When the Bible Becomes a Mirror: A Review of ‘Sunday Service’

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat of men onto the crashing waves to step out of my comfort zone to the realm of the unknown where Jesus is and is holding out his hand

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
and the Voice of Truth

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Thanks for watching!

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Let's be a different story
[00:04:41] The voice of truth says do not be afraid And the voice of truth says this is for my glory Out of all the voices call

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Good morning friends!
[00:07:25] Welcome to church!
[00:07:26] It's good to see you.
[00:07:27] I'm so glad that you're here this morning.
[00:07:29] My name is Anita.
[00:07:30] I'm the pastor here at Central.
[00:07:31] I welcome you to church in Jesus' name on this cold January day where all of us native North Carolinians were sure we were going to get a quarter of an inch of snow and it would stop our lives.
[00:07:42] But it did not happen.
[00:07:45] So maybe, you know, maybe later.
[00:07:47] Maybe before spring comes we'll get a little bit.
[00:07:50] But thank you so much for being here.
[00:07:52] We're glad that you're here with us.
[00:07:53] If it's your first time in worship with us, a very special welcome to you.
[00:07:58] We ask that you would fill out a Connect card that's there in front of you in the pew.
[00:08:02] Drop it in the lobby on the way back on the desk or in the offering up here.
[00:08:07] We're so glad that everyone has come.
[00:08:16] If you've joined us online this morning, a really special welcome to you.
[00:08:21] We got our stars a couple weeks ago, our star words.
[00:08:25] So if you haven't been here and this is your first time in 2026 and you want a star word, today is your last chance.
[00:08:32] They will disappear until next January.
[00:08:34] So please get one today if you'd like to.
[00:08:38] Also, the yellow papers on the inside of your pews that have our scripture writing that we're practicing here in January and February.
[00:08:46] Jeanette has a bunch of journals that she left in the lobby.
[00:08:50] If you need a journal where you can write down your scriptures, you just pick up one and take it.
[00:08:55] So thank you for doing that.
[00:08:57] I hope it's helpful and I pray that it will bear fruit in all of our lives.
[00:09:02] Jen has a little bit of an announcement for us and then we'll kick off worship.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I know, y'all know I'm awfully passionate about the cake auction that comes over annually.
[00:09:14] So just to give you an idea, guys, we are having our annual cake auction that helps us fund programs for our youth and help fund our summer mission trip.
[00:09:24] that is in four weeks from today so after service you'll come here to service after service we've prepared lunch for you and then just be prepared to have lots of fun maybe a little bit of competition on there you know trying to get the best baked goods if you have a culinary art you know where you can actually make something please end up making something for us so we can auction it off for our youth program
[00:09:51] Also, Grace made an excellent promo on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
[00:09:58] I highly encourage, in fact, I challenge you, if you are not already following Central United Methodist Church on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, and all of those, to go ahead and start following.
[00:10:13] And anytime you see any events that come up,
[00:10:15] you know share them to the public you know let's invite people virtually through the church which is our central word for this year of invitation so if you can like comment share as frequently as you see them out there so that way we can kind of get the word out and let us know how awesome this church is thank you guys see you pastor jim all right let's let's stand and sing we got some awesome music that you guys are going to love to sing playing for you this week

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Your promises are true, You're faithful You've covered all my sins with forgiveness My eyes have seen Your ways, Your goodness

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Holy Trinity, Holy Trinity, Holy Trinity, Holy Trinity, Holy Trinity
[00:12:25] The promises are true You're faithful You've covered all my sins
[00:12:56] of Christ Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We'll sing this little line four times.

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
We'll see your goodness in the land of the living.
[00:13:47] We'll see your goodness in the land of the living.
[00:13:54] We'll see your goodness in the land of the living.

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Let's say a prayer together before we continue.
[00:14:49] Lord, your love will never fail.
[00:14:51] Your steadfast love and your promises are faithful.
[00:14:55] As we enter into worship today, we pray that you fix our eyes on you and help us to lift up our hearts and let you in.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Daily, daily I surrender Grace for today is all that I need Surprised by your mercy it's new everymore Awaken my soul to sing

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I will trust you when you leave I will trust you
[00:16:42] I will trust.
[00:18:22] I will trust you Morning by morning

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
God is my morning, where is your faithfulness?

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Amen.

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.
[00:19:42] Have a seat.
[00:19:43] Isn't it good to sing that truth this morning?
[00:19:46] Beautiful.
[00:19:47] Kids, if you would like to go to Lighthouse Kids, if you'll meet Miss Melissa right here.
[00:19:51] And parents, while they are coming, just so you know, Lighthouse Kids has a brand new location.
[00:19:59] So if you go down these steps right here, they are now in the room that is between the nurseries.
[00:20:04] If you don't know where that is, find me after church and I'll take you there.
[00:20:09] So you will be able to get to your kids when church is done.
[00:20:14] Let's say a prayer for them as they go and lift up others that you would like to pray for this morning.
[00:20:20] Anybody?
[00:20:20] Anyplace?
[00:20:25] Okay, so praises for Kathy Sigmund being home from the nursing home.
[00:20:34] Good.
[00:20:35] Fantastic.
[00:20:40] Okay, what's her first name?
[00:20:42] Gilda.
[00:20:43] We'll pray for Gilda as she goes to a procedure tomorrow.
[00:20:49] We'll pray for Sue, our administrative assistant who lost her brother this week.
[00:20:55] If you'll keep her in your prayers.
[00:20:56] We'll pray for Brenda Hawkins, who is at home recovering from pneumonia, but was in the hospital this week as well.
[00:21:05] Pray for Melody, because she's sick this morning.
[00:21:08] Pray for everybody that is January sick.
[00:21:11] There are lots of people that are January sick, right?
[00:21:14] I mean, it just happens this time of the year, so we'll keep those folks close in our prayers.
[00:21:19] Are there others?
[00:21:25] Happy birthday!
[00:21:26] Happy birthday!
[00:21:29] I look forward to every single one.
[00:21:32] Oh, who else has one?
[00:21:35] Oh, happy birthday Monday!
[00:21:36] Yeah, it's awesome.
[00:21:40] Yes, prayers for Vernon and our youth who are on retreat.
[00:21:46] They will be gone until tomorrow.
[00:21:49] Prayers for safety and for God to show up in a big way for them wherever they are.
[00:21:54] And I have a praise.
[00:21:57] I had my three year, y'all believe it's been three years since I had cancer?
[00:22:01] Three year checkup Friday and they said, you're great, you're healthy, come back in a year.
[00:22:07] So praise God for that.
[00:22:09] I'm forever grateful for every birthday.
[00:22:14] So it's all good.
[00:22:19] Yes, yes, safe return for Gideon to be home.
[00:22:23] Yes, absolutely.
[00:22:26] Others?
[00:22:29] I'm going to invite you to hold out your hands as an expression of trust that we just sang about to our God who is faithful.
[00:22:39] And if you struggle to trust, that's okay.
[00:22:43] God's still there.
[00:22:46] and understands and meets you right where you are.
[00:22:50] So let's pray.
[00:22:55] God, we thank you for your faithfulness and your mercies that truly are new every single morning.
[00:23:02] We thank you for the gift of your presence with us and we ask that as we worship in this place that you would help us just be more aware that you are near.
[00:23:14] Remind us that you're everywhere we go
[00:23:17] In all that we do, in the highs and the lows, in the mundane and the joyous, you are with us.
[00:23:26] And we are thankful for that.
[00:23:29] God, we pray for all that have been lifted up here this morning for healing, for comfort, for hope, for strength, for endurance, for joy and celebrations.
[00:23:44] We give you praise and glory and we ask for your
[00:23:47] Interceding presence to come and be our healer and our guide and our path.
[00:23:56] The place we can rest.
[00:23:59] The place we know we can go where we are loved without condition.
[00:24:06] Help us to feel your arms wrap around us and to know that that is true.
[00:24:12] God, we pray for our world that is in turmoil.
[00:24:18] We pray for peace among chaos.
[00:24:24] We pray for unity where there is division.
[00:24:31] We pray for guidance where there is darkness and loss.
[00:24:39] And we ask for your holy presence.
[00:24:46] To guide every step of our path so that we might rest secure in who you are even when the world seems all topsy-turvy.
[00:25:01] Thank you for being close and remind us that it's you that we follow and you alone
[00:25:10] Hear every prayer of our hearts, oh God, the ones that we have words for and the ones that we can't even fashion because they're somewhere down deep in our souls and we don't even have words.
[00:25:22] Meet us in that place too.
[00:25:25] Meet us in our doubts and our questions, all the things that don't make sense.
[00:25:32] We bring every prayer to you and trust that you hear it and respond.
[00:25:37] We offer them all in the mighty and holy name of Jesus, who taught his followers to pray.
[00:25:44] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:25:49] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:25:54] Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[00:26:03] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:26:07] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
[00:26:13] Amen.

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
God be all else to me, save that thou art.
[00:27:01] Thou art my God, my King, all my God.
[00:27:12] Thee now I praise, O Lamb, Thou my true pure, Thou ever in heaven, Thou in heaven, Thou ever in heaven, Thou ever in heaven, Thou ever in heaven,
[00:27:46] of Heaven, My Church of the World.
[00:28:08] May God of Heaven my victory run.
[00:28:11] May I return unto His throne.
[00:28:16] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy,

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
As we give our gifts this morning, I want to remind you of the missions that happen because you are generous.
[00:28:54] Youth get to go on retreat because you are generous.
[00:28:58] Children get to have Lighthouse Kids because you are generous.
[00:29:02] There are baby bottles in the back for you to pick up to share from your resources so that we help our neighbors in our community.
[00:29:14] So please remember to do that on your way out today.
[00:29:18] There are so many ways that your generosity makes a difference for the lives of people in this community for Jesus.
[00:29:28] So never underestimate the power of your gifts.
[00:29:33] As you come, you can give at the QR code here on the screen.
[00:29:36] Please do not be embarrassed or hesitate for one second to pull out your phone and take a picture of that.
[00:29:42] It is there for that purpose.
[00:29:44] In the crushing, in the pressing,

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
You are making new wine In the soil I now surrender You are breaking new ground So I yield to You
[00:30:43] When I trust you I don't need to understand Make me your vessel Make me an offering Make me whatever you want me to be I came here with nothing But all you have given me Jesus brings
[00:31:13] In the crushing, in the pressing, you are making new wine.
[00:31:32] In the soil I now surrender, you are breaking new ground.
[00:31:45] You are breaking the ground So I yield to you and to your careful hand When I trust you I don't need to understand So make me your vessel
[00:32:08] Make me an offering Make me whatever you want me to be God, I came here with nothing But all you have given me Jesus, bring new wine down to me Where there is new wine There is new power
[00:32:37] There is new freedom, the King come is here I lay down my old things to carry your new fire today So make me a vessel, make me an offering Make me whatever you want me to be
[00:33:06] God, I came here with nothing but all you have given me.
[00:33:14] Jesus, bring me wine and water and beer.

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
That prayer, Jesus make new wine out of me, seems like a pretty good place to start.
[00:33:54] So will you pray with me?
[00:33:56] Lord, we come with hearts and minds and souls open, ready to meet you, ready to hear you.
[00:34:08] So reveal yourself to us, we pray.
[00:34:12] Reveal yourself to us through your words so that we might understand and trust that you are God.
[00:34:21] Help us, O Lord, to believe that you can do what you promise and give us grace to understand just how much you love us.
[00:34:35] We are here.
[00:34:37] Speak, Lord.
[00:34:38] Your servants are listening.
[00:34:43] Amen.
[00:34:45] Well, good morning, friends.
[00:34:48] If you are joining us for the first time in January in 2026, we are starting 2026 with our heads in the clouds.
[00:34:57] Seems like a good place to start.
[00:35:00] We are dreaming about living for a God who can.
[00:35:04] A God who can do what God promises.
[00:35:08] A God who does show up in mighty ways for us.
[00:35:12] and a God who leads us to more than we could ever ask or imagine.
[00:35:17] It's not a bad way to start a new year, I don't think.
[00:35:21] So let's recap just a little bit.
[00:35:24] What have we learned so far about dreams and the Bible?
[00:35:27] What do dreams and the Bible do?
[00:35:29] Wow.
[00:35:39] Dreams and the Bible reveal God.
[00:35:42] You might want to write this down so when I ask you next week you can tell me.
[00:35:47] Dreams in the Bible reveal God.
[00:35:52] They show that God shows up in real ways in our lives.
[00:35:57] Dreams in the Bible also shine light on a new way.
[00:36:00] Think about who we've talked about so far.
[00:36:03] The wise men, they find a new way home that calls them to disobey a direct order from the king, mind you.
[00:36:12] For Jacob, they shine light on a new way to reveal God's promises in the midst of the ordinary.
[00:36:21] And today for our friend Solomon that we're going to visit in just a moment.
[00:36:28] Solomon, God has named him king.
[00:36:34] And he's weighing over his head.
[00:36:37] And God shines a new way.
[00:36:44] By now, I hope we're also beginning to see this beautiful thread that's beginning to weave through these dream passages in the Bible.
[00:36:53] This thread says, God is revealed.
[00:36:57] God makes a new way.
[00:36:59] And God, we are a part of making God's dreams come true in this world.
[00:37:08] We are a part of making God's dreams come true in this world.
[00:37:14] This weekend we have the privilege of remembering the work of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who preached about a dream that God had placed in his heart that this nation would be a place where people would be treated as equals and not judged by the color of their skin.
[00:37:34] Now we have an awfully long road before us before that dream is an actual reality.
[00:37:40] But God's dream of unity among God's people is still being carried forward because Dr. King acted on that truth that we are part of making God's dreams come true in this world.
[00:37:58] After all, God does call us the church, right?
[00:38:04] Not because we're special, or not because we're extra holy or deserving, but because God sees us, God comes to us, and God calls us now into a brand new day with Him.
[00:38:21] So that's what we want to sit with this morning.
[00:38:24] God calls us now into a brand new day with Him.
[00:38:29] Take a look.
[00:40:17] Do you notice we ended up in the clouds?
[00:40:21] God is doing a new thing, and it involves you.
[00:40:26] That's amazing, right?
[00:40:27] It's exciting, but it feels so big.
[00:40:34] Well, today we meet a king named Solomon, and he had a task before him that felt so big.
[00:40:44] And we learn from Solomon's dream that we are called to seek God and to trust God when the tasks that are before us are so much bigger than us.
[00:40:59] So let's visit with Solomon for a moment.
[00:41:02] 1 Kings, the third chapter, beginning in verse 3.
[00:41:11] Try to put yourself in Solomon's sandals for a moment.
[00:41:16] The Lord appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night, and God said, Ask whatever you wish, and I'll give it to you.
[00:41:26] Solomon responded, You showed so much kindness to your servant, my father David, when he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and with a heart true to you.
[00:41:39] You've kept this great loyalty and kindness for him and now have given him a son to sit on his throne.
[00:41:48] And now, Lord my God, you have made me your servant, king in my father David's place.
[00:41:56] But I'm young and inexperienced.
[00:42:00] I know next to nothing.
[00:42:04] But I'm here.
[00:42:06] Your servant, in the middle of the people you have chosen, a large population that can't be numbered or counted due to its vast size.
[00:42:17] Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people and to distinguish good from evil, because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help.
[00:42:33] It pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request.
[00:42:37] God said to him, Because you have asked for this instead of requesting long life, wealth, or victory over your enemies, asking for discernment so as to acquire good judgment, I will now do just what you said.
[00:42:54] Look, I hereby give you a wise and understanding mind.
[00:43:00] There has been no one like you before now, nor will there be anyone like you afterward.
[00:43:07] I now also give you what you didn't ask for, wealth and fame.
[00:43:13] There won't be a king like you as long as you live.
[00:43:17] And if you walk in my ways and obey my laws and commands, just as your father David did, then I will give you a very long life.
[00:43:29] and realized it was a dream.
[00:43:32] He went to Jerusalem and stood before the chest containing the Lord's covenant.
[00:43:38] Then he offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices and held a celebration for all of his servants.
[00:43:48] This is God's word for all of God's community.
[00:43:53] Thanks be to God.
[00:43:58] He's standing at the edge of a brand new day.
[00:44:03] He's just been made king to follow his father David.
[00:44:09] David, the one through whom Jesus' lineage will be traced.
[00:44:15] It's a big deal.
[00:44:20] He has some big shoes to fill and this giant nation to lead.
[00:44:27] God is doing a new thing, and it involves Solomon.
[00:44:33] Solomon is definitely the man for the job, but in the beginning, he's a little bit off track.
[00:44:42] And you might not even notice that if you're not paying close attention.
[00:44:47] You see, this scripture starts with the fact that Solomon had gone to Troutman instead of Mooresville to do Satanomtesis.
[00:44:55] Solomon had gone to Gibeon to offer sacrifices.
[00:45:01] And it's easy to just skip over that.
[00:45:03] Well, what's the big deal?
[00:45:05] Well, the big deal is that Gibeon was the hill city.
[00:45:08] Up on the hill, a great high place.
[00:45:11] But it was the pagan place of worship and sacrifice.
[00:45:17] So what was Solomon even thinking?
[00:45:20] Offering sacrifices there when Jerusalem was the place where the Ark of the Covenant was.
[00:45:26] Where all of God's people understood the presence of Yahweh, the one true God, was there in the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem.
[00:45:38] That's how they understood the presence of God.
[00:45:41] So why in the world would Solomon trek off to Gibeon to do sacrifices?
[00:45:48] Well, he's off track.
[00:45:51] He's not in step with God's will for sure.
[00:45:54] But still, even so, God has revealed to him in this amazing dream.
[00:46:02] Now, I don't know about you, but that gives me a lot of hope.
[00:46:06] I think sometimes we get in our minds that God couldn't or wouldn't speak to us or work through us because we're not good enough or holy enough or in God's will enough.
[00:46:20] But that's just not true.
[00:46:22] We see it right here with Solomon.
[00:46:25] We don't have to have it all figured out and all cleaned up and all our rows, you know, ducks in a row and quacking and all of that for God to come to us.
[00:46:38] God comes to us even when we're off track.
[00:46:41] God comes to us and blesses us and gives us what we need.
[00:46:47] Solomon's story shows us that God comes to us even when we are not paying attention.
[00:46:56] We are not perfect.
[00:46:59] Our love for God is not perfect.
[00:47:02] Sometimes our love for God is even self-serving and blurred by the pulls and the tugs of the world around us, isn't it?
[00:47:13] If you have ever sat in a church meeting where people shout and nearly come to blows over the color of the carpet in a sanctuary, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
[00:47:27] Sometimes we get off track.
[00:47:31] But even when we're off track, God still meets us where we are and works in remarkable ways through us.
[00:47:43] So God meets Solomon in this dream and says, ask for whatever you wish and I'll give it to you.
[00:47:50] Have you ever pondered what you'd ask for?
[00:47:54] If the Lord of heaven and earth came to you like he did to Solomon, ask for whatever you wish and I'll give it to you.
[00:48:03] What would you ask for?
[00:48:06] I don't know.
[00:48:07] I mean, Solomon could have asked for anything.
[00:48:14] He knew that God had given him this task of leading this nation, this huge task that was way over his head.
[00:48:24] He had no idea what to do next.
[00:48:27] So he asks for wisdom.
[00:48:31] Solomon says, God, you are good and kind, and you've been loyal to my dad and to the generations before me, and now here I am, king in my dad's place, and this is a quote from the scripture, I'm young and inexperienced and I know next to nothing.
[00:48:47] Have you ever been there?
[00:48:50] If you haven't been there, you just need a few years.
[00:48:52] You'll get there.
[00:48:55] I'm young and inexperienced and I know next to nothing.
[00:48:58] This is such a huge responsibility.
[00:49:00] There's so many people.
[00:49:01] I can't do this king thing on my own.
[00:49:07] So God, I just need you to show up for me like you did for my dad.
[00:49:12] Give me wisdom and help me know what to do to lead these people.
[00:49:18] When the task that God calls Solomon to do is too big
[00:49:27] Solomon's response is to trust and seek after God.
[00:49:34] That is an incredible lesson for us.
[00:49:37] It seems so simple.
[00:49:40] But boy, do we really struggle to do it all the time in our lives, don't we?
[00:49:45] This task that God calls us to is too big.
[00:49:51] I don't know how to fill in the blank.
[00:49:54] I don't know how to handle my aging parents.
[00:49:57] I don't know how to raise my teenagers who don't listen.
[00:50:00] I don't know how to manage this baby that cries all the time.
[00:50:04] I don't know how to get older with grace.
[00:50:07] I don't know how to manage this last semester.
[00:50:11] I just don't know how.
[00:50:12] It's too big, God.
[00:50:15] And when it's too big, God says, seek after me.
[00:50:20] Trust me.
[00:50:23] Just this week, in our first leadership meeting of the year, our church is thinking and praying about and poring over ways to use our facility here on this corner to meet the needs of our community, to share the gospel of Jesus to all around us.
[00:50:42] And also to generate some revenue so that we can continue to do ministry from this corner in Mooresville for many years to come.
[00:50:51] And that is a task, friends, that is too big.
[00:50:53] It's overwhelming.
[00:50:59] But friends, when God calls us to do something, if it is of God, it will always be too big.
[00:51:08] It will always be too big for us to do on our own because after all if we could do it on our own we might be tempted to think that it's our skill or our smarts or our power that got it done and that that's enough.
[00:51:26] We might forget to lean on God and to trust God.
[00:51:30] So you can count on God-sized dreams being too big.
[00:51:37] Because it's then that we are compelled and brought to our knees to seek God's wisdom and to trust God's leading.
[00:51:45] Solomon said it best.
[00:51:47] He asked for a discerning mind to do what God had called him to do, to distinguish good from evil.
[00:51:54] He says, because no one is able to govern this important people without your help.
[00:52:03] No one can fulfill God-sized callings without God's help.
[00:52:12] But we try to do it all the time.
[00:52:17] But when we seek God and we trust God, the sky literally is the limit.
[00:52:27] Do you remember the clouds in the video just a second ago?
[00:52:32] God is doing a new thing and it involves who?
[00:52:37] You.
[00:52:39] God is doing a new thing and it involves me.
[00:52:43] Do you believe that?
[00:52:50] God is doing a new thing and it involves you and me.
[00:52:56] And it doesn't take a pastor or a rocket scientist or anybody else to tell us that church, not just in this building but church everywhere, is different, radically different, than it was five years ago.
[00:53:14] Let alone 35 years ago.
[00:53:18] God is calling us to imagine church in a new way.
[00:53:23] A new way that none of us, your pastor included, have ever done before.
[00:53:30] Maybe never even considered before.
[00:53:35] This story from Solomon gives me hope.
[00:53:38] Because it says to us that we don't have to have everything figured out and be perfectly on the right track before we start.
[00:53:46] God has shown up, will show up, will continue to work among us.
[00:53:52] We just have to continue to be willing to seek Him with our whole hearts and to trust God when it feels too big to just take the next faithful step.
[00:54:05] The Psalmist says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
[00:54:12] It does not say it is a strobe light that follows into the next county.
[00:54:18] It's a lamp for the next step.
[00:54:24] The trust comes in taking the next fateful step.
[00:54:28] And we can learn about that next fateful step from Solomon as well.
[00:54:32] What does Solomon do after the dream?
[00:54:34] Where does he go?
[00:54:35] Where does he go?
[00:54:39] Does he go back to Gibeon?
[00:54:42] No.
[00:54:42] Where does he go?
[00:54:44] Jerusalem.
[00:54:46] He goes to Jerusalem.
[00:54:47] And what does he do when he gets to Jerusalem?
[00:54:52] He worships.
[00:54:55] He worships.
[00:54:57] He goes to Jerusalem and stands in front of the Ark of the Covenant, the place he understood God to be, and he worships with his whole heart.
[00:55:07] He brings burned offerings and sacrifices and celebrates with his whole household that God has shown up with a message for him.
[00:55:20] When the task before us in our church
[00:55:24] In our personal lives, in our work, in our school, wherever we are, feels too big.
[00:55:36] Our job is to trust God and take the next faithful step.
[00:55:43] So how do I know what the next faithful step even is?
[00:55:47] Well we learn from Solomon where to figure that out.
[00:55:51] We start with worship.
[00:55:54] We start with worship.
[00:55:56] Not off-track, half-hearted, self-focused worship.
[00:56:09] Man, that is a mouthful.
[00:56:14] But we start with worship.
[00:56:16] Not sideways worship, self-inflicted worship, but godly worship.
[00:56:24] Our job is to abandon whatever represents Gibeon in our lives and turn with our whole self to the true worship of the one true God who has called us to this God-sized work that is too big.
[00:56:41] Because it's in true worship that we begin to hear from the God who can.
[00:56:48] It's in true worship that we begin to know with confidence the next faithful step.
[00:56:56] It's in true worship that we will grow to trust the God who can and to realize, like Solomon did, that no one, no one can do the work that God has laid before us without God's help.
[00:57:15] And it is in true worship we will find the strength of our God who can.
[00:57:22] To help us where we are inexperienced and know next to nothing.
[00:57:28] He will help us to do things we've never done, never even thought about for His good and for His glory in this world.
[00:57:37] So that we and so that our whole community might know not that we did it, but that God did it.
[00:57:47] And that by God's grace we got to be a small part of it.
[00:57:52] of sharing his love with the world.
[00:57:57] That is good news that we get to be part of these God-sized dreams coming true if we will trust and seek after God's heart from a spirit and a place of true worship.
[00:58:14] God is doing a new thing and it involves
[00:58:22] and Me.
[00:58:24] Amen.
[00:58:26] Thanks be to God.
[00:58:29] Will you pray with me?
[00:58:39] God, break new ground in our hearts.
[00:58:46] Make new wine in us.
[00:58:52] Turn us away from everything that is false and draw us into a life and a spirit of true worship where we believe and then act on the promise that you can do everything you say you can do and that you love us just as deeply as you say you do.
[00:59:22] and that you are with us every step of the journey.
[00:59:29] Lord, help us not just to say it or sing it or listen to it or even just believe it.
[00:59:40] Help us to live it.
[00:59:44] We pray in the mighty and holy name of Jesus.
[00:59:48] Amen.
[00:59:51] Would you stand?
[00:59:52] Let's sing as we go.

[01:00:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Open my eyes and I can see, as the sun's too far out for me.
[01:00:18] Place in my hands
[01:00:28] .

[01:00:54] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
.
[01:00:56] .
[01:00:56] .
[01:00:56] .

[01:01:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
The way flows far from my ear, everything else will disappear.

[01:01:25] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Suddenly now I wait for Thee, letting my God or You to see.
[01:01:27] Open my eyes, You open me.
[01:01:28] Spirit and Divine Open my mouth and let me bear Let me go on to everywhere Open my heart and let me prepare Come with the children, lots to share

[01:01:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see.

[01:02:20] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Open my heart and open me, spirit divine.

[01:02:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
So go into this week knowing without a shadow of a doubt that God is doing a new thing, and it involves you.
[01:02:34] And as you go, and as you do that God-sized thing that's too big, whatever it is,
[01:02:41] May the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:02:44] May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[01:02:48] May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you His peace, now and forevermore.
[01:02:55] Amen.
[01:02:56] Have a great week.