Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
As the.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Good morning, please join me in the calld of worship.
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of
the wicked, but whose delight is in God's word and
upon God's word. They meditate both day and night. They
are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield
their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.
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God's words us to live in justice and love, and
in harmony with others. In all that we do according
to God's word, we prosper. The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff. The wind blows away. For the
Lord watches over the way of the righteous.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
But the way of the wicked will perish.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's it's schools, schools.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
So it's.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
So so.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Jesus see school school, school schools.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
No moment.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
James speaks, seen James, since.
Speaker 6 (07:38):
Please join me in prayer. Good morning, Father, as we
prepare our hearts for worship this morning, Oh Lord, we
praise you for the beauty of this day, for the
cool morning breezes that awaken us, to the afternoon sunshine
that warms us, and especially the opportunity to worship and
honor you. We seek your presence this morning as we
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worship you in prayer, in song, in sharing, in studying
your written word and the spoken word through the message. Father,
we come to you today full of thankful hearts, full
of joy, happiness, contentment. But we also bring heavy burdens,
burdens of loss, broken relationships, health, concerns, fear, doubt that
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oftentimes weigh us down. Help us to place those burdens
at your feet and give them to you, and to
let go and let you. Father, We thank you for
this gift of family, for the blessing of children and grandchildren,
for the joy they bring. We ask that you, Father,
open our hearts and minds to the parable your son
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Jesus taught us in the Book of Matthew, and to
help us be the parents and grandparents you called us
to be in leading and loving by example. And now
we follow the example you taught us. As we pray,
our Father, who art in heaven, how would be thy name,
Thy Kingdom? Come, Thy will be done on earth as
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it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our truspasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us. And it's not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil, is a kingdom, power and the glory forever. Amen.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So Stan s Country, Star sets, Stitu Situate, So's s.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
S same same as.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
The s.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
S songs, Passage, Sans Songs, Bess b s c s
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schust As a conte asche spec sonst Messages, City Jess.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
Join me as we bless our ties and offerings, loving heavenly,
For we come with grateful hearts for another opportunity to
meet together as a family of faith called Fifth Avenue
Baptist to worship you. We know that part of worship
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is the privilege of giving. As we bring our tithes
and offerings to you, we worship you in adoration. Lord,
You have blessed us with such love and goodness, So
we offer these gifts to you with thankful hearts and
in joyful praise. We pray that all our gifts are
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given in love, as we dedicate them Lord for the
work of your Church, asking that you may use all
that we have and all that we are. Receive our
gifts and use them for Thy glory. May these offerings
extend the work of the Church, the community, and into
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the world that you have created.
Speaker 8 (14:05):
Amen, signs.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Has change change, So rast ts a scene.
Speaker 8 (16:09):
So.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Stay s.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
S STU, Stu.
Speaker 9 (17:49):
Amen.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
The manuscripture passage this morning comes from Matthew chapter twenty five,
and I want to say why you're turning to your Bibles.
I want to also mention that one of the books
I find helpful in this three week series I've been
doing on faithful parenting and prosperous Times is The Anxious
Generation by Jonathan Hyde, subtitled how the Great Rewiring of
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Childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. And I
would encourage I would recommend this book if you have children, grandchildren,
if you care about children, I would recommend this book.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
For your reading in the future.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Now onto the Gospel of Matthew chapter twenty five, beginning
with verse fourteen. For it is as if a man
going on a journey summoned his servants and entrusted them
his property to them.
Speaker 9 (18:45):
To one, he gave five talents.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Talents was a sum of money, which just for our purpose,
let's say it's a half million dollars to another two
or two hundred thousand dollars, and to another one one
hundred thousand dollars to each according to his ability.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Then he went away and the one who.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Received five talents went off at once and traded with
them and made five more talents. In the same way,
the one who had had two talents made two more talents.
But the one who had received one talent went off
and dug a hole in the ground and hid his
master's money. After a long time, the master whose servants came.
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Master the servants came and sudden accounts with them. Then
the one who had received five talents came forward, bringing
five more, saying, Master, you handed over to me five talents.
Speaker 9 (19:40):
See I have made five more talents.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
His master said to him, well done, good and trustworthy servant,
you have been trustworthy with a few things. I will
put you in charge of many things. Enter into the
joy of your master. And the one who had two
talents also came forward, saying, Master, you had to be
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two talents. See I have made two more talents. And
his master said also to him, well done, good and
trustworthy servants, you have been trustworthy with a few things.
I will put you in charge of many things. Enter
into the joy of your master. Then the one who
had received the one talent also came forward, saying, Master,
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I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where
you did not sew, gathering where you did not scatter seed.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
So I was afraid, and I went and hid your
money in the ground. Here have what is yours.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
But the master replied, you wicked and lazy slave. You knew,
did you, that I reaped where did not sew, and
gather where I do not scatter. Then you ought to
have invested my money with the bankers, and on my
return I would have at least received my money with
a little interest. So take that talent from him and
give it to the one who has ten talents. For
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to all those who have more will be given, and
they will have an abundance. But for those who have nothing,
even what they have will be taken away. Here ends
the reading of God's Holy Word. May God bless it
for our hearing and understanding.
Speaker 9 (21:33):
When I was in fifth grade, my parents.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Let me go on the twenty mile March of Dimes
walk all by myself.
Speaker 9 (21:43):
First of all, let me just say I'm amazed that the.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
First walkathons went twenty miles, right, I mean, today's charity
events maybe are five k, which is three miles fifty
years ago, twenty miles that day was also the spring
Marshall Green and White football game, which I wanted to
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go to, so half of those twenty.
Speaker 9 (22:09):
Miles I ran. I mean, when you're fifth.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Grade, you're not very big, it's easy to run for
a while. I finished the route so early got back
to the County courthouse. I pulled out my crumpled piece
of paper, handed to the volunteers, and since this was
before cell phones, I had to walk home to tenth Avenue.
Speaker 9 (22:29):
Right after walking twenty miles, had a quick lunch with
my parents. They were off doing things.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
My little brothers said goodbye to them, joined from friends,
and we walked to Fairfield Stadium, where I spent the
afternoon watching the n and White game, doing stupid things
with my friends, and then coming back home for dinner.
Speaker 9 (22:53):
I had been on my own all day long.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
A huge chunk of it, walking across the streets, running
across the streets of Huntington all by myself.
Speaker 9 (23:05):
Tried running out on James Hurrow Road by yourself.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
They did have like cones along the way marking where
the pathway was, so nobody ran me over, but if
somebody had, it had been a while before somebody foiled me.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
I was eleven years old, and I remember that day fondly.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
It's hard to imagine a parent today giving a fifth
grade of that much freedom. But I don't think my
parents were much different for other parents in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 9 (23:36):
It's not that way today now.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Crime statistics show that things actually are much safer for
children today than when I was a child in the seventies.
Speaker 9 (23:47):
Even with the.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Terrible mass shootings that occasionally happened, which basically did not
exist fifty years ago, crime rates are better today. Look
up the national and West Virginia time statistics. If you
find that hard to believe, this wouldn't be in the
sermon if I haven't already done that. The difference between
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then and now, however, is that then we didn't have
twenty for our news stations, we didn't have social media.
Speaker 9 (24:14):
At our fingertips.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
We didn't hear all the bad stuff all the time.
Parents are more protective than in my childhood days, largely
because today we live in a culture of fear.
Speaker 9 (24:38):
The Christian is how should Christians?
Speaker 5 (24:42):
How should parents raise their children in a culture of fear?
In the parable that we just read, the first two
servants doubled their money, the five bags of gold, or
the five envelopes of cash became ten, and the two
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became four.
Speaker 9 (25:07):
But the third servant.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Took his master's money and buried it underground, and when
his boss returned, he gave him the money back, maybe
brushed off the dirt a little bit.
Speaker 9 (25:24):
Now, what this third servant had done.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Was what some people in Jesus's day might have thought
to be.
Speaker 9 (25:31):
The prudent thing.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
Brian Scott, in his excellent book here then the parable
mentions how, according to an interpretation of Jewish law, if
you were in charge of somebody's money, if they gave
it to you for safe keeping while they were away,
if they had your money or some treasured item for
you in their home.
Speaker 9 (25:56):
And it was stolen, they were responsible for it.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
But if it took your money or your cherished item
to some secret location and buried it under the ground,
and somehow it was still stolen, you were absolved of
any guilt because you had done everything you could have
done to protect the money. So in Jesus's day people
heard the story, they might have think, well, he did
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the safe thing, right, He did the thing that was safest,
rather than risking all this money that his boss had
given him. The safest thing removes you from responsibility, which
is what the third servant did.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Only the master of these servants.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Did not see this as a faithful way of caring
for his investments. Why didn't you at least the money
in the bank, then I would have had at least
a little bit of interest. This parable hinges on risk.
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How much risk do you take? The ones who take
risks earn the rewards. In the story, the one that
doesn't take any risk is punished, and what he has
is taken away from him and given to the servant
who had the most. The most obvious conclusion of this
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parable is that risk taking is pleasing to God.
Speaker 9 (27:45):
If you try to play it safe, you lose.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
This parable confirms the reality that we see throughout the Bible.
When you read the Bible stories across the Old Testament
and New you see that the champions, the heroes of faith,
are always off on these great adventures, these unknose adventures.
They are always taking risks into the future. Whether this
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is Abraham and Sarah, or Moses or Ruth, or Jesus
or Paul, they are all taking risky journeys physically, sometimes
taking journeys to new places, for horizons they could not
see taking them not just from one physical place to another,
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but to new and deeper spiritual journeys as well. This
has a clear implication for faith. In this series, I've
been looking at the intersection of faith and family.
Speaker 9 (28:54):
How does this story inform us as parents and grandparents
and as.
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A church living in a culture of fear? Noticed that
the third servant explained why he buried the money he
was afraid.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
He lived in his own culture of fear. Today we
manage kids' lives far more than in previous generations.
Speaker 5 (29:30):
Schools have to specifically tell parents not to do their
homework because a teacher doesn't care whether a forty year
old adult can do algebra right. Teacher doesn't care that
they care if your child can do algebra. Few kids
played pickup games in the neighborhood where they both make
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and enforce their own rules.
Speaker 9 (29:57):
They joined sports.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Leagues that are run by adults, coached by adults, refereed
by adults. The kids don't get to play on their own,
and that's, of course, if you can get them outside.
Because video games have changed things. Video game software has
created a whole new way of winning and moving on
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to the next level easily. These algorithms work so that
they will not frustrate you, so they can get you
hooked to one reward.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
After a next, after next, after a next. But life
doesn't work like that.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
It takes a while to learn how to make a
basketball shop, or to play the piano or another instrument.
Life has failures before success comes. And all these video
games as fun as they can be, and in moderation,
it's fine to play them, but they do not help
us and our children learn to live in the real world,
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where you can't just click and start.
Speaker 9 (31:04):
Over again painlessly.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
Whole industries had been set up the last couple of
generations in order to help children give their parents give
their children perfectly managed, happy experiences, from Disney to Great
Wolf Lodge, to sports leagues where everybody gets a trophy,
to themed birthday parties. The tendency of our age is
to manage our children's lives, rather than to let them
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live in them and to learn from the mistakes and
the successes that they themselves create.
Speaker 9 (31:46):
The third servant in this parable wanted to play.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
It safe to protect his master's money from loss, but
in doing so he lost his master's trust. Notice, if
you go back and look at the parable, the first
two servants understood that their master had entrusted them.
Speaker 9 (32:09):
With this money. The Master trusted them. When we have
a sense that.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
God trusts us with this life, with our vocations, with
this church, and with our children, we can manage to
have the courage.
Speaker 9 (32:29):
To take risks. But if we live in the fear of.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
The third servant, we will find ourselves hiding and burying ourselves.
Speaker 9 (32:40):
And our children and our faith.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
The ones who took the chances, who risk their master's
money as he would have done, were rewarded. It is
no coincidence that the play at Safe Servant focused on
the harshness of the Master.
Speaker 9 (32:59):
He was driven by fear.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
If the parable has some insight for Christian parents, I
think it is that we cannot protect our children. That
if we try to bury them from the world, we
dishonor God's trust in us and dishonor God's trust in them.
Speaker 9 (33:23):
And the truth is.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
We can't protect our children from the world. Life has
too many contingencies. We can, however, prepare them. It's our
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job to outfit them for the journey ahead, to be
outfillers for their future.
Speaker 9 (33:54):
We outfit them, and then we pray and trust God
with the rest.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
And height. In his book, The Anxious Generation discusses two
problems with parenting today. One is that we give our
children and grandchildren far too much freedom of the Internet
through phones and devices in ways that alter how they
think about life. God evolved us friends in the real world.
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Our brains, our bodies, our psychologies work as interacting in
the real world. We did not evolve in the virtual world,
and it changes how we operate and think. Secondly, he
says that we do not give children enough physical freedom
to play and meet friends in the real world. By
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the time my kids were in fifth grade, my wife
and I tried to give them the freedom that both
of us.
Speaker 9 (34:52):
Had enjoyed in our childhood. As much as we could.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
We gave them free reign in our neighborhood to ride
their bikes. They knew enough neighbors or in the neighborhood
that if something happened, there were doors they could knock on.
Our swim club and a county park were a mile away. Summertime,
that's where they went for hours on end. They handled
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their schedules, not us. Our son and some other boys
spent hours in the park building makeshift bridges at low
points in the trails in the park that would get
muddy and underwater during big rains. They hauled in cinder blocks, scrapwood, bricks,
anything they could find to construct a bridge that would
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keep your feet and more importantly, their bikes dry as
we went through the trails.
Speaker 9 (35:43):
Adults loved it. That would just appear on the trail.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
Still today, my wife and I walk our dogs, I think,
and every now and then we'll say, hey, that's one
of the bridges that Michael and his friends made. But
the boys loved it because they would ride their bikes
as fast as they could through those trails and try
to pop wheelies off some of the bridges. Height says
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that experiences like this for older children and younger teenagers
are absolutely necessary. They can't learn how not to get hurt,
how to manage risk, how to watch out for problems,
how to work together with friends and new acquaintances, how
to manage their time. If parents is are all, parents
are always managing it for them. A child and a
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teenager that learns to manage their own risk, their own time,
and how to assess danger and.
Speaker 9 (36:35):
To collaborate with friends, will learn to be prepared for life.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Life is full of disappointments, bullies, and failures, and as
much as we would like to protect our children from
such things, it is on the one hand a feudal
attempt and on the other a self defeating one. If
you do not experience disappointment and hardships in childhood and
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learn how to respond to them, you will be unprepared
to face life as an adult. And the disappointments and
hardships in adulthood are far bigger and more dangerous than
they are in childhood.
Speaker 9 (37:28):
Hard days come to us all.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Therefore, if we learn to manage the small hardships when
we are young, to manage the money God has given us,
we will have the skills to face the bigger ones
as adults.
Speaker 9 (37:46):
It's tough as a parent, I know firsthand.
Speaker 5 (37:49):
It is tough to watch your child lose in a competition,
to see her child get bullied by another kid, to
feel your child's heartache over a lost friend, a betrayal,
to live through his disappointments. Every parent longs to ease
the pain, to run out and to fix things, to
make everything all right. Yet to do so robs your
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child of some valuable lessons in life and in faith.
How are they ever to rely on God and what
God has given them if you're always bailing them out.
Do you remember when your children, or your nieces and nephews,
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or your grandchildren were at the stage of just learning
to walk.
Speaker 9 (38:38):
We all can remember that, right, we've seen that. We
enjoy that.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
It's those first steps are wonderful peace, and we understand.
Speaker 9 (38:46):
That they have to get up and fall down and
get up and fall down. And here's the thing, we
all know we can't help them with that.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Right, they have to get up on their own. That's
what strength their muscles, that's what strengthens their balance. If
we hold their hand, they never learn to walk.
Speaker 9 (39:07):
So what do we all do?
Speaker 5 (39:08):
We put like rubber things around all the hard pieces
around the living room with the dining room of the
den right, or we move the coffee table that we
just can't, you know, want to be a risk for them.
Speaker 9 (39:20):
We do this, all of us do this.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
This is how to parent in a culture of fear.
We put rubber edges around the coffee tables and we
let them go.
Speaker 9 (39:38):
Marva down.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
In her book Unfettered Hope, a call to faithful living
in an affluent society suggests that Christian practices can also
root our children in the faith and out that fit
them for the world. We are to prepare our children,
not to protect them. Preparing them is prote them, and
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we are to prepare them to live in a wondrous
and dangerous world. It's our job as parents and grandparents.
It's our job. Is this congregation to be outfitters, outfitters
for children and youth for the world. Don suggests that
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if we want our children to be to learn truth
telling and the Golden Rule, and the prices of forgiveness, honesty, morality,
and faith, we have.
Speaker 9 (40:31):
To show them by habits. We can't just tell them.
We have to show them. Out of habits.
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Children learn practices of forgiveness and honesty, morality, and faith.
Speaker 9 (40:45):
They learn honesty by growing.
Speaker 5 (40:47):
Up in a family that keeps its promises, especially when
those promises are hard to keep, and especially when we
meet people that are dishonest. We learn forgiveness by practicing
it and receiving forgiveness from within our family.
Speaker 9 (41:06):
No one is perfect.
Speaker 5 (41:07):
When when you learn forgiveness from your family, it prepares
you for a world where you are encounter people that
will disappoint you, betray you, and actively work against you.
Speaker 9 (41:20):
We learn hope by growing up in a family that.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
Believes that God is always working in this world and
who will never leave us alone, especially during difficult days.
We get children in the habit of praying. By praying
as a family, they learn that mom and Dad do
not have all the answers, so they also pray to
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God for answers. They learn that every outcome cannot be managed,
and that parents, too, trust in God when things are uncertain.
I know all of this may sound simplistic, but life
really isn't complicated. Simple truths and habits ground us in
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a world that God has created. It can be faced
with simple truths and ordinary habits. The point of parenting
is to prepare our children, not to protect them. You know,
when my children were in their middle to late elementary years,
we began reading a series of unfortunate events. Maybe some
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of you heard of that book series by the pen
name Lemony Snicket, which began with the mysterious death of
a set of parents and then followed the suspenseful adventures
of the Bodilier orphans Violet Clause and Sonny, who over
the course of thirteen books lived in a wondrous and
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dangerous world. Book by book, they survived calamity one after
another and escape the treachery of Count Oloff, who was
the main villain in the story, until finally they reached
the end, which was the title of the thirteenth book
and final book. Now, some of you may have seen
that there was a movie which was really not that good,
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and also there's a Netflix series which actually is pretty good,
but not quite.
Speaker 9 (43:20):
As good as the book.
Speaker 5 (43:22):
At the end of the series, the Bottier orphans find
themselves with a most important question to answer. Count Oloff
is dead and all the other villains in the story.
Speaker 9 (43:33):
They are finally safe.
Speaker 5 (43:38):
They find themselves on an island which will keep them
safe from the treachery of the world.
Speaker 9 (43:47):
There's also a sailboat on the island.
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Do they sail off as castaways into the dangerous waters
of the sea towards unknown adventures.
Speaker 9 (43:57):
Beyond the horizon, or do they stay in the safety
of the island.
Speaker 5 (44:04):
It is the same choice as the servants in Jesus's
Parable Do you play it safe, protect the money from
the treachery and villains of the world.
Speaker 9 (44:15):
Or do you risk at all on the open seas?
Speaker 5 (44:20):
The book ends, and the series ends as every book
for eight and ten and twelve year old children should.
Speaker 9 (44:30):
Life is filled with treachery and villains.
Speaker 5 (44:33):
To be sure, to deny that would be foolish, but
is a terrible shame to miss the wonders and the
adventures and the loves of this life because you are
deterred by the treachery of the world.
Speaker 9 (44:50):
And so to the end the series.
Speaker 5 (44:53):
It ends with the beginning, as violent Klaus and Sonny
leave the safety of an island behind and say off
to unknown horizons on the seas.
Speaker 9 (45:04):
It is well almost a Christian ending.
Speaker 5 (45:09):
The only way to protect our children and the children
of this church is to give them enough freedom to
learn to manage risk in their lives and their time,
and to instill Christian values and habits that have sustained
generations of disciples throughout the ages.
Speaker 9 (45:28):
Which isn't protecting at all, It is preparing.
Speaker 5 (45:33):
It is outfitting, give them the habits of faith that
become their boat on the open seas. While one servant
focused on the fears of life and thus tried to
find a safe, protected place, the other servants trusted their
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master and invested their Master's money in the world. They
believe that he trusted them with his investment, that they
believe that if they operated in the world the way
he did, things would work out. That belief that trust
prepared them for the world, and so will be for
parents who allow their children to manage risks.
Speaker 9 (46:19):
And to explore this wondrous and dangerous world.
Speaker 5 (46:25):
Ahmen, friends, we and our worship service in our Baptists tradition,
when we open our door as a fellowship, we would
hope that you want to be a part of this
community of faith. I'll say right now, even though I
grew up in this church, this is not a perfect church, right,
it has its own risks, But this is a church
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where people love one another and try to love God
in this community. And I recommend it to you. However,
you want to be part of this congregation, to be
baptized in the faith of Jesus Christ, or to share
your membership from another church family, we would love to
welcome you while we all stand together and sing Him
five eighty one tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.
Speaker 9 (47:09):
Let's stand together and.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Sing Jesus, jess.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Jesus Jess, Jesus, Jesus So Student Son Sports Teas Trust
(48:12):
to SO Speech Stage, Jansons, Francis S, the PAS, Students, STU, scretssst.
Speaker 10 (48:51):
Trust, Still Stenge.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Stage Best SASSI Status sosss ssssssste S.
Speaker 5 (50:25):
Do want to say thanks to a couple of folks
who let us and worship today, Mary, Beth and Jim,
thank you for leading us and worship through your prayers.
And wasn't it isn't it great to have the choir back. Yeah,
let's thank them, and John thank you for your leadership
of a choir. It's good to have you all back
with us. So thank you for leading us in worship
through song and music and inspiring us in how we're
(50:46):
worshiping God. Some of you have noticed that I've got
my case Swisses on today, which is not normally my style.
But yesterday my wife and I were about Charlotte in
the afternoon and so it we were done kind of
early thing, so she took me the airport early. So
I was at the airport over two hours early, the
earliest I've ever been at the airport. And how was
(51:07):
I rewarded? My suitcase is still someplace out there. So
I appreciate Debbie and Gus Drum who picked me up
because I'm still on Dodgor's order not to pick up
that much so late. They picked me up the airport
specifically to carry my suitcase. I was there, but not
the suitcase. They went on and took me to Walmart
(51:27):
so I could buy some things too I get ready
for today. So I appreciate them going the extra mile
for all that, one of which Debbie said, well, don't
you need a hair brush, which I said, you know, Debbie,
I don't have enough hair anymore.
Speaker 9 (51:39):
A fingerbrush does the works as good as a hair brush.
So anyways, that's just the way it is.
Speaker 7 (51:45):
Right.
Speaker 5 (51:46):
Anyways, I'm hoping sometime today I do get my clothes
so that the youth group tonight I will actually have
some clothes.
Speaker 9 (51:53):
I did buy some deodorant at the Walmart. That's good.
That's good. Let's uh receive the benediction.
Speaker 5 (52:01):
Together, friends, as you go back out into the world,
love God with your whole heart, your mind, your heart,
your soul, your being, and love your neighbor as yourself,
which also means take care of yourself and love your
(52:22):
enemies until they become friends and we can thus change
the world. And as you go, know that God, the
careator of the universe, is already going ahead of you,
preparing away, and Jesus the Christ is walking beside of
you every step of the way, and the Holy Spirit,
God's Love swirling around of you to protect you and
(52:42):
to guide you and to prepare you for whatever challenges
you face this week. So go now, my friends, in peace.
Amen spe.
Speaker 10 (53:53):
Spe speak, mister still s, say Miking about on the
(54:32):
days last Pakist
As the.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Good morning, please join me in the calld of worship.
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of
the wicked, but whose delight is in God's word and
upon God's word. They meditate both day and night. They
are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield
their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.
(03:45):
God's words us to live in justice and love, and
in harmony with others. In all that we do according
to God's word, we prosper. The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff. The wind blows away. For the
Lord watches over the way of the righteous.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
But the way of the wicked will perish.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's it's schools, schools.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
So it's.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
So so.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Jesus see school school, school schools.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
No moment.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
James speaks, seen James, since.
Speaker 6 (07:38):
Please join me in prayer. Good morning, Father, as we
prepare our hearts for worship this morning, Oh Lord, we
praise you for the beauty of this day, for the
cool morning breezes that awaken us, to the afternoon sunshine
that warms us, and especially the opportunity to worship and
honor you. We seek your presence this morning as we
(07:58):
worship you in prayer, in song, in sharing, in studying
your written word and the spoken word through the message. Father,
we come to you today full of thankful hearts, full
of joy, happiness, contentment. But we also bring heavy burdens,
burdens of loss, broken relationships, health, concerns, fear, doubt that
(08:20):
oftentimes weigh us down. Help us to place those burdens
at your feet and give them to you, and to
let go and let you. Father, We thank you for
this gift of family, for the blessing of children and grandchildren,
for the joy they bring. We ask that you, Father,
open our hearts and minds to the parable your son
(08:42):
Jesus taught us in the Book of Matthew, and to
help us be the parents and grandparents you called us
to be in leading and loving by example. And now
we follow the example you taught us. As we pray,
our Father, who art in heaven, how would be thy name,
Thy Kingdom? Come, Thy will be done on earth as
(09:04):
it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our truspasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us. And it's not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil, is a kingdom, power and the glory forever. Amen.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So Stan s Country, Star sets, Stitu Situate, So's s.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
S same same as.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
The s.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
S songs, Passage, Sans Songs, Bess b s c s
(11:36):
schust As a conte asche spec sonst Messages, City Jess.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
Join me as we bless our ties and offerings, loving heavenly,
For we come with grateful hearts for another opportunity to
meet together as a family of faith called Fifth Avenue
Baptist to worship you. We know that part of worship
(13:16):
is the privilege of giving. As we bring our tithes
and offerings to you, we worship you in adoration. Lord,
You have blessed us with such love and goodness, So
we offer these gifts to you with thankful hearts and
in joyful praise. We pray that all our gifts are
(13:39):
given in love, as we dedicate them Lord for the
work of your Church, asking that you may use all
that we have and all that we are. Receive our
gifts and use them for Thy glory. May these offerings
extend the work of the Church, the community, and into
(14:02):
the world that you have created.
Speaker 8 (14:05):
Amen, signs.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Has change change, So rast ts a scene.
Speaker 8 (16:09):
So.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Stay s.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
S STU, Stu.
Speaker 9 (17:49):
Amen.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
The manuscripture passage this morning comes from Matthew chapter twenty five,
and I want to say why you're turning to your Bibles.
I want to also mention that one of the books
I find helpful in this three week series I've been
doing on faithful parenting and prosperous Times is The Anxious
Generation by Jonathan Hyde, subtitled how the Great Rewiring of
(18:12):
Childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. And I
would encourage I would recommend this book if you have children, grandchildren,
if you care about children, I would recommend this book.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
For your reading in the future.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
Now onto the Gospel of Matthew chapter twenty five, beginning
with verse fourteen. For it is as if a man
going on a journey summoned his servants and entrusted them
his property to them.
Speaker 9 (18:45):
To one, he gave five talents.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Talents was a sum of money, which just for our purpose,
let's say it's a half million dollars to another two
or two hundred thousand dollars, and to another one one
hundred thousand dollars to each according to his ability.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Then he went away and the one who.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Received five talents went off at once and traded with
them and made five more talents. In the same way,
the one who had had two talents made two more talents.
But the one who had received one talent went off
and dug a hole in the ground and hid his
master's money. After a long time, the master whose servants came.
(19:29):
Master the servants came and sudden accounts with them. Then
the one who had received five talents came forward, bringing
five more, saying, Master, you handed over to me five talents.
Speaker 9 (19:40):
See I have made five more talents.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
His master said to him, well done, good and trustworthy servant,
you have been trustworthy with a few things. I will
put you in charge of many things. Enter into the
joy of your master. And the one who had two
talents also came forward, saying, Master, you had to be
(20:04):
two talents. See I have made two more talents. And
his master said also to him, well done, good and
trustworthy servants, you have been trustworthy with a few things.
I will put you in charge of many things. Enter
into the joy of your master. Then the one who
had received the one talent also came forward, saying, Master,
(20:26):
I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where
you did not sew, gathering where you did not scatter seed.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
So I was afraid, and I went and hid your
money in the ground. Here have what is yours.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
But the master replied, you wicked and lazy slave. You knew,
did you, that I reaped where did not sew, and
gather where I do not scatter. Then you ought to
have invested my money with the bankers, and on my
return I would have at least received my money with
a little interest. So take that talent from him and
give it to the one who has ten talents. For
(21:12):
to all those who have more will be given, and
they will have an abundance. But for those who have nothing,
even what they have will be taken away. Here ends
the reading of God's Holy Word. May God bless it
for our hearing and understanding.
Speaker 9 (21:33):
When I was in fifth grade, my parents.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Let me go on the twenty mile March of Dimes
walk all by myself.
Speaker 9 (21:43):
First of all, let me just say I'm amazed that the.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
First walkathons went twenty miles, right, I mean, today's charity
events maybe are five k, which is three miles fifty
years ago, twenty miles that day was also the spring
Marshall Green and White football game, which I wanted to
(22:07):
go to, so half of those twenty.
Speaker 9 (22:09):
Miles I ran. I mean, when you're fifth.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
Grade, you're not very big, it's easy to run for
a while. I finished the route so early got back
to the County courthouse. I pulled out my crumpled piece
of paper, handed to the volunteers, and since this was
before cell phones, I had to walk home to tenth Avenue.
Speaker 9 (22:29):
Right after walking twenty miles, had a quick lunch with
my parents. They were off doing things.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
My little brothers said goodbye to them, joined from friends,
and we walked to Fairfield Stadium, where I spent the
afternoon watching the n and White game, doing stupid things
with my friends, and then coming back home for dinner.
Speaker 9 (22:53):
I had been on my own all day long.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
A huge chunk of it, walking across the streets, running
across the streets of Huntington all by myself.
Speaker 9 (23:05):
Tried running out on James Hurrow Road by yourself.
Speaker 5 (23:07):
They did have like cones along the way marking where
the pathway was, so nobody ran me over, but if
somebody had, it had been a while before somebody foiled me.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
I was eleven years old, and I remember that day fondly.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
It's hard to imagine a parent today giving a fifth
grade of that much freedom. But I don't think my
parents were much different for other parents in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 9 (23:36):
It's not that way today now.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Crime statistics show that things actually are much safer for
children today than when I was a child in the seventies.
Speaker 9 (23:47):
Even with the.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Terrible mass shootings that occasionally happened, which basically did not
exist fifty years ago, crime rates are better today. Look
up the national and West Virginia time statistics. If you
find that hard to believe, this wouldn't be in the
sermon if I haven't already done that. The difference between
(24:09):
then and now, however, is that then we didn't have
twenty for our news stations, we didn't have social media.
Speaker 9 (24:14):
At our fingertips.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
We didn't hear all the bad stuff all the time.
Parents are more protective than in my childhood days, largely
because today we live in a culture of fear.
Speaker 9 (24:38):
The Christian is how should Christians?
Speaker 5 (24:42):
How should parents raise their children in a culture of fear?
In the parable that we just read, the first two
servants doubled their money, the five bags of gold, or
the five envelopes of cash became ten, and the two
(25:04):
became four.
Speaker 9 (25:07):
But the third servant.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
Took his master's money and buried it underground, and when
his boss returned, he gave him the money back, maybe
brushed off the dirt a little bit.
Speaker 9 (25:24):
Now, what this third servant had done.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Was what some people in Jesus's day might have thought
to be.
Speaker 9 (25:31):
The prudent thing.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
Brian Scott, in his excellent book here then the parable
mentions how, according to an interpretation of Jewish law, if
you were in charge of somebody's money, if they gave
it to you for safe keeping while they were away,
if they had your money or some treasured item for
you in their home.
Speaker 9 (25:56):
And it was stolen, they were responsible for it.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
But if it took your money or your cherished item
to some secret location and buried it under the ground,
and somehow it was still stolen, you were absolved of
any guilt because you had done everything you could have
done to protect the money. So in Jesus's day people
heard the story, they might have think, well, he did
(26:24):
the safe thing, right, He did the thing that was safest,
rather than risking all this money that his boss had
given him. The safest thing removes you from responsibility, which
is what the third servant did.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Only the master of these servants.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Did not see this as a faithful way of caring
for his investments. Why didn't you at least the money
in the bank, then I would have had at least
a little bit of interest. This parable hinges on risk.
(27:13):
How much risk do you take? The ones who take
risks earn the rewards. In the story, the one that
doesn't take any risk is punished, and what he has
is taken away from him and given to the servant
who had the most. The most obvious conclusion of this
(27:38):
parable is that risk taking is pleasing to God.
Speaker 9 (27:45):
If you try to play it safe, you lose.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
This parable confirms the reality that we see throughout the Bible.
When you read the Bible stories across the Old Testament
and New you see that the champions, the heroes of faith,
are always off on these great adventures, these unknose adventures.
They are always taking risks into the future. Whether this
(28:13):
is Abraham and Sarah, or Moses or Ruth, or Jesus
or Paul, they are all taking risky journeys physically, sometimes
taking journeys to new places, for horizons they could not
see taking them not just from one physical place to another,
(28:36):
but to new and deeper spiritual journeys as well. This
has a clear implication for faith. In this series, I've
been looking at the intersection of faith and family.
Speaker 9 (28:54):
How does this story inform us as parents and grandparents
and as.
Speaker 5 (29:03):
A church living in a culture of fear? Noticed that
the third servant explained why he buried the money he
was afraid.
Speaker 9 (29:20):
He lived in his own culture of fear. Today we
manage kids' lives far more than in previous generations.
Speaker 5 (29:30):
Schools have to specifically tell parents not to do their
homework because a teacher doesn't care whether a forty year
old adult can do algebra right. Teacher doesn't care that
they care if your child can do algebra. Few kids
played pickup games in the neighborhood where they both make
(29:53):
and enforce their own rules.
Speaker 9 (29:57):
They joined sports.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Leagues that are run by adults, coached by adults, refereed
by adults. The kids don't get to play on their own,
and that's, of course, if you can get them outside.
Because video games have changed things. Video game software has
created a whole new way of winning and moving on
(30:21):
to the next level easily. These algorithms work so that
they will not frustrate you, so they can get you
hooked to one reward.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
After a next, after next, after a next. But life
doesn't work like that.
Speaker 5 (30:36):
It takes a while to learn how to make a
basketball shop, or to play the piano or another instrument.
Life has failures before success comes. And all these video
games as fun as they can be, and in moderation,
it's fine to play them, but they do not help
us and our children learn to live in the real world,
(31:02):
where you can't just click and start.
Speaker 9 (31:04):
Over again painlessly.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
Whole industries had been set up the last couple of
generations in order to help children give their parents give
their children perfectly managed, happy experiences, from Disney to Great
Wolf Lodge, to sports leagues where everybody gets a trophy,
to themed birthday parties. The tendency of our age is
to manage our children's lives, rather than to let them
(31:32):
live in them and to learn from the mistakes and
the successes that they themselves create.
Speaker 9 (31:46):
The third servant in this parable wanted to play.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
It safe to protect his master's money from loss, but
in doing so he lost his master's trust. Notice, if
you go back and look at the parable, the first
two servants understood that their master had entrusted them.
Speaker 9 (32:09):
With this money. The Master trusted them. When we have
a sense that.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
God trusts us with this life, with our vocations, with
this church, and with our children, we can manage to
have the courage.
Speaker 9 (32:29):
To take risks. But if we live in the fear of.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
The third servant, we will find ourselves hiding and burying ourselves.
Speaker 9 (32:40):
And our children and our faith.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
The ones who took the chances, who risk their master's
money as he would have done, were rewarded. It is
no coincidence that the play at Safe Servant focused on
the harshness of the Master.
Speaker 9 (32:59):
He was driven by fear.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
If the parable has some insight for Christian parents, I
think it is that we cannot protect our children. That
if we try to bury them from the world, we
dishonor God's trust in us and dishonor God's trust in them.
Speaker 9 (33:23):
And the truth is.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
We can't protect our children from the world. Life has
too many contingencies. We can, however, prepare them. It's our
(33:46):
job to outfit them for the journey ahead, to be
outfillers for their future.
Speaker 9 (33:54):
We outfit them, and then we pray and trust God
with the rest.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
And height. In his book, The Anxious Generation discusses two
problems with parenting today. One is that we give our
children and grandchildren far too much freedom of the Internet
through phones and devices in ways that alter how they
think about life. God evolved us friends in the real world.
(34:23):
Our brains, our bodies, our psychologies work as interacting in
the real world. We did not evolve in the virtual world,
and it changes how we operate and think. Secondly, he
says that we do not give children enough physical freedom
to play and meet friends in the real world. By
(34:47):
the time my kids were in fifth grade, my wife
and I tried to give them the freedom that both
of us.
Speaker 9 (34:52):
Had enjoyed in our childhood. As much as we could.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
We gave them free reign in our neighborhood to ride
their bikes. They knew enough neighbors or in the neighborhood
that if something happened, there were doors they could knock on.
Our swim club and a county park were a mile away. Summertime,
that's where they went for hours on end. They handled
(35:14):
their schedules, not us. Our son and some other boys
spent hours in the park building makeshift bridges at low
points in the trails in the park that would get
muddy and underwater during big rains. They hauled in cinder blocks, scrapwood, bricks,
anything they could find to construct a bridge that would
(35:38):
keep your feet and more importantly, their bikes dry as
we went through the trails.
Speaker 9 (35:43):
Adults loved it. That would just appear on the trail.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
Still today, my wife and I walk our dogs, I think,
and every now and then we'll say, hey, that's one
of the bridges that Michael and his friends made. But
the boys loved it because they would ride their bikes
as fast as they could through those trails and try
to pop wheelies off some of the bridges. Height says
(36:06):
that experiences like this for older children and younger teenagers
are absolutely necessary. They can't learn how not to get hurt,
how to manage risk, how to watch out for problems,
how to work together with friends and new acquaintances, how
to manage their time. If parents is are all, parents
are always managing it for them. A child and a
(36:29):
teenager that learns to manage their own risk, their own time,
and how to assess danger and.
Speaker 9 (36:35):
To collaborate with friends, will learn to be prepared for life.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Life is full of disappointments, bullies, and failures, and as
much as we would like to protect our children from
such things, it is on the one hand a feudal
attempt and on the other a self defeating one. If
you do not experience disappointment and hardships in childhood and
(37:07):
learn how to respond to them, you will be unprepared
to face life as an adult. And the disappointments and
hardships in adulthood are far bigger and more dangerous than
they are in childhood.
Speaker 9 (37:28):
Hard days come to us all.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Therefore, if we learn to manage the small hardships when
we are young, to manage the money God has given us,
we will have the skills to face the bigger ones
as adults.
Speaker 9 (37:46):
It's tough as a parent, I know firsthand.
Speaker 5 (37:49):
It is tough to watch your child lose in a competition,
to see her child get bullied by another kid, to
feel your child's heartache over a lost friend, a betrayal,
to live through his disappointments. Every parent longs to ease
the pain, to run out and to fix things, to
make everything all right. Yet to do so robs your
(38:12):
child of some valuable lessons in life and in faith.
How are they ever to rely on God and what
God has given them if you're always bailing them out.
Do you remember when your children, or your nieces and nephews,
(38:34):
or your grandchildren were at the stage of just learning
to walk.
Speaker 9 (38:38):
We all can remember that, right, we've seen that. We
enjoy that.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
It's those first steps are wonderful peace, and we understand.
Speaker 9 (38:46):
That they have to get up and fall down and
get up and fall down. And here's the thing, we
all know we can't help them with that.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Right, they have to get up on their own. That's
what strength their muscles, that's what strengthens their balance. If
we hold their hand, they never learn to walk.
Speaker 9 (39:07):
So what do we all do?
Speaker 5 (39:08):
We put like rubber things around all the hard pieces
around the living room with the dining room of the
den right, or we move the coffee table that we
just can't, you know, want to be a risk for them.
Speaker 9 (39:20):
We do this, all of us do this.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
This is how to parent in a culture of fear.
We put rubber edges around the coffee tables and we
let them go.
Speaker 9 (39:38):
Marva down.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
In her book Unfettered Hope, a call to faithful living
in an affluent society suggests that Christian practices can also
root our children in the faith and out that fit
them for the world. We are to prepare our children,
not to protect them. Preparing them is prote them, and
(40:01):
we are to prepare them to live in a wondrous
and dangerous world. It's our job as parents and grandparents.
It's our job. Is this congregation to be outfitters, outfitters
for children and youth for the world. Don suggests that
(40:24):
if we want our children to be to learn truth
telling and the Golden Rule, and the prices of forgiveness, honesty, morality,
and faith, we have.
Speaker 9 (40:31):
To show them by habits. We can't just tell them.
We have to show them. Out of habits.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
Children learn practices of forgiveness and honesty, morality, and faith.
Speaker 9 (40:45):
They learn honesty by growing.
Speaker 5 (40:47):
Up in a family that keeps its promises, especially when
those promises are hard to keep, and especially when we
meet people that are dishonest. We learn forgiveness by practicing
it and receiving forgiveness from within our family.
Speaker 9 (41:06):
No one is perfect.
Speaker 5 (41:07):
When when you learn forgiveness from your family, it prepares
you for a world where you are encounter people that
will disappoint you, betray you, and actively work against you.
Speaker 9 (41:20):
We learn hope by growing up in a family that.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
Believes that God is always working in this world and
who will never leave us alone, especially during difficult days.
We get children in the habit of praying. By praying
as a family, they learn that mom and Dad do
not have all the answers, so they also pray to
(41:43):
God for answers. They learn that every outcome cannot be managed,
and that parents, too, trust in God when things are uncertain.
I know all of this may sound simplistic, but life
really isn't complicated. Simple truths and habits ground us in
(42:08):
a world that God has created. It can be faced
with simple truths and ordinary habits. The point of parenting
is to prepare our children, not to protect them. You know,
when my children were in their middle to late elementary years,
we began reading a series of unfortunate events. Maybe some
(42:30):
of you heard of that book series by the pen
name Lemony Snicket, which began with the mysterious death of
a set of parents and then followed the suspenseful adventures
of the Bodilier orphans Violet Clause and Sonny, who over
the course of thirteen books lived in a wondrous and
(42:54):
dangerous world. Book by book, they survived calamity one after
another and escape the treachery of Count Oloff, who was
the main villain in the story, until finally they reached
the end, which was the title of the thirteenth book
and final book. Now, some of you may have seen
that there was a movie which was really not that good,
(43:15):
and also there's a Netflix series which actually is pretty good,
but not quite.
Speaker 9 (43:20):
As good as the book.
Speaker 5 (43:22):
At the end of the series, the Bottier orphans find
themselves with a most important question to answer. Count Oloff
is dead and all the other villains in the story.
Speaker 9 (43:33):
They are finally safe.
Speaker 5 (43:38):
They find themselves on an island which will keep them
safe from the treachery of the world.
Speaker 9 (43:47):
There's also a sailboat on the island.
Speaker 5 (43:51):
Do they sail off as castaways into the dangerous waters
of the sea towards unknown adventures.
Speaker 9 (43:57):
Beyond the horizon, or do they stay in the safety
of the island.
Speaker 5 (44:04):
It is the same choice as the servants in Jesus's
Parable Do you play it safe, protect the money from
the treachery and villains of the world.
Speaker 9 (44:15):
Or do you risk at all on the open seas?
Speaker 5 (44:20):
The book ends, and the series ends as every book
for eight and ten and twelve year old children should.
Speaker 9 (44:30):
Life is filled with treachery and villains.
Speaker 5 (44:33):
To be sure, to deny that would be foolish, but
is a terrible shame to miss the wonders and the
adventures and the loves of this life because you are
deterred by the treachery of the world.
Speaker 9 (44:50):
And so to the end the series.
Speaker 5 (44:53):
It ends with the beginning, as violent Klaus and Sonny
leave the safety of an island behind and say off
to unknown horizons on the seas.
Speaker 9 (45:04):
It is well almost a Christian ending.
Speaker 5 (45:09):
The only way to protect our children and the children
of this church is to give them enough freedom to
learn to manage risk in their lives and their time,
and to instill Christian values and habits that have sustained
generations of disciples throughout the ages.
Speaker 9 (45:28):
Which isn't protecting at all, It is preparing.
Speaker 5 (45:33):
It is outfitting, give them the habits of faith that
become their boat on the open seas. While one servant
focused on the fears of life and thus tried to
find a safe, protected place, the other servants trusted their
(45:54):
master and invested their Master's money in the world. They
believe that he trusted them with his investment, that they
believe that if they operated in the world the way
he did, things would work out. That belief that trust
prepared them for the world, and so will be for
parents who allow their children to manage risks.
Speaker 9 (46:19):
And to explore this wondrous and dangerous world.
Speaker 5 (46:25):
Ahmen, friends, we and our worship service in our Baptists tradition,
when we open our door as a fellowship, we would
hope that you want to be a part of this
community of faith. I'll say right now, even though I
grew up in this church, this is not a perfect church, right,
it has its own risks, But this is a church
(46:48):
where people love one another and try to love God
in this community. And I recommend it to you. However,
you want to be part of this congregation, to be
baptized in the faith of Jesus Christ, or to share
your membership from another church family, we would love to
welcome you while we all stand together and sing Him
five eighty one tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.
Speaker 9 (47:09):
Let's stand together and.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Sing Jesus, jess.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Jesus Jess, Jesus, Jesus So Student Son Sports Teas Trust
(48:12):
to SO Speech Stage, Jansons, Francis S, the PAS, Students, STU, scretssst.
Speaker 10 (48:51):
Trust, Still Stenge.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Stage Best SASSI Status sosss ssssssste S.
Speaker 5 (50:25):
Do want to say thanks to a couple of folks
who let us and worship today, Mary, Beth and Jim,
thank you for leading us and worship through your prayers.
And wasn't it isn't it great to have the choir back. Yeah,
let's thank them, and John thank you for your leadership
of a choir. It's good to have you all back
with us. So thank you for leading us in worship
through song and music and inspiring us in how we're
(50:46):
worshiping God. Some of you have noticed that I've got
my case Swisses on today, which is not normally my style.
But yesterday my wife and I were about Charlotte in
the afternoon and so it we were done kind of
early thing, so she took me the airport early. So
I was at the airport over two hours early, the
earliest I've ever been at the airport. And how was
(51:07):
I rewarded? My suitcase is still someplace out there. So
I appreciate Debbie and Gus Drum who picked me up
because I'm still on Dodgor's order not to pick up
that much so late. They picked me up the airport
specifically to carry my suitcase. I was there, but not
the suitcase. They went on and took me to Walmart
(51:27):
so I could buy some things too I get ready
for today. So I appreciate them going the extra mile
for all that, one of which Debbie said, well, don't
you need a hair brush, which I said, you know, Debbie,
I don't have enough hair anymore.
Speaker 9 (51:39):
A fingerbrush does the works as good as a hair brush.
So anyways, that's just the way it is.
Speaker 7 (51:45):
Right.
Speaker 5 (51:46):
Anyways, I'm hoping sometime today I do get my clothes
so that the youth group tonight I will actually have
some clothes.
Speaker 9 (51:53):
I did buy some deodorant at the Walmart. That's good.
That's good. Let's uh receive the benediction.
Speaker 5 (52:01):
Together, friends, as you go back out into the world,
love God with your whole heart, your mind, your heart,
your soul, your being, and love your neighbor as yourself,
which also means take care of yourself and love your
(52:22):
enemies until they become friends and we can thus change
the world. And as you go, know that God, the
careator of the universe, is already going ahead of you,
preparing away, and Jesus the Christ is walking beside of
you every step of the way, and the Holy Spirit,
God's Love swirling around of you to protect you and
(52:42):
to guide you and to prepare you for whatever challenges
you face this week. So go now, my friends, in peace.
Amen spe.
Speaker 10 (53:53):
Spe speak, mister still s, say Miking about on the
(54:32):
days last Pakist
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