Granite Springs Church Service: 09-19-2021

that was the signal that we're live oh i can't like think about this visible friends good morning welcome to granite springs church friends watching at home good morning to you also and welcome to grant springs church let's start this morning with us by singing will you rise let's sing together [Music] holy holy [Music] lord god almighty early in the [Music] merciful [Music] [Music] blessed trinity [Music] holy [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] all thy words shall praise thy name in earthly [Music] god in three persons [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] blessed [Music] this week's call to worship comes from psalm 54 verses 4 and 6. surely god is my help the lord is the one who sustains me i will praise your name lord for it is good [Applause] surely god is our help and we remember that as we remember our baptism let's have this conversation together your part is in white and bold there is a part that you have there it is in baptism god extends love and hope in jesus we are cleansed and purified by grace and baptism god calls us his people we are renewed and sustained by love in baptism god welcomes us we are united with jesus and with one another glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit amen [Music] so [Music] we will praise you with all our hearts we will put all these idols behind us and sing we will pray [Music] we will praise you lord praise you lord forever [Music] praise the lord [Music] praise the lord [Music] but you smile on us we will sing of your ways we will sing all our days [Music] we will praise you lord praise you lord forever [Music] your people are here in your home praise the [Music] your love lord [Applause] praise the lord are you [Music] where are you lord great are you lord [Music] your people are here in your home praise the lord [Music] praise the lord [Music] amen have a seat friends here's a question who wants to be last we all know that the goal of the race the goal sometimes of life is to be first that's the place of privilege that's where you get what you want and yet jesus tells his followers that those who want to be first must be the very last it's a place of humility it's also a place that requires trust trust that god will take care of us even in the back of the line so this morning as we pray let's use these words when i pray surely you are our help would you respond you are the one who sustains us let's pray together almighty and everlasting god surely you are our help you are the one who sustains us we confess this morning that we like winning we like the accolades the feeling of accomplishment even the power it brings we confess that we not only enjoy winning we seek it out we compare ourselves to others we strive for the promotion of our co-worker we work tirelessly to have the cleanest house to be the most financially secure to get the best grades we confess that often we hold on to our efforts to be first because we fear what coming in last looks like but surely you are our help you are the one who sustains us we marvel that you extend to us a security and relationship with you that is so much greater than our fears as our fear subsides before your grace and your welcome you show us a different way a way of humility and reliance on you [Music] help us hold on to this way of humility putting aside our desire to be first for the sake of others surely you are our help as we follow jesus in humility give us a heightened awareness we ask of those who find themselves to be last in our communities we pray for those who struggle with poverty for the homeless in our community for refugees resettling in our area far from a home that became terrifying we pray for the vulnerable and we pray for those we easily overlook help us extend your welcome and kindness to them in tangible ways as a way of welcoming you and your work among us for surely you are our help amen don't be afraid my love [Music] is stronger than your fear don't be afraid my love is stronger and i have promised promise to be [Music] don't be afraid my love is stronger my love is don't be afraid my love is [Music] don't be afraid my love is [Music] don't be afraid my love is stronger and i have promised promise [Music] why are you so full of happiness [Music] why are you disquieted with [Music] oh my soul oh my soul [Music] oh my god oh my god put your trust in god i will yet give thanks to him [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] let's rise and continue [Music] oh my soul o my soul i will say unto my god is it you have [Music] forgotten your trust in god i will yet give thanks to him put your trust in god put your trust in god [Applause] [Music] my soul [Music] soul [Music] [Music] he grants his kindness in the day [Music] through the night his song it is with me o my soul oh my soul put your trust in god i will yet give thanks to him put your trust in god i will yet give thanks to him put your trust in god i will yet give thanks to him [Applause] my [Music] in just a moment we're going to do something that christians have been doing for thousands of years it's called passing the peace of christ but i don't know about you but for me i need some help to pass the peace i'm good at making enemies sometimes peace can be a little trickier and the good news is of course god helps us do that and we pass his peace not our own so turn to a neighbor and with a wave you can offer this greeting may the peace of christ be with you let's pass the peace friends all right well if you are in kindergarten through fifth grade this is the time of service where we invite you to continue worshiping in your classrooms so miss marissa has the flags back there she is ready and waiting and as they make their way out we want to welcome all of you here for worship this morning especially if you're new or even if you're not new but just have questions we've got this little connect flap that's here in the worship guide that you can fill out and tear out that's a great way for us to get to know you um there was another thought there but it's gone so we'll just keep moving huh that is a great way for us to get to know you period how about that we'll end the sentence there just a couple of quick announcements some of you may know that pastor kevin and jerry were in august on walking but they weren't just walking they were walking 187 miles through portugal and spain it was a pilgrimage on the camino de santiago if you're curious to hear some of their reflections and what some of the fruit and maybe even some of the pictures of that time next sunday after the second service they're going to give a little a little synopsis if you will some reflections from the camino so we invite you to come back here and join us for that next week september 26th after the second service and october is second we have a group that's going to go out to clean mcbean mcbean park is a park just over here in lincoln and so we have a group as a way to love our community to beautify our community are gonna go and pick up trash so it's a real honorable thing grant is helping lead that effort so if you have any questions you can talk to grant or myself that's october 2nd that's a saturday from i believe i wrote it down this week 9 00 to 11 a.m so that's what's going on in a couple of weeks well friends we're going to receive our offering in just a moment before we do let's pray together though father son and holy spirit we thank you that in jesus you were last you experienced the humiliation of the cross so that we might experience your generous welcome as we worship as we hear your word and as we come to your table we ask that you would shape us that you would form us to mirror jesus own humility and generosity we pray this in his name amen [Music] you're the soul who understands the scars that make me who i am through the drifting sands of time [Music] i'll be your wheels i'll be the road i'll see us through this thick and thin love and loss until the end [Music] cause you carry me with you from the darkest of these to the darkest of the blue i was just too blind to see like a lighthouse [Applause] [Music] [Music] yeah you were there you took my hand and when i heard a bit too deep you watched me as i fell asleep when my head was in the clouds you found a way to pull me out you picked my heart up off the ground and showed me loves all around [Music] yeah you carry me with you from the highest of peace to the darkness of blue i was just too blind to see like a lighthouse [Music] he carried me with you you carried me [Music] [Applause] friends let's pray together lord in a world where people let us down in a world where we let other folks down in a world where we can't seem to measure up in a world where others don't seem to measure up we thank you for carrying us we thank you for being there for us we thank you for being the one who leads us and guides us and we pray that even now as we listen for your voice as we listen for hope as we listen for your goodness that you would carry us along by your holy spirit we pray in the name of jesus and say amen so who's the best who's the best it's a question that never seems to go away who's the best it has every category it has every nation it has every country who's the best american politician may be asked who's the greatest president of all time and they may think of mount rushmore it's tough to beat those folks on mount rushmore but other folks may want to add some someone else and how do you measure who's the best president for instance do you do it by increasing gross national product do you do it by someone who has high moral standards do you do it by someone who has a great after presidency life how do you figure out who's the best or who's the best in sports if you listen to sports talk radio or listen to watch sports and tv they're asking this all the time who's the best basketball player who's the best football player who's the best baseball player and of course we know who the best football player is his name is tom brady and he plays for the new england oh wait no he doesn't play for them anymore in fact these folks ask about who's the best so often they have an acronym for it it's the goat greatest of all time who's the greatest of all time we want to know and tom brady is one answer he's the best answer my one of my mentors in preaching is a guy named haden robinson who's gone on to glory now but twice baylor university dubbed him one of the ten top english preachers of the era so can you imagine every time you get up someone introduces you this is hadon robinson and he's one of the best preachers in the english-speaking world he said it was a wonderful opportunity to open doors but it also was a bit daunting hadn't you're good we know you're good you know you're good be good he was one of the best people say sometimes families have categories too about who's the best you're not supposed to have favorites if you're a mom you're not supposed to this is news you're not supposed to have favorites if you're a dad but sometimes people have favorites how do you know well you look on facebook and you see how many pictures there are of son a and you see how many pictures there are of sun b and you know who's the best maybe it's someone who is named after grandma maybe as someone who's named after grandpa maybe it's subtle maybe it's not but there's categories in families about who's the best so it's no surprise maybe if this happens in politics and it happens in sports and it happens in families it happens in preaching it's maybe no surprise that the disciples one day while they were talking about who's the best jesus after all is talking about his kingdom there's going to be a new kingdom it's going to be a new day with new rules and new ways of doing things he said pray that this kingdom would come live in a way that this kingdom would come well in this kingdom the disciples wanted to know who's the best how do you get to be the best how do you get to be the greatest in the gospel of mark tells us the story invite you to turn to it and the folder you were given this morning the gospel of mark chapter 9 begins like this they left that place and passed through galilee jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples he said to them the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men they will kill him and after three days he will rise but they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it they came to capernaum which is jesus kind of hometown and ministry they came to capernaum and when he was in the house he asked them what were you arguing about on the road but they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest sitting down jesus called the twelve and said anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all he took a little child whom he placed among them taking the child in his arms he said to them whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me this friends is the word of the lord it's an eternal question isn't it how do you measure human worth how do you decide your own worth how do you decide after all who's the best jesus disciples are embarrassed maybe they're naive maybe they're not paying attention maybe they're blockheads there's all kinds of possibilities jesus had said i'm gonna die and rise in three days they don't know what that means but they're pretty convinced they figure out what it means to be the best that they can talk about but they're a little bit embarrassed when jesus said what were you talking about it's like a teacher or a mom who knows but asks anyway what were you talking about and they defer they pretend they don't know and jesus by contrast well let me put it this way one way to think about how the disciples act is they were using categories about who's the best that were very familiar if you've lived in the corporate world if you've watched a sports team with three quarterbacks all who want to be the best if you've watched a family of kids boys or girls there's elbowing there's nudging they're stepping over the top of there's blaming there's dodging all as ways to say i want to be the best and the disciples were living you could say the world's way of being the best but jesus says in my kingdom in my family in my world it's going to be like this he gives a principle and then he gives an example the principle we we're used to principles bits of wisdom aren't we some of us live by them every day a penny saved is a penny earned exactly right from probably ben franklin birds of a feather flock together or if that one doesn't work you try opposites attract they're both true just in different ways right the early bird gets the worm which doesn't sound very inviting but there's some other things that work there jesus says this how you know who's the greatest it's this way anyone who wants to be first must be the very la that one doesn't roll off our tongue quite the same way does it anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all it's a principle he said it's decidedly it seems like not true isn't it i mean jesus says it so and we're in church so it's hard to argue with jesus but doesn't this seem a little beyond belief does this work in kindergarten whoever wants to be first be like does this work in seventh grade does this work in 12th grade does this work in the corporate world where does this work exactly it seems impractical it seems maybe even if offensive it seems even as if it's untrue but who's saying this audacious thing jesus himself was not weak he was not wimpy he was not a doormat there was a time he walked into the temple and he overturned tables because they were using god's house as a house of money changing instead of a house of prayer he would confront the pharisees he would say you white-washed sepulchers which is not something a wimp would say when they got up in the morning what jesus is saying is this is a kind of a beatitude remember jesus said blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth it's a similar kind of principle the meek are not doormats the meek are not run over by other people the meek are not climbed over by other people the meek one of the images of a meek is the meek are a stallion with a bit in their mouth i don't know about you i did not grow up around horses so they kind of scare me a little bit especially if they're taller than me if you've seen a stallion and you're behind them i'm afraid i always think i'm going to get kicked here comes but they're big and they're strong jesus said to be meek is to be big and to be strong stallion but with god's bit in your mouth it's just it's not a matter of weakness it's a matter of strength but it's also a matter of going in the direction god has you go blessed are the meek he says for they will inherit the earth a stallion with all their strength so there's the principle the principle is this anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all and then he gives an example he gives an example of a little child now i don't know about you but children today are different than they were a generation ago have you noticed this or two generations ago or three generations ago or maybe even 2 000 years ago 2 000 years ago if you pulled a child and said you must be like a little child it meant one thing i have a friend he was looking out his apartment window he lives in city and there were four adults and one child and they were playing wiffle ball you know the wiffle ball the ball that looks like a knuckle balls that comes in and whenever little jimmy hit the ball the four adults would go whoa jimmy you're amazing whenever jimmy would catch the ball they would say oh jimmy you're amazing whenever you'd fit a foul ball they'd say oh jimmy you're so close getting a fair ball and little jimmy was getting praised for it's a little bit like getting a trophy for last place little jimmy was getting the love and intention of being a contemporary child right everything he did was wonderful everything he did was amazing everything he did was affirmed well almost at that moment but jesus comes from a different era in jesus era children were seen but not heard and jesus said our children would be here today and may be gone tomorrow in jesus day father could say i'm sick of you i'm tired of you i'm going to put you up for adoption and the child would go away it was a different world jesus said children have no strength they have no power you don't go to them for accolades you don't go for them to have your career boosted jesus said be like a child be or welcome a child is what he said welcome someone without power welcome someone without influence welcome someone who's the some other translation or other situations in jesus life have the least of these i don't know how many of you have watched ted lasso on television anybody watching ted lasso the rest of you ketchup catch up all right but in ted lasso it's about a soccer coach from wichita kansas who's never been a soccer coach in his life he's coached american football but now he's coaching european football anyway ted lasso has an eye for people other folks don't have an eye for and there's this guy nate nate is the equipment manager and nate takes care of the smelly shoes and the smelly socks and the smelly uniforms nobody pays attention to nate nate has all these genius ideas but nobody pays attention except for ted he's welcoming the least of these by contrast andrew delbanco andrew del banco is an essayist he wrote an article called a smug education question mark and he's a professor of american literature so he knows the motives of early american writers and thinkers and founders of people like places like harvard and yale he says this once students arrive at college what do they learn about themselves at harvard and yale and ivy league schools they learned they are the brightest and the best he quotes somebody else in sas who went to columbia and then taught at yale who wrote that his iv education taught him to believe those who did not attend ivy league education institutions were beneath him one of the writers recalled that in his ivy league school he learned to rise to almost every challenge except the challenge of self-knowledge del banco says this to the stringent protestants who founded harvard yale and princeton the mark of salvation was not high self-esteem but a humbling awareness of one's lowliness in the eyes of god with such awareness came the recognition that those whom god favors are granted grace not for any worthiness of their own but by god's unmerited mercy as a gift to be worked as a gift to be converted into working and living on behalf of others that lesson should always be part of the curriculum what he was saying is they should be someone who welcomes the nate of the world someone who welcomes the children of the world ben franklin who founded the university of pennsylvania put it this way the purpose of education is an inclination joined with an ability to serve mankind to serve one's country to serve one's friends and family which should be indeed the great aim and end of all learning welcome a child jesus says welcome the least of these welcome someone we have a sociologist called the selective perception there could be 20 people in a room we'll notice four or we'll notice two and we'll dismiss the others and we won't even know we're dismissing them it's because of their race or their background or their income or a bad joke they told or their profession but we have kind of filters or screens often and jesus says welcome the least of these it's a wonderful story one of my favorite authors many of you know is a guy named c.s lewis he was an oxford don he was an atheist for a while when he became a christian he wrote a book called this the great divorce he wasn't talking about marriage stuff he was talking about the difference between heaven and hell the great divorce has a subtitle it's called a fantastic bus ride from hell to heaven so he imagines people on a bus they go to the outskirts of heaven and then they have to decide whether to go further into heaven or not and people they knew in a previous life meet them and invite them deeper into heaven and and a lot of them say i'd rather get on the bus and go back to hell and go to heaven on the terms of god where people are welcomed who are the least at one point this great lady this great lady appears she's beautiful she's lovely the narrator can hardly take her eye his eyes off her she's attended by men and women all around and the narrator says to his guide she must be some great lady ah she is he says but not in the way you're thinking she reminds me of and he thinks of all these famous people christian singers christian authors christian speakers famous preachers all that kind of stuff no he says she's not one of them you wouldn't know her in that world her name is sarah smith about as plain as you can get and she lives in golder's green she seems to be he said well a person of particular importance oh she is one of the great ones he says you have heard that fame in this country and fame and earth are very different things and who are all these young men and women on each side of the profession procession with her they are her sons and daughters she had so many children he says ah he says anyone who met her became a son or daughter of hers oh their own mother or fathers must have been jealous no they became better sons and daughters to their own parents because they met her and on and on he goes can you imagine can you imagine that someone who people overlook here on earth is one of the great ones when we get in heaven jesus said this anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all let's pray lord in a world where we've been shaped and we've chosen to have familiar categories of greatness in a world where we've been shaped and we've chosen to treat people who meet our categories with deference and to ignore and sometimes overlook those who don't meet our standards we pray that you would give us new eyes to see that you'd give us eyes to see greatness as it really is greatness modeled by jesus the one who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many we pray in his name and say amen [Music] me [Music] with your [Music] is [Music] friends would you rise for this meal that we call eucharist which just means thanksgiving sometimes it's called the lord's supper because it's a meal that jesus gave those same blockhead disciples as a way to help remember him by and sometimes it's also called communion because it's an opportunity for us to commune with one another and also with god in a moment we're going to invite you to come out to your right out of your row and come forward and you can receive the bread just by cupping your hands like this someone gives it to you you can say thanks be to god and then if you wish you can dip that in the cup as you go by before returning if you don't wish to participate for any reason we'd still love to have you come through the line just cross yourself like this and we'd love to give you a blessing as we prepare ourselves to share in this to commune together let's have this conversation friends the lord be with you lift up your hearts let us give thanks to god pray gracious god with joy we praise you you created heaven and earth you made us in your image when our ancient parents adam and eve sinned when they turned away from you you didn't turn away from us but instead you have patiently relentlessly faithfully called us back to yourself and we thank you that you ultimately sent jesus your son who showed us in his greatness what humility looks like as he was obedient to you even until death and he was buried and rose again that we might follow him in this way of humility and might also receive resurrection life through your spirit so this morning we join our voices with all of creation with angels and with christians all over the world to proclaim your good and holy name amen [Music] your glory fills the earthly lord [Music] blessed is the one who comes in the lord's [Music] friends together let's pray the prayer that jesus taught his disciples to pray our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen together we proclaim the mystery of the faith christ has died christ has risen christ will come again christ our passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast scripture tells us that on the night he was betrayed lord jesus took bread and after he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me whenever you eat this bread and whenever you drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes again lord send your spirit so that this ordinary bread and this ordinary cup may be for us the body and blood of our lord jesus christ may it nourish our souls and through this meal as we are united with jesus with one another may we give thanks for your never ending generosity your grace that comes to us the least of these and welcomes us we pray this in the name of jesus say amen friends we invite you to come and participate [Music] so [Music] my rock and my salvation [Music] makers and lies like arrows [Music] neverland [Music] my [Music] amid the world's temptations when an [Music] don't set your heart up [Music] never my [Music] and trust in him completely breathe every day pour out my soul and he will prove his mercy though life is but a fleeting breath a sight too brief to measure [Music] and i am [Music] my [Music] hallelujah him hallelujah hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh praise him hallelujah my delight and my reward everlasting [Music] [Music] friends i invite you to stand if you're able to receive god's blessing may god go before you to lead you may god go behind you to protect you may god go beneath you to sustain you and may god go beside you to befriend you friends do not be afraid but may the blessing of god the father and god the son and god the holy spirit fall down upon you do not be afraid but go to love and serve the lord we can all say together amen [Music] [Music] make sure you get that [Music] you

Channel: Granite Springs Church

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Length: 55min 5sec (3305 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021