Order, Words, & Voices

Order, Words, & Voices 11.19.23

Order, Words, & Voices

11.19.23, Still Messy, Isaiah 5:1-7; 11:1- 5

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Lynn & Team

He Has Made Me Glad

House of the Lord

Call to Gather/Passage Pettys

Songs Lynn & Team

Is He Worthy

Holy Holy Holy

Prayers for our World & Jesus’ Prayer Mitch

Message Messy Still Rick

Music Gratitude Lynn and Team

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) Lynn and Team

I will enter His gates
With thanksgiving in my heart
I will enter His courts with praise
I will say this is the day
That the Lord has made
I will rejoice
For He has made me glad

He has made me glad
He has made me glad
I will rejoice for
He has made me glad

We worship the God who was
We worship the God who is
We worship the God who evermore will be
He opened the prison doors
He parted the raging sea
My God He holds the victory yeah

There’s joy in the house of the Lord
There’s joy in the house of the Lord today
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
There’s joy in the house of the Lord
Our God is surely in this place
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise

We sing to the God who heals
We sing to the God who saves
We sing to the God who always makes a way
‘Cause He hung up on that cross
Then He rose up from that grave
My God’s still rolling stones away

(‘Cause) We were the beggars
Now we’re royalty
We were the prisoners
Now we’re running free
We are forgiven accepted
Redeemed by His grace
Let the house of the Lord sing praise

Call to Gather (Slides) Pettys

We gather for a shared moment before God. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world on our common path of Becoming.

We gather with those who are in struggles we cannot imagine and in places where suffering permeates to a depth we will never understand.

We gather with those who have rejoiced in victories as well as those whose pain is guarded with a vigilance that is excruciating.

We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of refreshment before God, and a moment to remember the hope found in the empty tomb.

We travel a called and yet chosen path. A path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we gather before the God who is God.

Passage Pettys

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Isaiah 5:1-7 (ESV)

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah 11:1- 5 (ESV)

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

Do you feel the world is broken
We do
Do you feel the shadows deepen
We do But do you know that all the dark
Won’t stop the light from getting through
We do
Do you wish that you could see it all made new
We do

Is all creation groaning
It is
Is a new creation coming
It is
Is the glory of the Lord
To be the light within our midst
It is
Is it good that we remind ourselves of this
It is

Is anyone worthy
Is anyone whole
Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll
The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave
He is David’s Root
And the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

Is He worthy
Is He worthy
Of all blessing and honor and glory
Is He worthy of this
He is

Does the Father truly love us
He does
Does the Spirit move among us
He does
And does Jesus our Messiah
Hold forever those He loves
He does
Does our God intend to dwell again with us
He does

Is anyone worthy Is anyone whole
Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll
The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave

He is David’s Root
And the Lamb who died to ransom the slave
From ev’ry people and tribe every nation and tongue
He has made us a kingdom and priests
To God to reign with the Son

Is He worthy Is He worthy
Of all blessing and honor and glory
Is He worthy
Is He worthy
Is He worthy of this
He is

Is He worthy
Is He worthy
He is He is

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
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 (Slides) Mitch

[Slide] Today, as we pray for Our World, we speak the words of St. Francis of Assisi asking God to show us our role in God’s response to a hurting world. (Leave I Tim slide until Lord’s prayer]

Lord make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me sow pardon. Where there is doubt, let me sow faith. Where there is despair, let me sow hope. Where there is darkness, let me sow light. And where there is sadness, let me sow joy.Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it’s in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Please join me in voicing the words of Jesus’ 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, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Message (Slides) Rick

* Final days os Northern Kingdom – Israel. 753-721 BC

*Israel conquered & exile, 721 BC.

* End of the Northern Kingdom thus end of Divided Israel

*Diaspora is in initial stages

*United Israel will not have self governance again until after WW2 when they have a place again.

*Judah will be conquered by Babylonia in 170 years, 597BC. *Between now and then there will be 10 more Kings, 4 G, 6 E.

*Ch 1-5 God spoke/explained to Isaiah (ch 6 Isaiah called/commissioned, – in 7 Isaiah speaks to rulers & the people). Ch 5 – before good King Uzziah dies – Isaiah says “Here am I, Send Me”.

*Isaiah in south/north begins the same call as Hosea/Amos had in North. ‘Turn back..’

*11 OT prophets still left incl. Isaiah. All speak ‘Turn Back’ message, some before, during, after exile. Isaiah speaks to all 3 time periods.

*Judgement & Hope

* Ch 5 is just before exile of Israel, ch 11 is during/after

We begin our look at Isaiah by beginning with the moment he found himself in the presence of God at a moment of grief as the good King, his relative and Friend, King Uzziah, had died. In his grieve Isaiah himself describes this moment, and God’s calling,

“I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were yelling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’

(imagine the irony of this moment of grief for Isaiah to hear that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. Angels see what we cannot see and cannot understand why we are unable to see)

At the sound of seraphi’s voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. I cried, ‘Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a sinner, and I live among a people of who are also sinners, and here I am in the presence of the Lord, looking at God.’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”

Now this moment, this calling, was not out of the blue for Isaiah. God had been preparing him for this moment as seen in the first five chapters of Isaiah. God enlightened the prophet Isaiah about what the job would entail, and the obstinateness of the people he would be called to go to – his own people. Chapter 5 is the climax of God’s description of these people, it is the final lesson before Isaiah signs on the job contract. We see Isaiah’s dramatic and emotional response as he fully grasps the painful reality ahead of going to his own people, people who were just like him. People seldom welcome messages of correction and correction from one of their own – just ask Jesus.

This final lesson for Isaiah is presented in a story of a gardener who built, cared for, and loved his vineyard. The vineyard had been built on the best location possible which provided all the best soil, water and sun. The gardener hoed the soil, pulled the weeds, and planted the very best vines. He provided security to protect the vineyard, he built a winepress for the grapes. His vineyard was a vineyard that was to be the envy of all other vineyard keepers. However, when harvest time finally came the gardener went into his majestic, perfect looking vineyard, he picked the grapes which were expected to be the best of grapes of any vineyard anywhere, instead, he found that the grapes were bitter, useless, they were trash.

This was not the fault of the soil, the soil was the best possible, it was not a problem of unhealthy seeds, these were seeds of the best pedigree, it was not a result of invasive weeds nor it was not a problem with damaging insects or animals trampling the crop – the watchtower had kept a constant and vigilant eye over the vineyard. The garden had been given everything required to produce perfect grapes – and yet the perfect seeds in the perfect soil, located in the perfect location that provided the perfect climate, rainfall, and sun, did not produce the perfect grapes.

The gardener burnt the bad grapes, tore down its fence and let the vineyard go to ruin. He knocked down the gate allowing the garden to be trampled. He permitted it to become a unruly patch of weeds, untended, uncared for, and soon, it became a useless pile of thistles and thorns that would destroy all the grade A provisions invested in the garden. The rains even refused to pour out the nourishing waters.

God explains to Isaiah that the garden, this vineyard, is a honest picture of the people, Isaiah’s people, that the prophet would be speaking to. An unclean, a messy, people just like Isaiah.

You would thinks that is an easy analogy, the failed and messy garden is a representation of the people of the Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem…however, if you really dive in and attempt to break apart the concept that the garden is at fault, that the garden itself is the villain, it become anything but simple and easy to understand. We tend to think of the garden as being an inanimate being, a perfect piece of earth where the perfect elements are put together to produce the perfect produce, the perfect grapes.

Ask yourself, if every element of the garden, including the location, was perfect, how, in the end, was the garden the villain. It’s a 1 + 1 = 2 question – how can 1 + 1 = equal 3.

God told Isaiah that the vineyard is the men and women of Israel and Judah, ‘God looked for a crop of justice from those he created and saw them murdering each other. God looked for a harvest of righteousness and heard only the moans of victims. And, the worst thing is that these people who God created produced this garbage and they are actually proud of themselves – they are proud of their garden, they are proud of their fruits.’ (Isaiah 5:7)

So what happened to all these perfect elements that produced an imperfect harvest after they were put together. I think the response was…the problem was, the problem is, that each element took their perfection and ran to their own corner of the garden space. They ceased to care about anyone but themselves, they failed to listen to the voices of others. They abused others for their own gain, they failed to live out acts of acceptance, respect, and cooperation with these other elements of the garden. Instead, they became selfish, self-centered, and arrogant in their own self worth.

They had allied with other nations, instead of the other nation of their own promise, they failed to keep watch on the provisions God had given, they failed to try, to make the effort.

The perfect elements of the garden were worthless if they did not recognize the orchestration of the gardener.They dismissed the fact that the gardener had not just put them in the garden, but also, he had added other elements which could, and should have perfected and increased their harvest. But, staying in their own spaces, staying away from those who could improve even the perfection present in their shared space, seeing the others as an element of that could be used and abused, they all became worthless, unproductive, dangerous and shameful. They were all destined for death because their arrogance made them deaf to God’s correction.

God’s response to worthless garden was to proclaim, Doom to you!

God says that, much like the gardener who choses to destroy the garden, God will do the same to the people. BUT, remember that God is a willing God, willing to redeem even when the people have rejected his redemption.

God is the God of Judgement. God is the God of the pronouncement of judgement. God is the willing God of rescue.

But the judgement of God is only a portion of God’s message voiced by Isaiah.Isaiah returns to the garden analogy in chapter 11 we find that the garden is not done, its potential still remains – actually, hope is currently under the surface waiting until the time comes to rise up from the soil.

‘In the garden there shall come forth a shoot, a plant stem, from the stump of Jesse, the father of David, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (the garden, the Messiah, Jesus), the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.’

Isaiah 11:1-5

There is still life, it just cannot be seen because of the self-inflicted destruction and messiness that is seen on top of the surface. Under the soil, however, life it still there, life is still growing, life is waiting, it is not gone or hopeless. We cannot always see hope even though it is there. We see destruction, we see hatred, we see rejection, we see brutality, we see loneliness, we see isolation – but the hope is there.

The people have or are about to experience war and exile, but the God they had rejected is still pronouncing hope.They could not see it but it was there. The time between hopeless and hope, the time between slavery and freedom, was time that God would use to prepare them to be the garden where a new stem was about to sprout. The nations that conquered them and taken them into slavery would eventually be conquered, the Israelites would be free to return home. There would be reconstruction, there would be community, there would be hope. There would be the Messiah.

May our thanksgiving be the beginning of our looking for the hope that we are missing in our own messiness.

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

All my words fall short
I got nothing new
How could I express
All my gratitude

I could sing these songs
As I often do
But every song must end
And You never do

So I throw up my hands
And praise You again and again
‘Cause all that I have is a hallelujah hallelujah
And I know it’s not much
But I’ve nothing else fit for a king
Except for a heart singing hallelujah
Hallelujah

I’ve got one response
I’ve got just one move
With my arms stretched wide
I will worship You

Come on my soul
Oh don’t you get shy on me
Lift up your song
‘Cause you’ve got a lion inside of those lungs
Get up and praise the Lord

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, 1st day of Advent (week early) 11.26.23 @ 10:30am Luke1:1-23, Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19…Devo books available today, Insert with Calendar for devotionals and other resources
Thanksgiving Dinner, Today following morning worship
Christmas Eve, December 24, 4:40pm/5:00pm, No morning worship that day

Benediction (Slides) Rick

We leave this place dependent on the hope proven through the resurrection. We have embraced this path because of God’s extravagant grace. This path connects us to creation as well as the pursuit of becoming the righteousness of the Holy God. We will face the struggles because that is the reality of faith.

We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive in even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the path laid before us.

And, when our faith seems worthless, when hopelessness rules our reality, and when hatred seems to consume our world, we still choose to move forward in trust, to hope in the empty grave, and to love as God loves.

Closing Peace (Slides) Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 11.12.23

Order, Words, & Voices

11.12.23, The Willingness of God, Hosea 1:1-9

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Lynn & Team

Forever

Praise to the Lord

Call to Gather/Passage Mitch

Songs Lynn & Team

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Listen to our Hearts

Prayers for our World/Jesus’ Prayer Cricklins

Message The Willingness of God Rick

Music O Come, All You Unfaithful Lynn and Team

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) Lynn and Team

Give thanks to the Lord
Our God and King
His love endures forever
For He is good He is above all things
His love endures forever
Sing praise sing praise

With a mighty hand
And an outstretched arm
His love endures forever
For the life that’s been reborn
His love endures forever
Sing praise sing praise
Sing praise sing praise

Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever forever

From the rising to the setting sun
His love endures forever
And by the grace of God
We will carry on
His love endures forever
Sing praise sing praise

Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever forever

Forever You are faithful
Forever You are strong
Forever You are with us
Forever forever

Praise to the Lord
The Almighty the King of creation
O my soul praise Him
For He is thy health and salvation
All ye who hear
Now to His temple draw near
Praise Him in glad adoration

Praise to the Lord
Who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth
Shelters thee under His wings
Yea so gently sustaineth

Hast thou not seen
How thy desires e’er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth

Hallelujah hallelujah
Hallelujah hallelujah

Praise to the Lord
Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee
Surely His goodness and mercy
Here daily attend thee

Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do
If with His love He befriend thee

Praise to the Lord
O let all that is in me adore Him
All that hath life and breath
Come now with praises before Him
Let the Amen sound from His people again
Gladly fore’er we adore Him.

Let the Amen sound from His people again
Gladly fore’er we adore Him

Hallelujah hallelujah, Hallelujah hallelujah

Call to Gather (Slides) Mitch

We gather for a shared moment before God. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world on our common path of Becoming.

We gather with those who are in struggles we cannot imagine and in places where suffering permeates to a depth we will never understand.

We gather with those who have rejoiced in victories as well as those whose pain is guarded with a vigilance that is excruciating.

We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of refreshment before God, and a moment to remember the hope found in the empty tomb.

We travel a called and yet chosen path. A path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we gather before the God who is God.

Passage

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

The more they were called by others, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.

They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels.

My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.

How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

Hosea 11:1-9 (ESV)

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

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

Strength for today
And bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine
With ten thousand beside

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

How do you explain
How do you describe
A love that goes from east to west
And runs as deep as it is wide

You know all our hopes
Lord You know all our fears
And words cannot express
The love we feel
But we long for You to hear

So listen to our hearts
Hear our spirits sing
A song of praise that flows
From those You have redeemed

We will use the words we know
To tell You what an awesome God You are
But words are not enough
To tell You of our love
So listen to our hearts

If words could fall like rain
From these lips of mine
And if I had a thousand years
Lord I would still run out of time
If You listen to my heart
Ev’ry beat will say
Thank You for the life
Thank You for the truth
Thank You for the way

So listen to our hearts
Hear our spirits sing
A song of praise that flows
From those You have redeemed

We will use the words we know

To tell You what an awesome God You are
But words are not enough
To tell You of our love
So listen to our hearts

So listen to our hearts
Hear our spirits sing
A song of praise that flows
From those You have redeemed
We will use the words we know
To tell You what an awesome God You are

But words are not enough
To tell You of our love
So listen to our heart

Prayer (Slides) Cricklins

[Slide] We pray for Our World (Leave I Tim slide until Lord’s prayer]

O Lord, you who are the True King, have mercy we pray, on the people of the Manipur, Armenia, Israel, Gaza, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Ukraine, Serbia, Nepal, Haiti, the Turkish & Syrian Kurds, and those embattled in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan as well as all who suffer at the hands evil and war. God, we ask that you will take pity on the vulnerable, so that true peace and justice might be present in our world. We pray this in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Please join me in voicing 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.

Message (Slides) Rick

[Slide] Last week we stopped at Israel’s King Ahab and his wife, Queen Jezebel, and the prophet Elijah. The 7th King over the Northern Kingdom, Israel.
[Same Slide] We also stopped in the Southern Kingdom, Judah, at King Asa.
[Slide] Now, we move ahead with the next King of Judah (South) who is named Jehoshaphat. Good. Michaiah remains the prophet. This is around 870 BC.
[Slide] There are a lot of Kings. So, we will skip past the next 6 Kings to arrive at King Uzziah, G, around 767 BC. Uzziah’s prophet is Isaiah which will be where we look next week.
[Slide] In Israel (North) we also have a new King who comes after Ahab. This King is Ahaziah, 1 year, E, prophet Elisha. This is around 853 BC.
[Slide] We slip past 4 of the Kings of Israel to King Jeroboam II, 782. Prophets in this time are Amos and Hosea. We will be focusing on Hosea today.

[Slide] Now for a point of reference which will be important for today’s look at Hosea – The fall of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, when they will be conquered by the Assyrians and taken into exile, will be in 722 BC. Hosea prophesied for 60 years meaning that the writings of Hosea could have been within a decade of the fall of Assyria.

[Slide] Thread of God as father to a people who are growing up. Emotion in experience, emotional roller coaster in the prophetic poetry of Hosea.
[Slide] OT God v NT God

Overview of Hosea’s prophetic life borrowed and adapted from the writings of the Reverend Steve Andrews of Lee’s Summit, MO:

[Slide] The covenant of old is all about the things God was going to do for the people. And…God named the expectations of the people, they were to be circumcised; they were to be blameless; they were to act and live as God’s people. But, the people grumbled, they doubted God, they committed all kinds of atrocious sins against Yahweh, they turned away from God worshipping false gods that they made with their own hands.

[Slide] They did not live as God’s people. This is where the prophets came in. They were God’s messengers to call people back to God. Hosea was one of the latter; he became a living sign of God. The way he lived his life was the pronouncement of God’s message. God told Hosea to go out and to take for himself a wife who was a prostitute, and on top of that, Hosea was to have children with this woman.

[Slide] Among the Israelites, the punishment for prostitution was death. Yet God called Hosea to marry her, to love her, and to raise a family with her – even though she would and did continue to be unfaithful. Hosea’s life was a picture, an accurate picture, of how the Israelites were blatantly living. In forsaking God and following their own lusts, God’s chosen people were just like prostitutes.

[Slide] The Israelites had stopped respecting and appreciating the relationship they had with the God who had created them and kept his promise to them. They whored themselves out for the pleasure and wealth of the world.

[Slide] Hosea knew what he was getting into before he said yes to God’s calling, even after reading the fine print of the life that God laid ahead. Hosea’s life was to be the ultimate in visual aid of the image of God. Hosea represents God, and his wife and children from prostitution represent Israel. The message that Hosea’s life was to communicate was that the Israelites were the unfaithful prostitute.

[Slide] So Hosea does as he was instructed and marries a woman named Gomer, whose reputation was known by everyone. Hosea and Gomer began having children, whose names were also vivid illustrative prophecies.

[Slide] Their first child was named Jezreel “God sows destruction and ruin.” Their second child was then named Lo-Ruhamah meaning “one who has not experienced compassion or love.” The third child was named Lo-Ammi “for you are not My people and I will not be for you.”

[Slide] God did not break the covenant, but His people did. The punishment for breaking a covenant is death. That’s what makes the image of a prostitute so fitting here. The punishment for prostitution is also death. The people around Hosea would have wondered why he didn’t stone Gomer for her wickedness.

[Slide] Not only did he let her live, but he married her, had a family with her, and went after her when she ran off with other men. Hosea was faithful to Gomer just as God is always faithful.

[Slide] At the end of chapter two and as part of His covenant faithfulness, God performs the great reversal. He changes the names of the children. Jezreel goes from being seeds of destruction to the sowing a people. Lo-Ruhamah becomes simply Ruhamah – God will show love to her. And Lo-Ammi, becomes Ammi, ‘God will claim them as His people.’

[Slide] Even after all of this, Gomer runs off from him yet again, Hosea goes after her and redeems her, he brings her back to himself, he takes her again as his wife despite all of her unfaithfulness, he again commits his love to her.

[Slide – Go off screen share until the final passage at end of message – Hosea 4 – There is a blank slide between this and next slide] This is the way God is with His people, Israel and us. Despite our unfaithfulness to His covenant, He continues to keep it. He continues to bring us back to Himself. And in reversing each child’s name, Yahweh continues to show His faithfulness to His covenant.

God navigates the Roller Coaster of Being a Dad/Parent

Jewish Bible ‘fell in love’

The Parental Cycle – Heart Warming (JPA – ‘I fell in love…), Heart Breaking, Anger, Remembrance of the Core of Original Heart Warming

Allowables

Difference in rights and shoulds “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

God’s actions v Consequences of our actions – Assyrians, alliances, kingdom desires – 10-12 years later conquered by Assyria because of the Isrealites desire and pursuit of being like the surrounding nations, and to be better than the Isrealites in Judah

God is willing to not do what he is allowed to do but instead acts out of his original love for the people.

Hope – Even as Assyria is approaching, God’s Continues Pleading/Wooing the Israelites/Ephraimites to Return to God. God will continue to do this as the people are in exile (the same as happens later to the Isrealites in Judah as they too are conquered and taken to exile.

[Final 2 Hosea 4 Slides] ‘God says, Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Return to the Lord and say to God, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will show the genuineness of our return to God with our words and our true inner intentional meaning of our words. We know that Assyria will not save us; instead we will trust fully in God.”

‘O Israel, what have I to do with your idols? It is I who answer and look after you not them. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. Those who are wise must understand these things; those who are discerning know these things; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.’

Hosea 4:1-3, 8-9

Failure of Church – Tough Love/rejection/shunning

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

O come all you unfaithful
Come weak and unstable
Come know you are not alone

O come barren and waiting ones
Weary of praying
Come see what your God has done

Christ is born Christ is born
Christ is born for you

O come bitter and broken
Come with fears unspoken
Come taste of His perfect love

O come guilty and hiding ones
There is no need to run
See what your God has done

Christ is born Christ is born
Christ is born for you

He’s the Lamb who was given slain for our pardon
His promise is peace for those who believe

So come though you have nothing
Come He is the offering
Come see what your God has done

Christ is born Christ is born
Christ is born for you

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, Isaiah 5:1-7; 11:1- 5, Still Messy
Thanksgiving Dinner, Next Sunday, November 19, following morning worship, List in Entryway, Turkey provided.
Christmas Eve, December 24, 4:40pm/5:00pm, No morning worship that day
Advent Series, How Does A Weary World Rejoice, Beginning 11.26, Devo Books ready 11.19.23

Benediction (Slides) Rick

We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive in even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the path laid before us.

Closing Peace (Slides) Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 11.05.23

Order, Words, & Voices

11.05.23, Oblation, 1 Kings 18:17- 39

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Billy & Team

Lord I Lift Your Name on High

God Will Make a Way

Call to Gather/Call To Prayer Mitch

Songs Billy & Team

I Will Never Be

Show Me Your Ways

Prayers for our World Rick

Message Oblation Rick

Music I Will Never Be Billy and Team

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) Billy and Team

Lord I Lift Your Name On High

CCLI Song # 117947

Verse

Lord I lift Your name on high

Lord I love to sing Your praises

I’m so glad You’re in my life

I’m so glad You came to save us

Chorus

You came from heaven to earth

To show the way

From the earth to the cross

My debt to pay

From the cross to the grave

From the grave to the sky

Lord I lift Your name on high

God Will Make A Way

CCLI Song # 458620

Chorus

God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength

For each new day

He will make a way

Verse

By a roadway in the wilderness

He’ll lead me

And rivers in the desert will I see

Heaven and earth will fade

But His Word will still remain

He will do something new today

Call to Gather (Slides) Mitch

We gather for a shared moment before God. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world on our common path of Becoming.

We gather with those who are in struggles we cannot imagine and in places where suffering permeates to a depth we will never understand.

We gather with those who have rejoiced in victories as well as those whose pain is guarded with a vigilance that is excruciating.

We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of refreshment before God, and a moment to remember the hope found in the empty tomb.

We travel a called and yet chosen path. A path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we gather before the God who is God.

Prayer – A Call to Prayer (Slides) Mitch

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

I Will Never Be

CCLI Song # 1874911

Verse 1

I will never be the same again

I can never return

I’ve closed the door

I will walk the path

I will run the race

And I will never be the same again

Chorus

Fall like fire soak like rain

Flow like mighty waters

Again and again

Sweep away the darkness

Burn away the chaff

And let a flame burn

To glorify Your name

Verse 2

There are higher heights

There are deeper seas

Whatever You need to do

Lord do it in me

And the glory of God fills my life

And I will never be the same again

Show Me Your Ways

CCLI Song # 1675024

Show me Your ways

That I may walk with You

Show me Your ways

I put my hope in You

The cry of my heart

Is to love You more

To live with the

Touch of Your hand

Stronger each day

Show me Your way

Prayer for Others (Leave I Tim slide up through prayer/No prayer slide) Mitch

[Slide] Call to Prayer – ‘Pray for all people. Ask God to bless them and give them what they need. And give thanks. Pray for rulers and for all who have authority. Pray for these leaders so that we can live quiet and peaceful lives—lives full of devotion to God and respect for him.’ 1 Tim 2:1-3 abb (ERV)

Prayer– O Lord, you who ask us to do the impossible—to bless our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and to love those who seek us harm. Most ironically, God, we pray that you would do the impossible in us, lead us to love our enemies as you love them. Open our eyes in order that we may recognize the hatred, darkness, arrogance, insecurity, self centeredness, and disregard of others, that hides in our darkest places, is often our greatest enemy. We also ask, God, that you will restrain the power of evil that exists in our world. We pray this in the name of the One that does impossible things. Amen.

Adapted from the written prayers of W. David O. Taylor

Message (Slides) Rick

Understanding the Impact of the Past on the Present

[Slide] Kings of United Kingdom

[Slide] Saul, 40 years, G/E
[Slide] David, 40 years, G/E/G
[Slide] Solomon, 40 years, G/E

[Slide] God gives Prophets to the Kings for Accountability, Confrontation, Correction, Guidance

[Slide] Saul – Samuel
[Slide] David – Samuel/Nathan
[Slide] Solomon – Nathan

[Slide] Southern Kingdom – Judah

[Slide] Rehoboam, 17, E, Shemaiah
[Slide] Abidjan, 3, E, Shemaiah
[Slide] Asa 41, G, Shemaiah/Hanani

[Slide] Northern Kingdom – Israel

[Slide] Jeroboam, 21, E, Ahijah
[Slide] Nadaab, 1-2, E, Ahijah
[Slide] Baasha, 23-24, E, Jehu
[Slide] Elah, 1-2, E, Jehu
[Slide] Zimri, 7 days, E, Micaiah
[Slide] Omri, 11-12, E, Micaiah/Elijah
[Slide] Ahab, 21-22, E, Elijah (Jezabel)

[Slide] Predicament of Prophets in regard to their mission and the power of Kings
[Slide] The curse of the ancestors in regard to the passing on the evil of powers as felt behind the scenes. The build up from David to each King (probably long before, even before Abraham).

Passage (Note for Slides – There will be initial slide of passage and then an identical slide but with underlining – leave underlining slide up until I move to next passage slide)

[Slide] When Ahab, King of Northern Kingdom Israel, saw the prophet Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the false god Baal.”

[Slide] “Have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

[Slide] So King Ahab sent to all the Israelites and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah then came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word.

[Slide] Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets number four hundred fifty. Let two bulls be given us, one to me and there other to the false prophets; let them choose the one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood but put no fire to it.

[Slide] Then your prophets will call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord; the (G)god who answers by fire is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!”

[Slide] Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!”

[Slide] There was no voice and no answer from their god. They limped about the altar that they had made. At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”

[Slide] Then the false prophets cried aloud, and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response from their god.

[Slide] Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me,” and all the people came closer to him. Elijah began by repairing the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down; then he took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”; with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord.

[Slide] Then Elijah made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. Elijah said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time, so that the water ran all around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

[Slide] At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding.”

[Slide] “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust and even licked up the water that was in the trench.

[Slide] When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.”

1 Kings 18:17- 39

[Slide] The Contradictory Evidences in the life message of Elijah
[Slide] Acting on Mission from God – Slaughtering hundreds of false prophets on own
[Slide] Loyalty/Boldness/fearless before kings – Hiding/Fear/Depression/fearful of Jezebel
[Slide] Determined – Finished

Message to us

Oblation – unconditional surrender/loyalty and submission
Discipline/Control
Vulnerability and Honesty before God
Seen v Unseen

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

I Will Never Be

CCLI Song # 1874911

Verse 1

I will never be the same again

I can never return

I’ve closed the door

I will walk the path

I will run the race

And I will never be the same again

Chorus

Fall like fire soak like rain

Flow like mighty waters

Again and again

Sweep away the darkness

Burn away the chaff

And let a flame burn

To glorify Your name

Verse 2

There are higher heights

There are deeper seas

Whatever You need to do

Lord do it in me

And the glory of God fills my life

And I will never be the same again

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, Hosea 11:1-9, The Willingness of God
Thanksgiving Dinner, Sunday, November 19, following morning worship, List in Entry way next Sunday, Turkey provided.
Christmas Eve, December 24, 4:40pm/5:00pm, No morning worship that day
Advent Series, How Does A Weary World Rejoice, Beginning 11.26, Devo Books ready 11.19

Benediction (Slides) Rick

We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive in even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the path laid before us.

Closing Peace (Slides) Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 10.29.23

Order, Words, & Voices

10.29.23, Royal Disregard, 1 Kings 12:1-17, 25-29

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Billy & Team

Lord Reign In Me

Thank You Lord

Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda/Segun

Following Jesus’ Example/Worship Response Rick

Songs Billy & Team

Draw Me Close

Change My Heart

Prayers for our World Rick

Message Royal Disregard Rick

Music Billy and Team

Change My Heart

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) Billy and Team

Lord Reign In Me

Verse 1

Over all the earth You reign on high

Every mountain stream

every sunset sky

But my one request

Lord my only aim

Is that You’d reign in me again

Chorus

Lord reign in me reign in Your pow’r

Over all my dreams

in my darkest hour

You are the Lord of all I am

So won’t You reign in me again

Verse 2

Over every thought over every word

May my life reflect

the beauty of my Lord

‘Cause You mean more to me

Than any earthly thing

So won’t You reign in me again

Chorus

Lord reign in me reign in Your pow’r

Over all my dreams

in my darkest hour

You are the Lord of all I am

So won’t You reign in me again

Thank You Lord

Verse

For all that You’ve done

I will thank You

For all that You’re going to do

For all that You’ve promised

And all that You are

Is all that has carried me through

Jesus I thank You

Pre-Chorus

And I thank You thank You Lord

(And I thank You thank You Lord)

Thank You thank You Lord

(Thank You thank You)

Chorus

Thank You for loving

and setting me free

Thank You for giving

Your life just for me

How I thank You Jesus I thank You

Gratefully thank You thank You

Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) Linda/Segun

We gather for a shared moment before God. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world on our common path of Becoming. We gather with those who are in struggles we cannot imagine and in places where suffering permeates to a depth we will never understand. We gather with those who have rejoiced in victories as well as those whose pain is guarded with a vigilance that is excruciating.

We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of refreshment before God, and a moment to remember the hope found in the empty tomb. We travel a called and yet chosen path. A path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we gather before the God who is God.

Prayer – Following Jesus’ Example (Slides) Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) Rick

Leader: You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession.

Response: We have become a people called out of darkness into God’s amazing light.

Leader: Once you were not a people.

Response: Now we are God’s people.

Leader: The gifts God gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers.

Laity: Called to equip us for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

Leader: We do this work together until we all come to the unity of the faith. Response: We do this work together until we all come to the full knowledge of Jesus.

1 Peter 2:9-10a & Ephesians 4:11-13a (CEB)

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

Draw Me Close

Verse

Draw me close to You

Never let me go

I lay it all down again

To hear You say that I’m Your friend

You are my desire no one else will do

‘Cause nothing else could take Your place

To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find the way bring me back to You

Chorus

You’re all I want

You’re all I’ve ever needed

You’re all I want

Help me know You are near

Change My Heart Oh God

Chorus

Change my heart oh God

Make it ever true

Change my heart oh God

May I be like You

Verse

You are the potter

I am the clay

Mold me and make me

This is what I pray

Prayer for our World (Keep call to first passage up through prayer) Rick

[Slide] Prayer introduction

[Slide] Call to Prayer – ‘First of all, I ask that you pray for all people. Ask God to bless them and give them what they need. And give thanks. You should pray for rulers and for all who have authority. Pray for these leaders so that we can live quiet and peaceful lives—lives full of devotion to God and respect for him.This is good and pleases God our Savior.’ 1 Tim 2:1-3 (ERV)

Prayer– To you O God, the God whose holy anger heals; To you O God, the Messiah whose righteous anger overcomes evil; To you O God, the Spirit who keeps our angers from turning destructive: Receive our wounded hearts; Take our burning words; Protect us from our desires for revenge. May our righteous angers become fuel for justice in our fractured world and for the mending of broken relations in our neighborhoods and homes.

For God’s sake—and ours—we pray.

Amen.

Prayer penned by W. David O. Taylor

Message (Slides) Rick

Introduction

Listening to part of Pastor Sharon Riley’s Wednesday night black history taught at her Church in Orlando, Florida, Perfecting Praise & Worship Center. Need to know history.

History

[Slide] 1st King, King Saul, sat on throne for approximately 40 years. After Saul’s death there was not agreement over who would be the next King over Israel,
[Slide] Southern Kingdom, Judah chose David, who had been anointed next King by God, through Samuel, over two decades earlier, was named King over the Southern Kingdom, Judah. 2 plus tribes.
[Slide] The Northern Kingdom – Israel, consisting of 9 plus tribes, chose Saul’s son Ishbosheth to rule Israel
[Slide] Both men ruled their respective Kingdoms for approximately 7 years, frequently battling to reunite Israel and to have their respective king rule.
[Slide] As Israel began to fail in battle to Judah and surrounding nations, Ishbosheth, was assassinated by own men.
[Slide] Leaders of Israel made a covenant with David to reunite Judah and Israel, with David as King. David then ruled united Israel for 37 years for total of 40 years on the throne total.
[Slide] David declared that Jerusalem would be united capital and conquered the Canaanite city.
[Slide] David moved ‘God’, Ark/Chest, to Jerusalem, learning brutal lesson of God’s power in the first failed, and then second successful move.
[Slide] Because David was human, a human mess, his family suffered many consequences, much trauma and chaos. David had a heart for God even though he was a mess/humble and repentant. In the end his third son, Absalom, rebelled against his father David and died in battle. David’s first son, Adonijah, attempted to seize the throne even though David chose third son Solomon. David failed in many ways, and failures impacted family, but David was sincere in his passion for God.
[Slide] Solomon named King. David saw sin as an abomination to God while Solomon saw sin simply breaking a/the law. Solomon was wise but heart was easily turned from God – Politically successful, but relationship with God was a disaster. Solomon rules forty years.
[Slide] Although Solomon was a great King on paper, in reality, for the people of Israel, life became increasingly difficult, especially for marginalized people such as women. The work of Solomon’s looking like a great King, came at the expense and pain of the people. Solomon abused his own people in order to make himself look good to the outside royalty.
[Slide] God, through prophet Ahijah, anoints Jeroboam to lead the northern kingdom even before Solomon dies – signaling God’s rejection of Solomon (Remember Samuel’s anointing of David while Saul was still king even though would continue for a couple of decades) while still keeping his Davidic promise. 9 tribes will be in the Israeli (Northern Kingdom) with tribe of Levi eventually being scattered between both nations. Solomon is unhappy with this and sets out to kill Jeroboam. God allowed Southern Kingdom to remain with tribes of Benjamin and Judah (tribe of David) in accordance with his promise to maintain a David line on Throne. Levites were mainly in Judah at first since they maintained the temple and all religious training.
[Slide] Solomon died and turmoil increased. Division rose again and the northern and southern Kingdoms battled from prominence and for their chosen King –
Israel continued with Jeroboam as King).
Judah went with Solomon’s third son Rehoboam who had grown up in an atmosphere even more messy than David’s household.

Passage – Read and Comment

[Slide] Rehoboam, and all of Israel, the Northern Kingdom went to Shechem to make Rehoboam King of the united Israel (significant because it was the first city all tribes entered when first coming into Promised land, it was also the site where Abraham and Jacob built an altar earlier to remind themselves of God’s promise).

[Slide] When Jeroboam, the current King of the Northern Kingdom, who was hiding from Solomon in Egypt, heard that this gathering with Rehoboam was going to take place he returned to Israel to speak with Rehoboam with the other Israelite leaders.

[Slide] Once they all arrived, they said to Rehoboam, “Your father Solomon made our yoke heavy. Now, therefore, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.” Rehoboam said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away. (The people are explaining from their own personal experience that Rheoboam’s father, the past King, Solomon abusive actions were the reason they had revolted against Solomon and why God had replaced him with Jeroboam)

[Slide] King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” They answered him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”

[Slide] But Rehoboam disregarded the advice that the older men gave him and consulted with the young men who he had grown up with and now were his inner circle. Rehoboam asked them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”

[Slide] The young men who had grown up with Rehoboam said to him, “You should say to tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. Now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’ ” (this is basic ‘locker room’ talk/boasting – it comes out of arrogance and insecurity, attempting to proves one’s manliness while completely missing what manliness is. They are trying to impress each other instead of giving their friend and King the best advice).

[Slide] Rehoboam then answered the Northern Kingdom, Israel, harshly. He disregarded the advice that the older men had given him and instead followed the advice of his young and immature friends saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” (Rehoboam chose to listen to the voices of arrogance, insecurity, inexperience, and unwise. He chose to not only repeat the mistakes of his father but to exaggerate it.)

[Slide] When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the promise to our ancestor, and your ancestor, Abraham and Jacob.

[Slide] To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.” They rejected Rehoboam as their King, the two Kingdoms were not reunited. But Rehoboam reigned over the Southern Kingdom, Judah, and over any Israelites who happened to live in the towns of Judah.

1 Kings 12:1-17

[Slide] Jeroboam remained the King of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, but feared that the Israelites of Israel would revert their loyalty to the house of David, to Rehoboam if they continued to go to Jerusalem to make their sacrifices. He was even more afraid that if this happened and the people turned to Rehoboam that they would ultimately kill him (Jeroboam).

[Slide] So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. He said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

1 Kings 12:25-29

Application

Who are you listening to?

What is your filter when you are listening?

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

Change My Heart Oh God

Chorus

Change my heart oh God

Make it ever true

Change my heart oh God

May I be like You

Verse

You are the potter

I am the clay

Mold me and make me

This is what I pray

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Saturday Night – Move clocks back an hour before bed
Next Sunday, Oblation, 1 Kings 18:17- 39

Benediction (Slides) Rick

We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive in even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the path laid before us. We continue through even when our body, and every muscle within us, is exhausted.

Closing Peace (Slides) Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 10.22.23

Order, Words, & Voices

10.22.23, Unpleasant Harmony , 2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Lynn & Team

Come, Now is the Time to Worship

From the Inside Out

Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda/Segun

Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading 2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5 Cricklins

Songs Lynn & Team

Great Things
Seek Ye First

Message Unpleasant Harmony Rick

Music Lynn and Team

Revelation Song

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) – Lynn and Team

Come, Now is the Time to Worship
Come now is the time to worship
Come now is the time to give your heart
Come just as you are to worship
Come just as you are before your God
Come

One day every tongue
Will confess You are God
One day every knee will bow
Still the greatest treasure remains
For those who gladly choose You now

Come now is the time to worship
Come now is the time to give your heart
Come just as you are to worship
Come just as you are before your God
Come

From the Inside Out
A thousand times I’ve failed
Still Your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I’m caught in Your grace

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart in my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart in my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never-ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out (Lord)
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out (Lord)

Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) – Linda/Segun

We gather this morning for a moment, a moment of worship, a moment of praise. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world who share this common path towards Becoming the Righteousness of God. We gather in places where there is suffering in ways few can begin to imagine.

We gather with those who have experienced victories and those who are hiding their suffering while standing in front of us with a smile on their face. We gather with those whose comfort is guarded with a vigilance that is ultimately impossible to maintain.

We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of shared refreshment before God. We share a called, and yet chosen path, a path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we worship the God who is love.

Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) – Rick

Leader: Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary

Response: Praise him in his mighty firmament

Leader: Praise him for his mighty deeds

Response: Praise him according to his surpassing greatness

Leader: Praise him with trumpet sound

Response: Praise him with lute and harp

Leader: Praise him with tambourine and dance

Response: Praise him with strings and pipe

Leader: Praise him with clanging cymbals

Response: Praise him with loud clashing cymbals

Leader: Let everything that breathes praise the Lord

Response: Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 150)

Lord’s Prayer (Slides) – Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Reading Cricklins

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you, ‘It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.’”

So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

2 Samuel 5:1-5

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim.

They carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God, and Ahio went in front of the ark.

David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

2 Samuel 6:1-5

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

Great Things

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

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

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

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

Seek Ye First
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things
Shall be added unto you
Allelu alleluia

Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and the door
Shall be opened unto you
Allelu alleluia

Message (Slides) Rick

Introduction

Becoming…

Past

[Slide – leave screen share up until noted to end] Creation, river in garden that splits into 4 rivers and flows out of garden providing for all peoples that we see throughout the bible experience. A river built, a river created, for our becoming. A river that would become rivers from which would be our avenue of provision from God, our constant proof of God’s existence, and our purpose given to us by God.
[Slide] Abraham and Sarah, Sarah’s revelation that God’s promise to Abraham is also a promise to her – she is a part not an obstruction to the fulfillment of the promise.
[Slide] Jacob wrestles God on way to reconcile with brother Esau. Forgiveness given and blessing of promise to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, is now also promise to Jacob.
[Slide] Moses asks God to give his name, an impossible task since there is no other word or concept except ‘God’ a word which had already been misused and abused.
[Slide] Moses prepares the people to stand before God on their own as he will no longer be with them and will no longer stand before God for them (stand in between them and God).
[Slide] Ruth, a pagan, a non Isrealite makes a choice to follow the God she knows nothing about except for the witness of her mother in law who is as hopeless as Ruth is.
[Slide] And, this week, we land on Ruth’s great grandson, David, King David. About to be King David of the united tribes of Israel.
[Slide] Judges to Kings (peoples’ desire/demand to have an In Between), Saul, In between time of disagreement of who is the rightful king, in south it is David, in the north it is Ishbosheth, the surviving son of Saul – David and Ishbosheth’s armies battled for the 7 years both were king – Ishbosheth was killed by his own men thinking that this would bring them favor with the next King David – it did not.

[Slide] Passage

‘all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you, ‘It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.’” II Sam 5:1-3

[Slide] Bone and Flesh (Israeli Leaders said to David)

[Slide] “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” Genesis 2:23
[Slide] Commonality of the twelve tribes who did not necessarily consider themselves to have a commonality
[Slide] Led Israel out and brought it In
[Slide] God said, “You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you shall be ruler over Israel.”

[Slide] David Moved capital from Hebron to Jerusalem

[Slide] Had to conquer Jerusalem, it was a canaanite city
[Slide] Politically strategic decision made entirely by David, neutral place

[Slide] David ‘Moved’ God (ark) to Jerusalem

[Slide] Ark/God at Center
[Slide] Philistines
[Slide] First Soldiers, Uzzah, and ‘Saving’ God
[Slide] Second Attempt w/o military

[End Screen Share]

Israel as Metaphor for the Becoming Church

David – Imperfect but genuine zeal for God
Unity/Commonality (commonality of believers and commonality of humans
Trust in Man/Trust in God

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

Revelation Song
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Holy holy is He
Sing a new song to Him Who sits on
Heaven’s mercy seat

Holy holy holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of kings
You are my ev’rything
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows of living color
Flashes of lightning rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor strength and glory
And power be to You the only wise King

Holy holy holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of kings
You are my ev’rything
And I will adore You

Filled with wonder awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your name
Jesus Your name is power breath and living water
Such a marv’lous mystery yeah

Holy holy holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of kings
You are my ev’rything
And I will adore You

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, Royal Disregard, 1 Kings 12:1-17, 25-29 (Mark 10:42-45)
Next Book Discussion Luncheon (Today), ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, luncheon will take place today2, following worship.

Benediction (Slides) Rick

As we leave this place we continue on this journey fully dependent on the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are on this path because of God’s extravagant grace and by our own choice. We are connected to the soil and the pursuit of becoming the righteousness of the Holy God. This is a pursuit that gives us no choice but to face the struggles for in that we are blessed.

We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive into the flowing provision even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the sole path and purpose of becoming. We wrestle through even when our body, and every muscle within us, is exhausted.

Closing Peace Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices

Order, Words, & Voices

10.15.23, Even Hopelessness , Ruth 1:1-17

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Billy & Team

Lord I Lift Your Name on High

Take My Life (Holiness)

Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda/Segun

Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading Ruth 1:1-17 Renee

Songs Billy & Team

Hide me in the cleft of the rock

Your Love is Deep

Message Even Hopelessness Rick

Music Billy and Team

Your Love is Deep

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) – Billy and Team

Lord I Lift Your Name On High

Verse

Lord I lift Your name on high

Lord I love to sing Your praises

I’m so glad You’re in my life

I’m so glad You came to save us

Chorus

You came from heaven to earth

To show the way

From the earth to the cross

My debt to pay

From the cross to the grave

From the grave to the sky

Lord I lift Your name on high

(Repeat)

Take My Life

Verse 1

Holiness holiness

Is what I long for

Holiness is what I need

Holiness holiness

Is what You want from me

Verse 2

Faithfulness faithfulness

Is what I long for

Faithfulness is what I need

Faithfulness faithfulness

Is what You want from me

Chorus

So take my heart and form it

Take my mind transform it

Take my will conform it

To Yours to Yours oh Lord

Verse 3

Righteousness righteousness

Is what I long for

Righteousness is what I need

Righteousness righteousness

Is what You want from me

(Probable repeat of chorus or other elements of song)

Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) – Linda/Segun

Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) – Rick

Leader: The Lord looks down and sees all of humanity

Response: From his throne God sees all the inhabitants of the earth

Leader: God fashions the hearts of all and observes the deeds of humans

Response: The Lord calls on all to trust and to serve

Leader: A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength

Response: The war horse is a vain hope for victory,great might it cannot save

Leader: The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love

Response: God is present to deliver souls from death and to deliver in famine

Leader: Our soul waits for the Lord; God is our help and shield

Response: Our heart is glad in him as we trust in his holy name

Leader: God may your steadfast love be upon us

Response: Lord, may our hope be found in you

(Psalm 33:13-22)

Lord’s Prayer (Slides) – Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Reading Renee

There was a famine in the land of Judah. A man of Bethlehem in Judah went to reside in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife was Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They entered the land of Moab and remained there.

Then Elimelech died; and Naomi was left with her two sons who took Moabite women as wives; the names of the wives were Orpah and Ruth. And they lived there for about ten years.

Then both sons also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Naomi arose with her daughters-in-law to return to Judah because she had heard that the Lord had given his people food. The three women departed Moab and set out for the land of Judah.

But Naomi stopped and said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.”

“May the Lord grant that you may find a place of rest, each one in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept.

However, they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Return, my daughters!”

“Go, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I were to marry and also give birth to sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you refrain from marrying?”

“No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”

“And they raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.”

Then Naomi said, “Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after with her.”

But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”

“Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.”

Ruth 1:1-17

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

Hide Me In The Cleft Of The Rock

Verse

Hide me in the cleft of the Rock

Clothe me in the love of the Son

Lord surround me surround me

I release the joy of my heart

Flowing from the River of life

Lord surround me with Your love

Chorus

You are my refuge

A present help in my trouble

A river of gladness

My help as the morning comes

You are my refuge

Though the world falls around me

No I will not fear

Lord for I have Your love

(Repeat vs. and chorus)

Your Love Is Deep

Verse

Your love is deep Your love is high

Your love is long Your love is wide

Your love is deep Your love is high

Your love is long Your love is wide

Chorus

Your love is deeper than my view of grace

Higher than this worldly place

Longer than this road I travel

Wider than the gap You filled

Deeper than my view of grace

Higher than this worldly place

Longer than this road I travel

Wider than the gap You filled

Bridge

So who shall separate us

Who shall separate us from Your love

Nothing can separate us

Nothing can separate us from Your love

Ending

Your love is deep

(Expect a repeat of chorus somewhere)

Message (No Slides) Rick

Opening Illustration – Worker and rake at NHS/perspectives

I have studied and preached from the story of Ruth countless times. I have struggled with the cultural elements of the story as well as the gender devaluation with each study. It was not until this time that I saw it through a different perspective – different perspectives can reveal a story within a story that has often gone unnoticed multiple times before. This time, with this added perspective, I have seen that, while the completed story has the element of redemption and hope, these first 17 verses contain a story of life, love, choice, and the confrontation of a people which ultimately continues through our times. Maybe it is directed at us, our time and our culture, more than any other time in history.

We are going to just hang out in these 17 verses this morning. I think that is where the meat is that is specifically needed by us and in our times. 17 verses that come from two largely hopeless women – one a Isrealites and one a Moabite.

This is a gritty and difficult story to process. It is a story of the shared hopelessness of these two women, Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth. A story of devotion to each other in their mutual hopelessness that leads both women on a path that holds no promises and no guarantees and no assurances of a future where hope may be found.

A story of one woman’s choice to follow the God of another not because of a personal experience with the true God, but, instead, because of the impact of the other, even though the other is as hopeless and desperate and really has nothing but misery to show for her devotion to God.

Honestly, I think that possibly our forefathers erred by not making this story of Ruth into two separate books – for in these 17 verses we see how a true and uncluttered dependence on God can change the world. In these 17 verses we see two women who live in a world of hopelessness, a world where people, in their desperation have no choice but to leave their homes just to find food and safety while oftentimes taking a path that leads them through even greater darkness than the darkness they left behind. It is a hopelessness where loved ones die, where politics/religion/egos/money/and power lead to bombs, destruction, death, unforgettable images on our screens, and fear in the hearts of our children. A reminder to all of us that we are never far from the infliction of despair or misery, that there will always be suffering somewhere, and, ironically, that ultimately God, and even hope, is always present even though we may not ever see any proof.

The story begins with disaster, a famine so severe that a “a certain man … and his wife and two sons” leave their home in Bethlehem, cross a river and a national border, and seek refuge in a foreign country. A family acting out of their very real desperation seeking to find hope that is no longer present at home.

Elimelech, Naomi, and Sons, Mahlon and Chilion, of the city of Bethlehem were another part of a long line of biblical, historical, and households in our time that found or find themselves facing food insecurity and other evidences of hopelessness that propel them into survival existences. They envisioned not way to survive as they witnessed their land turning barren. There were zero options in the midst of famine.

Just like we see happening all over the globe even now, families facing starvation or other brutalities walk miles, take risks, and cross into unfamiliar lands, attempting to survive the dangerous present and daring to hope there might be a future, any future and anywhere. Abraham, Sarah and their household fled twice in desperate attempts to survive. Jacob’s family and countless others faced the same predicaments.

Elimelech and Naomi make a very rational decision to leave their home. What seems to be less rational however is where they went, the country of Moab, a country, at least in Biblical times, was a totally shocking decision. Moab held an earned reputation of being shameful, inhospitable, and dangerous. So bad was the history of the Isrealites and the Moabites that God had placed a ten generation moratorium on any interactions between the two peoples.

Relocation to Moab provided relief from famine, but it did not protect against other disasters. Elimelech dies. The sons marry Moabite women, but ten years later, the sons also die. Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband – an surmountable tragedy. Such tragedy for refugee women, or any women in those times, turned their lives upside down by emotional, social, and economic loss, not to mention their new existence of survival aloneness and isolation.

Following these tragedies, Naomi received news that the famine was over in her homeland and made the decision to return to Bethlehem. This is where the story becomes interesting and unusual – as Naomi prepares to leave Moab, she just assumes the two daughters-in-law are going with her, and, even more interesting, the two daughters-in-law assume the same. Their husbands were dead so there was no legality tying them to Naomi and, since neither was an Isrealite, there was no cultural or religious expectation that they go with her. Nor is there any real consideration of the fact that both young women are now unmarried, childless, and, in Bethlehem, will basically be unmarriable or at best considered unsuitable for any acceptable man. Instead, they both pack their bags as Naomi packs her bags and all three head in the same direction. The connection between these three, and the unprecedented devotion that holds them together, is inexplicable from an outsider perspective, especially when we consider their religious, cultural, history and ancestral differences.

Along the road to Judah, Naomi does begin to consider this situation. She recognizes the devotion of her daughters-in-law but also the huge sacrifice they were making. It may have also occurred to her that the status of these two women may become a burden to Naomi as well. Naomi stops on the road and directs her daughters-in-law to go back to their mother’s house. Naomi is genuine in her concern for these two women, and probably is correct in considering the concerns for herself – she cannot provide and more sons for marriage, the thought is ridiculous.

‘One of the women, Orpah, tearfully accepts Naomi’s command but Ruth is resistant to Naomi’s command to the point of refusal. Both daughters-in-law face uncertain futures. Both are sacrificially acting out of devotion to Naomi.

Powerfully and sacrificially, Ruth makes a stunning pledge to link her life to Naomi, to Naomi’s homeland, her people, and her God. As a foreigner, even more as a Moabite, therefore she will be considered a pagan in Judah, and as a widow without property she will basically be a non-person, Naomi fears that Ruth will not find acceptance or support from the Israelites. Naomi questions if the economic and social structure of her homeland will provide for them.’

(Elna K. Solvang, Professor of Religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota)

Ruth’s foreignness is an oppressive cloud over the story; in fact, the text takes great pains to emphasize Ruth’s ethnicity, repeatedly referring to her as ‘Ruth the Moabite’ rather than simply Ruth. The author directed this reality of prejudice towards the original Jewish readers as a less than subtle nudge to change their perspective, to see this journey through Ruth’s eyes. It is a nudge that is still directed at all audiences even today.

2 lessons, 1 thread

Lesson One – Ruth was a life witness of her God, of trust and hope in her God. She did not talk about it, in fact there is very little talk of God by Naomi. I would take this even further by speculating that Naomi was possibly somewhat cranky – which would be justified by the reality in her life. However, her’s was a faith that could not be ignored. A faith that was noticed by Ruth and Orpah. It was not a preachy faith, no religious sounding talk, no spirtual leaning t-shirts, bumper stickers, or even holy boasting posters on the walls. She was just a real person whose faith permeated her life. I doubt she was always cheerful and contagious, if ever, but if you had the opportunity to watch her persevere through the best and worst of times, when you experienced her acceptance and affirmation even when she had ever reason to reject and judge you, even in the worst of times that seemed to never end, then you could not help but believe in her God.

Lesson Two – The author’s, possibly Samuel, emphasis on the foreign label piled on Ruth is not just a message to an ancient judgemental church it is a slap on the side of the head to the church of today. The church must be a presence to all peoples, regardless of labels, at all, and especially in ther times of desperation, struggle, and misery. We must be a presence of God in the midst of all those time for all people at all times. We should not have to post that we are inclusive of LGBRTQ, or peoples of color or other culture, all churches should be expected to be the hands and embrace of Jesus no matter who those are entering the doors. We do not have to understand others, we cannot wait until we are comfortable with others, we must not wait until religious leaders come to this epiphany, we must be ready to accept the Ruths now. Naomi, along with the writer of Ruth, were concerned about their own peoples’ response to Ruth, an outsider. The church should be known by our unconditional, non judgemental, and non-condemning love, affirmation, and acceptance of all people.

What is the thread, it is found in the Old and New testament – Love the Lord your God with all that you have and love others as much as you love yourself.

The still highly regarded Danish theologian and philosopher of the 1800s, Søren Kierkegaard, sought to bring truth to the individual, to make faith in God personal. His prayer in times such as those faced by Ruth and Naomi, and by the church today when affirmation and acceptance of others is uncomfortable was “O God teach me to breathe deeply in Faith”.

This is our calling, this is our prayer, may we breath deeply in faith.

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

Your Love Is Deep

Verse

Your love is deep Your love is high

Your love is long Your love is wide

Your love is deep Your love is high

Your love is long Your love is wide

Chorus

Your love is deeper than my view of grace

Higher than this worldly place

Longer than this road I travel

Wider than the gap You filled

Deeper than my view of grace

Higher than this worldly place

Longer than this road I travel

Wider than the gap You filled

Bridge

So who shall separate us

Who shall separate us from Your love

Nothing can separate us

Nothing can separate us from Your love

Ending

Your love is deep

(Expect a repeat of chorus somewhere)

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, An Unpleasant Harmony 2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5; Psalm 150
Next Book Discussion Luncheon (next Sunday), ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, luncheon will take place on October 22, following worship. Please RSVP.

Benediction (Slides) Rick

Closing Peace Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 10.08.23

Order, Words, & Voices

10.08.23, In Between , Deuteronomy 5:1- 21; 6:4-9

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Lynn & Team

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

I WIll Trust in You

Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda/Segun

Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15 Martha

Songs Lynn & Team

One God

Amazing Grace

Message In Between Rick

Music Lynn and Team

Lord of all Creation

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) – Lynn and Team

In heavenly armor we’ll enter the land
The battle belongs to the Lord
No weapon that’s fashioned against us will stand
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord

When the power of darkness comes in like a flood
The battle belongs to the Lord
He’s raised up a standard the pow’r of His blood
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord

When your enemy presses in hard do not fear
The battle belongs to the Lord
Take courage my friend your redemption is near
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord

When I can’t see You I know You’re here
When I can’t feel You I will not fear
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

And when the battle is close at hand
I know You’re with me to help me stand
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

I will not be afraid
I will not be afraid
I will trust in You
I will trust in You

And when the darkness is closing in
And I am running against the wind
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

‘Cause when I’m standing upon that shore
And all the battles they have gone before
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

I will not be afraid
I will not be afraid
I will trust in You
I will trust in You

Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) – Linda/Segun

Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) – Rick

Leader: God led the Hebrews to the land of promise. At the edge they doubted God’s word and refused to enter.

Response: Almost there, but in the wilderness their faith faltered.

Leader: That generation died in the wilderness, wandering and wondering what could have been. God had not forgotten the promise because God does not forget.

Response: 40 years later the promise waited for the next generation.

Leader: Moving from Exodus to Deuteronomy we find Moses recalling the painful story to this new generation. Poised to leave the desert and enter the land where God nourishes the soil and the soul.

Response: Leaving brutal Kings behind to enter God’s promise and provision.

Leader: Blessings of life, love, family, and fertile soil. Freedom from slavery and victory over enemies.

Response: Moses’ call is to trust God remembering the fragility of faith.

Leader: Moses will no longer travel with them nor will he stand between them and God as their parents had requested.

Response: Moses imparts his source of his strength – God’s law, statutes, and ordinances.

Leader: Moses defines life in relationship with God, with one another, and with the nations around them. Final lessons teaching worship, practices, and protection.

Response: Lessons about love, strength, and faith.

Leader: On this road to becoming, Moses’ urgent hope is that they hear, listen, and obey, as God leads them to to become a people of promise. That God’s word take root in minds and hearts and passed on to coming generations.

Response: May God’s truth take root in us, may it be seen in our words and actions. May it be known by those who come after us.

Leader: May we realize that Jesus does not stand between us and God.

Response: May we realize that Jesus stands for us before God.

Lord’s Prayer (Slides) – Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Reading Martha

Moses convened Israel’s second generation 40 years after deliverance, and 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and said to them:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. Not with our ancestors but with us, who are all of us here alive today.”

“The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the fire. I was standing between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.”

“And God said: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself idols or bow down to or serve idols, you shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.”

“Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, honor your father and your mother, you shall not murder, neither shall you commit adultery, neither shall you steal. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor, do not covet your neighbor’s spouse or your neighbor’s house, or field, or anything that is theirs.”

“Moses continued, “When those present heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, they approached me and said, ‘You go near, you yourself, and hear all that the Lord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the Lord our God tells you, and we will listen and do it.’

Exodus 5:1-26

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah
Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah

And thou shalt love
The Lord thy God
With all thy heart
With all thy might
And give Him glory
King of glory
In His ways delight

Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah
Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah

And thou shalt love
The Lord thy God
With all thy heart
With all thy might
And give Him glory
King of glory
In His ways delight

There is no other Savior
No other life redeemer
We give our all to praise You
And lift our voice in declaration

Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Through many dangers toils and snares
I have already come
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home

When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun

Message (Slides) Rick

The delivered persons of God are becoming a people, at the same time they each on their own journey of becoming. However, they are also humans, and, like all of us, they are fallen humans. Imperfect humans. On their own, they are unholy humans. Two steps forward one step back.

You can’t really blame them. They have known nothing but slavery, the gods of their Egyptian masters, and the tidbits of passed down information about their ancestors Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons, mainly Joseph. And, they have tidbits, they had heard of a promise made by the Gods.

There was one more thing they had to hold onto, a deliverer that had bested Pharaoh and his armies. A deliverer that had secured their freedom, walked them though dangerous waters, and who talked to God, the God. Yet, still, their faith was fragile. Fragile enough that when Moses was called up to the top of Mt. Sinai by God remaining there for an extended time to receive the Commandments and other laws from God, the fragile people of God who were waiting at the base of the mountain regressed to the religious gods of the Egyptians and took up dancing around a golden bovine they’ve built for themselves out of gold they took from the Egyptians.

And then, as they stood at the entrance to the promise of God, their entrance into the promised land, their land according to God’s promise, they opted out, they turned away. They had no trust, they had no faith, they were not ready or able to enter. It was a journey that required faith and trust, they had neither.

The promise remained, it had been made to the descendants of Abraham. Generations had waited, now the promise would wait for one more generation. It is this next generation we see detailed in the book of Deuteronomy. Although it can easily sound like Moses is speaking to the first generation he led out of slavery but it is Moses recounting that experience. The failure to trust God, the absence of a faith in the God, is recounted as Moses speaks to the next generation now about to enter the promised land which their parents refused do.

[Slide] Karen Strand Winslow describes the book of Deuteronomy “as a bridge between the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) and the prophets. Deuteronomy reiterates much of the Torah while preparing the narratives of what is to come, all with the empahsize to:

[Slide] ‘Tell your children what God has done for your ancestors and obey with gratefulness, serving only “the LORD, your God.’

(Karen Strand Winslow, Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies, Azusa Pacific Seminary, Azusa, California)

So, here at the first part of the book of Deuteronomy, we see Moses begin speaking to the second generation from the Egyptians slavery. Their parents were the one that, forty years ago, witnessed their own deliverance and the miracles that set them free. While their parents had experienced the presence of God in a very blatant way, this next generation only heard their stories of God’s miracles Their parents had seen the supernatural miracles, a sea splitting, soldiers drowned, pillars of fire, provisions from God, their children, this generation, had seen the more subtle miracles, victories in battle, daily provision of manna. Their entire lives had consisted of a constant wandering in the wilderness, and these miracles that probably didn’t seem that spectacular. To them, these grown children, the acts of God were just the way the universe worked. Which is how we live, we miss the miracles around us because we have become accustomed to the, we expect them, we live in an entitled reality.

So, Moses told, or retold, the full story to this second generation. God told of their fragile faith, of their inability to trust God even though they had seen their own deliverance in visually miraculous ways. God also told of the Mt. Sinai experience and his conversations with God. Moses told of the commandments, ordinances, and principles God had given. Moses told of the stone tablets and how they were destroyed when their ancestors showed they were undeserving of the commandments. Moses told of those who committed to God and how they asked Moses to stand in between God and them. Moses told this second generation that they were the tellers of this story as well as the stories of what was yet to come. He told them that it was up to them to not only build up their faith but to also build up the faith of their descendants. It was up to them to embrace the promise made to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob. To embrace the unknown in this unknown land because the God of the promise was present and with them.

Deuteronomy is entirely God’s preparing the second generation for entry into the promised land. In this long sermon, Moses speaks of everything of history and then how to go forward. Lessons on warfare, peace, relationships, promise, hope, and God – everything needed to enter and live in and with God’s promise.

[Slide] Patricia Tull says of this second book of the Old Testament, “[Deuteronomy] is more than a list of laws — rather it is hortatory in nature and sermon, cajoling and motivating with compelling arguments, and most particularly the injunction to remember and repeat divine instructions. Three audiences are evident behind, within, and in front of the text.”

(Patricia Tull, A.B. Rhodes Professor Emerita of Old Testament, Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky)

[Slide] “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

[Slide] “And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and daughters and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead. You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

[Slide] This, the first words, of this passage is known as the Shema after the first word in the verse, Shema, Hebrew for “hear”. It is a central passage in Jewish theology and practice. An observant Jew recites the Shema two times a day, in the morning and in the evening. Jesus, being a good Jew, recites the Shema when asked by a scribe which is the greatest commandment.

[Slide] “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

[Slide] The Shema affirms the oneness of God and God’s sovereignty.

[Slide] ‘The passage also commands us and every hearer or reader of the text to love God with our whole being — mind, heart, spirit, and strength. Then, as Jesus combined this with the commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself, the whole of the Law is encapsulated in this passage.

[Slide] The gift of the Law is a gift given for the flourishing of God’s people, and it is rooted in a relationship of love, the unfathomable love that God first showed us and the love that God calls forth from us in grateful response.’

(Kathryn M. Schifferdecker, Professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minn)

[Slide] ‘Moses calls for a response from the chosen generation of embrace and integrated devotion to God, with the whole heart, soul, and strength — in other words, with all the powers of care, intelligence, and will one might possess. Such devotion does not privilege one faculty over another. Rather, each capacity supports the others: intellect guides will; strength reinvigorates feeling; the heart inspires both inquiry and action.

[slide] To agree with the law is not enough; to feel awe is insufficient; blindly to act is too little for the capacities of the full human. All work in concert. Reminders of this command are to be constant — in the heart, in the home, when traveling, when sleeping, when waking — and repeated to the next generation.’ (Patricia Tull)

Many Jews leaders and scholars, even today, believe that the commands to Love God with everything you have, and to love others as yourself are actually the building block of the ten commandments. These two had already been known, and understood, so they were the first reiterated by Moses.

Three takeaways for us as we leave here considering Moses’ words and heart as he spoke one last time to this generation about to step into and onto God’s promise. Takeaways that affirm but also challenge us in and on our own path of becoming.

First – The Law, Ordinances, Principles, and Practices. They are not a burden, nor are they the rules handed down from an overbearing and arrogant God. They are letters of love to allow a people, including us, a people who are constantly evolving in our relationship with God, with God’s created, and with God’s creation. Jesus fulfilled the law which does not mean that the law is eradicated but instead the veil of misunderstanding can now be withdrawn from our eyes and we are now free to perceive the law as being our guide regarding how to fully live, how to navigate culture, how to nourish and save relationships, and how to not return to a new form of slavery.

Second – The law is summed up in one life sustaining reality – Love. Love God with everything you got and love others as you love yourself which is a natural by product of loving God with everything you have.

Third – God the father orchestrates creation even now, the father stands ahead, leading, prompting, and confronting, inviting new instruments, mixing others sounds together. It was the father who gave the words and actions to Jesus, it was the father who sent the son to save us. God the Spirit stands with us. Giving our faith ephyphany in the midst of our reality. And God the Son stands with the father for us. We no longer do we need someone to stand between us and God, now it is essential that our savior and deliverer stands for us.

Basics – Moses is preparing the people for a reality they are unaccumstom to and to a freedom that they have never experienced. They are heading into a land where they will not be wanted or accepted, a land that could/would tear them away from God and from each other. He gives them the law, ordinances, practices to guide them as long as they choose to remain on the path to becoming. At the same time, Moses will not be going with them, therefore he is releasing them to their choices and their own perception and perspectives of each other and of God. He is calling them to enlarge their view of God and the world. To see the way God see, to hope in the promise of God, and the love as God loves.

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

Lord of all creation

Of water earth and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth

Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
When I stumble in the darkness
I will call Your name by night

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy holy
Precious Lord reveal Your heart to me
Father hold me hold me
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy holy holy holy

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, Even Hopelessness, Ruth 1:1-17
Next Book Discussion Luncheon, ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, luncheon will take place on October 22, following worship. Please RSVP.
Celebrating Excellence Banquet, Sunday, October 29, ? free GF Seats Available – speak with Rick

Benediction (Slides) Rick

Closing Peace Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 10.01.23

Order, Words, & Voices

10.01.23, No Reference Point , Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Billy & Team

Lord Reign in Me

Father of Love

Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda/Segun

Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15 Mitch

Songs Billy & Team

Jesus Name Above All Names

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

Message No Reference Point Rick

Music Billy and Team

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) – Billy and Team

Lord Reign In Me

Verse 1

Over all the earth You reign on high

Every mountain stream

every sunset sky

But my one request

Lord my only aim

Is that You’d reign in me again

Chorus

Lord reign in me reign in Your pow’r

Over all my dreams

in my darkest hour

You are the Lord of all I am

So won’t You reign in me again

Verse 2

Over every thought over every word

May my life reflect

the beauty of my Lord

‘Cause You mean more to me

Than any earthly thing

So won’t You reign in me again

Father of Love

Verse

Father of love

Lord of all creation

I will bless Your name

Forever and ever

I will declare

Your grace and Your mercy

And tell of Your unfailing love

Chorus

Your lovingkindness

Is good to all

Your wings of mercy

Lift me when I fall

Your lovingkindness

Meets my ev’ry need

You cleanse me from unrighteousness

And You give new life to me

Verse

Father of love

Lord of all creation

I will bless Your name

Forever and ever

I will declare

Your grace and Your mercy

And tell of Your unfailing love

Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) – Linda/Segun

Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) – Rick

Leader: Jacob’s son Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, taken to Egypt where he quickly rose in status and then, just as quickly, he fell into prison. He interpreted the ruler’s dream making him powerful in Egypt.

Response: Joseph listened, Joseph rescued, Joseph forgave. God was with Joseph through darkness and light.

Leader: Joseph was a hero in the foreign land of Egypt, his family, and his father were treated like royalty. When Jacob died, the nation grieved.

Response: A new ruler did not know Joseph, he did not care about Jacob. God had not forgotten his promise to Abraham and Jacob.

Leader: The new ruler was afraid of all the descendants of Jacob still living in Egypt. He didn’t care that Joseph had saved the nation centuries before.

Response: Egyptians adopted the fears of their ruler treating the Israelites with contempt. God was still present.

Leader: The ruler attempted to powerfully rule over the Jacob’s descendants – ruthlessly increasing their workload, stopping the birth of their male sons, striving to make their lives bitter.

Response: While their work was meant to defeat them, God had deliverance in the works.

Leader: God had not forgotten the Israelites, he sent a deliverer named Moses who had already been in their midst.

Response: God did not forsake the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God keeps his promises.

Leader: So Moses, a human who was himself delivered, was called by the God he could not fully recognize, a Lord he could not fully identify.

Response: The God who is like none other, the Lord who does not forget and does not forsake.

Leader: The God who is.

Response: The Lord who will always be.

Lord’s Prayer (Slides) – Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Reading Mitch

While tending his father in law’s flock, Moses saw that a bush was on fire but not consumed by the flame. Moses went to see why the bush was not burned up.

God called to Moses out of the bush, “Moses!” Moses said, “Here I am.”

God said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry out of their mistreatment.”

“I know their sufferings, so I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring the Israelites to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

God continued, “I have heard the cry of the Israelites and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Now, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

God replied, “I will be with you, and you will fully understand that it is I who sent you after you have brought the people out of Egypt, and then you will recognize that you, along with the freed Isrealies, are freed and serving Me on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is this God’s name?’ what shall I say to them?”

God said to Moses, “Say, I am who I am. Say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’

‘This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.’” Exodus 3:1-15

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

Jesus Name Above All Names

(Will repeat this one verse 2-3 times – will do it again after 10,000 reasons)

Jesus name above all names

Beautiful Savior glorious Lord

Emmanuel God is with us

Blessed Redeemer living Word

10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)

Chorus

Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

Verse 1

The sun comes up

it’s a new day dawning

It’s time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass

and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing

when the evening comes

Verse 2

You’re rich in love

and You’re slow to anger

Your name is great

and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness

I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons

for my heart to find

Verse 3

And on that day

when my strength is failing

The end draws near

and my time has come

Still my soul will sing

Your praise unending

Ten thousand years

and then forevermore

Tag

Worship Your holy name

Lord I’ll worship Your holy name

Ending

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

Worship Your holy name

Jesus Name Above All Names

(probably just 1-2 times)

Verse 1

Jesus name above all names

Beautiful Savior glorious Lord

Emmanuel God is with us

Blessed Redeemer living Word

Message (Slides) Rick

In 2019 when I ventured to the Mexico border with ten other pastors we were frequently stopped by border patrol to show our passports. They would frequently open the doors of the vans and request that we all pass our passports to the agent. The first time this happened, we were on the US side of the border and once the agent had looked through all the passports he called our name and return our passport. Then he came to the one for which he called out ‘Richard”. Three of the eleven people in the van, including myself, reached out our hands. Three. So, the then said, ‘Okay, this one belongs to ‘Richard Alan’, again three hands reached out – he even asked us how we spell ‘Alan’ and all three of us spelled it the same unusual name. There were three of us with the same first and middle names, three of us known by the same name since birth.

Names have an odd impact. When we name a child after a renown relative or historical character that child may then be expected to carry the weight of that remembered individual. We often give new names, nick names to children who do not seem to fit their name.

This is Moses’, and really even God’s, monumental question found in our passage today as they both were confronted with this need – what name is appropriate for a being who has no reference point, for whom there is no comparison or already established word that would accurately identify the being?

First, though, let’s take a few steps back in the story, back before a name for God was the concern. Back to Moses’ first encounter on the mountain.

[Slide – leave up until notified after next Slide] Dennis Olson describes this the initial moments of Mose’s encounter with God, ’After being chased out of Egypt and away from his Hebrew people, Moses is out shepherding sheep for his Midianite father-in-law. Out in the wilderness, Moses stumbles upon “the mountain of God” known as Mount Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai.’

(Dennis Olson, Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ)

I was was immediately struck by two elements in Dennis Olson’s introduction. First, we have the mentioned of the 3 people groups that were significant in the life of Moses – The Egyptians, the Hebrews, and now, the Midianites. The second thing is Olsen’s use of the word ‘stumbled’. Moses stumbled upon God – or, better said, ‘Moses stumbled upon the place where God was waiting for Moses to show up.’ Truth is, there is a lot of ‘stumbling upon’ in the journey of the Israelites. Actually, we still do a lot of ‘stumbling upon’.

[Slides] The Israelites were a group of stumblers just like we are. They had stumbled along and constantly found that God was waiting for them there, wherever ‘there’ was.

We fail to recognize the fact that the Hebrews, the Israelites, really didn’t know God at this point in their journey. Their ancestor Abraham had surely passed down the stories of creation and the flood to his descendant Isaac. Abraham had told him of God’s promise of blessing, which Isaac passed on to his son Jacob. Jacob had told these stories to his sons, but then the stories were left to 3rd, 4th, and even more distanced story tellers over the course of centuries until they arrived at Moses. Over the course of these centuries – rulers gradually dismissed the significance of the the descendants of Jacob living in their country. The story depended on those who knew little to pass along everything in order that this people would know their God. Centuries of stumbling along. Centuries during which God was not absent only silent, God was waiting for their stumbling to bring them to him on this mountain called Horeb, or Sinai.

[End Screen Share]

And then, Moses, a man rejected by everyone he thought was his people, stumbled upon a burning bush from which God spoke.

In the ancient world, mountaintops were imagined to be the dwelling places for the gods (little g). There, on the mountain, Moses encounters this burning bush which was not burning up, a bush that was in flames yet not being destroyed.

Fire is a frequent symbol of God’s (big g) presence in the Bible. Fire is an element that we, as evolved humans, have a partial understanding. We know it’s burn hurts, and we also know that it can destroy. Fire keeps us at a distance, it hides what is going on in the midst of the fire, while at the same time, the light from the flame provides a illumination on everything going on outside of the flames. Fire burns until it consumes and then it burns no more – except for this fire on this Holy mountain where Moses stumbled onto God’s presence.

This fire is the moment of change in the relationship between God and human. For it was this moment in which God spoke to a human, something that had been done before, but this time, the message was differnt. Moses was being called to go to a people in a way that was new. This was personal with Moses, but it was also about to be personal with a people.

And from the bush, still hidden in the core of the flames, God speaks. God tells Moses to take off his shoes for he is standing on Holy ground/Holy soil.

This command was not really a surprise to Moses. Even having grown up in a household that worshiped the false gods, this same show of respect for the false gods was a constant in his childhood memories growing up in an Egyptian family. However, this was different, Moses had truly stumbled upon Holy soil. While many in his Egyptian culture called places ‘holy’ this soil was different. This practice was familiar, but in reality it now was very personal.

Removing your shoes had a secondary inference as well, this may be an even more important fact than the idea of God’s holiness. Taking off shoes was also a practice when entering a home, whether a tent or a building. This too, in many cultures is a gesture of being home. It signifies a state of belonging, that you are home, welcome, affirmed, embraced, and accepted regardless of your past, present, and even your unknown future.

Remember, this was a moment in which Moses had been rejected by his people the Hebrews and by his people the Egyptians. And, that was not all. Now that we was an guest of the Midinanites, he was a foreigner, he was one to be suspicious of, one to be guarded around. He was unacceptable, he had no real home. He even made a public statement of this fact when he named his first son, Gershom, whose name meant ‘I am a stranger, I do not belong here or anywhere.’ In a way, this status of Moses, a status that was true wherever he went – this status extended as an inheritance to his children.

Moses’ taking off shoes on this holy soil held a load of significance. Somehow, standing before this burning bush from which God spoke, Moses understood he now belonged, he was home. There, on that mountain, Moses, the alien to all human communities and peoples, was now at home. Moses found that his true home was not necessarily with humans but it was with God, the God of his ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob.

With shoes removed and standing on holy soil, Moses was home. He began to settle in but was interrupted as God called him to leave and return to those who had rejected him. Moses was to return to the place which was not his home. God called Moses to go back to Egypt to return to Pharaoh and to the Hebrews in order to lead the Israelites out of their miserable slavery in Egypt and to the guide them to the promised land of Canaan. Moses resisted God’s call with a litany of objections. When that did not work, Moses referred to his own resume and his complete lack of any qualifications that would have made him suitable for this task.

[Slide until notified to end screen share] God responds, “None of that matters – I will be with you.”

Moses was convinced that the Hebrews will immediately reject his leadership; that his leadership will be doomed from the beginning.

Moses asks, “Who is it I am going to say you are? What am I going to say is your name? Do they even know that is your name? None of us know you except in relation to our forefathers’. How else do they know you God? Do they refer you in the same way they do all the gods of Egypt?

I find myself wondering if this was an unexpected question for God. This whole creation, humanity, and free choice thing was still rather new. Up to this point God had never needed a name. Humankind had never established a word that would be adequate to name God – there was no reference point in all of the human vocabulary or the human experience other than in relation to our failed forefathers.

[Slide] God replies, “I am who I am. I will be who I will be.”

God was not offended by Moses questioning. God was not troubled by Moses, nor the Hebrews’, inability to name God. Except for assigning God to their forefathers – forefathers who lived centuries ago, a group of men who they had heard about but never met because they lived and died generations ago, centuries ago.

I think, maybe, that this was a bit of a surprise to God. God is God, God will always be God. God is God. But Moses was right, the gods of Egypt were not really gods, and they were definitely not The God. However, the Hebrews, after generations spending their lives in Egypt among those little g gods, it was all a bit cloudy even to them. It was not a surprise to God that these ‘other gods’ had muddied the waters of knowing God.

For God, there were, and there is, no duplicates. God is God, God has always been God, and God will always be God.

[Slide] Later, after the Hebrews learned from Moses that God’s name is ‘I am who I am, I will be who I will be’ they shorten the name to ‘Yahweh’. A divine name built on the Hebrew verb ‘to be’ because now they knew God is God and what all that means identification wise is still to happen, ‘to be known’. Thus, we begin to see the ‘to be(s)’ come about as the Hebrews, in their new personal understanding of God, see the activity and hear the words defining God, often spoken by God.

[Slide] “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt

[Slide] “I am a jealous God, punishing but showing steadfast love.”

[Slide] “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell with you.“

[Slide] “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.”

[Slide] “I am gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.”

[Slide] “I forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin.”

And many more name add ons spoken by God about God.

[Slide] God is God, and God is yet to be fully named.

[Slide] How do you define God?

[leave slide up until we move to prayer]

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)

Chorus

Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

Verse 1

The sun comes up

it’s a new day dawning

It’s time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass

and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

Verse 2

You’re rich in love

and You’re slow to anger

Your name is great

and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness

I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons

for my heart to find

Verse 3

And on that day

when my strength is failing

The end draws near

and my time has come

Still my soul will sing

Your praise unending

Ten thousand years

and then forevermore

Tag

Worship Your holy name

Lord I’ll worship Your holy name

Ending

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

Worship Your holy name

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, In Between, Deuteronomy 5:1- 21; 6:4-9
Next Book Discussion Luncheon, ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, Some Books available in entry was -$15, or link on web page will take you to Amazon order page (audio, or library app), luncheon will take place in October (date – TBA)
Celebrating Excellence Banquet, Sunday, October 29, 6 free GF Seats Available – speak with Rick

Benediction (Slides) Rick

Closing Peace Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 09.24.23

Order, Words, & Voices

09.24.23, Wrestling with God, Genesis 32:9-30

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song Lynn & Team

Count Your Blessings

Raise a Hallelujah

Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda

Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading Genesis 32:9-30 Cricklins

Songs Ocean Lynn & Team

It Is Well With My Soul

Message Wrestling with God Rick

Music I Surrender All Lynn and Team

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) – Lynn and Team

When upon life’s billows

You are tempest tossed

When you are discouraged

Thinking all is lost

Count your many blessings

Name them one by one

And it will surprise you

What the Lord hath done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God hath done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God hath done

Are you ever burdened

With a load of care

Does the cross seem heavy

You are called to bear

Count your many blessings

Every doubt will fly

And you will be singing

As the days go by

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God hath done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God hath done

So amid the conflict

Whether great or small

Do not be discouraged

God is over all

Count your many blessings

Angels will attend

Help and comfort give you

To your journey’s end

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God hath done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God hath done

I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah Heaven comes to fight for me

I’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes hope will arise
Death is defeated the King is alive

I raise a hallelujah with everything inside of me
I raise a hallelujah I will watch the darkness flee
I raise a hallelujah in the middle of the mystery
I raise a hallelujah fear you lost your hold on me

I’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes hope will arise
Death is defeated the King is alive

Sing a little louder (Sing a little louder)
Sing a little louder (Sing a little louder)
Sing a little louder (Sing a little louder)
Sing a little louder (Sing a little louder)

Sing a little louder in the presence of my enemies
Sing a little louder louder than the unbelief
Sing a little louder my weapon is a melody
Sing a little louder Heaven comes to fight for me

I’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes hope will arise
Death is defeated the King is aliv

Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) – Linda

Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) – Rick

Leader: The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, he makes me lie down in green pastures 

Response: God leads me beside still waters

Leader: The Lord restores my soul 

Response: God leads me on the right paths

Leader: Even though I walk through the darkest valley I fear no evil, for the Lord is with me 

Response: God’s rod and staff comfort me

Leader: The Lord prepares a table before me in the presence of those who would harm me 

Response: God anoints my head with oil, my cup overflows

Leader: Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life 

Response: I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long

Psalm 23

Lord’s Prayer (Slides) – Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Reading Cricklins

Jacob sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau commanding the messengers, “Say to my brother Esau: ‘Your brother Jacob says: “I have sent messengers to you , so that I may find favor in your sight.’’’

The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “Your brother Esau, with four hundred of his men, is coming to meet you.” Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people and everything he owned, into two groups; saying, “If Esau attacks one group, the other group can escape.”

Then Jacob prayed, “God of my father Abraham and of my father Isaac, my Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’

I am unworthy of all the favor and faithfulness you have shown to me. Please save me from the hand of my brother Esau; for I fear him. For You said, ‘I will make you prosper and make your descendants as the sand of the sea.’”

Jacob took his wives and people, to a safe place, leaving all that he had with them. Then Jacob spent the night alone selecting the gifts to pacify his brother, thinking, “I will appease my brother Esau with the gifts then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

Then Jacob was alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he had not prevailed against Jacob, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while they wrestled.

The man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So the man said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and prevailed.”

Jacob asked the man, “Please tell me your name.” But the man said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” The man blessed Jacob there.

Genesis 32:3-29

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

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

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

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

It is well with my soul
It is well
It is well with my soul

When peace like a river
Attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot
Thou hast taught me to say
It is well
It is well with my soul

It is well with my soul
It is well
It is well with my soul

And Lord haste the day

When the faith shall be sight

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll

The trump shall resound

And the Lord shall descend

Even so it is well

With my soul

It is well with my soul
It is well
It is well with my soul

Message (Slides) Rick

[Slide leave up through next slide] Philosopher, Aristotle, believed that in good writing there must be the inclusion of catharsis. A process in which the reader, or audience, struggles with the story in a very personal way in which their own struggles replace the struggles of the story or characters in the story. This, then becomes a very intimate experience for the reader where they work through their own difficulties that have been inserted in the story and then, often, come out with a certain degree of relief. Aristotle called this experience a journey of cleansing through which the reader comes out lighter even though the story itself may end with great tragedy and loss. A moment of catharsis when those involved are able to release some of their own sadness, anxieties, or fears as a result of the story. (Woodhead Publishing, ‘What is literature? Definition, examples of literary catharsis)

[Slide] Such is the reality of the life of Jacob. A lot of bad, a lot of successes, a lot of failures, a lot of victories, a lot of deception, a lot of poor husbanding, even more poor parenting, a lot of tragedies, a lot of fear and insecurity, a lot of disappointment, a lot of good and bad ripples that extend still today – a lot of ripples that have merged to produce a tragic tsunami that still devastates, and saves, our world today. And… a moment of catharsis that prepared him for what lay ahead.

[End Screen Share]

Let’s be honest, the lives of Abraham and Sarah, of their son Isaac, and of his son Jacob and offspring do not really seem to be a blessing to the world as God’s promise leads us to expect.

Today’s story tells of a moment of the epic wrestling match between Jacob and God.

Jacob was a wrestler even while still in his mother’s womb. The twins that grew inside of his mother Rebecca’s womb were equated to two foes at war for the entirety of her pregnancy. When they were finally birthed, the second of the two, Jacob, carried the battles out beyond the womb, holding firmly onto his older brother’s heel in an attempt to move to the place of first born. Later he would metaphorically wrestle his brother Esau’s identity as the first born, and then Jacob would wrestle away the Esau’s blessing from father Isaac. Then, he would face an epic escape, he would let go of wrestling with his brother and run away for his own safety. But the wrestling match would continue even as he thought he was free of the consequences of his own actions. He would wrestle for his wife, he would wrestle with his father in law, he sought to keep his head above water with his two feuding wives, and he would wrestle with sons that were also immersed in the trail of trauma that Jacob left along the way.

Jacob’s story does not end with today’s moment, in fact, even though this moment is one of forgiveness, closure and peace, his future is one of other wrestling matches, defeat, disappointment, happiness, despair, and, in the end, Jacob dies in a foreign land living amongst a foreign people who were not his people and he was not in his land.

Leading up to this moment, Jacob had cleared up the relationship with his father in law and then headed to clear up the relationship with his own father and brother. Jacob expected his moment of seeking forgiveness from his brother and his father to be a painful experience, possibly a fatal moment of closure for himself. Jacob, however, did not expect to face God on the wrestling mat.

So, this mysterious man appears to Jacob as he settles down to rest before facing the battle of the coming day. This man, who we later learn is God, engages Jacob in a physical wrestling battle. I say physical, but it is not so much a battle in which the participants vied for a physical victory, instead, this duel was about a cathartic experience that would truly cleanse and prepare Jacob to face the past, present, and to serve as a preparation for the future.

Jacob, like all human beings, had been in a lifelong struggle with his own trauma. He carried the trauma of his ancestry, and the devastating choices made before him. And Jacob was fully aware of the trauma he carried by his own devastating choices and actions.

[Slide- leave slide up until next Slide]

Chan Hellman says that ‘Trauma robs us of our hope.’

(Chan, professor in the Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and Founding Director of The Hope Research Center at the University of Oklahoma, and author of Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life)

Trauma leaves us with two options, either we face it head on and struggle through it, or, we can choose to ignore and hide the trauma allowing the pain to build into greater pain which often oozes out in the form of sinful and harmful actions.

In the midst of the grueling struggle, as the struggle ends, Jacob does the same thing that began his relationship problems in the first place – he asks for a blessing. The blessing he receives is a new name not status, power, wealth. This blessing is a new identity. His name is going to be changed from Jacob to Israel. He will ultimately be the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.

[Slide] “Relationships are impacted by trauma and conflict as well as possible blessings that culminate in seeing one’s identity in a new way, which seems not to happen without a struggle.

[Slide] Seeing one’s place in the world in a new way is grounded in a different perception of self in relation to God and to others, which in turn paves the way towards replacing enmity with reconciliation.

[Slide] It is possible then that the text is suggesting that wrestling and conflict are unavoidable. But what makes a difference is how we are called to transform conflict into a mutual blessing.

[Slide] Wrestling with the mysterious man interrupts Jacob’s preparation to control his coming encounter with his brother Esau”.

(Safwat Marzouk, Pastor, Wabash Valley Presbytery of PC(USA), Rochester, Indiana, United States)

Jakob is forced to face his own traumas. Now, before he could return to face the confrontation of the ones he deceived and abused earlier in his life, he had a much bigger struggle, an epic struggle, an unexpected and exhausting wrestling match with God. A struggle which would ask the question, ‘Was he ready to fully trust God?’

[End Screen Share]

Have you ever been awoken from your sleep finding yourself filled with anxiety or fears? Choices you had made but which now regret or concern you, relationships that were flawed or toxic that needed to be addressed or ended, tasks that laid ahead that would be exhausting and painful, messes that needed to be cleaned up or corrected which would be humbling, doubt that was crippling, hope that had turned to hopelessness, life that had taken an unexpected twist or turns? Have you ever woken up tired of who you have created yourself to be? This was Jacob’s struggle, a lot of everything piled up and now was not allowing him to sleep – a duel in which he could remain until completion or leave and be powerless and unprepared for the next step on his path.

Have you ever been uncertain who you were or unclear, lost in regard to your own purpose? This was Jacob’s state of mind as this brutal encounter began.

I’ve never officially been a wrestler. I do remember a torturous PE wrestling unit in seventh grade. I have, however, wrestled with my own children. That was all it took to know that once you begin you cannot stop or take a break. You can never quit paying attention and you can never let your guard down. Once you start you are completely in, physically, mentally, emotionally, every muscle is at work and you can never tap out. Your opponent, even when they are but a toddler, is ruthless.

It is near the end of the struggle, as daylight is approaching and Jacob needs to leave to find out his fate with Esau, that the stranger tells him the battle must end. “Let go of Me.” he says. But Jacob refuses, he will not let go. This may be the most pivotal moment of this entire story. Jacob has a chance to leave as he has always done, to take the easy victory, to leave with the birthright, the father’s blessing, his family and riches, to take a moment of rest, but he does not release the stranger. Jacob holds on as firmly as he held on when the wrestling began.

I’ve always wondered about this part of the story. Why is it significant that Jacob does not let go? This has been a life or death battle for Jacob. Not a battle to live or die, but a battle for his very identity and future, a struggle for Jacob’s place in God’s plan. What will he be after this battle? Will he continue to use his wits, deception, riches, and his own power to navigate life and relationship or will there be something deeper? Will he care for others, will be better than those who came before him, will he know the God that made the promise to his grandfather, and to Jacob? So, he held on, he didn’t give up, he struggled through.

I think Mahatma Gandhi as well as Martin Luther King understood this struggle. As they sat with the pain of abuse and terror inflicted on their ancestors neither man would they let go and retribution and revenge. Both men held to their principals throughout their struggles.

I cannot help but compare this struggle of God and Jakob for the stories of individuals who have struggled with homosexuality, of skin color, of nationality status, of gender, or poverty, of those on the margins, those who live with the struggle but refuse to let go of God. They had held tightly to their faith even when their humans in their own faith call on them to let go. Yet, they hold on, refusing to let go of the God who will not let go of them.

Jacob still holding on to the stranger, says, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” and the stranger ‘touched the socket of Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while they wrestled.’

The stranger, crippled Jacob, he took away Jacob’s confidence in himself, his ability to fight as he had before. The stranger gave Jacob a reminder that he could not do what was ahead in his own power, he had to rely on the strength of God. He had to trust God in order to know God. Jacob had to depend on God in order to find God’s path for himself. Jacob had to hold on to God through all that laid ahead in his life because he had a purpose. He had seen God face to face and survived, now he was to shepherd those who would impact the world.

Later, as Jacob meets Esau, Esau says to him, “Truly, to see your face is like seeing the face of God”

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all

All to Jesus I surrender
Humbly at His feet I bow
Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me Jesus take me now

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all

All to Jesus I surrender
Make me Savior wholly Thine
Let me feel the Holy Spirit
Truly know that Thou art mine

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all

All to Jesus I surrender
Lord I give myself to Thee
Fill me with Thy love and power
Let Thy blessing fall on me

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday, No Reference Point, Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15
Next Book Discussion Luncheon, ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, Some Books available in entry was -$15, or link on web page will take you to Amazon order page (audio, or library app), luncheon will take place in October (date – TBA)
Celebrating Excellence Banquet, Sunday, October 29, 6 free GF Seats Available – speak with Rick

Benediction (Slides) Rick

Closing Peace Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

Order, Words, & Voices 09.17.23

Order, Words, & Voices

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Song Billy & Team

Lord Reign in Me

Hallelujah He Reigns

Opening/Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7 Dona

Songs Billy & Team

Shout to the Lord

Faithful One

Message Who Would Believe? Rick

Music Old Rugged Cross Billy and Team

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) – Billy and Team

Lord Reign In Me

Over all the earth You reign on high

Every mountain stream

every sunset sky

But my one request Lord

my only aim

Is that You’d reign in me again

Lord reign in me reign in Your pow’r

Over all my dreams

in my darkest hour

You are the Lord of all I am

So won’t You reign in me again

Over every thought over every word

May my life reflect

the beauty of my Lord

‘Cause You mean more to me

Than any earthly thing

So won’t You reign in me again

Lord reign in me reign in Your pow’r

Over all my dreams

in my darkest hour

You are the Lord of all I am

So won’t You reign in me again

Hallelujah He Reigns

Hallelujah

He reigns in majesty

Hallelujah

He reigns in glory

Hallelujah

He reigns in righteousness

Oh hallelujah hallelujah

Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah

Hallelujah

He reigns in righteousness

Oh hallelujah

Opening Verbal Praise

We gather here this morning for a moment, a moment of worship, a moment of praise. We gather for a moment to recognize the beauty of God’s creation, we gather for a moment to refresh our focus on God the creator. We gather in the shadow of victory, we gather while countless fellow humans are suffering great loss – we gather as many have no place to gather but many of them probably will gather still.

We gather to remember those in places like Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Ukraine, Hawaii, those suffering in ways few of us can begin to imagine. We gather as people worldwide who share a common path, a path of becoming, becoming the righteousness of God. A called and yet chosen path, a path of grace and a path of work. May we, even now, prepare to move forward from this moment to the next moment that is on our path, our path of becoming.

Call to Worship (Slides) – Rick

Leader: If God is for us none can be against us for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Response: There is no condemnation because Jesus has set us free.

Leader: We give praise this day because God sent His own Son as a sacrifice for us.

Response: The sacrifice has been given, grace is now offered.

Leader: We failed to embrace God’s gift of life yet God continues to offer us a life of peace and hope.

Response: God has not enslaved us with a fear that condemns.

Leader: Regardless of our labels, our circumstances, our situation, God is present.

Response: Whatever our circumstances, God is our constant.

Leader: When we cannot see as the angels see, when we fail to notice the works and presence of God, when we are blinded to God’s path, God is present.

Response: In all things, God is working for the good for those who love him and have been called according to His purpose.

Leader: God did not spare what was most precious and gives all things to us.

Response: Neither hardship, persecution, famine, can separate us from Jesus Christ.

Leader: In everything we are more than conquerors because He is the Almighty God.

Response: We are convinced that death nor life, angels nor demons, nor anything else created can separate us from the love of God.

Lord’s Prayer (Slides) – Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Reading Dona Petty

The Lord appeared to Abraham as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing near him.

When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground saying, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.

Let water be brought, and your feet washed while you rest under the tree. Also, let me bring bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.”

The men agreed and Abraham hurried into the tent to his wife Sarah and said, “Quick, use our best flour and make cakes.” Then, Abraham ran and took the best calf from the herd gave it to the servant to quicky prepare it.

Lastly, Abraham took curds and milk along with everything prepared and set it before the three me, and he anxiously stood by them while they ate.

The men said to Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?” Abraham pointed to the teat and said, “She is in the tent.” One of the men said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was hiding at the tent entrance and listening to the conversation. Both Abraham and Sarah were very advanced in age and the idea of her having a baby was outrageous even to her.

Without a thought, Sarah laughed and said to herself, “I have grown old, and my husband is old, and now we are going to have a child!?”

The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘It is outrageous to think that I can have a baby in my old age?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?

At the set time I will return to you and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah flatly denied, and responded saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. The man said, “Yes, you did laugh.” Genesis 18:1-15

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

Shout To The Lord

Verse

My Jesus my Saviour

Lord there is none like You

All of my days I want to praise

The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort my shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath all that I am

Never cease to worship You

Chorus

Shout to the Lord

All the earth let us sing

Power and majesty

Praise to the King

Mountains bow down

And the seas will roar

At the sound of Your name

I sing for joy

At the work of Your hands

Forever I’ll love You

Forever I’ll stand

Nothing compares to the promise

I have in You

Faithful One

Verse

Faithful One so unchanging

Ageless One

You’re my Rock of peace

Lord of all I depend on You

I call out to You again and again

Chorus

You are my Rock in times of trouble

You lift me up when I fall down

All through the storm

Your love is the anchor

My hope is in You alone

Ending

My hope is in You

Our hope is in You alone

Message (Slides) Rick

Ordination/angelology illustration

[Slide] Charles Ryrie says that “the study of angels or the doctrine of angelology is one of the ten major categories of theology developed in many systematic theological works. The tendency, however, has been to neglect it.”

[Slide] I have to admit that I have neglected angelology until this week as I have considered these 3 visitors to Abraham and Sarah’s encampment. One of these messengers is quickly identified as the Lord, while the other 2 are identified as angels later in chapter 19. I think I have managed to develop a simple theology of angels – ‘Beings that are more holy than humans but less holy than God, whose sole purpose is to proclaim the praise and worship of God – not to sing, shout, or proclaim, all of which are an avenues to do their job, however the sole responsibility of each angel is to wholeheartedly and unabashedly serve God in whatever manner God sets in front of them.”

[End Screen Share]

I have come to a fuller appreciation of these beings, and the lessons they teach to us. Angels are either fully in or out, 100% faithful and obedient to God, or they are 100% not. It was at the fall from heaven that the angels who were in and those who were out made their eternal decision. So, we begin this story with a visit from the Lord and these 2 angels who are 100% faithful and obedient to God

God proclaims his clarification that Sarah is an equal benefactor of his promise while she hides in her tent where culture demanded she be. God is proclaiming to Her that she is as much a receiver of this promise as is Abraham. Earlier, in the chapter before, God had given this clarification to Abraham. Abraham laughed hysterically at the thought of Sarah birthing and nursing a child due to her age. So it should be no surprise that when Sarah overheard this clarification she did the same while the angels stood there with the Lord.

I’ve developed a picture of these two angels this week – they are a lot like the Spock character on Star Trek, fully rational and fully knowing and for the angels they are fully trusting the faithfulness of God. They could not understand why Sarah would laugh and doubt. They had witnessed God’s fulfillment, therefore they had no perspective to understand how anyone would doubt God. Sarah, who was not an angel, she had not seen God answer prayers or fulfill promises. To Sarah, this God was still just the God of Abraham. She could not believe, because she could not yet see.

[Slide] “If I could see what the angels see, behind the walls, beneath the sea, under the avalanche, and through the trees gone would be the mystery

[Slide] If I could hear what the angels hear, the thunderous sound of a crashing tear, holy, holy in my ear, I’d never doubt that God is near

[Slide] I’d see that love will conquer hate, I would know that there’s always hope, it’s not too late, then I’d find the truth is easy to believe

[Slide] If I could know what angels know, that death’s goodbye is love’s hello, that those created come and go, I remember them even though they would never show

[Slide] If I could stand where angels stand while they watch this world while God commands, and see how love designed this plan, reminders on His feet and hands

[Slide] If I could see, if I could hear, if I could know, if I could stand, like angels do I’d see that love will conquer hate, that there’s always hope, I’d find that truth is easy to see and believe and that there’s nothing to fear

[Slide] For now I can choose to live this life differently, for now I can choose to see the unseeable truth that the angels see

[Slide] I can believe that love will conquer hate and that there’s always hope, maybe now I can know that it’s not too late

[Slide] I can choose to seek the truth, and like sunlight shining on my face, I can choose to feel the presence of God’s grace and let the truth finally set free (adapted from the writing of Amy Grant & Marshall Altman)

[Slide] It is here that the story becomes about Sarah. [leave this slide up to the groups following groups of slides – list slides will be abbreviated]

One chapter before our reading, God makes it clear to Abraham that Sarah is the essential element of the fulfillment of God’s promise of descendants and blessings. Up to this point, Abraham had been filled with the poison of the culture where women were of little value and could not be a part of God’s plan. To God’s clarification of the promise, Abraham laughed at the age impossibility. Abraham laughed long before Sarah laughed at God’s promise.

Consider, for a moment, Sarah’s experiences with this God

[Slide] She married into the family of false god evangelists, their faithfulness to the false gods was dictated by their vocation, they made idols to the false gods. Her husband Abraham packed her and everything he owned up to follow the instruction of this God she had never heard. So she left her home and her people to follow yet another god whom she had never met.

[Slide] Just like the culture in which she had been raised, this new God only talked to Abraham, the man. She was invisible.

[Slide] When her husband heard from God, Sarah then only heard second hand if at all. The promise of God, seemed to her to be just another instance of someone else telling her what to do.

[Slide] Abraham, her husband, had abandoned her in order to save his own life. He gave her away to an unknown King who reigned over an unknown land and people.

[Slide] One promise that was shared with Sarah, the promise that Abraham was to have a son, was yet another instruction from this unknown God to devalue her even more than her culture had done her entire life – now, not only was she included, but now, she was also to blame for the fact that Abraham, decades after the promise still had no son.

[Slide] Sarah, in her despair and insecurity insisted that her husband have the promised son via Sarah’s maid, an insistence that didn’t seem to require must insisting.

[Slide] The hiding Sarah overhears the Lord clarify the that the promise to Abrahanm was a promise to Sarah. A statement that was as outrageous as it was impossible.

[Slide] “The point of this story for us is to recognize that this story is not just a story. Nor is it just a good story. Even more that it is not just a good a story about God. Rather, the point is to recognize in this story the character and nature of God.”

Rolf Jacobson, Dean of Faculty; Professor of Old Testament, Theology, and Ministry, Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minn.

To see this we must not just look at what Sarah had faced up to this moment but to also look ahead and that lies in between this promise that included Sarah and the coming fulfillment of God’s promise…

[Slide] The messengers leave and the Lord remains with Abraham who is made aware of the coming destruction of the city of Sodom which has become evil in the likes of the people of Noah’s day. Abraham, who has family living in Sodom, bargains with God for the deliverance for the Sodom, for God to change his mind.

[Slide] While this is going on, the messengers, at God’s instruction, have arrived in the city of Sodom, as the evil of Sodom is directed at the angels, Lot, the relative of Abraham begins his attempt to protect the angels from the city and its citizens. Part of this efforts to protect the messenger is to sacrifice his own daughters, but the angels rescue the daughters showing Lot that they can protect themselves.

[Slide] As the destruction of the city is imminent, Lot’s wife cannot let go of her attachment for the city and in turn dies. The two daughters, after recognizing the disregard of their parent, much like Sarah, take matters to protect themselves into their own hands.

[Slide] Abraham, again, abandons his wife Sarah in an effort to protect his own life.

[Slide] Sarah, births the promised son. [leave this slide up through the next slide, which is the final slide of the message]

Let’s be honest, it is a horrible story, a story of a dismissed woman who goes to her grave with understandable resentment still hanging over her. A story of a person we still call the ‘father of our faith’ who frequently seems very unfaithful. And a story of a promised son who grows up in this environment, surely absorbing much of the worst of humanity experienced and exhibited in the lives of his own parents.

But, still God is there all along the way. Still, God keeps his promises. And, still, somehow, just like Eve, in the midst of the worst of times, for just a moment Sarah recognizes that God is present.

[Slide] ‘At the birth of her son, Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”

Genesis 21:6-7

[End Screen Share]

While we see the presence of the God who does not forget or forsake his promises. We also end the story of Sarah and Abraham and the continued self induced curse of being human and living amidst humans – and the inner struggle for us to hold on to and remember the God of promise.

After seeing and experiencing God’s presence and promise, Sarah is still insecure and still allows jealousy to rule in her heart and then dies of old age. Abraham eventually remarries and then he too dies of old age.

We are left to wrestle with this story of Sarah, and Abraham, and ultimately of humanity. Human life in the world where humans have turned from God. An existence in which we not only live in the midst of the struggle but also struggle to not internalize it.

In this, we grasp to hold firmly to the God that is present and does not forget. We determine to see that which we cannot alway see, and to believe that which is unbelievable. We seek to see as the angels see.

“We believe in God and we all need Jesus. ’Cause life is hard and it might not get easier. But don’t be afraid to know who you are, don’t be afraid to show it.

For we believe in God and know we need Jesus, and, we can remember that he will be where we are and will never leave us.”

(Adapted from the writing of Wes King and Amy Grant)

Music (Slides) Billy and Team

The Old Rugged Cross

Verse 1

On a hill far away

stood an old rugged cross

The emblem of suff’ring and shame

And I love that old cross

where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain

Chorus

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross

Till my trophies at last I lay down

I will cling to the old rugged cross

And exchange it some day for a crown

Verse 2

O the old rugged cross

so despised by the world

Has a wondrous attraction for me

For the dear Lamb of God

left His glory above

To bear it to dark Calvary

Chorus

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross

Till my trophies at last I lay down

I will cling to the old rugged cross

And exchange it some day for a crown

Verse 4

To the old rugged cross

I will ever be true

Its shame and reproach gladly bear

Then He’ll call me some day

to my home far away

Where His glory forever I’ll share

Chorus

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross

Till my trophies at last I lay down

I will cling to the old rugged cross

And exchange it some day for a crown

Community (Slides) Rick

Next Sunday,Wrestling with God, Genesis 32:9-30
Next Book Discussion Luncheon, ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, Some Books available in entry was -$15, or link on web page will take you to Amazon order page (audio, or library app), luncheon will take place in October (date – TBA), ‘[I wrote this] in the hope that [you] will come to love the Bible, and that in it [you] will find [your] defining story.’

Benediction (Slides) Rick

As we leave this place may we continue on our path of becoming. A Becoming that is a gift of God, a journey fully dependent on the life and work of Jesus Christ. We are on this path by choice. We are on this path gratefully due to God’s extravagant grace through which we were, and are, welcomed to this endeavor. We are connected to the dirt of the path yet chosen by the Holy God to live in the pursuit of becoming the righteousness of God.

We walk even when we cannot see, we take from the flowing provision even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even though despair often threatens to consume us, we love because that the the true and intentional impact and outflow of our journey. We step onto the path in trust, in hope, in love.

Closing Peace Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.

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Come, Now is the Time to WorshipCome now is the time to worshipCome now is the time to give your heartCome just as you are to worshipCome just as you are before your GodCome

Come now is the time to worshipCome now is the time to give your heartCome just as you are to worshipCome just as you are before your GodCome

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I surrender allI surrender allAll to Thee my blessed SaviorI surrender all

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Come, Now is the Time to Worship
Come now is the time to worship
Come now is the time to give your heart
Come just as you are to worship
Come just as you are before your God
Come

Come now is the time to worship
Come now is the time to give your heart
Come just as you are to worship
Come just as you are before your God
Come

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all