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Prelude
We’re Marching to Zion
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
I Will Sing of My Redeemer
Wonderful Words of Life
– arr. by Cindy Berry
Welcome
*Call to Worship (based on Romans 8:31)
Leader: If God is for us, who is against us?
People: God who gave us his son, now gives us the Spirit in power!
Leader: The Holy One is in our midst:
People: equipping us for life in the service of Christ.
Leader: In Christ we are more than conquerors,
People: for nothing in creation can separate us from the love of God!
Leader: May the all surpassing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
People: And the unshakable love of God be with you.
Leader: The joyous communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.
People: And also with you!
*Hymn
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
#139
*Opening Prayer
God, in mystery and silence you are present in our lives, bringing new life out of destruction, hope out of despair, and growth out of difficulty. We believe that through you, love may overcome hatred, joy may overcome sorrow, and good may overcome evil. Help us to see your unseen hand in the unfolding of all our lives, and to attend to the gentle guidance of your Spirit, that we may know the joy you give your people. Amen.
*Gloria Patri
Prayer Time
Congregational Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer
Kids Chat
Give Moment
*Doxology
• Prayer of Dedication
Traditions Choir Anthem
Come, Christians, Join to Sing – G. Young
Scripture
2 Corinthians 4:8-9; Romans 5:3-5; Romans 8:28
Sermon
Hope in Adversity
*Hymn
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
#133
*Benediction
Postlude
Toccata in F Major
– D. Buxtehude
WORSHIP SCHEDULE
• 8:00am Traditional Service live stream & in person
• 9:45am Contemporary Service live stream & in person
• 11:15am Relaxed Traditional Service in person
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E for e e e e e e e e e e Well good morning welcome to cuc it’s good to be with you on this rainy Sunday but it’s good to be in worship together as we continue in our sermon series on hope and this week we think about Hope through the letters of Paul and Pastor Jake will be sharing some thoughts and
Words coming up soon a few reminders As We Gather for worship together please take a moment to sign in using the black attendance pads in the rows right in front of you or you can take a picture of that QR code on the screen it’s a great way it goes right to our
Electronic connect card and helps us to know who is worshiping with us today if you’re here in person it’s a great way to remember who is in the row beside you in names and faces but we give thanks that you’re worshiping here with us where all are welcome and invite you to
Take some time to get to know one another to get to meet someone maybe you don’t know or someone’s name who you just can’t remember it’s always okay to say I am sorry I just don’t remember your name can you help me out I feel
Like I do that a lot on Sunday mornings but it is good to be here with you coming up in two weeks we have the Super Bowl of caring this is an opportunity to bless and help make sure that there is food on every neighbor in carlile’s um
Table on that Sunday here at CC on February 11th we will be collecting two different ways that you can support Project Share you can bring in canned soup that we’ll collect and give to them to give out through their normal distribution or you can bring cash and
You can vote for which team you think should win the Super Bowl that night so that’ll be happening in two weeks on February 11th and we hope that you’ll come prepared and able to help support Project Share that Sunday also coming up we have lots of opportuni ities to grow
In our faith short-term classes classes that help us to know the Bible to dig deeper in the Bible and opportunities to just get to spend some time in prayer with God and so I encourage you if you haven’t already to take a look at those on our website or in your bulletin and
To sign up to participate in one of those this fall or this this fall oh my goodness this winter as we head into the season of Lent that’s a bit of what’s going on here at CC you can find out more on our website and you can always
Go to the um next steps page which helps you find ways to go beyond worship and live into and out your faith I invite you now to stand as you’re able and let’s join together in the call to worship as we see on the screen if God is for us who is against
Us God who gave his son now gives us the spirit and power the Holy One is in our midst equipping us for life in the service of Christ in Christ we are more than conquerors for nothing in creation can separate us from the love of God May the
All surpassing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you and the unshakable love of God with you the joyous communion of the Holy Spirit be with you and also with you let us join together in our opening hym praise to the Lord the Almighty my soul prise for is PR to PR
PR the Andy Aly PR to prise to I invite you to join in the opening prayer is seen on your screen let us pray together God in mystery and silence you are present in our lives bringing New Life out of Destruction hope out of Despair and growth out of difficulty we
Believe that through you love may overcome hatred Joy May overcome sorrow and good May overcome evil help us to see your unseen hand in the unfolding of all our lives and to attend to the gentle guidance of your your spirit that we may know the joy you give your people Amen to the
Holy Ghost the beginning is I invite you to be seated and as you’re seated we’re entering into a time of prayer together this day you see in the bulletin we’re praying for Maxine bishop and Gloria Taylor Susan sento who is now on hospice care and Dwayne Thorne as receiving Cancer Treatments also we
Continue to lift in prayer all the families in our congregation who are grieving the loss of loved ones and other concerns that are deep on our hearts as you hear the music it’s your invitation to share with God the joys and the concerns on your hearts for
Friends and neighbors for family and our community and then we’ll join together as a congregation so let us enter this time of prayer together this morning Oh God we come before you this morning and we give thanks for the opportunity to join In Worship whether it’s in person or online Lord we give thanks that we can join with one another we can share in this time of giving praise and thanks to you of being reminded of your
Power and your presence in our lives but also for this time where we can lay before you our worries and concerns we can bring things that are burdening us and lay them at your feet Lord as we remember and are reminded of your message of hope that has woven through generations of
Families Lord may we continue to see your hope and your promise and your love about us and about our church and about our community today Lord when we are discouraged May our eyes be turned back to you may we send and know your presence Among Us and Lord may you Empower us
That for when you need us to share that message of hope that message of your love and of your presence Lord help us to be ready help us to be willing and help us to listen to your whisper or your call upon our hearts as we gather together today we
Pray for those in our church family who are recovering or dealing dealing with health concerns we pray for Maxine bishop and all the limited activity members the Lambs of our congregation Lord may you be with them and comfort them wherever they are we pray for Gloria Taylor as she’s
Recovering and for Susan sento as she’s on hospice care and Dwayne th thraw as he is receiving treatments for cancer Lord these are just the concerns that we name aloud but you know others on our hearts those in our church family who are struggling with health or other issues going on in their
Families those who are receiving treatment for cancer or L Lord those in their later seasons of life may you walk beside them and comfort them these are just some of the prayers we bring before you this morning and we give thanks for the opportunity to join in
Worship for the reminder of your love your promise and your hope may you be with us and speak to our hearts As We join together and pray the prayer that you taught your disciples praying together 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 and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin 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 I now invite the kids up for the kids message with Pastor Jake my friends good to see all of you this morning now I wonder did anybody notice that it was uh this the the weather outside today what was the weather like outside today
Yeah rainy right rainy today yeah so and um sometimes uh what do you think about rainy weather what do you think about rainy weather what do you think you like it don’t like it what you about rainy weather what rain day sometimes rain can kind of get in the way of things right
Some of you play sports maybe softb bar or something or other sports and sometimes if it’s raining your games get canceled don’t they right and sometimes um when you if you hear adults talking they might say things like oh it’s so wet outside today and cold and damp I
Can’t believe how rainy it is out today sometimes uh we don’t like the rainy days and we let we think I just want a sunny day today you ever just kind of hear anybody say like I wish the sun would just shine instead of the rain
Yeah right but do you know what do you know what would happen if we didn’t have rainy days what would happen if we didn’t have rainy days yeah all our plants would dry out right yeah like we wouldn’t be able to have any food or fruit or apples our Rivers
Would run dry we didn’t have any water to drink right if we didn’t have the Rainy Days the rainy days are important because they work for something good for us even if during that day it doesn’t feel very good today we’re going to look at um we’re going to look at a scripture
Verse that comes from a man named Paul and he says all things work together for good for those who love God and kind of like a rainy day even on that rainy day sometimes you don’t really like that it’s a rainy day but we remember that
The rain rain is working for good it’s helping our plants to grow it’s giving us water it’s helping us have fruit and vegetables and everything we need to eat and to live in the same way that we’re going to remember that everything in our lives when we follow God works for good
In some way all right so when you go out in the rain today try and remember that even the Rainy Days God makes something good out of them all right all right so put your hands together and let’s pray together um would you repeat after me dear God thank you even for rainy
Days help me to trust you that you are working for good in my life all the time amen all right would you like to h a kiss anybody and then uh thanks for being with us in worship Robert yeah all right oh thank you thank
You um you know uh back in the fall we started this three-year journey of moving forward and dreaming about all that God could do uh with us as a church in the next 10 years as we kicked off our third Capital campaign we imagined as we move forward all the ways that God
Would use us to help more people experience a lifegiving journey with Jesus to make a greater impact in the lives of kids and families in our community to feed more who are hungry and help more people have a warm safe home we imagined all that God could do
And God has been at work and faithful in us if we uh not only did we imagine all that God could do we also said that over the next 10 years one of the first things that we needed to do to make sure that we could move into that future was
To retire the remaining debt on our building in our Capital campaign and I am so proud of our congregation the way that we have responded with generosity and with joy to this challenge and looking ahead to all that God can do so that um so that this would be a place
That could continue to be Ministry not just for us but for our children and our children’s grandchildren and I want to celebrate today our generosity and how far we have come just since October of last year today today to this day we’ve had 2117 different families and individuals give to our Capitol campaign
Just in the last three months and because of your generosity and moving ahead we’ve been able already to reduce that debt from 2.7 to $2.2 million in just 3 months yeah Charles you could clap for that and I just want to thank you and celebrate your faithfulness for those of
You who have been a part of that and I just want to celebrate that um you know as a church we’ve uh as a church we believe that um that we are set on this and that and that God is going to take care of us every step of the way and
We’re not uh and and every dollar that goes in now we know moves us further ahead because it reduces the dollars of interest that we pay in the future and our and our ability to pay this down is paced by our ability to continue to move ahead in this generosity so thank you
For all of you who have been a part of this and we know that every gift matters no matter how small or no matter how large all of us together are going to move into the future and we’ve seen in this last year the fruits already of the
Things that we dream about last year in our congregation we had over we had 43 new members join the congregation the most new members we’ve ever had joined as a congregation we have more people visiting than we ever have who are hungry to know the love and the hope
That is in Jesus Christ our kids ministry grew by 50% over last year over the year before in many ways God is already starting to move in the ways that we have prayed and dreamed and worked for so thank you for your continued generosity as we move into the
Future together I want to remind you that if you haven’t been a part of this yet you continue to give as part of this Capitol campaign or giving in the ways that we give together as a church in person online or in an envelope and I wonder if today you might celebrate with
Me all that God is doing by giving thanks by by singing the doxology together would you stand as you are able and let’s give thanks to God bless pra him all PR PR Father Son and Holy Ghost God we thank you for your faithfulness to us as we continue to move forward as a congregation in faith into the future of which you call us God we give you thanks for that you get to use the gifts of our hands to make a difference here in this church and we
And in the lives of others who are hungry to know the love and hope that we have found God we pray that you would each use each of our gifts for your purposes and that together you would help us to move forward into all that
You have for us we pray this in Jesus name and all God’s people said amen you may be seated as we continue in worship now with the choir’s anthem Christians join to sing Hallelu praise to Christ King Hallelu all with and voice for his strong rej praising is his gracious CH Hallelujah sing hallelu Oh sing Hallelujah oh sing hallelu oh sing Hallelujah oh sing hallelu sing Hallelujah sing Hallelujah oh sing Hallelujah oh sing Hallelujah oh sing Hallelujah hallah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah hallelu [Applause] hallelu sing Hallu with your hearts on hallelu let Praises F the [Applause] hallelu is our and friend to us he come be send shall Never hallelu [Applause] good morning the Apostle Paul faced significant disruptions disappointments and adversity in his life but he never lost hope his letters are filled with encouragement that comes from his personal experience of living in hope today we will hear several exerts from his letters listen now for the word of God for
You from second Corinthians we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed from Romans and not only that but we also boast in our afflictions knowing that Affliction produces endurance and endurance produces character and character
Produces hope and hope does not put us to shame name because God love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit that has been given to us and finally from Romans we know that all things work together for good for those who love God who are called according to
His purpose may God by the power of the spirit add a blessing to the reading the hearing and the living of these words amen [Applause] Well hope is that conviction that despite one’s present circumstances that the future in some sense will be meaningfully better than the present and hope is that thing that each of us needs to keep going from dayto day year toe to look forward and have the motivation to
Move forward as we remembered a few weeks ago as MLK Jr said if you lose hope somehow you lose the Vitality that keeps you moving you lose that courage to be and the quality that helps you to go in in spite of it all and so today I
Still have a dream we’ve been talking about hope the things that make for hope the things that help us live in Hope and the things that help us to share hope with others and over the last few weeks we’ve been taking time to look at the wisdom of uh throughout the scriptures
From different parts of the scriptures of how to do these things about how to live in Hope and with hope and to share hope with others and and it’s been beautiful to think about the wisdom uh that that we’ve gleaned from each of the sections of the
Bible we’ve talked before about um the Bible you know the Bible isn’t just one book it’s a collection of many books collected together into one collection of the people of God sometimes we’ve talked about this uh as the library of the Bible made of individual writers and books and C different circumstances
Written over 600 to A Thousand Years and so over the last few weeks we’ve looked at different sections of this library and thought about the ways that each of the writers in their own time in their own place pointed to hope the first week we looked at the book of Psalms this
Collection of poetry and Psalms and thought about the word Hebrew word for hope that means both hope and rope and W talked about what it means to patiently wait for God who is the other end of our rope and then we added in and took a
Look at the wisdom that comes from the prophets the prophets uh those people who lived in difficult times for the people of Israel and yet spoke of a future hope a future with hope for each of them and then uh last week Pastor Meera so beautifully talked about the
Hope as she talked about the four books of the the gospels and the and talked about Jesus as we looked through that part of of the hope that we have in Jesus as we considered the wisdom that comes from those books of the Bible and
Today we move on we come to this part um of the New Testament the second half of the Bible which are part of the letters of the New Testament the New Testament is made up both of the gospels which tell the story of Jesus the book of Acts
Which tells the story of the early church and then the rest of the New Testament is made up of letters that early Christians wrote to one another for encouragement now almost a majority of those letters 13 of them are um are letters that are either attributed that
They were either written by Paul or written by people who followed after Paul in the name of Paul a practice that was very common in the in the early 1 Century um as a way to honor others and these 13 letters written by Paul contain an immense amount of wisdom about Hope
Paul as you might remember was this prolific writer somebody who was uh who at the when we first meet him in the stories about him is somebody who was a Jew um a teacher of the law living in Jerusalem who saw the Christian Movement and the people who followed Jesus as a
Threat in fact the first martyrdom of a Christian of a Christian a man named Stephen we see Paul standing there overseen the the persecution and the stoning of Stephen but uh but Paul has a dramatic uh conversion a conversion experience that leads him to be a
Follower of Christ now in these uh 13 books that Paul writes it’s very interesting this is a picture of oh actually a little bit more about Paul so Paul after his dramatic conversion then would go to move throughout the Mediterranean world he would become a great Ambassador for Christ and would go
All across the Mediterranean world this map um if you see all these cities uh that are here on this map these are some of the places that we know that Paul traveled during his career of Ministry he traveled in crisscross the Mediterranean World sharing the good
News of Christ and in fact many of the letters that we have of Paul um are actually the names that are given to the letters are names that are based on these cities in which he was writing to people who were living in the city so
The book of Romans is for the people of Rome the book of Philippians is for the people of Philippi the book of uh the books of Corinthians are for the people of the city of Corinth and so on and so forth that’s how they get their name but everywhere Paul went Paul faced
Persecution he would often travel to one of these cities and the first thing that he would do would be to move into one of the one of the synagogues he he moved to these cities where there were already people living there Jewish folks who belied in the synagogues and he’d move
Into the synagogues and he’d begin talking and teaching out of the scriptures and talking about how the scriptures pointed to it to Jesus and then he talk about the resurrection of Christ and the hope that would bring he would also move out into these cities into the places because it was still in
The Roman world and he would move out to the place where uh where uh the Romans would have their idols and their statues to the Roman Pantheon of gods and we’ preach about how Jesus was the one Jesus was the one um who was the real God
Alive and resurrected but each time he did this in every city it was almost predictable if you read through the book of Acts he would start preaching would go somewhere and then somebody would get really mad and then they would start beating him up or throwing him in jail
Or dragging him out the number of times that he was left for dead because of the the opposition to his teaching um is is numerous everywhere he went he knew about what it was to face persecution in fact in each of these cities he probably
Knew the jails as well as he knew the synagogues he was someone who faced a lot of chall challenge a lot of adversity a lot of opposition to what he was called to do and yet in his letters we see again and again that Paul was
Actually an apostle of hope hope in the letters of Paul in the 13 letters that are they either of Paul or attributed Paul used as the word hope 67 times now just for comparison uh the book of Psalms actually is about the same length about the same number of words or page
That the that um that the letters of Paul are and the Book of Psalms only mentions the word hope 22 times the gospels as mea talked about last week only mention the word hope one time but Paul again and again in his letters this person who knew persecution
And adversity if anybody had reason to complain it would have been Paul why me God prison again right really really and yet again and again Paul talks about Hope and in his letters he wrote to the people uh the people of these early churches so that they might
Have the same hope that he had found in Christ that they might find the same keys to living in Hope even in the midst of adversity that he had found with Jesus this just one uh example of the way that he talks about Hope and adversity is this passage that you heard
Bill Reed this morning we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed in all things Paul was what in today’s words we would call maybe a resilient leader he was someone who had
This kind of resilience that allowed him to go through difficulty to go through through trials and yet come out stronger yet come out more hope-filled yet come out more like Jesus and today as we think about uh these letters from Paul I want to kind of think about this idea of
What was the core belief in the heart of Paul’s letters that helped him to hold on to hope in all of his different circumstances what was the core belief that helped Paul to hold on to hope in all of his difficult circumstances and if I were to sum it up
In a sentence I might say it’s something like this would you read this with me the worst thing is never the last thing because God is with us at work for good the worst thing is never the last thing because God is with us at work for good
And this is tempered throughout all of throughout all of Paul’s letters you know kind of like I talked about with the rainy day with the kids Paul would see a rainy day and he would believe he would be able to see in that rainy day
How God was at work in the rain he believed that God was at work in all things at all times that that no matter what he faced something would be good come what good would come out of because God was with him and God was working it
For good he says this idea of God being with him in a famous passage from Romans chapter 8 which which he says for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all of
Creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our lord Paul was convinced that no matter what he faced no matter what he might feel in the moment that he believed at this core that God’s love was always with him that God was with him in the
Heights as well in the depths that God was with him on his good days and on his worse days that God God was with him in all things working it for good and this is what he says in that in that in that um verse that is our memory verse for
Today would you read this verse with me we know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God for those who are called according to his purpose this is our memory verse for this week and we see this that not only did Jes did Paul believed that God
Was with him but God believed that even in the darkest of circumstances that God was working it for good is this something this belief helped him to hold on to hope to live in Hope and to share hope with others it’s a belief that can do the same thing for us reminder each
Week we’ve been uh this is our core memory verse for the week and um I invite you to take your phone uh to scan the QR code and to download uh this screen saver that has a rainbow and it has uh this verse on it we know that God
Works for all things for good for those for the ones who love God for those who are according to his purpose you can also if you’re here in person uh find the bulletin and there’s a an image of that you can cut it out and put it
Somewhere for uh for you to remember now there is a particular way in which Paul often talked about God being at work for good in all circumstances and I want to share at least two ways that Paul often looked for God’s work in difficult circumstances because there were two
Categories of God’s work for good that Paul often looked at in these difficult St circumstances the first is that God is at work transforming us right God is at work transforming us you know um I asked a counselor in our congregation one of the things that helps people who are going
Through difficulty in the Cong in in their life when she sits with them as a counselor and as a psychologist and she said one of the things that sometimes helps them is to zoom out and to see things from a different perspective and one of those perspectives that Paul
Always had in his own life and had in the life of others that was that somehow in the midst of this very difficult circumstance that God was doing something good in him that God was refining him that God was making him to look more like Jesus that God was
Helping his character to change and to grow to be more like Christ’s and you all know you all know and have enough life experience that you can think about difficult times in your life and you can probably think about the way that those things helped you to grow anybody can
Think of a a difficult time in your life that helped you to grow right and this is what Paul held on to in all things even in the midst of difficulty he says it this way in the other passage that bill read today and not only that but we
Also boast in our sufferings right he’s saying like man when I see something difficult I mean Paul was was known for Hyperbole and exaggeration I’m not sure that I boast in my sufferings that often but what he’s saying is right even in those difficult times in my life I know
That suffering produces endurance endurance produces character and character produces hope in those difficult times in our life we understand that the things that we were going going through produces charact it produces endurance which produces character which produces hope in us in fact um when I talk with people about um
As as you said you all can think of a time in your life when you went through something difficult that changed you and over my time as a pastor when I sit and I talk with people and I say what’s what’s the what can talk about something
In your life a moment in your life right when you feel like you grew the most in your life and when people talk about this there are lots of things that people talk about but one of the things people almost always talk about is one is some of their most difficult periods
In life right um and this is what um Paul knew that seasons of disorientation and adversity are seasons of transformation they’re times in which God God if we allow God to will work to change us in a POS in a positive way I I um learned this uh early on and I’ve
Talked before about the the witness of my grandmothers and my grandparents in my own life and the faith that they taught me and one of the things that I learned from both of my grandmothers as they shared the stories of their faith and their walk with God over their life
One of the most memorable things is that each of them shared with me different difficult moments in their life and how God reminded them that God was with them God got them through it and how they grew through it my one grandmother talked about difficulties that she had
Had in her marriage and how difficult it was at different periods and how how at a loss she was and how God walked with her through that and brought good out of those difficult times in her marriage my other grandmother who had um rheumatoid arthritis and was bedridden um for most
Of the life that I knew her because before the medications were available would talk about how um even in the midst of the pain and the difficulty that she knew that God was with her and she could see how God was with her bringing hope to others in this way
There’s this kind of mathematical equation that you can think about Jesus plus adversity equals transformation when we go through adversity and challenge with Jesus it gives us the opportunity to grow and be transformed and um this is actually something uh that um I love this quote
That I Came Upon in in a book tempered resilience that comes from Abigail Adams to Quincy Adams during the Revolutionary War he said it is not in the still calm of life or the Repose of a Pacific station or she says that great characters are formed the habits of a
Vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties for great Necessities call out great virtues it is in the challenges of our life that God does some of God’s best work and not only is that calling out great virtues in us but also in those times of adversity sometimes God removes and heals things
In our own life this week in our staff uh meeting we have uh staff devotions when we gather as a staff and um and Jason uh we were brought a devotion about um rock picking on a farm I don’t know if any of you there’s a fly that just jumped on my
Face um I don’t know we’ll let that fly alone now um so uh I don’t know if any of you have ever grew up on a farm or didn’t but um but uh this this uh this devotion made me think about it uh because when uh my cousins had a farm my
Aunt and uncle had a farm and I remember some Summers when I go to visit with them um I was always felt like I was unfortunate if I showed up on the week that they were picking rocks out of their field right and this is H every
Year they you know my uncle would drive the tractor through the field with a trailer behind and um my cousins would have to go around and pick the rocks out of the field and throw them in the trailer and honestly I never really understood why every year there are more
Rocks in the field right in the devotion uh that Jason said he talked about how um from a farmer’s perspective that the reason that the Rocks emerge is that it’s part of the F the frost Tha cycle of winter in the frost Tha cycle of winter as the ground freezes and then
Unfreezes again these rocks that were hidden and buried come to the surface and so every year the the uh the farmer has to go along and pick those rocks up and throw them in and he said this line in terms of uh picking rocks from the
Field uh or she said this line inserted picking rocks in the field the person riding the devotion she said that but it always strike me that that um that part of what the winter season does is it’s part of healing the land it’s removing the rocks that were hidden deep within
That weren’t revealed until after the season of winter and I think about these seasons of transformation and these seasons of um transformation in our own life these seasons of adversity sometimes seasons of adversity bring these rocks these things that need healing in our lives to the surface and
What is what is what if Jesus actually is the one in those seasons of adversity that can take those rocks and pick them out of us to bring healing by the way uh this picture of rocks is actually from um our softball field um right before we
Moved in here on the Smith Farm property um right before we moved in a group of people had to go and take the rocks out of the field here’s a picture of some of them picking up rocks by the way right hope these are your kids yeah picking up
Rocks but in the season of adversity Jesus gathers the stones from our heart Hearts he heals those things that have been hidden for a long time he frees us of things that have been inside of Us hidden and damaging us and he grows great virtues in us and this is what
Paul means and what Paul knew when he said not only that but we also boast in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance endurance produces character and character produces hope not only did Paul know that God was at work transforming him in difficult circumstances and adversity God also
Knew that work that God was at work blessing others in those times of adversity as well in fact one of the things that sticks out about Paul’s stories about when he was in prison is about how often he talked about how God used that time in prison to bless others
There’s this particular time when he’s um at prison um in Rome and he’s writing to the people of Philippi and he says this I want you to know beloved that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole
Imperial Guard and everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ you see Paul was imprisoned but in that he understood that God even used that opportunity of him being imprisoned to share the love and the hope of Christ with the people who were jailing him in our same way
When we pay attention those moments of suffering and those moments of adversity in our lives when we’re open to it God is at work blessing others and sometimes that can be in the large moments of adversity and and in the small moments of adversity as well I was reading uh um
A a Facebook page from a fellow pastor of mine this last week who had returned uh from a flight and um had and had left his iPad on um on the airplane and um and he talked about how for like three days his life he was just frustrated
Again it’s one of those small inconveniences but he kept calling the airline and nobody could tell him where it is he never got a live person he got these automated systems and 3 days later after calling and calling and calling he finally got a live person the live
Person said well that might be you might be gone already because it wasn’t something that you checked it was just something on the plane but I’ll tell you what when I get 15 minutes for my break this morning I’ll go up and I’ll run around the airport and see if I can find
It later that day she came back later that afternoon she she um called him back and she very excited and she said I found your iPad I can’t believe it you can come and pick it up tomorrow I’ll be here and he said when he got there in
The midst of this frustration uh he talked about and he thanked her for finding her iPad and he just mentioned to her yeah I’m so grateful for this you know he mentioned I’m a pastor and in that moment she started paused and she just started pouring out her heart about
Some struggles that she had been going through in her own life and she asked him to pray for her and he said in that moment he said was thing that I saw as this incredible inconvenience as this thing that was in my way and getting the way of my day
Became an opportunity where I got to pray and share hope for this person in my own life in the same way in big and small ways in our adversity when we’re open to it when we’re open to and believe that God is at work in us and through Us in every circumstance God
Creates opportunities not only for us to be changed but for us in the middle of our adversity to bless others so this week this is the memory verse that that I want you to take with you I want you to memorize if you’ve never memorized it
Before I want to put it on your phone put it on your uh mirror put it wherever it is and I want you to remember this word that God is at work for good that we we know that God works all things together for good for the ones
Who love God for those who are called according to his purposes and may you have that same core belief that Paul had and may it help you to live in hope to keep hope and to share hope with others would you pray with me God we thank you for the witness of the
Scriptures and the Beautiful Stories and testimonies that are contained there that bring us wisdom and bring us hope God I know as I we share this message today and as we consider the words of Paul that there are some of us in the room who are going through some very difficult
Times times of adversity of challenge of loss God I pray that you would speak to our hearts that you would Lodge this word deep in us that you would open our eyes and our presence to the fact that in fact you are with us and you are at work for good in all
Things open us to be transformed by your love and your presence and open us to be open to those blessings that we might share even in the midst of our adversity and God may you may you grow in us a sense that we might come even through adversity to know your love and
Your hope and to become more like Jesus we pray this in Jesus name and all God’s people said amen I want to invite you to stand as you are able and let’s sing our closing hymn leaning on the Everlasting Arms the Everlasting bless the Everlasting all all the
Everlasting oh sweet to walk in this Everlasting all the day to we the Everlasting sa and secure from all the the Everlasting have bless my heart of the Everlasting all the Everlasting you today a reminder that uh we are a Praying church and our prayer team is is over here at the side of the Worship Center they’d be happy to pray with you and for you today um and uh and and as you go out today may you go out
Confident that God is at work with you and in your life for good and may you go out to live in Hope and to share hope with others and May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with
You this day and always go in peace my friends and have an awesome week H [Applause] E [Applause] ch