Sunday Worship Recap and Reflections

May 11th, 2025

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

In a heartfelt gathering at the Central Church of Christ in Cleveland, TN, the worship service encompassed powerful sermons, melodious hymns, and profound reflections in honor of Mother's Day. Attendees were encouraged to lean into God and his enduring presence through well-shared biblical stories, particularly focusing on Moses and God's pivotal role in overcoming adversities. The congregation engaged in worship through song and communion, enhancing the sense of community and shared faith, while also highlighting the significant contributions of mothers throughout history.

Highlights

Moses' story was revisited to illustrate God's enduring presence and power. 📖
Mother's Day was celebrated warmly, with heartfelt prayers and blessings for mothers. 🌸
Hymns like 'Hosanna' and 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' led the congregation in worship, enhancing spiritual reflection. 🎶
Reflections on accepting and trusting in God's plans were shared passionately. 🤲
Communion highlighted Christ's sacrifice and ongoing call to redemption. 🍞🍷

Key Takeaways

The essence of leaning into God's ever-present help was emphasized through the story of Moses. 🌟
The congregation celebrated Mother's Day, acknowledging the vital role of mothers in shaping lives and faith. 💐
A call to action for congregants to trust in God’s plans and make themselves available for His purposes. 📣
God's constant presence and unchanging nature was a central theme. 🔄
The powerful connection between Old Testament stories and the overarching story of redemption was highlighted. ✝️

Overview

The worship service on Mother's Day at Central Church of Christ was a heartfelt celebration filled with song, scripture, and community spirit. As congregants gathered to praise, a special focus was placed on honoring mothers, recognizing their pivotal role in nurturing faith and character. The air was filled with hymns like 'Great is Thy Faithfulness,' as attendees reflected on the blessings they’ve received through maternal love.

Pastor Ryan gave a compelling sermon centered on the story of Moses, drawing parallels to our lives today and emphasizing the importance of trusting in God’s unyielding presence. He highlighted Moses’ initial reluctance and eventual acceptance of God's calling, illustrating how God's assurance "I am who I am" signifies His constant presence and support, inviting the congregation to reflect on their own availability for God's work.

Throughout the service, themes of redemption and divine purpose were interwoven with joyful songs and solemn prayers. The congregation was reminded of the significance of Christ’s sacrifice through the communion ceremony, reinforcing the message of salvation and faith. Emphasizing community and worship, the service concluded with a warm invitation to partake in upcoming church events, ensuring the spirit of fellowship extended beyond the service.

Chapters

00:00 - 00:30: Welcome and Announcements The chapter begins with a warm welcome to all participants, outlining the agenda for the session. Key announcements include the introduction of new team members and upcoming important events. The speaker emphasizes the importance of collaboration and teamwork for achieving the project's goals.
07:30 - 09:00: Introduction and Greeting The chapter begins with an introduction and a warm greeting, creating a welcoming atmosphere. As indicated by the applause, the introduction likely acknowledges and engages the audience, setting the stage for the content that follows.
18:00 - 41:00: Worship Songs and Praise The chapter explores various themes of worship through songs and praises. It begins with the familiar and uplifting shout of 'Hosanna,' which signifies adoration, praise, and joy in expressing love and reverence towards a higher power or deity. This chapter emphasizes the collective and unifying power of worship songs in bringing people together in a shared act of faith and devotion.
44:30 - 65:00: Communion and Reflection The chapter titled 'Communion and Reflection' captures a moment of spiritual engagement and introspection. The focus is on the act of worship and singing, suggesting a connection to a higher power or an internal journey of reflection. The offerings of worship imply reverence and devotion, setting a tone of peaceful contemplation or devotion.
66:30 - 124:00: Sermon: The Story of Moses and Faith The chapter titled 'Sermon: The Story of Moses and Faith' is not summarized as the transcript only contains the placeholder '[Music]' indicating no actual narration or text content to summarize.
124:30 - 142:00: Closing Remarks and Prayer The chapter titled 'Closing Remarks and Prayer' appears to be concluding a discourse or a text. Since the transcript provided is incomplete, it actually contains only one letter 'I', making it unclear what the closing remarks or the prayer might entail. Typically, a chapter with this title might summarize key points discussed earlier and possibly end with a hopeful or inspirational closing, typically in the form of a prayer. This would usually be used to uplift the audience or readers and give them a sense of closure.
143:00 - 154:00: Final Song and Dismissal The chapter entails the closing of a service marked by the final song and dismissal. It emphasizes the significance and order of the concluding rites and how they affect the participants.

May 11th, 2025 Transcription

00:00 - 00:30
00:30 - 01:00 [Applause]
01:00 - 01:30 Hosanna, you're my
01:30 - 02:00 king. I worship and I sing.
02:00 - 02:30 [Music]
02:30 - 03:00 I
03:00 - 03:30 worship
03:30 - 04:00 [Music]
04:00 - 04:30 sing forever.
04:30 - 05:00 Good morning. Welcome to Central Church
05:00 - 05:30 of Christ. Happy Mother's Day uh to all
05:30 - 06:00 the mothers out there. Um and welcome to
06:00 - 06:30 anybody who's online. If you're uh uh
06:30 - 07:00 certainly welcome uh any of our regular
07:00 - 07:30 central family here, but if you're
07:30 - 08:00 visiting with us today, um a special
08:00 - 08:30 welcome to you. Uh if you did not grab a
08:30 - 09:00 bulletin on your way in, uh there are probably more out back or on the tables in the corners there. Um, lots of announcements in there as well as an order of worship. Uh, and then if you are visiting with us today, we would love to have a record of your
09:00 - 09:30 attendance. And on the back of the pew in front of you, there's a card that looks like this. You can either fill it out and stick it in one of the boxes or you can just use the QR code to scan. Um, in spite of back to the order of worship, I am not Andrew Sims. We had a little mixup this morning, but so you got me instead of Andrew. You can like that or not. Um so welcome. Let's continue praising our
09:30 - 10:00 [Music] God. This is my father's world. All nature sings and rounding rings the music of the sphere. This is my father's world. I rest in
10:00 - 10:30 the cross and trees of skies and seas and the wonder world. [Music] A morning like a
10:30 - 11:00 millare praise. This is my father's world. He shines in all in the grass. I hear him. He speaks to me everywhere.
11:00 - 11:30 [Music] that the wrong is the [Music] ruler. This is my
11:30 - 12:00 father's world. [Music] The battle is not Jesus who died shall be satisfied and [Music]
12:00 - 12:30 uh the lesson that Ryan's bringing to us today is about Moses. And what spoiler alert spoiler alert you're going to find out after this song anyways when it when there when scripture reading. So um this is a song I don't know that I've ever let it here. Uh it's actually two songs but we kind of put them together and it kind of seems like one. Uh if you know it uh please sing out. Um and since the song talks about standing we should probably stand and then remain standing for a
12:30 - 13:00 scripture and prayer. You are holy God. We're standing on holy
13:00 - 13:30 ground is present and where he is holy. This is holy ground. We're standing on holy ground. For the Lord is present and where he is
13:30 - 14:00 is holy. You are holy God, a perfect and holy God. We will come before you with hearts made clean by Jesus
14:00 - 14:30 blood. You are holy God, a perfect and holy God. We will come before you with hearts made clean by [Music] Jesus. We are
14:30 - 15:00 [Music] standing on holy ground. And I know that there are angels all around. Let us [Music]
15:00 - 15:30 praise Jesus. Now we are standing in his presence. We are standing in his presence. We are standing in his presence on holy ground.
15:30 - 16:00 [Music] messy now. Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' And they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to
16:00 - 16:30 Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you." God said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, the Lord of the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. The name you shall call me from generation to generation. Go assemble the elders of Israelites and say to
16:30 - 17:00 them, "The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, appeared to me and said, I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt." Pray with me. Dear God, thank you for this lovely day. We get to come and praise you here on this beautiful Sunday morning. Um, just help us to have a great day today. and uh thank you for being here in our lives. We love you, praise you, and thank you Jesus name. Amen.
17:00 - 17:30 Please be seated. I am a sheep and the Lord is my shepherd. ing over my soul. My soul will
17:30 - 18:00 keep me watching wherever I [Music] go. He is my shelter when I'm lost and alone. He resues me when the lion
18:00 - 18:30 comes. He is my victory. Constantly watching [Music] overeing over me. We are his children and he our [Music] father our
18:30 - 19:00 soul is his love for his sons and his [Music] daughter when the wind blows. He is my shelter when I'm lost and alone. He resues me when the
19:00 - 19:30 lion comes. He is my victory watching over me. He is constantly watching over me. Um, our next song is great is thy faithfulness. Now, our next song is hallelujah with a savior. Say, I went
19:30 - 20:00 back to the old order of worship. Our song before the Lord's supper will be hallelujah with a savior. Man of sorrows, what a name for the son of God who came through to hallelujah.
20:00 - 20:30 What a savior. Shame and [Music] sod with his blood. Hallelujah. What a
20:30 - 21:00 [Music] savior was he to die was his now heaven. Hallelujah. What a savior. When he comes our glorious
21:00 - 21:30 king, all his ransom to bring. Then a new song will sing. Hallelujah. by a savior. [Music]
21:30 - 22:00 Morning. If you did not have an opportunity to grab a communion packet before you came in, there are some available in the forer and at both of the back doors as you exit there. I'm going to be reading this morning from Philippians 2:es 3-1 11. And it reads, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than
22:00 - 22:30 yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasp, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
22:30 - 23:00 What do we have the opportunity to do here in this building at this time? We come together in fellowship to remember what Christ did for us. He gave his life in order for us to have remission of our sins. He left a place of perfection in order to be humiliated, to be beaten, to be betrayed, and be placed on a cross to die. Why? Because he loved us then and he loves us now. We have made the choice to be here today
23:00 - 23:30 and to be a participant in this service. We have chosen to accept his neverending love. We know and understand that we will be able to partake of this supper with him someday. We know that we are to partake on the first day of the week until he comes again. The elements of this fellowship are the bread which represents his body on the cross, the fruit of the vine which represents his blood of the new covenant that was shed for us and the time and the opportunity for us to humbly examine
23:30 - 24:00 ourselves in order to be in order to be one with Christ. At this time we not only remember his suffering and death but we remember the joy that we will have being together with him. John 3:16 reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." We are here today because we believe. Let us pray for the bread. Our heavenly father, we thank you
24:00 - 24:30 for this opportunity that we have to be here today to have fellowship with one another to participate in the act of remembrance, the remembrance of what your son did for us. He died on the cross. And as we partake of this bread, let us take our minds back to that suffering that happened on that day. Jesus name. Amen.
24:30 - 25:00 At this time, let's pray for the fruit of the vine. Our father in heaven, we're here
25:00 - 25:30 today because of the belief and the faith that we have in you. We know that your son gave his life. He shed his blood for us for our sins so that they could be washed away. We ask that we do at this time think humbly about how we can become closer to you, do more to be with you every single day. It's in Jesus most high and holy name that we pray. Amen.
25:30 - 26:00 Now's the time where if you have a a
26:00 - 26:30 child aged three to first grade, um they
26:30 - 27:00 can exit out the back of the auditorium um to go to Kids Connect um to learn a little bit more on their level. And you can you have to pick them up afterwards though. Um our song before the sermon that I tried to lead a minute ago uh is great as thy faithfulness. Uh we're going to do all three verses and then uh also the beautiful uh optional ending on this one. Please stand.
27:00 - 27:30 Great. There is no shadow with the thous. The smile they
27:30 - 28:00 th forever will be. Praise thy faithfulness. Praise thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have
28:00 - 28:30 proided. Great is thy faithfulness to me. [Music] Spring and stars
28:30 - 29:00 [Music] fores to thy greatfulness mercy. Mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning thy
29:00 - 29:30 morning. Mercies I see. All I have needed, thy hand [Music] proided. Great is thy faithfulness to me. [Music]
29:30 - 30:00 Peace endure thy own dear presence to children to God for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000
30:00 - 30:30 beside. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning I see. [Music] All I have in thy [Music]
30:30 - 31:00 hand. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. [Music]
31:00 - 31:30 Glor to all of our mothers past, present, and future. I want to express my gratitude. Thank you for giving birth. Thank you for shaping souls and forming character. And thank you for demonstrating the the pure love of Christ. Mothers have always had a a
31:30 - 32:00 special and a crucial role throughout history, especially redemptive history. They've always been the crown of creation from the very beginning. So to all of our mothers, be peaceful, believe in God, and believe in yourself. I think you're doing more than you think you are. To the busy moms, take a breath and remember what's important. To the new moms, I know it's we've got a lot of them and it seems children just keep popping out left and
32:00 - 32:30 right here at Central. I know being a new parent can be scary. It can be fun. But be patient. Be patient and enjoy those little ones because they do they grow up really really fast. For those who have kids that have grown up, maybe they've given you grandchildren, they've made you a great grandmother. I want you to continue to nurture that relationship. For those who have lost
32:30 - 33:00 their mother, I know Mother's Day is is difficult. I I can't begin to imagine. I know a lot of women try to avoid this day. They try to avoid everything that surrounds Mother's Day because they've lost their mother and it just brings up bad memories. It brings up that that loss. Today, we think of you and we offer your name to God for strength. Uh not only to get through this day, but we also pray for you to have a flood of of good memories. Let's
33:00 - 33:30 pray. God, thank you so much for others. You know the importance and the the role that they play not only in society, in our culture, in our homes, but Father, you know the role that they play in in redemptive history. And Father, none of us would be here without mothers. And so, Father, today as we set aside a day to to honor our mothers, we we thank you for them. And I pray that today would be our minds would be filled with many good memories. Father, we also know and and
33:30 - 34:00 you know that not everyone here still has their mother with them. And so today is a is a hard day. It's a difficult day. And Father, you know who they are. And I pray that you would be with them today to give them comfort, to give them peace, to give them security in you. Father, again, thank you for our mothers. Thank you for the love they give. And most of all, thank you for the love that they give you in Christ's name. Amen. Hey, uh don't forget the Stronger
34:00 - 34:30 Marriage Workshop. It's coming up on June 6th and 7th. There's two QR codes I believe in the bulletin. One QR code is for the workshop. Now listen, if you're attending the workshop, if you're attending the workshop June 6th and 7th, you have to sign up. You have to scan that QR code and you'll sign up and that is all going through uh Trey and Lee and their marriage workshop. They do all the signups. They're going to provide us with books and and things like that. Also, if you plan on coming that evening and eating, this is for central family,
34:30 - 35:00 right? So, don't invite Bradley County, please, or we're just not going to have enough food. Uh, scan that QR code to make sure you sign up so that we have a good headcount. But I do I did want to mention that before John gets up and brings the announcements here uh in about an hour and a half. So, uh glad to know you're listening. We've been walking through the Old Testament, right? We've been looking at some lessons. We've been looking at uh sort of laying a foundation of of fundamental truths. Okay? And and now these fundamental
35:00 - 35:30 truths are helping us to understand the character of God, the nature of God, the way that God wants his world to operate and the way that God wants his creation, us uh to operate. And so we we we've looked at how humanity has rejected God's gift of eternal life and man sort of showed up and wants to redefine life. And so you have Adam and Eve. They start this and humanity begins this downward spiral dark path. And nevertheless, God though still hasn't forgotten how to
35:30 - 36:00 bring light into a world of darkness. God is doing this over and over again. And so despite vicious wars, despite famines, despite deceitful husbands, impatient matriarchs, despite jealous brothers, family betrayals, even poisonous snakes. God's promise always prevails. But the dilemma is still there. There's still a dilemma. There's still a problem that we all have. You see, psychology can deal with
36:00 - 36:30 depression. Pep talks can deal with pessimism. Prosperity can deal with hunger. But only God only God can deal with our ultimate dilemma, and that's death. That's our biggest problem is death. That's the greatest enemy is is death. So today in what we're going to talk about marks a sort of pivotal change of God and and the moves he begins to make for our redemptive story.
36:30 - 37:00 And he does that through a man named Moses. Now when you get to Exodus 1, uh Joseph has died and the the the scriptures record that the people of God, they're getting greater and greater, right? They're multiplying. They're becoming stronger. the land is filled with them. And while we say, "Well, this is a good thing. This is what we want. We want God's people to grow. We want God's people to multiply. We want the whole land, the whole earth to be filled with them." Pharaoh didn't like this idea because to Pharaoh, it
37:00 - 37:30 threatened everything that he was. It threatened his power. It threatened his position. It threatened his kingdom. It threatened his reputation. And so, Pharaoh decides, "We've got to do something about this. We've got to stop the Israelites, the Hebrew people, God's people, from growing so much." And so he steps in and says, "You know what? We're going to make them slaves. And we're not just going to make them any old average slave. We're going to make them do the harshest work, the most laborous work out there." And that's what he did. And so he goes and he tries to
37:30 - 38:00 crush their spirit. He tries to crush their soul. He tries to crush everything without them. So God plans to bless his people, but it's like Pharaoh's plan just begins to consume them. And to make matters worse, Pharaoh decides ultimately that he wants to start killing Israelite children. And he orders the soldiers to begin to carry out this decree. And so he orders all male infants to be thrown into the Nile. And the girls, they get
38:00 - 38:30 to live. Happy Mother's Day. Most of you know the story, right? Most of you know the story of Moses. There's a lot of cool little, you know, impactful stories that you learned in Bible class, maybe growing up, or you maybe you learned them in an adult Bible class about all the different things that that Moses did, the different things that God was doing through Moses. And if you don't know the story, well, this is it in a nutshell. Moses's mother saw something special about him. Moses was a special child,
38:30 - 39:00 and she knew that I just can't throw my baby boy into the Nile River. I I'm just not going to do that. I've got a problem with that. I've got issue with that. And it's this this child is so special. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to make him a basket. In fact, the the Hebrew there is an ark. She's going to make him a a miniature ark and she's going to place baby Moses in that. And I'm going to pray and I'm going to hope that God is going to protect him, that somebody's going to find him. And that's exactly what happens, right? Pharaoh's daughter found Moses crying and took him
39:00 - 39:30 from the river. And she chose an Israelite woman to to help raise this child, to help nurse this child. and it happened to be Moses's mother. And you can read about that a little bit in Acts chapter 7 where Steven before he's stoned to death sort of gives this sermon if you will about God's deliverance and and Moses. And according to the historian Josephus, Moses becomes a general in the Egyptian army. Moses becomes someone. In fact, he
39:30 - 40:00 goes in and he has this campaign against the Ethiopians and it's it's successful. And so Moses is growing. He's getting stronger. He's getting wiser. In fact, Steven said that he grew mighty in words and mighty in deeds. He was privileged. He ate at the royal table with Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the land. He was educated in the finest Egyptian schools, educated in the in the Egyptian
40:00 - 40:30 language. But the greatest education he received was from his uneducated mother. She compared to all the Egyptian women, she was uneducated. She didn't amount to much compared to them. But she taught Moses more than he could ever have learned through the Egyptians. And she prayed for him. And no doubt you can imagine Moses's mother is teaching him to pray. And not just that, but she is teaching him. She probably looked at him time and
40:30 - 41:00 time again in his face and she would say, "Don't you ever forget who you really are. Don't you ever forget who you really belong to. You're not an Egyptian, but you're a child of God. You're Hebrew. You're an Israelite. You don't belong to Pharaoh. You belong to God." And as time went on, about 40 years later or 40 years old, that sort of came true because he witnessed another Egyptian beating one
41:00 - 41:30 of his fellow Israelites. And Moses didn't like that. And so Moses murdered the man, buried him under the sand, and that day changed his life because he fled Egypt. And he spent the next 40 years in the wilderness. And no doubt he never probably had plans to go back to Egypt. I can't go back to Egypt. So, he's gone from a palace to a field. He's gone from sitting with with heads of state, sitting with the most powerful people, dining with the most powerful people, and now he's counting heads of
41:30 - 42:00 sheep in a foreign land. Moses probably tried many times to put that event out of his mind. Once he was this confident leader, now he's a a fugitive on the run running from Pharaoh. And yet the people of Israel were still there and they groaned and they groaned and they groaned because the work was hard and they wondered where was God? Why isn't God doing anything? Why
42:00 - 42:30 how what is it going to take for us to be delivered from this oppressive leader from the the abusive death of slavery? And I'll tell you, one of the most powerful verses in all the Bible is in Exodus 2 25 where it says, "God saw the people of Israel and God knew." It's one of the most powerful verses on hope in the Bible. God knew. God knew what was happening. God
42:30 - 43:00 knew how it was affecting them. Jesus when he came into Jerusalem for the last time uh it record John records for us that Jesus wept Jesus knew Psalm 34:18 the Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit Psalm 23:4 even though I walk through the darkest valleys I will not fear because what you are with me your
43:00 - 43:30 rod and your staff they comfort me. God knows. You see, it it wasn't like God sort of stepped away for 40 years and started doing something else and had some other projects on the table that he needed to take care of and all of a sudden he just sort of glances back over here at Pharaoh and and the Hebrew, the Israelites, and says, "Oh goodness, I didn't see that happening. Didn't see that coming. I better step back in and decide to send someone or do something." No, no, no, no. God
43:30 - 44:00 knew. God knew what was happening. God knew what what was going on. You see, pain, as bad as it can be, it has a purpose. All of our pain is on this timeline. And if God wills, one day, we'll be able to look back and that pain will hopefully make some sense.
44:00 - 44:30 The people didn't know yet. The people didn't know that God was already planning their exodus. God knew what he was doing. The world didn't know it yet. But Jesus would come and he would secure our exodus. Now, of course, he would use Moses again for this plan because that's where we get in Exodus chapter 3, right? You get another 40 years and one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. It's a strange yet spectacular story. And I think sometimes we we read these stories in the Bible so much so that they sort of lose their uniqueness. Like
44:30 - 45:00 there is nothing normal about a bush burning but yet it's not consumed. There's nothing normal about that. That's a that's a miracle. That that's that's the the power of God. So Moses in all this is is again probably thinking we we know this because of his reaction to God. I'm never going back to Egypt. I I I just I cannot do it. God will never use me. But Moses's curiosity as he looks over and sees this bush burning sort of
45:00 - 45:30 gets the best of him. And so he begins to walk over there. And then God begins to say, Moses, Moses. And he replies, "Here I am." God says, "I want you to go back. I want you to go back to where you came from. I want you to go back to the place where you have no honor. I want you to go back to the place that you've tried your best to stay away from. I want you to go back because we've got some work to do. I I have some work I
45:30 - 46:00 want you to do for me. I want you to go back to where you're not wanted. I want you to return to the people that you abandon because we've got work to do. And here it goes. Who am I? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? And from this point, Moses gives five objections as to why he's not the right man for this job. Objection. Excuse after excuse. The
46:00 - 46:30 people won't believe me. I don't have the skills. Please God, just send someone else. Someone besides me. Eventually, Moses says, "Listen, you've got the wrong guy, God. You've got this. You've got this all backwards. You're looking for someone else. You're not looking for me. I'm a murderer. I've been gone for 40 years. I I'm counting sheep now. I'm not sitting at the head of the table. I'm not sitting with Pharaoh. I'm done. I'm content where I
46:30 - 47:00 am. I'm happy being an 80-year-old shepherd in a foreign land. I'm too old. God, I can't go back to I'm outclassed. I'm outmanned. I'm outgunned. I'd be out of my mind if I went. And besides all of that, I'm not a good speaker, God. Got a stuttering problem. I I'm just I'm not good at that stuff anymore. And I I I'd rather you just Who am I, God? Just over and over is excuse after
47:00 - 47:30 excuse and reasons he's trying to offer the all- knowing God as to why he can't work for God. Now, I wish God would have said something like this. Moses, Moses, why you? Because you were trained by the Egyptians for 40 years. You know their language. You sat in their cabinet meetings. You're the one who has instant access to Pharaoh. You are the perfect one. You are the very one who has been
47:30 - 48:00 trained in the wilderness for the last 40 years. You know every rock. You know every grain of sand. You know every cave in the mountain. You know every snake. You know every piece of wildlife. You know the layout of the land. You know Moses, you're the perfect person for this. Do you ever feel inadequate? I guess nobody. Okay, good. Maybe it's just me. You ever felt like you weren't good
48:00 - 48:30 enough? You ever felt like your family was too dysfunctional enough? that your past you you've got way too much baggage. You you've done way too many bad things and you've been a part of bad things. Maybe it's not that. Maybe you just you feel too shy. You you feel too fearful. You you're one of those that's just afraid to try things. You feel insufficient, unclear. You're unable to speak well. You lack knowledge. You lack the intelligence. You lack the platforms, the followers,
48:30 - 49:00 the endorsements, the qualifications. You don't have the degrees on the wall. You don't have the initials after your name. and you doubt God would never use someone as weak as me because I'm just I'm not or I can't. I'm too old. I'm too young. Whatever it is that God wants me to do, I'm just illquipped for that task. So, what do you do? What do you do when those feelings of inadequacy overtake your life? when
49:00 - 49:30 you know God is wanting you to move. God is wanting you to act. God is wanting you to go and do for him. God's response to Moses was this. I will be with you and my presence with you will be known for the world to see and my people will see it as a sign that that I know that I see that I haven't left that I'm still paying attention and together Moses
49:30 - 50:00 we're going to bring these Israelites out of slavery and Moses is like okay okay but what if the people ask me who you are what if they ask me what your name is because the idea was there are so many gods out there. So, so who do you say that you are? Who do I tell them that you are? And God tells Moses, you can tell them this that I am who I am. You tell the people of Israel that I am has sent me to
50:00 - 50:30 you. The enslaved Hebrews didn't need to know that God simply exists. They needed to see that he was present. And so God says,"I am who I am." It's a phrasing that comes from two two Hebrew words that mean I am and I cause to be Yahweh. If you come up to me today and you say, "Ryan, how you doing?" and I say, "I
50:30 - 51:00 am." Yeah. It's the reaction. You're going to be like, "You're what?" like, "Is there something wrong with you?" Because, you see, we can't get away with that. We can't get away with that response. Do you know why? Because we constantly change. I'm tired. I'm ill. I'm hungry. I'm happy. I'm fine. I'm good.
51:00 - 51:30 But God God's the only one who can simply say I am and I cause to be. So what God is telling Moses is you're going to be successful not because of anything that qualifies you. It's not that you've connected all the dots and you meet all the the right qualifications. That's not it. God says you're going to be successful because I am I am faithful. I am good. And
51:30 - 52:00 everything that God has ever been is what he will ever be. Malachi 3:6, God says, "I do not change. I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. Me, Ryan, I change every minute. You You change every minute." You do. We are all the time just changing. Moses, this is going to work because we're not relying on your changing nature. We're relying on my unchanging power. So what matters Moses
52:00 - 52:30 is not your ability but this availability. And again that's the story we've seen already. Noah was available. Abraham was available. Sarah available. Joseph available. They didn't check all the right boxes by far. But they made themselves available. What about you? Here's the thing about us. I say us cuz me too.
52:30 - 53:00 We often find every excuse we can. I'm too busy. I don't have time. The kids have got this. The kids have got that. And work here and work there. And you know what? I'm I'm just I'm too young to do stuff like that. I'm too old to do that anymore. I'm going to let the younger people take care of that now. I don't know enough. I'm not smart
53:00 - 53:30 enough. And God says to us the same thing that he has said over and over and over to people like Moses in the Bible. Listen, that's okay because you can lean into me. Isaiah 40, he gives strength to the weary. He increases the power of the weak. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will
53:30 - 54:00 soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Why? How can God give strength to the unqualified? Because God says, "I am. I am and I cause to be." So before you start worrying, Moses, about my name and where I line up among the many gods of Egypt, I want you to understand that I absolutely am. I am first. I am foundational. I am of infinite importance. When people ask
54:00 - 54:30 them, when they ask you who is this, you tell them that he is the one who is. He is the one who absolutely is. He is the one who sent me to you. You tell them Yahweh sent you. Whenever you see the Lord in all caps, that's Yahweh, which is built off of the word I am. which reminds us every time you see Lord in all caps, it's it's a reminder and it's a profound truth that listen,
54:30 - 55:00 God doesn't change. That God doesn't change. And believe it or not, we need that truth right now more than ever because the world we are living in is constantly changing. It's changing so fast that we can barely even keep up with it. The church has changed. The children we parent change. We change. You're getting older
55:00 - 55:30 and I'm getting older. Hair shows up in places that it never was before. Right? Wrinkles are showing up in places that they weren't there the day before. We forget things. We remember things. We constantly change. And here's the thing about change. Change will absolutely freak you out. Change will bring you to your knees
55:30 - 56:00 if you are not latched onto the one who does not change. It'll scare you to death. If you are not latched on to the one who does not change, to the one who can carry you through every change that you face in life. And he does that because he says, "I am. I am. God says, "Moses, you're about to lead people through radical change. And what you need to know is that the one who truly leads you does not
56:00 - 56:30 change." Now, Moses eventually says, "Yes." And there's this back and forth between uh Pharaoh and Moses with this famous line, right, of let my people go. It's a back and forth sign of force and power. And through plagues, God sends all of these plagues, right? Blood and frogs and gnats and flies and the diseases in the livestock, the boils, the storms, the locust, the darkness. And every time you've got this display of power so that they would begin to understand this is who you're messing
56:30 - 57:00 with. This is how powerful God really is. And finally, there's this moment that changed everything. It's through this final plague that God is going to reveal his plan of redemption. God told the Hebrew people to go and to take for themselves for every family an unblenmished lamb and I want you to slaughter it and I want you to apply some of the blood to the doorpost of your homes.
57:00 - 57:30 Exodus 12, I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Think about that night. Can you imagine
57:30 - 58:00 how how terrifying it must have been? You've got these all these Hebrew families and they all have each an unblenmished lamb. Imagine the commotion. Imagine the chaos. Imagine the the screams of of of the lambs. Imagine the, you know, the rustling of the people. Imagine the blood that's being shed. And every family has got to take this this bowl and fill it with blood.
58:00 - 58:30 And they've got to take this brush and they've got to go to their doorpost and they've got to sit there and dip and stroke and dip and stroke and to paint this blood all over the doorpost of their homes to make sure that their family was covered in the crimson blood. Can you imagine the screams, the
58:30 - 59:00 horror that happened that night in the homes of those who were not covered by the blood, the listening of of last breaths being taken. You see, only the bloodcovered homes were spared. But why was it them? Was it because they were Hebrew? No. Well, was it because they knew Moses? No. You see, it had nothing to do
59:00 - 59:30 with with who they knew, but it had everything to do with where they were. They were under the blood of the lamb. They had positioned themselves in a place under the blood of the lamb. So, here's a question. What if you were there? Would you have obeyed that commandment? Now, it's easier on this side of history, on this side of the page, right, to say, "Well, well, yeah, yeah, you know,
59:30 - 60:00 duh." But if you were told to take a lamb, to sacrifice it, to take the blood, to paint it over the entryway of your home, would you have done it? Or would you have said, "That is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. What do you This doesn't make sense. No, I'm not going to do that. It's never happened before. As far as I know, they would never be asked of them again. It seemed radical, right? But would you have done
60:00 - 60:30 it? You see, while we may not be Hebrews by genealogy, we have the same problem they had. We too are enslaved not to favor, but to sin. We always end up doing the very things we say we'll never do, right? We always end up doing the very things we pray to God to forgive us of and that we're going to do better, God.
60:30 - 61:00 We're going to we're going to try to do better. We're not going to do those things anymore. We always like to run our world our way. We always like to say, "God, step aside. God, scoot over a little bit. Let me get up on that throne with you. In fact, God, why don't you just go ahead and step off and let me stand up there because I've got some pretty good plans. I've got some pretty good ideas for my own life. Now, we may not literally say, "God, get off your throne." But we do it with our lives. We do it with our words. We do it with our actions. We do it with our thoughts. We do it with our
61:00 - 61:30 plans. And so, what we need is what the Hebrew people need, and that's someone to deliver us, someone to save us. Now, if you know the story of scripture, you know and you see what God is doing very, very early before Jesus even steps into our reality. God's plan involves the shedding of blood and the arrival of a lamb. John records the next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and he said,
61:30 - 62:00 "Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." Paul describes Jesus as our Passover lamb that has been sacrificed. We need what they needed and that is to be rescued. And so God gives us the perfect lamb, Jesus. And we position ourselves not under bloody doorways, but we position ourselves under a bloody cross. That's where we live. That's where we stay. That's where we tell God,
62:00 - 62:30 "I trust you. I need you. I'm dependent on you. I need to be rescued. I trust in your power. I trust in your ability to do that, to lead my life all the way to the land that you've promised me. So, I hope by now you begin to see there's this thread that's running all throughout scripture. The thread of Christ, the thread of God's plan, the redemption from Genesis to Revelation.
62:30 - 63:00 What we see is that we need someone to step in to save us, to redeem us, to rescue us. We need Jesus. Amen. We need him. And God invites us to Hey, you too can position yourself under the blood of the cross. Have you accepted that invitation? There are a lot of people in the world. There are people right now listening to me speak sitting here or maybe you're
63:00 - 63:30 watching online and you think, "Well, that's just the craziest thing I've heard of. I don't need someone to die for me. In fact, the reason I don't need that, I don't need somebody to cover my sins. I'm not that bad. I'm pretty good. I'm not as bad as so and so. I'm not as bad as those people. I mean, that's 2,000 years ago, Jesus stepped into our reality as the only perfect person who
63:30 - 64:00 has ever lived. And as you look at his life, as you read about his life in scriptures, you you may think you're pretty good, but you start comparing your life to Jesus. And it is as if Paul says that we, every single one of us, we fall short of the glory of God. Growing up, my mother uh she kept the cleanest house. Uh that woman must have mopped and dusted every single day. I don't know. Uh she's not here, so we can talk about her. Um but she will listen
64:00 - 64:30 to this later. So, but to this day, like you could go to my parents house and the the joke I always had growing up is, you know, I always tell my mom and little smart alec kind of way, right? Because that's me. I'd say, "Is the president coming over?" You know, because it looked that way. Like any minute, president's walking through the door and we're about to have this big meal. It's the way I grew up. It's the way my mother always was. We'd come home, the house pristine condition, and often the furniture was rearranged. Don't know why that was.
64:30 - 65:00 Some of you are laughing because you've experienced that as well. Um, but growing up, you wouldn't have thought that about me because I was a slob. I was one of those that woke up every night for some reason and ate food. Don't know why that was. I have another kid that's like that. Right. So, you go go look underneath her bed and there's bowls of cereal. There's bowl ice cream bowls. There's wrappers from Little Debbie. Who put those under there? Right. You've got cups and you've got all this trash and candy wrappers. And uh I was one of those that, you know, I
65:00 - 65:30 shove things into drawers. I shove things into closets because when my mother told me to clean my room and she walked in, she was going to see a clean room. Just don't open anything. Right. You've done it. Um, our boys when they were younger, we'd ask them to clean their room and they'd almost respond with, "Well, my room isn't as bad as his." You been there. That's what we
65:30 - 66:00 do. That's our That's just what we do. I'm not as bad as they are. Now, all I had to do for my mother to come into my room and check the cleanliness, all I had to do was step outside of my room and notice the rest of the house and how perfect it was. In fact, the running joke in in our house is when we tell the boys to clean the room, I want you to clean it like your mimi just cleaned it. And they know that that type of clean is a higher standard of cleaning.
66:00 - 66:30 It's higher than my cleaning. It's higher than their view of cleaning. It is a higher standard of cleaning. When God sent his son to live a perfect life, it completely eliminated this comparison game that we often like to play. I'm not that bad. Oh, I'm pretty good. And God points to Jesus. God points to the perfect lamb and says, "No, no, no. That's what I call perfection. That's what I call clean." And the one who says, "I see
66:30 - 67:00 that. I need that. I need help. I need deliverance is one that is wise. God through Moses led the people out of Egypt and across the Red Sea and what was supposed to be directly to the Jordan River. But somewhere along the line, things change and this cycle begins as we see throughout the entire Old Testament that you've got this forgetfulness on behalf of God's people. And yet at the same time, you get grace and you get the love of God from
67:00 - 67:30 punishment to protection. Here's what I want to say. God can and God will use you. It doesn't require certain things only that you make your heart willing to be used by God. God blesses every single one of us sitting here right now. God blesses us in so many different ways. Amen. He blesses us. He blesses you. You've got so many talents. You've got so many gifts. And God says, "I want to use them to further my kingdom, but I
67:30 - 68:00 also want to use them to further your faith." Don't ever make the mistake that God can't do anything with your life. Because at so far, God has used married and unmarried. He's used fertile and infertile. He's used young and old. God has used the least likely. And God will continue to work this way because God loves to use weakness and brokenness. He loves it. He loves it. And we love to hear about those things because it gives us hope because we're weak. We're broken. But it's one
68:00 - 68:30 thing to hear it and it's another thing to believe it. So instead of God saying, "Use me," we often are like, "God, if you could just use someone else, that would be great because we feel inadequate in those moments of inadequacy." I want you to remember, and again, we we forget this, and it's almost understandable that we do forget it, but God never calls us to any kingdom responsibility. we are capable
68:30 - 69:00 of pulling off on our own. God doesn't say, "Here's the kingdom. You take care of it. Here's kingdom work. It's all up to you." Now, God doesn't work that way. God has never worked that way. So, it doesn't matter if you're called to confront Pharaoh or you're called to love your neighbor as yourself enough to share the gospel with him. God says this, "It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has
69:00 - 69:30 mercy." Down in verse 18, so then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. Romans 9:18 in the New Living says this. So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen to him. In other words, all power belongs to God when it comes to anything that is intended to display God's glory, to advance his kingdom, to proclaim his word to a dark and resistant world, to win and save lost people, to shepherd souls, to battle demonic powers, to discipline our persistent dwelling in
69:30 - 70:00 sin. As Paul would say, who in the world is sufficient for these things? God, the great I am. What you view as inadequate and weak, God can use. In fact, your weakness qualifies you more than your strengths to serve in God's kingdom. While the world around us looks to human strength as a good quality, as a as a necessary quality, God is only impressed by one human strength. And do
70:00 - 70:30 you know what that is? That's faith. That's faith. Because faith is a dependence on God's strength, on his provision, on his plan. Read Hebrews 11. It's evident. Don't have the attitude of Lord, send someone else, but Lord, use me. And I'm sure you've heard this before. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. So, I know I've gone over really don't care, but just thought I'd let you know that I'm aware of it. Two invitations, two quick invitations.
70:30 - 71:00 Number one, will you allow God to use you? Paul writes in Philippians 1:6. He says, "I'm sure of this that God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ." God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. On the day of Christ coming, all the good works that are done in us will be complete. Question. Has Jesus returned? No. You can answer that. It's
71:00 - 71:30 okay. So, does that mean that God is still at work in us? Absolutely, he is. Um, as one writer said, God ain't done with you yet. He's not done with you. He's still working in you. It's bad grammar, but it's good news. And the imitation number two, all that starts with the call of God. 1 Timothy 2: 3 and4, God desires, God
71:30 - 72:00 wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of truth. And God, as he did in Exodus with the Hebrew people, he saves those who are under the blood. Psalm 32:1, blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Romans 5, that while we were still weak, Christ at the right time died for the ungodly. Since therefore we've now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were
72:00 - 72:30 reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life, more than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received reconciliation. I was uh eating a few weeks ago after a s Sunday morning service and as I was finishing up one of the members here um you're here right now and you walked up and we chitchated here for a second and
72:30 - 73:00 before you walked away you you grabbed my check and you said I'll get it. I said okay. What a godly man, right? What a good example of a man of God. What an inspiration I think to all of us. I let him. He wanted to. I'm not going to stop someone from being a blessing for someone from doing something good. So the waitress came
73:00 - 73:30 back to get my credit card. I I told her I said, "He took it. He took it." Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10 that one day you and I will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, every one of us, and we will provide an account of how we lived our lives. And that will encompass every word, every thought, every deed.
73:30 - 74:00 And if it weren't for Jesus hearing that, just hearing that, we would be shaking so much in fear right now. Like Isaiah, we would be undone. We'd be uncontrollable. But because of Jesus, we don't have to fear that moment. Because when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, I can look to Jesus and I can say, "Jesus told me that he'd get it." Jesus says, 'I'll get
74:00 - 74:30 it because he is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have you let him take away your sins? Paul was told in Acts 22:16, "Rise and be baptized, washing away all of your sins, calling on his name." Have you done that? The Hebrew people could have said, "Nope, I don't think so. This sounds this sounds ridiculous. I'm not positioning myself under the
74:30 - 75:00 blood of the lamb, but they didn't because they obeyed. They were delivered. And I pray that you make that same decision that they did. That you understand that salvation is a free gift of God. Let's close in prayer. Father, again, we love you so much. Thank you for the day you've blessed us with. Thank you for all of our mothers. And again, Father, we pray that you would be with those who were whose hearts are hurting this morning because their mothers are either no longer with them or because they didn't
75:00 - 75:30 have the mother that they wanted. Father, we pray for those this morning who are not yet under the blood of the lamb. Father, you've made it so clear throughout the entire story, throughout the entire from Genesis to Revelation, how important it is that we accept your offer of salvation, your free gift of salvation, your free gift of redemption. So, Father, I pray that our the eyes of the hearts of those who haven't yet been born again would be
75:30 - 76:00 open this morning. Their hearts would be pricricked as they were in Acts two. That they would respond to your free gift. they would be born again, rising to walk a brand new life, covered, covered by the blood of your son. Father, I pray for everyone here this morning. I pray that they would, including myself, that we would learn to love you more. We would learn to serve you more. We would learn to stand out in a world of darkness. That we would be
76:00 - 76:30 the light. We would be the salt. Father, again, thank you so much for Jesus. Thank you for your plan. Thank you for your provision and it's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing a song for our encouragement. [Music] Holy on Jesus name on Christ the
76:30 - 77:00 solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy day, my anchor
77:00 - 77:30 holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. He shall always in him be
77:30 - 78:00 found in his rightousness alone. All bless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
78:00 - 78:30 First of all, I want to welcome all of our visitors. And if uh you haven't done so already, if you'll take this card, scan the QR code, or just fill it out and drop it in the basket out there, uh
78:30 - 79:00 we will love to know that you were present. And I promise you, no one's going to call you and say, "Have you heard about Amway?" Um, and I know I'm running over. If you can't get in for about 40 minutes at the restaurant, don't blame me. Um, few announcements here that uh folks have passed along to me that weren't in the bulletin. Hopefully, you got the bulletin. uh want to make sure for the classics, today is the last day uh to
79:00 - 79:30 make sure they know that you're going to be there. Uh take a look at that note in the bulletin. Also, Cleveland Middle School is uh having a musical, The Olympians, and there are still tickets available for anybody, anybody that wants to go. We've got tickets. Leia U was letting me know out on the uh board outside. You can check in to make sure that you get those tickets. Um, also there's still teachers needed uh for
79:30 - 80:00 there's needed two of them for quarterly uh in the nursery in this coming summer quarter. Uh Steve Bivvens wants to thank Central for all the prayers offered for him. He's been the only person to fit into a specific genetic research program starting this week and he believes that it's because of your faithful prayers and God is good. Thank you for him and his wife Penny. Uh the ladies day meeting is Tuesday at 11:30 following
80:00 - 80:30 the ladies Bible class. That's for the ladies day meeting that will be conducted later in the year. Um also uh in the bulletin there we talked about Cindy Clayball Clayball's dad Danny Falls. He has improved and was moved to Ciskins for rehab for for a few weeks. And I think that covers it all. Uh, thank you.
80:30 - 81:00 All right, please stand. All right, our today before we're dismissed in prayer is shout hallelujah. So, this was a relatively new one that I've led a few times in a row. You guys picked up on it really well, so I like that. Shout hallelujah. Halleluah. Hallelujah unto the
81:00 - 81:30 Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout halleluah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Sing to God. The people shall be his throne. Hallelujah. Sing aloud to God. Joyful noise to the
81:30 - 82:00 Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout halleluah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout halleluah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. From the ends of the earth. From the ends of the earth. From the depths of the sea. From
82:00 - 82:30 the depths of the sea. Let all creation praise his name. From the ends of the earth, from the ends of the earth, from the depths of the sea, from the depths of the sea, let all creation praise his name. Shout
82:30 - 83:00 hallelujah. Shout halleluah. Shout hallelujah to the Lord. Shout hallelujah. Shout halleluah. Shout hallelujah unto the Lord. Shout hallelu. Shout
83:00 - 83:30 hallelu. Shout hallelu. Shout hallelujah unto the [Music] Lord again. Happy birthday to I mean
83:30 - 84:00 happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers. You know, I I can remember my mom. She was precious. And I'm married to a mom and I know the ups and downs of raising a family and all that. And it can be tough on moms. But bless you. Thank you for what you're doing and and God bless you. Uh Dale wanted me to
84:00 - 84:30 emphasize the the contribution at this time before we close. We're going to close here in just a minute with a closing prayer and may a pray a prayer for the uh for the contribution for the giving of the saints. But uh back in the old days before the pandemic, we passed a collection plate. But we don't do that anymore. We have a box, a black box out in the
84:30 - 85:00 forer on a round table out there. As we as we dismiss here in a few minutes, you you can leave your contribution in that box and also you can leave your you can you can contribute online and so so it's a little different nowadays. Let's uh let's uh close in a prayer and and for the contribution. Dear heavenly
85:00 - 85:30 father, we thank you for this opportunity that we've had to gather together here as a church to worship you in spirit and truth. We thank you for the the Sunday school teachers and the classes we've been in and and the song service and and the the service from the from our minister. Thank you for that. And uh just go with us as we depart and thank you for the opportunity
85:30 - 86:00 that we have to give back to you of our means. Forgive us for our sins and shortcomings and be with us as we depart here today and be with us as we uh out on highways and byways of life. Just bless us, Lord. and we thank you for all the blessings that we enjoy in you. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.