Wyatt Park Christian Church Worship Service April 28, 2024 | Wyatt Park Christian Church Worship Service April 28, 2024 | By Wyatt Park Christian Church | All my failure 2017. Let's hear it. The loud Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It's great to see you this morning. It's great to be in the house of the lord. We welcome you to Wyatt Park Christian Church. My name is Cindy Kraus. I'm your associate pastor and I have just a few announcements today but if you are visiting with us, we would love to have a record of your attendance. We have these purple little connect cards in the pew in front of you. If you wouldn't mind to please fill that out and then, far as the announcements go, we have, let's see, just really a couple. This Wednesday night is our Dsix last meal and last meeting for our summer before our summer break begins. We're going to grill if the weather allows us. Grill hamburgers and hot dogs outside and we need to know how many hamburgers and hot dogs to fix. So, if you're planning on coming, please sign up in the social hall. Then, we also have VBS information in the social hall. It is not too soon to fill those out. In fact, we need you to. We need to know about our workers. We need to know about what kids are coming and what T shirts we need to have ordered. So, if you haven't done that yet, if you know of your children or your grandchildren or your neighbors would like to come, go ahead and please fill that out for us. I think that does it for our announcements. Let us stand and our worship. Open the prison door he part of raging sea in the house of the lord the house of the lord today and we won't be quiet in the house of the lord we're set up to I sing to the god who heals listen to the god we sing to the god who in the house of the lord in the house of the lord today and we will be quiet in space we accepted redeemed by his grace lord sing praise we were the prison and we won't be quiet we shout out and remarkably it and we won't be quiet Oh lord god, we just thank you so much that you can come into your house today, lord and just lift up praise to you. That's our goal for today is just to give you the praise that you so richly deserve. And lord, we just pray that that the praise that we offer you comes from a place of gratitude. And it's very easy to be grateful to you, Lord, for all you do for us. For the fact that you just continue to shower down your grace upon us, Lord, and your forgiveness. For the fact that you see us, who we really are not who not who we are in the moment but who we can be but you love us regardless and lord you showed us your most amazing love by sending your son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and to become our savior and our redeemer and more importantly our friend and so we thank you for that lord and we just want to stand in your love as we're singing to you today when darkness tries to roll over my home doesn't stand a chance doesn't stand a chance we I won't be shaken that fear doesn't stand a chance for us stand a chance with stand a chance for there's power that can empty his resurrection power that can sing resurrection power, thy good day in your love Santa stand a chance when I'm set the chance tonight stand a chance when I Amen. Let's stay standing and let's read together our scripture today. Colossians two verses six through ten. Let's read it together. So then, just as you received Christ, Jesus as lord, continue to live with your lives in him. Rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were. And overflowing with thanks See to it that noone takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy. Which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world. Rather than on Christ. For in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form and in Christ, you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. Amen. Go ahead and have a seat. I'm feeling qualified what you're calling me to do with your in a violent You took a shepherd boy I'll be a conqueror did you fight for me with sing and shout and shake the wall won't stand step out when you call shine and take a walk stand up step back when you call give me hope it's like a face Shall we pray? Oh lord, my god Thank you for being so ever present Thank you for being that spirit who lives inside of us so that we can face our giants. And Lord God forgive us when we act as if we have no hope. Forgive us when we act as if we have no confidence. Forgive us when we live in fear because oh god, you know that all we have to do is just say, oh god, we need you and your word tells us that when we seek you you seek us. When we want to draw near to you, oh lord, you draw near to us. You are always there. You are always present. It's us that walk away. It's us that go astray. and so father, forgive us. I want to thank you lord for everyone who's here today whether they're here in in the seat or they're at home watching or perhaps even later this week, they turn this on and they find the worship that we do here at Wyatt Park Christian Church And god, all that we do and all that we say is because of you. Father god, we love you so much and so I pray for those who are sick. I pray for those that are dealing with some prognosis that they're worried about or scared or they have a procedure coming up. God, give them the peace that they need. Surround them with your love, with your hope, and lord god, we thank you for the rain that you've sent. The nourishment for our earth. Help us lord to take good care of what you've given us. Help us to be good stewards, lord. Whether it is of the of the earth, of the world, or or with the finances that you provide us with, oh god. May it all be to your glory and now together, let us pray the prayer that you taught your disciples to pray using the words debts and debtors. 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. I light this candle to represent god's holy spirit who is here with us this morning We come to this table not because we must, but because we may. Not because we are strong but because we are weak. We come not because of any goodness on our own, gives us a right to come. Because we need mercy and we need help. We come because we love the Lord. And we would like to love him more and so this invitation to come to this table is open to all who want to find Jesus. Who loves Jesus. And if you are visiting with us, you are welcome to participate also. And so, in just a moment, we're going to talk about the meaning of the bread and the meaning of the drink. But before we do that, shall we pray? Oh gracious heavenly father, we thank you for what this table means to the Christian. This table represents the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf, oh god. And so as we eat of the bread and drink of the cup, may we never forget what was done for us, so many years ago. And it's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen. In just a moment, I'm going to ask you to come to the table and you're going to come down the center aisle in two different lines. The servers here will place a piece of bread into your hand and you can either take that bread and dip it in a cup or if you would prefer an individual cup to drink from, those will be sitting on the pedestal over here to my side. If you need a gluten-free piece of bread, that will be right here in the center. And so we remember the night that Jesus was betrayed. He was with his disciples and they were in an upper room somewhere celebrating the Passover. And Jesus was saying some strange things that night. He told them that the bread that they are about to eat represents his body. Which will be given for them. And so when the bread was broken, Jesus passed the right around but before he did so, he blessed it and he gave thanks for it and we do the same this morning After the meal was over, Jesus took the cup. He blessed it and gave thanks for it and then he said, this cup represents that new covenant and the disciples, I'm sure had this questionable look on their face, the new covenant and he said, yes, the new covenant that will be through the shedding of my blood. Drink it all of you in remembrance of me. Now, those disciples didn't get it. But soon they did. And so when you come this morning, I want you to think about the things that occurred That night, when they had their last meal together. Please come to the table were you hurting and broken within overwhelmed by the weight of your sin Jesus is coming let me come to the end of yourself Jesus is calling come to arms fought with the there's no reason to wait Jesus bring your sorrows and trade it for joy ashes and new life is gone Jesus is daughter the altar precious blood of the altar is anyone Christ is down before for he is sing hallelu Christ is risen is anyone Christ is risen Christ is risen my Christ I'll come to the forgiveness another treasure Grace and peace to you from god, our father, and our lord, and savior, Jesus Christ. Great to see you this morning as we worship today. We are going to be reading from first John today, chapter four verses seven through twenty-one. As you are turning there to first John chapter four, a couple of announcements. Um I got a couple slides here. Let's go to the the there we go. So, the last couple of summers, we've kind of done a mashup of of a sermon series two summers ago, the sermon series was summertime at Schmorgas Board. Like a charcuterie board kind of thing and so it was just this idea that none of the sermons are related to one another. It's all kind of topics that are random and largely driven by you, the congregation. So, last summer, the summer message series was summertime mixtape. Anyone remember having a mixtape back in the day where you had one song from this band, one song from this band, all sorts of different genres on the mixtapes. So, the kind of the similar idea. The sermon series, each sermon was kind of stand alone. The topics and scriptures were chosen by you and so this summer, Sunday toppings. Who likes a good ice cream sundae, right? With all of the different toppings on there. There's all sorts of things you can put on there and and whatever you want to put on there is is not wrong. Um maybe it's wrong to somebody else but it's not wrong to you and so, Sunday toppings, this is going to be our summer message series. Again, driven by you, the congregation, the scriptures that you want to hear about, topics that you want to hear about, and so we're going to call those toppings. So, if you want to add a topping to our Sundays over the next few months, during the course of the summer, I invite you, you can either try and scan that. Has anyone tried, does someone try and scan that QR code? Let me know if it works. You may have to kind of zoom into it. I got Spencer right over here. Cuz if that doesn't work, we're wasting your time today Oh, maybe it's Spencer's phone. Let's see here. It works. Good. Alright. So, we got, it'll take you to a Google form and so you can either give me suggestions that way or my Email is in the bulletin. If you're like, I have no time for QR codes. I'm tired of seeing QR codes. Then, you can just get my my Email address and send me your topics and kind of do it here in the next few weeks as I'll be putting together this Sunday toppings message series. Alright, first John chapter four verses seven through 21. Oh yeah, I'm sorry. Well, there's one more thing. So, Wyatt Park Softball, there's a good chance that tomorrow night's game won't happen but I will let you know if you if you're planning on going to the game, just watch the church Facebook group. I will let you know for sure whether the game is cancelled or not. We'll see how that goes. Okay, first John chapter four verses seven through twenty-one. Dear friends Let us love one another, for love comes from god. Everyone who loves has been born of god and knows god. Whoever does not love, does not know god because god is love. This is how god showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love Not that we loved god but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since god so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen god but if we love one another, god lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us. He has given us his spirit. And we have seen and testify that the father has sent his son to be the savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives, whoever loves, lives in God, and God in them. And this is is made complete. among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement. In this world, we are like Jesus There is no fear in love. But perfect love. Drives out fear. Because fear has to do with punishments. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love god yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister whom they have seen, cannot love god, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command. Anyone who loves god, must also love their brother and sister. Did you hear a repeated word throughout that text? If someone wants to through and look up how many times the word love is written in there. You're welcome to do so but I think there's a common theme and two Sundays ago, we looked at first John chapter three and again, you see this common theme all through John's letter commanding us to love one another as god has loved us. There's a quote from ancient theologians. Some of you lived when this theologian was really popular. John Lennon who's a John Lennon follower here. Someone listen to his music and his his lyrics. This is a quote from John Lennon. There are two basic motivating forces. Fear and love When we are afraid, we pull back from life When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer. With passion, excitement, and acceptance. Now, John Lennon was not a Christian and I don't think he wrote that quote to be used in a sermon but nevertheless, that is good theology. I would say today that this is the most important transformation that would happen in our lives as we give our lives over to Jesus, one of the most important transformations that happens in us is our lives moving from fear-based living. Basically, saying, scarcity, there there's there's not enough. It's moving from fear-based living to living vulnerably in the light of god's love and the oath. Love-based life says, there's there's more than enough and so as we come to follow Jesus, we gradually move more and more from fear-based living, living in scarcity and scarcity mindset to living in the light of god's love. understanding that there is more than enough for all of us and so what is fear-based living? It is the lie of scarcity Fear-based living says this and maybe you've seen this at work in your life at some point. Fear-based living says, there isn't enough to go around. And so, be on your guard. Be suspicious of people who don't look like you or talk like you. Protect what you have and if you have the ability to get more, then, you have to do what you have to do for your people, for your tribe, even if it comes at the expense of another person on the planet. That is the lie of scarcity. That's fear-based living. Another word for fear-based living, we could say is is tribalism. Where life is all about the survival of my tribe. First and foremost, fear-based living is as old as humans have existed on this Earth. It's as old as Genesis chapter three. Creation of the first humans. Adam points the finger at Eve. Out of a feeling of self preservation. It's her fault, Adam says. Hoping maybe to protect himself. And then what does Eve say? What does Eve do? She blames a serpent. He tricked me. The serpent tricked me. And you remember Adam and Eve's first offspring. Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel because he's jealous of Abel. He's angry and afraid because he thinks that god likes his brother better than him. And so there's a scene in Genesis chapter four where God asks Cain. He knows that Cain is is bothered by his brother. God asks, why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted like your brother? But if you do not do what is right, then sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you but you must rule over it. In essence, what god is doing, he's warning Cain that if he leans into what he's feeling, if he leans into his anger and his fear, he will be overcome by evil. And tragically, we know the story that Cain did not heed god's warnings. In he saw Abel as his rival instead of his brother and he viewed Abel as competition that needed to be eliminated in order for him, for Cain to have the top spot. And so Cain kills Abel. Just a few chapters later in Genesis chapter six. The earth has grown corrupt and evil and violence is all over the face of the earth. And God tells Noah to build an ark. This is going to be a new beginning for humanity, right? With the with a with a new family, with a new patriarch that was going to do things right this time and so it's interesting. God goes to Noah as he's telling him, I'm going to have you build this boat and when the earth floods, I want to save you and your descendants and this was, here's the charge, from god to Noah. Once more, he says, be fruitful and increase in number. And fill the earth. Where have we heard that before. That would just that was just given to Adam and Eve just a few chapters before in Genesis three. Be fruitful and increase the number and fill the earth. That was human's job. God created us in his image and he said, now, go out into the Earth and enjoy the earth. Be fruitful and multiply and increase but instead, instead, we see the opposite happening. Instead of being fruitful and multiplying one group is killing and hating another group. And so, in Je nine, this is recorded twice in verses one and seven. Sandwiched in between this command to be fruitful and multiply. This is what god says to Noah and his family. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans, shall their blood be shed. For in the image of god, god has made mankind. In essence, what god is saying is stop hurting and killing one another because I made you in my image. I made you to live in this celestial temple loving me and loving one another but instead you're doing everything that you want to do. Stop killing. Stop hurting. Stop hating one another. Back in the late nineties, one of the first computer games that I enjoyed playing was called Sim City and the lyric the the graphics were just mind blowing at the time. Uh although nowa there are other versions of Sim City, the Sims. I mean, there's so many different types of Sim games that you can play and the concept is is simple with with Sim City. Uh basically, you you get to build your own city and you are the mayor of the city that you create. You get to build that city in your image. Whatever you want, whatever you like, you get to design it however you choose and so you you build the roads You put in the power plants. You put in residential areas. You put in business and industry. Put in some sports teams, parks, schools. You gotta get your public works in there. Everything. You are in charge of as you build this city in this simulation. And it doesn't take long after you begin to build the city. It doesn't take long that at a certain point they say crime is rising in your city. You need to add a police right? Or they say, your population is rising and there are too many fires that are breaking out. So, you gotta put in a new fire department, right? And so, as the city continues to grow and the population begins to grow, you're having fun but then all of a sudden, a little pop up says, there's too much crime in this area and so you gotta put another police station or another fire department or you're you there's people using too much power. So, you gotta put in another power plant over here and another power and all of a sudden, there's too much pollution and your water. You know, all of these issues, all of these troubles, all because you wanted to create, you just wanted to have fun and create this little city. You didn't want to deal with the problems that go with creating this city. The the Sims seemed to be good at getting themselves into trouble where there was always something to fix or build because of these ungrateful, virtual people living in a city that you built simply for the pleasure of just Building something The Sims just seemed to want to live life doing whatever they want to do regardless of their creator's wishes. Is that sound any bit familiar to us today? After building a town or a city then there is a moment where you have a choice to send down a lightning bolt. You can unleash a tornado or a her hurricane on the screen. I believe that's an alien attack that's happening upon that city at that time. And I'd be lying if I said there wasn't something therapeutic about sending calamity upon your rebellious sins. I'm tired of giving you more police. I'm tired of getting more firefighters. I'm just going to destroy the whole thing. There have been times of putting hours into a game of Sim City. And you just get tired of all the issues. I'm just going to send in a tornado and wipe out this city of Sims. Thankfully, god is not like that. God could be like that if he wanted to but thankfully, he's not. In our sin, we continue to forget the point of being created in the image of god. Instead of trusting god's goodness and god's provision, when we take him at his word to be fruitful and multiply. Instead of doing that, we begin to count our beans. We draw a lines in the sand. We define what's ours. We build walls and fences and spend endless amounts of money on our weapons and defense and protecting ourselves. And this isn't anything new. It's not anything new. We are just the latest generation of humans to lose sights of the plot line. And John in the letter that we read today tells us the plot line. That God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in god and god in them. That is the point of god's creation for all of us, for all of creation. And so fear-based living begins with a misunderstanding of who god is. This is where it all comes from. When when fear creeps into our lives, it begins with a misunderstanding of who god is. How many of us were handed a religion at some point in our life? That could be more accurately, could more accurately or describe god as angry? Might describe god as short tempered, maybe quick to judge, maybe a war mongering god, and most importantly, perhaps that god looks more like us than anyone else in the world and that god lives in our vicinity that god resides in our temples and our churches and our places. Again, this is a misunderstanding of god and it's an ancient misunderstanding of god. It is the basis of so many wars all throughout history. But it seems to continue to live on in our religious imaginations. That god for us and against them. The truth is, the truth that god is love is a threat to how we as humans have used religion to endorse all of our worst inclinations. We've seen that throughout history. People using religion, people using the Bible or holy scriptures to endorse all of the worst things that we as humans want to do. Fear-based living treats god as a tribal mascot who belongs to us who does our bidding, who does our work, and blesses us above all others. Fear-based living, oddly enough, treats god as weak, which which is interesting because we give so much lip service to god being powerful and omnipresent and omniscient but most of the time what fear-based living does is it sets us up as god protector and god's defender. As if without us, god couldn't exist. As if without us, god couldn't do what god wants to do. I love these words from theologian Stanley Howard Wass and he actually was a theologian, not a rocker. Uh he said, never think that you need to protect god. Because anytime you think you need to protect god, you can be sure that you're worshiping an idol. If we have a god that we think we have to protect against other people, there's a good chance to god that we're worshiping is an idol of our imagination. So, let me repeat what I said at the beginning of this message. That the most important transformation of our lives is moving from fear-based living to living vulnerably in the light. Of god's love. And and the scripture that John gives us verse that John gives us that goes along with this is in verse eighteen. After making this treat us about living in in love means living in god and loving one another. John says, there is no in life but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishments. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. And so I will just stand up here before you today and admit that I have not been made perfect in love just yet. There is still fear-based living that happens in my life. And I wonder if we might look deep within ourselves within our minds, within our lives and say, yes, there is still fear-based living that presents itself in my life. Maybe towards the way that I look at other people maybe the way that I think, sometimes about situations in life, if fear-based living is a result of a warped view of god, then, what we can say is that love-based living begins with a right view and right understanding of who god is and John tells us who god is in the text God is love God is love and we love because he first loved us. And so often times, if we can understand who god is and god's love and desire for us, then, we don't have to project our fears and our anxieties on other people because god is not out to get us. To live in any other way other than to live in god's love is to live in a warped view of god. We may believe in a god but it is not the Abba, the father that Jesus came to reveal. If we continue to dwell and live in fear-based living If we're not in some way being moved from fear-based living to living vulnerably in the light of god's love. Then, my friends, there's still work to do in us. And again, I stand up here before you and I say there's still work to do in my hearts. My friends, we love because god first loved us and this is the well that never runs dry. This is why love-based living is based in abundance because god's love will never run out for you or for me or anyone else in this world. There is more than enough for you. There's more than enough for me. There's more than enough for all who reside on this earth and so we don't have to protect We don't have to defend god against those who would have other ideas about him. Jesus didn't come to start another religion that would be hijacked by all of our visual phobias. Jesus teaches us how to color outside of the lines. Jesus teaches us how to let our guard down, how to unclench our fist, and to live generously. And to live graciously even in a world that's full of those who would set out to be our enemies. My friends, this is abundant life. Here and now. This is abundant life. Trusting today and god's unconditional love which casts out all fear. So, my question for you today is, is there some element of fear in your life? Is it a seed of fear in your life? Maybe, is it a seed that has grown up into a mighty tree of fear in your life? If so, this is my suggestion. Receive god's love anew today for yourself. Pray that god's love would come in and drive out the fear that has taken hold in your life. Let me share these closing words, this last word here from Rabia Albazri, theologian, he said this, if I adore you, talking to god, if I adore you out of fear of hell, then burn me in hell. If I adore you out of desire for paradise lock me out of paradise. But if I adore you, for yourself alone. Do not deny to me your eternal My friends, this is a twist on the gospel that sometimes we've come to believe. How many of us gave our lives over to Jesus out of fear-based living? I don't want to go to hell for eternity. And how many of us stay in this understanding of god that god just is out to get me and we never move to a place where I love god for god's own and so as Rabia says, if I, if I adore you out of fear of hell and burn me in in hell, if I serve you because I want heaven, then lock me out of heaven but if I adore you for you, for who you are god, then give me your eternal beauty. My friends, may the love of god drive out all fear in our lives as we continue to serve and love him and love our neighbors as ourselves Let us pray. Father, I I do thank you for the power of your love the power of your love that you promise to all who seek you and love you to come and reside in us. Jesus, we think about your prayer on the last night with your disciples and how you told us that what you wanted most for us is that we would live in you just as you and the father live in one another. That we would have such a relationship with you that could not be broken by fear. As Paul says in Romans, What can separate us from the love of god shall persecution or famine or hardship or sword and so lord for anyone in this place whose life is dominated by fear Whose life is dominated by fear For anyone in this place today who says there's an element of fear that needs to be washed out of my life. Then I just pray that your love would do that work. Continue to recreate us. As we give our lives to serving you and being your disciples. We pray all of these things in Jesus name. My friends, today, if there's any moments of you just need someone to pray with you. If there's anything that you're fearful about, anything that you're anxious for, and you just need someone to testify to god's love, to pray for god's peace, to be over your heart and your mind. Let me invite you during this prayer time to come forward if you would like to to pray with. Pastor Cindy or myself to pray with somebody around you to go into the prayer chapel. Uh whatever the the spirit, however the lord is speaking to you today. If you've never received god's love for yourself, if you've never been baptized and you want to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, make that decision today. Let's go ahead and up together as we sing this closing song. You unravel me with all melody use around me with a song my enemies till all my fears I no longer a slave anytime you have chosen me into your family your blood to fear avatar the time I'm I could walk I'm no longer to fear child of god live to fear I'm a child of god Wonder if that could be a daily prayer for you. Maybe a daily declaration that as you start your day, it's going to be something we need every day to say, I'm no longer a slave to fear. Why? Because you say it. I am a child of god Amen. Amen. My friends, may the lord bless you and keep you. May the lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. May the lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Go in peace, children of god.