From Suffering to Hope: The Power of Grace

• Justification by Faith 00:40:26 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that justification is a gift of grace received through faith in Jesus Christ, not earned by good works or church service.
• Peace with God 00:43:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor discusses the transition from being 'at war' with God due to sin to having peace through Christ's work.
• Suffering and Endurance 00:43:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the concept of boasting in suffering, explaining that God uses hard times to produce endurance, character, and hope.
• God's Initiative in Love 00:41:17 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that God loved humanity first, even when they were selfish and ungodly, citing the example of infants needing care.
• Character Transformation 00:46:16 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor clarifies that God does not just give 'good character' but transforms believers into the character of His Son.
• Hope and Witness 00:47:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that the hope produced in believers serves as a witness to others, showing them a reason to hope through the believer's transformed life.
• Grace and Salvation 00:49:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that salvation is entirely God's initiative, occurring while humans are weak and ungodly, not when they are strong or righteous.
• Prayer and Confession 00:54:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads the congregation in a prayer of confession for forgetting God's grace and a petition for hope and transformation.

• Sermon Illustration 00:19:42 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about a youth pastor who asked children to come forward, noting that even a 14-year-old kid sat down, illustrating that we are all 'infants in the sight of the almighty' regardless of age.
• Sermon Illustration 00:41:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a baby who cannot survive without being carried and cared for by others to illustrate how humans are born selfish and rely entirely on God's grace, just as a baby relies on a caregiver.
• Sermon Illustration 00:44:55 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a parent walking with their son to explain how God walks with believers through hard times, implying that if a parent loves their child, they walk through difficulties with them.
• Sermon Illustration 00:50:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan (the man beaten and bruised on the side of the road) to illustrate the value of stooping down to help the broken and suffering.

• Pastoral Charge 00:27:11 ▶️ 📄
  > Emulate God's forgiveness through random acts of kindness, generosity, and living as ambassadors for God's kingdom.
• Pastoral Charge 00:28:16 ▶️ 📄
  > Walk boldly in the world for God and His kingdom.
• Pastoral Charge 00:53:58 ▶️ 📄
  > Turn to praise God and actively use difficult life moments as evidence of God's love to others.
• Pastoral Charge 00:54:39 ▶️ 📄
  > Pray for forgiveness for forgetting God's grace, to stop boasting in self, to boast in God's work, and to become people of faith and hope who proclaim the gospel to others.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:05:59] The Fairview kids are once again creating that special bulletin for Father's Day. Please use this bulletin insert to have a special Father's Day individual that you would like to, which is added to your life.
[00:06:23] collect those collections will run through june the 17th please see crystal if you have any other questions uh fairview kids is once again also hosting our father's day donuts with dad in the fellowship hall that's at 9 a.m on sunday june the 21st all the men and their families are invited
[00:06:46] to join and enjoy Donuts and Fellowship Before Service.
[00:06:52] Be sure, please, to check out our VBS table in the Narthex, and seeing where you can help.
[00:07:00] As you can see, we do have a few spots we still need filled up, and if you are unable to fill up those, come and talk with us.
[00:07:09] We'll see where we can plug you in and get you into this wonderful thing we do every year vbs we also have adopt a prop bags and materials instructions for those items that can be made at home as well as donation lists found in the with a qr code if you are available
[00:07:31] for that week july the 13th through the 17th please again touch base with crystal we will we'll be having our annual VBS and overall faith sanctuary training following the service on June the 28th in the fellowship hall. If you are a volunteer, if you want to volunteer and you
[00:07:53] haven't been gone through the training in the last two years, please make sure you're there because we do need to make sure that you are up to date on that. Even if you haven't been there,
[00:08:06] We want you there to get all the most up-to-date information so we can get background checks and such to make sure everyone is safe to go through the VBS and all the other times where we engage with our children and our youth.
[00:08:25] We will be making arrangements for all volunteers need to be present again and have training completed before July the 5th.
[00:08:36] Lunch will be provided during that one.
[00:08:39] Again, if you have any dietary restrictions, please touch base with Crystal.
[00:08:44] At least before the 21st.
[00:08:48] Trustees will be meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
[00:08:51] Please, if you are on the trustees, please connect with our faithful leader, Andrea, to make sure that you connect with the meeting.
[00:09:03] The Sunday, June the 28th, there will be hymn sings instead of our regular preaching for that service.
[00:09:10] I will be on vacation that week and we'll be coming back late that week, so we're going to have a hymn sing.
[00:09:15] And I hope you will enjoy singing our faith during that.
[00:09:20] Please fill out the hymn request form that you will find in your bulletin so that we can have the right song, your song, as we sing together in that worship.
[00:09:31] I'd also like to offer up for Father's Day next week the UMM, the United Methodist Men are inviting if you would like to honor a father or a father of faith who has passed to breathe, bring in a picture
[00:09:48] and place it on our memorial wall which will be dedicated at the end of this service and you'll find that in the narthex please bring in a picture so that you can put it on
[00:10:00] that shelf. I believe those are all our additional announcements. Are there any other announcements for the good of the group? Well, I would like to invite and just welcome all of you who are online and joining us. I believe I've seen every single one of you all here today in-house,
[00:10:25] but those who are joining online, we welcome you and enjoy your presence here online and enjoy are part of worshiping with you. If you are visiting, please make sure to click on that link right below the video to allow yourself to connect with us so that we can connect with you
[00:10:43] and reach out in ways to help how we can engage with you in ministry. With that said, let us take a breath. Take a breath from the world. Take the deep breath of God into our lungs and take a
[00:11:00] moment as we transition into worship this morning to let God's presence overshadow us.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:11:06] Fairview, please join me in our responsive call to worship. Jesus Christ summons us to answer God's call to mercy. Christ gathered us to give us power to heal and to be healed, to be forgiven
[00:14:52] and to forgive, to be free from sin and to set others free, to tell others and the world that

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:15:01] God's presence is at hand. Let us worship God. To invite all the children down for children's time.

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:17:07] Well, we can save that lesson for another day. Breathe on me breath of God. Please stand.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:17:22] before I move on in the service I just want to point out that there was one time I was reminded of a beautiful minister who had done a children's ministry before in one of my churches and I was
[00:19:42] a young kid at that time and at that time that particular service was his last day as the youth pastor and last time being up there to do the youth ministry children's time and he said will
[00:19:59] any children come forward and that particular day we didn't have any but as the 14 year old kid got up and sat down on a pew that I remembered sitting on for a longest time
[00:20:12] because I was taught by that same youth pastor that we are all children of God no matter how old we might think ourselves we are all infants in the sight of the almighty and so next time we hear that i just want you to remember that i hope that next time we will have
[00:20:29] some more children up there today's first scripture comes from the psalm reading of 116 we'll be reading verses 1 and 2 and then picking back up in verse 12 as you may see on the screen
[00:20:45] you will see one word, well actually two words, that is an actual name. So I will be using the name in the translation today. I love Adonai because he has heard my voice and my supplication.
[00:21:04] Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
[00:21:11] what shall I return to Adonai for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call the name of Adonai. I will play my vow to Adonai in the presence of all his people.
[00:21:29] Precious in the sight of Adonai is the death of his faithful ones. Oh, Adonai, I am your servant.
[00:21:37] I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
[00:21:44] You have loosed my bonds.
[00:21:47] I will offer you a thanksgiving sacrifice.
[00:21:50] I will call the name of Adonai.
[00:21:53] I will pay my vows to Adonai in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of Adonai, in your midst.
[00:22:03] Oh, Jerusalem, praise Adonai.
[00:22:07] now join me together as we firm our faith with the use of the Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father Almighty mightier of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was
[00:22:27] conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried. On the third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From then he shall come to judge
[00:22:47] the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
[00:23:03] as we stand here in this space.
[00:23:08] I offer up a prayer for you all this morning.
[00:23:12] As we do, I ask you to tune in to the very presence of Adonai, your Lord.
[00:23:22] Remember that God is listening way before you offered up a prayer.
[00:23:27] And as we lift up those people who are near and dear to us, those that are on our prayer concern list, those who are on ongoing and for the ones that are close to our hearts that are not listed on this
[00:23:43] list as we lift them up i ask you to lift your voice before adonai and claim his lordship over all of these people and over all these circumstances will you pray with me oh gracious god
[00:24:13] One who speaks and creates and recreates.
[00:24:22] One who draws near and teaches, who mentors our hearts, who grabs together those broken pieces and like clay reforms them into new things.
[00:24:39] You, O God, who flung the stars to the farthest points of the galaxy, who made life possible here on this planet, who speaks to us in whispers, in great and wondrous signs, who speaks and recreates even now
[00:25:04] our hearts. Holy God, we come before you now. We put away flowerful words. We put away, put together faith and come in our brokenness, in our brokenness, in our ungodliness, when our will is to do
[00:25:37] what we would like to do we come asking you to shine forth your will in our lives in the lives of those people who are near and dear to our hearts in the lives of those
[00:25:53] we may disagree with in the lives of those who are struggling in the lives of those who are celebrating in the lives of those who mourn this day and those who scream for joy and hope. Holy God, we lift to you all of these
[00:26:19] circumstances and ask your will be done. And help us, oh God, help us when we fail to forgive others, when we hold on to our hearts and our brokenness, when we look at those around us and
[00:26:43] seek out their downfall. And yes, God, we do that. Forgive us. When we fail to reach out and love on our brothers and our sisters, forgive us. When we see ourselves as better than others, forgive us.
[00:27:11] When our self becomes bigger than our God, forgive us. For you say in your word, if you will forgive, I will forgive. Help us, oh God, not earn your forgiveness, but emulate it in this world. And let us, oh God, use our hands and feet and our very lives to be
[00:27:41] living word of hope in this world. Guide us every day for random acts of kindness, through generosity and through gifts of your spirit to live out your gospel as ambassadors for your great kingdom.
[00:28:03] Forgive us, O God, when we fail to stand up and be counted.
[00:28:10] Forgive us, O God, when we are weakened by this world.
[00:28:16] Strengthen us that we might walk boldly in this world for you and for your kingdom.
[00:28:22] and we praise you oh God for your son Jesus the Christ who came and lived and died for us to give us hope to give us proof positive that you do indeed love us and want the best for us
[00:28:44] may we shine that light into the world we ask this in oh God and we pray this and we live this in sight of your words and the words that you taught your disciples to pray.
[00:29:01] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:29:06] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:29:12] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:29:21] And lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:29:26] for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. When the disciples gathered around Jesus, they never knew what they were getting themselves into.
[00:29:42] They just trusted God that he would know how to lead them. And through their discipleship with this Christ, with this God-made man, their lives were transformed. Their generosity of spirit allowed them to be hands and feet in the ministry that he called them to go and proclaim. As us
[00:30:10] here at Fairview, we have received no smaller a call, no greater a call, the same call.
[00:30:19] as we give our gifts towards God we are responding just as the disciples did to his call to be about the ministry he has called us to through our ministries and partnerships in the community
[00:30:34] and through the grace and gifts God has given to us so we ask now as the ushers come forward to receive our tithe and our offering to remind our hearts to be generous and be about the ministry
[00:30:48] with all our gifts, with all our talents, and with all that we are.
[00:30:54] Please come forward.

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:32:04] Holy God, for your steadfast love is faithful,

[00:37:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:37:10] we give thanks and blessings to your name.
[00:37:14] Let the whole of our lives become a song of gratitude, of joy, and of praise, so that all the earth may know that you have a people, and we are your people and you are our God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. You may be seated.
[00:37:42] Actually say that was a good sermon. Amen wasn't it? Our scripture today comes from the book of Romans the fifth chapter and I'll be reading verses one through eight and as you hear this look for the proof, the proof of God's existence, the proof of God's love, and the proof that God
[00:38:15] is on the move in our lives even when we can't see it. Let us read from Romans, again, the eighth chapter. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
[00:38:38] Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing this glory of God. And not only that, we also boast in our suffering,
[00:38:58] knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time
[00:39:24] Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, it's rare, rarely anyone who would die for a righteous person, Though perhaps for a good person, one might actually dare to die.
[00:39:40] But God proves his love for us.
[00:39:44] And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:39:49] This is the word of God for us, the people of God.
[00:39:52] Thanks be to God.
[00:39:54] Will you pray with me?
[00:39:58] Come Holy Spirit and set our hearts on fire.
[00:40:02] Set our lives on fire.
[00:40:04] and set our minds at racing speeds toward your throne.
[00:40:11] Guide us to know, oh God, the proof positive of your grace and of your mercy.
[00:40:20] In your mighty name we pray, amen.
[00:40:26] Therefore, since we are justified by faith.
[00:40:35] This is the words that Martin Luther glued to his heart.
[00:40:41] These are the words of the Protestant Reformation It's the lightning strike that reminded people of why we're here, why we are able to stand before God, why we're able to even come to God. These were the words that set afire John Wesley when
[00:41:01] he was come to the moment of having his heart strangely warmed, when he came to understand that the spirit was for him and for God loved them and so loved them that his son would die
[00:41:17] for me. These words are reminding each and every moment that God has loved me even before I started loving him. Thank God for that because when we are born we are selfish little boogers. Let's be real. What do you do for anybody else when you're a baby? Not one thing.
[00:41:46] Actually, you can't survive without somebody else carrying and giving forth the effort toward you.
[00:41:53] And that's exactly what God is trying to say here in this passage. You were justified by faith, but I did this work for you that through the work of Jesus Christ you are redeemed before God
[00:42:08] not because you did something good not because you were on the deacon's board or on the church board not because you did that good service project down the road not because you did this or that
[00:42:26] but because of Jesus because his grace was sufficient for you.
[00:42:33] That is what good and understanding of the grace of God is.
[00:42:38] That I stand here in front of you redeemed by God, not because I did something, not because I could do something, but because God loved me first and came to me through the personhood of Jesus Christ.
[00:42:59] It says you have peace with God.
[00:43:01] what is there to have other than war with God when our hearts are against him when we don't walk toward him when we don't seek him when we don't see his love for us but this scripture says
[00:43:17] because Christ has come we have the option of peace with God through Jesus Christ in this moment in this passage so dense are eight simple verses but he doesn't end it there one would think I have peace with God
[00:43:41] that's all I need to hear that's all I want to hear that's exactly it, all you want to hear because we are like those still like those infants wanting to be cared for but never wanting to understand
[00:43:53] that there might be a learning curve of how we might live with him if we heard the good news that he loves us proof positive that he loved us we must keep on reading because the next verses that Paul writes is but we boast in our suffering I don't know about you
[00:44:23] I've never stood up here and started boasting about that I don't know about you but I've never stood here and before people and said I'm thankful for the struggles I've had why because this is the
[00:44:35] reason why. I don't like them. It's uncomfortable. But our scripture says that if I would walk towards you and give you peace, if I would walk towards you with my son, doesn't it stand to love
[00:44:55] in logic that I'm going to walk through all of these hard times as well? And that when you see the hard times, when you face, as it says, the suffering, God will produce something from it.
[00:45:14] For we know that suffering produces endurance. Okay, endurance is not something that I think I would praise God for either. Why? Enduring just means I'm shrugging through it. How many of you ask for a thriving life where I can endure? That I can just shrug through the hard times?
[00:45:40] How many of you raised your hand on praising God for that? Not very many people do. But wait for it.
[00:45:50] He's not done. Because as he teaches you how to walk with him, he gives you the strength to endure.
[00:45:57] He gives you the power to endure. He gives you the strength and proof positive that his love we'll walk you through it well what does that get me enduring it says i will produce character
[00:46:16] okay all of these are not looking that good all of these things seem to be a downside oh yeah i'd love to have the character of god but what does that mean that's not a new shiny car that's not
[00:46:31] a new shiny object. It's not a good thing, right? No. He didn't say he was going to give you a good character. He said he was going to make you into a character, into a character that looks like his
[00:46:46] son. In other words, he's going to give you transformation, life beyond what you were.
[00:46:56] So many of us live our faith in Christ and say, you know what, God, I would love to just add you end to my life. That is not what happens here. You have peace and you have joy and you have
[00:47:10] exceeding love of God because he's going to take you not only through suffering, not only through the endurance, not only through the character making, but then he will show you there's a reason for it. It says that it will turn into hope. I look around the world. I wonder,
[00:47:40] have we seen a lot of hopelessness around us? Of hurt and brokenness? Scripture here in Romans 5 tells us that we have been given the gift of God. We have been given the grace of God
[00:47:59] to go through all of these things and that the main point the point that he's pointing to is that you would have a hope that you would have a hope not only you would have a hope but everyone
[00:48:13] around you would have a hope because they would see your character that they would see the things you endure that you would see the suffering that you get and someone would turn around and say man
[00:48:25] you don't know you don't know how many times i've wanted to quit and i've gone through suffering and i didn't know how i was going to take the next breath i don't know how you're going to
[00:48:44] make it through this moment but he does he will pull us out of this he turns around right after giving this wonderful speech things that i don't know if i want to praise god about he says
[00:49:04] but at the perfect time while we were still weak not while we were strong not when we had it all together not when we had all the answers no while you were weak unable to turn yourself while you
[00:49:21] were still an infant while you were still searching for it while you couldn't find out why suffering was something to be joyful about while endurance was not a thing on your mind while character building was not what you had on your agenda for today.
[00:49:40] He says, while you were weak, Christ died for the ungodly.
[00:49:48] I want you to hear this.
[00:49:50] When you start to become a Christian, I want you to never forget that you got here because he started working on you first.
[00:50:00] You are not standing in here in that pew or that pew or that pew or that pew because you are somebody is because he is somebody.
[00:50:11] And because of his grace and his sacrifice on a cross, you get to be here in the presence of God that he loved us so much.
[00:50:24] You see, it goes into a reason.
[00:50:29] You know what?
[00:50:30] God would die for a righteous person.
[00:50:32] Maybe you would even die for a righteous person.
[00:50:37] But would you put the effort into stooping down low for somebody who's broken, who's suffering, who's just enduring life like the woman of the alabaster glass, like the man on the side of the road, beaten and bruised? Would we be any more like God? No. We read through
[00:51:18] those things and we see it on our side of the gospel where Jesus says it's valid. But if we saw it in our own lives, would we see them of value? Would you see them as valuable? See, this
[00:51:36] passage reminds us we are valuable because of what God does. And the proof positive of this very thing is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This proof of God's love for us
[00:51:56] can transform our lives it can transform how we see the world it can transform the way we see suffering it can transform the way we see enduring the hardships of life it can transform the way we see our character and the way God wants our character to look it can transform the way we
[00:52:18] see hope because guess what people as your pastor I sometimes look out there and I say where is the hope? Where are you moving, God? And where is the next step that transforms this world into your
[00:52:36] kingdom? Heavenly Father, I pray you show us your hope. And Jesus, in the brief silence, says, here's your proof positive. While you were yet sinners, I died for you. May that resonate in your heart today. May it turn your heart around and say, I have a hope because of what he's done.
[00:53:17] May it set a fire in you that you might go out these doors and tell the next person, do you not know? Have you not heard that Jesus loves us? I have proof in his word. I have proof
[00:53:34] in my life. I have proof in my suffering. I have proof when I have endured, when I couldn't.
[00:53:40] I have proof in the character that stands before you transformed today than I wasn't the man I was yesterday because I met somebody and the difference is him is him I have a hope today
[00:53:58] my brothers and sisters you have hope today may you turn it around in praise and thank him and may you get to work in the unpraiseable moments to make them proof positive for somebody else will you pray with me almighty and living god jesus our savior our brother our
[00:54:39] friend forgive us forgive us when we forget that we stand here on the greats you have poured out on the cross for us may we not stand or boast about anything about ourselves but boast and
[00:55:03] what you have done to bring us out of the places we were and through the places and seasons of our lives when we could barely keep our head above water, when we could not see the hope, when you
[00:55:17] became our hope, when you thought to die for the ungodly and that was us, when you stood and sat there and died for sinners like us, to bring about new life and new hope and transformation in our
[00:55:35] very bones. Help us, O God, be men and women of faith, of hope, who proclaim it with our lives, with our songs and with our very words that we might lift up those who have not yet found the grace,
[00:56:03] though you have reached out to them.
[00:56:06] Come now, God, set this world ablaze with your hope.
[00:56:14] In your mighty name we pray, amen.
[00:56:17] As we close our worship, I ask that you would please sing sent forth by God's blessing found on page 664. And as we sing this, may we sing with hearts filled with hope and with grace. And may we reach out into our very lives and see the hope

[00:56:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:56:48] that God has called us for others to be. Come as you are able. From this place, take your leave

[00:59:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:59:04] and take the hope with you.
[00:59:09] Take that hope that those people out those doors need to hear and take the hope for yourself that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:59:20] We have been redeemed.
[00:59:22] Go and share that grace with somebody else that the light might shine for them the path that they are walking toward Christ.
[00:59:31] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:59:34] Amen.