Sunday Worship -5/28/2023 | water | Sunday Worship -5/28/2023 Thank you for joining Living Water online! | By Living Water Cameron | Facebook | Here this morning. I think you'll recognize the melodies that you hear in this song. Songs of heaven's awakened in Christ alone my solid amazing on that rugged cross because he lives this is my he's love so divine those words kept singing we we aren't meant to be what we we are few We're so glad you're here. Even if you came late. He's he he's ignoring me completely. My name is Jeff. I'll be your worship leader today. Some housekeeping. Um if you need a cup of coffee because you're up too late last night. We've got plenty of coffee back there. If you're if you're a guest, please take the cup as our gift to you for coming and seeing us here today at Living Water. Um restrooms are down here. Cry rooms are down. Pick an office. Hang on in there if you got a fussy kid. We got people over here in the hot spot. Looks like we got at least one small body down there. So, good. Yeah, we love it. We love a little noise from the kids in the in the church. Let's see. What's next? Hit me. Clipboards. We got clipboards. Alright, so we got one for signing up for Kitchen Crew Treats, etcetera and then also for welcome team, greeting people at the door. Pass those around. And we've got the camp sign up for the Camarama Parade which is June 4th after the worship. I'm not sure. Does anybody know what we're doing for that? No? The we got two different ones here. We got the core group July 18th. There must be a one one day event and then ages three through grade three, August 6th, seventh, and eighth. I assume you can sign up online. That's what we've done in the past. Yep, right there. Oh, if you haven't been baptized or you have a child that you need to have baptized, we do an outdoor baptism once a year and we're going to do that on July 30th at a lake nearby. So, please just reach out to the church office and let people know if you're interested in that. I don't know what this is. Hopeful memory. Does anybody know? Oh, that's a sermon scene. Oh, okay. Thank you. Well, I saw the date, right? Does that happen any day? Well, Ned recorded the message. It's not me obviously because I don't even know what it is. So, yeah, that's our, that's our, that's our service today. Um, let's see. Yes, Pete. And and I see it so close to the door, you're going to trip over it when you walk out. So, I'm, if I hope Osha doesn't show up. We allow greed once in a while. Alright banana pancakes. Alright. On behalf of on behalf of the men's ministry here, Fermenting Faith, we've brewed we brewed a batch of beer. It's ready. We're going to have it out back or out of in the cafe starting next Sunday. We ask for a donation for that. We can't sell it. We don't have a license for that. So, and we take donations for it and then we then we take the money and we use it for ministries here in Living Water or throughout the community. We don't know what that ministry is going to be just yet but we'd love to have you participate and speaking as somebody who's made the beer and drank some of the beer, we usually do a pretty darn good job. So, you might want to try us out. Alright. It's time to worship. You know, we want to make sure worship's fun. Worship means something to us and it's time to celebrate. Like I said, we're here for a reason and so we're going to celebrate that. Welcome Henningsons. So, please I We're just ad living here. It's a holiday weekend. Time to worship. I will be the L. You will be the P. Oh and welcome if you're listening online. We got clowning around here a little bit. I apologize for not welcoming you. There's a lot of worship online. We know that. Hundreds and thousands of places you can do that. We love it that you're here with Living Water today. So, let's start. We are people who have been called to follow where god leads us. By faith, we obey even when asked to walk into an unknown future. We are people who have been challenged to tell god's story to others. By faith we have the ability to share the good news. We are god's children who are invited to feast at the table of grace. By faith, we will embrace our sisters and brothers in Christ. Amen. Won't you please rise if you're able and join us in our songs of praise. Is the god who was we worship the god who is we worship the god who evermore will be he opened the prison doors he parted the raging sea our god he pulls the victory there's joy in the house way we were born and for just to know that we can turn to god when we're in one of those moods, when we're in one of those pits, one of those holes, one of those funks, just so, just so peaceful knowing that we can do that and I hope you guys do that as well. One of the, one of the outtakes of that is that because we have him to turn to, we get to confess our sins to him for the grace that he bestowed upon us through his son, Jesus Christ. So, join me this morning as we confess our sins and laid them down at the cross. Credit cards, shiny cars, fancy homes. These are all idols we fashion with our hands. How much energy and time is occupied in our hearts while serving them? Let's confess how we have misplaced our priorities and seek the one who asks us to be first in our lives. Enslave to sin, we cannot see the lives we lead, God. Each day, we ignore you in your dreams for us. Each day we find the time to ridicule others when we have affirmed them. Hopefully seek our own way. Rather than walking down your path of joy. Open us to your grace as we may live fully as your people. Amen. In the beginning was god And at the end, we'll be god and in every moment in between, there is god. Creating, redeeming, and sustaining us And through Christ, gracious love is poured into our souls. Through the spirit, peace is the gift we can share with others. Thanks be to god. Amen. May the peace of god be with you all. Let's share that peace with one another. Alright. Keep sharing the piece but listen here. We're very, we're very blessed by god with all of our possessions and things that we have, our resources. Now is the chance to give some of that back to the church and to god. Many ways to give. We got the old-fashioned offering box back there. You can text to give at the number that's on the screen. You can go to the Living Water app or you can go to the Living Water website, Living Water Cameron. org slash give. Won't you please join me in prayer? Father, thank you for sending your only son, Jesus, to show us a better way. Strengthen my resolve to set aside time each day for hearing his voice and following his lead, that I might grow in faith, grace, and acts of service through Jesus Christ, our lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one god, now and forever. Amen. Alright, kids. Come on up. I know there's not a lot of you but we got something for you Good morning. Alright, if you're going to sit there, then the old lady has to sit this way because I have to show you some cool stuff. Can you make a circle for me? Cuz what I have to show you is pretty special. Well, I think it is. I promise it won't bite. It only fits in the sack so it's not nothing with claws or fangs or anything. Okay. Is it a squirrel? I don't know. We'll find out. Yeah, good question. So, I brought some stuff and I brought it in a brown paper bag because good things come in a brown paper bag, right? You're going to filter there's a yummy sandwich that you don't normally get to eat for lunch. Maybe some fruit and a juice box. Sorry, it's no food today. Here's what I have. So, this is satin cord. Some beads. See, I told you it was cool. Oh, some more beads This is kind of a lot, isn't it? Yeah, I had all this in my basement and it's just sitting there and I thought, hmm, I think I need to bless the kids at Living Water today. So, I'm going to bless you with some beads. I'm going to give you a blessing. I have too much. I can't use all of this. I want to share it with you. I want to bless you. So, here's what I did. I made each of you a little, I don't know what it's even called. It just has 10 beads on it. So, take one and pass the rest around. There's one for everybody. I want you to look right in the middle because there's special colors. You can't put it on. It's not a bracelet. It's not a ring. It's not a necklace. It's kind of a fidget toy. You can make the beads go round and round and round. So, that'll help keep you busy this morning since there's no jam. How about that? Eddie, you can have one too. Can you pass to Hattie? Oh, sorry. Okay. So, look in the middle. There are three special colors in the middle. What are those colors in the middle? What do you see? I like the blue. Yeah. So, I'm blessing you with these beads and these beads are going to do lots of things for you. When you look at the red, white, and blue, I want you to remember how that all of the soldiers and police officers have blessed you by keeping you safe and you can bless them by saying, hey, thank you. We really appreciate job and your hard work. You can keep us safe and we get to live free. Um there's some other ones. Let's see. I told you there were ten, right? So, you can play the Friends of Ten game because I love to teach math. If I have two, you have eight. Good. But if I have seven, you only get three. So, you can play Friends of Ten along with the fidget toy. Okay, so I've blessed you with some beads and you can bless maybe some soldiers or police officers. Do you know what god's greatest blessing to us was? What did he give us that was so phenomenal? His only son, Starts with a J. Jesus. Nice job. Alright. So, I blessed you with beads. You can bless police officers and soldiers but the greatest blessing we've ever received is Jesus, his only son. Okay, so I didn't just make dark blue ones. I also made more. So, you can keep one as the blessing from me and then you can give another one to somebody else and say, hey, thanks for making me breakfast every morning. Thanks for washing my clothes all the time. Thanks for teaching me math and reading. Okay? You can take one more and then we'll pray and you can go back to your seat. So, one for you and one to bless somebody else. And how many beads are on there? Ten. And what are the three colors in the middle? Excellent. Nice job. Yup. One for you and one for your friend. So many things to hang on to. I didn't bring anymore. That's it. There's there's nothing else in the sack. Thank you. And we'll just set the bag right by you. To set it down. Yup. Thank you. Alright, let's fold your hands and bow your hearts. Repeat after me. Dear god, thank you for blessing me. Help me to be a blessing to other people And thank you for giving us the greatest blessing of all. Jesus. Amen. I'm going to read this verse Apparently, I'm going to guess this is what Ned's sermon's about here. So, when the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the lord said to Joshua, choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you, and put them down at the place where you stay tonight. So, Joshua called together the twelve men, he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe and said to them, go over before the ark of the lord, your god into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take, take up a stone on his shoulder. It's a big stone. According to the number of tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, what do these stones mean? Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When across the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stone to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. So so the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan according to the number of tribes of the Israelites as the lord had told Joshua and they carried them over with them to their camp. Where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the government had stood. And they are and they are there to this day. You who are loved by the lord, grace and peace to you all. There's an old joke about two women who have been meeting over coffee for years, many years and one day, one woman says to the other, please forgive me but after all these years, I can't remember your name. The other woman stares back at her for quite a long time. Finally, replying with this look of great concern on her face. How soon do you need to know? Memory. This morning, giving a nod to this weekend's Memorial Day observances. I want to begin by giving you a basic memory test. It's one that a neurologist friend of mine uses for people who come into his office with memory issues. It's a very simple, basic, mental status exam for memory. Now, just so you know, your participation in this test is entirely voluntary. You don't have to do it. You can opt out and you will not be graded. So, no worries there. In fact, taking the test right now, you are the only one who's going to know if you are taking it, alright? So, here it goes. I want you to remember these four things in order. Here they are. Mister Johnson Main Street honor Apple. Memory. From our earliest years, it is something that we work on building up almost daily, right? Parents, teachers, others in our lives, they're continually putting us through phases, through drills, through exercises, exams. In order to help us master the art of storing, managing, retrieving, using various bits of information because can you ever have too much memory? Can you? It was just about two or three months ago, one of our computers died. We'd had this computer in our house forever. It was a faithful, dependable computer until it wasn't. So, we went into the store. We brought our old computer in to trade it in and we were looking at new models and the sales person walking us through the different features of each one going from little memory to a lot of memory was telling us about the pluses and minuses and finally we said, you know, memory, how much memory do we need in a computer? Because it seemed like the more memory you got, the more expensive the computer was. He looked at us and he asked us this question. He said, can you ever have too much memory? Memory is good, right? Yeah and when you are looking for your next phone or tablet or computer. You discover that memory is not only good. It's also expensive, right? Yeah. But we want memory. We want as much memory as we can. Especially on our devices so that we can we can store and access and manipulate all the data that we collect on a regular basis and do it as efficiently and quickly as we can because we value memory. Memory is important. Now, today's Bible story from the Old Testament book of Joshua. It's a story about memory. The people of god are traveling from Egypt where they had been slaves to the promised land, a place of freedom, and after a lot of years of wandering in the wilderness, 40 of them. God is now finally inviting them to cross the Jordan River and receive their inheritance, the promised land, their new home. Now, Jordan, it's not a very big river. Think, okay, in your minds, can you think about the red cedar? How big is the red cedar? You know, so wide. Think about half of that. Maybe even a third of that and you've got the Jordan River. So, it's not terribly wide, right? But when you've got several 100 000 people crossing over this, it's a significant obstacles especially for those who are very young or very old So, they come to the lord and say, lord, help us and this is the lord's plan which he gives to Joshua. Joshua has the priests carry the ark of the covenant into the river. Now, Arc of the Covenant. Maybe you've seen some pictures of it, right? It's that thing that held the Ten Commandments. They carried on poles. It's got like a big stretcher and then this box has the ark in it it's a very holy thing. Perhaps the most holy thing that Israel carries with them. They carry that out and when the souls of the feet of the priest the water, guess what happens? The water stops flowing. The river ceases to flow immediately and the people of Israel are able to cross over into the promised land on dry ground. Pretty nifty, huh? Well, as soon as they're done, this is what Joshua does. He instructs the twelve tribes of Israel to pick up a stone and he says, now, right here in this pot, I want you to make a monument like a big, tall stack of these stones and it's called an Ebenezer. Ebenezer not Ebenezer, don't think Ebenezer Scrooge, right? Think Ebenezer, the word that literally means a stone of help. So that, when future generations walk by there, say they're going down to the river or they're on a on a journey of some kind, and they see that big pile of stones, when somebody to it and says, that pile of stones. What is that doing here? Those stones of help, that Ebenezer, they can remember and retell the story of the amazing thing that god did on that spot because what did they know? If they didn't have a way to help them remember, it would not take very long before they got into the new land of Israel. their new promised land a new home, their new life, their new routines, and they would forget all about what god had done for them as they crossed over into the land of promise. How about you? How successful are you at remembering? Pretty good? Not so good? I don't think it matters how old you are. At every age, memory is something that we fuss over. I remember, it's been a while now but my mother, when she wanted to go to her sixtieth class reunion, sixtieth, yeah. She called up her best friend, Roberta and said, Roberta, would you go to the reunion with me? And Roberta, she struggled. She said, oh, Shirley, I'd love to go with you but I don't know if I can. My memory is fading. These two were close. I mean, they had, they had grown up on a joining dairy farms. They went to nursing school together. They were roommates. Alberta had married a pastor, moved out to California, had had seen what was happening out there with the sex trade, slave trade of young girls, gotten involved in that, and tried to make a difference, tried to free those girls, and stop that trade, was having limited success. So, Roberta, you know what Roberta did? She went and got her law degree and got even more involved and dedicated her lives to stopping sex trafficking. Remarkable woman, incredible woman at this stage of her life, she was saying, I don't have the memory that I used to and I'm afraid if I get into this new environment with new people, the doctors are telling me I need to stay close to things that are familiar to me, my family, my home, my neighborhood, my friends, those markers. Oh, do we call those markers today? And the words of today's text, she needed to stay close to hers, her Ebenezer, right? Her stones of help, her stones of memory, those things that helped her remembered who she was. Ebenezers. I brought two here today just to show you two of my Ebenezers. One from home and one from my growing up home. This is from Montana. I'll hold it up here. You may look at this. I don't know if you can get a very good look at it but it is a bunch of little things that are about oh maybe an inch long. These are rattlesna tales. They remind me of my father and I. We lived in Eastern Montana where rattlesnakes were plentiful and they came up into our yard frequently. And we would get the hoe. We would get a shovel. We would dispatch them and then we'd take their little tails. We put them on here. This is an Ebenezer for me. It reminds me of how my dad and I had adventures together. How he protected us? How he loved us? How he cared for us? The dad where this weekend when I'm not with you in person? We are gathering back in our hometown in Eastern Montana for his funeral. One more Ebenezer. This one, the stone of help. It literally is a stone. This stone I picked up many years ago, about oh 20 12, 2013. It was right after we had purchased the land that this 411 building is on. We were walking over here for Core. After school, we had an activity on the property. There was no Ruby's garage. There was no 411 building. We were just out in the field here and I picked up this rock. And perfectly round, it's smooth, it's heavy, it's granite, it had been worn down over the years but I picked it up as a reminder to myself that god was going to do something very big and very important and very special through the people who were living water with the land that he was giving them. This our promised land. I keep it nearby. When I'm on the phone, when I'm doing any kind of work for the church, I pick it up and I hold it. I squeeze it. It's a a reminder to me that god is faithful and that god, god has plans God has big plans and God's plans are always bigger than mine. My stone of Ebenezer Remembering how how good are you at remembering? Do you have your own stones of Ebenezer? Hm? Maybe that's the wrong question. Or maybe an early question because the truth is, you know, when it comes to memory, none of us can remember everything and all of us do on occasion forget a few things Are you ready for your memory test Let's give it a try, shall we? Those four things, I'm going to say the numbers and you can say them either out loud or to yourself. I'll leave that up to you. Here we go. One, two three Did you get the four things? They were in order. Mister Johnson Main Street, Honor, Apple. Alright, I want to ask you how you did. However, the neurologist that I spoke with said that if you missed two or more of those, you may want to schedule an appointment with him. Just kidding. Alright. Maybe a better question. Was rather than how successful are you at remembering is what things help you remember. What things help you remember what is important in life and what is important to god. I shared a couple with you just now. Two of my Ebenezers, small treasures that remind me of how god has been present in my life and god shows up to remind me of what's important and what I need to keep my focus on or rather even who I need to keep my focus on. What are your What are your Ebenezers I'd like to do this with you or have you do this with each other. If you would for 1 minute, turn to the person next to you or maybe across the aisle from you and would you share with each other one example of an Ebenezer, one example of a stone of help, one thing that helps you remember god's faithfulness. Go ahead. At this time, I'm going to ask Julia, ask our worship team to come on up and begin playing behind me as we soon get ready for the prayers. So, one minute of sharing Okay, thank you so much for doing that. Tomorrow. Tomorrow is a significant day in the life of our country. Memorial Day is a time of remembering. When we are invited as a nation to pause and remember the sacrifices made by countless men and women of our country. Sacrifices they made to ensure that you and I enjoy the gift of freedom. Many of you have seen even visited Ebenezer's in our nation's capital There are also in addition to stone building Ebenezer's Monument Ebenezers. Living Ebenezers. Talking about those men and women who wear the uniform of our armed services. Just a couple months ago, I was traveling back home from Washington, DC. I was in the airport in the concourse waiting my plane to take off and there was a young woman with her young son just a couple chairs over from me and he was a little boy was playing and every once in a while when somebody wearing a military uniform walked by our concourse or walked by our our gateway rather. He would run over to them and kind of engage them, kind of just kind of get it right up in their face and maybe tug on them a little bit and of course, he was just a little guy. So, everybody was enjoying watching and and the people who he engaged, enjoyed connecting with him but he would always pull on him and then he kind of do this and he would say something to them and they would smile back at him and this went on for probably a dozen times. Finally, I said to the mom who was there, you know, what is he doing and what is he saying? She said, oh, in our family, we tell all of our children that when they see somebody in uniform, that they have permission go over to them and to say thank you for your service Thank you for your service. Joshua and his stones. He had it right, didn't he? And beholding the the Ebenezers of our faith May we do the same, right? To and of our god and tomorrow, tomorrow, for those who gave it all. For our country. And all god's people said, amen. It is prayer time. Uh we knew now moved to a a very intentional, deliberate time of prayer. If you are new to a living water, if you're a guest or visiting today, we're so glad you are here. Something you should know. Here at our church, we we look at prayer not just as a quiet activity but as something that we do in addition to folding our hands, bowing our hearts. We also do it as a moving activity. Um you'll notice over to the north side of the building that there is a prayer table and that is an opportunity for you if you wish to stand up and join those who are heading over there now to light a candle and offer a prayer and and honor in memory of something, someone that is on their hearts, minds. So, if you wish to do that, please do that now. Uh now, we pray for the whole people of god in Christ Jesus. We pray for all people according to their needs. God this morning we give you thanks for just the designation that you give us Uh your sons and daughters As children of God. That's our gift and baptism and we are so blessed by this identity. For it is truly a gift. Something we cannot do anything to earn. You simply give it to us. And we're so grateful for that. So God thank you for making us a part of your family. Uh for putting us in this creation at this time and place. And and putting on our hearts a calling Uh that we might serve others through Christ. Uh thank you for this god And may we have the energy, the creativity, the persistence, the eagerness to do that in as many ways as we can. Every moment of our lives. God we thank you for the gift of spring. Uh as our creation warms up as things become greener and we start seeing new not just green things but fruits coming forth from the ground. Uh what a privilege that is. Fresh strawberries, baby carrots, leafy greens, shooting corn, the miracles of new life, Each and every day. God, may we pause to just acknowledge what what a privilege it is to be a part of it all. And as we behold the growth of creation, may we also say to ourselves, at the same time, I want this growth in my family, in my marriage, in my relationships, in my friendships, in my faith. That others witnessing our growth may see the light of Christ shining in us and through us and in turn, god give you praise and honor and glory. God, today, on this Memorial weekend, we first of all, we lift up the leaders of our nations, all of them. asking that that whatever part of the globe they are sitting in, that they might be instruments of righteousness and peace in the face of global injustice and conflict. For we want families everywhere to live in peace On this Memorial weekend, god we are so mindful of the ultimate sacrifice made by the men and women of our country who have gone before us on the battlefields of war. We pause now for a moment of silence in their honor. Gracious lord, watch over and keep our soldiers and their families close to you. We ask you to be present in healing, in reconciling ways in the hearts of all who are struggling with the challenges, the difficulties of life. Where there is brokenness, where there is illness, where there's uncertainty, or hurt, or pain. Lord, send your spirit to come and act quickly. Act now, overpower them with your spirit. That in the place of pain, there might be healing and joy through Jesus Christ. Lord into your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy, through your son, Jesus Christ, our lord, and all god's people said, won't you please join me as we say the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as 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 before I do the closing blessing. If you don't understand or or don't know enough about what we've been talking about here today, and you have questions, please don't leave without getting those questions answered. Please come and see me before you leave. I'll be happy to answer whatever questions I can. Now, receive this blessing. Please rise if you can. May the strength of god pilot us. May the wisdom of god instruct us. May the hand of god protect us. May the word of god direct us and be all and be always ours this day and forevermore. Amen. Now, please please sing if you can and with as we sing our closing song, kids, come on up. Make a joyful noise. Father let your kingdom come father let your will be done father let your kingdom because this day our daily bread magic kingdom Grab some bananas, grab lots of potatoes, go have a feast. Have a great weekend. Be safe. Father let your kingdom come in my heart