Acts 4 What Does it mean to be a witness? 04-28-2024 | By giving to Corinth you bring the love of Jesus to life through our ministries. Thank you. https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z6V0 Music Used by Permission... | By Corinth United Methodist Church | Good morning. How is everyone today? We're so glad to have each of you. What a beautiful day to have worship. We welcome you online and in person and we have these gorgeous flowers today in honor of Frank Hazleton's 1 hundredfirst birthday. And so that means we're going to sing to you. We're going to stay. Happy birthday For those of you at home, Frank just said he he appreciates our support and our love and we're just glad that he could be here today for this 1hundred1st birthday which actually happens on Tuesday, right? Tomorrow. Tomorrow, Monday. Okay. Alright, folks. Uh so, we are celebrating Frank's birthday. We're celebrating the ability to come and worship together. We are aware that we have a family who is in need of a washing machine if you know anyone with one or would like to help with that. Please. Please let us know and at this time, we enter At this time we enter into our time of worship with our prelude. The words will be on the screen and you're invited to sing along with the choir. We are eternal Amen. We sing you to join in our. Call to worship found on the screen. Praise the lord all you servants of the lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the lord. Let us We invite you to sing You Are the Seed. On his throne you're a star that will shine in the great of souls who began to glow in will bring a new day you're the weeds that dwell there golden gray of gentle touch go to the world eternal with you forever the end of the world that will light in the beneath you are is ambassadors of peace you are that I chose for myself I want to proclaim born again we're justice and truth always runs to go of my till that will nurture the plant you're the waves and beyond yesterday's angel rise a new loaf of bread it will yield is no place to hide nor a mountain that can govern its may your good deeds all to call my friends of my forgiving peace I'll be with you You may be seated and Dan Vasquez is coming to lead us. Uh Dan was wrote the opening prayer for us and so we give thanks for that and together, we'll be praying that opening prayer and then Dan will read the scripture. Good morning. Good morning. Please join with me on our opening prayer found on the screen. Heavenly Father, we gather in your presence today with open hearts and minds. Ready to worship and praise your holy name. We praise you for the wonderful deeds in our lives. Your grace has enabled us to gather here to for worship. We glorify your name for always being there for us. We ask that you bless this time of worship. So that we may be uplifted and inspired by your presence. Fill us with your love and grace and help us to honor you in all that we do. May our worship be pleasing to you and may we be transformed by the power of your spirit. We offer this prayer in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Our first reading is from the book of John chapter 21 verses one through seven. Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedi and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to feast. Simon Peter told them. And they will go with you. So they went out and got into the boat. But that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus called out to them. Friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered. Jesus said, throw your net on the right side of the boat. And you will find some. When they did, they were unable to hold the net. And because of the large number of fish. Then the disciples, whom Jesus loved, said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord. He wrapped his outer garment around him. And jumped into the water. The word of God the people of God. Thank you, Dan. Are there children who would like to come forward at this time? Alright. Well, we're excited today to be able to join together and I brought a little a little net here. This is this is a miniature size. Miniature size. They would have thrown a much much bigger net than this but it's helpful sometimes to look at something and see a little bit of what what might have happened but we're going to start with talking about when was the last time something happened that surprised you. Oh, Sarai, you're going to come up. How very nice. So, when was the last time something happened that surprised you? Can you think of anything? When you got your. Tablet. Oh, when you got your tablet, that was wonderful. Anybody else have a surprise that's happened for them? Anybody? Surprise? You've never been surprised. Oh. That is hard. Really? I'm always surprised when I see wildflowers growing when I walk along the path. I'm surprised by the different kinds of flowers and then if I look up the name, I'm surprised by the names. I found these little tiny flowers that look a little purplish blue and they're called Quaker Ladies. How's that for a funny name? Mm hmm. So, the the students of Jesus, they had been hiding because they were afraid. They were afraid because Jesus has died and they thought somebody might hurt them too and so they were hiding. They were hiding. They were hiding. They were hiding and then one day, Peter said, I'm going to go fishing and so they all said, well, we're going to go with you and they got in the boat and then they fished. They went early in the morning. It was dark. They were hoping the fish would be hungry for breakfast and they might be able to catch some and they threw out their big net and they pulled it up and what was in the net? Nothing and they threw out the big net and they pulled it up and what was in the net? Nothing and they threw out the big net and they pulled it up and what was in the net? Nothing and they did this over and they would move the boat do it over again and how do you think they were feeling? Angry. A little angry and sad, discouraged, frustrated, right? You're throwing out the net. You're pulling it in. You have nothing. And then somebody on the shore says, have you caught any fish? How do you feel about that? I'm thinking I would feel a little grumpy. Just a little grumpy butt. Uh they say no. And then Jesus says, they don't know it's Jesus. They say, throw it out on the other side. Now, I don't know about you. I don't take directions well sometimes. But they threw the net out and all those times they pulled in and there was nothing and this time they put it out there and you know what happened? So many fish. They could not even get it in the boat almost. And then John said it's Jesus. Well he said it's the Lord but that's what it meant. It's Jesus. And then do you know what Peter did? He lost. He lost his mind. No. He said it's Jesus. I need my clothes on again. He had stripped out so he wasn't. So he threw on his and he jumped in the water. It's really something, isn't it? He wanted to look respectable. We love him for that. We love him for that. So, what we know from this is that sometimes, when we don't know what to do, we go back to doing the things we've always done. And what we know from this is that when god speaks to us, we want to listen and do what god says. So, god in the form of Jesus said, put your net out on the other side and even though they were tired and grumpy and feeling some kind of way, they did this thing that's really hard. It's called obedience. They obeyed the voice of Jesus and when they did, wonderful things happened. So, even when we're grumpy and grouchy, if we hear the voice of god or we know the right thing and we do it, then, wonderful things happen. You know what happened after that? They got to the shore and Jesus had made them breakfast. Wasn't that wonderful? Yeah. So wonderful. It was a way of showing the disciples. They were loved. They were loved. So, what we have to remember is Jesus loves us too. Even when we're grumpy and grouchy and frustrated, Jesus loves us, wants to take care of us but it requires that we obey and listen. Let's pray. Dear god, dear god, thank you for this day. Thank you. Day. Thank you for those fishermen. Thank you for those fishermen. Thank you for helping us to obey. Thank you for helping us to obey. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving us. Amen. Thank you for being here, Sarai. We give thanks for all the ways that you support Corinth by giving through our website on Vancouver, by giving to the offering plates here at the doorways. We just give thanks for the many ways that together we make a difference in the world and so together, we pray our operatory prayer. We invite you to look at your screen and join in on that prayer. Holy god, we thank you for making us witnesses. Thank you for helping us see that our generosity comes from your generosity. Help us to live sacrificially, giving our all for love sake. Bless now these gifts and those who receive them, that all might know your powering, cleansing, and holy spirit love. We give thanks to the choir will lead us in praising god. The congregation. Sing hallelujah. Alleluia with the choir. It's a beautiful hymn to sing after Easter. So, the hallelujah hymn. Here we go. Hallelu hallelujah give thanks risen lord hallelujah give praise name hallelu hallelujah give praise to young hallelujah give thanks risen lord hallelujah hallelu give name hallelujah risen lord hallelujah embraced on his name hallelujah risen lord hallelujah please stand for the dark sandwich. All creatures oh You may be seated Our second scripture reading comes from the book of Acts. It's here on your screen. Now, we have just finished last week reading the beginning of Acts three where there was a man who was lame from birth, laying at the temple gates and along came Peter and John and the man was asking for alms, was asking for money, and Peter and John said to the man, look at us. I do not have silver or gold but what I have, I give to you in the name of Jesus. Rise up in the name of Jesus. Walk and they reached out with the right hand and the man stood up and walked. It was an amazing and here we pick up in Acts three with verse eleven, while the layman, he clung to Peter and John and all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's Portico or Colinator Porch depending on which version you read, they were utterly astonished and by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong as what Peter said, whom you see and know in the faith that is through Jesus have given him this perfect health in the presence of of you and now brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance as did all of the rulers. In this way, god fulfilled what he had foretelled through the prophets that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore and turn to god so that your sins may be wiped out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the lord and he may send the Messiah appointed for you that is Jesus. The word of god for the people of god. Thanks be to god. Will you pray with me Holy god, we ask that you sweep your holy spirit through us wherever we are, that we may experience your love, that we might be refreshed, that we might be included in your community, that we might truly repent and turn towards you, that we might ever sing and praise you. In Jesus name, amen. Well, we're going to start today with dimensions. Of that, Solomon's Portico, which is also called the colonnade, or the porch. When, when that layman was laying there outside the gates, he had never before been allowed inside the temple. And so, there were these doors, the doors were open, he was holding on to Peter's arm, he was jumping up, he was dancing, and they went through those gates. It would have been a glorious moment and the first thing they would have seen would have been Solomon's colonnade, Solomon's Portico, Solomon's Porch, whatever name you call it. But these are the dimensions. So we start with the dimensions. What do you know of this about 27 feet tall? Anybody, anything 27 feet tall? Somebody said a giraffe. I looked it up. A giraffe is about 19 feet tall. You're close. You're close. Uh I looked up a dinosaur, a brachiosaurus is forty some feet tall. So then, I called a friend. I called Tom Stecker. Cuz Tom used to change the light bulbs and I said, Tom, how tall is it? He said, well, I used to bring a thirty-two-foot extension ladder so I guess it's maybe about 28 feet tall. So, the columns in the portico were 27 feet tall. So, imagine a column about that tall. Now, Those columns went down a length of fifteen thousand feet How what what do you know of that would be that? How, that's, what length? How can you visualize that? Can you think of anything? Okay, too many people talked at the same time. A mile is 5, 200 feet. Uh I just said it wrong. It's 1500 feet. I apologize. So, I did look it up though how long a football field is and it would be more than four football fields which would be also more than nine times the length of the sanctuary about. so you're you're walking through these gates and you're there on this porch portico. And there's this unending row of 2-seven feet columns. Under a cedar roof. 1, 500 feet long. It doesn't say how deep it is. But it did say 20 or 30, 000 people could stand there. So they came into this temple. It doesn't say how many people were there but what we know is big space in I mean, everything in the temple was exceedingly ornate. There were pomegranates. There were all kinds of things carved on these columns. So, it was a spectacular sight. Spectacular and then, what we know, it's several things happen. So, in one hand, they walk through the door, the guys clinging to Peter's arm. They get in there. Everybody recognizes the man on his arm and they're saying, oh my gosh, there's been a healing and they're all racing over and they're staring and then, do you know what Peter does? Peter is so wild. Peter gets offended. Why are you staring at me? The scripture says, why are you staring at me? Why are you looking at me? I'm not so good that I could do this on my own. I'm not that godly. This is the power of Jesus and then, Peter, he starts lecturing them. I don't know who was there that triggered him but you know when you've walked in a room and somebody goes off, right? So, either you're the kind of person who goes closer because you want to see or you're the kind of person who backs up because you don't want to be part of it But in either way Here we have Peter with a man healed next to him who gets highly offended highly offended. and part of it is, think about what it's like when you have been grief stricken. When you, somebody you love has been not just died but has been murdered. Somebody you love has been murdered and you watched it happen. How are you feeling? If somebody you love has been murdered and you're suddenly face to face with people that you believe had a part in it. I hear this. That's that's a good. So Peter is feeling this way. He is some kind of upset. He has come face to face with somebody that he is sure was a part of making sure Jesus was killed. And so he doesn't just get offended that people are looking at him like maybe he has the power to heal. He gets offended. That the people who killed the one he loved That these are murderers and he starts lecturing them. And he says, he gets a little soft at first. I know you acted in ignorance as did your leaders and in this way, it fulfilled what had been foretold through all the prophets that his messiah would suffer but then, he gets hard. He says, you repent. You need to repent. Now, he's talking to priest. He's talking to holy men. He's talking to leaders. He's saying, you need to repent. Now, tell me, you're in church. How do you feel about being told to repent? You're not so sure about it, right? So, here we are in Solomon's colony, the spectacular place and Peter keeps on talking. He's he's struck a nerve. He says, you did it. You disowned the holy and righteous one. You killed the author of life And then he keeps on talking and he says, god raised Jesus from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you now see was made wrong. It is Jesus's name. It is a faith that has come from him that is completely healed him. That all can see. Now, that's a testimony. Peter is giving a testimony. The testimonies first, y'all are murderers and second, wow. Look what just the name of Jesus can do. Just the name, the Holy Spirit of God and so he gives his testimony and we could just stop right there and say, wow, that is excellent. That is wonderful. We could just stay right in this moment. We could begin to sing hallelujah. What a savior and we could begin to recite Revelation four, holy, holy, holy is the lord god almighty who was, who is, and is to come, it would be wonderful. We could be inspired to tell the stories of god, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the wounded are healed but the story doesn't end there. Peter tells this condensed version of how the Jewish leaders led the crowd in pushing Pilate to execute execute Jesus and Peter tells the truth. Peter says, this man here, he wasn't healed because of who I am because I'm godly, because I'm right. He was healed by the power of Jesus. The power of Jesus. Peter embodies Tim McGraw's song, humble and kind. Always be humble and kind. He's embodying this humility. He's not taking any credit at all for for being present, for being in the right time, at the right, the right time. He works to awaken the crowd. He works to convict the crowd that they have gone wrong. Peter filled with the Holy Spirit calls the crowd to repent. Now, repent is an interesting word for us. It's hard to always know exactly what it means. So, I looked up some of the Greek and Hebrew words and the translations. So, one word for repent in the Bible is apostrophe and it means be converted and another word means be sorry regret and it's Nakam. Now, there's another one that's turn from evil, Kakaya and then, there's one that's based on the word metanoia, the Greek word metanoia and it means to change one's mind, to undergo a change of mind and feeling, to make a change principle and practice to reform and then the final word is shove and it means return to god Return to god. So, Peter calls out to these group of people, this thousands of people that they should repent. They should be reformed. They should turn from evil. They should turn to god. They should change their principles. They should change their hearts. God uses the Bible to call through Peter to us. Repent. Consider, what are you doing? What have you done? What is it you should have done but did not do? Have we become aware of what we did that's against living morally, living correctly according to god? Have we become aware of what it means to bring the kingdom of god near which was the whole work of Jesus, the kingdom of god is a place of people who live morally correct, who are loving, who are compassion, who are truth tellers, who forgive, who are good neighbors. Are we caught up in negativity or addictions? Have we forgotten how to be grateful? Are we with bitterness or judgement or hate. CJ Vallow on the internet said that there's a study out there. If they study people who are ages 8 to 80 and they found that people who read the Bible four times or more a week saw these things happen. A 30% drop in their loneliness. A 43% drop in their bitterness. A 32% drop in their anger. A 42% drop in their use of alcohol and a 60% drop in the amount of they were watching pornography. Just reading the Bible can change your life. Now, the first step to repentance is to recognize what we are doing and where we've gone wrong and when we read the Bible, it helps us recognize what happens with sin. Sin is missing the mark or miss stepping. So, when we read the Bible, then we become aware of what the target is and how we've missed the target. When we meet with Christian Friends for Bible study, it helps us become aware of what we're doing and that's why we join in community and small groups in the congregation. We are made for community. We are made to listen. That's why we have two ears and one mouth. We're given many words for repentance so that we can identify how have we been caught up in negativity and how do we turn away from it? Turn from evil. Are you caving in to the voices in your head which tell you you're not worth anything which tell you what you're doing isn't really harming anybody which mislead you. Turn to god. Turn to the Bible. Hear the age-old again that god loves you and the world so much. God gave his only son. You see, I don't know if you've noticed but change is difficult Change is difficult. We may be unaware of what we're doing. We may need some help. We need, we may need a timeout. I was talking to somebody this morning. They said that they said to their children when they were younger, you need to go to your room for 10 minutes because I need a timeout or it's going to go bad. We need to be aware enough to know when to give ourselves a timeout. You think of metanoia, you think of caterpillars becoming butterflies and how long they're in that cocoon and how in that cocoon, they're in a time of great change. It's like an egg in an incubator. If you put the egg in an incubator or underneath the chicken for a number of days, the chicken keeps churning that egg. It needs to be turned or else it won't form correctly and then three days before it as the chicken stops turning the egg so it can start pecking its way out. Nature does all this without our instruction. We can become the caterpillar forming the cocoon, setting ourselves apart. We can become aware that when you plant the seed, the first thing the seed must do is grow roots. It can't come up out of the ground until it grows roots. Which means that when you think nothing is changing, I've tried so hard, nothing is happening, You are growing roots. It takes time and then comes the shoot, the bloom, the fruit It happens in both directions. The statistics say that if you want to lose weight, usually you try six times and fail six times before the seventh time, you become successful. Why is that? Because each time you try, you're learning new things about yourself, about your habits, about your awareness, and that seventh time, then you've grown enough roots. That you're ready to produce fruit. We are here today listening to Peter Call us to repent. Repentance isn't always brought about because we've done something horrible. Repentance is about recognizing how are we poisoning ourselves or our world. Repentance is about turning to god and asking god to help us make life-giving changes. First, god helps us recognize what we are doing or what we're not doing. Then, god helps us decide how to change. We express regret to god and the people hurt, we commit to god to make the change. We ask god forgiveness and we find community that will help us get there. We don't get there alone. We get there with other people helping us. Some of the changes are big and hard but with god's holy spirit, help and our strong commitment to change, hope, and life will come. We live out the song written by Chris Tomlin and sung Donnie McClurkin and the lyrics go, we fall down but we get up. We fall down but we get up. We fall down. He has to say it three times. We fall down but we get up because a saint is just a sinner who fell down but then, got up. We are working to be rooted in Christ. We are working to recognize what are our triggers. What is result? What do we need to change? Where is it spiritual growth is needed? All of these things require practice. It's why it's spiritual discipline. It about practice. It's not about getting it perfect. It's about doing it over and over again. Praying over and over again. Memorizing scripture over and over again. So, we get closer to god. Everyone of us is 100% human. Everyone of us through the power of the holy spirit can bring hope and help to this world. A friend was telling me about pastor Lonnie Reed and how he's in the nursing home. He's got dementia but he's still reading his Bible. He's still singing his gospel songs and the caregivers call him papa because he's become a father in faith to them. If a person with dementia can do this, if the Holy Spirit can move through someone whose brain isn't working fully, the Holy Spirit can move through us. The Holy Spirit can transform places and people if we take some prayer time and assess, what is it we are doing? Where is it that we have fallen down? How is it we have fallen short? What is it god is calling you to face in your life how have we missed the mark For homework, we invite you to take some quiet time and look at your life. Read Acts three and see which words convict and convert you. Read it again and see where god is calling you to make a change. Maybe you embody that song by Michael Jackson written by Glenn Ballard and Sadiah Garrett saying, the man in the mirror, I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm him to change his ways. No message could have been any clearer. I want to make the world a better place. Take a look at yourself and make a change. Not of us are perfect. We all need the mirror. We all need the call to repentance. The holy spirit. The spirit of god waits to nudge us, to waits for us, to really see ourselves, and to commit to make change. Jesus looks at us and longs for healing for us. We turn and we at our fellow human beings and we look intently at them and call out in faith. We offer our right hand to help them rise up. We do this in Bible study. We do this Wednesday night. We do this on the streets. We do this in the neighborhood. We do this because god calls us. Peter and John, they looked intently at the lame man begging. And said in the name of Jesus, rise up. Then they offered him their right hand, and he up After 40 years of being lame. Today is the day to recognize and to repent. Today is the day to offer a physical hand. Today is the day to know that if we have fallen down, we can get up. If we have fallen down, we can offer a hand to someone else. Today is a day to know that there are people rooting for you and offering a hand up. It is complicated this getting up thing. For some people, it might just be one hand and it's all that's needed but for others, if you are out on the streets somewhere and you need a hand up. You have to start with a valid ID, an identification card and that doesn't just require you to go to DMV, it requires you to gather your birth certificate, your social security card, two pieces of mail specifying your address. It requires a whole number of things and so when you see people on the street and you wonder, what are they doing and why don't they just make a change? It's because every change is multi layered, multiple steps. And so for us too. We might not be on the street but we might need to make a change. It's multiple steps. It's multi layered. It requires perseverance and a receiving of the Holy Spirit. A trusting in the Lord. Today is the day to recognize and repent. Today is the day to offer physical hand. Today is the day to know if you've fallen, you can get up. For saint is just a sinner. Who fell down? And then got up. Today, we can surrender our lives to Jesus and begin anew. God is at work in the world here in our hearts, and around the world. We fall down but we get up. Amen. We invite you to join in singing I Surrender All verses one through four on your screen. All to Jesus I vow forsaken take me Jesus to thee to with surrender make me me feel Holy Spirit only know that thou art mine I give me with thy love and power me You may be seated. We celebrate that 15 children and many adults gathered for neighborhood nights and a family of five received emergency assistance with lodging but a couple was helped with their first month rent. The family was helped with their electric bill. And the donations were given to Jessica and Patrick Cassidy, the family and granddaughter of Phil and Diana Campbell to help with their battle against cancer. Will you join with me in prayer? Holy god, we surrender all. We come to you with our hearts heavy, with what has happened in the tornadoes in the Midwest. We come to you with our hearts heavy for the places that are torn by war and violence. We come to you knowing that surrender and change is difficult. We come to you praying for those who've had procedures for undergoing treatments. We pray for their strength, for their confidence. We pray for healing for Keith. We pray Lord for blessings. We Pray that you would move through us. We praise you Lord for you are God of power and might. A God of strength and a God of glory. We praise you Lord. And we come to you in a time of silent prayer. Praying aloud or in our hearts. The prayers of our lives. Holy god, we praise you for listening to our hearts, to our prayers. We praise you lord for transforming our lives. We praise you lord for touching those who have birthdays, for blessing them, for showing each person here and watching that they are indeed treasured, precious, precious children to god. We praise you lord for gathering up our prayers, on for leading us in praying as we pray the lord's prayer. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. We invite you to stand and join in singing this little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. Little light of let it shine this it shines this little night of mine it let it shine I go let it shine everywhere I go I'm going to let it shine everywhere let it I'm going to let it shine all through the night let it shine let it shine let it shine all around a hood I'm it shine all let it shine let it We invite you to join us next week for Acts chapter four where we see what happens when things go all wrong for John and Peter. Join us to see how to live as people of faith when the world turns against you. Go now in peace knowing god's love goes with you. God's light fills you. Go now knowing you are called treasured by god as are all the other people of the world. Go in love. Amen. Amen