When the Answer to ‘Why?’ Isn’t ‘Do’: A Review of ‘Morning Sermon’

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thanks for watching!

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Good morning church welcome to worship this morning I invite you to come and settle in and to get ready to hear the spirit to be attentive to the ways God is moving as we prepare our hearts for the prelude this morning

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:05:37] Amen.
[00:05:42] Let us pray.
[00:07:16] Let us pray.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
In the darkness I'll be stronger than day

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Good morning.
[00:08:57] Welcome to Williamson Chapel United Methodist Church.
[00:09:00] It's great to be with you this morning.
[00:09:01] My name is Toni Green.
[00:09:02] My husband Wes and I are the senior co-pastors here and we are delighted that you are with us in worship this morning.
[00:09:08] If you are a guest among us, we are so glad to have you with us.
[00:09:12] Welcome you to worship.
[00:09:13] If you're with us online, we're so glad that you're joining us for worship this morning.
[00:09:18] We are here in the middle of a sermon series designed by you all.
[00:09:23] We asked you this summer, what were some of your questions?
[00:09:26] And we've been just working through lots of those questions.
[00:09:29] In the last couple weeks, we've talked about suffering and why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people, which are pretty old questions that come up.
[00:09:37] But today, Wes is tackling one of the harder ones that you all asked.
[00:09:41] Why natural disasters?
[00:09:44] Why does that stuff happen?
[00:09:45] We're coming up on the anniversary of Hurricane Colleen and that's a question I asked a lot a year ago.
[00:09:52] Why to these wonderful people?
[00:09:54] Why to my people?
[00:09:56] So we all ask those questions and they don't always have great answers.
[00:10:01] So we're going to wrestle together today and continue to ask the questions and let God...
[00:10:11] I want to invite you to take a moment and just take a deep breath in, and breathe it out, and let's be about the work of worship this morning.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
We stand for the call to worship.
[00:10:27] Come with confidence before our God, for nothing can separate us from the blood of God.
[00:10:37] Can hardship?
[00:10:38] No.
[00:10:39] Can people who are against us?
[00:10:41] No.
[00:10:41] Can death?

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
No.

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Can anything at all in creation?

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
No.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Give thanks to God and call on God's name.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
God has done wonderful works for us.
[00:10:53] God's promises are sure.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Sing to God.
[00:10:58] Sing praises to God.
[00:10:59] Praise our God.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
The Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.
[00:11:06] We know all things work together for those who love God because God is for us.
[00:11:12] None can be against us.
[00:11:15] Nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God.
[00:11:20] Let us pray.
[00:11:21] Our gracious and ever-loving God, we come in the midst of early fall looking, looking at the chaos of the world around us.
[00:11:31] We rest in the knowledge of the wonderful works that you have done for us and of the deep and abiding love that you have for us and for all God's people.
[00:11:41] Search our hearts.
[00:11:43] Fill our soul with your indwelling Spirit who whispers to our souls that all will be well if we but trust in you.
[00:11:52] Shine your light before us that we may see our path to you and your kingdom on earth.
[00:12:00] Amen.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
We pause this morning, O God, with heavy hearts.
[00:12:06] We live in the midst of great and abiding love, but also in the midst of deceit and lies.
[00:12:13] May we be found faithful in all we do.
[00:12:15] May we speak the truth in love and live lives of love each day.
[00:12:23] Too often, Lord, we seek you in the spectacular and otherworldly.
[00:12:30] So we ask Lord may we see the many in breakings of your kingdom in the everyday ordinary things of life in mustard seeds and yeast and treasure fields and fish gathered in nets.
[00:12:44] May we be able to answer with a full-throated yes when asked if we have understood your teachings and your call.
[00:12:53] Amen.
[00:12:54] Friends, when we are not sure how to pray or even if we are able to address God in prayer, the Spirit of God intercedes for all of us with sighs too deep for words.
[00:13:06] Know that no matter what, nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever separate us from God's presence and God's love.
[00:13:16] Amen.

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Our opening hymn, Nearer, My God, to Thee, 528 in your hymnal.
[00:13:20] Let us sing together.

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen!
[00:17:00] Let us pray.
[00:17:29] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Will you join with me now in the words of our faith by reciting the Apostles' Creed together?
[00:18:02] Let's join in.
[00:18:03] 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, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried.
[00:18:23] The third day he rose from the dead,
[00:18:26] He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:18:32] From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
[00:18:36] 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.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Glory to God in the highest

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Friends, if you have an opportunity to read your Friday E-Alert, I have counted up as many things as I could run at seeing the light of Christ at work in the world in the last week.
[00:19:52] So I'm going to invite you to turn to your neighbor, introduce yourself, and share one place that you saw the goodness and the light of God in the last week.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
and many more.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Choir Choir

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
We are so be thanks and wonder As we waken and arise Let our eyes invade the open To each mercy that is new When the dawn is nigh
[00:21:56] All we are belongs to you.
[00:22:19] As the day unfolds before us, with each working of our hands,
[00:22:26] Love as only mercy can, On each mountain we've ascended, Every valley we go through, As the day unfolds before us, All we are, we love.
[00:23:13] Nearly did you see the darkness, for the light shall never dim.

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Grant us peace and sweet assurance, till the morning comes anew.

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Christ, who is, who was, and will be, all the earth belongs to you.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
As we prepare to hear the word, join me in the prayer for illumination.
[00:24:33] God of all power, open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts with the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
[00:24:41] Help us to hear your voice, to see your ways, and to receive with joy your truth.
[00:24:49] In Jesus' name, Amen.
[00:24:53] Romans chapter 8 verses 18 to 26.
[00:24:56] I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.
[00:25:06] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.
[00:25:12] For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself
[00:25:22] will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
[00:25:30] We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
[00:25:47] For in hope we were saved,
[00:25:49] Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what is seen?
[00:25:55] But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
[00:26:00] Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Thank you, Cindy, and we thank God for the reading and hearing and living of His Word.
[00:26:29] You'll have to bear with me a little this morning.
[00:26:32] My son, whom I love very much, was generous and shared his cold with me.
[00:26:38] So if I'm a little bit sniffly, that's why.
[00:26:43] So this morning we continue our series.
[00:26:50] Thinking about questions that you ask us.
[00:26:53] And as we've done the past few weeks, we start with some ground rules.
[00:27:00] So first, we will engage.
[00:27:02] We're going to engage these questions with humility, remembering that we don't have all the answers.
[00:27:09] And so we're going to be humble and trusting in God.
[00:27:14] Secondly, we are grounded in Scripture.
[00:27:18] The way we talk about these things, the way we answer these questions, our starting point is the truth of God revealed in Scripture, which invites us to more wrestling sometimes with the Word, but we are rooted and grounded in God's Word.
[00:27:37] Leading to number three, slight change of the wording here.
[00:27:41] This has been bugging me because I am, as my wife would tell you, a grammar nerd.
[00:27:47] and so the last few weeks it said wrestle with trust and what that says is that we're struggling with trusting that's not what we're doing we're wrestling comma while trusting so we're not wrestling with trust we're wrestling with these questions trusting God while we're doing that make sense okay that might just be the cold medicine talking I don't know but do what
[00:28:17] It's not less obnoxious when I do it in worship.
[00:28:19] Well, life goes on.
[00:28:27] Okay, I know at least a couple of y'all appreciate me being a grammar nerd.
[00:28:32] We'll all be okay.
[00:28:36] Apparently the whole choir appreciates me.
[00:28:40] Okay, so before we dive into this week's question, we're going to pray.
[00:28:47] So let's pray.
[00:28:51] God, we thank you for the gift and privilege and blessing of being gathered here in your house.
[00:28:56] We pray that you would speak to us by your Holy Spirit today.
[00:29:01] Now, God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.
[00:29:07] O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.
[00:29:10] Amen.
[00:29:13] So this week's question from someone in our congregation says, I have often had non-Christians ask me why does an all-powerful God allow such bad things to happen to good and innocent people?
[00:29:29] For example, the children who died in the Texas floods which happened over the summer.
[00:29:39] The question of why natural disasters happen if God is good and all-powerful is one of the most difficult questions when it comes to faith in God and our understanding of the God revealed in Jesus.
[00:29:52] And it's in the same category as the questions Pastor Tony Ruth and I talked about the last two weeks, questions related to what is known as theodicy.
[00:30:03] The existence of an all-powerful good God and suffering natural disasters or injustice in the world.
[00:30:13] Now as much as I don't want to repeat something I said a couple weeks ago, what I said then still applies when it comes to natural disasters.
[00:30:22] Any answers we give to the question of why there are natural disasters in light of God's goodness and God being all-powerful
[00:30:31] Any answers we give will be incomplete and inadequate.
[00:30:35] I don't say that to be dismissive, but only to highlight our limitations.
[00:30:42] And truthfully, knowing why doesn't change the reality of natural disasters in our world and the pain and suffering they cause.
[00:30:51] And even if we knew why, if a definitive answer was given to us,
[00:30:57] That would not relieve the suffering and grief of those who have lost loved ones in floods, tornadoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc.
[00:31:07] The truth is that natural disasters make us feel vulnerable and powerless, even insignificant, in the face of forces beyond our control.
[00:31:19] And I remember being a kid, my seventh birthday, I remember this like it was yesterday.
[00:31:27] My seventh birthday, we'd had a little party and it was a great day, had a lot of fun.
[00:31:32] And then in the afternoon, a summer thunderstorm came up and I remember hearing on TV or the radio or wherever that there was a tornado watch in Rowan County.
[00:31:42] And I was terrified.
[00:31:45] of Tornadoes.
[00:31:47] And I just remember crying, like having to come apart basically because there was a tornado watch.
[00:31:53] My mom tried to explain the difference between a watch and a warning, didn't help at all.
[00:31:58] And a few years later, I think I was 11 or 12 years old, we had had some bad thunderstorms.
[00:32:04] One evening I'm sitting down in the car part of the house I grew up in, and over the horizon it looked, I could have sworn I saw a funnel cloud.
[00:32:13] and I flipped out.
[00:32:15] It's about 10 or 11 o'clock at night and I ran screaming through the house, Tornado!

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Tornado!

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
There was no tornado.
[00:32:24] My parents were not thrilled by my hysterics but they were scary.
[00:32:31] It was frightening to me and we feel that fear sometimes when it comes
[00:32:38] To these natural disasters.
[00:32:40] In the face of natural disasters, there's a desperation in us to make sense of the disorder that's caused, to give meaning to randomness, to find some sense of order in the chaos.
[00:32:57] we humans almost instinctively work to ascribe meaning to these events maybe hoping that if there's some deeper meaning to these terrible things we might feel some sense of control maybe if there's a meaning to this we won't feel as vulnerable that if we understand why then maybe we won't feel so powerless
[00:33:26] Now the idea that God causes natural disasters is connected to what I mentioned a couple weeks ago when I talked about what is known as predeterminism, which is the belief that God basically orchestrates everything that happens in creation.
[00:33:45] And you can see this reflected in the way sometimes people talk about God.
[00:33:49] Oh, if you found that great parking place at the restaurant, thank God for that parking place.
[00:33:54] all the way up to God causes natural disasters.
[00:34:01] Methodists, starting all the way with our founder John Wesley, Methodists have rejected predeterminism because it ultimately makes God responsible not just for the good things that happen but also for sin and evil.
[00:34:17] And if we're just puppets, if we're just robots, if God dictates and controls everything that happens, that includes the choices we make and our behaviors, we become basically like robots which would make authentic love for God and for one another impossible.
[00:34:35] And so Methodists have rejected that view.
[00:34:38] And it's my deep conviction that God does not cause natural disasters in our world.
[00:34:46] Those disasters like Hurricane Helene or the floods in Texas this past summer, these are not punishments from God.
[00:34:56] As New Testament scholar Ben Witherington says, if they were punishments from God, then God does not have good aim.
[00:35:09] Because like those precious girls in Texas that got caught in the floods,
[00:35:13] Innocent people caught in these events.
[00:35:20] Now on one level, there are a number of reasons natural disasters occur.
[00:35:24] Sometimes it's just simple physics.
[00:35:26] Things like force, momentum, and gravity.
[00:35:30] I never took physics, but I think those are physics words, right?
[00:35:34] Force, momentum, and gravity?
[00:35:35] Yeah, I think so.
[00:35:36] Sometimes it's just
[00:35:38] The way, the laws of nature so-called work.
[00:35:42] Sometimes it's just the weather.
[00:35:46] Sometimes it's a result of natural forces along with human activity.
[00:35:52] Because I'm a nerd, a few years ago I watched a, I think it was a multi-part series on PBS about the Dust Bowl.
[00:36:00] Some of y'all seen that?
[00:36:02] Good, I'm glad I'm not alone.
[00:36:05] Because I don't think too many people go like, ooh, a three-part documentary on the Dust Bowl.
[00:36:10] But it was fascinating.
[00:36:12] And what I learned watching that is the Dust Bowl happened because of over-farming of that land created a bunch of loose silt.
[00:36:21] And then there came winds and storms which created the Dust Bowl.
[00:36:25] So sometimes it's not simply natural things that happen, but our own kind of participation in that.
[00:36:33] But those reasons, that's more about how.
[00:36:38] Let's think about how.
[00:36:39] None of that gets to the deeper why.
[00:36:45] Now natural disasters are like disease, decay, and death itself.
[00:36:52] These things are grievous indications of a fallen world.
[00:36:57] A creation that is longing, groaning as Paul says, for restoration, renewal, and reconciliation to God.
[00:37:06] And we join with all of creation in hoping for and longing for that day when God will make all things new and set everything right.
[00:37:15] In the meantime, this space, this place we occupy, where God is always already at work, but the work is not yet fulfilled, and this already not yet place, I think some perspective will be helpful.
[00:37:31] Not definitive answers so much, just some perspective.
[00:37:37] The world in which the Bible was written, both Old and New Testaments, was dramatically different from our world.
[00:37:45] Life in the ancient world was much more precarious.
[00:37:51] I mean think about how many lives antibiotics have saved or how much difference electricity has made in our world.
[00:38:03] For most people in the ancient world their lives were difficult and short and the lives of most people were not considered all that important especially in the eyes of the powerful.
[00:38:15] Death and dying was a much greater part of daily life in the ancient world than it is in our time.
[00:38:23] So this idea of why death, why did those folks die, why did this happen, was not as much a crisis for people in the ancient world as it is for us.
[00:38:38] Another difference between the ancient world and our world is that communication technology allows us to know pretty much everything that happens all over the world, at least when it comes to events big enough to be called natural disasters.
[00:38:53] Not only do we know about it quickly, we can watch that unfolding in real time.
[00:38:59] I remember last year with Hurricane Helene, I was watching live feeds of these floods happening.
[00:39:08] This is not just a difference between us and our time in the ancient world.
[00:39:13] This is a difference between our world today and the world of our grandparents and great-grandparents.
[00:39:19] This is relatively new.
[00:39:20] Now in the ancient world, natural disasters did not have the same impact on most people simply because they didn't know about most of them unless they were directly impacted.
[00:39:33] On the other hand, we can see these things happen on the other side of the world unfolding in real time.
[00:39:39] And I've read recently that our minds are not designed to hold all of that.
[00:39:48] At a neurological level, we're not designed for all of that input of everything that happens.
[00:39:54] Now combine that with us being fed a steady diet of crises, danger, conflict, and violence, it's no wonder that so many of us feel unsettled, anxious, and fearful.
[00:40:08] Maybe it feels like it's all too much, especially when a disaster happens in another part of the world and we feel powerless to help.
[00:40:22] Okay, do y'all want to move in a more positive direction?
[00:40:25] yeah that's a little heavy I mean the topic is natural disasters so you can't avoid some heaviness but there is hope there is hope more positively what Paul teaches us in Romans 8 might give us a more helpful perspective Paul is encouraging us to see suffering and struggle in the light of eternity
[00:40:52] I don't think Paul was being dismissive of suffering or saying that suffering doesn't matter.
[00:40:58] I'm not saying that either.
[00:40:59] What Paul is telling us is that God is at work in the world even in the midst of disaster and tragedy and that there will be a time when creation will be set free from the bondage of sin and decay and death.
[00:41:17] A time when we will be freed from suffering and grief and pain.
[00:41:22] A time, as John in Revelation says, when God will wipe away every tear.
[00:41:28] That, Paul says, is our hope.
[00:41:32] The hope of resurrection and eternal life.
[00:41:35] And as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, now we know only in part.
[00:41:41] We see in a mirror dimly.
[00:41:44] Our knowledge and understanding is incomplete.
[00:41:46] Our field of vision is finite.
[00:41:51] As Christians, our part is to put our trust in God, confident in His love, with the faith and hope that God is always already at work in the world for the sake of reconciliation.
[00:42:06] And as Paul says in verse 26 of Romans 8, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
[00:42:14] We are never alone nor are we abandoned.
[00:42:17] God is with us in the midst of all of it.
[00:42:20] As Tony Ruth said last week, God guarantees nothing but his presence with us.
[00:42:28] I don't know church, this might be a long way of me honestly saying that I don't know the answer.
[00:42:39] But if I got up here and I confidently claimed that I had the answer, I'd be lying to you.
[00:42:47] It wouldn't be honest.
[00:42:49] And I may not know why, but I do know Jesus.
[00:42:55] And I trust him.
[00:42:58] So thinking about Jesus and being a disciple, maybe for us today, a better question than why is how can I help?
[00:43:10] How can I help?
[00:43:12] I was talking with a member of our church the other day about this morning's sermon talk.
[00:43:17] She asked me what I was preaching about and I told her and she said, wow, that's hard.
[00:43:23] I said, yeah, it is.
[00:43:28] Then the next morning she sent me a text and she said what I had kind of been thinking, but she said it even better than I did.
[00:43:36] Here's what she said.
[00:43:37] I'm going to quote this text I got from a church member.
[00:43:41] She said, what if instead of focusing on destruction, we focus on the opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus?
[00:43:51] Maybe what's most important in the face of tragedy is that it's an opportunity to see God's love and action lifting up those who are at rock bottom.
[00:44:00] We don't know why these things happen, but we do know how to respond.
[00:44:05] We aren't all knowing, but God is.
[00:44:07] We don't have the tree of knowledge to tell us why, but we can be loving, and that's our mission.
[00:44:16] We don't have to know why in order to love and help people.
[00:44:22] So I think there's our answer.
[00:44:25] It's not so much answering why, but answering, God, where can I help?
[00:44:33] So may God use us to help and to point people to hope and grace and reconciliation in Jesus.
[00:44:44] In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[00:44:47] Amen.

[00:44:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
This morning, church, as Carrie plays, just have a moment of guided prayer.
[00:45:02] So I ask you to take your hands and put them in front of you in your lap as a posture of receptivity.
[00:45:11] Let us pray.

[00:45:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Gracious God, we thank you for this day and this time of worship, this opportunity to come to you.
[00:45:24] God, we've come
[00:45:25] To this time, to this place, carrying a number of things on our hearts.
[00:45:32] So God, in the silence of prayer, we lift up those things that we are grateful for.
[00:45:39] We lift up joys to you this morning.
[00:45:54] and God we are also burdened carrying concerns and fears and anxieties that sometimes weigh us down and so God you tell us to cast our cares on you so this morning we lift up those fears and anxieties those burdens we lift them to you in prayer
[00:46:20] and God we are aware of so many in our world who are struggling those who are dealing with pain and suffering and grief and especially this morning God those who are dealing with the aftermath of
[00:46:49] of natural disasters those who have lost loved ones or lost their homes God those who are even after a long period of time working to rebuild rebuild or find some purpose or meaning and so God we lift up those situations and those people to you in our prayers
[00:47:22] Holy God we thank you for hearing us for answering our prayer God we pray that you would shape us conform us to your will so that we might be faithful and serving God we may not know the answer to why when it comes to so many of these questions God we know that our perspective is limited God so help us to put our trust in you
[00:47:50] Help us, God, to use the gifts you have given to us and serve us for others and for your kingdom.
[00:47:59] And God, help us to point people to your love and grace.
[00:48:05] We pray all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:48:16] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
[00:48:19] on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen

[00:48:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Y'all know that when you give your offering, about 8% of everything you give, 8 cents to every one dollar, goes to the work of the greater United Methodist Church.
[00:49:05] And that means that when Methodist churches in Texas are suffering, we are there.
[00:49:14] And when we were suffering here, they were here.
[00:49:17] We can't change the fact that the world is a place where bad things are happening and we can feel powerless.
[00:49:25] But when we give to the church, part of what we're doing is giving to the connection that helps us be connected to one another in ways that allow us to help one another out when things are hard.
[00:49:37] It's one of my favorite things about being a United Methodist.
[00:49:39] So when you give, whether you're scanning the code or you're mailing a check or dropping it in the offering plate,
[00:49:45] It's always a response.
[00:49:46] It's one of the many ways that you can respond and say, Here I am.
[00:49:49] I want to be part of it.
[00:49:50] I want to be part of what God's doing in the world.
[00:49:53] I want to be part of making a difference.
[00:49:54] So we thank you for your generosity.
[00:49:56] But I also want to tell you this week we launched 21 new Bible studies in small groups at this church.
[00:50:01] 21 in the last week and a half.
[00:50:04] And all of your generosity makes all of that possible.
[00:50:09] So if you are not in a Bible study, I hope you're getting one.
[00:50:13] And if you are already involved, go invite somebody else and invite them to come to this church where we are trying to share with people the good news of Jesus Christ in so many different ways.

[00:50:35] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:51:22] Let us pray.
[00:53:27] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:53:50] Amen.

[00:54:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here before,

[00:55:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Our closing hymn is The Church's One Foundation on 545, also on the screen.

[00:55:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Let us sing together.

[00:55:41] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
The Church's One Foundation
[00:56:43] The Gospel of the Lord.

[00:57:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
In the storm of life.

[00:58:28] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[00:59:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Reconciliation Reconciliation Reconciliation Reconciliation Reconciliation

[01:00:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I'm supposed to tell you about the spaghetti.
[01:00:05] I'm supposed to tell you about the spaghetti.
[01:00:08] Tony, who's going to tell you about spaghetti?
[01:00:11] How about that?

[01:00:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
So, the Methodist women always do an event at least once a year where we are invited as a church to work together, help them with the work that they do.
[01:00:25] The United Women of Faith exists to help
[01:00:32] Women and children and to bring about the work of mission in the world.
[01:00:39] We are grateful for all that they do.
[01:00:41] So this year they're hosting with the Methodist men a spaghetti dinner that is for everybody.
[01:00:47] You don't have to be a Methodist woman.
[01:00:48] You don't have to be a woman.
[01:00:50] You don't even have to be an adult to come to the spaghetti dinner.
[01:00:54] So it will be dinner and a silent auction and fellowship and all the proceeds are going to go to benefit.
[01:01:01] ...agency in our community that seeks to make sure every child in all of the schools in Iredell County and some surrounding counties as well has their birthday celebrated and knows that they are loved.
[01:01:14] An important mission that we do.
[01:01:15] You would spend $25 going out to dinner and not that and I.

[01:01:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Can I say something to that?

[01:01:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
You can go ahead and say something, but ain't nobody can hear you.

[01:01:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Well, I just wanted to tell you guys that I teach at a school now where these bags are delivered to almost on a weekly basis.
[01:01:31] And the faces that I see on the children when they receive these for their birthdays is amazing.
[01:01:38] So I just wanted to say thank you from them because they really appreciate this ministry.

[01:01:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
You could go to Longhorn or Outback or somewhere or Epic or whatever and spend $25 and it wouldn't do anything for anybody but make your belly feel full or you could come and have spaghetti and not by the nines, spend $25 for adult, $10 for children between 5 and 10.
[01:02:05] We'll have child care for children younger than that and everything you give is going to go to help that work of ministry and who doesn't want to invest in that?
[01:02:13] So, I hope you'll be here.
[01:02:15] You can scan the QR code to sign up.
[01:02:17] If you have any trouble with that at all, just call the church office and we will take care of you.
[01:02:22] So, that was my answer.

[01:02:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
That's all we got.
[01:02:26] Pastor Wes.

[01:02:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Friends, now may the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:02:33] The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
[01:02:36] The Lord that took His countenance upon you and give you peace.

[01:02:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Amen.

[01:02:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.