.

Songwriting brothers and performers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Metzger wrote,
Have I done my best here, or will I be here next year, or are these my best years yet?
Was looking forward to being important but I’m not important yet.
If you put this scene on a movie screen is it called a happy end?
If the world gets me where I’m supposed to be will I know I’ve made it then?
It’s so hard…
Can we skip to the good part?

I have mused over the past couple of weeks if Rebekah possibly would have had this song on her playlist. Would this have echoed her own state of mind as she looked at her life twenty years after the excitement of her wedding only to now be so confused and frustrated with life. I wonder if this was her state when Isaac voiced his prayer which resulted in Rebekah becoming pregnant.

After twenty years of Rebekah feeling like a failure, living with shame and frustration she was now pregnant. But, life did not get more rosy, this pregnancy did not live up to her fantasies, life actually became a living hell. This child within Rebekah was a nightmare. In the midst of her agony she cried out to God, “If this is how it is going to be, just kill me God! Kill me now!” Possibly not the first time this God has heard this prayer, and it was definitely not the last time God heard these words. They were and always are, very sincere.

God’s answer did not soothe. His answer was an oracle, it was the prophetic words no mother wants to hear.

“It is not one child, but two children, two sons. Two nations are in your womb, two peoples butting heads while still in your body. One will overpower the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)

Not the answer she expected God to give. It was an answer that gave no relief to her current struggle, but instead extended her grief to the rest of her life. Not just nine months but forever! What do we do with this story?! Do we relegate it to the heretical theological dumping ground of ‘this is all a part of the curse brought on by women since the beginning of time.’ Of course not!

Rebekah has just received a prison sentence. This is her life…forever. Her sons would fight like no sons have ever fought. Their fights would become wars, their hatred would spread beyond their own selfish ambitions. There is no way for this to become a happy ending story in the lifetime of Rebekah.

So, she does what she thinks she can, and needs to do. She takes control, the best way she knows how. She protects the weaker Jacob against the more powerful brother Esau. She quietly instigates a deception against her own husband and Esau. Isaac goes in the opposite direction favoring Esau, further widening the split. They all allow their own pain and misery to destroy themselves and their family. Isaac ends up repeating the mistakes of his father and Rebekah goes into the manipulative mode of her mother-in-law.

God’s word does not sugar coating anything, ‘Jacob is not characterized in the most favorable of ways. Jacob is depicted as “grabbing” his brother’s firstborn right which will be continued in the characterization of Jacob as trickster that in subsequent narratives will mark Jacob’s way in the world. This portrayal makes the election of Jacob by God all the more remarkable. There is nothing in Jacob’s behavior that deserved God’s favor — actually God’s favor comes in spite of Jacob’s actions. This line of interpretation makes a strong case for God’s grace — a God who already is involved with people in their mother’s womb, within the very messiness and conflict of relationships. (Juliana Claassens, Professor of Old Testament, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa)

What do we do with the tragic story of Rebekah? She is our matriarch of living with struggle and heartache. She reflects to us our own agony of being human. But it actually is not hopeless, the words of the prophet Isaiah, as he spoke to a people who were also facing a lifetime of misery reminded them and us.

“But as for you, you are mine, my chosen ones; for you are Abraham’s family, and he was my friend. I have called you back from the ends of the earth and said that you must serve but me alone, for I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Even now, I am holding you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God—say to you, Don’t be afraid; I am here to help you. Fear not, for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer; I am the Holy One. The joy of the Lord shall fill you full; you shall glory in the God of Israel. (Isaiah 41:8-16)

The final country of our recent Europe trip was the Netherlands, particularly Amsterdam. I have to admit when we first arrived I was not all that impressed but the longer we stayed the more I liked the city. The Netherlands are ranked high in their education system, and their politicians support the system. They rank much lower that the US in Violent crime rates including murder and rape. Their healthcare is comparable to the US using a combination of public and private except they require insurance for all. Healthcare is provided for all children to 18 years of age. The high temp while we were there was 65 degrees while back here in the US, it was daily topping over 10,000 degrees – and, there is a noticeable absence of bugs. They are deeply concerned about climate change, which makes sense being, themselves, already under water. They are serious about reducing their carbon footprint with an effective transit system, including bikes, millions of bikes, millions of bikes, on the roads everyday – on the other hand, you will see very few helmets and even fewer child safety precautions. Overall, though, the thing that caught my attention was how many dads I would see, after work, out with their children, playing in the parks, pushing a stroller, engaging everyday.

So, I was surprised when I was asked after we returned about the trip and as soon as I mentioned Amsterdam the individuals I was sharing with said, “Oh, Amsterdam makes me cry.” I was caught off guard until I asked what part of Amsterdam she had seen. She had been on a mission trip to Amsterdam, and as it turned out had only seen the Red Light District – a famous multi block/alley ways are of legal prostitution and other nevarious activities, stuff that also takes place in all other countries but is hidden.

While I left the country impressed by many aspects but deeply moved by the family environment – she had only seen the bad.

Rebekah cried out to God for a reason for her pregnancy agony – God answered honestly. What God said was that there would be no good, just that the bad would be really bad. Good stuff did happen,like a miraculous moment of forgiveness by the abused older brother Esau given to his manipulative brother. But, it does not seem that Rebekah was able to see any of that, she was looking out for Jacob, she was only on the watch for the bad. Rebekah went into her room turned her television and radios to the stations that would echo her misery expecting expectations and she heard nothing else, she saw nothing else, she lived with nothing else.

To see God’s work we have to look for God’s work. To recognize hope, we have to look for moments of hope. To hear God’s plan we must still live out God’s directive to love. We have to look for good, we have to look for holy, we have to look for God, we have to trust God – even in the worst of times.

As we face, and we will face, the unthinkable, the mundane, the agonizing, the ordinary, the unknown and unimaginable, do we trust God to carry us through? Do we look for good, do we look for holy, do we look to God, the author and perfecter of our faith?

Let’s pray.

Music Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
Vs. 1 and ChorusVerse 1What a fellowship what a joy divine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
What a blessedness what a peace is mine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
sting arms

ChorusLeaning (leaning on Jesus)
Leaning (leaning on Jesus)
Safe and secure from all alarms
Leaning (leaning on Jesus)
Leaning (leaning on Jesus)
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Community [Slides]

World’s Worst Inlaw, Next Sunday, Genesis 29:15-28
Miserable Endings, Wednesday Lunch and Bible Study, Noon this Wednesday at Fellowship Center, schedule at gfnorman.com, bring your own lunch
GF Business Gathering today, 10 minutes following morning worship
Parking free for all Fellowship center gatherings/meetings – all church stuff

Closing Peace [Slides]
May the Peace of the Lord go with you.
And also with you.
Go in the peace of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices

07.24.22

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song That’s Why We Praise Him Lynn

Prayer Rick

Howdy Moment…. (Online & Inperson) Steve, Kelly, & Linda

Song Oceans Lynn

Reading (Online & Inperson) Kelly & Linda

Songs Graeat Is Thy Faithfulness Lynn

Message The Voice(s) of God Rick

Song ? Lynn

Community/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voices

Music [Slides]

That’s Why We Praise Him

He came to live live a perfect life He came to be the living word our light

He came to die so we’d be reconciled He came to rise to show His pow’r and might

That’s why we praise Him that’s why we sing That’s why we offer Him our ev’rything

That’s why we bow down and worship this King ‘Cause He gave His ev’rything

He came to live live again in us He came to be our conquering King and friend

He came to heal and show the lost ones His love He came to go prepare a place for us

That’s why we praise Him that’s why we sing That’s why we offer Him our ev’rything

That’s why we bow down and worship this King ‘Cause He gave His ev’rything

Halle hallelujah Halle hallelujah

That’s why we praise Him that’s why we sing That’s why we offer Him our ev’rything

That’s why we bow down and worship this King ‘Cause He gave His ev’rything

Prayer [Slides Midway through]

Prayer comes from David’s prayer-Psalm 116 and Jesus’ prayer-Matthew 6:9-13

I love you Lord, you bent down to hear my voice. You inclined you ear to me, so I will call on him as long as I live. Death itself has encompassed me; the place of death has attempted to hold on to me; for this reason I suffered distress and anguish. That is when I called on you, that is when I shouted “O Lord, save my life!” Gracious are you Lord and righteous; are you God. You protect the simple; and when I was brought low, you saved me. Return, me to your rest, for you, God, have dealt generously with me. You have delivered me from eternal death, you have dried my tears, and you have kept my feet from stumbling. I walk before you Lord in the land of the living. I shall keep my faith forever.

[Slides Begin] [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,

While we learn 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

Howdy…. [No slides]

Meet Kelly Segal of Sierra Vista, AZ and Linda Hall of Norman OK.

What is the temperature outside where you are right now?
What is your current profession, or, if you are retired, what was you profession?
Please share 3 Quick facts about you that will help us know you better?

Music [Slides]

Oceans

You call me out upon the waters The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery In oceans deep my faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name And keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters Your sov’reign hand will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

So, I will call upon Your name And keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your name Keep my eyes above the waves

My soul will rest in Your embrace I am Yours and You are mine

Reading [No Slides]

[Kelly] Now Abraham was old, advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said to his servant who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

[Linda] The servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, all kinds of choice gifts from his master, and set out and went to the city of Nahor. Abraham’s servant made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water; it was the time when women go out to draw water. The servant prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please offer your jar that I may drink,’ and then she will say, ‘Drink, while I water your camels’— God, let her be the one who is to be the wife of Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

[Kelly] Before Abraham’s servant finished praying, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. Then Abraham’s servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.

[Linda] Now Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field, and, looking up, he saw camels coming. Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she jumped quickly from the camel and said to Abraham’s servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master, the man you are to marry.” Rebekah took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her.

Genesis 24

Music [Slides]

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father There is no shadow Of turning with Thee

Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning New mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Summer and winter And springtime and harvest

Sun moon and stars In their courses above

Join with all nature In manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness Mercy and love

Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning New mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Pardon for sin And a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence To cheer and to guide

Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning New mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Message The Voice(s) of God [No Slides]

Genesis 24

I have reached that time in life where my body has begun to give up on me. A couple of decades ago my vision began to fail, and now, my hearing is beginning to reveal signs of fatigue. I have been to the doctor and am now calculating the desired level of hearing in direct comparison to how much I am willing to pay. I’m finding that, in addition to my inability to hear everything, I was also am having to strain to assign voices to the speaker.

Figuring out who is speaking is one of primary messages from our passage today. I love the closing visual of today’s passage, “Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she jumped quickly from the camel.” (Genesis 24:64)

While this is probably the translation in your bible, “Rebekah look up, saw Isaac, and jumped quickly off the camel.” Some scholars feel that it is more authentic to translate this passage as “..she fell off the camel.” This may have been the first ‘falling in love” moment – probably the first Hallmark moment.

But this of course, is not the beginning on this journey to love for Isaac and Rebecca – both had a story before ever setting eyes on each other. The story of Rebecca’s journey is a story of discerning God’s voice, while being a story of the three primary voices of God we hear in scripture.

Hearing God’s voice is a challenge. There is so much noise all around us, so much clutter within our hearing range, plus, so many voices competing with God’s voice. Often times our biggest question in our journey is ‘What is God saying to me?’’ Sometimes that question is accompanied by ‘How can I identify my voice, or the voice of others, or even what I want God to say or sound like. verses God’s actual voice of God’?’

It is a difficult question to answer, it is a part of our life journey, a question that, for all but a few, never goes away. Genesis 24 gives us three examples of God’s voice and how it is particular to the person being spoken to and the moment in which it is spoken.

The first example in Genesis 24 is God speaking to Abraham. Here, God’s voice is obvious, Abraham actually hears God’s voice to which he interacts with just as he would another human being. While, in our day, many claim to hear God’s voice as Abraham, however, few if any are honestly hearing God’s audible voice.

When one of my sons was in his teens, he came home from a bible study a bit dissolution by the study leader. The leader was a young adult male who would frequently justify his choices, usually very selfish choices, by saying “God told me to do this….” To which my son sarcastically said, “I’m pretty sure next week he is going to say ‘God told me to buy the latest XBox.’ This was all the more outrageous because the leader would also frequently talk about how broke he was.

Abraham actually only heard God’s audible voice seven times over a thirty year period. There are just a handful of individuals in scripture who have such an audible experience – Adam and Eve, Cain, Noah and his sons, Abraham and Sarah, Hagar,, Rebekah, Moses, most of the Prophets, Jesus, some of the apostles, and a handful of others. Actually hearing God’s voice is not a commonality in scripture, it is a rarity.

We cannot help but ask the question, ‘why did God speak to these in this manner and not me?’ If we look at this list, however, we see some common elements that may help give us a clue. Most of those listed prior to the prophets are early history, there is no precedent for anyone in regard to God. There are no testimonial traditions, there are no written sacred writings, there is not even any fragments of stone on which God wrote truth. Most of the time, those that hear God’s audible voice have no other person or resource for God to communicate through. Even if God were to send an angel messenger, there would be no understanding of who this messenger came from – in these cases, a direct voice from God is essential. God is not speaking here to a people who have a greater or lesser faith, this is simply a moment of God having no other avenue to communicate. God speaks directly because it is the only way for them to hear.

While we may think that an audible voice would be impossible to ignore and outrageously faith affirming, the truth is that the lessons from these that did hear the audible voice, they had just as difficult time trusting this voice of God as we do with the voice God uses to speak to us.

The second example of hearing God’s voice is heard in the prayer of Abraham’s servant.

“O Lord, God of my master, Abraham,” he prayed. “Please give me success today, and in doing so you will be showing unfailing love to my master, Abraham. Right now as I speak, I am standing beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. God, this is my request (this is the voice I am able to hear). I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’— that will be the proof from you that this is the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will hear your voice.” (Genesis 24:12-14)

The anxiety level in Abraham’s servant spurred on by this mission was at least in the ninety percent level. The servant little to stand on in regard to knowing God. He knew that Abraham, his master, trusted this God. He maybe had heard second hand, from Abraham, about these holy audible engagements Abraham. But the servant had nothing to base any personal belief on. He had to find the one woman that was to be Isaac’s wife, only then would he be released from the burden of this mission. So, since for him, seeing was believing, he said to God, “If I see this, I will know that this is the woman you have selected.” It was a pretty specific request and would be a fairly undeniable sign that this was God’s voice.

This is much like the request of Gideon who set out a similar request to God…”Do this and I will know this is from you.” Gideon, however, found that even this was not quite as satisfying as he expected, so he asked God for a second go round to prove this to himself. God’s ‘do this and I will believe’ voice seldom results in an answer that that truly enhances the faith of the person, it is seldom an avenue to strength one’s faith, and it is seldom God’s intention in using an such a voice voice. However, it is a voice from God that is an earthly evidence of God’s compassion and mercy.

Abraham’s servant was desperate, he needed God to do this, after which we do not really know what impacts it had on the him.

This third voice we hear from God is revealed in the relationship of Holy and Rebekah, the ultimate fiancé selected for Isaac. Rebekah, was simply doing the one holy thing she knew to do, it was not a prayer, it was part of her life. The holy tradition of Hospitality was a constant in the Middle East, as it is today. Rebekah was found in Nahor in Mesopotamia, an area known as Abraham’s homeland prior to God’s call to leave. We soon learn that Rebekah, is from the same family as Abraham. Since the family that Abraham left behind were not worshipers of the one true God, it can only be assumed that Rebekah was also raised in this tradition, but, she did practice this holy truth of hospitality (a precursor to loving the other),.

‘When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself,” (Leviticus 19:33-34).

Rebekah’s story does not begin with a prayer, it does not take place in a moment of desperation; this story is about a woman, who knew a holy truth, and authentically had absorbed that truth into her life. A stranger from another country shows up at the well, she gives him a drink, then proceeds to care for his camels, giving them drink. Ten camels, each drinking at least 30-50 gallons of water, that is an authentic and genuine sacrifice of hospitality.

God’s answer was to reveal the character and the heart of this woman to Abraham’s servant. This was a revelation that this woman was the right choice for Isaac. The servant does not ask for more proof, like Gideon, asking her to do something else, the servant accepts this as God’s voice.

Interestingly, if we were to pick this apart, the instruction for the servant is that he would be released of his burden once he found and invited the woman accompany him home to Isaac. If the woman had married Isaac and been a mistake, it would have reflected poorly on the servant. The servant’s trust in God’s answer at this early stage of faith, without any caveats, is truly amazing.

Sometimes God’s answer is already in our heart as well as in our mind. If we have not hardened ourselves to the voice of God, we will know the direction of God. For Rebekah, she was already acting on God’s voice that she knew, to show hospitality, love others as much as you love yourself, sacrifice for this person as you would do for yourself. God’s voice had already spoke the answer to Rebekah’s prayer, “Should I help this foreigner?” God had answered this prayer long before Rebekah would have needed to ask it. It was an answer to a prayer that was given long before she had need to ask God – therefore she didn’t even need to ask. She already knew, it was already in her internal hard drive.

We do not pick the voice of God that we hear, it is determined by our need. God’s voice and answer are seldom going to be what we expect, the tonal aspects of God’s voice may not be immediately identified as that of God, even when heard audibly from God.

How do we know what we hear, regardless of the form, that we are hearing God’s voice?

Lieutenant Scott Swires says, “This is very similar to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, which encourages us to use Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason in relationship with the Holy Spirit as sounding boards. (Lieutenant Scott Swires, Rome, NY Salvation Army)

Simply put, we critique the voice to determine if it echoes the voice of God in the person of God in the flesh, Jesus. We remember God’s revealing truth is given to us in order that we will be ready to discern and identify God’s voice. We return to scripture, we return to the teachings, we dig through our treasure chest to see if it matches up to the movement of God that we know, we seek the Spirit’s guidance as we listen. We ask ‘Does this voice line up?’ In the end, just like with Rebekah, it is going to come down to living holy so that we will recognize – living right, living holy, requires following the one that is right, the right(eous) Jesus Christ.

This is the sound of God’s Voice to at least 90% of our prayers, dilemmas, and questions we present to God. Prior to the prayer we strive to live out the life of Jesus, always striving to know Jesus more, then, for further evidence, we use Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason.

We go into the question, and discerning the voice by the fact that we already know of peace, mercy, compassion, we recognize that life is life eternal, we trust God.

Jesus said, ‘The king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and we gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and we welcomed you or naked and we gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the King responded, “When you did it to the least then you have done it to me”’ (Matthew 25:34-39)

Somehow, Rebekah already knew the voice of God even before she met God.

Let’s pray,

God, “we see your face in the face of the poor. We hear your voice on the tongues of our black brothers and sisters as they are unjustly degraded. We feel your presence in the presence of women who refused to sit down, who refused to be quiet. God, sometimes your voice is heard in the oppositional, and possibly mocking, voices of others. God, you are all around us, you are among us, and you are at work in us and in our world.” Amen.*

*Prayer words borrowed from Jakob Topper, Pastor, Northaven Church, Norman, OK

Music [Slides]

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father There is no shadow Of turning with Thee

Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning New mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Summer and winter And springtime and harvest

Sun moon and stars In their courses above

Join with all nature In manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness Mercy and love

Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning New mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Pardon for sin And a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence To cheer and to guide

Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning New mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Community [Slides]

A Haunting Oracle, Next Sunday, Genesis 25:1-28
Wednesday Lunch – July 27 Noon (pick up your lunch at Joes or elsewhere and bring it with you to Fellowship Center)
GF Business Gathering next Sunday 10 minutes following morning worship

Closing Peace [Slides]

May the Peace of the Lord go with you.

And also with you.

Go in the peace of the Lord.

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Chorus

Verse 2

Chorus

Praise the Lord praise the LordLet the earth hear His voicePraise the Lord praise the LordLet the people rejoiceO come to the Father through Jesus the SonAnd give Him the glory great things He has done

Verse 1

Chorus

Great is Thy faithfulnessGreat is Thy faithfulnessMorning by morningNew mercies I seeAll I have neededThy hand hath providedGreat is Thy faithfulnessLord unto me

Verse 3

Chorus

Verse 1

Chorus

My Deliverer is comingMy Deliverer is standing by (2X)

Verse 2

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Bridge

Chorus

Chorus

Chorus

Verse

Chorus

Verse

Bridge

Verse 1

Chorus

Verse 2

Chorus

Tag

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Chorus

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Prayer Rick

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Prayer Rick

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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

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning
New mercies I see
All I have needed
Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me

My Deliverer is coming
My Deliverer is standing by (2X)