Theological Status: COMPROMISED (Worldly/Sloppy)
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Pergamum
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Compromised Parallel
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: Are you in a season of waiting? Discover how God uses the quiet, unseen years of your life to prepare you for His greater purpose, just as He did with Jesus.
Pastoral Analysis: This sermon offers a comforting perspective on periods of inactivity, framing them as divine preparation. However, it suffers from two significant theological weaknesses: it promotes a works-based approach to sanctification by relying on human willpower for submission, and it fails to uphold the biblical boundaries of the Lord's Supper by inviting all to the table without regard for baptismal status.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon blends orthodox truth with minor worldly philosophies. While the core message of God's sovereignty in hidden seasons is sound, the reliance on human moral effort for sanctification and the failure to fence the Lord's Table indicate a compromise between biblical truth and cultural pragmatism.
Big Idea: God often works in the 'silent years' of our lives—periods of quiet growth, obedience, and preparation—to shape our character and equip us for future service, just as Jesus grew in wisdom and favor during his hidden years. [00:58:57 ▶️ 📄]
🎨 The Visual Metaphor
The exposed roots gripping the stone symbolize the hidden, steadfast work of sanctification that anchors the soul during seasons of silent waiting. The golden light breaking through the mist represents the quiet assurance of Divine Providence preparing the heart for future fruitfulness.
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: Luke 2:41-52
- Usage Classification: Expository
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ✅ PASS - The pastor maintains a respectful tone, though the use of apocryphal stories requires careful handling to avoid confusion with Scripture.
✝️ Christological Focus: Moralistic/Imitative
"The sermon connects Jesus' silent years to the congregation's life primarily through moral imitation (learning submission) rather than redemptive union with Christ."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 12 | Referenced: 3 | Alluded: 1
Passages Read Aloud:
-
Luke 2:41-52
[00:44:22 ▶️ 📄]
"Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. And after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety. He said to them, why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. At 12 years old, Jesus would be at the beginning of some serious study of the Old Testament law in preparation for bar mitzvah. Bar mitzvah, two words really, bar mitzvah means son of the law. It's a time when a young Jew goes through study and then is responsible as an adult for their own relationship with God and God's law. Well, at this age, they have been to Jerusalem. They celebrated the Passover as they're supposed to, as a regular festival. And now they're returning home to Nazareth. And for safety on the road, they traveled in a caravan with people from their own region up around Nazareth. They would assume that Jesus was hanging out with some of the other boys somewhere in the caravan. but when he didn't show up for supper 12 year old boy doesn't show up for food that's when the alarm goes off they would have run up and down the caravan asking people have you seen jesus have you seen him and no one's seen him all day long can you imagine the feeling of dread and guilt i should have kept better eye on him and add to that my little boy is missing the one who's messiah is missing. Have I really messed up that bad? So they set out to retrace their steps all the way back to Jerusalem with their eye on the bar ditch every step of the way, searching for any sign of him, hoping to see something, but again, hoping not to see too much. Excuse me. They found him in Jerusalem at the temple. Now, if you were looking for a missing 12-year-old, would you come looking at the church? Probably not, right? And not only that, they found him in the temple talking with the religious elite, which tells us since they're looking in those places, Mary and Joseph know there is something different about him. He's at the temple. He's in this conversation with questions, offering his thoughts and answers with the religious leaders. Yeah, there is something different about him. We know at this point. Luke reports a very brief conversation between Jesus and Mary, which is so polite, I suggest it has been highly edited. But the main point of the conversation has to do with who Jesus is and his awareness of his identity. It's all framed around the question, who's your daddy? Seriously. Seriously. Mary says, your father and I have been anxiously searching. Joseph, we know, is Jesus' adopted father. Mary is his biological mother. Jesus is 12, almost bar mitzvah, so he's almost a son of the law. But Jesus points past all of that to say, I was in my father's house. He knows himself at this point to be the son of God. Now, today there is this idea that floats around in our culture that we're all sons and daughters of God. I want to just pause and say that's not what the Bible says, but lots of people believe it. What the Bible says is we can become sons and daughters of God through being born again or adopted into the family of God, but we don't come into the world that way. We're all sons and daughters of God. That wasn't even a current idea floating around in the culture in Jesus' time, much less a biblical one. So for Jesus to lay claim to this identity as a son of God is significant. It's one of the questions that I am sometimes asked. When did Jesus know who he was? Now, we don't know. We don't know exactly when or how he became aware of this. We do know that at the age of 12, he knows. that much we have. He knows He's the Son of God. It's interesting that the first time we have Jesus laying claim to His identity, it takes place right after they've been in Jerusalem for the Passover, when the Passover lambs were sacrificed, when their blood was used to mark the homes of believers, a commemoration of when the Passover lambs had been slain in Egypt, their blood marked the homes of the believers and God spared them from the angel of death and they're set free from slavery in Egypt. It would be at exactly this time when Jesus was around 30 years old that his blood would be shed to spare us from death and set us free from the guilt and power of sin. I wonder, and again, we don't know, but I wonder if Jesus already knew all this at the age of 12. Scripture, frankly, doesn't give us any hints at all. From this point on, the story goes silent. We don't know about his home life, his friends, his education, learning Joseph's trade, how he learned the Scriptures. None of those are in Scripture. There's not a word in the Bible. And all those early legends that sprang up to fill the gap, we have no evidence that they had any foundation in history. They all come a century and a half, almost two centuries later. From age 12 to 30 or so, silence. No hint of his life until he comes to be baptized. So what's going on all that time? Again, we'd like to fill in the blanks. Was he living in his parents' basement playing video games? Second and third century legends about this all-powerful five-year-old. It's a frightening prospect, but there's nothing real there. The Bible provides one little hint, verses 51 and 52. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart, and Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor. Obedient to Joseph and Mary, He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with people. Interestingly, there's a verse very much like this earlier in chapter 2. If you look at verse 40, and this is right after they return from his being dedicated at the temple when they return home. Verse 40 says, The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. that's it these few verses fill in what have been called the silent years from eight days old to 12 years old from 12 years old to 30 years old but what was going on within jesus would be hugely important to his future ministry those few words don't seem like much but they set the table for what is to come. Why would obedience to Joseph and Mary be important? In being obedient to them, he was practicing the dynamic that would be the cornerstone of his relationship with his heavenly Father. Now, I know it is certainly true for ordinary human development. If you cannot learn to put yourself beneath the authority of another human being, a parent, a teacher, a boss, it will be a significant stumbling block in your life. If you can't submit yourself to another person whom you can see, how can you possibly submit yourself to a God that you cannot see? If you do not learn to put yourself beneath another person to serve that other person, you will not be equipped to serve well the well-being of others later on. And frankly, if you don't learn how to serve and follow, you can't be a good leader. Jesus came to do the will of his heavenly father. He came to serve the well-being of all people. And he came to be the greatest leader the world has ever known. So practicing obedience to Joseph and Mary was something of a training ground for him for all of that. He obeyed his parents. And the Bible tells us he grew in wisdom. Now, wisdom comes from life experience, right? And I'd assume Jesus had an additional source of wisdom to which you and I do not have access. He was, after all, God in the flesh. But the fact that he grew in wisdom suggests he didn't have all of that at the age of 12. Can you imagine a 12-year-old with the fullness of divine wisdom at that point? Be considered a freak, right? But I think Jesus probably experienced a more normal childhood than that. Luke says he grew in stature. Of course, going from 12 to 30, you're going to see some physical growth, right? And if he was learning his father's trade as a tecton, which can be either a carpenter or a stonemason, he'd be gaining some muscle in the midst of that as well. I think it's safe to assume Jesus was not a wimp. He did not live an easy life, nor did he die an easy death. He had some strength and stamina. Finally, Luke says he grew in favor with God and with people. His life, his character, development, his relationships were pleasing to God and making good impressions on others. And again, big blank in the story there, but we have that much. What was going on during his silent years? Physical, mental, spiritual growth. necessary preparations for all that was to come later in his life there's no record of him healing the sick or walking on water or raising the dead and you know turning mud birds into real birds fantasy the bible offers no crazy stories of a five-year-old with superpowers we have jesus who is fully human and growing up as such but there were necessary things happening learning growth development that would all come to play later on in his life in those silent years of your life when you don't see anything exciting happening no earth-shaking events to record, that does not mean that God is not present and not at work in your life. It means, perhaps, that God wants to do something not around you and not even through you, but He wants to do something in you to prepare you for the future. Now, I wonder what that might be for you. If you're going through one of those quiet times, what is God doing in you? I think of my own life. Looking back, there were times when I was way off track, times when I was not following Jesus, time when the church didn't really rank in my life at all, times that seemed to be wasted, sometimes that seemed like spiritual deserts. And I have thought at times, looking back on those times, that if only I could do that again and not waste so much time. But as I really thought about it, I realized none of that was wasted. God made use of those times, all those experiences in my life to shape me into who I am, to equip me to do what I do, and my regret over those times fades a bit. Not that it makes all those things okay to do, but I just see how God could make use of it, and my gratitude grows. You've had silent times in your life, quiet times, times when it seemed like nothing was happening, times when maybe you weren't even tuned into God. See if you can discern what God might have been doing in those times, what He might have been doing in you so that later on He could do something through you. Maybe a good New Year's resolution would be to intentionally give over those times, the times from our past, maybe a silent time that you're in the midst of now or maybe next year and allow God to do something with that in you so that later he can do something through you let's pray oh Lord as always we stand in awe of who you are and what you have done and how you're working in our own lives. Lord, we get excited when we see you working through us to accomplish something, but I pray that those in-between times you would help us understand what you're doing in us, that we could be your cooperative partners and we would grow so that in the future you can do more through us. We thank you, Lord, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the ways we are reminded that He is still at work within us is when we gather at the table and we take into ourselves the bread and the cup, the body and blood of Christ, reminding us of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Jesus shared that meal with His friends shortly before He would be arrested and taken away. It was the Jewish Passover, remembering when God had set His people free from slavery in Egypt so many years ago. In the midst of the Passover meal, Jesus took bread and he gave thanks to the Father. And he broke the bread and he gave it to his friends and he said to them, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, after the supper, he took the cup and he gave thanks to the Father and he gave it to his friends and he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let us pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for the invitation to join you at your table, the family table. We pray that you would send your Holy Spirit on us and on the bread and cup, that they would be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we might be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by His blood, filled with His Spirit, and doing His work in the world. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. When we break the bread, it is a means of sharing in the body of Christ. And when we give thanks over the cup, it is a means of sharing in the blood of Christ. Will the servers come forward, please? The ushers will guide you forward to receive communion. when you come to the front you receive a piece of bread dip it in the cup and then eat afterwards actually you won't dip it in the cup forgot that's the old thing we used to do you receive a piece of bread and eat it and then you receive a small cup of the juice and you can drink that and afterwards you can dispose of your cups in these trash cans that we have at the front of the diagonal house after you have received communion if you would like to kneel at the rail to pray you are welcome to do so now this is not a methodist table but the table of christ himself and so any and all who seek to be in fellowship with christ and with his people are welcome to participate in this meal if anyone needs gluten-free elements we do have those available over here on the side and we also have some of the sealed elements there as well an incredible idea you knew it happened for us to come together and worship you on the first day, 2023. You knew the songs that we would sing together. You knew our prayers, David's sermon. You knew that we would share in the body and the blood of Christ together as a church family. Thank you for the bread and cup because it's in those elements that we remember all that Jesus did for us. We pray this in the name of Jesus himself because it's in the name of Jesus that we place our hope and our trust in all God's people said, amen."
Key References: Luke 2:40, Luke 2:51-52, Exodus 12
💧 Liturgy & Sacraments
Fencing the Table (Communion):
- Believers Only Stated: ❌ No (Open Table Risk)
- Warning Against Unworthy Manner: ⚠️ None Detected
- Open Invitation: 🔴 Active Commission (Unbelievers Explicitly Invited)
- Verbatim Warning: "now this is not a methodist table but the table of christ himself and so any and all who seek to be in fellowship with christ and with his people are welcome to participate in this meal"
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 3,518 words
📌 Key Topics Addressed
-
New Year Reflections
[00:35:27 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses the transition into 2023 and cultural imagery of the 'new baby' year to introduce themes of freshness, potential, and the unknown. -
The Silent Years of Jesus
[00:38:19 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor addresses the gap in the biblical narrative of Jesus' childhood, noting that the Bible does not answer how He was raised or what He was like as a child. -
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
[00:38:33 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts specific anecdotes from this non-canonical text (clay sparrows, raising the dead boy, stretching the beam, healing the snake bite) to illustrate how early church storytelling focused on divine power rather than character. -
Biblical vs. Fantastical Narratives
[00:42:15 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts the 'entertainment' value of the Infancy Gospel with the canonical Gospels, noting that the former was excluded because it lacked focus on Jesus' character and faith response. -
The Silent Years
[00:43:01 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor defines the gap in Jesus' life between ages 12 and 30, contrasting biblical silence with later apocryphal legends. -
Jesus' Identity
[00:49:21 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor analyzes Jesus' statement 'I must be in my father's house' to argue that Jesus uniquely knew He was the Son of God, correcting the cultural idea that all humans are naturally children of God. -
Obedience and Leadership
[00:54:46 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that Jesus' obedience to Joseph and Mary was a training ground for His submission to the Father and His role as a servant-leader. -
Personal Application
[00:59:17 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor applies the concept of 'silent years' to the congregation's personal lives, suggesting that quiet or difficult times are God's method of internal preparation. -
Divine Presence in Silent Times
[00:58:57 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that periods of inactivity or lack of 'earth-shaking events' are not evidence of God's absence, but rather a time for internal preparation. -
Personal Testimony of Redemption
[00:59:56 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal anecdote about past spiritual deserts and wasted time, explaining how God used those experiences to shape and equip him. -
Communion and Remembrance
[01:02:49 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor transitions to the liturgy of communion, explaining the biblical basis of the Last Supper and its function as a reminder of Christ's work within the believer.
🖼️ Illustrations & Stories
-
Sermon Illustration
[00:35:46 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor describes the cultural cartoon trope of the New Year as a pink-cheeked baby in a diaper, contrasting it with the old year trudging out old and beat. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:37:23 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor humorously imagines Jesus as a child refusing to do chores, saying 'I'm God. You take out the trash,' before dismissing it as unlikely. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:38:52 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts the story from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas where five-year-old Jesus molds clay sparrows on the Sabbath, claps his hands, and they fly away chirping. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:39:58 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor tells the story of Jesus raising a dead child who had fallen from a window, with the resurrected child testifying that Jesus did not throw him but raised him up. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:40:44 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares the story of young Jesus stretching a short wooden beam to the proper length for a bed order, causing his father Joseph to rejoice. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:41:30 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts the story of Jesus healing his brother James after a poisonous snake bite by blowing on the wound, causing the snake to split open and die. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:41:53 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts apocryphal legends of a five-year-old Jesus as a 'divine wild child' who bites a snake's hand, using this to contrast with the biblical record. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:44:22 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor narrates the biblical account of Jesus being lost in Jerusalem and found in the temple, imagining the parents' dread and guilt as they search for him. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:59:56 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his own past 'spiritual deserts' and times of being 'off track,' realizing in hindsight that God used those experiences to shape him. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:58:23 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts biblical accounts of Jesus' growth with 'fantasy' stories of children with superpowers, noting that Jesus experienced necessary learning and development during his silent years. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:59:56 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts his own life history, describing times when he was 'way off track' and the church didn't rank in his life, which he initially viewed as wasted time but later recognized as God's preparation. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:02:49 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor explains the historical context of the Last Supper as a Jewish Passover meal, detailing how Jesus took bread and wine to establish the new covenant.
🚀 Calls to Action (Application)
-
Pastoral Charge
[01:04:36 ▶️ 📄]
> Servers to come forward for communion service. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:04:40 ▶️ 📄]
> Congregation to follow ushers to the front for communion. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:05:05 ▶️ 📄]
> Congregation to optionally kneel at the rail for prayer after receiving communion.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Compromised / Weak
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ❌ FAIL | The Gospel Engine is compromised by a subtle Pelagian error in sanctification. The pastor presents obedience as a prerequisite achieved through human moral effort rather than a fruit of the Spirit's work, effectively removing Christ's empowering presence from the process of sanctification. |
| Soteriology | ⚠️ WEAK | While justification is not explicitly denied, the sanctification process is described in a way that implies human self-sufficiency, weakening the doctrine of total dependence on grace. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | The sermon correctly identifies the biblical text and does not distort the nature of Scripture, though it relies on apocryphal illustrations which are noted as such. |
| Hermeneutic | ✅ PASS | The exegesis of Luke 2 is generally sound, though the application drifts into moralism. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | The doctrine of God's sovereignty and providence is upheld. |
| Sacramentology | ❌ FAIL | The pastor issues an unrestricted invitation to the Lord's Supper, failing to fence the table to baptized believers, which is a violation of biblical sacramental theology. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ FAIL | The sermon lacks depth in explaining the mechanism of sanctification and the covenantal nature of the sacraments. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework
What is this? This section checks if the sermon contains the essential building blocks of the Gospel. We look for explicit, substantive mentions of God's holy standard, human inability, and Christ's finished work on the cross.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
❌ The Law And Wrath: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Total Depravity And Inability: Not observed in the sermon.
✅ Active Obedience Of Christ:
"He came to do the will of his heavenly father. He came to serve the well-being of all people. And he came to be the greatest leader the world has ever known. So practicing obedience to Joseph and Mary was something of a training ground for him for all of that." [00:55:57 ▶️ 📄]
✅ The Cross And Atonement:
"It would be at exactly this time when Jesus was around 30 years old that his blood would be shed to spare us from death and set us free from the guilt and power of sin." [00:51:19 ▶️ 📄]
✅ Commendations
Pastoral Comfort | Reframing Silence as Preparation
The pastor effectively comforts those feeling stagnant by reframing their 'silent years' as active periods of God's internal work, providing hope and perspective.
Scripture Reading | High Text-to-Talk Ratio
The sermon features an exceptionally high ratio of scripture reading to spoken words, ensuring the congregation is grounded in the biblical text.
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🔴 Unfenced Table (Open Communion Error)
Root Cause: The Error of Open Communion (Neglect of Church Discipline)
"now this is not a methodist table but the table of christ himself and so any and all who seek to be in fellowship with christ and with his people are welcome to participate in this meal" [01:05:14 ▶️ 📄]
Correction: For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
🟠 The Error of Human Self-Sufficiency (Works-Based Sanctification)
Root Cause: The Error of Human Self-Sufficiency (Pelagianism)
"If you cannot learn to put yourself beneath the authority of another human being, a parent, a teacher, a boss, it will be a significant stumbling block in your life. If you can't submit yourself to another person whom you can see, how can you possibly submit yourself to a God that you cannot see?" [00:55:07 ▶️ 📄]
Correction: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:05:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:05:32] It's an exciting new year, 2023. I am looking forward with great anticipation for all the wonderful things God is doing, and one of the best things He's doing is bringing this body of believers together to worship Him. I'm so excited for that.
[00:05:45] So just a reminder to sign in on the attendance pads and pass those down the row so that we can check you in. And also to all of you joining us online, we are so happy that you are here as well, and we thank God that you worship with us every Sunday.
[00:05:58] So pay attention.
[00:05:59] The next few weeks, we have a lot of things coming on.
[00:06:01] We have new serving opportunities, mission trips that will start to be presented.
[00:06:05] We'll have new Bible studies coming on board.
[00:06:07] So pay attention and get signed up and join in with all these wonderful things going on.
[00:06:12] Next Sunday, we have a roundtable discussions.
[00:06:14] It'll be our last opportunity to sit down as a church together and just kind of have a talk about where we are and where we're going and where we feel like God is calling us.
[00:06:22] So make sure you sign up for that because we will have lunch provided and we will make sure that we have enough for everybody.
[00:06:27] So sign up at the Connection Center to join in with that.
[00:06:31] And also, you may notice that we have a few poinsettias up here.
[00:06:35] We have some poinsettias, I think, that have been taken out to the breezeway.
[00:06:37] If you are a lover of poinsettias and would like to take some home with you, please do so.
[00:06:44] You got it.
[00:06:44] All right, so take your poinsettias, and then with that, are you ready to worship?
[00:06:48] Awesome.
[00:06:48] Let's prepare our hearts with this call to worship.
[00:06:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:06:50] Come and greet one another.
[00:10:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:10:20] Wish each other a happy new year, and we'll sing some songs together.
[00:11:46] Okay.
[00:11:46] Hey, so our first hymn this morning is going to be number 245, the first Noel.
[00:11:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:11:52] The first Noel was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.
[00:12:12] In fields where they keep their sheep on the cold winter's night.
[00:13:12] And so, as people said, amen.
[00:16:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:16:06] Our next hymn is number 254.
[00:16:08] We three kings.
[00:17:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:17:38] You can be seated.
[00:19:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:52] As we enter into this new year, we worship the one who makes all things new.
[00:20:00] The only one who really can do that.
[00:20:03] And so we seek him out in prayer on a regular basis, and we do that together as a family in worship by joining in our prayer that's in the bulletin and on the screen.
[00:20:23] Lord of all creation, we stand in awe of you, for you are great beyond the reaches of our minds.
[00:20:33] Yet you chose to reveal yourself in human flesh, so fully human you even started out as a tiny baby.
[00:20:41] We are sinners and do not deserve such great love.
[00:20:46] But you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
[00:20:53] So we come to you humbled because of our own sinfulness, grateful because of your grace, joyful because of the completeness of your love.
[00:21:05] help us live every moment of every day for your glory and the blessing of many Lord hear our prayers Lord we're here this morning because you deserve our worship you are an awesome God and have done awesome things in order to reach us
[00:22:06] with your love your grace power of your spirit to change our lives so we come with grateful hearts we ask that you would in fact work in our lives to make all things new to
[00:22:23] make us new not just a number on a calendar but substantively new even with all that you have done and all that we know you can do we still are broken people affected by the brokenness the
[00:22:41] sinfulness of the entire creation and so we come seeking your help as always we lift up Miriam Richardson who is traveling to and from Honduras Lord we pray that you would keep her safe in her journey that her visit with family and
[00:23:03] friends would be good and rich that you would return her back home fulfilled we pray for Michelle Hernandez, brother Ray, who has a very serious infection and will probably lose one toe to it. Lord, we pray that you would be with his surgeons, with all the doctors who are
[00:23:27] working for him, the nurses. Use them to bring healing, Lord. Pray that the infection spreads no further. We pray for Moses and Jovu's wife, Betty, in Malawi, who's having some serious back trouble lord we pray that you would bring her relief that you would work in a way that is even
[00:23:58] beyond what the doctors are doing and she would be made mobile and well and pain-free once again we ask your help for elaine fisher who is in intensive care we ask lord for strength to be
[00:24:17] poured into her body that you'd work a miracle of healing in her life and we pray that you would be with her husband Ron and her son, all her family and friends. Bring them your encouragement. Let
[00:24:36] them know that you are there with them in the midst of this. We pray for Stephanie Cahill's mother who was taken to the hospital this morning with the effects of COVID. We ask, Lord, that
[00:24:51] you would strengthen her body, that you would heal her, restore her completely. Pray for your help for Cleta Stevens' cousin who has metastatic cancer.
[00:25:06] Lord, in the midst of a situation in which the doctors say there's not a lot more to do, show your face.
[00:25:21] Show your face, Lord.
[00:25:23] Show your greatness in the midst of that.
[00:25:31] We pray for those who are grieving the deaths of loved ones in recent days.
[00:25:38] We lift up Keith Carr and his family as they grieve the death of his cousin, J.C.
[00:25:43] We pray for Todd Duke and his family as they grieve the death of his mother.
[00:25:52] We ask for you to be with Bob Lindberg and his family as they grieve the death of his father.
[00:25:59] Lord, come alongside these and all who grieve, especially during these holiday times when it seems that everyone else is having such a wonderful time with the most wonderful time of the year.
[00:26:14] Be with them.
[00:26:16] Help them remember that when you broke into this world on that Christmas, You came in the midst of the mess.
[00:26:24] We pray for Nick Saucedo as he's retiring from his role as our pianist.
[00:26:35] We thank you for the many years of service with us, and we pray that you would bless him in his future ventures in life.
[00:26:47] And be with us as we search for a new pianist.
[00:26:50] Lead us to someone who's not just a good musician, but someone who loves you and wants to serve you.
[00:27:03] In this new year, Lord, give us hope for all the messiness and all the brokenness of the world and the church and everything around us.
[00:27:15] Give us hope based not on the things that our eyes can see, but based on you, on who you are, what you have done in the past, what you can do, and what your promises are.
[00:27:32] We pray with expectation for good things to come because when you were on this earth in the flesh, you taught us to pray when you taught the words, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:27:44] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:27:49] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:27:58] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:28:02] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Well, at this point, if we have any children in the room between three years old and first grade, you can go to the back of the room, meet Ms. Carol at the doors
[00:28:16] there, and she will take you out to children's church time. And we will see you back for communion. For the rest of us, we remain in the room, continue to worship God in song, and if you have your offering with you, you can bring it to the altar as we're singing.
[00:28:32] I know some give electronically, some send it in snail mail, but if you've brought it this morning,
[00:28:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:28:38] now is the time to bring it. Let's worship. Please stand. Let's worship together. Let's
[00:34:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:34:26] remember who our God is, a little bit larger picture of Him than sometimes we think, by reciting the Apostles' Creed, naming the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:37] Let's say it together. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary
[00:34:52] suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day he rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge
[00:35:08] 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. Well, Happy New Year.
[00:35:27] It's 2023, and it's hard to believe, isn't it? Where did the last year go? It just flew by.
[00:35:34] Have you ever thought about how the new year every year is pictured in cartoons?
[00:35:44] Seen the cartoons yet?
[00:35:46] Symbol of new year is usually a pink-cheeked baby in a diaper with a banner across that says 2023, right?
[00:35:56] See that every year.
[00:35:58] And of course, 2022 trudging out looking old and beat.
[00:36:02] the new year is fresh and new full of potential and filled with the unknown kind of like when you were driving in today in the fog we that we see that in a baby in every new baby that's kind
[00:36:19] of born into the world the idea of being fresh and new and you don't know what that baby's going to become we just celebrated the birth of a baby of course baby Jesus and not just his birth to the
[00:36:32] family of Joseph and Mary, but his birth into the world, his birth into the creation for all of us.
[00:36:42] Can you imagine the questions that must have been in the minds of Mary and Joseph at that point?
[00:36:49] How do you raise the Messiah? What do you do with that? The one who is Savior, the one who is Lord of all creation, the one who is the Son of God, what do you do with that? How do you raise that
[00:37:05] child. I mean, it's struggle enough just raising the ones we've got, right? Have you ever wondered what Jesus was like when He was growing up? I just, I have this picture of Jesus sitting at the
[00:37:23] table, and He's saying, I don't have to take out the trash. I'm God. You take out the trash.
[00:37:32] Probably not like that, right? But wonder, what was that like? And what was it like to raise a child who was the Son of God. I occasionally get questions about that, and they're interesting questions. They're also questions that the Bible does not answer, maybe because it's not particularly
[00:37:59] important to us living out our faith. But it's still interesting to wonder and ponder. And who knows what we might find if we kind of ponder those questions and then reflect on that. And we're not the first people to wonder about those things. You're not the first ones to ask somebody
[00:38:19] about that, because some of you have asked me. There is a years-long gap in the Bible's story of Jesus, and that left the door open for some rather fanciful storytelling in the early church.
[00:38:33] We get the most stories from a document that comes from the late 2nd century, much later than anything in the New Testament. It's called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. And I'll give you just a sampling of a few of the stories there. When Jesus was five years old, He was playing at a
[00:38:52] stream, and He gathered the water together in pools and made the water clean, not muddy. And then He molded some soft clay into twelve sparrows. Well, it was the Sabbath day, and you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath day, and doing what he was doing, working clay like this, would
[00:39:13] qualify as work. And so one of the Jewish authorities complained to Joseph that his son was working on the Sabbath day. Joseph then complained to five-year-old Jesus that he was working on the Sabbath day. Jesus' response was to clap his hands, and the clay sparrows
[00:39:37] fly away chirping. What do you do with a child five years old who does that, right?
[00:39:46] A few days later, Jesus and some of His buddies were playing in the upper story of a house, and one of the children fell from the window and died when he hit the ground. All the other
[00:39:58] children fled, but not Jesus. The dead child's parents came to question Jesus, and they accused him of throwing the child down, which we know from the story he didn't do. Jesus denied it, but they wouldn't listen. Jesus went downstairs then and stood by the body and called this
[00:40:18] deceased child by name and asked him to tell the truth about what happened. So the dead boy rose to life and insisted to his parents, Jesus did not throw me down, but he did raise me up.
[00:40:31] and it says the parents were amazed, I guess so, and they worshiped Jesus. Episode number three.
[00:40:44] Joseph took an order for making a bed for a rich man, you know, carpenter, right? And as he's working on this bed, one beam that he had cut came out shorter than it should have been, and he was
[00:40:57] really frustrated with this. And little boy Jesus sees the problem, and he takes the end of the beam in his hand and he stretches it to the proper length. And his father says, happy am I that God
[00:41:15] has given me this child. Now you can see every time there's a miracle which is just a thing of power going on and the response of faith. One final episode, Joseph sent James, the brother of
[00:41:30] Jesus to tie up some wood and carry it back home. Jesus, still being quite young, followed James, you know, trotting along behind him. And while James was gathering the firewood, a poisonous snake bit his hand. James lays on the ground, dying. Jesus came and blew on the bite,
[00:41:53] and immediately the pain stopped and the snake split open and died. And James got better on the spot, right? Now, was Jesus some kind of divine wild child? What do you think? Those stories all
[00:42:15] focus on divine power and what might a five-year-old do with that power, right? The story is neglect to show us very much about Jesus' character. A little bit, but not much. Mostly about power. You can tell by the stories why this particular document was not included in
[00:42:39] the New Testament. It was kind of popular, but they knew the difference. All these stories were significantly later in their origin, and they appear to be written more for entertainment than anything else, filling in blanks in the story of Jesus growing up. The gap in Jesus' story has
[00:43:01] sometimes been called the silent years. It's an interesting name given because it's the same title that's given to the 400 years between the close of the Old Testament prophets and the birth of Jesus. That is thought of as 400 years when God did not speak to His people. And the silent years
[00:43:26] of Jesus' life are years for which we have little or no biblical record of things that Jesus may have said or done. Luke gives us more of the early story of Jesus than any of the other four
[00:43:40] Gospels. We have, of course, in Luke the beloved story of Jesus' birth and the manger and the angels singing and the shepherds coming. And we have the story of Jesus being dedicated in the temple when he's eight days old, and Simeon and Anna, a prophet and prophetess, both seeing in
[00:43:57] him the very presence of God's salvation. And the next episode Luke gives us is 12 years later, with Jesus and his family returning home after observing the Passover in Jerusalem. We'll read out of Luke chapter 2, beginning with verse 41. Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for
[00:44:22] the festival of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up as usual for the festival.
[00:44:29] When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's
[00:44:42] journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. And after three days, they found him in the
[00:44:54] temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father
[00:45:14] and I have been searching for you in great anxiety. He said to them, why were you searching for me?
[00:45:22] Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother
[00:45:36] treasured all these things in her heart. At 12 years old, Jesus would be at the beginning of some serious study of the Old Testament law in preparation for bar mitzvah. Bar mitzvah, two words really, bar mitzvah means son of the law. It's a time when a young Jew goes through
[00:45:59] study and then is responsible as an adult for their own relationship with God and God's law.
[00:46:08] Well, at this age, they have been to Jerusalem.
[00:46:12] They celebrated the Passover as they're supposed to, as a regular festival.
[00:46:19] And now they're returning home to Nazareth.
[00:46:21] And for safety on the road, they traveled in a caravan with people from their own region up around Nazareth.
[00:46:29] They would assume that Jesus was hanging out with some of the other boys somewhere in the caravan.
[00:46:35] but when he didn't show up for supper 12 year old boy doesn't show up for food that's when the alarm goes off they would have run up and down the caravan asking people have you seen jesus have
[00:46:50] you seen him and no one's seen him all day long can you imagine the feeling of dread and guilt i should have kept better eye on him and add to that my little boy is missing the one who's messiah
[00:47:09] is missing. Have I really messed up that bad? So they set out to retrace their steps all the way back to Jerusalem with their eye on the bar ditch every step of the way, searching for any sign of
[00:47:28] him, hoping to see something, but again, hoping not to see too much. Excuse me. They found him in Jerusalem at the temple. Now, if you were looking for a missing 12-year-old, would you come looking at the church? Probably not, right? And not only that, they found him in the temple
[00:47:54] talking with the religious elite, which tells us since they're looking in those places, Mary and Joseph know there's something different about him. He's at the temple. He's in this conversation with questions, offering his thoughts and answers with the religious leaders. Yeah, there is
[00:48:17] something different about him. We know at this point. Luke reports a very brief conversation between Jesus and Mary, which is so polite, I suggest it has been highly edited.
[00:48:32] But the main point of the conversation has to do with who Jesus is and his awareness of his identity. It's all framed around the question, who's your daddy? Seriously. Seriously.
[00:48:52] Mary says, your father and I have been anxiously searching.
[00:48:57] Joseph, we know, is Jesus' adopted father.
[00:49:01] Mary is his biological mother.
[00:49:04] Jesus is 12, almost bar mitzvah, so he's almost a son of the law.
[00:49:11] But Jesus points past all of that to say, I was in my father's house.
[00:49:21] He knows himself at this point to be the son of God.
[00:49:28] Now, today there is this idea that floats around in our culture that we're all sons and daughters of God.
[00:49:35] I want to just pause and say that's not what the Bible says, but lots of people believe it.
[00:49:42] What the Bible says is we can become sons and daughters of God through being born again or adopted into the family of God, but we don't come into the world that way.
[00:49:55] We're all sons and daughters of God.
[00:49:59] That wasn't even a current idea floating around in the culture in Jesus' time, much less a biblical one.
[00:50:04] So for Jesus to lay claim to this identity as a son of God is significant.
[00:50:11] It's one of the questions that I am sometimes asked.
[00:50:14] When did Jesus know who he was?
[00:50:18] Now, we don't know.
[00:50:20] We don't know exactly when or how he became aware of this.
[00:50:24] We do know that at the age of 12, he knows.
[00:50:28] that much we have. He knows He's the Son of God. It's interesting that the first time we have Jesus laying claim to His identity, it takes place right after they've been in Jerusalem for the Passover, when the Passover lambs were sacrificed, when their blood was used to mark
[00:50:54] the homes of believers, a commemoration of when the Passover lambs had been slain in Egypt, their blood marked the homes of the believers and God spared them from the angel of death and they're set free from slavery in Egypt. It would be at exactly this time when Jesus was
[00:51:19] around 30 years old that his blood would be shed to spare us from death and set us free from the guilt and power of sin. I wonder, and again, we don't know, but I wonder if Jesus
[00:51:40] already knew all this at the age of 12. Scripture, frankly, doesn't give us any hints at all.
[00:51:51] From this point on, the story goes silent. We don't know about his home life, his friends, his education, learning Joseph's trade, how he learned the Scriptures. None of those are in Scripture. There's not a word in the Bible. And all those early legends that sprang up to fill the
[00:52:09] gap, we have no evidence that they had any foundation in history. They all come a century and a half, almost two centuries later. From age 12 to 30 or so, silence. No hint of his life until
[00:52:31] he comes to be baptized. So what's going on all that time? Again, we'd like to fill in the blanks.
[00:52:42] Was he living in his parents' basement playing video games? Second and third century legends about this all-powerful five-year-old. It's a frightening prospect, but there's nothing real there. The Bible provides one little hint, verses 51 and 52. Then he went down with them and came
[00:53:14] to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart, and Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor. Obedient to Joseph and Mary, He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with people.
[00:53:40] Interestingly, there's a verse very much like this earlier in chapter 2.
[00:53:45] If you look at verse 40, and this is right after they return from his being dedicated at the temple when they return home.
[00:53:56] Verse 40 says, The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.
[00:54:05] that's it these few verses fill in what have been called the silent years from eight days old to 12 years old from 12 years old to 30 years old but what was going on within jesus would be hugely
[00:54:27] important to his future ministry those few words don't seem like much but they set the table for what is to come. Why would obedience to Joseph and Mary be important? In being obedient to them,
[00:54:46] he was practicing the dynamic that would be the cornerstone of his relationship with his heavenly Father. Now, I know it is certainly true for ordinary human development. If you cannot learn to put yourself beneath the authority of another human being, a parent, a teacher, a boss, it will
[00:55:07] be a significant stumbling block in your life. If you can't submit yourself to another person whom you can see, how can you possibly submit yourself to a God that you cannot see? If you do not learn to put yourself beneath another person to serve that other person, you will not
[00:55:31] be equipped to serve well the well-being of others later on. And frankly, if you don't learn how to serve and follow, you can't be a good leader. Jesus came to do the will of his heavenly father.
[00:55:57] He came to serve the well-being of all people. And he came to be the greatest leader the world has ever known. So practicing obedience to Joseph and Mary was something of a training ground for
[00:56:13] him for all of that. He obeyed his parents. And the Bible tells us he grew in wisdom. Now, wisdom comes from life experience, right? And I'd assume Jesus had an additional source of wisdom to which
[00:56:35] you and I do not have access. He was, after all, God in the flesh. But the fact that he grew in wisdom suggests he didn't have all of that at the age of 12. Can you imagine a 12-year-old with
[00:56:51] the fullness of divine wisdom at that point? Be considered a freak, right? But I think Jesus probably experienced a more normal childhood than that. Luke says he grew in stature. Of course, going from 12 to 30, you're going to see some physical growth, right? And if he was learning
[00:57:17] his father's trade as a tecton, which can be either a carpenter or a stonemason, he'd be gaining some muscle in the midst of that as well. I think it's safe to assume Jesus was not a wimp.
[00:57:30] He did not live an easy life, nor did he die an easy death. He had some strength and stamina.
[00:57:42] Finally, Luke says he grew in favor with God and with people.
[00:57:48] His life, his character, development, his relationships were pleasing to God and making good impressions on others.
[00:57:58] And again, big blank in the story there, but we have that much.
[00:58:04] What was going on during his silent years?
[00:58:07] Physical, mental, spiritual growth.
[00:58:10] necessary preparations for all that was to come later in his life there's no record of him healing the sick or walking on water or raising the dead and you know turning mud birds into real birds
[00:58:23] fantasy the bible offers no crazy stories of a five-year-old with superpowers we have jesus who is fully human and growing up as such but there were necessary things happening learning growth development that would all come to play later on in his life in those
[00:58:57] silent years of your life when you don't see anything exciting happening no earth-shaking events to record, that does not mean that God is not present and not at work in your life.
[00:59:17] It means, perhaps, that God wants to do something not around you and not even through you, but He wants to do something in you to prepare you for the future. Now, I wonder what that might be
[00:59:35] for you. If you're going through one of those quiet times, what is God doing in you? I think of my own life. Looking back, there were times when I was way off track, times when I was not
[00:59:56] following Jesus, time when the church didn't really rank in my life at all, times that seemed to be wasted, sometimes that seemed like spiritual deserts. And I have thought at times, looking back on those times, that if only I could do that again and not waste so much time. But as I really
[01:00:22] thought about it, I realized none of that was wasted. God made use of those times, all those experiences in my life to shape me into who I am, to equip me to do what I do, and my regret over
[01:00:43] those times fades a bit. Not that it makes all those things okay to do, but I just see how God could make use of it, and my gratitude grows. You've had silent times in your life, quiet times,
[01:01:01] times when it seemed like nothing was happening, times when maybe you weren't even tuned into God.
[01:01:14] See if you can discern what God might have been doing in those times, what He might have been doing in you so that later on He could do something through you. Maybe a good New Year's
[01:01:30] resolution would be to intentionally give over those times, the times from our past, maybe a silent time that you're in the midst of now or maybe next year and allow God to do something with that in you so that later he can do something through you let's pray oh Lord as
[01:02:01] always we stand in awe of who you are and what you have done and how you're working in our own lives. Lord, we get excited when we see you working through us to accomplish something, but
[01:02:19] I pray that those in-between times you would help us understand what you're doing in us, that we could be your cooperative partners and we would grow so that in the future you can do more through us. We thank you, Lord, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the ways we are
[01:02:49] reminded that He is still at work within us is when we gather at the table and we take into ourselves the bread and the cup, the body and blood of Christ, reminding us of the work of the
[01:03:01] Holy Spirit in us. Jesus shared that meal with His friends shortly before He would be arrested and taken away. It was the Jewish Passover, remembering when God had set His people free from slavery in Egypt so many years ago. In the midst of the Passover meal, Jesus took bread and
[01:03:22] he gave thanks to the Father. And he broke the bread and he gave it to his friends and he said to them, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, after the
[01:03:37] supper, he took the cup and he gave thanks to the Father and he gave it to his friends and he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness
[01:03:47] of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let us pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for the invitation to join you at your table, the family table. We pray that you would send your
[01:04:06] Holy Spirit on us and on the bread and cup, that they would be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we might be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by His blood, filled with His Spirit,
[01:04:18] and doing His work in the world.
[01:04:20] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
[01:04:25] When we break the bread, it is a means of sharing in the body of Christ.
[01:04:30] And when we give thanks over the cup, it is a means of sharing in the blood of Christ.
[01:04:36] Will the servers come forward, please?
[01:04:40] The ushers will guide you forward to receive communion.
[01:04:43] when you come to the front you receive a piece of bread dip it in the cup and then eat afterwards actually you won't dip it in the cup forgot that's the old thing we used
[01:04:53] to do you receive a piece of bread and eat it and then you receive a small cup of the juice and you can drink that and afterwards you can dispose of your cups in these trash cans that we have at the front
[01:05:05] of the diagonal house after you have received communion if you would like to kneel at the rail to pray you are welcome to do so now this is not a methodist table but the table of christ himself and so any and all who seek to
[01:05:18] be in fellowship with christ and with his people are welcome to participate in this meal if anyone needs gluten-free elements we do have those available over here on the side and we also have
[01:05:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:05:30] some of the sealed elements there as well an incredible idea you knew it happened for us to
[01:14:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:14:02] come together and worship you on the first day, 2023.
[01:14:10] You knew the songs that we would sing together.
[01:14:13] You knew our prayers, David's sermon.
[01:14:22] You knew that we would share in the body and the blood of Christ together as a church family.
[01:14:32] Thank you for the bread and cup because it's in those elements that we remember all that Jesus did for us.
[01:14:42] We pray this in the name of Jesus himself because it's in the name of Jesus that we place our hope and our trust in all God's people said, amen.
[01:19:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:19:01] As you go from this place, remember, you go with the one who makes all things new.
[01:19:13] So have a happy New Year.
[00:05:32] It's an exciting new year, 2023. I am looking forward with great anticipation for all the wonderful things God is doing, and one of the best things He's doing is bringing this body of believers together to worship Him. I'm so excited for that.
[00:05:45] So just a reminder to sign in on the attendance pads and pass those down the row so that we can check you in. And also to all of you joining us online, we are so happy that you are here as well, and we thank God that you worship with us every Sunday.
[00:05:58] So pay attention.
[00:05:59] The next few weeks, we have a lot of things coming on.
[00:06:01] We have new serving opportunities, mission trips that will start to be presented.
[00:06:05] We'll have new Bible studies coming on board.
[00:06:07] So pay attention and get signed up and join in with all these wonderful things going on.
[00:06:12] Next Sunday, we have a roundtable discussions.
[00:06:14] It'll be our last opportunity to sit down as a church together and just kind of have a talk about where we are and where we're going and where we feel like God is calling us.
[00:06:22] So make sure you sign up for that because we will have lunch provided and we will make sure that we have enough for everybody.
[00:06:27] So sign up at the Connection Center to join in with that.
[00:06:31] And also, you may notice that we have a few poinsettias up here.
[00:06:35] We have some poinsettias, I think, that have been taken out to the breezeway.
[00:06:37] If you are a lover of poinsettias and would like to take some home with you, please do so.
[00:06:44] You got it.
[00:06:44] All right, so take your poinsettias, and then with that, are you ready to worship?
[00:06:48] Awesome.
[00:06:48] Let's prepare our hearts with this call to worship.
[00:06:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:06:50] Come and greet one another.
[00:10:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:10:20] Wish each other a happy new year, and we'll sing some songs together.
[00:11:46] Okay.
[00:11:46] Hey, so our first hymn this morning is going to be number 245, the first Noel.
[00:11:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:11:52] The first Noel was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.
[00:12:12] In fields where they keep their sheep on the cold winter's night.
[00:13:12] And so, as people said, amen.
[00:16:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:16:06] Our next hymn is number 254.
[00:16:08] We three kings.
[00:17:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:17:38] You can be seated.
[00:19:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:52] As we enter into this new year, we worship the one who makes all things new.
[00:20:00] The only one who really can do that.
[00:20:03] And so we seek him out in prayer on a regular basis, and we do that together as a family in worship by joining in our prayer that's in the bulletin and on the screen.
[00:20:23] Lord of all creation, we stand in awe of you, for you are great beyond the reaches of our minds.
[00:20:33] Yet you chose to reveal yourself in human flesh, so fully human you even started out as a tiny baby.
[00:20:41] We are sinners and do not deserve such great love.
[00:20:46] But you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
[00:20:53] So we come to you humbled because of our own sinfulness, grateful because of your grace, joyful because of the completeness of your love.
[00:21:05] help us live every moment of every day for your glory and the blessing of many Lord hear our prayers Lord we're here this morning because you deserve our worship you are an awesome God and have done awesome things in order to reach us
[00:22:06] with your love your grace power of your spirit to change our lives so we come with grateful hearts we ask that you would in fact work in our lives to make all things new to
[00:22:23] make us new not just a number on a calendar but substantively new even with all that you have done and all that we know you can do we still are broken people affected by the brokenness the
[00:22:41] sinfulness of the entire creation and so we come seeking your help as always we lift up Miriam Richardson who is traveling to and from Honduras Lord we pray that you would keep her safe in her journey that her visit with family and
[00:23:03] friends would be good and rich that you would return her back home fulfilled we pray for Michelle Hernandez, brother Ray, who has a very serious infection and will probably lose one toe to it. Lord, we pray that you would be with his surgeons, with all the doctors who are
[00:23:27] working for him, the nurses. Use them to bring healing, Lord. Pray that the infection spreads no further. We pray for Moses and Jovu's wife, Betty, in Malawi, who's having some serious back trouble lord we pray that you would bring her relief that you would work in a way that is even
[00:23:58] beyond what the doctors are doing and she would be made mobile and well and pain-free once again we ask your help for elaine fisher who is in intensive care we ask lord for strength to be
[00:24:17] poured into her body that you'd work a miracle of healing in her life and we pray that you would be with her husband Ron and her son, all her family and friends. Bring them your encouragement. Let
[00:24:36] them know that you are there with them in the midst of this. We pray for Stephanie Cahill's mother who was taken to the hospital this morning with the effects of COVID. We ask, Lord, that
[00:24:51] you would strengthen her body, that you would heal her, restore her completely. Pray for your help for Cleta Stevens' cousin who has metastatic cancer.
[00:25:06] Lord, in the midst of a situation in which the doctors say there's not a lot more to do, show your face.
[00:25:21] Show your face, Lord.
[00:25:23] Show your greatness in the midst of that.
[00:25:31] We pray for those who are grieving the deaths of loved ones in recent days.
[00:25:38] We lift up Keith Carr and his family as they grieve the death of his cousin, J.C.
[00:25:43] We pray for Todd Duke and his family as they grieve the death of his mother.
[00:25:52] We ask for you to be with Bob Lindberg and his family as they grieve the death of his father.
[00:25:59] Lord, come alongside these and all who grieve, especially during these holiday times when it seems that everyone else is having such a wonderful time with the most wonderful time of the year.
[00:26:14] Be with them.
[00:26:16] Help them remember that when you broke into this world on that Christmas, You came in the midst of the mess.
[00:26:24] We pray for Nick Saucedo as he's retiring from his role as our pianist.
[00:26:35] We thank you for the many years of service with us, and we pray that you would bless him in his future ventures in life.
[00:26:47] And be with us as we search for a new pianist.
[00:26:50] Lead us to someone who's not just a good musician, but someone who loves you and wants to serve you.
[00:27:03] In this new year, Lord, give us hope for all the messiness and all the brokenness of the world and the church and everything around us.
[00:27:15] Give us hope based not on the things that our eyes can see, but based on you, on who you are, what you have done in the past, what you can do, and what your promises are.
[00:27:32] We pray with expectation for good things to come because when you were on this earth in the flesh, you taught us to pray when you taught the words, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:27:44] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:27:49] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:27:58] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:28:02] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Well, at this point, if we have any children in the room between three years old and first grade, you can go to the back of the room, meet Ms. Carol at the doors
[00:28:16] there, and she will take you out to children's church time. And we will see you back for communion. For the rest of us, we remain in the room, continue to worship God in song, and if you have your offering with you, you can bring it to the altar as we're singing.
[00:28:32] I know some give electronically, some send it in snail mail, but if you've brought it this morning,
[00:28:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:28:38] now is the time to bring it. Let's worship. Please stand. Let's worship together. Let's
[00:34:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:34:26] remember who our God is, a little bit larger picture of Him than sometimes we think, by reciting the Apostles' Creed, naming the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:34:37] Let's say it together. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary
[00:34:52] suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day he rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge
[00:35:08] 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. Well, Happy New Year.
[00:35:27] It's 2023, and it's hard to believe, isn't it? Where did the last year go? It just flew by.
[00:35:34] Have you ever thought about how the new year every year is pictured in cartoons?
[00:35:44] Seen the cartoons yet?
[00:35:46] Symbol of new year is usually a pink-cheeked baby in a diaper with a banner across that says 2023, right?
[00:35:56] See that every year.
[00:35:58] And of course, 2022 trudging out looking old and beat.
[00:36:02] the new year is fresh and new full of potential and filled with the unknown kind of like when you were driving in today in the fog we that we see that in a baby in every new baby that's kind
[00:36:19] of born into the world the idea of being fresh and new and you don't know what that baby's going to become we just celebrated the birth of a baby of course baby Jesus and not just his birth to the
[00:36:32] family of Joseph and Mary, but his birth into the world, his birth into the creation for all of us.
[00:36:42] Can you imagine the questions that must have been in the minds of Mary and Joseph at that point?
[00:36:49] How do you raise the Messiah? What do you do with that? The one who is Savior, the one who is Lord of all creation, the one who is the Son of God, what do you do with that? How do you raise that
[00:37:05] child. I mean, it's struggle enough just raising the ones we've got, right? Have you ever wondered what Jesus was like when He was growing up? I just, I have this picture of Jesus sitting at the
[00:37:23] table, and He's saying, I don't have to take out the trash. I'm God. You take out the trash.
[00:37:32] Probably not like that, right? But wonder, what was that like? And what was it like to raise a child who was the Son of God. I occasionally get questions about that, and they're interesting questions. They're also questions that the Bible does not answer, maybe because it's not particularly
[00:37:59] important to us living out our faith. But it's still interesting to wonder and ponder. And who knows what we might find if we kind of ponder those questions and then reflect on that. And we're not the first people to wonder about those things. You're not the first ones to ask somebody
[00:38:19] about that, because some of you have asked me. There is a years-long gap in the Bible's story of Jesus, and that left the door open for some rather fanciful storytelling in the early church.
[00:38:33] We get the most stories from a document that comes from the late 2nd century, much later than anything in the New Testament. It's called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. And I'll give you just a sampling of a few of the stories there. When Jesus was five years old, He was playing at a
[00:38:52] stream, and He gathered the water together in pools and made the water clean, not muddy. And then He molded some soft clay into twelve sparrows. Well, it was the Sabbath day, and you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath day, and doing what he was doing, working clay like this, would
[00:39:13] qualify as work. And so one of the Jewish authorities complained to Joseph that his son was working on the Sabbath day. Joseph then complained to five-year-old Jesus that he was working on the Sabbath day. Jesus' response was to clap his hands, and the clay sparrows
[00:39:37] fly away chirping. What do you do with a child five years old who does that, right?
[00:39:46] A few days later, Jesus and some of His buddies were playing in the upper story of a house, and one of the children fell from the window and died when he hit the ground. All the other
[00:39:58] children fled, but not Jesus. The dead child's parents came to question Jesus, and they accused him of throwing the child down, which we know from the story he didn't do. Jesus denied it, but they wouldn't listen. Jesus went downstairs then and stood by the body and called this
[00:40:18] deceased child by name and asked him to tell the truth about what happened. So the dead boy rose to life and insisted to his parents, Jesus did not throw me down, but he did raise me up.
[00:40:31] and it says the parents were amazed, I guess so, and they worshiped Jesus. Episode number three.
[00:40:44] Joseph took an order for making a bed for a rich man, you know, carpenter, right? And as he's working on this bed, one beam that he had cut came out shorter than it should have been, and he was
[00:40:57] really frustrated with this. And little boy Jesus sees the problem, and he takes the end of the beam in his hand and he stretches it to the proper length. And his father says, happy am I that God
[00:41:15] has given me this child. Now you can see every time there's a miracle which is just a thing of power going on and the response of faith. One final episode, Joseph sent James, the brother of
[00:41:30] Jesus to tie up some wood and carry it back home. Jesus, still being quite young, followed James, you know, trotting along behind him. And while James was gathering the firewood, a poisonous snake bit his hand. James lays on the ground, dying. Jesus came and blew on the bite,
[00:41:53] and immediately the pain stopped and the snake split open and died. And James got better on the spot, right? Now, was Jesus some kind of divine wild child? What do you think? Those stories all
[00:42:15] focus on divine power and what might a five-year-old do with that power, right? The story is neglect to show us very much about Jesus' character. A little bit, but not much. Mostly about power. You can tell by the stories why this particular document was not included in
[00:42:39] the New Testament. It was kind of popular, but they knew the difference. All these stories were significantly later in their origin, and they appear to be written more for entertainment than anything else, filling in blanks in the story of Jesus growing up. The gap in Jesus' story has
[00:43:01] sometimes been called the silent years. It's an interesting name given because it's the same title that's given to the 400 years between the close of the Old Testament prophets and the birth of Jesus. That is thought of as 400 years when God did not speak to His people. And the silent years
[00:43:26] of Jesus' life are years for which we have little or no biblical record of things that Jesus may have said or done. Luke gives us more of the early story of Jesus than any of the other four
[00:43:40] Gospels. We have, of course, in Luke the beloved story of Jesus' birth and the manger and the angels singing and the shepherds coming. And we have the story of Jesus being dedicated in the temple when he's eight days old, and Simeon and Anna, a prophet and prophetess, both seeing in
[00:43:57] him the very presence of God's salvation. And the next episode Luke gives us is 12 years later, with Jesus and his family returning home after observing the Passover in Jerusalem. We'll read out of Luke chapter 2, beginning with verse 41. Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for
[00:44:22] the festival of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up as usual for the festival.
[00:44:29] When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's
[00:44:42] journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. And after three days, they found him in the
[00:44:54] temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father
[00:45:14] and I have been searching for you in great anxiety. He said to them, why were you searching for me?
[00:45:22] Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother
[00:45:36] treasured all these things in her heart. At 12 years old, Jesus would be at the beginning of some serious study of the Old Testament law in preparation for bar mitzvah. Bar mitzvah, two words really, bar mitzvah means son of the law. It's a time when a young Jew goes through
[00:45:59] study and then is responsible as an adult for their own relationship with God and God's law.
[00:46:08] Well, at this age, they have been to Jerusalem.
[00:46:12] They celebrated the Passover as they're supposed to, as a regular festival.
[00:46:19] And now they're returning home to Nazareth.
[00:46:21] And for safety on the road, they traveled in a caravan with people from their own region up around Nazareth.
[00:46:29] They would assume that Jesus was hanging out with some of the other boys somewhere in the caravan.
[00:46:35] but when he didn't show up for supper 12 year old boy doesn't show up for food that's when the alarm goes off they would have run up and down the caravan asking people have you seen jesus have
[00:46:50] you seen him and no one's seen him all day long can you imagine the feeling of dread and guilt i should have kept better eye on him and add to that my little boy is missing the one who's messiah
[00:47:09] is missing. Have I really messed up that bad? So they set out to retrace their steps all the way back to Jerusalem with their eye on the bar ditch every step of the way, searching for any sign of
[00:47:28] him, hoping to see something, but again, hoping not to see too much. Excuse me. They found him in Jerusalem at the temple. Now, if you were looking for a missing 12-year-old, would you come looking at the church? Probably not, right? And not only that, they found him in the temple
[00:47:54] talking with the religious elite, which tells us since they're looking in those places, Mary and Joseph know there's something different about him. He's at the temple. He's in this conversation with questions, offering his thoughts and answers with the religious leaders. Yeah, there is
[00:48:17] something different about him. We know at this point. Luke reports a very brief conversation between Jesus and Mary, which is so polite, I suggest it has been highly edited.
[00:48:32] But the main point of the conversation has to do with who Jesus is and his awareness of his identity. It's all framed around the question, who's your daddy? Seriously. Seriously.
[00:48:52] Mary says, your father and I have been anxiously searching.
[00:48:57] Joseph, we know, is Jesus' adopted father.
[00:49:01] Mary is his biological mother.
[00:49:04] Jesus is 12, almost bar mitzvah, so he's almost a son of the law.
[00:49:11] But Jesus points past all of that to say, I was in my father's house.
[00:49:21] He knows himself at this point to be the son of God.
[00:49:28] Now, today there is this idea that floats around in our culture that we're all sons and daughters of God.
[00:49:35] I want to just pause and say that's not what the Bible says, but lots of people believe it.
[00:49:42] What the Bible says is we can become sons and daughters of God through being born again or adopted into the family of God, but we don't come into the world that way.
[00:49:55] We're all sons and daughters of God.
[00:49:59] That wasn't even a current idea floating around in the culture in Jesus' time, much less a biblical one.
[00:50:04] So for Jesus to lay claim to this identity as a son of God is significant.
[00:50:11] It's one of the questions that I am sometimes asked.
[00:50:14] When did Jesus know who he was?
[00:50:18] Now, we don't know.
[00:50:20] We don't know exactly when or how he became aware of this.
[00:50:24] We do know that at the age of 12, he knows.
[00:50:28] that much we have. He knows He's the Son of God. It's interesting that the first time we have Jesus laying claim to His identity, it takes place right after they've been in Jerusalem for the Passover, when the Passover lambs were sacrificed, when their blood was used to mark
[00:50:54] the homes of believers, a commemoration of when the Passover lambs had been slain in Egypt, their blood marked the homes of the believers and God spared them from the angel of death and they're set free from slavery in Egypt. It would be at exactly this time when Jesus was
[00:51:19] around 30 years old that his blood would be shed to spare us from death and set us free from the guilt and power of sin. I wonder, and again, we don't know, but I wonder if Jesus
[00:51:40] already knew all this at the age of 12. Scripture, frankly, doesn't give us any hints at all.
[00:51:51] From this point on, the story goes silent. We don't know about his home life, his friends, his education, learning Joseph's trade, how he learned the Scriptures. None of those are in Scripture. There's not a word in the Bible. And all those early legends that sprang up to fill the
[00:52:09] gap, we have no evidence that they had any foundation in history. They all come a century and a half, almost two centuries later. From age 12 to 30 or so, silence. No hint of his life until
[00:52:31] he comes to be baptized. So what's going on all that time? Again, we'd like to fill in the blanks.
[00:52:42] Was he living in his parents' basement playing video games? Second and third century legends about this all-powerful five-year-old. It's a frightening prospect, but there's nothing real there. The Bible provides one little hint, verses 51 and 52. Then he went down with them and came
[00:53:14] to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart, and Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor. Obedient to Joseph and Mary, He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with people.
[00:53:40] Interestingly, there's a verse very much like this earlier in chapter 2.
[00:53:45] If you look at verse 40, and this is right after they return from his being dedicated at the temple when they return home.
[00:53:56] Verse 40 says, The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.
[00:54:05] that's it these few verses fill in what have been called the silent years from eight days old to 12 years old from 12 years old to 30 years old but what was going on within jesus would be hugely
[00:54:27] important to his future ministry those few words don't seem like much but they set the table for what is to come. Why would obedience to Joseph and Mary be important? In being obedient to them,
[00:54:46] he was practicing the dynamic that would be the cornerstone of his relationship with his heavenly Father. Now, I know it is certainly true for ordinary human development. If you cannot learn to put yourself beneath the authority of another human being, a parent, a teacher, a boss, it will
[00:55:07] be a significant stumbling block in your life. If you can't submit yourself to another person whom you can see, how can you possibly submit yourself to a God that you cannot see? If you do not learn to put yourself beneath another person to serve that other person, you will not
[00:55:31] be equipped to serve well the well-being of others later on. And frankly, if you don't learn how to serve and follow, you can't be a good leader. Jesus came to do the will of his heavenly father.
[00:55:57] He came to serve the well-being of all people. And he came to be the greatest leader the world has ever known. So practicing obedience to Joseph and Mary was something of a training ground for
[00:56:13] him for all of that. He obeyed his parents. And the Bible tells us he grew in wisdom. Now, wisdom comes from life experience, right? And I'd assume Jesus had an additional source of wisdom to which
[00:56:35] you and I do not have access. He was, after all, God in the flesh. But the fact that he grew in wisdom suggests he didn't have all of that at the age of 12. Can you imagine a 12-year-old with
[00:56:51] the fullness of divine wisdom at that point? Be considered a freak, right? But I think Jesus probably experienced a more normal childhood than that. Luke says he grew in stature. Of course, going from 12 to 30, you're going to see some physical growth, right? And if he was learning
[00:57:17] his father's trade as a tecton, which can be either a carpenter or a stonemason, he'd be gaining some muscle in the midst of that as well. I think it's safe to assume Jesus was not a wimp.
[00:57:30] He did not live an easy life, nor did he die an easy death. He had some strength and stamina.
[00:57:42] Finally, Luke says he grew in favor with God and with people.
[00:57:48] His life, his character, development, his relationships were pleasing to God and making good impressions on others.
[00:57:58] And again, big blank in the story there, but we have that much.
[00:58:04] What was going on during his silent years?
[00:58:07] Physical, mental, spiritual growth.
[00:58:10] necessary preparations for all that was to come later in his life there's no record of him healing the sick or walking on water or raising the dead and you know turning mud birds into real birds
[00:58:23] fantasy the bible offers no crazy stories of a five-year-old with superpowers we have jesus who is fully human and growing up as such but there were necessary things happening learning growth development that would all come to play later on in his life in those
[00:58:57] silent years of your life when you don't see anything exciting happening no earth-shaking events to record, that does not mean that God is not present and not at work in your life.
[00:59:17] It means, perhaps, that God wants to do something not around you and not even through you, but He wants to do something in you to prepare you for the future. Now, I wonder what that might be
[00:59:35] for you. If you're going through one of those quiet times, what is God doing in you? I think of my own life. Looking back, there were times when I was way off track, times when I was not
[00:59:56] following Jesus, time when the church didn't really rank in my life at all, times that seemed to be wasted, sometimes that seemed like spiritual deserts. And I have thought at times, looking back on those times, that if only I could do that again and not waste so much time. But as I really
[01:00:22] thought about it, I realized none of that was wasted. God made use of those times, all those experiences in my life to shape me into who I am, to equip me to do what I do, and my regret over
[01:00:43] those times fades a bit. Not that it makes all those things okay to do, but I just see how God could make use of it, and my gratitude grows. You've had silent times in your life, quiet times,
[01:01:01] times when it seemed like nothing was happening, times when maybe you weren't even tuned into God.
[01:01:14] See if you can discern what God might have been doing in those times, what He might have been doing in you so that later on He could do something through you. Maybe a good New Year's
[01:01:30] resolution would be to intentionally give over those times, the times from our past, maybe a silent time that you're in the midst of now or maybe next year and allow God to do something with that in you so that later he can do something through you let's pray oh Lord as
[01:02:01] always we stand in awe of who you are and what you have done and how you're working in our own lives. Lord, we get excited when we see you working through us to accomplish something, but
[01:02:19] I pray that those in-between times you would help us understand what you're doing in us, that we could be your cooperative partners and we would grow so that in the future you can do more through us. We thank you, Lord, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the ways we are
[01:02:49] reminded that He is still at work within us is when we gather at the table and we take into ourselves the bread and the cup, the body and blood of Christ, reminding us of the work of the
[01:03:01] Holy Spirit in us. Jesus shared that meal with His friends shortly before He would be arrested and taken away. It was the Jewish Passover, remembering when God had set His people free from slavery in Egypt so many years ago. In the midst of the Passover meal, Jesus took bread and
[01:03:22] he gave thanks to the Father. And he broke the bread and he gave it to his friends and he said to them, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, after the
[01:03:37] supper, he took the cup and he gave thanks to the Father and he gave it to his friends and he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness
[01:03:47] of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let us pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for the invitation to join you at your table, the family table. We pray that you would send your
[01:04:06] Holy Spirit on us and on the bread and cup, that they would be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we might be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by His blood, filled with His Spirit,
[01:04:18] and doing His work in the world.
[01:04:20] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
[01:04:25] When we break the bread, it is a means of sharing in the body of Christ.
[01:04:30] And when we give thanks over the cup, it is a means of sharing in the blood of Christ.
[01:04:36] Will the servers come forward, please?
[01:04:40] The ushers will guide you forward to receive communion.
[01:04:43] when you come to the front you receive a piece of bread dip it in the cup and then eat afterwards actually you won't dip it in the cup forgot that's the old thing we used
[01:04:53] to do you receive a piece of bread and eat it and then you receive a small cup of the juice and you can drink that and afterwards you can dispose of your cups in these trash cans that we have at the front
[01:05:05] of the diagonal house after you have received communion if you would like to kneel at the rail to pray you are welcome to do so now this is not a methodist table but the table of christ himself and so any and all who seek to
[01:05:18] be in fellowship with christ and with his people are welcome to participate in this meal if anyone needs gluten-free elements we do have those available over here on the side and we also have
[01:05:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:05:30] some of the sealed elements there as well an incredible idea you knew it happened for us to
[01:14:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:14:02] come together and worship you on the first day, 2023.
[01:14:10] You knew the songs that we would sing together.
[01:14:13] You knew our prayers, David's sermon.
[01:14:22] You knew that we would share in the body and the blood of Christ together as a church family.
[01:14:32] Thank you for the bread and cup because it's in those elements that we remember all that Jesus did for us.
[01:14:42] We pray this in the name of Jesus himself because it's in the name of Jesus that we place our hope and our trust in all God's people said, amen.
[01:19:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:19:01] As you go from this place, remember, you go with the one who makes all things new.
[01:19:13] So have a happy New Year.
