[{"video_id":"bib1vKxfUuc","title":"Sunday Service with \"Pathways to Possibility\", a talk by  Rev. Greg Dorst","description":"Speaker:\nDr. Greg Dorst\nAccompanist:\nRichard Berent\nSoloist:\nKaren Christie\nPlatform Assistant: \nChristine Johnson","channel_title":"Unity Burbank","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bib1vKxfUuc/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":null,"title":"Just Communities - People Things Street Lot Table Share","description":"It's so hard Keeping life together, even marginally, take such effort- It's more than a normal person could muster- and do anything else like work toward making their lives better. ... It's building a relationship by finding our common interest and coming together to ask someone who has the power to do something about it, Something that makes the whole community better.","channel_title":"Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City – Faith. Justice. Compassion. Community.","thumbnail":"https://storylearning.org/s/topic_art/community_better_world_common_good.png","captions":"Are opening stories were meant to suggest two poles of our public relationships: Someone we could easily pass by on the streets without much notice And someone to whom we open ourselves in a pretty dramatic way and share our home. It was someone who instinctively trusted her intellect And someone who more clearly and quickly trust her heart. So how do you know the world, Who is your neighbor, And how do you treat those that you do not know, haven't even really mad and perhaps find Not only strange but uncomfortably so? Everywhere and every aspect of our understanding, we're limited by what we think we know And the desire to avoid knowing actually that the comfort we have now is sometimes at the expense of someone else. What might drive us to examine our lives, if we're almost to her to find out that many of the things that we enjoy Are available to us because someone else has less? When we begin to suspect, We repress Two pretty crummy tension. Why would we want to look at how oppression affects others when it certainly means that we will have to give up some of our comfort, At least our mental comfort, And maybe even big things that we enjoy- John Buren's, who was the former president of our association road. What we need is more joyful ministers Who will move toward those in our pews who have amassed a certain level of accomplishment and financial success, yet who are yearning to lead, yearning to lead more compassionate, meaningful lives, learning to do what sister augusta neil asks of them. When the poor come For what is rightfully theirs, To give it to. Of course, we try to create a comfortable and safe place and hunker down. But if you're coming here and you feel something when we invoke every sunday morning our intention to build beloved community, not only here but extending beyond our walls, Then you were probably willing to stretch yourself And challenge what you already know. And when we do get hit over the head with a great change in culture, as we are in now Because of our economic challenges, I hope we take it on as an opportunity to see some things we haven't seen before, some things that have been deliberately hidden from our view. We are submerged in a culture Which has wanted us to believe that having money And buying things somehow makes us better people. This fiction is ben really powerful. We are told that poor people, including those living on the streets- I'm not so good. They don't share our commitment to hard work, Our sense of decency. They're likely to be pretty lazy and unwilling, and usually they are dirty and often dishonest and ready to pull one over on us if we let them. So perhaps it's best not to engage with them at all, Even better to avoid going where they are. But actually that's likely to be less and less possible. I remember a story that went around berkeley when I lived there. It was told as if it happened at the berkeley bowl, Although it might have been made up. In fact the whole story might be made up, I don't know. But even if this particular story is just a story- and it was straight, really my experience of people living on the streets and san francisco's tenderloin. Here's the story. There's a woman who was uncomfortable with the number of street people hanging around the store entrance. People wanting handouts and berkeley are not supposed to ask, But to sit quietly with his fine if they wish, and a cup of some kind. But even though they were silent, There they were. Every time our woman went to shop, She just didn't know what to do. She was just not comfortable. She was slightly afraid and very self-conscious. She wondered if they really needed help or if they were really just lazy and trying to find an easy way. Well, as someone who's done a street retreat With our faithful fools in the tenderloin of san francisco, I can tell you that asking for a handout it's not an easy way. One day on the street and I was so tired I was exhausted to the bone. I can't imagine How anyone who's living on the street And figuring out how to make any kind of a life there- Just getting meals and finding a place to sleep and being awake and several times a night and being asked to move on. It's so hard Keeping life together, even marginally, take such effort- It's more than a normal person could muster- and do anything else like work toward making their lives better. Well, Our women wish they would just go away, Ship somewhere else, Not make eye contact, And yet their presents continue to paulette her. Maybe they really did need her, help her. Maybe they were scamming, or but they Maybe we're ne'er-do-wells or who could not be trusted. I mean they didn't look trustworthy. They didn't look like people she knew. So one day she came up with a plan: She would give away $5. Just that, just get it over with. Just have her money ready and give it away, no more, no less. And if she pulled into the parking lot and opened her bag. She only had a $5 bill And that was good luck. She could get it all over with quickly Approaching the guy sitting closest to the door, she dropped the money into his cup and hurried in, And he came running after her. Ig. You know she was really unnerved. Messi cried: miss, I think you gave me a 5 by mistake. That's what I found on the street: People I thought would be strange and sullen. Who turned out to be kind and helpful to me, Who guided me to saint Anthony's, where I had a meal and offered to share what they had And had quite a community of their own. That's that's what lingered with me the most: The community I found on the street among what we call the street people. I have such a personal longing for community. I crave it, I need it, a place where I feel I belong. And after a few hours in the tenderloin, I felt a lot less like lady bountiful among the lepers And more like just another human being struggling to make the best of this human life. I could forget it Over and over that Creating justice requires working among people And not for them. It's really all about the. It's about companioning one another And seeking opportunities to be with people who are not exactly like me. Out of such encounters, New, unpredictable things can emerge. That's the model for peninsula interfaith action, Our community organizing affiliation. Everything happens in community. Everything happens at a relationship. It's not top down. We don't fix anything for anybody. We start by having conversations 121 we build connections and identify what people are feeling and what they're needing, and asking: where is the pain in your life? I read that over and over, And when we joined pof you years ago I tried to get it, but truthfully I'm only just beginning to get it. It's not fixing something for someone else. It's building a relationship by finding our common interest and coming together to ask someone who has the power to do something about it, Something that makes the whole community better. Our congregation here. Actually it's pretty comfortable. We're intellectually curious. A lot of us have college degrees and a lot of us have graduate degrees, which are markers for privilege in our society. I described us to new clergy acquaintances as people who may not have any money. We might actually be broke, But we have middle-class values, Including a love of learning, And we are used to being able to fix things. Community organizing is not about fixing thing. It's about discovering what we have in common and what is needed. What happens to us When we discover that our self-interest- It's connected to another person's self-interest? What is substance? Get shot down. We don't see, because our society actually designs blinders for us. We are not meant to say. Capitalism of the kind that is now being challenged Requires this blindness, and it requires that it play out in creed, And not just at the top, but from ordinary folks Like us Qui, Or at least I Want to hold on tight to what I have and live the way i've learned to live. Another uu minister, anita farber robertson right. Designed blindness is the capacity to remain unaware of that which is knowable by screening out information that we don't want to know Or conflicts with our map of reality. Someone last we make effort Will continue to stay asleep, because to wake up and look around Will threaten our perceived self-interest. Are we licious? Life- By which I mean, among other things, a commitment to wake up and do better, requires that we be willing to open our hands and our hearts And welcome a new view. When I attend a meeting, Everything is translated into spanish and english, And you know what It's tedious. Everything takes longer, twice as long and I begin to fidgets, at least at first. But sometimes I can let go and allow myself to really arrive. This is important. I say to myself: this is what it takes to be multicultural. This is another facet of really being welcoming and trying to grow my own solo. And isn't it about time I try to learn a little spanish myself? What might that open up? How do we sustain our desire for justice and staying awake when everything takes twice as long and it has to be translated? For me, it's exactly and building the relationship, Taking time to connect And share the stories and feel the expansion that begins to happen inside me When it actually happens. I am so stirred up and excited by the connection with others across racial and cultural and economic boundaries. I can't even sleep that night. I think that's the promise when we do this work, when we take it on, when we really take it on, light expands And we get to live bigger. Is there a community here? Welcoming to the wealthy and the struggling? And how do we consciously Breakdown the invisible gate at our door? This is a theological problem. If we mean it, When we talk about being welcoming to all and creating beloved community. How do we push out of our comfort zone? How do we consciously change the way we are accustomed to doing things? Well, among other things, we take horses like untying the gender knot And call each other to use language more carefully. The bathrooms at starr king school for the ministry are labeled female and transgender and male and transgender. It's long, and now it's awkward, is self-conscious, but it makes me think, And that's worth taking on- annoyance And sometimes even ridicule that gets stirred up against it. Our connection here with roosevelt school is growing and deepening. At least twenty of us go at least weekly And work with kids who come from homes where spanish is spoken. These kids are now our kids. We're not just wealth waltzing in from our side of the tracks. I know the three boys that I get to work with most every week have become important to me. A coffee h. A couple of weeks ago you donated $140 for hot dogs, just like that for their carnival. Someone else spontaneously gave a check for $100 to their pta. Others went over to the carnival and actually help, And the reports I heard were filled with enthusiasm. That's just one armor, vaipilla work. We have another, our healthcare team, And it is deeply engaged as well. They're sponsoring a program this wednesday night with dr kate forest of the commonweal institute. If you were intrigued, as I was, by george laycoffs work a couple of years ago- moral politics, how to think like an elephant Framing the public debate- Then I think you will find this program this wednesday night, very juicy. And next sunday afternoon At 4 pm at 1 pastore, which is in st peters just a couple of blocks down, brewster Madre Tana, who will be speaking at our service next week, will be leading on action, asking for the police to be even-handed in how they treat people who are pulled over. Currently, if an immigrant without Papers is pulled over, the car is impounded. Where is? If you were I were pulled over, chances are they would ask us to pull the car over and ask someone else to drive it home. So what seems right is that they treat everyone the same. And, by the way, thomas atwood, who is usually in our choir but not here today, Threads on the po board. Here's the thing. Building relationships Mostly leads us excited. It's not paperwork, it's not tedious, it's expanding our circle of care and affection and celebration. If you were feeling overwhelmed or scared, the best antidote is to get out and do something for someone else. If you are feeling hungry, Sometimes feeding someone else will fill you up. Think about who you want to be, Think about Who you are now and ask yourself how you might live a little bigger. We talked a little bit about the secret last week- the book and the movie that proposes that we create our own reality. I might have been a little more interested in the movie if the assumption wasn't that having more money makes for a bigger life. I think that's an awfully slippery slope To say that we create our own reality, because I'm afraid. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm afraid that it inevitably leads us To blame poor people for being poor And sick people for being sick. But we do make choices all the time, and our choices do matter. If who you want to be Is someone who lives a big and generous life and help make this world a little better place, What might you do this week, This week, To grow yourself in that direction? Maybe you'll be in a neighborhood with street people and actually talk to someone. Maybe just that encounter will help you to remember to bring Canned goods Next week for our food barrels. You won't be buying chilly because a good person buys chili, but because you have had a taste of a relationship. A couple of weeks ago, after the service, Jen Meyer, also usually in our choir, created an experience for us of the haves and the have nots, There were four table set-up in this poor corners of the room and we were told to divide ourselves and go to a table and make a mobile out of the materials that we found there to illustrate something about classism. We had 20 minutes, So I rushed the back over here and found that they were six other people at my table and the table was overflowing with material, All kinds of paper and string and ribbons and Stop. How could we possibly come up with a plan and execute it within 20 minutes? So what we decided was that each of us at the table would make something, would construct something, and then each of us would tie what we constructed onto wire hanger Weed separately, came up with an idea, tied it on and rushed back just in time. When we were gathered again to share our stories, I learned that each table had different things on it. Mine had only three objects. That table figured out how a concept could be demonstrated and got it made and sat talking for the rest of the 20 minutes. They were trashed, they were more cooperative, they got to sit and talk. I want you to substitute the image sitting on the front steps and being in relationship with your neighbors. So what kind of a community do we want to live in, And are we ready to be challenged when we say we're all in this together? Who is the wii? Look around And ask yourself: who is our? We Welcome all. We say it And I believe we mean it. But how much will we extend ourselves to make our circle wider? How far are we willing to go to make contact with The others, And what will happen to us If we sincerely try to uncover our own assumptions? This is risky stuff. We see through the glass darkly and we will our whole lives, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't learn a little bit more and see what happens. It's good to have a journey, It's good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey itself that matters. That, the ursula le guin. I want this to be a sermon that enlivens your entry, That piques your conscience and leaves you wanting, this week, Later today, Right after the service, to do one more thing. Then you would have, if you would not been here this morning. One thing, What, Just that, And talk about it. Talk about it with your family or a friend. Action and then reflection, and then more action and then more reflection. I know that we will almost certainly want to do more And talk about that. I know how generous you are, How loving and generous you are. This is the best congregation ever. I actually mean that, Although I'm prejudiced a little in that way. But you, with your generosity, inspire me to try more. Maybe something outrageous like doing last, so that I can be with others more. Maybe I should have coffee with my drayonna this week. I think she's lovely. I enjoy her company and she has a lot to share with me, a lot that I will learn. Maybe I should sit with Ramon Gomez outside on a lovely spring day and ask him: how is it going with your new job at pia? Maybe I should call any one of the clergy that i've met in arpia, clergy caucus, and say: I'd like to know you a little better. How about having coffee At the next clergy lunch? I'll bet I would bring at least a tiny bit more to the conversation and I'll have more fun, Because my connection will feel more true and more like friendship and less like a professional responsibility. And I'm almost afraid to tell you this, but I ordered spanish tapes to learn. What am I? Question says: how possible is it for me to learn new vocabulary, because learning is, frankly, a lot different now than it used to be? But I'm not ready to give up, so I invite you to ask me in about a month how I'm doing. I want to do something today to grow my heart And help create a more just community. When is titus for now? And blessed be.","score":0},{"video_id":"T8AvsujFFXk","title":"Kidzone Preteen Lesson \"So & So Show\" Easter 2022","description":"Kidzone Preteen Lesson\n\"So & So Show\"\nEaster 2022","channel_title":"Clayton Community Church","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T8AvsujFFXk/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"hey everybody rachel here welcome back  to another episode of the sew and show  show i'm so excited because today is all  about  easter one of my favorite holidays i've  got it all planned out we've got the  easter egg hunt we got the chocolate  bunnies we got the decorations it's  gonna be the perfect easter  i hope i'm not forgetting anything  i guess we'll find out let's go see what  john and brandon have for us today and i  will see you afterwards  what are you doing here  happy easter  yeah happy easter to you what are you  what are you doing here so early i'm  doing a sunrise service  what  you know at my church growing up on  easter sunday we'd always do a sunrise  service you get to church as the sun  rises and you celebrate jesus  resurrection okay okay well what time  does the sun rise uh 704 oh  well  you do realize we're in my basement  right we're inside  underground  you do realize you're gonna miss any  sunrise  <br>  happy easter  hello everyone i'm brandon and i'm john  and happy easter yes happy easter i am  so excited i mean  it's easter easter is huge yeah it's the  big day so we've got the biggest and  best show ever ever ever jelly bean  relays easter egg painting chocolate  bunny scavenger hunt and a bible story  with kellen oh yeah i got that too so  what are we waiting for let the easter  celebration  begin  okay you've heard of painting eggs for  easter well this easter we're painting  with eggs that's right we have our  easter eggs behind us as well as an  assortment of paints  we're gonna dip the eggs into the paint  and then throw them at these two  canvases to make some exceptional  exciting egg beautiful and  it's not just adding egg to a word oh  that's egg ridiculous  we're gonna make some art yeah let's  paint yeah  egg egg paint  <br>  oh hey works great  oh  i love it with the yolk  i can't break an egg  yeah man look at that that's awesome  okay mine looks really good i don't even  need any yellow yeah  oh the egg stuck to the thing  <br>  yeah that's what i'm talking about  now see that's pretty cool which is  pretty cool yours yeah it's perfect too  avant-garde  all right almost  we let's both go to mine okay okay three  two  one nice good that was really good  how long have these eggs been outside i  don't know a few weeks why ah  i mean the smell yeah well what do they  smell like like a like a burning ball of  cheese i was gonna say like a comatose  ostrich  it's disgusting right yeah yeah let's  promise never to do this again  okay all right you know what  next  ladies and gentlemen boys and girls of  all ages we present to you the ultimate  easter race for all the jelly beans  here's how it works we have a giant bowl  of jelly beans and over on this side of  the room we have two empty cups labeled  john and brandon hey that's our names  that's right awesome our mission should  we choose to accept it is to fill our  cups to the line with the jelly beans  but the trick is we have to move the  jelly beans with this spoon in our  mouths the entire time whoever fills our  cup first gets all the jelly beans i  accept ha-has do i  on your mark  get set  go  <br>  oh  sorry  why did you do that why did you trip oh  yeah like i didn't meant to do that on  purpose did you no yeah yeah well then  maybe my reaction was a little  unnecessary well maybe we should try to  do something where we actually work  together  deal  next  all right well uh let's be honest our  biggest and best show ever  has been a little underwhelming so far  yeah but you know what i think i think  we're gonna end  with something incredible oh yeah yeah  yeah with our chocolate bunny scavenger  hunt yeah  so we'll be given mysterious clues that  we'll have to work together to solve and  and if we can solve the puzzle correctly  it will lead us to a big surprise  come on open it okay okay okay here it  is this is our first clue this is gonna  be tough ready ready got my thinking  brain on there's a chocolate bunny in  your driveway  yeah  that's all it says chocolate bunny in  your drink well it's not much of a  puzzle no oh no  hey chocolate bunny oh yeah  let's go let's go  there it is  it's often worth it all right open it  open it open all right  all right  oh yeah  oh  <br>  unbelievable it is unseasonably warm  this is the worst easter ever  what are we gonna do now  i i don't know  bible story time with kellen  <br>  hey kellen yeah hey happy easter  yeah sure happy easter whoa  hey what's going on it's easter well  yeah exactly and kellen it's been a  disaster  melted chocolate wasted jelly beans  smelly eggs yeah but what about the  easter story  yeah i guess we should do that yeah it's  an amazing story how god made something  incredible out of something terrible  when no one else could see it  you know why don't you guys sit back and  listen  it's all you kellen easter is an amazing  story a story of hope a story of victory  a story of love  however the beginning of the easter  story was really sad and a little scary  you see  jesus had just spent the last three  years of his life telling people about  god  teaching people amazing things healing  the sick and loving the poor and the  outsider  but not everyone liked jesus message of  hope and love for all people and they  wanted to arrest jesus  so late one evening a group of soldiers  came to arrest jesus but one of the  hardest things was that judas one of  jesus disciples one of his 12 closest  friends in the world was the person who  turned jesus in to be arrested  when judas arrived with the soldiers  jesus asked them  who do you want  jesus of nazareth i am he  jesus must have felt terrible one of his  best friends had betrayed him  some of the disciples wanted to fight  but jesus went peacefully he was  arrested and taken to one of the  religious leaders to be questioned but  another one of jesus disciples peter  followed at a distance  while jesus was being asked questions  about what he taught  peter was standing by a fire to keep  warm and some of the people asked if he  followed jesus  you aren't one of jesus disciples too  are you  i am not  and then a few moments later someone  else asked the same question you aren't  one of jesus disciples too are you and  again peter said i am not  and then a third time someone asked  didn't i see you with jesus in the  garden no  <br>  again  jesus had a friend that abandoned him  denied even knowing who he was  after jesus had been questioned by the  religious leaders he was taken to the  roman governor a man named pilate the  religious leaders asked pilate to kill  jesus  pilate was confused he was trying to  understand what jesus had done that was  so wrong he said over and over again  that he found jesus innocent but the mob  continued to ask pilate to kill him  pilate said  look i am bringing jesus out to you i  want to let you know that i find no  basis for a charge against him  crucify him  pilate finally gave in to the mob and  handed jesus over to be crucified  now being crucified was a terrible thing  jesus had already been beaten  and he had a crown of thorns put on his  head jesus was then nailed to a cross  and placed between two criminals and he  was crucified executed  the soldiers  they divided up his clothes  he was mocked  jesus felt like god had forgotten him he  hung there until there was a point where  he lifted his head and he said it  is  finished  after that jesus died jesus had gone  from teaching thousands of people  giant crowds following him being loved  and adored by so many to feeling  abandoned by his followers by his  closest friends he even felt abandoned  by god  i bet that almost everyone thought that  this was the end of the story  his followers had to feel incredibly  helpless in fact we've probably all felt  that way sometimes  like nothing good could possibly happen  but this  was the ultimate despair  and that's when something incredible  happened  after jesus had been buried and placed  in a sealed tomb mary magdalene a  follower of jesus went to the tomb and  saw that it was empty mary magdalene  rushed back to tell some of the other  disciples and they came back with her  and saw that it was empty  the other disciples left and mary was  there alone crying  mary saw a man that she thought was the  gardener and he asked her  why are you crying who are you looking  for  sir did you carry him away tell me where  you put him then i will go and get him  but it wasn't just the gardener it was  jesus and jesus simply said to her  mary  teacher  jesus had risen from the dead he told  mary to go tell the disciples what had  happened and she did she told them jesus  was alive  things had looked dark  things were sad  but god had done the impossible jesus  had overcome death  and that story is just as true as it was  over 2 000 years ago  jesus is constantly working in the world  and even when things are bleak we can  have hope  and that's why we can say no matter what  happy easter because jesus is alive  what did you all think  i i mean it's pretty incredible i forget  how hopeless it looked before easter  morning  well i think we all can learn to have  hope even when things are tough  and it doesn't mean that you can't be  sad or angry jesus disciples were sad  jesus was probably sad that he had to go  through all that terrible stuff but in  the end we can have hope when we put our  trust in jesus we can have a  relationship with god that lasts forever  and that is some incredibly good news it  sure is thanks kellen hey happy easter  buddy happy easter i'll see you guys  soon an incredible story yeah easter  means so much to so many people all  around the world including all of you  watching right now in fact reveal the  question  what does easter mean to you yeah maybe  it means time with family and fancy new  shirts yeah maybe it means easter egg  hunts and fun games but easter means so  much more it's a reminder that there is  hope even when it seems like there isn't  yeah that there is a god that loves you  we can have hope because jesus is alive  so happy easter yes and we'll see you  next time on the so-and-so show  wait i'm running out so i'm just one at  a time kick it off the table oh yeah  yay that is actually kind of fun  oh  where did that come from  <br>  the guy inhaled it oh you did  ah what a good question what does easter  mean to you  i think i might have had it all wrong  easter isn't really about having the  perfect schedule or the perfect games or  the perfect food even though those  things are nice  easter is all about  jesus and the hope that he brings us  i'm so thankful for that reminder today  i know that i don't have to have a  perfect day  or a perfect life to know that jesus  loves me that he is good and that he's  always with me so  what does easter mean to you we'd love  to know so tell us in the comments send  us a message and i will see you next  time here on the so and so show bye guys ","score":0},{"video_id":"49WyldpvqmQ","title":"Campaña Evangelistica","description":"","channel_title":"Santa Ana Spanish SDA","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/49WyldpvqmQ/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"you are cordially welcome from our heavenly father and from the  santana mclaren seventh day adventist church you are cordially welcome because it is a pleasure it is a joy and it is a privilege to serve our god it is a privilege to praise our oral god then you are very welcome that god through the holy spirit and in your hearts and open your minds to listen to the word of god tonight  and that what we learn stays in our hearts in our minds to put it into action truth then you are very welcome and  To begin,  I invite those of us who are here and those who are watching on the different platforms to bow our heads to ask for the direction of our god. We pray, Lord and Holy Father, that your abode is up to the height of the heavens, Holy Lord, Holy, Holy and blessed be  your precious name once again parents we are here in your presence first to ask you that your infini  ta mercy forgive us for the saint our sins sir our faults we make mistakes at every moment father we beg you please  forgive us sir to direct us sir and guide our minds and our hearts father to be able to do things according to your so much divine will  we give thanks father for the opportunity you give us to be here praising and glorifying your name sir we beg you that your holy spirit moves freely as it does within this your house holy father yes within the heart of each one of us lord who anoints the  preacher of these tonight, sir, that the words he says are words that you put in your mouth and in your mind, sir, because they are to teach their peoples, thank you parents for the opportunity you still give us to open your holy word freely, sir help us to understand it to understand it sir and that it is born from our heart to scrutinize more your scriptures father because in them  we find who you are father a god of love a god of mercy but he is also a god of judgment sir we forgive holy fathers and leading tonight because we all ask in the sweet name of your beloved son christ jesus amen  once again very good afternoon  dear brothers dear friends family who see us through the different platforms it is a pleasure to be again in the house of god praising and glorifying the name of our heavenly father this afternoon we are going to praise our father with these songs and may they be for  the honor and glory of him we begin with hymn number 356  56  once again we give a cordial welcome to all our visitors who are with us today thank you for being present jesus is happy because he is in the house of god <br> I am not alone, it will not be worth it <br> ready always speaking in his paths you are not the lord there are no witnesses you are not christ out of habit and enjoy his  presence is not the Lord  x it does not matter if there is affliction I already know it  is Christ my being I am not Christ by my side I have relief from sin soon I will go to holy heaven what is the dream  how many of us are joyful as the song says joy is praising our father heavenly we continue with hymn number 353  <br>  the media  in heaven mine has never seen sweeter music than this song of love  sounds less  sounds a song in heavenly tone sounds less in my being my heart in the ordeal of your life for  save me jesus pay my sins but in the middle it fills me with joy  if i usually see us heavenly new melodies in my being if my heart sounds  <br> my lai the glory of snow adoration will be daily to die with the sight  sounds and so it was  heavenly to stay  days in my being add up in my heart <br>  the afternoons brothers in matthew 99 says the word of god as he continued on his way jesus saw a man named matthew who was sitting where they charge the taxes and he said follow me and Mateo got up and followed him this is the word of God  good night brothers it's time to see what visitors we have for the blessing that God has given for you tonight we would like to know you have your red tickets that assist you please let's start with the first one  it's 0 48 who will have the number 0 48  [Music  ] god bless you sister looking for the best place tonight to be here to hear the word of god  0 47  0 47  let's see the  third  number 0 46  046  <br>  046 they are not the same  as they already have they envy it 's fine then God bless you brothers and enjoy tonight and the other nights and always with us God bless you  now I invite you  to my brothers that we all stand up so that we can sing the theme song that we have been singing during the week sir transform  <br> end sir transform me into your feet <br> renew  every thought then forgive my mistakes and heal my pain perhaps my fears for liberators the lord back  <br> and say that there is a new heart just as treasures in heaven and god transform and the mind  only your blood has the power to purify  transform [  Music] Lord and take me to meet you  from that fire and not in the desert,  instead notice and give it victory I want that degree my memory  look  in my new heart that keeps treasures in heaven they transform us and the mind only your blood has the  power to purify  transformers  lord transform decide to be oh my new heart that keeps treasures in heaven and transforms us and washes  only your blood has the power to  purify forms <br>  transforming  after forms  the lord in his great love is always willing to help us and at this moment it is precisely what we are going to do to address him and say thank you sir for your great love that you have for c  each one of  us tonight brothers I know that some of you have a need of any kind just raise your hand  and at the same time I thank you because you have answered one of our prayers for our son and then the Lord is working praise his name  and I know that many of you have also been repeating the orders that are made night after night, it is true that what was done in the mornings is being done at night today I am not going to do them they are already registered remember they are already in the  presence of the lord tonight we are going to do differently we are going to pray for our sister marina  she is our visitor sister serrano he was very happy that she is here  today we are going to talk about  her second third time visiting the third second yes we are going to pray for roberto and daisy for  your baby wants to come back right now brother  and look they have their precious little baby come with your girls if you have to present them also before God here d  e my ideas and they are twins sisters so take a good look at your twins with your girls robert come with your wife come on son and with your baby if he cries a little what does it matter sir he likes to hear the cries of children here come that heart come make me and now I come for you of course now I have a hard head well tell me the name gadiel come brother gadiel here we are also going to pray for you so from here I need a visit they are almost home now but I am going to bring it to erika and  odilón the ruiz family come brothers today is the night to pray for our visits and i need conchita i need to look over there go forward go to heart and now conchita come and her little sister melts and her name is like my mom she doesn't owe me  forget the name and the son of sister marie is not called after my son and after my husband sergio is called and then in the end since we pray for all of you we are also going to pray for my husband who is the one who will present the word  from God brother gabriel is on his knees they already have some special request my queen is the most precious thing for us the baby brother is so cute with his little eyes ready my daughter do you have any special request  my brother forgive me tell me his name  omar well josé omar we can tell him true, that's how you both look, ok, brother, I probably won't remember all of your names, but the Lord is looking at you, conchita, brother, omar, roberto, with your baby, daisy, brother, gabriel, he wants a miracle from God and from this cute little family couple  ruiz and denis with their girls what's your name love  chapel  there are so beautiful so let's kneel brothers our prayers are going to be for them tonight ok we ask for martita we ask for danny ramírez that they listen to us and here I have the other name that  my sister gave me we have here norma vázquez sister norma you our visit and you are listening to us we are going to pray for you whatever you want  What you need, the Lord will give it to you, ok, let's pray,  dearest father in heaven, we praise and bless your sacred name, here is this group of your children who have come to your house, father, they have come to look for you, they have fallen in love with you  sir and they are following you they are coming because you have called them we beg your holy spirit to touch the heart of each one of them that they continue coming to you not just to the church to you sir because you say come to me all those who are worked and loaded and I will make you rest that your daughter conchita sir your son omar your son roberto your daughter of y si your daughter marina your daughter your daughter denis with her girls and sir jesus your daughter erika your son odilón and your son and you gadiel  thank you, your son dear lord you say oh lord jehovah behold you made heaven and earth with your great power and with your outstretched arm and there is nothing that is difficult for you your son gabriel needs you in a very special way and then you  You answer the prophet and tell him there will be something that will be difficult for me, you tell him like this, that's how you tell each one of us, there will be something that will be difficult for you, sir, to work in these families, nothing and difficult for you, thank you very much, we want tonight  In a special way, I humbly ask you for my husband, Sergio Vasquez, that your holy spirit, Lord, guide his thoughts and put your word in his mouth. Please help him to give the message to us families and to each one of these children of yours who has come looking for you, Lord.  be praised today always in christ jesus our savior we thank you amen sir amen  <br>  good afternoon every night brothers good afternoon or night  I'm going to take a song for God's arrangements and if you know my brother invited him to sing with me  [Music  ] i <br>  i  yes man  what about me  sitting next to me yes <br> and telling me <br> it 's sad <br> at dawn [Music ] winter <br> love covered  neither  no one <br> killed  like you jesús <br>  even more duels  and how he resists going to both talk and  resist you jesús <br>  him  on sad nights  you remember me <br>  and so  on  love covered <br> how to resist  oh  with love to live <br> and how to resist  <br> as a network  <br>  ]  how much we thank natanael for this song how to resist the call of christ jesus when he is calling us and wants to hug us he wants to love us with full hands do not resist we are going to wash this our heavenly father with this praise that is for the  honor he is coming soon what a glorious meeting that day will be  no no  ah <br> announces christ our hope is finally coming soon it will come soon it will come soon it will come zealous I meet <br> and many have said in his name I am the christ  they were rumors of threads i am worldwide soon it will come soon it will come like that soon  the glorious encounter will come  <br> nothing christ is coming for his people who are faithfully waiting for nothing christ is not far from our redemption to advance glory is found <br>  portman is victory  will come from heaven those who died in the resurrection  will soon come will soon return to soon let's get along very well  in an instant we will be transformed our clothes will see immortality  soon will come soon will come soon  the glorious encounter will come  or not ready for his people  christ I'm close to  our net for nothing of glory is found  <br>  I had  everything enter  everything <br>  soon it will come  soon it will come <br> jesus will return <br> has seen well <br>  by his fire he  I hope  <br>  the  minister is coming  for his town  but  <br>  I think we could leave after this hands  come soon and  Whoever doesn't believe it, just look around as much as the Lord reserves for me, suddenly  tonight, brothers, I have had to talk about how you have noticed, every night we have been talking about a different handsome disciple of Jesus  and tonight it was the turn of one of mateo's first I want to tell you that I am very happy my sister my sister is going to use it on Saturday she lives in tijuana and I am sure she is not looking right now on facebook and we were studying with her thank you my  wife for her help that she has given us  studying with her and last week we asked her if she wanted to use it and she said that if she wanted to use it and it is a great blessing the joy for me my mother was baptized here here in these rows of PANism she was there  she was baptized after being very attached to her church and she already went to rest my dad was baptized here too they were Obregón we brought them we studied with them here too  he was baptized even though he went into mexicalli because later he had another wife and he was very dejected well where he had to look to find him in a very bad condition we worked with him we dreamed the bible says out he also did the rest by grace to god in the name of  jesus and the wife of enjoyment here also got baptized here that and now my sister with God's favor tomorrow morning we leave Tijuana and we're going to go get her so that on Saturday with God's help they get baptized so it's a great blessing  brothers everything is possible jesus can brothers jesus is great god is powerful and can do everything and many of us who are here for those who think it is difficult many of us who are here of the humans that you look at go through difficult problems many go through alcoholism Of you who are here, you can see that you looked very well well dressed, you were top-class alcoholics, drug addicts, brother, I was on drugs for about 10 years in the  drugs and alcoholism heavily brothers if it is if not for the blessing of god I would be dead or in jail right now the path they took has not taken me anywhere else than to have ended up dead in jail but god is great this is great god is great and it is so sweet and it is so beautiful it is so precious to be in the paths of our god lives such a great thing brothers so let's go ahead with the visits take hold of jesus' hand and you will see that things  they are going to be different we all have problems but with jesus the problems look different so we are talking about matthews this morning we are talking first of all that the people of israel were subjugated by the romans they were forced by the romans they conquered them and the roman people imposed them  very heavy taxes very heavy taxes everywhere in the provinces of israel the tax collectors had their posts everywhere at the gates of the city on the ships on th beaches of the ships in the ports everywhere and it was a treme dous thing how the romans had their arriv ls at the pole of israel this story that e are going to talk about right now happe ed in the town of capernaum caper aum was a place  where we fled his christ and the bible says that it was his house as he used to visit other other towns other towns around him regularly were what they call the sea of galilee and the sea of galil rather a very large lake but it was so big that they called it the sea sea of e he used to go around that place a lot and a por that they escaped is still where he was l ving there he traveled to other place but he always gave back caper aum so this experience of tonig t matthew was there in the port of cavern ul and we are going to go through that day of our jesus christ when this happened of matthew of matthews he got up as always he went now to his place q  that he liked to go out to his house in solitude and he cried and communicated with our father with his father and he came back when he came and there were many people in the house already Jesus was famous in the house where he was and that was when he told him  they told the paralyzed man if you remember the house was full you couldn't go in anymore and this paralyzed man was attracted by four friends and since they couldn't get into the house they put him up on the roof they opened something upstairs before and lowered him down there right and that's when jesus  he told him your sins are forgiven you and those who were there and then criticized him how he pretends to be god how can he say that he forgives sins like louis your sins are forgiven you immediately jesus said well it's easier to say your sins to you  they are forgiven or get up and walk then of course your sins are forgiven or they are true words but to say get up that the one who got up the paralytic and who has walked that has sa walking was something else it was a great miracle but jesus first said your sins that are forgiven because the need of that paralyzed man at that moment was greater the burden he carried of the guilt he carried was greater than his desire to be healed that's why jesus first told him your sins are forgiven you after there after getting that jesus leaves there he left the house and well many people follow him now and he went towards towards the sea towards the shore of there in a cave  one and in the port and a crowd of people followed and that's when they found this is not a photo it's really nothing it 's the drawing of jesus arriving there where mateo is still there we see the shore of the sea that's what happened and mateo was doing  his job that he did every day was to collect collect the taxes from the boats that arrived there in capernaum to the cave so we are going to look at the verse that he brought that we have in this  this afternoon  the verse that was the the verse of  d that the double reading was read the biblical reading says is matthew 99 says jesus passing from there he saw a man named matthew who was sitting at the bench of the public tribunes and said follow me  and he got up and followed him what a spectacular thing what a  strange thing matthew was doing his job and how is it possible that jesus arrives and he mostly says follow me and jesus gets up matthew gets up and goes with him imagine that this is your job like mateo was doing and someone comes and they tell you to follow me and you get up and leave they are going to help you it is not to fire immediately so how are you going to leave your job that you were doing that impression how you felt matthew impressed at that moment how jesus would look what face jesus would have at that moment when he crouched down and there was a crowd a lot of people there those who were going to pay taxes those who came with jesus the guards who were  They were taking care of Mateo because there were thieves, he connected a lot of money, he put a special guard on him to take care of him too, all these people like Jesus would look at Mateo who was sitting collecting taxes and told him to go on and Mateo didn't say anything, he simply got up  and he followed him and followed him  says here he was a tax collector true at that time the tax collectors were called the so-called publicanos publicano because they have to do with the public that is why it is the public word not because they have to do with the public and  from the public school collecting taxes he also got rich at the expense of the people the Romans told him you have to connect let's say a dollar for each for each anything they connected much more they connected four or five five times more than what they should charge  that is why they were hated by the people they did not love them they also considered them traitors the people the Jewish people or considered them as traitors because as it is possible that being Jews they allowed themselves to work for someone who was that they were enemies of the people who were enemies of the Jews who were the Romans and they worked for them alone they considered this type of traitor as traitors  workers to these publicans to these people who connected that connected the taxes the Romans did not want them nor did the Jews want them nor did their people want them so the writings considered them as traitors but that is how our jesus christ arrives and tells him  follow me follow me another thing that we are going to see here it says that it was going through the mind at that moment that our lord jesus christ  at that moment that he created us that his christ arrives and you tell him and follow me that what was what matthew was thinking is not  merit when I look at him I had heard of miracles of him I had heard of how to calm the storm of how how the p  anes converted them a few breads and a little simple and elements five to five thousand people he also healed the paralyzed crippled patients he said that the bible says that where he passed no one was sick and what's more they ended up taking people where he was going  to happen because with just him passing people were healed can you imagine a show like this brothers of people who were not only with the flu or who have an illness but serious illnesses  and he told us that this happened and people were healed brothers who pose  so so beautiful too but no sins there is always this cake for electric that is just heard from him he said your sins are forgiven you of his cape these games are punished he consoled those who suffered he always gave them words of comfort don't cry to love him  he said my brother is dead don't cry your brother is not dead ladies word of comfort and countless people were always following him always  they wanted they wanted to be with him other than matthew apparently he was happy he hated his mansion he had his riches he was a respected man he had all the comforts he had servants he was a rich man all these people who were collecting taxes were very rich people he had many possessions  and mateo was one of these so he wasn't happy he wasn't happy he was spiritually he didn't have he didn't have happiness he wasn't happy about that life of that life that he that he had now that the internal struggle that mateo had true the internal struggle  what I had what I do I get up I go with him what am I going to do I will be able to live I will be able to live if all this what I have now and if I follow Jesus and many times it is difficult for us when we come to church and when we are  introduce this of following jesus we think about the things we have with the friends we have and it will be possible that i can that i can do this change my life by following jesus another thing v  Let's talk a little about him about Mateo in his first no first was to name Lenin the Lord Jesus changed his name he agreed to Mateo because Mateos the gift of God means gift of God so her name was lady and if it was life it was possibly  from the tribe of levi and he he knew the the tribe of levi they were in charge of the temple of everything that was the furniture of the temple they lived from the temple and was always in the temple that is, they knew the scriptures they knew about the messiah they they were waiting for the messiah so when he looked at him he knew he was the messiah he realized for all that he already knew for all that he had been educated when he when he was when he was a boy then there  let's look a little about what was in the book of matthew and the first thing we see the book matthew has 28 chapters the next is the book of luke that has 20 20 24 and there juan has 21 and then marcos has 16 then  he burns  s he wrote of our vice christ was the apostle to the apostle the position in matthew he was the one who wrote the most of our in jesus christ and he was the one who wrote the geology what he what he wanted to do in his book was was to verify that jesus was  the messiah that jesus was the need because he was what the people were waiting for the savior was waiting for the messiah and he recognized him immediately and in the genealogy the genealogy begins lucas has a crazy genealogy they have a genealogy of david also of jesus also but not like that of matthew he immediately begins the first the first verse saying the genealogy  says to of jesus son of david son of abraham because he said this because the people knew the people knew that he the king the messiah would have to come from the lineage of  david because david was promised a kingdom forever that his offspring would have a kingdom forever then matthew had provable that the jesus  he was the messiah and also right away he puts son of david son of abraham because for the jews the father was abraham the father of all was abraham and abraham was also promised in your seed all the nations of the earth all the nations of the  earth and there will not be enough for him that was jesus the one that through him all the nations were blessed all the nations of the earth there are also things that are not mentioned in other books that are mentioned in matthew for example this is of those of  the visit of the wise men at birth and jesus is not mentioned in another book in the others in these three gospels in mark luke and john it is not mentioned it is only mentioned in book d in the book of matthew also when he fled when the massacre of  the children when he ordered the killing of children 2 years old and under no other book is mentioned, it is only mentioned in the book of matthew the other one also the death of judas I have not noticed that I just did it  I also turned on no other gospel to the other three they mention the death of Judas how he died you play only in the book of the book of material that would be interesting if Mateo had not written that about how Jesus died excuse me Judas we did not have exact information on how he died you play but he was the one who recorded it record also gospels is the parable of the direct only in the book of matthew or that we continue gift he left everything he left everything and followed him we are going to return to matthew where he was he left everything and followed him no  he didn't care about his social position he didn't point to his mansion he doesn't care about riches he didn't care about comforts  nothing like these he told him just like matthew was like just like that yes he followed our lord jesus christ nothing nothing I have value nothing had value only he wanted to be wanted to be with jesus  one thing that matthew also did notice the next verse verse 29 tells us that that same day that same day in the t  burns if we can't appear in the morning get well paralyzed walks on the beach sees mateo and invites him mateo goes home and prepares a meal for him prepares dinner a dinner for jesus and how interesting this is how interesting this is that mateo  it is not a revolution of jesus he was not ashamed of jesus many guests came many guests who were at the party that mateo gave to jesus and I started to think many times the opposite happens with us we really know the lord and sometimes we feel sorry when we are at work true because you are going to be noticed differently when you come to church when you meet jesus they are going to notice something differently or you are not going to go to the canteen anymore or you are not going to go to parties anymore and they are going to  say hey but you don't come why don't you come and then sometimes you say well it's that sometimes you don't want to say because it's true because you're going to a church because you don't want others to know you want to commit for  that later they are going to give him cheeks then they are going to say things to him and he does any little bad thing then it is but pay more attention to or not matthew gave himself purely and completely jesus he did not care what people would say to him he did not care one  big party and the whole town his whole neighborhood realized that he was throwing a party for jesus he didn't care besides that they were going to say the rest he completely gave his life to jesus look what an interesting thing also when when jesus died  when jesus died when they crucified him all the disciples left those who had been fishermen were scattered but and those went fishing those who were from mouse went to fish the disciples who were from many went to magicians they went to that town but mateo nobody knows about mateo mateo had no one because neither the jews nor the romans wanted him then and it is not said that he went he was absolutely nowhere  he didn't leave like the other disciples he stayed there he stayed there he was completely convinced that jesus was the messiah that jesus was the almighty god immanuel god with us god made flesh to come save us it 's something very interesting that I did very well  also then we do not see this that he throws a big party for matthew no he was not ashamed of jesus he was not ashamed of jesus because as I say to you when you come to church and keep coming to church they will notice something different and they will  to ask today not anymore you don't do this anymore not like that anymore and that's when we can certify that we believe in jesus that we believe in god  we come to another character ok let's see another character now this this this this  character something good happened to him jesús  limited him too jesus invited him too the verse is this matthew 1921 is the rich young man of rich young man we have called disciples 21-22 but this young man approached jesus in the cu  to jesus and tells him what i must do to obtain eternal life and jesus told him good to keep the commandments and he told him i keep them which is the commandment of the son and jesus told him you will not kill you will not start his subsequent a challenge father to take and  he told him I have kept them since my youth it is a place that I was young and jesus told him another thing the son only one thing you need go and sell everything you have and come and follow me the same thing that matthew said follow me come  and follow me jesus wanted this young man to be one of his apostles also come and follow me and says the one who got sad and couldn't because he loved his riches more than the call of jesus and he left and someone else knows what happened to him with him with  the young rich man has never been heard from again nothing was heard from him other than this incident he left and was never heard from again he did not want to accept jesus instead mateo who accepted that invitation from jesus when jesus told him follow me is his name  says that the holy city where we  we are going to live when jesus comes and we go with him the holy city has twelve foundations twelve foundations has in each one of the foundations it has the name of one of the apostles and there in one of the foundations is the name of matthew matthew immortalized himself he accepted  our jesus christ 2 here i have here are two different people two people the same the same invitation they follow the same invitation different results matthew said the man followed him the rich young ruler did not want now the question is where is he where is the rich young ruler we don't know we don't know but we know that mateo will be ready when our jesus christ comes to go with him i would like to end this way here here because it is this table representing  mateo's table where he worked his table where he does his work he collected taxes but mateos is no longer ready  he left with jesus the table was left alone he left with jesus the people who were there did not pay taxes he left with jesus and  he left everything he left everything now he asks me does he want to follow jesus he means to make a possibly it is this bag that represents the problem you have with your wife or how much husband perhaps perhaps it is an attic light record of those who give taxes represents the problem you have in your  I work with your employer, perhaps the coins represent some vice, something hidden somewhere that you have, or some incident that you have not been able to forgive yourself for, because those are one of the most difficult burdens when we have done something in life and we carry it Leonese  loading and we haven't personal or we haven't forgiven him and it's time to take him to jesus we haven't asked forgiveness for that and that thing we did will always be there and it's going to bother us but it's time to take him to jesus to have that  rest right the table is empty right here at the table can we can leave all that we can leave all that all those things that are disturbing us to continue  to jesus and to follow jesus jesus that is the most beautiful thing there can be is the most beautiful thing you can see we have problems everyone has problems but with jesus the problems are different they are different 100% guaranteed no matter what the problem is jesus is there  and with jesus life is much better much better here that the problems remain the difficulties like matthew who left it on the table let's leave the table and let's follow jesus let's continue i invite you to stand up and have a prayer  our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name lord at this time lord jesus christ we accept you all of us here accept you as our personal savior lord once again dear lord those of us who have already done so every day lord and at this time  in this place at this very moment lord jesus that we accept as our savior people and those holy fathers that your days said the one who believed and was baptized s  it will be saved the children are little sir the children do not understand when they are little but we are already big we understand and recognize our capacity sir and at this moment we give you our life design help us holy father those who are deciding to follow you permanently sir speak to them in their hearts that  The Lord understands that following this to you is the most beautiful thing that can be thank you holy father because we are here thank you for these visits that have come Lord day after day looking for you holy father give them that blessing that they feel happy that they feel your  holy spirit may your holy spirit speak to their hearts and tell them that they are doing the right thing sir for them and for their families we praise you we classify you sir because forever is your mercy in the name of our god and savior christ","score":0},{"video_id":"AL_WxdOzspo","title":"Good Friday Service - April 15, 2022 6:30 pm","description":"Join Christ Church Cathedral in worship. Bulletin can be found on the website. https://www.christchurchcathedral.us/worship/special-services/","channel_title":"Christ Church Cathedral","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AL_WxdOzspo/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  so  so  so  blessed are you sovereign god gracious  and merciful  you deal gently with those who go astray  and call those in darkness into the  light of your presence  in the path of suffering jesus learned  obedience  as our brother he faced testing without  sin on the hill of darkness  he carried judgment for the world  without sin  as our merciful and faithful high priest  in the realm of light  he is strong to save all who draw near  to him through faith  through the eternal spirit he awakens us  to serve you  friend of sinners  healer of the nations  blessed are you sovereign god  who scatters the darkness  amen  so  so  so  oh  holy  upon us  <br>  let us pray  almighty god we pray you graciously to  behold this your family for whom our  lord jesus christ was willing to be  betrayed  and given into the hands of sinners  and to suffer death upon the cross  and to be laid in a tomb in the garden  who now lives and reigns with you and  the holy spirit  one god forever and ever  amen  a reading from the book of job  a mortal born of a woman few of days and  full of trouble  comes up like a flower and withers  flees like a shadow and does not last  do you fix your eyes on such a one do  you bring me into judgment with you  who can bring a clean thing out of an  unclean  no one can  since their days are determined and the  number of their months is known to you  and you have appointed the bounds that  they cannot pass  look away from them and desist  that they may enjoy like laborers their  days  for there is hope for a tree if it is  cut down that it will sprout again  and that its shoots will not cease  though its root grows old in the earth  and its stump dies in the ground  yet at the scent of water it will bud  and put forth branches like a young  plant  but mortals die and are laid low  humans expire and where are they  as waters fail from a lake and a river  wastes away and dries up  so mortals lie down and do not rise  again  until the heavens are no more they will  not awake or be roused out of their  sleep  oh that you would hide me in shield that  you would conceal me until your wrath is  past  that you would appoint me a set time and  remember me  if mortals die will they live again  all the days of my service i would wait  until my release should come  if the lord had not been on our side let  israel now say  then would they have swallowed us up  alive in their fierce anger toward us  then with the raging waters have gone  right over us  <br>  we have escaped like a bird from the  snare of the fowler  the snare is broken and we have escaped  a reading from the letter of paul to the  hebrews  since then we have a great high priest  who has passed through the heavens jesus  the son of god  let us hold fast to our confession  for we do not have a high priest who is  unable to sympathize with our weaknesses  but we have one who in every respect has  been tested as we are  yet without sin  let us therefore approach the throne of  grace with boldness  so that we may receive mercy and find  grace to help in time of need  in the days of his flesh jesus offered  up prayers and supplications with loud  cries and tears to the one who was able  to save him from death  and he was heard because of his reverent  submission  although he was a son he learned  obedience through what he suffered and  having been made perfect he became the  source of eternal salvation for all who  obey him  lord you have been our refuge from one  generation to another  you turn us back to the dust and say  go back o child of earth  you sweep us away like a dream  we fade away suddenly like the grass  for we consume a way in your displeasure  we are afraid because of your wrathful  indignation  <br>  when you are angry all our days are gone  we bring our years to an end like a  sight  who regards the power of your wrath  who rightly fears your ignotion  history  a reading from the gospel according to  luke  now there was a good and righteous man  named joseph  who though a member of the council had  not agreed to their plan and action  he came from the jewish town of  arimathea  and he was waiting expectantly for the  kingdom of god  this man went to pilate and asked for  the body of jesus  then he took it down  wrapped it in a linen cloth  and laid it in a raccoon tomb where no  one had ever been laid  it was the day of preparation  and the sabbath was beginning  the women who had come with him from  galilee followed  and they saw the tomb  and how his body was laid  what do you do  with the dead messiah  what do you do with a failed  messiah  what do you do with someone that you  have placed all your hopes  and dreams and expectations  only to see them dashed  outside the city wall  in a common criminal's death  by the empire  what do you do  the dead messiah  good friday at its heart  is about following in the steps of those  first followers of jesus those disciples  as i try to wrestle with today  this is not how it was supposed to end  the messiah was supposed to come in and  liberate all of israel and turn the  world upside down he was not supposed to  end  as a common criminal  outside the city wall  dead  that is not the story that the disciples  who gave up their livelihoods and their  life to come and follow this iterate  creature this is not what they expected  this was not the way the story was  supposed to end  we're supposed to have that classic they  lived happily ever after  yet they did not  good friday for us on this side of  easter  is about looking squarely into the pain  and the hurt and the loss of life  and saying that god is there  it is about looking into the tomb with  the body wrapped and saying  god is there  this is about looking into our own lives  and the places where we have been hurt  where we have experienced loss and pain  and grief and all the things that come  with life  and proclaiming that god is there  there's a wonderful story that is told  by  the jewish  theologian elie weissel  of a bunch of folks who were in the  concentration camp during world war ii  and a couple of the prisoners were  caught stealing bread  the prisoners were young boys  and a couple teenagers  and the penalty for theft  was to be hung to death  and here they were these three boys  hanging from the gallows in the  concentration camp  and all the other prisoners were called  to come and watch them struggle and  slowly die  and one of the prisoners looked over and  asked the question  where is your god now  and wisely responded  he is hanging there trying to catch his  breath  it is a good reminder  that there is nowhere  no place no action no thing that we can  do or not do  that will take away god's love for each  and every single one of us  the reminder that dead messiahs  don't stay dead  this reminder that there is nothing on  this earth as paul reminds us neither  height nor depth nor things to come nor  principalities or powers nor anything in  all of creation that can separate us  from the love of god  in christ jesus our lord  it's a reminder  that the shape of love  is cross-shaped  and that god is willing to enter into  any place that we find ourselves  to find us  and bring us back in love  we name today good friday  because what god says to us is that your  pain your hurt your loss the things that  you carry  can all be placed in this tomb to be  resurrected  on easter  but god is saying to us in no uncertain  terms  that we are enough  and that whatever we might find  ourselves going through no matter what  we find ourselves hurting or grieving or  pain or sorrowful  the god has been there  god has been there  and that god will be there and is there  with us  no matter what our journey may be  that is the message of the cross  and that is the message of the tomb  tonight we enter with the disciples into  that place of unknowing  that holy saturday that is a holding of  the breath  to see what happens on easter sunday  the reality is my sisters and brothers  my siblings in christ we all have had  our own good fridays  we know what pain looks like don't we  we know what loss looks like we know  what sorrow and grief we know what it  feels like to lose someone that we have  loved  yet god insists  over  over and over again  to remind us that we are deeply loved  no matter what the world or life might  bring  so what do we do  with the dead messiah  we hold our breath  we  breathe we put one foot in front of the  other  and we walk in love  as christ has loved us  and gave himself for us  that offering and sacrifice  to god  amen  after our prayer and during the singing  of the hymn  anyone who would like to come forward to  venerate the cross is welcome to do so  be amazed o heavens be shaken  o foundations of the earth  behold he that dwells in the highest  is numbered among the dead  and sheltered in a lowly tomb  today hell cries out groaning  my dominion has shattered  i received a dead man as one of the dead  but against him i could not prevail  from eternity i had ruled the dead  but behold he raises all  because of him do i perish  glory to your cross and resurrection o  lord  we adore you o christ and we bless you r  because by your holy cross and  resurrection  <br>  like  is  um  <br>  into your hands o lord i command my  spirit  <br>  as our savior taught us we are bold to  pray  our father in heaven  hallowed be your name  your kingdom come  your will be done  on earth as in  heaven give us today our daily bread  forgive us our sins  as we forgive those who sin against us  save us from the time of trial  and deliver us from evil  for the kingdom the power and the glory  are yours  now and forever  amen  lord hear our prayer  let us pray  o god creator of heaven and earth  as the crucified body of your dear son  was laid in the tomb and rested on this  holy sabbath  sanctifying the grave to be a bed of  hope for your people  grant that we may await with him the  coming of the third day  and rise with him to newness of life  who now lives and reigns with you and  the holy spirit  one god for ever and ever  amen  in the midst of life we are in death  of whom may we seek to be rescued  but by you o lord  who for our sins is justly displeased  yet o lord god most holy  o lord most mighty  o holy and most merciful savior  deliver us not into the bitter pains of  eternal death  o o lord the secrets of our hearts  do not shut your merciful ears to our  prayer  but spare us  lord most holy  o god most mighty o holy and merciful  savior  most worthy judge eternal  suffer us not at our last hour  through any pains of death  to call from you  you ","score":0},{"video_id":"Nuyg5D9pBMY","title":"7 4 2021 Song of the Day","description":"Lord, I Want to be a Christian","channel_title":"All Saints Hoboken","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Nuyg5D9pBMY/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"hi today we have a song that is an african-american spiritual and it's quite old maybe almost 300 years old so it's been around quite a long time and with african-american spirituals especially the ones that are really old a lot of times the words are the same or they repeat a lot or maybe even sometimes somebody would sing something and then a group of people would sing something back now this song doesn't do this but it repeats a lot and here are the words lord i want to be a christian in my heart lord i want to be a christian in my heart and then it says in my heart in my heart and guess what it's going to say now lord i want to be a christian in my heart and there's another verse that repeats a lot too and it goes like this lord i want to be like jesus in my heart in my heart lord i want to be like jesus in my heart in my heart in my heart lord i want to be like jesus in my heart do you think you can remember those words i'm sure you can i hope you enjoy singing this song and i'll see you next week bye <br>  in my heart  in my heart i want to be a christian in my heart lord i want to be like jesus  <br>  in my heart want to be like jesus  you","score":0},{"video_id":"ETR1X3UW-kU","title":"Good Friday Service / 04-15-2022","description":"","channel_title":"Calvary Baptist Church HB TV","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ETR1X3UW-kU/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  such a beautiful robust conversation and  then  they're supposed to be a beginning of  some kind to this evening's service and  so  people naturally quiet down and um  we want to draw our attention today to  bring it to  the feet of our lord and savior jesus  christ tonight is a as a somber night if  we were there in the new testament when  this was going on  we would have uh witnessed something  that was very very tragic by human  standards and yet  god had it always in his plan to send  his son to demonstrate his ultimate and  perfect love towards us  and so tonight we come together two  congregations no one identity in christ  actually right so  it's all good and we're blessed to come  together and worship together  with the beautiful host church that has  brought us in armenian christian  fellowship thank you again it's a  pleasure to be here this night  worshiping with you worshiping our lord  let's pray together as we begin and then  we're excited about bringing to you what  we have this evening as we  come to our lord please pray with me  heavenly father this evening  is something that is  is a difficult evening god when we look  at it just with our limited perspective  and a worldly perspective lord  it seems almost meaningless why would  someone  die for us and yet we have learned that  that's the greatest kind of love as you  have said lord to lay down our life for  a friend indeed that's what you have  called us we are no longer your enemies  we are your friends  and by your death you have done this for  us christ the ultimate sacrifice and you  want us to  to see this evening not as something  that is  dark although it is for a time  but it leads up to the beautiful beauty  of easter morning lord and so let us  keep that hope in our hearts as we sing  this evening as we come before you with  thanksgiving and praise  as we ponder upon what you have done for  us let it sink into our hearts let it  sink into the deep crevices of our mind  god as we appreciate you and worship you  and just be amazed by who you are  we come before you with thanksgiving and  praise lord bless us bless us this  evening open our hearts before you god  help us to  draw draw in what you have for us as  well  we thank you in the name of jesus amen  <br>  the grass  written on your face  <br>  the foreign beneath  <br>  let's sing together  <br>  has been on jesus  <br>  it is free  is  <br>  now my soul rise up  <br>  you're the perfect holy one  for us  <br>  now seated at your table jesus  are your perfect sacrifice  <br>  i want to live  for  you  <br>  i want to live  <br>  i want to  <br>  has washed away my  <br>  take of jesus  <br>  it was 9 00 am  the time of the morning sacrifice  while people busy rushed about preparing  for the sabbath  the lord of the sabbath was being nailed  to a cross  on this ominous friday mankind was busy  busy putting to death the only one who  really loved them  the spotless lamb of god  even as the spikes tore through jesus's  hands and feet  there comes from the cross a spoken word  totally unexpected  because it is a prayer of forgiveness  forgiveness for all the sin-stained  lives beneath the cross  forgiveness for all the sin-stained  lives through the world  forgiveness  for all of us  jesus has gone to the cross willingly to  make this prayer possible  if men wish to crucify him  they may do so  they may put an end to his life  still  they cannot put an end to his love  this prayer for them  and for all of us  rose to the throne of god  father forgive them for they know not  what they do  there's a place  there's a place  <br>  my hope is  <br>  to  is  jesus  <br>  sorry  and now  three crosses are lifted high in the air  and with a dull thud  are dropped into the holes  which have been dug on calvary's hilltop  three men hang dying  suspended in mid-air as though neither  heaven nor earth wants them  the ordeal of dying has begun  death will not come swiftly and  mercifully  death will come reluctantly  preceded by every possible agony  yet in spite of this two of these dying  men  talk about paradise  the thief has found faith  and christ has found a disciple  and to his dying disciple  jesus now makes the grandest promise a  dying man can ever hear  a promise jesus can make because he  himself is dying  a promise which can belong to each of us  when we ourselves are dying  today  you will be with me  in paradise  amen  <br>  your great name  <br>  has no place  <br>  he has to leave  <br>  worthy is the lamb that was  <br>  son of god and man you are i am  <br>  calorie is a lonely place  it is a lonely place for dying  it is a lonely place for the living for  those who stand beneath the cross and  watch and weep  there were a few who did weep for jesus  a few women  his mother  at least one  disciple beloved john  it is noon  the zenith of the day but today the sky  is darkening  jesus felt the darkness of grief and  sorrow in the hearts of those loyal  souls who stood beneath his cross  each of them  was losing that person they dearly loved  now with his dying breath jesus speaks  to them  he wants them to understand that because  they have loved him  they belong together  he wants them to realize that those who  confess him as lord can never be lonely  again for they belong to each other  to the fellowship of believers  the great family of god's children  this was no time for a long explanation  but jesus could remind them to face the  future together  woman  hold your son  john behold your mother  three times  jesus has spoken  each time for the sake of others  for sinful man to forgive his enemies  for dying man to strengthen the thief  for lonely man to comfort his friends  now he speaks again  this time for his own sake  now he lifts his voice to god  in the most agonizing cry  the world has ever heard  this isn't the cry of physical pain  or mental anguish  this is a cry from the very soul of  jesus  the sky has grown very dark  strangely black for mid-afternoon  as though god has withdrawn his presence  from the earth  and the superstitious soldiers regard  the darkness as an omen of disaster  the friends of jesus see it as a symbol  of god's displeasure  but to jesus  it is neither symbol nor omen  it is reality  he is forsaken by god the father to  jesus who loved his father perfectly  there is no greater agony  darkness overwhelms his soul  and rings and his cry  my god my god why hast thou forsaken me  <br>  how deep the father's love for us  i'll pass beyond our measure  that he should give his only son  to make a wretch his treasure  how great the pain of searing lasts  the father turns his face away  as wounds  <br>  chosen  bring many sons to glory  <br>  it was  until  has  <br>  and i will not post in anything  no  power no wisdom  <br>  i cannot give an  <br>  answer his wounds  <br>  the hours of calvary are passing  the dying men are growing weaker  the crowd is small now  the curious and impatient have gone back  to the city  only the soldiers who must stay  and the friends who want to stay  keep vigil  at the place of the skull  the silence of death has settled over  calvary  suddenly jesus speaks again  just two words  two simple words  which all of us have spoken at one time  or another but never  under such conditions  never have we been so helpless  never have we been so dependent on  others  in these two words as nowhere else  we sense the pitiful suffering of jesus  we feel  his kinship to  us perhaps here in these words which are  so human  we realize what jesus is doing for us  even the tough roman soldiers were moved  even they wanted to help  somehow some way  when jesus cried  i thirst  and now it is almost three in the  afternoon the time of the evening  sacrifice  life still flickers faintly in jesus  body  but the end is very near  mercifully near  once again jesus speaks  perhaps more to himself than to god or  man  yet these words both heaven and earth  could hear  finished  finished at last is the suffering the  humiliation  the agony  finished to the sacrifice for sin  finished the work christ came to do  finished forever for all mankind  for us  all all is finished now  here is the first faint hint that god  has won  that christ has swept his enemies from  the field  they had plotted to finish him  but the word belongs to christ  it is christ who casts one last dying  look to a sinful world and knows that  the cross is the answer to its needs  it is finished  let's read this portion of scripture  together responsibly  behold  my servant shall act wisely  he shall be high and lifted up and shall  be exalted  as many were astonished  who has believed what he has heard from  us  and to whom has the arm of the lord been  revealed  <br>  a man of sorrows  surely he has borne our griefs and  carried our sorrows  yet we esteemed him stricken  smitten by god and afflicted  but he was wounded for our  transgressions  he was crushed for our iniquities  upon him was the chastisement that  brought us peace  and with his stripes we are healed  all we like sheep have gone astray  we have turned everyone to his own way  and the lord has laid on him the  iniquity of us all  he was oppressed  and he was afflicted yet he opened not  his mouth  like a lamb that has led to the  slaughter and like a sheep that before  it shears is silent so he opened not his  mouth  by oppression and judgment he was taken  away  and as for his generation who considered  that he was cut off out of the land of  the living stricken for the  transgression of my people  and they made his grave with the wicked  and with a rich man in his death  although he had done no violence  and there was no deceit in his mouth  yet it was the will of the lord to crush  him  he has put him to grief  when his soul makes an offering for  guilt  he shall see his offspring he shall  prolong his days  the will of the lord shall prosper in  his hand  out of the anguish of his soul  he shall see and be satisfied  by his knowledge shall the righteous one  my servant make many to be accounted  righteous  and he shall bear their iniquities  therefore i will divide him a portion  with the many and he shall divide the  spoil with the strong  because he poured out his soul to death  and was numbered with the transgressors  yet he bore the sin of many  and makes transgression for the  transgressors  there's three things that the longer i  follow the lord jesus christ  i'm convinced that we only understand a  small part of their entirety  one is god's holiness  not just his absolute perfections  but his absolute otherness  in the way that he knows  his power  the way he thinks  second one is personal sinfulness  i think we all  read the news  hear the news  in are surprised and shocked by what one  person will do to another person  or even what one person will do to  themselves  and then we have to look in the mirror  and be surprised by some of our own  thoughts  and words  and actions  and the third is  what  bridges those two  that we specifically focus upon tonight  and that is god's sacrificial  love  seems to me that our understanding of  these three things  compared to their entirety  is a little bit like us holding a bucket  of sand  standing on the seashore  we understand some of god's holiness  and yet  he is holy  no matter  the extent of our understanding  we are standing there  in our sinfulness  and i think it's a growing experience to  understand more and more  our own sinfulness  but again the thing that  is absolutely otherworldly  is the sacrificial love of god  that he  would  do all that's necessary  to reconcile sinful people  and make them fit  to be in his presence  that he would take sinners and make them  into saints  or as we've sung about  take enemies and make them his friends  to take those that are part of the  kingdom of satan and make them a part of  the kingdom of the beloved son  and on this good friday and seems like  every good friday we're just reminded  in new and powerful ways  of that reality  it's not a new challenge  the apostle paul when he  wrote  to the ephesians he told them how he was  praying for them  and in part  he prayed that christ would dwell in  their hearts through faith and that they  would be rooted and grounded in love  being able to comprehend with all the  saints what is the breadth and length  and height and depth  and to know the love of christ which  surpasses  knowledge  that they might be filled up to all the  fullness of god  it is a constant prayer  that we would comprehend  more of the incomprehensible love of god  for us  and for other people  and it's one of the great reasons that  we as followers of christ take every  opportunity to gather together  because it's during those times that we  get to add a little bit more sand to our  bucket  of god's holiness and our sinfulness  and of his great love for us  some have seen in this prayer the height  and the depth the length and the breadth  of the love of christ the four points on  the cross  the heights and the depth  the length  and  the breath  and that is certainly  appropriate  what happened on calvary hill  that we reflect on tonight  is just absolutely incomprehensible  nobody  would have understood it  and that's why i think god through the  prophet isaiah in the passage that we  just read responsibly  points that out  he said that jesus would be despised and  rejected a man of sorrows acquainted  with the deepest grief  and what would be the human response to  that  we would turn our backs on him  we would look the other way  we would despise him  or we just  would not care  but the reality was  is that he was a man of sorrows and  acquainted with greed because he was  carrying our weaknesses  it was our sorrows that weighted him  down  isaiah goes on  by god to say  and we thought that his troubles and his  punishment  were from god  and that he deserved  that punishment  for his own sins  but the reality is  that he was pierced  for our rebellion  he was crushed  for our sins  he was beaten  so we could be whole  he was whipped  so that we could be healed  because we all like sheep have  gone astray  we have left god's past to follow our  own  and there is no way back  apart from he who is the great shepherd  hanging on that cross  and bearing in his own body  the wrath of god that we so rightfully  deserve  paul when he wrote to the romans  brings us right back to the cross  after seven chapters of explaining the  majesty of the salvation  that was purchased for us  by the life and death  and resurrection of the lord jesus  christ  in chapter 8 these familiar verses  because god's love is so great  we know  that god causes all things to work  together for good  to those who love god to those who are  called according to his purpose  for those whom he foreknew he also  predestined to become conformed to the  image of his son  oh he has a grand purpose for each of us  and he's going to get us there  he paid for us  and he's going to work to conform us  into his very image  so that he would be the firstborn among  many brethren  and these whom he predestined he also  called  these whom he called thee also justified  and these whom he justified he also  glorified  and then paul asked  obvious rhetorical questions so that we  would involve ourselves  in this reality  so that we would add a  little bit of sand to our buckets  of understanding god's holiness and our  sinfulness  and his love for us  here's the first question what then  shall we say to these things  i'd encourage you to answer that  what then do we say to these things  if god is for us  who is against us  what's the answer to that  no one  satan is so puny compared to god  it doesn't make any difference if he's  personally against us  let alone the people around us  and then he takes us right to the cross  he who did not spare his own son  but delivered him over for us all  will he not also with him freely give us  all things what's the answer to that  yes  yes  who will bring a charge against god's  elect  what's the answer  no one why  because god is the one who justifies  and if god it justifies you  there is therefore now no condemnation  so who will separate us from the love of  christ  will tribulation  distress  persecution  famine  nakedness  peril  or sword  no in all these things we  overwhelmingly  conquer  through him who loved  us  and i pray we might join the apostle  paul then and saying for i am convinced  that neither death nor life  nor angels nor principalities  nor things present nor things to come  nor powers nor height nor depth nor any  other  created thing will be able to separate  us  from the love of god which is in christ  jesus  our lord  i think god's intention as we gather  tonight is to add a little bit more sand  or buckets  of  god's holiness  and of our personal sinfulness  and of his love  that bridged that gap  god knowing that we would easily forget  this he  gave us a regular practice  in the lord's supper  and paul tells us that on the night that  the lord jesus was betrayed  he took some bread  and he  broke it  and he said this is my body  and then these most precious words  which  is for  you  i think jesus is clearly saying remember  the only reason i came to earth  and humbled myself not counting equality  with god as something to hold on to  but being made in your image  and the only reason i humbled myself to  the point of death even death on the  cross  was for you  for you  for me to die as  your substitute  so that you the guilty might be declared  innocent  you the dead might be made alive  this is my body which is given  for you  then it says that he took the cup  and he says this is the cup  of the new covenant  sealed by my blood  you might remember that in the garden of  gethsemane his prayer was god if there's  any way for this cup  of wrath to be taken from me  but there was no other way  jesus drank the cup of wrath on the  cross  so we get to drink the cup of the new  covenant  and how is the new covenant summed up in  one word  love  love  those of us that know christ as our  savior  will never know  the wrath of god  jesus  drink that cup fully  we will only ever always know  the new covenant  the love of god  today  and for the rest of eternity  and so he said as often as you drink  this cup  eat this bread and drink this cup  you do it  in remembrance of  me all that i have done on your behalf  and so before i invite you to come and  get the elements  and take them back and then we'll  partake together because this is our  common salvation  we stand on equal ground  in the love of god  i i want us to just spend a moment or  two  just reflecting in quietness before we  come and partake  it could very well be that you came in  tonight  and  you really had no idea of god's holiness  your sinfulness and the love of god that  we reflect upon  tonight  in what christ did on the cross  and it could be that you came in with an  empty bucket but god's added some sin to  it right now and you've got some  understanding of that  and you're thinking i am a sinner god is  holy  i need christ as my savior  well that would be a beautiful work of  god tonight  and if that's what's going on in your  heart when i invite people to come  you just turn to someone next to you or  david and i will be standing up here and  you just simply say these words i need  christ as my savior  i need christ as my savior  and let us just shepherd you  right in to the full love of god  from being an enemy  to being a friend  from being a sinner  to being a saint  it could be  that  you  have got sin going on in your life  and  you're the dog that keeps returning to  the vomit  and part of the lord's supper is to help  you taste of the goodness and the love  of god  and to create in you a heart like the  deer that pants for the water brook  who pants  for the living god  to see sin for what it is and see god's  love for what it is  because then it's really much easier to  turn from sin  and walk in the love of christ  and if you've got that sin going on  tonight's the night to say i'm not going  to live like a dog returning to vomit  i'm going to be like the deer the pants  for the water brook  and that you seal that commitment  through partaking of the lord's supper  tonight  now if you can't bring yourself to that  point  if the vomit is just too tasty to you  right now  i just encourage you not to partake  there's some very severe warning  about partaking  in such a high-handed hypocritical  way  it could be that you're here tonight and  you're just really pretty  ticked off and bitter at god for the way  that life's been going  and it's one thing to say god i don't  like this  but when we don't  understand his hand we must always trust  his heart of love  and  we must know that he is working all  things together for good  there is no place for bitterness  there is no place for resentment  towards god look at what he has done on  your behalf  if he did not withhold his only son will  he withhold anything good from you  the answer is  no  and you need to repent  of your bitterness and your resentment  towards him tonight  and seal that by coming and partaking  it could be  that you're just in awe of god and  surprised by what he's done on your  behalf and he's just added some more  sand to your bucket tonight  and your heart just leaps in  gratefulness to him  you know wherever you're at in any one  of those four places let me just be  quiet for a moment and give you a chance  to respond to him who knows you and  loves you perfectly so just bow your  heads and respond to him for just a  moment  you know i just encourage you to  continue your worship of him by  responding to his invitation to come to  his table  that was a great statement in that song  we sang he took us from enemies to  sitting at his table  and so what i want to do is encourage  you to come to one of the tables there's  two up here there's two in the back  there's one in the balcony  and go ahead and pick up a piece of the  bread and one of the cups and then  return to your seat  and just spend your time meditating  thanking the lord for his goodness and  greatness and in just a moment i'll come  back up and we'll partake together  if you've got any questions about  whether you should partake or anything  again david will stand here i'll be here  and we would love to just shepherd you  in any way that would be appropriate  tonight but the lord's table is open  and his invitation to each of you that  know him  and have experienced his love  come  and if you would pick up a piece of  bread and pick up one of the cups and  return to your seat  <br>  the part i left out in what i quoted  from first corinthians 11 is that jesus  gave thanks  which is the most amazing thing to me  knowing what was ahead  but i'm convinced he did it because he  knew we and believers around the world  for the last 2000 years  would be doing exactly this  they would be  living in his love  and growing in his love so let me give  each of us an opportunity i want to ask  you just to verbalize how loud your  thanksgiving to the lord we'll do it all  at once i think it's good for it to come  out of our mouths and back into our ears  and and so go ahead and give thanks to  your lord  for this giving of his body  and this delivering to you the new  covenant by his blood go ahead and give  him thanks  for as often as we eat this bread and  drink this cup  we proclaim the lord jesus's death until  he comes  eat it  and drink it in remembrance  of your savior  <br>  praise the lord  isn't mercy is more  <br>  his mercy is  <br>  is mercy is  <br>  his blood was the payment his life was  <br>  jesus first word from the cross began  with the word father  so this is his last word  the end has come at last  the flame of life is about to flicker  out  and jesus is walking now in the valley  of the shadow of death  his enemies have had their way they have  given him over to death  and now they will be rid of him  only his lifeless body still remains  and the friends of jesus will quietly  lay this in a borrowed tomb  this is the end  oh come and mourn with me a while  o come ye to the savior's side  oh come together  let us mourn  jesus our lord is crucified  father  into thy hands i commit my spirit  would you pray with me  father after  singing and  worshiping you and praising you father  i'm  one thing our hearts want to say is  thank you  thank you for dying on the cross  on behalf of us  thank you for taking the cross for  on behalf of me  behalf of all of us  father it was my sin that put you there  it was our sin that put you there  and yet lord  you obeyed  your father's will by taking that cross  now lord we pray  that it may impact us  that  the act of love that you portrayed on  that cross  would change us  if it hasn't already  lord transform our lives  make us anew  father that's our prayer  that you would transform us  that you would continue as pastor pat  spoke about father to make us holy  you and you alone  thank you father  for the perfect passover or lamb  that hundreds of thousands of lambs were  being sacrificed that day  but the perfect one was being slain in  your son  once and forever  lord you said nothing  you took that punishment  because it was the father's will  because you were the true messiah  promised for us to redeem us  lord this can't make sense  but father we we asked lord that that  would continue  to grow faith in our hearts  how you lord a perfect  god man would come and die for us for  your creation  we thank you for your grace and your  mercy and your justice  lord as we  go home tonight father  and saturday we  ponder these thoughts of what you've  done  lord may we come with hope on sunday  easter morning  pray this in your  precious name jesus christ amen  you ","score":0},{"video_id":"wDnHIFNYkCA","title":"20230917 UUCW Sunday Morning Worship","description":"Sunday Morning Worship with Rev. Aaron Payson, Sunday, September 17, 2023","channel_title":"Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wDnHIFNYkCA/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"mqRn4l6S6lg","title":"Easter Service (From the Vault)","description":"...","channel_title":"The First Church in Belmont Unitarian Universalist","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mqRn4l6S6lg/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  is  is  is  <br>  whoa i have 12 eggs  but she has four  i wish the easter bunny had hit some  more poor susan o'neil oh how it must  feel to carry a basket so light  i now have twice as many as before and  she has the same  why can't i ignore poor susan o'neill  and how it must feel to carry a basket  so light  wow i have 39 plus five that's uh 44.  i could open an easter egg store  and still susan o'neill only knows how  it feels to carry a basket that's light  wait  did she just give away three of her four  to the kid who was sad that he didn't  find more  huh  now like susan o'neill i'd like to know  how it feels to carry  a basket that's light  <br>  i heard there was  <br>  it goes like this the fourth the fifth  the minor fall and the major lift the  baffled king composing hallelujah  <br>  before you know what kindness really is  you must lose things  feel the future dissolve in a moment  like salt in a weekend broth  what you held in your hand what you  counted and carefully saved  all this must go so you know how  desolate the landscape can be between  the regions of kindness  before you know kindness as the deepest  thing inside you must know sorrow as the  other deepest thing you must wake up  with sorrow you must speak to it till  your voice catches the thread of all  sorrows and you see the size of the  cloth  then it is only kindness that makes  sense anymore only kindness that ties  your shoes and sends you out into the  day to mail letters and purchased bread  only kindness that raises its head from  the crowd of the world to say it is i  you have been looking for  and then goes with you everywhere like a  shadow or a friend  <br>  when the waves roll on  over the water  and the ocean cries  we look to  our sons and daughters  to explain  <br>  when the light goes  <br>  this easter comes on such a specific day  april 4th as many of you know  is the day that martin luther king was  killed  and so it is on my heart this year this  easter how death and rebirth are all  wrapped up  brushing the way the dead leaves from my  garden a few weeks ago and seeing so  many brave absurdises of green  the crocuses which broke forth with  their early burst daffodils the ones in  the back already popping with blossoms  the ones in the front just beginning to  reach up with their buds all of this  wrapped up  the death of one of our greatest leaders  and teachers one who pointed the way  who mustered incredible bravery and  commitment in the face of so much  suffering and violence  and his teacher  jesus  who we remember and celebrate this  easter this teacher who toppled tables  who healed the sick who called us to  remember what we most deeply know to be  true i am reminded this day  of how our suffering and pain  is wrapped up with our wisdom  and our joy  in her book when things fall apart  pema chodron quotes tiknot han who says  suffering is not enough  and then she writes honesty without  kindness  humor and good-heartedness can just be  mean  from the very beginning to the very end  pointing to our own hearts to discover  what is true isn't just a matter of  honesty  but also compassion and respect for what  we see  learning how to be kind to ourselves  learning how to respect ourselves is  important  the reason is that it's fundamentally  when we look into our own hearts and  begin to discover what is confused and  what is brilliant  what is bitter and what is sweet it  isn't just ourselves we are discovering  we're discovering the universe  she disgusts she says we discover that  everything is awake that everyone is  awake  everything is equally precious and whole  and good everyone is equally whole and  precious  and good  we're not just talking about individual  liberation  but how to help the community we live in  how to help our families  our country  the whole continent not to mention the  whole world  these paths we are on  deepen us  not only our connection to truth and to  self but also in so doing connect us to  all that is  and this is always true  but even more true for me today in this  strange year  facing all we have faced  having lost all we have lost  these truths have always been true  and even truer now  in her book a paradise built in hell  rebecca solnit writes of the kinds of  connection compassion and community  which are born in times of trauma and  loss  she writes of earthquakes and  revolutions and in one part she writes  of new york  after 9 11.  she shares the story of tema kaplan a  historian at rutgers who had  participated in the civil rights  movement  who recalls after the attacks by  afternoon amsterdam avenue had become  like a river  people covered in dust were walking up  the avenue as if they were just getting  as far away from the world trade center  as possible and heading north  later the word would go out somebody in  the street would say that the rescue  workers needed boots and they needed  masks  signs went up listing the things the  workers needed and where at what church  you could drop them off  then a sign went up about cough drops  the rescue workers were choking on the  smoke everybody cleaned out the drug  stores people set out as if on a  treasure hunt to find things  she concluded  on 9 11 i just needed to reaffirm that  there was left a community  that people believed in things that were  good that we could go on that there  could even be a going on  i felt that everybody was holding on to  each other in order to embrace  and embrace  and embrace each other and it was  horrible and it was wonderful at the  same time  for a short time she says  i felt that beloved community that we  talked about in the civil rights  movement  this is what the poet means when they  say then it is only kindness that makes  sense anymore  only kindness that ties your shoes and  goes with you everywhere as a shadow or  a friend moments like those  moments like these  this is what we return to  this is what we know to be true deep  down underneath all the divisions  underneath all the separateness we are  woven with one another  all our suffering all our joy all woven  we grieve the fresh wounds of still more  shootings  we grieve how far still we have to go to  realize the dreams of these teachers  how far we have to go to dismantle  racism  we grieve as we see with open eyes this  world and this suffering and like the  teacher says suffering is still not  enough  with that same blown open grieving heart  we also see the miracles and the beauty  the life which surrounds us  in these last many weeks as spring has  returned so too our precious outdoor  interactions with so many neighbors  my little daughter aaliyah will often  park out in front of our house  chatting up passers-by and once recently  we were chatting with a neighbor  who was appreciating the pansies on our  steps  then following a day after ali and i had  made a series of shapes on the sidewalk  in chalk and the same neighbor walked by  asking if our art was like hopscotch and  then to aaliyah's delight  she hopped and jumped through some of  the shapes that we had made  all of this  and so many more miracles  these reminders of connection and joy  amidst the news of violence  of so much work still to be done  here we are  remembering joy  remembering beauty and life choosing to  bless one another  and ourselves choosing to build a world  of connection  and hope refusing to be crushed by this  time  or even allowing the crush to happen and  still  reaching out  knowing that you are held  knowing that you are loved  knowing deep down  wisdom and kindness  beauty  and truth  so much love to you all  amen  <br>  we give thanks  for the broken hallelujah  for feeling and trying to touch  we give thanks for the future dissolving  in a moment for the desolate landscapes  and kindness as the deepest thing inside  we give thanks for death and rebirth all  wrapped up  for upsurgences of green for suffering  not being enough  we give thanks for looking into  ourselves discovering that everyone is  awake  that everyone is whole and precious and  good we give thanks for penny shaffer  for her service and example  for all her generosity and all her hard  work we give thanks for connection  compassion and community  born in times of trauma and loss we give  thanks for cough drops cleaned out  for everyone doing what they can  we give thanks for the building of the  beloved community  for suffering and joy woven for wisdom  and pain woven  for blown open grieving hearts  seeing miracles at last  we give thanks  amen  ","score":0},{"video_id":"477TxTVwoRM","title":"Palm Sunday Worship Service | 8:15a | 4/10/2022","description":"Ascension Lutheran - St. Louis - LCMS","channel_title":"AscensionSTL","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/477TxTVwoRM/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  so  good morning  and welcome to worship this morning here  at ascension uh special welcome also to  those who are tuning in online for a  live stream and a special welcome of  course to our guests and visitors here  this weekend i'm glad you're here with  us we invite you to fill out the guest  cards those are located on the cue back  in front of you and you can turn those  in in the wooden box in the lobby area  we'd love to follow up and be in touch  with you  uh this is palm sunday so blessed palm  sunday to all of you this is uh begins  the holiest of weeks for us as  christians as god's people as the church  recognized today especially in our  gospel reading uh jesus procession into  jerusalem that first palm sunday which  began holy week and so we'll be  gathering together throughout the course  of this week to mark those special  events not only in christ's life but  also in our lives today as well  so this thursday is monday thursday of  that evening in which jesus institute  the lord suffering at night who's  betrayed we'll be gathered together at 8  30 in the morning  for worship with our school children at  word of life and then 6 30 in the  evening as well all of those services  will include holy communion and then on  friday two opportunities to worship uh  one is at our prayer service that's a  circuit-wide event sponsored by the  lutheran churches in our area that's  three hours from noon to three pm it's  designed to be an open house where you  can come and go uh hosted this year at  timothy lutheran on filer it's also  broadcast live on kfco radio am 8 50.  uh pastor cobbs will be preaching at 1  40. i'll be preaching at 2 40  for that special service then we'll be  gathering in the evening at 6 30 again  for our 10 embrace service on good  friday evening uh no worship on holy  saturday that day before easter but on  easter we'll gather together four  different times our first service will  be our sunrise service 6 30 in the  morning outdoors on the church lawn is  lord willing we watch the sun rise in  the east over france's park and then  we'll have few other opportunities 8 9  30 and 11 at easter morning as well our  youth group is providing breakfast  throughout the morning so be sure to to  take advantage of that  as part of your easter celebration too  uh a big thank you today as we celebrate  homicide some special music matthew  hoffman was praying the trumpet uh  matthew one of our junior high youth  here at ascension so thanks matthew for  for being here and for playing  uh if you'd like to donate easter lilies  for the beautification of the lord's  house for our easter celebration uh  details in the news and notes about that  just turn in those order forms to the  church office plan sales coming up april  30th pre-orders are due by uh april 13th  so that's april 13th so this is the last  weekend to get those orders in  uh forms are in the lobby also on our  church website  uh this weekly there's a chance to  help our school word of life through one  of the restaurant nights  that's taking place at pandit express uh  on hampton avenue uh you do need to show  them a flyer i think that's available  online we also have printed copies by  the ushers in the back of the church as  well  here at essentially we strive to be in  god's word as god's people and so we are  reading through the bible in two years  this week's readings uh continue into  first corinthians reading schedules are  in the lobby and also online on our  website uh and then recap every friday  on youtube and on facebook of those  radiates you can join us anytime and  then also we have some extra easter eggs  and we had to restart lots of children  attended but you were even more generous  uh so we had eggs left over they're  filled eggs help yourself they're in the  lobby area you can put them out at home  for your easter celebration with the  children grandchildren so help  yourselves with some full easter eggs as  part of your easter celebration  just a couple of things to show uh some  reasons to give thanks to god to give  thanks to god for our  mulch spreaders this saturday morning uh  two big piles in front of our school in  the church um i think there's a couple  other pictures too uh there we are  there's some of the crew as well  and volunteers from the church from the  school helping to spread mulch got it  done in a little over an hour it's a  great crew so uh just in time for holy  week so thank god for those volunteers  and for their giving of their time and  service to our church in school  uh before we start we just have a quick  video our library look which we like to  show monthly just to highlight the  resource that our church library is  hi this is the claudia cypher the  ascension church librarian for the april  library look i wanted to discuss three  things  first you might see a black line on the  checkout card marking out the  information from the person who had  checked the book out before this is  private information so i black out the  name and date on the checkout card when  books are  returned second please come by the  library and see the book selections that  are on display every week i pull out  interesting books for you to view and  check out the books for the library look  are also displayed come and see what  titles we have for your reading pleasure  third of course is the april library  lookbook  since the oscars were recently given out  and everyone is talking about the movies  i've selected pastor jeffrey scopak's  book christ culture and cinema how faith  and films intersect pastor stop  describes how movies influence our  culture but also how even movies such as  toy story or the princess bride can help  us appreciate how christ's love and  cinematic narratives can intersect and  relate to each other the book uses seven  different movies to demonstrate using  films as an opportunity for christian  discussion  each chapter includes discussion  questions for group or individual review  so please come by the library to see  this latest feature i promise there will  be no slapping  thank you claudia for the video and  highlighting those resources we  appreciate it  our bomb sunday ownership begins a  little differently than the usual we'll  be beginning in the back of the church  with the invocation the blessing of the  palms and then also with our gospel uh  reading as well so as you're able invite  you to please stand for our opening  invocation  in the name of the father and of the son  and of the holy spirit  amen  blessed is the king who comes in the  name of the lord  brothers and sisters in christ  in the five weeks of lent we have been  preparing for this week  for the events of our lord's death and  resurrection  we enter with christ with palms and  hosannas before he confronts the cross  everything in lent points to this week  let us pray  almighty god  we pray you bless and consecrate these  palm branches  and those who bear them  that we may honor christ as our lord and  king  and that we may follow him without fear  as he leads us on the pathway of eternal  life  through jesus christ our lord who lives  and reigns with you and the holy spirit  one god now and forever  amen  blessed is he who comes in the name of  the lord  our palm sunday holy gospel is the holy  gospel according to saint john the 12th  chapter  glory to you oh lord the congregation's  invited treat the part printed in bold  the words of the crowd that first calm  sunday  the next day the large crowd that had  come to the feast heard that jesus was  coming to jerusalem  so they took branches of palm trees and  went out to meet him crying out  hosanna blessed is he who comes in the  name of the lord even the king of israel  and jesus found a young donkey in saddle  just as it is written fear not daughter  of zion behold your king is coming  sitting on a donkey's cold  his disciples did not understand these  things at first but when jesus was  glorified then they remembered that  these things had been written about him  and had been done to him  the crowd that had been with him when he  called lazarus out of the tomb and  raised him from the dead continued to  bear witness  the reason why the crowd went out to  meet him was that they heard that he had  done this sign  so the pharisees said to one another  you see that you are gaining nothing  look the world has gone after him  this is the gospel of the lord  praise  christ the singer processional hymn  right on right on and managed  <br>  is  is  is  is  <br>  is  please remain standing for the opening  sentences  lift up your heads o gates and lift them  up o ancient doors  who is this king of glory  the lord  since we are gathered to hear god's word  call upon him in prayer and praise and  receive the body and blood of our lord  jesus christ in the fellowship of this  altar  let us first consider our unworthiness  and confess before god and one another  that we have sinned in thought word and  deed  and that we cannot free ourselves from  our sinful condition  together as his people  let us take refuge in the infinite mercy  of god  our heavenly father seeking his grace  for the sake of christ  and saying god be merciful to me a  sinner  in the mercy of almighty god jesus  christ was given to die for us  and for his sake  god forgives us all our sins  to those who believe in jesus christ he  gives the power to become the children  of god and bestows on them the holy  spirit  may the lord who has begun this good  work in us bring it to completion in the  day of our lord jesus christ  amen  the lord be with you r  let us pray  almighty and everlasting god  you send your son our savior jesus  christ to take upon himself our flesh  and to discover that upon the cross  mercifully grant that we may follow the  example of his great humility  through the same jesus christ our lord  who lives and reigns with you and the  holy spirit  one god now and forever  today's old testament reading comes from  deuteronomy 32  for the lord will vindicate his people  and have compassion on his servants  when he sees that their power is gone  and that there is none remaining bond or  free  then he will say  where are their gods the rock in which  they took refuge who ate the fat of  their sacrifices and drank the wine of  their drink offering  let them rise up and help you let them  be your protection  see now that i even i am he and there is  no god beside me i kill and i make alive  i wound and i heal  and there is none that can deliver out  of my hand  this is the word of the lord  please join me in reading responsibly  psalm 118  open to me the gates of righteousness  that i may enter through them and to  give thanks to the  the lord the righteous  i thank you that you have answered me  and have become my  salvation this is the lord's doing it is  marvelous in our eyes  this is the day of the lord  let us rejoice  save us be pray oh lord o lord we pray  give us success  blessed is he who comes in the name of  the lord we bless you from the house of  the lord  the lord is god and he has made his  light to shine upon  <br>  you are my god and i will give thanks to  you you are my god i will discover  our epistle reading is from philippians  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 grasped 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  therefore god has highly exalted him and  bestowed on him the name that is above  every name  so that at the name of jesus every knee  should bow in heaven and on earth and  under the earth  and every tongue confess that jesus  christ is lord to the glory of god the  father  this is the word of the lord  please stand as we speak together our  common confession in the words of the  apostles creed  he is  <br>  as we invite the children forward for  the children's message and as a  congregation we joined in singing the  verse of hosanna lau jose  <br>  good morning everyone a happy home  sunday to you today a very special day  today  i'm going to get on our calendar that  we've been looking at many of you went  home with these calendars where we're  counting down the days until that  celebration of easter so during this  time of lent we've been looking at  different bible verses each day or  different things to think about  different questions to answer and here  is palm sundays i'll read it today you  can read it at home too it says this  read john 12  13. and then after that it says imagine  be a part of that crowd  that first palm sunday imagine the  sights the sounds the smells what would  you say and do  think about that let me read that bible  verse john 12  13. here's what it says about palm  sunday it says these words so they took  branches of palm trees  and went out to meet jesus crying out  hosanna blessed is he who comes in the  name of the lord even the king of israel  so let's imagine that what if we saw  jesus coming into jerusalem on palm  sunday and he's riding that donkey and  people are shouting hosanna people are  waving palm branches and then the  question is what would you say  what do you think if you were there palm  sunday what would you say or what would  you do  any ideas yeah  you enjoyed the crowd yeah cheering for  jesus good job anything else guys  yes  say hosanna too what is that word  hosanna needed enemies who made santa  means  my kid  yeah  lord save us yes so glory to god lord  save us save us now lord save us jesus  and when we say hosanna what do we want  jesus to save us from  what do you think you might think  sins right and he forgives us he's our  savior that's right let me ask this  question too if you were there on home  sunday do you think that you would be  happy or sad what do you think  christopher what do you think  happy why would you be happy  because jesus is here to save us great  answers very good jesus is here to save  us he's coming in jerusalem he is the  king right he is our savior why might we  be a little sad what's going to happen  just a few days later on friday micah  he's going to die in the cross right  good friday exactly but why else might  we be happy what's going to happen a  week later the next sunday  easter sunday anyone know  christopher  he's going to rise from the death and  back to life that's exactly right so  different emotions happiness sadness on  palm sunday but mostly happy because we  know that the savior jesus has come for  us and to die for us to rise for us  because he loves us and guess who else  knows that on tom sunday jesus does but  he still comes because he loves us that  much so yeah think about that if we hear  the message later there's different  things besides the sound but we would  say what we would do on palm sunday  and how we can be happy this palm sunday  too because of our savior jesus so let's  hold our hands our heads  go to god in prayer  lord god we thank you for palm sunday  for jesus coming into jerusalem writing  a donkey even though he knows that he'll  suffer and die thank you for him laying  down his life out of love for us and  thank you for easter when jesus comes  back to life  lord we ask that our lives will be ones  where we say and shout out lord save us  confident that you do exactly that we  pray this in jesus name amen  all right thanks guys you can go back to  your scenes and as it should return to  their seats we prepare to sing together  our next hymn another palm sunday hymn  all glory lord  <br>  is  oh  oh  is  oh  oh  <br>  me  oh  is  <br>  greatest mercy and peace to you from god  our father and our lord and savior jesus  christ amen  people loved by christ  we can probably all think back to  different times in our lives where there  was something that perhaps we just  didn't  get  for me  it was seeing the image that's supposed  to pop out  in those magic eye pictures and posters  as they're called  some of you might remember those they  were popular maybe 25 years ago those  posters were sold in the malls and even  those images would be printed in the  comics page of the newspaper  they're called technically  autostereograms  there's this pattern and it hides a 3d  image that's supposed to appear  the instructions for a magic eye picture  went something like this  hold the center of the picture up to  your nose  and then let your eyes go out of focus  as if you're looking beyond the picture  and then slowly move it away from your  face and as you do so that 3d image will  appear  only for me  it never appeared  not even once have i ever seen that 3d  image that's supposed to be produced by  one of these pictures  i expected that 3dm should just jump out  at me from the page  but all i saw was this  sort of a blurry pattern  i didn't  get it  in today's palm sunday gospel reading we  hear about a group of people who just  don't get it  the group is  jesus very own  disciples  what they expect to see  and what they actually see  are two very different things  we hear about jesus procession to  jerusalem that palm sunday we hear about  the sounds of lausanne and the waves of  the palm branches but then we also hear  this in verse 16 of today's gospel  reading  his disciples it says did not understand  these things  on palm sunday jesus disciples peter  james john the other nine they don't  get it  jesus palm sunday parade in jerusalem  you see it's not what they were  accustomed to it's not the type of  procession that they would typically see  in the city  roman historians tell us that the  governor of judea pontius pilate will  regularly hold parades going through  jerusalem military parades  there would be parades of roma calvary  and soldiers marching through the  streets typically pilate himself would  be the one who would lead the procession  each shoulder would be clad in leather  armor polished to a high gloss each  soldier's head wearing a helmet that  gleamed in the sunlight at their sides  of the  swords that were sheaved with made of  the hardest of steel  drummers would beat out the cadence of a  march and the message to everyone in  jerusalem was clear  peace came through  roman  strength  historians call it cox romana roman  peace  so on palm sunday  christ's disciples and other jews in the  in the city expected that jesus would  come and defeat those roman legions  bring a jewish victory finally put an  end to this roman oppression  and so that crowd on palm sunday as they  proclaim hosanna blessed is he who comes  in the name of the lord even the king  the king of israel  they had something in mind  the word hosanna means save us but not  just save us and save us  now  hosanna that was a cry for king jesus to  replace  the roman peace with a  jewish  peace  the even way palm branches  the sign and ancient sign of  victory jewish peace through king  jesus  that's what the disciples and others  expected  on palm sunday  now consider the reality of what they  saw we read this  and jesus found a young  donkey  and sat on it  just as it is written  fear not o daughter of zion  behold your king is coming sitting on  a donkey's  hole  throughout history mighty forces strong  chariots that's  what brought victory on the battlefield  it jesus rise into jerusalem on a  dawn  not a war horse  not a stallion  no chariots no army no solar no helmet  this is not the savior that people  expected  this is not the type of peace  that people expected  and so no wonder john writes in today's  gospel reading his disciples did not  understand these things they just  don't  get it  but this isn't the first time the  disciples didn't get it and it wouldn't  be the last time that they don't get it  even during holy week here are just a  few other examples from holy week where  the disciples just don't understand  that thursday holy week monday thursday  peter fails to understand why in the  world jesus would wash his feet and the  feet of the other disciples peter  doesn't get it  in that upper room  all the disciples don't get it they  don't understand the significance of  judas iscariot the betrayer leaving that  meal  later in the garden of gethsemane again  peter strikes that servant cuts off  mouth of his ear trying to prevent jesus  from being arrested he doesn't  understand that jesus must be arrested  and finally die even peter doesn't get  it  and we hear this list and we might think  how in the world for the disciples of  jesus not yet how could they not see  what kind of savior he is or what kind  of peace that he brings how can they not  get it  but let's face it  there's times when  we don't get it  there are times when jesus isn't the  savior that we expect and that he  doesn't bring the peace that we expect  for instance  maybe we expect a savior that brings  peace  peace to ukraine  immediately  a savior who will open up the earth to  swallow up tanks who will reign down  fire and brimstone on attacking armies  who will drive back with his mighty arm  russian aggressors back to where they  came from  maybe we expect a savior  who ends covey  immediately and globally fully without  mastermind scenes or humanities this  ends it like that  maybe we expect a savior  make sure that the bad guys always lose  and that the good guys always win in  this world and everyone always lives  happily ever after  we want a savior  we'll bring peace  in our timing and  in our  terms  maybe we don't get it  and we see that our savior doesn't  always work through  mice  or healing  or happiness  sometimes our savior brings peace  through  suffering  and loss  and even  a cross  after all jesus rise in jerusalem  to do just that to die  by friday  most of the jews are no longer shouting  hosanna  but crucified  jesus ends up hanging on that cross  under a sign that the romans put in  place  this is jesus the king  of the jews  looking for a kid who had pomp and power  that people missed out on that greater  peace  that jesus gives that greater peace you  that king who rides  on a dog  yet we know too that it's not the end of  the story we know what happens one week  from today  that god turns the darkness of good  friday into the light of easter sunday  that god turned death with horrific  suffering into an empty tomb with far  greater joy  that god turned the shadow of the cross  into a lasting  peace  and this peace  is a type of peace that we  need  not a roman peace not a jewish peace  not a temporary earthly peace that ends  when the next war brews up  not a peace that we can expect or even  perhaps fully understand but a peace  that passes  understanding  a peace with god the peace  of  god  that is a peace that comes with sin is  fully and freely forgiven a peace that  comes with salvation and eternal life  bestowed upon us through faith a peace  that's delivered to you today even  through god's word and sadness  in his book the beautiful sermon the  nanasty reflects on a painting that  depicts a different kind of parade than  what we see  on palm sunday it's titled the two  crafts the two crowns  it depicts this  pre  powerful  prince in the center of the painting who  rides astride his mighty white horse all  is pumped and flourished there are  cheers of triumph for this crown prince  banners are unfurled courtly women drop  down flower petals ahead of this path  this is the procession of a triumphant  hero this is the type of ruler that  people would expect  but as we look closer especially that  prince's face  you see that it's turned looking upright  at the top right corner of the painting  and in space as this transfix it's even  humble  of what he sees  there  his gaze is focused squarely upon the  image of  jesus on the cross  can you see it there the top right hand  corner sort of in the shadows even  there's an image of a crucifix  but jesus too wearing a crown only it's  a crown  of thorns  and we can't help but wonder if that  image of the christ will maybe  change that prince  has the thorn crown christ  humbled him  help him to understand  this painting helps us understand i  think it helps us get it it helps us  understand that jesus isn't the king  isn't the savior that we might expect  jesus is described instead as today's  epistle reading says from philippians 2  that he's one of humility  again listen to those words paul writes  have this mind among yourselves which is  yours in jesus christ who though he was  in the form of god did not  equality with god a thing to be grasped  but emptied himself taking on the form  of the servant he humbled himself by  becoming obedient to the point of death  even death on a  cross therefore god is highly exalted  and bestowed upon him the name that is  above every name  jesus isn't always the savior we expect  jesus doesn't always bring peace the way  that we expect  no jesus is infinitely greater than what  we expect and so is the peace that he  gives  as we conclude this morning there's some  additional good news  jesus disciples  they don't stay in the dark forever  look at verse 16 of our reading again  john writes this his disciples did not  understand these things  at first  but when jesus was glorified when jesus  was risen then they remember  that these things had been written about  him  and been done to  him  the disciples they finally understood  the peace of jesus  and by the power of the holy spirit  so will we  and we will not just understand peace  but we'll also  share it  and live it  the peace  of palm sunday  the peace even of good friday  the peace of easter sunday the peace  that passes our understanding  amen  and may this very same peace keep your  hearts and minds in jesus christ our  savior  amen  does the people of god we now come  before our father in prayer we pray for  lori wallach we ask for healing  for her from cancer we ask for god  strength as she battles cancer we also  pray for all those who continue to  suffer from covet we also rejoice along  with barbara and steel shipping at the  birth of their son isaiah steele shippy  uh we thank god for a safe delivery for  both mother and baby  we also continue to pray for the war in  ukraine we ask god's protection upon of  the vulnerable and civilians and others  in harm's way we pray for peace  certainly in that region of the world  invite you please stand as we come  before our lord  we pray say lord this week  may we remember renewed the events of  the first holy week rejoicing in the  forgiveness that your son want for us on  the cross  in prayer we cry out  blessed is he who comes in the name of  the lord  lord of the church  work in the hearts and declines of those  who have been baptized in your name  but who will neglect gather together  with us as we worship in your name  work in their hearts and lives that they  may repent and gladly hear and learn  your word  in prayer we cry out  almighty god grant strength and courage  to those who proclaim your name replaces  what gospel of jesus is actively  opposed  keep them steadfast in your word  in the midst of persecution that your  church may grow in your blood  bear we cry out  of our land  watch over them in their duties and  grant your mighty arm of protection over  them in their calling  in prayer we cry  lord we pray for your peace to reign in  the land of ukraine  that war may quickly cease  and those orphaned  hear our prayers for this  invite you please be seated  for offerings we invite you to place  those gifts and offerings in the wooded  boxes located in the lobby area as you  exit this morning  we also  have the opportunity to give online as  well at our website accessionfl.com  uh we join and sing together words of  our offertory the words of david from  psalm 51 that psalm of repentance as we  cry out and song in prayer created me a  clean heart o god  <br>  everybody please stand as you're able as  we prepare to receive our savior who  comes to us in his body and blood  the lord be with you  lift up your hearts we lift them to the  lord let us give thanks to the lord our  god  it is good and right so to do it  it is truly good right and salutary that  we should at all times and in all places  give thanks to you o holy lord almighty  father everlasting god through jesus  christ our lord who accomplished the  salvation of mankind by the tree of the  cross  that where death arose their life also  might rise again  and that the serpent who overcame by the  tree of the garden might likewise by the  tree of the cross be overcome  therefore with angels and archangels and  with all the company of heaven we laud  and magnify your glorious name evermore  praising you and singing  <br>  our lord jesus christ on the night he  was betrayed took bread and when he had  given faith he broke it gave it to the  disciples saying  take it  this is my body which is given for you  this view in remembrance of me  in the same way also he took the cup  after supper and when he had given  thanks he gave it to them saying  drink of it all of you  this cup is the new testament in my  blood which is shed for you for the  forgiveness of sins  this do as often as you drink it in  <br>  remembrance together we pray the prayer  that jesus himself taught us  our father who art in heaven  that would be thy name thy kingdom come  thy will be done on earth as it is in  heaven give us  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 for thine is  the kingdom  and the power and the glory for ever and  ever amen  the peace of the lord be with you always  <br>  have mercy on  us  <br>  please stand  lift up your heads oh gates and lift  them up oh ancient doors  who is this king of glory  the  the lord of glory  the lord bless you and keep you  the lord make his face shine upon you  and be gracious unto you the lord lift  up his countenance upon you  and give you peace  <br>  oh  oh  is  foreign  ","score":0},{"video_id":"ehwFTS5XwRI","title":"The Promise of the Presence - Palm Sunday - Message with Rev. Nickie Golden, Music with Joytown Road","description":"Our lives are a reflection of the integration of the thoughts and feelings we hold in consciousness. This Sunday join Rev. Nickie in an exploration of how we can utilize spiritual principle to manifest our best life.","channel_title":"Unity of Mesa","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ehwFTS5XwRI/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  good morning unity of mesa we're going  to begin with a congregational the words  are easy  i am as god created me in the light in  the love and the glory in the light and  the love and the glory and the light the  love and the glory and the light and the  love and the glory i am and just in case  you think that's too many words too fast  we do have them up on the powerpoint  so  bring your heart bring your energy and  bring your love as we begin  <br>  in the light and the love and glory in  the light and the love and the glory in  the light and the love and the glory  in the light in the love in the glory in  the light and the love and the glory in  the light and the love and the glory  <br>  in the love and the glory in the light  in the love and the glory in the light  and the love and the glory  <br>  me oh thank you so much  <br>  thank you so much please be seated  my name is reverend mindy tucker and i  am one of the new co-ministers here at  unity of mesa  <br>  your speaker today is reverend nikki  golden the other co-minister anthony of  mesa  our board member of the day is louis  zeman our  announcer is john groves our poetry  reader  is charlotte kessler and on piano we  have anthony mervin  <br>  yes yes yes  <br>  let's take a moment to  center ourselves  to  become still  to come together in heart and mind in  one purpose  knowing that we are here  <br>  to enlighten  to empower and to energize not only  the people  who are tuning in at this very moment  <br>  this ministry our community  and the world we are  a beacon  of light of love of hope  and of joy  so it is and so we let it be  together we have an affirmation of  intention that we begin with and this  one is an intention of awareness  i am the thinker that thinks the thought  that creates the thing  so as you consider yourself as the  thinker  what thought are you holding and what do  you want to create in your life in your  well-being in your financial affairs and  in the world  let's say together  i am the thinker that thinks the thought  that creates the thing  <br>  we are connected  <br>  hard to heart  together we are  joining the promised  <br>  the vision of our greater yet to be  as we come together  in faith we lie  <br>  we're standing in the presence  <br>  standing in the presence of the divine  we are connected  heart to heart  <br>  of unity  and the vision of our  is great and yet to be  as we come together  <br>  we're standing in the presence  standing in the presence  <br>  of the divine  we are  standing standing  in the presence of  the divine  <br>  as our mini lesson for today i'm  actually inviting you to become  the teachers  next week during the easter service we  will have the opportunity to share your  wisdom and your  learning and your sage advice  with the children of unity of mesa so on  these pieces of paper  and i know for the last couple of weeks  you've been asked to  write sage things for another purpose  but this week i'm asking you to write  what what you wish you knew  when you were a child  or even a teen and it can be something  as  filled with hope as things will get  better  that's a whole campaign things will get  better and it could be that's what you  want our children to know  it could be  to remind them that they are loved  and and so are we it could be something  incredibly profound and i asked the  children last week to share what their  wisdom is and you will hear that come  out in my sunday lesson next week but  for this week if you could take that  opportunity  and write down something that you wish  that you knew when you were a child  very simple she did that okay  all right the other thing that i'm going  to ask in this  take the opportunity to ask right now is  if you are interested in participating  in our monday thursday service  this  thursday at seven o'clock i need 11 more  candle lighters we're going to do a  little bit of a 12 power ceremony we're  going to have foot washing we're going  to have communion  and i need we need  11 more candle lighters i have one so  far i have a clipboard i will hunt you  down  if you don't you know so that you can be  voluntold if you don't want to volunteer  all right  thank you so much and now on to john  good morning unity of mesa  this morning i have a few things for you  to know  this thursday coming up is monday  thursday  where we will celebrate metaphysically  the two rituals that jesus modeled at  the last supper  members of the board and chaplain team  and as reverend mindy just indicated  a few additional volunteers to handle  candles  we'll  be meeting and  offering a unity style communion and  foot and hand washing i'm looking  forward to it as being one of the  participants  next sunday we will be celebrating  easter and we have two services  scheduled  we will have a sunrise garden service at  6 45  in the morning this is a beautiful  outdoor  service and then at 10 15  we'll have our intergenerational service  and we'll be meeting in the garden after  and  probably join in to a degree  the children's easter egg hunt  and we'll have a special guest hopping  in as well we trust  earth day is coming  april 24  and in honor of that  youth ministry is hosting an  intergenerational event on  sustainability  a way to make  earth day every day  join amy and laurie for a prepared vegan  lunch  tips and tricks on what you can do to  help the planet  and a fun herb  planting project  there's a suggested ten dollar  love offering  and advance registration is requested in  order to have enough food and supplies  for all  you'll find all the information you need  about our upcoming services and events  and more  on our things for you to know website  page  at  unityofmesa.org  earth day event registration will also  be available in the bookstore  now i want to thank you for sharing your  love and light with us this morning  please know  that your soul is welcome here  and now  let's share our guiding statement  to remind us why we come together  shall we read it together  we are here to experience more of the  fullness of who we truly are in order to  transform the world  all are welcome here  now let's welcome charlotte casler  who will be sharing a poem by the  ancient persian poet rumi  <br>  that's a challenge  good morning  <br>  i'm going to read a poem for you  you were born with potential  you were born with goodness and trust  you were born with ideals and dreams  you were born with wings  you are not meant for crawling  so don't  you have wings  learn to use them and fly  let's give her a hand  beautiful  very very beautiful thank you  <br>  i love hearing  youth read the poem don't you  <br>  and what amazing words  what we are born with potential  trust  we were born with wings that are meant  to fly  wings that are inviting us into living  our dreams as fully as we can  is this something you're interested in  come on is this really something you're  interested in i want to hear it with  gusto yes  yes when we are excited it echoes back  to us from the universe those things  that we believe  that we are born with wings  and we know that they're metaphorical  wings  but we have within our minds the ability  to fly  i want you to imagine your favorite  place right now  wherever that is  now take a moment  and imagine  your favorite person standing in that  favorite place  and then what you might want to say  to that person  so did you just fly in your imagination  i hope so i hope your favorite place is  a place you really want to be  and i hope that your favorite place and  your favorite person as you come  together are people that you just  delight in who also send their heartfelt  delight to you  today we're talking about the promise of  the presence and that presence is the  presence of god within us within each of  us  that promise is what  tony sang about anthony's saying about  that heart to heart spirit to spiritual  connection that stands in the presence  of the divine but that's us standing in  the presence of the divine so i want you  to look around  and see that you are in this moment  in the presence  of the divine  when we know that  when we live that we see the world  differently  would you change the slide please  perception  when we know that we are standing in the  presence of the divine we are standing  in a particular  perception now reverend eric butterworth  a very old unity writer  says that  we don't see the world as the world is  we see the world as we are so when we  are willing to stand in the presence of  the divine and know that that's already  within us  when we are willing to look at each  other  and to see  only the presence of the divine  then our perception  makes a difference  how we are perceiving the world  makes a difference because we're going  to see it differently than if i'm like  going oh my gosh i can't believe i had  to get up today this is the most boring  day i've ever had and when i was a kid i  was very much like that  i thought time went on for forever  but now it seems to go so fast like it's  just amazing to me how fast it goes and  that's all a matter of perception  so we when we perceive things there's  life is and there's life is how it  should be  so i want you to take a moment and think  about what you believe life is because  what we believe life is  may be different take a moment i don't  want to give you mine yet  rumi gave us his in a very beautiful  poem that charlotte read  what do you believe life is and call it  out and if you're online write it in the  chat what do you believe life is  learning what else  living our purpose what else  connection what else  i got several things i missed them all  intention  relationships beautiful those are  beautiful things now if we believe  that's what life is  then we're also going to be thinking  that's how life should be see how it  flows  our perception moves us to the ideas of  what life is and our belief about what  life is and remember a belief is simply  a collection of thoughts  but those collections of thoughts give  us the idea of what life is and then if  life meets our expectations we're in the  flow  and we can recognize ourselves as the  flow  but sometimes life does not meet our  expectations and then we move ourselves  to a different place energetically  vibrationally  we move ourselves to a different dream  sometimes and then we don't typically go  to our favorite place we typically go to  our least favorite place have you ever  been there  it's kind of what we do as human beings  but the truth of us the capital t truth  of us and by capital t i mean the  absolute truth of us is that we are  divine  what if we actually came into heaven  the moment we were born on earth  what if  and all of our journey as being a  spiritual being having a human  experience that's living spiritual law  spiritual being human experience  spiritual law  what if that is all about each and every  one of us  uniquely learning to reveal  that heaven that's already within us  that's what i believe  that is exactly what i believe and so  next slide please  the first step in the religious  realization of life  this very first step is to always know  that god is life that divinity within  each of us is life  it is abundant life  it's on the present it's eternal  so what's in you already is every single  capacity of god if it's true of god it  is true of us as our co-founder myrtle  fillmore says  if it is true of god  it is true of us take a breath into that  i don't want you to miss it  if it is true of god it's true of me say  that with me if it is true of god it's  true of me  the first step is that realization of  life and life is that energy that  propels us forward life is that energy  that wells up with us within us when we  have an impulse to do something that  impulse to call your friend that impulse  to do an act of kindness for somebody  the halls are already within us within  us is that longing to be in the flow of  life and to take a step forward and  eventually reverend eric butterworth did  this and recognized not only are we in  the flow of life  we are  the flow of life  we are the very flow of life  we are that place where god shows up  the second step is to make a positive  connection with god life  by declaring oneness with it i  am one  with god will you say that with me  i  am one with god  and if you're online write it in the  chat  i am one with god so i'm one with you  and i'm one with god  and so then every action i have toward  myself in every action i have toward you  every way that we speak to each other  we're either really recognizing our  oneness with god and being the flow of  that oneness or we're out of alignment  and let's face it everybody gets out of  alignment the goal is not to never get  out of alignment the goal is to  recognize when we do  take a breath  and step back in  and it can be that simple but so often  we have not learned for it to be that  simple  so step one step two step one to really  recognize the abundance the eternal  presence of god the unchangeable  presence of god that we are  and then to declare to call forth to  affirm to  recognize and to embody  that we are  one with god  now this is palm sunday  and on this time  in ancient jerusalem  it wasn't exactly this time but we  celebrate it at this time  jesus triumphantly rode into jerusalem  and depending on which whether you're  looking at the synoptic gospels the  three that are very similar matthew mark  and luke or if you're looking at the  gospel of john  the writers have different ideas about  what occurred but the thing to remember  is this action is in each of the gospels  so when it's in all four of the gospels  we know it probably did happen  so jesus comes into jerusalem  and if you're matthew mark and luke it's  the first time  in a long long time if you're john he  used to come and go  regularly but there was a feast there  was a celebration that was upcoming  so jesus writes in  people lined the pathway they lined the  pathway and they were shouting hosanna  they were shouting how excited they were  to see this man who had been creating  miracles or what they thought were  miracles  and they laid down palm fronds  in front of him in that time the palm  fronds meant goodness in victory  and these were people who had been under  roman rule for many many many many years  and they believed on some level that  jesus was coming into jerusalem to  create a new kingdom  to create the kingdom of god  but they saw it as a physical kingdom  not as a kingdom that's already within  them  they were a people  that were looking for authority outside  of themselves they were looking for  peace to be established outside of  themselves they were looking for someone  else  to overthrow  that rule  and to bring peace instead of  recognizing that we have all of the  capacities of god therefore peace  is not out here it's peace that we bring  from within that we have the ability no  matter what is happening outside  ourselves to generate the peace from  within to generate harmony within to  generate joy within ourselves  it's not always easy  there are days that it's difficult and  those are days that i know i have to sit  in meditation more those are days that i  know i might need to reach out and find  the soulless of a friend  those are days i know that sometimes i  need to pick up a book that i know is  inspirational for me  and to read that book  so that i can take from outside and help  myself to remember the impulse that is  already within me  now jesus was a master teacher a  universal teacher and what jesus taught  was the father and i are one and a few  days later jesus's  meeting in the temple with some people  and they say  are you really the christ  that you say you are and this shows up  in john  john 10 30. are you really the christ  and jesus says the father and i are one  now some people have a difficult time  with the father so don't let the words  get in the way change it the divine and  i are one the buddha and i are one lasso  and i are one whatever terminology you  want to use don't let the words get in  the way  recognize your oneness  and allow yourself to open up to and  embody that oneness  and the people  who were asking the questions of jesus  the men who were asking the questions of  jesus because the women were not allowed  in that part of the temple picked up  rocks  they pick up rocks to stone him and they  said you were blasphemous  and jesus came back and he said don't  you read your own teachings  doesn't it say in psalms don't you know  that you are god  but the truth is  we're a spiritual being we are divine  having a human experience where we have  forgotten our divinity  and we come together in community such  as this  to remember  to reactivate within us when sometimes  we need something from outside of us and  there is nothing wrong with that as long  as we're also doing the inner work  and the men put down their stones and  jesus said to them  you may not believe me  but i want you to look at the works i've  done  i want you to see the healing that i've  done  i want you to hear the teachings because  you too can do those teachings he  doesn't say that exactly there  but that's stated in the bible  everything that  the teacher jesus could do we have that  capacity to do  the question is  in our perception  do we believe it  are we living the i am  as god created me in the light  metaphysically as spiritual intelligence  in the love healing and harmonizing and  glory metaphysically as unity  in the light in the spiritual  intelligence in the love and harmony  that we have within us that we are  radiating forth to create the unity  in the light in the love and the glory  we living that  you're here that tells me you are  you're online that tells me you are or  you're looking for something would you  do the next slide for me please we could  not get the clicker to work  jesus said do not worry about life  and he also said i came that you may  have life and have it abundantly  is this in our perception this is the  promise of the present  i came that you might have life  i came  touch your heart please i came  that you might have life  i came you know i came that you might  have life i came that you might have  life and that together we live life more  abundantly  but we are in the process of learning  how to do this  for we all have programming we have a  super conscious mind which is that part  of us that is always in what we would  call divine mind there is only one mind  you'll hear in unity there is only one  mind that we are part of that one mind  and that's what we often talk about is  the super conscious mind and then  there's the conscious mind when we know  exactly what's going on we can stay  about conscious about four seconds at a  time is what researchers say and then  there's the subconscious mind and then  there's the unconscious mind and i'm not  going there today but  our subconscious mind is about 95 of how  we live our life  but one of the beautiful things about  affirmation one of the beautiful things  about meditation  is that we can recognize  within us  that we have the power already to create  something different if we don't like  what's happening on the outside  we can create something different i had  the pleasure of being at the  golden rule banquet on thursday night  it was an amazing experience of  listening to people who have done things  that are changing the world because they  had that inner impulse  and they believed that the world could  be benefited from more goodness remember  that walking in that coming into  jerusalem on palm fronds the goodness  the palm bronze represent the goodness  so coming in on the goodness we believe  that the world could have more goodness  and it has more goodness because what  we're really doing is revealing the  goodness that's already around us and  calling it forth by our own actions  would you change the slide for me please  the buddha says every experience no  matter how bad it seems holds within it  a blessing of some kind and the goal is  to find it  the goal is to find it what's the  blessing of every experience have you  ever had an experience and you're like  why is this happening to me we're in  that  uh to me consciousness why is this  happening to me  and yet when we're willing to seek  the goodness that's there we bless  things  because blessing metaphysically pulls  out and draws  forth the goodness  jesus prayed in the traditional lord's  prayer  thy kingdom come is how it is in  the king james version and so often we  think that that means thy kingdom is  coming from way out there just like the  jews thought that jesus was going to  establish a kingdom  but it really means the kingdom is  already within us and we are simply  raising our vibration to reveal it  so take a moment  and put your attention and your  awareness on your heart  i am the thinker  that thinks the thought  that creates the thing  i am the thinker that thinks the thought  that creates the thing sometimes when we  sing song something it sticks a little  bit more fully  would you change the slide for me please  in unity we have the law of mind action  it says the same thing i just said i am  the thinker that thinks the thought that  creates the thing was written by  reverend johnny coleman a unity minister  and somebody who started something  foundation for better living  i am the thinker that thinks the thought  that creates the thing  the law of mind action in different  phrase we know it as thoughts and  feelings held in mind produce similar  thoughts and feelings you might have  heard it as thoughts and feelings held  in mind produced after their kind but  sometimes that's hard to recognize  what's that mean  so when i'm driving  and i'm frightened which has happened a  few times because i'm not used to  driving on freeways  i have to remember  i'm surrounded by safe and courteous  drivers  all the way across country i use that  and i've used it a multitude of times  here too  but it's that instantaneous movement  into knowing  that  life is abundant and i'm creating it  and i can look for the good in all  things even the one who zooms past me  what feels like 100 miles an hour  and i find that in that that fear that  rises up inside of me  i'm surrounded by  safe and courteous drivers i'm speaking  of truth louise hay  pulled that forward i'm speaking a truth  and it calms me  so the promise of the presence is that  we have the peace that passes all  understanding within us in all moments  but we have to do the work to seek it  so when i feel frightened  i can call forth the peace that's  already within me  i am the thinker that thinks the thought  that creates the thing  would you say that with me i am the  thinker that thinks the thought that  creates the thing  so i'm going to ask you  and i'm not going to ask you to tell me  yet but i'm going to ask you to take  this  into the next week  what is your highest vision  for this spiritual community  what is your highest vision  for this spiritual community  reverend mindy and i are joining you  and we'll be changing things as you  might have already seen  and we'll be joining you in things and  we'll be inviting you into things as  you've already seen eleven more candle  lighters  how'd you like how i worked that in  there  but this is what we're all about as  community  the word unity is in community  coming together to truly energize and  empower to enlighten to expand the  consciousness of our world to expand our  own consciousness  and to be able to share that in love  with each other  let's take that into a time of  meditation  who have i come here to be  and what is the highest  vision  that i have  for this community  what's the highest vision i have for  myself  you know if we're alive on this planet  which each and every one of us are in  this moment there is a vision and we  still have a purpose  what is that for you  what do you want to create  and what will it take for you  to reveal that which is already inside  of you  what will it take  for you to brush away  anything that feels unlike love  in your life  we're here  in the beginning of what we think about  in unity is holy  i'm going to shift your words a little  bit our words a little bit  we're here in wholeness week because  holy means wholeness  <br>  tony's going to play  and let's take 90 seconds  to really  tune into our heart space  to be present with ourselves as the  divine  to be the thinker  that creates the thought  <br>  that creates the thing  <br>  say it quietly in your mind  i am the thinker  the thing's the thought  that creates the thing  and breathe into that with every breath  in and out  let that affirmation of truth  circulate in your body  nearer  than our breath  i am the thinker  that thinks the thought  that creates a thing  what am i willing to create today  what love am i willing to reveal  what joy am i willing to live  <br>  what peace  do i bring to this world as i move  through my day  <br>  and tuck those heart those thoughts in a  corner of your heart and then let's  bring our awareness  back to this time and this place  <br>  bringing our awareness back to this now  moment  <br>  coming back  coming back differently because we have  spent those moments in our divinity  coming back differently  <br>  because  we have taken the time to consider to  think  and to reveal the truth of ourselves  because we are as god created us in the  light  in love and in the glory because we are  that light that love and that glory  and so it is and so we let that be in  this moment  amen  and as we come back i asked reverend  mindy to come up and join us  admiral nicki well we need you both  so  we're ready  they are so ready okay what i have here  to share with you is all the good tips  about living and moving into the desert  i don't know if there's any traffic tips  but  we can get those for you too if you need  oh thank you  thank you and our congregation put that  together for you last week at service  and if you got more to share i'm sure  they'd appreciate it oh thank you so  much it's so special to be welcomed in  this way  <br>  all right so we were in the flow we  stepped out of the uh  come right back into that float  take that breath  that reverend  nicki  led us to  drop back into that heart space  so  we are change agents of the world  we are the thinkers  and how do we change  how do we create that change through our  prayers affirmations being light  and  thoughts thinking the thoughts  that creates the thing  which is giving from our abundance  and remember abundance isn't out there  and something that we go to or we get  that it's all right here within  since we are a source  we are a hundred percent abundance  and it's from that place  that we as a spiritual community are  committed to  self-discovery  spiritual growth  and  with your abundance we support the work  of the greater good  as we enlighten empower and energize one  another to uplift the world  through a greater expression of god  creating the thing from our thoughts  since we're the thinkers  <br>  okay  so with that take a breath please stay  in the flow because i have  the technical stuff to  to share with you um there are many ways  to give here a unity of mesa financially  and to the spiritual work of this  community  uh indirectly there's through the amazon  affiliate website links  and just add unity church of east valley  our official name  as your favorite charity and you can do  that on  on the smile amazon as well as the fry's  rewards  and those checks come in every month and  they're so appreciated  and you know it's a small percentage  but it all adds up to bigger numbers so  thank you for those that have done it  encourage all of you to step into that  and also  you can also give directly  with our give on link  which is our vanco link online  or through credit debit card payments  in the bookstore  and  there's information  all our information on how to give is  online and there's these beautiful  little red buckets and all the doors  that you know i've got  a little something to drop in there or  big sub things to drop in there we  always appreciate it  so with that  take another deep breath  find yourself back in that alignment  that presence and let's say together  divine love  flowing through me  blesses and multiplies  all that we have  all that we give and all that we receive  we are so grateful for the gifts  but especially for the givers the  thinkers  you myself  you're  <br>  don't let nobody turn you around  some say yes  someone's saying no  someone say what the way the wind blow  don't let nobody  drag a spirit down  we will walk this road together don't  let nobody turn you around  <br>  i might say things that's strange to you  i might talk about good news it's better  than being blue but let nobody  drag my spirit down  i'm walking this road with you friend  nobody gonna turn me around  <br>  thank you for joining us today remember  there's hospitality  in the garden  remember that there is a desire for you  to be a candlelighter  and remember monday thursday at seven  o'clock  and let's pray out by using the prayer  for protection as our prayer the james  dillard freeman wrote and i want to tell  you that we have changed it one one more  change for you today we have changed it  we are following the way that silent  unity uses the prayer for protection so  tune into your heart and let's say it  together  the light of god surrounds us  we are the light  the love of god unfolds us  we are the love  the power of god protects us we are the  power the presence of god watches over  us  we are the presence  wherever we are  god is  and all is well tony's gonna play one  more verse and then we'll see you in the  garden  and you're my side  you might stumble for the rules i've  been on let nobody  shag a spirit down  <br>  you know we walk this road together  nobody's gonna turn you around  oh we walk this road together  nobody  <br>  and all the people said amen  see you in the garden  ","score":0},{"video_id":"GpkllBCKBhU","title":"04.10.22- Esperanza en la Oración","description":"Gracias por acompañarnos, esperamos conocerte y compartirte más de la Palabra de Dios. \nVisítanos en Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/Crossroadsen......\n\nEnlace de iglesia- https://www.crossroadschristian.org/p......\n\nEmail- abraham.cary@crossroadschristian.org\n\nCrossroads en Español\nCrossroads Christian Church\n6450 S. State Hwy 360\nGrand Prairie, TX","channel_title":"Crossroads Español","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GpkllBCKBhU/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"family clusters I hope everyone is very well we continue with our series on hope today's title is hope in prayer prayer is simply talking to god is exposing your thoughts your feelings to the only one who can fully understand you your creator but ever  they have thought about what we should do after the amen after the so be so or the amen is a certainty is an expression of faith and confidence that our father god not only hears us but is about to do something and many times he surprises us with  their answer they knew that once the father answered no to his son jesus christ it is difficult to think that it was like that but it happened and it had nothing to do with the heart or the perfection of the son that made jesus the son of god in this instance one of  the wonderful characteristics of jesus is the faith that he always had in his heavenly father and one thing is to place our faith in christ and this is one of the keys in the  today's message that one thing is to place our faith in christ another thing is to have a faith like that of christ the son of god jesus christ trusts his father and models us how to do it even when he expected the answer jesus was never anxious nervous even when his father  he seemed to be silent knowing that christ had tremendous faith in his father knowing this we must ask ourselves then how he did him what did jesus do while waiting for his father's answer the word of god teaches us that jesus and the father are one inseparable and for this reason  truth we quickly assume that jesus had no questions or doubts towards his father because he is the same but in the hours before the crucifixion of our lord we see that jesus christ struggled with very real emotions and wants to teach us today how to manage our conversations our faith  with the father when there is silence and even more difficult when he answers us when we  wait in silence is one of the instances  che before jesus was handed over and sold to the authorities betrayed everything began to intensify but jesus kept the mission of the father kept his eyes on the goal and the central salvation of all humanity washed the feet of his disciples established the holy supper and encouraged  to his disciples in a great way whether they realized it or not in one of those conversations with his disciples jesus pauses and now the following words to his father john 17 verses 11 onwards and i am no longer in the world anymore these are in the world  speaking of his disciples and I go to you and holy father holy father what you have given me keep them in your name so that they may be one just like us when I was with them in the world I kept those you gave me and me in your name  I kept them and none of them was lost except the son of perdition so that the scripture could be fulfilled but now I am going to you and I speak this in the world so that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves I  I have given your word and the world hated them because they are not of the world as neither and I am of the world I do not pray that the puppets of the world but that you keep them from evil  how 17 is a prayer of Jesus Christ to his father for his disciples who went  to remain on earth and in this portion jesus asks the father that his disciples be one equal as the father, the son and the holy spirit is an unbreakable and glorious unity inexplicable indeed jesus asks his father the almighty to keep them from the wrongly and certainly god was going to answer this prayer right but something else happened from  juan 18 onwards remember we saw orita juan 17 and from then on several events take place a disciple surrenders and betrays jesus judas another denies him three times the others are fearful for their  lives and leave the position of the ministry where there is unity and protection that jesus had asked his father in the past jesus prayed for bread and fish and f  they were multiplied in the past he commanded that lazarus be resurrected and he was and now he receives silence but there is something greater there is something sublime here let us not lose it when judas hands him over to the authorities in the garden jesus shows us humility and hope he is not desperate he is more  fearful when jesus watches and listens peter denying him in the courtyard of the high priest jesus once again showed humility and hope and when jesus was alone and abandoned by his disciples accompanied by pain and agony unfairly questioned mocked and flogged he was never anxious and nervous always full of wonderful humility and hope how could jesus wait and endure the silence of the answer to his prayer having the humility that his father had a better plan with the hope that one day his disciples would be united and victorious clinging to the hope and promise that one day  the evil one and his schemes would be defeated and disarmed so he managed to have peace in the midst of his father's silence now what do we do when god answers we do not know what god the eternal god makes a way where there is none fulfills his promises in light in the midst of darkness we know that god is like that and much more is almighty and not there is nothing impossible for him but by answering one does not mean absence of power on the contrary it is a power only revealed in the place of his presence in the mystery of his will his presence is to walk with him with the father is to speak with him there he reveals the  mystery of his will there is the intimate personal secret place where one is transformed there is where we discover the following we need more than faith in jesus we need to have a faith like that of jesus matthew 26 38 onwards he says then he told them my soul is very sad until  death stay here he told his disciples and watch with me a little later he prostrated himself on his face praying and saying my father if possible pass from me  í this cup but not as I want but as your jesus said this prayer at the end of dinner with his disciples they walked towards jerusalem and entered the garden of gethsemane inside the mount of olives it is there where the disciples make this prayer to his father  they fell asleep says the scripture even so jesus exposes his pain and his anguish to the father so we see that god works in the smallest details jesus told the father my soul is very sad to the point of death in hebrew it is that man  and almost equality Spanish and it means place of the oil press place of the oil press obviously from olive trees because he was on the mount of olive trees jesus christ being entirely god but in the form of a man began to feel even more the weight of what he was at  point of happening we always have to remember that one of the wonders of our god is that he is 100% god and he is one hundred percent man in the person of jesus christ i  comparable to any other belief or religion began to feel the weight on the human side and began to feel the weight on the divine side also have you ever felt the weight of the storm overwhelmed dismayed frustrated disappointed and the agony increases luke 22 42 onwards he says  father, if you want, pass this cup from me but not my will but yours be done and an angel from heaven appeared to him says the scripture to strengthen me they remind me jesus was alone praying the disciples had fallen asleep and god took pity on him and me  he sent an angel from heaven to strengthen him and being in agony he prayed more intensely and his sweat was like great drops of blood that fell to the ground what is this cup that jesus speaks of speaks of the great mission entrusted to him by his father the mission of salvation  a glass is a good thing but let's talk about the content of that glass pass me by this glass will be that the drink was very bitter this glass was full of sin and many  erte and punishment was the holy judgment of god of the sins of all time deposited on the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world jesus christ jesus being holy and pure and without stain did not want to drink of this undeserved cup but remember he declared once  time after time i come to do the will of my father in what jesus said to do the will of god requires sacrifice and suffering and therefore the father sends interference and help from heaven an angel a worker of god came to strengthen his son but only strengthen because the mission had to be accomplished the battle had to be won I did not take away the battle but strengthened him for the battle after the strength he continued in agony he continued in the war he continued in the fight he prayed more intensely and literally sweated blood these are the  medical condition called hemmat and dose when a person is under extreme tension or stress the blood vessels become congested near to the sweat glands of n  our body because of stress and then it leaks combining with sweat this is not very common this happens very rarely but it happened to our lord jesus christ jesus is teaching us something valuable about prayer many think if they just pray harder  but so intensely that his two drops of sweat drops of blood sorry and many of us think if only now more intensely if only I pray harder if only I pray with more faith but jesus shows us a passion and a perfect faith and yet still the  father tells him no humility and hope remained in the son of god until the key humility and hope remained in the son of god the biblical account shows us that jesus was later arrested judged beaten and mocked they forced a crown of thorns on him  they made him carry his cross and then hang it and nail it to the tree and moments before giving his last breath of life it says in matthew 27 verse 45 and from the sixth hour hub  or darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour about the ninth hour jesus cried out with a loud voice saying he and he and the mass back to me this is my god my god why have you forsaken me  jesus almost always referred to goodbye as father always  he was a father but right now he refers to him as god jesus he was quoting the beginning of a psalm and he continues to speak to our hearts he was quoting psalm 22 verse 1 my god my god why have you forsaken me why are you so far from my salvation  and from the words of my cry my god I cry by day and you do not answer and by night and there is no rest for me he  certainly felt helpless jesús reyna job there is a buried jewel here there is a treasure here god us god is not giving it to you he is giving it to you  giving you he is giving it to me the word of life christ knows his word he knows it very well because he is the incarnate word here we have the rest of psalm 22 you see jesus quoted that first sentence of psalm 22 but look at  he rest of the psalm psalm 22 verses 3 to 5 says and at night and there is no rest for me there we stay but then it says this but you are holy you who dwell among the praises of israel in you our fathers waited and you rescued them they cried  to you and were delivered they trusted you and were not ashamed god is holy and because he is holy he is perfect and because he is perfect and holy his decisions are always the best whether we understand them or not he works for good if we wait and cry and we are freed the son  he had faith and trust in his father he knew he was not going to be completely shamed and abandoned no no no but we wonder how he did it how he could trust so fully and here is the answer dear listener how jesus was able to process the silence and the no  his father went because he knew his father's heart we can have faith in jesus to save us of course but we also need a faith like jesus to know the father's heart as  í we can trust in spite of anything someone once said to have faith in someone we have to trust them you do it once and watch what they do then you try again and watch what they do trust increases then after  for a while dependency is established and you trust them the son, although he is God himself, models us how to have this relationship with the father, although it was God himself, he modeled it for us because in this world it was the son, although he was also God, but he did it for us.  he shows this he does not exemplify it now he trusted him he continually sought him in other words god is our creator he made us he formed us but he also became part of his creation by becoming a man he came and suffered among us part of the glory of being a follower of christ  it is that you adore and serve someone who understands you 100% we are not alone he is by your side he is not alone you are not alone seeing your problem he is  is walking by your side when now there is silence or even a no the son knows what it is to wait and process a no the son remembers what it is to wait the son remembers the difficult moments the son knows the abandonment and betrayal of people the  son knows what it means to say my god my god why have you forsaken me he  cried out to you and you do not answer there is no rest for me  but by trust and faith to know the heart of his father proclaims greatness victory and salvation but you  you are holy you who dwell among the praises in you our fathers waited and you the pounds cried out to you and were delivered they trusted in you and were not ashamed hebrews 57 onwards says and christ in the days of his flesh offering prayers and supplications with great  outcry and tears to the one who could deliver him from death was heard because of his reverent fear and although he was a son because of what he suffered he learned obedience and having been perfected he became the author of eternity  salvation for all who obey him how many of us want to have a faith like that of jesus to be able to obey the father to do his will so that the father may be glorified in our midst so that there may be deliverance and healing in our hearts and minds  lives of others if that person is you we are going to pray that God gives us the faith of his son because he certainly gives us the faith for salvation but he also wants to give us that faith and increase that faith to do as his son we are going to pray father  we give you the honor, the glory and the praise for what you are doing in our hearts right now you fulfilled the mission in your son and you want to fulfill the mission in each one of us rebuke the lies in our minds and our hearts that we are worthless  that we have no purpose that we cannot do great things in your name those are lies from hell you have glorious promises from heaven for us to establish your kingdom in this t  ierra was the prayer your kingdom come your will be done as the heavens here on earth is what we want to do to live as he said to be your children also to respond with obedience and praise to our mouths fully trusting in you thank you Lord because you have saved us  that we confess as lord and savior we confess you as king of our lives so that we may live in subjection to you help us understand why you deserve submission you lift us up if you give us joy it is not a sad submission it is one full of purpose it is a purpose of peace of joy  fullness in you we trust work in our minds and hearts with the power of your name too","score":0},{"video_id":"jJgnR8RGzMc","title":"Misa de Niños (2;00 pm ) Domingo de Ramos","description":"Misa de Niños (2;00 pm ) Domingo de Ramos","channel_title":"Stpatricklaredo","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jJgnR8RGzMc/mqdefault.jpg","captions":" good afternoon we invite you to join us company with our prayer for health in the name of the people delegates meanwhile we can also be in heaven hallowed be your name of us well settled earth as we give it to the pews of forgiveness to  its false with all of us we can the melting strangulation and the and bad amen for god they are in several days thanks gentlemen with you I get into everyone in tones what to say blessed the fruit of jesus holy mary mother of god but that's why your hair and obviously in this  Mary has of herself, thank you, Lord, it is with you that you see yourself in all beings and blessed, the product of income, Holy Mary, mother of them, work or seekers, now and now, luck, amen, God is in Mary, full of grace, Lord, with you, blessed, you see in tones xerez and blessed the fruit of jesus holy mary mother of god ramón sotos colors and luck amen i am tamariz to those who thank you lord is with you blessed are you in you  all the faces and blessed aphoto although its holy mary mother of god rag the other colors now and now good luck amen god is maria you have fat to have with you blessed you are in all women and blessed be photo of jesus holy mary mother of god work others colors now and now luck amen  god save you mary full of grace the lord is with you blessed you are among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb jesus santamaría more of them play our hosts and now and now our death amen god save you  mary full of grace the lord is with you blessed are you among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb jesus santamaria mother of god and we took your hostage too and god bless you mary full of you are of grace the lord is with you  blessed are you among all women and blessed is the fruit of your good of jesus holy mary mother of god we overcomers and now and now our mind to my god  it is to open mary full of grace lord it is with you meditate you are among all women and blessed are you the fruit of your womb jesus holy mary mother of god come to all and now and now our death amen god save you mary full of grace and  lord is with you blessed you are among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb jesus santamaria mother of god of us you sinners and now open our minds amen  globe to the father and son of holy spirit as never before and pressed for ever  of the centuries amen mary mother of god be more in coria in good death for great lady that was operated on nancy sins and that was hell has all the more to heaven than normally aman you are in coria amen sacred heart of jesus  I trust in you that heart of Mary evaluations of my soul the name of the father of speed's son holy amen  <br>  good afternoon parents and grandparents  or half hello sushi or can hello friends today is  palm sunday of the passion of the lord asia sushi today we start holy week on palm sunday jesus enters the holy city of jerusalem riding on a donkey yes that is true and while he is passing along the way many people receive him with  branches and cloaks on the floor the children clapping their hands and the people are heard shouting hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord if he beeps you can imagine how beautiful that moment must have been as a party they also shouted blessed the kingdom that is coming  the kingdom of our father david hosanna in heaven however in a few days there will no longer be that joy rather they will be sad days because jesus will be condemned to die this is how it is aunt one of his disciples will betray him and hand over his enemies jesus will be humiliated scourged beaten  they will put a crown of thorns on him and make fun of him jesus will walk through the same streets of jerusalem carrying a cross on his shoulders and will finally be cruci  ficado en el golgotha ow quote I think that we should think very ell not to do as those people who wanted to crucify him becau e we with our bad actio s bad words or attitudes can b hurting jesus he is cruci ying what is true every time his a d rather  we must be humble obedient sincere faithful to jesus we must have him in our lives as our king and savior quote that we can always accompany jesus and always shout hosanna that is no because you are my king very well his and now my all let's be silent as a little angel  to begin our celebration goodbye little friends  <br>  why don't you do  <br>  no one else walking there wasn't the same, he wants there to be music this time yes with the same one from the Salomón entrance one of those and then we stop for him to say it <br> and then this after the gospel we comment on the normal procession right now there will be no bells until it is already  vertical product  we stand up please <br> in the name of the father of the son and of the holy spirit dear brothers after having prepared our hearts since the beginning of Lent with our penance and our works of charity today we gather to start united with  the whole church the annual celebration of the paschal mystery that is to say of the passion that resurrection of our lord jesus christ ministries that began with his entry into jerusalem his city that is why remembering with all faith and devotion this saving entry let us follow the lord so that participating in his cross  let us have part with him in his resurrection and his life raise your palms to bless them  we can almighty and eternal god sanctify these branches with your blessing so that those who joyfully accompanied christ the king can reach through him to the holy city of jerusalem from heaven he who lives  and reign forever and ever  <br>  yes I am I  don't know  the lord just <br> I don't know  <br> no no no I  mean  yes yes people  the children  just  with Saturday  or just I  mean  them  when we were going to see each other  it's me things  <br> the person  people [Music  ]  but if it is in your mind and on your lips so that you can worthily proclaim his ante evangelina name of the father of the son and of the holy spirit  the lord be with you  reading of the holy gospel according to saint luke  at that time jesus accompanied by his disciples was on his way  to jerusalem and as he approached the journey and to bethany next to the mount called olive trees he sent two of his disciples telling them to go to the village that is in front of you when you enter you will find a donkey tied that no one has ridden yet untie it and bring something here if someone  ask them why they untie it tell him the man needs it they went and found everything as the man had told them while they tied up the burg the owners asked them why they wanted it c  They answered, the Lord needs it, they took it, it could be a donkey, they threw their cloaks on it and made Jesus ride on it. As he went along, the people covered the road with their cloaks, and when he was near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the multitude of disciples Enthusiastic, they began to shout goodbye to all the prodigies they had seen, saying blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest, some Pharisees who went among the people said to him, Master, rebuke your disciples, he told them  he replied, I assure you that if they keep quiet, the stones will shout the word of the Lord  <br>  that is  things  the children  do or that is  by action  the children  well <br> today we offer this Eucharist for luis enrique pedrosa  lomas for a special intention and for the birthday of natal and zárate almighty and eternal god you wanted is for our savior to become a man and suffer  He was on the cross to give the human race an example of humility grant us we come to follow the teachings of his passion and deserve to participate in his glorious resurrection he who reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit and is god for ever and ever  <br>  of the  book of the prophet isaiah at that time said isaiah the lord has given me an expert tongue so that i can confront the despondent with words of encouragement morning after morning the lord awakens in my ear so that i may listen as a disciple the lord god has made me hear his  words and a put resistance and I've backed down offered for those who hit me the energy of those who pulled me in the long run don't turn away from the insults and spitting but the Lord help me for that I won't be confused by that hardening like  rock and I know I wouldn't be embarrassed word of  god my god my god  abandoned  1 is abandoned  all those who see me make fun of me nothing I know gestures and  they say to trust in the lord so that he saves him if really drama that frees him yes  and  <br> the evil ones surround me everywhere like rabid dogs my hands and feet have drilled and all my bones can be put together  is abandoned they  share my  clothes and my tunic is played with dice, Lord, my help, come and help me, do not stay even so far away,  and because of who abandons [Music ] my brothers, I will tell of your glory in the assembly, I will praise your name, let those who fear him praise the Lord, that he  people of israel always adore him  look part is abandoned  from the letter of the apostle saint paul to the philippians christ jesus being god did not consider that he should close himself from the prerogatives of his divine condition but on the contrary annihilated himself taking the condition of  servant and it was said that he was similar to men so I have done one of them humbled himself even and provenance except even death and a death on the cross that is why god exalted him above  re all things and gave him the name that is above every name so that at the name of jesus everyone bows the knee in heaven on earth and in the depths and everyone publicly acknowledges that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father word of  God and  <br>  sad and mill for us and out of obedience I even accept death and a death on the cross that is why he jumped over all things and gave him the name that is above all the name  <br>  passion of our lord jesus  according to saint luke <br> it  will be time for dinner 60 jesus with his disciples and told them how much he wanted to celebrate easter with you before suffering because i assure you that i will not celebrate again until the kingdom of god is fully fulfilled later  He took a cup of wine in his hands, pronounced thanksgiving and said, take this and share it among yourselves because I assure you that you will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.  god taking bread afterwards pronounced thanksgiving he broke it and took lotion saying this is my body that is given for you do this in memory of me after dinner he did the same with a glass of wine saying this glass the new alliance is carried with  my blood that is shed for you but look at the hand of the one who is going to betray us is with me at the table because the son of man is going to die as decreed but woe to him who I know but there is action of that man by whom they will be delivered  they began to ask each other which of them could be the one who was going to betray him then the disciples began to argue about which of them should be considered the most important jesus told them the kings of the pagans dominate them and those who exercise authority call themselves benefactors but you do not do that but on the contrary that the maghreb among you acts as if he were the minor and the one who governs as if he were a servant  or because whoever lives longer is the one who is at the table the one who serves is the one who is at the table because I am in your midst as the one who serves you have persevered with me in my trials and I assure you and I am going to give you  the kingdom as my father gave it to me so that they may eat and drink at my table in the kingdom and each sit on a throne to judge the twelve tribes of israel then he added simón simón look what weeks I have asked permission to shake the  like wheat but I gilded for you so that your faith does not disappear once converted confirm your brothers he answered sir I am willing to go with you even to jail and to death if that is how it was applied I tell you pedro that today before he sings  rooster you will have denied three times that you know me later he said to all of them  when I sent them without provisions without money or sandals sandals perhaps they lacked something they answered wrong he added now instead whoever has money for provisions should take them and  Let him who does not have a sword sell his cloak and understand, I assure you that it is good that everything that is written about me be fulfilled, he was counted among the criminals because he was approaching the fulfillment of everything that refers to me, they told him, sir, here  there are two swords he answered this web jesus went out as usual to the mount of olives and the disciples accompanied him when he arrived at this place he told them to pray not to fall into temptation then he walked away from them at a distance of a stone's throw  and he began to pray on his knees saying father if you want get away from me this is a more bitter trial but not my will but yours be done an angel appeared to him then to confront him in his sandwich and mortal anguish he prayed with greater insistence and began to pray  city those drops of blood that fell to the ground at la t he finished his prayer he got up and went o his disciples and found them aslee because of grief then he told them why t ey are asleep he told him  get up and pray not to fall into temptation he was still speaking when a mob arrived led by judas one of the twelve who approached jesus to kiss him jesus told them judas with a kiss hand over the son of man when he realized what he was going to  happen those who were with him said sir we attacked each other with the sword and one of them wounded a servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear jesus intervened saying I see enough touched his ear and healed him later jesus said to the high priests  to those in charge of the temple and the elders who had come to arrest him have come to learn me with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit every day I have been with you in the temple and they did not lay hands but this is an idea of the power of da kness they they arrested him they took him away and made him enter the house that we do dowry pedro followed him from afar they lit a fire in the middle of the patio they sat around it and pedro felt so also with them when he saw him sitting by the fire a maid stared at him and told him that she was also with him but he denied it saying I don't know him woman shortly after another saw him and told him you are one of them too pedro replied man  I am not and after an hour someone else insisted without a doubt that this one was also with him because he is a Galilean but he answered man I don't know what you are talking about he was still talking when a rooster crows the man turned and looked at pedro pedro then remembered  the words that the lord had said to him before the rooster crows you will deny me three times and leaving there he burst into tears bitterly the men holding jesus made fun of him they hit him they covered his face and asked him guess who  he has hit you and preferred against many insults at dawn the council of the elders met with the high priests and the scribes made jesus appear before the sandero and asked him if you  you are the messiah tell us no and I will answer them if I tell them they will not believe it and if I ask them they will not answer me truths of now he said of the man he is seated at the right hand of almighty god they all said then you are the son of god he  he replied you yourselves have said so yes i am then they said what need we have and of witnesses we ourselves have heard from their mouth the council of the elders with the high priests and the scribes got up and took jesus before pilate then they began to accusing him saying we have verified that they are being antimony to our nation and opposing paying tribute to caesar and saying that he is king pilate asked jesus are you the king of the jews he replied you have told you so pilate told the high priests  and to the mob I do not find any fault in this man they insisted with more force saying they are and it is fine about the prize itself nothing for the entire Jewish from credibility to  Here, upon hearing this, Pilate asked if he was a Galilean and when he found out that he was from Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to him since Herod was in Jerusalem precisely in those days, when Herod saw Jesus he was very happy because he had wanted to see him for a long time, well  He had heard a lot about him and hoped to witness some of his miracles, he asked him many questions, but he did not answer a word, the chief priests and the scribes were there, accusing him incessantly, then Herod with his escort treated him with contempt and mocked him and told him ordered to  wear a white garment later he sent him to pilate that same day herod and pilate became friends because before they were enemies pilate summoned the high priests to the authorities and the people and told them they have brought this man to me alleging that something is at  people but I have questioned him in front of you and I have not found in him any of the faults of which they accuse him nor errors because  He has sent it to me again and although no crime worthy of death is approved, so the sting is a lesson and the altars on the occasion of the Pilate party had to set a prisoner free and they shouted en masse saying get rid of his release does not know any detours  they had put him in jail for a revolt that took place here in the city and one and one homicide pilate redirected his words with the intention of setting jesus free but they kept shouting crucify him crucify him he told them for the third time well  that he has done wrong I have not found in him any crime that deserves death so I would give him a lesson and he would not let go but they insisted crying out that they crucify him as he grew the criterion pilate decided that his request be fulfilled only the one who  they asked the one who had been imprisoned for riot and murder and jesus gave him to his orbit to the glass while they took him to classify the cast  holding hands to a certain simon of cyrene who was returning from the field and they forced him to carry her behind jesus leads him following a large crowd of men and women who beat their breasts and wept for him jesus turned to the women and said daughters of jerusalem do not cry for me and for you and for your children because days are going to come in which the barren women and the wombs that have not given birth and the breasts that are nursing me will be said blessed then they will say to the mountains collapse be on us and  the hills and the hills of that cult us because that is how the green tree will be brought what will happen to the dry one when they are also two criminals to execute him it is with him when they arrived at the place called the skull they crucified him there and the criminals one of his  right and the other to the left Jesus said from the cross father forgive them because they don't know what they are doing the soldiers divided their clothes casting lots the people were watching the authorities I did it  an grimaces saying to others he has saved that he saves himself if he is the messiah of god in the chosen ones also those on one side made fun of jesus and approaching him they offered him vinegar and said if you are the king of the jews he knows  that you yourself had in fact on the cross a sign in greg greek latin and ebro that said this is the king of the jews one of the crucified malefactors insulted jesus saying if you are the messiah save yourself and us but the other  I protested indignantly, you don't even have your god, being in the same plea, we just received the payment for what we did, but he has done no harm, and he said to Jesus, Lord, when you arrive in your kingdom, remember me, Jesus replied, I assure you that  today you will be with me in paradise it was almost noon when darkness invaded the entire region and the sun was darkened until three in the afternoon the temple veil scratched the middle of the temple jesus calming with a p voice  otent he said but into your hands I commend my spirit and having said this he expired on his knees  please stand up please  the roman officer when he saw what was happening he gave glory to god saying truly i am hungry it was just the whole crowd that had come to this spectacle looking at it  that what was happening he returned home beating his chest the acquaintances of jesus kept their distance as well as the women who had followed him from galilee and remained looking at all this a man named joseph councilor of the sanhedrin a good and just man who  he had not agreed with the decision of the jews and with their actions that he was a native of arimathea city of judea and that he awaited the kingdom of god he appeared before pilate to ask him for the body of jesus he lowered it from the cross he wrapped it in a sheet  and placed him in a tomb carved into the rock where no one had been laid it was still the day of peace of Passover and the women were about to start on Saturday  jeres who had followed jesus from galilea accompanied juste in this neat and with it they placed the body when they returned home they prepared perfumes and ointments and on saturday they kept rest according to the commandment  word of god glory to you lord jesus take a seat please  the  children we have heard in a fairly long reading but it is important that you know so that you know that you have to make a difference in our world I want to take two words from what we just read when he already but not me at the beginning he said that when the disciples were going  to celebrate the last supper that is what the child jesus occupied to be able to enter jerusalem do you remember how it turned out that jesus occupied a world that worried him let's not listen to them they ate the ppa in my rhythm exactly why  to enter jerusalem this demo for your attention It's good that you paid attention that you are busy in a donkey to enter Jerusalem because another one of you who is important to re  presents in the figure of a donkey in children all those who give back before entered on large horses and entered with many armies and jesus that messiah entered and decided to enter with a donkey because he wanted to be a servant in the midst of all those who served or that they saw him as the messiah so children we have to be like Jesus we have to be servants of others so that the donkey becomes the one that Jesus decides to ride because in that he represents himself as a servant of others and that  Pilate does not have followers who were enemies of those who became Pilate and Herod in order to kill  Jesus Mendez and pay attention. They became friends when Pilate and Herod became enemies, but when it comes to doing evil, children, sometimes people disagree  I agree, but I want to tell you, children, don't make friends with evil, we have to make friends with whom Jesus leaves, we have to make friends with Jesus and you.  children just like jesus i need that burrito jesus also needs you today you need jesus in your life to be able to do what children well that's how it is then today on palm sunday or palm sunday we celebrate that triumphal entry of jesus  as the one who serves everyone else and we need to learn from jesus to serve others so that we can do good in our world and children god needs you to learn to do good that's why you go to school for  that today you listened to the passion of jesus and that is why you are with your parents today to learn to do what is good and they are going to be the day and children to the others may god help us to continue on our way and the mysteries of salvation that we celebrate today so be  it we stand up  and now all together we are going to compensate I believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth  born only son of god  of the father before all ages god of god light of light true god of true god  begotten not created of the same nature as the father because in everything it was done that for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven and by the work of the holy spirit Mary the virgin was incarnated and became man and for our sake he was crucified in the time of Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures and ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father and will come again in glory  to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end I believe in the holy spirit lord and giver of life who proceeds from the father and the son who with the father and the son receives the same adoration and glory and who spoke through the prophets I believe in  the church that is a catholic and apostolic saint i confess that there is only one baptism for forgiveness of sins await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the future world amen  christ was obedient  to his father even until the moment of his death on the cross with confidence in the great love of the father let us offer our prayers on this day after each request we will say healthy fathers  father of goodness we ask you for the holy church to always live with the gaze  put on christ learning on his cross and that his message we recognize him our king lord now dres puig to the parents full of love we ask that with dad francisco we have the love of walking with the cross of your son building the church and  confessing the only glory let us pray father listen to us so that our heavenly father may have mercy on the faithful who have fallen into sin give them courage to resort to the sacrament of penance and grant them the joy of forgiveness and peace let us pray father listen to us so that  the blood of jesus that speaks out more favorably than that of abel reconciles with god those who are still far away because of ignorance indifference or their own  passions let us pray father listen to us so that the lord who on the cross experienced marl says sad and abandoned have mercy on the sick and the oppressed finally comfort them in their affliction let us pray father listen to us for our community so that living these holy days and united to  the passion of the lord let us be witnesses that christ has died and risen for us and thus our lives will be the best program of the good news of his resurrection let us pray parents we fight for the health of madaí bertone de weston 6 garcía gladys miran lópez del Río  claudia de dokdo galina francisco rodríguez for the birthday of nothing natalie zárate carlos mendoza antonio come for the eternal rest of juan vargas josé leopoldo santos pérez daniel pérez el celaya for valadez and alberto cornejo let us pray father listen to us also for the intention for which this is offered  mass of luis enrique pedrosa the most we provide to the lord  father you are infinite in majesty listen and cont  this our prayers on this day according to your will in the name of jesus christ your son our lord take a seat brothers and we prepare our offerings  <br>  and do not  ramp the sleeping field  and in my heart  [  Music] like this but I'm sorry wait <br> where are you <br> I  didn't see it  yes in my heart <br> with conquests not  in my heart  you think  yes  I'm sorry no no <br> in my heart  <br>  for in brothers so that this sacrifice you give me may be pleasing to god the almighty father  <br>  that the passion of your  boom and baby sir may your forgiveness attract us and although we do not deserve it for our works through the mediation of this unique sacrifice we receive it from your mercy through jesus christ our lord the lord be with you lift up our hearts give thanks to the lord our god [Music  a ] truly it is just and necessary it is our duty and salvation to give you thanks always and everywhere lord holy father almighty and eternal god through christ our lord who being innocent if not for sinners and was unjustly condemned to save  the guilty with his death erases our crimes and by resurrecting he conquered our justification that is why we praise you with all the angels and acclaim you with voices of joy saying  <br> and  more  no also  <br> in my past  <br> yes  I don't know [  Music] <br>  your love  almost almost  almost almost  endesa <br> this afternoon 2  as I live <br> to me  almost almost  2  <br>  as always look at  me stop <br> holy you are really sir source  of all holiness that is why we ask you to sanctify these gifts with the outpouring of your spirit so that they become for us the body and blood of jesus christ our lord who when he was going to  being given over to his voluntarily accepted passion, he took bread giving you thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and eat of it because this is my body that will be given up for you  <br> in  the same way after supper I take the chalice and give you  Thank you again, he passed it on to his disciples saying take this all of you and drink from it because that is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins, do this in memory of me  [  Music]  this is the sacrament of our faith  <br>  so, father, let us now celebrate the memorial of the death and resurrection of your son, we offer you the bread of life and the chalice of salvation and we give you thanks because you make us worthy to serve you in your presence we humbly ask that the holy spirit gathers in unity all of us who participate in the body and blood of christ remember lord of the church spread throughout the earth and with  papa francisco with our bishop james and all the shepherds who take care of your people carry their perfection through charity agreement also of our brothers who fell asleep in the hope of the resurrection and of all those who have died in your mercy admit them to contemplate  the light of your face have mercy on us all and so with mary the virgin mother of god her husband saint joseph the apostles and four lived in your friendship through the ages let us perish for you jesus christ share eternal life and sing your praises  for christ  with him and in him to you almighty father god in the unity of the holy spirit all honor and glory forever and ever  we are called to do good without looking at who just as christ entered jerusalem to rescue us all  that is what we celebrate today children that is why we dare to say our father you are in heaven  <br> but only that <br> we also forgive those who offend us do not let us try to  deliver us from all evils lord and grant us peace in our days so that with the help of your mercy we may always be free from sin and protected from all disturbance while we await the glorious coming of  our savior jesus christ  lord jesus christ you said to your apostles peace I leave you my peace I give you do not take into account our sins but the faith of your church and according to your word I will grant peace and unity you live and queen forever and ever centuries the peace of the lord be with you all  fraternally peace this continuous transport  <br> this is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world blessed  the guests at Mr. Mr.'s dinner I am not worthy of you entering in case of a word from you it will be late  and <br> today I want to tell you [  Music] I am  I have <br> you are in sports because  color left  <br> a thousand years ago  <br>  as you are  <br>  more  so  how <br> is doing  h <br>  of divine things  Ms.  room <br> my paths  ah  <br> and  and Ms.  1  the hand is  not bad  the mother  that night  I like  how he is <br> [Music  ] sometimes he forgets I'm good  for nothing I'm a person [  Music] it is not surprising that now they are with you <br> and sir  yes <br>  yes and more <br>  let  us pray you who have fed us with this Eucharist and through the death of your son gives us the hope of reaching what  that faith promises to grant us to reach through his resurrection to the goal of our hopes because jesus christ  our lord take a seat brothers for a few small announcements we ask the war family and the villarreal family please come closer to receive the little bear and the virgin  and a round of applause for them who are going to pray we  also ask oscar to come in today let's go  to give him recognition because it is going to be a donation of his hair thank you very much oscar  tell here for the photo that someone take the photo so that they can see that it is true that it was not him <br> the hair is not going to be it is not false it is not  I also remind my brothers that  I ask you please to take a bulletin there in the bulletin you will find the schedule of the celebrations that we are going to have during this Holy Week and I ask children not to throw the palms but to do  small crosses quotes and paste them on your doors on your doors of your house so that the bad guys don't come in, evil doesn't come in and no one comes in, okay don't throw it in the trash ok lastly  I want to thank all those who have committed to giving to Sabina Pio Catholics, we have already received several donations, but I also want to thank all those who have already given, which they gave at the time, because I was able to consecrate my hands precisely for the help  that you gave, that's why I invite you to take a leaf, right, and don't forget to donate for the Catholic, come and ask me, because thanks to your help I was able to consecrate my hands, so let's continue promoting and giving the blessings that God has given us  for  Lastly, I also want to tell you that the Chrism Mass will be at 7:00 p.m. in the cathedral on Tuesday, everyone is invited because there the hates that we are going to use for all the sacraments that we priests impart will be blessed, so everyone is invited. the last thing is also that there are going to be some people in blue out there they are from the christian family movement they are selling tickets so they can help  r your organization right help families lm fcc right and they are doing a raffle they sell tickets for 5 dollars so that if you like to support them and cooperate then you are very welcome and thank you very much for your help and your participation children and for behaving in this celebration  which is a little long so I invite you to stand up  bow your head to receive the blessing God and our Father look how he gives of this family of yours for which our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to surrender himself to his executioners and suffer the torment  of the cross for jesus christ our lord the lord be with you and the blessing of almighty god father son and holy spirit descend upon you and accompany you always <br>  we are going to lead by our  example have a nice week  <br> and more  the truth or not  with tricks take the hand just  like that  <br>  and they go and that's the  way it is and don't come  not  with <br> to  h  if everything we find the bad is  worth to me ah <br>  so and more and  me and to play <br> of brighter flavor  [Music  ] where ","score":0},{"video_id":"_gAsn1Rylyo","title":"Presiding Bishop Michael Curry Easter Message 2022","description":"“Easter is the celebration of the victory of God,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael B. Curry said in his Easter 2022 message. “The earth, like an egg, has been cracked open, and Jesus has been raised alive and new, and love is victorious.”\nThe festive day of Easter is Sunday, April 17.Full transcript in English and Spanish available here: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/presiding-bishop-curry-easter-2022-message/","channel_title":"The Episcopal Church","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_gAsn1Rylyo/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"in matthew's gospel  the resurrection of jesus is introduced  this way  after the sabbath as the first day of  the week was dawning  mary magdalene and the other mary went  to see the tomb  and suddenly there was a great  earthquake  for an angel of the lord had descended  from heaven  came and rolled back the stone before  the tomb  until it was open  a number of years ago when i was  serving as the bishop of north carolina  one of our clergy the reverend james  melnick  offered a workshop on the saturday  before palm sunday  on how to  design  and color and make easter eggs  i attended the workshop with a number of  other people from around the raleigh  area  and did my best to make  an easter egg  but jim  was a master at doing so  you see jim's family hailed from ukraine  and he had been making those easter eggs  from childhood  and spoke of his grandmother and the  family tradition  that hailed from  ukraine  the making of those easter eggs  i knew the significance of the easter  egg  and easter  i knew  the stories and the truths and the  teachings about the coming of new life  into the world  and the connection of life emerging from  an egg  and jesus rising from the dead bringing  new life  and hope  into our world  but it became clear to me  in the last month or so  in this time when the people  of ukraine  are struggling for their freedom  struggling to be what god intends for  all people to be  free people  that that egg  which is deeply embedded in the life and  the consciousness of the people of  ukraine  that those easter eggs are not just mere  symbols  but reminders of the reality  of the resurrection of jesus  think  back palm sunday jesus entered jerusalem  as we know riding on a donkey  that was a deliberate act on his part  he entered jerusalem  at about the same time  that pontius pilate the governor of rome  would have been entering the city  from the other side from the other gate  pilot would have been riding a war horse  accompanied by a cavalry and infantry  he would have been riding in the streets  of jerusalem  at this the dawn of the passover  which was a celebration  of jewish freedom  harking back to the days of moses and  the exodus  pilate knew  that the people would remember that god  decreed freedom for all people  and that the roman empire which held  judea as a colony  would need to put down by brute force  any attempt to strike a blow for their  freedom  so pilate into jerusalem on a war horse  and jesus entered jerusalem on a donkey  the way of humility  the way of the love  that we know from the god who is love  the way of truth  the way of compassion  the way of justice  the way of god  the way of love  that way  face the way of the world  brute force  totalitarian power  injustice bigotry violence  embodied in pontius pilate governor of  rome  and the rest of the week  was a conflict  between the way of the empire  in the way of the kingdom or the reign  of god's love  and on friday  the empire struck  jesus was executed  on the orders  of the governor of rome  he was killed  and hoped seemed to die with him  his followers fled  save those few women who stood by the  cross  and save old joseph of arimathea and  nicodemus  who provided a tomb for the body of  jesus  the scripture says they placed his body  in the tomb and rolled the stone in  front of the tomb  and there he lay dead lifeless  there their hopes dashed on the altars  of reality  their truth was crushed to earth  love itself seemed to die  and then early sunday morning  mary magdalene and  at least one other and maybe a few other  women  went to the tomb  to anoint his body to do the rights of  burial that were customary  but when they got there  they realized that there had been an  earthquake  that that the earth  if you will had been cracked open  and that the tomb was empty  the tomb was open and empty the earth  had been cracked  open and they would soon discover that  jesus  had been raised from the dead  the earth cracking open  the tomb opening  like an egg  cracked open  and new life emerging from it  that is the victory  of life  that is the victory of love  that is the victory of god  the resurrection of jesus  is the victory that we can believe in  and live by  many years before  <br>  south africa ever  saw its new day of freedom  i heard desmond tutu in columbus ohio  this was in the mid-1980s  this was while nelson mandela was still  in prison  while there was no hope  of deliverance  i heard him say  in his speech  that i believe that one day my beloved  south africa will be free for all of her  children black white  colored  asian indian  all of her children  i believe it  because i believe that god has a dream  for south africa  and nothing can stop god's dream  and i believe that because i believe  that god raised jesus from the dead  and nothing can stop god  easter  is the celebration  of the victory of god  the earth like an egg has been cracked  open  and jesus  has been raised alive  and new  and love is victorious  in the year 2020  and that first easter  during the pandemic  when our church buildings were  closed we broadcast  an easter service  from the national cathedral  and members of our communication team  organized for what may have been the  first time  in our church's history  organized an online choir  and they sang an  ancient easter hymn  and they will sing it for you now  it sings of this victory  this victory  of love  of god  the strife is ore  the battle done  the victory of life is won  the sound of triumph has begun  alleluia  alleluia  the victory is won our task  is to live in that victory  to live out that love  until the prayer that jesus taught us  thy kingdom come thy will be done  on earth  as it is in heaven  and so  this easter  behold  the ukrainian easter egg  for the victory  of love and life  is one  ","score":0},{"video_id":"9WkTYKk249E","title":"Sunday April 10 - Palm Sunday - Live Service","description":"Find more information at http://newportchurch.com/\n\nOur services air live at 10 am every Sunday.\nJoin us in the LIVE chat!\n\nThank you for your generosity church!\nGive at http://newportchurch.com/give\n\nVisit us at http://newportchurch.com\nFollow us on Instagram http://instagram.com/newportchurch.com\nConnect with us at more@newportchurch.com","channel_title":"newport church","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9WkTYKk249E/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"uh  jesus  jesus  hey  tell the world  his  and change  you love your face  is  is  changes  so  yes  oh yeah  are we going outside  it's 10.  i guess we're going down crystal's gonna  start connecting  know  this is  good morning church  come on in from the foyer  you can bring your coffee  you can bring your friends  here we go  <br>  there is one  strongest  <br>  we will not lose  <br>  one name holds every victory  one voice that  silences the enemy  one king who reigns for all eternity  and  jesus  jesus  <br>  we are taking ground  the walls are falling down  in the mighty name of  <br>  one  jesus  one name holds every victory  one voice  that silences  the  one  enemies  who reigns for all eternity  jesus  <br>  is worthy of all our  is  <br>  yes sing every victory  every victory is yours every victory is  yours  <br>  one name holds every victory  and one  voice that silence is the enemy one king  one king  who reigns for all eternity  in jesus jesus  <br>  one voice  eternity  lord  jesus o  jesus christ  <br>  every victory  every victory is yours  every victory is  <br>  the yours hell could not defy your name  <br>  amen  holy spirit we thank  <br>  i see the king of glory  is coming on the clouds with  <br>  they're rising up to take their place  we're selflessly  oh it is  <br>  oh  show me  <br>  chosen a church  <br>  jose can you lift up your voices  <br>  can you give us  <br>  when the mountains fall  and the tempest draws you always  <br>  when creation falls  still my soul will soar all your mercy  <br>  revived in your story  <br>  and i'll look to the cross as my failure  is lost  in the light of your glorious  so let the grace  come to life  in the beauty of your name  rising up from the ashes  god  and my forever will find refuge  in the shadow of your wings  i will love you forever  and forever i'll see  when the world caves in  still my hope will cling to your  promises  <br>  let my heart find strength in your  presence  <br>  revived in your story  and now look to the cross as my failure  is lost  in the light  of your glorious grace  so let the ruins come to light  in the beauty of your name  rising up from the ashes  god  and my forever will find refuge  in the shadow of your wings i will love  you forever  and forever i see  in the beauty of your name  rising up from the ashes  god forever  i will love you  forever and forever  <br>  rising up from the ashes  god  and forever soul will find refuge  in the shadow of your wings  i will love you forever  and  let forever ruins come to life  in the beauty of your name  rising up from the ashes  god forever  <br>  and forever i'll see  <br>  rising up from the ashes  god forever  <br>  the shadow of your wings  i will love you forever  and forever i'll see  <br>  father we thank you this morning for  your amazing  faithfulness  we thank you lord that whatever is  happening in our lives in our world that  you are god that you are sovereign that  you are our king  and lord today on this day palm sunday  we we declare that you are our king we  declare lord that you are sovereign and  we thank you lord for the way that you  work in and through each and every  situation  every circumstance of life i pray lord  that today your presence  your power your grace your mercy your  goodness your healing every aspect of  all that you are would be our reality  today as we draw close to you as we  honor you and worship you today we give  you all the praise and all the glory in  jesus mighty name  amen can you say amen to that give jesus  a big hand of praise  2 000 years ago they lined the streets  of jerusalem and they shouted  and they praised come on newport church  let's shout let's praise let's thank god  he's our king he's our god he's  sovereign  and he's a good god  he is a good good god well welcome  to church this morning the beginning of  easter week palm sunday a significant  day  and  yes if you've noticed  our normal lights are not working  these lights up here  we used to have some other lights here  called intelligent lights i always  called them our unintelligent lights  because they had a mind of their own  they did exactly what they wanted and  these lights here are just going to  continue to do what they uh what they uh  are doing even though even if we unplug  them they'll still keep going so  just in case uh you're watching online  and you think what on earth has happened  we know and we're doing our best to to  address it but i think we're going to  have to live with this today but hey  thank goodness that we walk in the light  and we're not dependent on  external light  to light our path because god's word is  a light  unto a pa unto our path and a lamp  to our  feet  <br>  yes it is  good good well great to have you here  why don't you take a moment give someone  a hug shake their hands  welcome them to church  <br>  thanks michael it's so bright  all right can you take your seat please  thank you thank you  what an amazing worship today right yeah  oh worship team thank you so much for  the worship thing we love the worship  team and we love every volunteer that is  here this morning today too  hey the production team the lighting  team we love you we love every volunteer  that is here this morning coffee tea  everyone that is helping on the church  to make this happen that connecting  sorry about that connecting to  that connected in the back we love you  everyone so we are so happy to be here  if you are watching us online and you  know can see me my name is john carlos i  am we're so happy to be here with you  this morning and we want to connect with  you our hearts at church and we want to  connect with you and let me tell you  this we have a space for you we have a  place for you so we as a church we want  you that you know that always is a place  for you  whatever that stage or the age that you  are we want to connect with you what  about if you go to our website we have  live group that you can connect if you  are new and you are visiting us this  morning  hey go follow me in the connection we  we're going to guide you where you can  go and you can find a family or you can  find friends that you can do live  together as a church we have a few  activities doing this uh these following  weeks uh and the next one is sun easter  sunday so i am excited for easter sunday  because this is a great sunday where we  all together we're going to worship god  that we're going to celebrate that jesus  rise and what he did in our life so what  i want to encourage you this you see in  your seat you will see this easter  invitation so i want to encourage you  invite somebody and your family invite  somebody in your work probably you know  somebody that need an invitation that  this this car is very symbolic you don't  need to speak okay you don't need to say  anything you're shy say oh i don't know  what to say just handle the car say hey  take this that's it you don't need to do  anything else so but invite somebody and  i know that i know that somebody else is  going to be so grateful and god will  encounter with them and easter sunday we  have all good friday service too by the  way we have a good friday we're going to  have a communion together we're going to  worship god 7 p.m good friday on easter  sunday at 10 a.m it's going to be  amazing another uh activity that we have  is six sir who for all the woman's in  the house so all the woman's in the  house sister who may 10 from 10 a.m to a  to noon we're going to all the women's  of the house are going to gather here  it's going to be a great great great  time and the foyer is going to be  through the world going to be amazing i  don't know i wish i can be there but i  probably will be there walking around  helping with something but i am excited  what is coming in the life of the church  and this time we're going to keep  worship oh god with the offerings and  our tithes in this screen you will see  all the ways that you can give but i  want to stop a moment and i want to say  this thank you newport church thank you  because you your generosity is touching  so many life probably you don't know  probably say oh how well this is  happening this when we have this moment  so many people is having an encounter  with god so many people is found in  jesus every friday as a church as a  community we go to santa ana and we give  so many food to so many people in santa  ana everything is possible because you  your generosity your heart you say you  know i want to be part of this church i  will be planting in the church i want to  give in this church because we are  making a difference in our community so  thank you so much for that  i want to encourage you keep up keep it  faithful i know  sometimes that uh sometimes it's we have  good season bad season but your  faithfulness will be make the difference  in so many life what about if we take a  moment to pray all together father god  we love you we love you so much father  we are so grateful for who you are for  your mercy for your love for your grace  father god thank you for the blessings  thank you for that provision thank you  for the miracles thank you for your work  thank you for everything that you are  giving us father god we pray right now  that you bless what we are giving to you  father we bless you multiply father god  we love you and we honor you father god  and i pray for every single person that  is here for every business for every  family for every dream that they have  father god i pray that you bless them  you guide them father god in jesus name  we pray and we say amen amen and amen  and now  i want to bypass jonathan because we  know that god will will speak to us  through our pastor today so paso  jonathan welcome to the platform  <br>  thank you  john carlos  how many people here speak spanish  <br>  the heavenly language all right well  let's let's thank our worship team thank  you for doing such a great job today  uh as always  um  great to have you in church  um  and as i said before we uh  we've been facing some technical  challenges and i said earlier i don't  think it's it's a coincidental  that uh we have technical challenges on  the first sunday the beginning of the  most significant week in human history  when we're celebrating the death and  resurrection of jesus triumphal entry  the death of jesus the resurrection of  jesus and um if we  uh if we think about it that was the  most intense  spiritual conflict that ever took place  on the planet during that week and the  enemy who thought he had the upper hand  who thought that he had won the battle  who did everything he did to destroy  the purpose of god and our future  salvation  was defeated  through the resurrection of jesus and so  it's no no surprise if you're facing  some if you're a believer if you're a  follower of christ and you're facing  some spiritual opposition remember paul  said we don't struggle against we don't  wrestle with flesh and blood but with  principalities and powers a spiritual  host of wickedness  in the heavenly places but thank god  he's given us authority in the name of  jesus he has given us the armor of god  that we can put on and can  give us strength in the midst of all  that's going on around about us so here  we are  i can see you if you can't see me it  doesn't matter as long as you can hear  me  as i share the word this morning  just a couple of things  if you  don't forget to  hand out  to invite people to us uh easter  services uh we also have some of these  cards that are available which are out  in the foyer that were mailers that we  sent out uh to the area uh in in in  within a  a radius of our church  and if you want to if you know where you  can put this in a public place maybe on  a notice board where you're allowed to  do it okay  then uh we encourage you to take these  and put them there front and back you  can take two cards and then  just to let people know there's a lot of  people i heard  someone  actually robin duma who told me that a  lady who has been living here how many  years three years  she's been living here 26 years in the  neighborhood and didn't even know that  our church was here  so we may all know where it is  and she just lives over the road correct  lived 26 years in the in the  neighborhood and we've been here seven  this august can you believe that  um and she didn't even know that we were  here so we may think that everyone knows  that we're here but here's an  opportunity to let people know we're  putting some of these i think in the gym  next door and it's a great opportunity  for you to get people to come to church  i think i shared the story about how i  was invited to church at easter  and it changed my life  really uh if you knew me before i came  to christ  uh becoming a pastor  was the very  last  thing  i would have ever imagined that i would  have become  i would have  laughed anyone to scorn who would have  said one day you'll be a pastor i was a  seeker i was spiritually i was looking  for meaning i was looking for purpose  but i never  i never imagined that i would find it in  christ and in a community a community of  faith called  the church  thank god for the church  the church is not peripheral to god's  purpose it's central to god's purpose  and we're so glad that you're a part of  it so glad that you're here  watching online or whether you're here  in person so today is palm sunday  and at the end of the service we're  going to be handing out some of these  palm crosses that we want to give to you  as a gift as a point of connection with  what is the beginning as i've said  already the most significant week in  human history i want to read a passage  of scripture it's the account of palm  sunday and matthew's gospel matthew of  course was the disciple or follower of  jesus who emphasized  uh  the that jesus  was the king  that jesus was  the messiah that jesus was the  long-awaited  king of kings and  this is what we read as they approached  jerusalem and came to beth page  on the mount of olives jesus sent two  disciples  saying to them  go to the village ahead of you and at  once you will find a donkey tied there  and her cult by her untie them and bring  them to me  if anyone says anything to you say that  the lord needs them and he will send  them right away this took place to  fulfill what was spoken through the  prophet say to daughter zion see your  king comes to you gentle and riding on a  donkey and on a cult the foal of a  donkey  the disciples went and did as jesus had  instructed them they brought the donkey  and the cult and placed their cloaks on  them for jesus to sit on  a very large crowd spread their cloaks  on the road while others cut branches  from the trees and spread them on the  road  the crowds that went ahead of him and  those that followed shouted hosanna to  the son of david blessed is he who comes  in the name of the lord blessed  uh blessed  hosanna in the highest heaven  when jesus entered jerusalem the whole  city was stirred and asked who is this  the crowd's answer this is jesus  the prophet from nazareth in  galilee  the journey of easter and the road to  jerusalem didn't begin  on palm sunday as jesus entered  triumphantly into jerusalem but it began  many months before  120 miles north of jerusalem on the  slopes of mount hermon the highest  mountain  in israel  when jesus asked the disciples an  important question  he asked them who do you say  that i am  and it was peter who answered who said  you are  the christ  you are the son of the living god  and jesus answered him flesh and blood  hasn't revealed this to you but my  father who is in heaven and he said you  are peter and on this rock  on this rock of your revelation that i  am the christ i will build my church and  the gates of hell will not prevail  against it at that point jesus turned  his face towards jerusalem  and he told his disciples i must go to  jerusalem and when i get to jerusalem i  will suffer at the hands of the  religious leaders of the day and i will  be crucified but on the third day i will  rise again peter immediately went from  the heights of his revelation of christ  as of jesus as the christ turned to  jesus and said not so lord  i won't let that happen to you and jesus  answered him and said get behind me  satan  for you are not being mindful of the  things of god but you are thinking  through your rational human reasoning  what a  peter in a few moments went from the  elation of being the top of jesus's  class to being called satan  and at that point  at that point the penny began to drop  and the disciples began to realize that  they were embarking on a journey that  was going to be full of many twists and  turns was going to be full of many  unexpected uh  situations and circumstances that were  going to unfold but they had no idea  that this journey from  jeru from the slopes of mount hermon  would end up with jesus on a cross  and that it would finally end end up  with an empty tomb  when jesus was  resurrected  the journey of easter was one of the  most significant  moments of human history and we take up  that journey today  on the day when we celebrate jesus's  triumphant entry into jerusalem the  church has called it palm sunday because  as we read the people waved palm  branches on that sunday as they hailed  jesus as king  but as jesus came into jerusalem the  people shouted hosanna we sang that song  this morning and i loved that song  hosanna about jesus  our king  and  that word hosanna is a hebrew word that  sums up  in a word what this day  meant  the hebrew word hosanna which people  shouted and in order for us to  understand the significance of that word  we need to understand the context of the  story how many of you know that when you  hear a story the context is  fundamentally important with the wrong  context you come up with the wrong  conclusion which is what we find happens  all the time in the world in which we  live things that people say things that  people do are taken out of context but  when we have context we find the true  meaning at the center of the events that  unfolded and the context of this story  is that the nation of israel had had a  very checkered past although they were  god's chosen people they had gone  through many ups and downs four hundred  years of slavery in in egypt i watched  the movie with london who's been  enjoying the prince of egypt that she  watched over and over again this last  week and we watched it with her i loved  that movie and in that movie as i  watched it i thought about this think  about it it's easy to say 400 years  quickly but think about that 400  years of slavery in egypt that takes us  back to 1622.  that's a long time ago  that was before this nation was even  established as the modern nation that it  is today for 400 years they were in  slavery and then all of a sudden they  experience this mighty supernatural  deliverance that took place through  god delivering the people of israel from  egypt  and they entered into a period of many  years of uh liberty and freedom  um they now experienced probably another  700 years of freedom until the northern  kingdom of israel was taken into  captivity by the assyrians the nation  the half or the two tribes that were  left were uh probably about another 80  years later were taken into captivity by  the babylonians and then they were  allowed to retur and then they the  persians defeated the babylonians and  allowed the jews to return to  uh jerusalem are we tracking with this  and then from there the the nation of of  israel or the jewish people were invaded  by the greeks alexander the great anyone  remember him and the the greeks occupied  that part of the world for several  hundred years until someone by the name  of judas the maccabee revolted and they  experienced 100 years of freedom in the  midst of all these years these years of  being occupied and then after that 100  years of freedom when they were  expecting that maybe judas the maccabee  had been their messiah maybe this was a  time when they would be established as  the ruling nation that ruled the planet  all of a sudden along came the italians  and you can always count on the italians  to  affect the party and  they hear all the italians  and and the italians came along except  they weren't the italians then they were  the romans and that was a very different  kettle of fish the romans came and the  romans occupied  palestine so we have hundreds of years  of occupation so the first thing is  occupation the second word is  expectation in the midst of that there  was this expectation maybe this leader  maybe this prophet maybe this person was  the messiah or the deliverer so at this  time the events that surrounded jesus  triumphant entry into jerusalem there  was massive expectation especially after  all the miracles that jesus had  performed maybe this was the one  maybe jesus was the messiah and so we  find the context of this story the place  is buzzing  with expectation the super bowl week  leading up to the super bowl has nothing  like has nothing on what was taking  place here even the world cup without  the italians was never going to have the  same impact but  the reality is there was huge  expectation was this the one so first of  all in the midst of their occupation  there was expectation and their  expectation was that the messiah would  not bring in a spiritual kingdom alone  he would bring in an earthly kingdom  that's why james and john were very keen  to know who was going to sit on the  right hand of jesus at his throne  they didn't understand that jesus was  establishing a spiritual kingdom that  was far more significant and far more  important in fact  the expectation  uh was so high  at the time  uh that they  uh that that that that the  that they would be delivered that the  romans were on high alert  because they were expecting a rebellion  so firstly occupation secondly  expectation thirdly manifestation  they're easy to remember occupation  expectation manifestation the  manifestation means the physical  appearance of christ  jesus was manifested the son of god was  manifested in human form  and so they were asking the question is  this the christ even when jesus was  tried the religious people of the day  asked him repeatedly are you the christ  are you the one  and in this story we read that this was  to fulfill what jesus did was to fulfill  what was spoken through the prophet say  to daughter zion see your king comes  gentle and riding on a donkey and on a  cult the foal of a donkey  so the word hosanna  that they shouted  is filled with messianic expectation  it's filled with prophetic expectation  it's filled with human emotion and i  want us to in a sense to step into that  today not just from a historical  perspective but to step into it for us  today in the day in which we live  2022 right now easter 2022 so that we  can have a sense of great  expectation so that we can have a sense  of great hope so that we can have a  sense that despite what's going on in  the world around about us god is on the  throne he's sovereign he's the king he's  the one who has the final word and that  we put our trust and our hope in him and  that we understand that god has a plan  and when we find our purpose  we can begin to learn the plan that he  has not only for his church not only for  the world today but his purpose for our  lives  and when we find his purpose for our  lives he gives us a plan  i was talking to  someone just yesterday and i mentioned  this at our son's wedding you know many  people say god has a plan for your life  well god does have a plan for your life  go back to genesis be fruitful multiply  fill the earth and subdue it  but god has  what's most important is that we  discover god's purpose for our life and  when we discover god's purpose for our  life then we can discover his plan  because his plan is connected to our  purpose it's so easy to say well god has  a plan for our my life and just kind of  wait for it to unfold no god's waiting  for us to find our purpose so that we  can he can give us the plan does that  make sense  so here we are and that word hosanna is  charged with faith so in the midst of  occupation expectation and manifestation  were the hopes of a nation  and they were high hopes  and the hope of every jewish people and  jewish person in jesus day was that the  messiah would deliver them from the  roman occupiers that they would be  liberated and this was especially so at  the time of passover  because passover was the time when they  celebrated their freedom and their  liberty  when they were delivered from 400 years  of slavery in egypt and it was a  celebration that reminded them that  freedom was central to their identity as  a nation  and it's important for us to understand  that freedom is central to our identity  as a people of god  you shall know the truth jesus said and  the truth will set you  i'm going to ask that again you will  know the truth and the truth will set  you  free freedom is central to  our identity as a people of god and so  their expectation was high but in the  midst of this  was their fears  i think we all know  that we may have high hopes but we also  have to deal with real fears  in the midst of our high hopes we all  face the challenge of real fears and for  them the real fear of their day was the  tyranny and oppression of the occupation  of the romans  and they lived in the tension between  their hopes and their fears  you and i live  every single day  in the tension between our hopes  and our fears  and in the midst of that  we have to determine in our own hearts  what is going to weigh most heavily upon  our hearts every single day  what we are going to focus on every  single day what is going to  occupy our thoughts  because even though they were a land  they were a land that was occupied we  are a people who can choose whether what  occupies or fills our minds  our hopes  or our fears we live in the tension  between  our hopes and our fears the promises of  god  our expectation of how things will work  out  sometimes we have our own script written  out  of how everything's going to work out in  our life and  maybe get disappointed when things don't  work out the according to our script  we put our order into god and  what god dishes up or puts on our plate  is not what we ordered  and life is not like a restaurant where  you can send back what comes on your  plate and say well i didn't order that  we have to eat it we have to deal with  it we have to manage it we have to work  through  what we experience in life and then  there's our fear our fears things aren't  looking the way i expected them to  things aren't working out uh the way i  expected them to the reality of our  struggle  the reality of our losses  the reality of uncertainty  the reality of  pain  that is inevitable a friend of mine  wrote a book called pain is inevitable  um  misery is optional  don't have to live in misery because  you're experiencing pain  and so it's in the midst of that tension  between the hopes and the fears that the  people of god cry out hosanna  and what we need to understand is that  within the within that word  within the etymology of that word  hosanna is a cry of desperation  but at the same time that cry of  desperation  is  also a cry of triumph  that  desperation that god can save us but the  reality and inevitability and the  proclamation of his triumph in our lives  and i think that as we declare that word  today and i want to encourage you to do  that that that there is that synergy  between the desperation of our cry for  god to move but also at the same time a  declaration and proclamation that his is  the victory and that he is the one who  has  the last word  and within that word  uh hosanna which literally means oh save  now or please save there is that  uh sense of this that god is  is it's a declaration of god's salvation  and ultimate victory  so as we look at this story  and as we apply it to our lives  we see that jesus was paving the way  in this week for our salvation  he was the paving the way for our  redemption he was paving the way for our  forgiveness he was paving the way for us  to experience his resurrection  life  and hosanna was the cry  for the realization of their hopes that  day to be fulfilled in the midst of  their fears  i wonder what your hopes  and fears are  this easter  what are the things that you're hoping  for what are the fears the challenges  the things that concern you the things  that weigh on your heart the thing that  gives you that gnawing feeling in your  stomach  the things that weigh heavily upon you  and we live in the tension between our  hopes and our fears  and there were five significant things  that brought about their redemption and  the realization of their hopes  and the triumph over their fears  and i want to highlight those five  things i'm going to go through them  fairly quickly  so that if you're taking notes you can  write them down but very simple things  that they did that we can do  this easter that we can do as we move  forward to pave the way for all that god  wants to do in and through us  individually and collectively so the  first of these is very simple  they lined the streets  they lined the streets a very large  crowd spread their cloaks on the road  while others cut branches from the trees  and spread them on the road the crowds  that went ahead of him and those that  followed shouted hosanna  to the son of david they gathered  together and they lined the streets to  proclaim jesus as king  hey today  you and i  we gathered  together  online  in person we gathered and what did we  gather to do we didn't gather just  because well it's sunday and i guess  sunday's church day no  i pray and i i believe that every one of  us gathered this morning with intent and  purpose in our hearts we have come  together to declare and proclaim that  jesus is king  that jesus is sovereign and  what we understand from this is and from  this moment is they understood the path  the  the power  of their collective presence  i want you to think about this for a  minute they understood the power  of their collective presence  we've seen things happen in the past and  political events that have caused  people to take to the streets  in a demonstration of their  of the power  of their corporate presence  or their collective presence  the church  is the most powerful  demonstration  of the collective presence of god's  people  and all over the world today and i i  i said earlier i don't  i'm not the world's best social media  instagram poster facebook  but but i posted something today and i  said all over the world  people are gathering  just like the people gathered two  thousand years ago to proclaim jesus as  king and today  i am one of them  i am here today to gather with god's  people don't just look at what's around  us here right across the world  billions of people are gathering  collectively to declare that jesus is  king as a demonstration the greatest  demonstration this world has ever seen  of the collective power of our presence  we are lining the streets  we are lining the cities the streets of  every city and every country on this  planet to shout  hosanna  blessed is he who comes in the name of  the lord can you give god a big hand  this morning and as we  declare his praise  our presence  matters  our presence makes a difference this  easter  next sunday  maybe the one sunday that some people  will come to church let's gather  let's demonstrate our collective faith  and presence  as we declare jesus as king and the  power of his resurrection  the second thing  that we see is they cried out to god  they cried out to god  and we talked about this  as we looked at the the the word hosanna  they shouted hosanna they cried out to  god  how many of you know  that god knows everything we need  anyone ever wondered i mean  i will confess to you that i've there  have been times i understand the power  of prayer  but there are times in my subconscious  where i think  i'm just trusting god he knows what i  need anyway  he's omniscient  why do i need to tell god  what he already knows i need  am i the only one that's ever thought  that  prayer is hard work  why do i need to tell god what he  already knows why because like any dad  he loves to hear his children  asking him for what they need  they cried out to god  and god heard their cry  and i want to encourage you as we as we  line as we gather to proclaim jesus king  let us shout to god let our cry to god  be heard cry out to god this easter cry  out to god for the things that you're  believing him for him to do he's waiting  his brother james  said we have not because we ask not  let's ask  let's cry out to god he is waiting for  our cry and the cry of our heart  accelerates god's purpose think about  that the cry of our heart  accelerates  god's purpose for our hopes to be  realized  we must cry out to god with passion  with faith  with expectation  with hope  so secondly firstly we gather secondly  we cry out to god thirdly they laid  their robes at jesus's feet  they laid their robes  at jesus's feet well what does that mean  were they concerned that the donkey  was going to  struggle with the surface of the road  no  what they did was  was hugely significant  and we have to go back to the old  testament to find out or discover  what the significance of that was i'm  going back to the book of numbers this  was written  right after the children of israel had  uh come out of egypt and we read in  numbers 15 31 and the message version of  the bible i think puts this better than  any other translation  and it says god spoke to moses speak to  the people of israel tell them that from  now on they are to make tassels on the  corners of their garments  and to mark each corner tassel with a  blue thread  when you look at these tassels you  remember  and keep all the commandments of god  by everything and and do not get  distracted by everything you feel  or see that seduces you into  infidelities the tassels will signal  remembrance and observance of all my  commandments to live a holy life to god  i am your god who rescued you from the  land of egypt to be your personal god  yes  i am your god  so on the corner of every robe of every  israelite person there were these  tassels that were dipped in blue  and that they were and and they knotted  them they put knots in them in a  particular order or sequence and many  times in ancient times they would press  those into clay and they would be a like  a signature or like a signet ring pushed  into in into wax it was a signature of  their identity  what god was saying is these tassels are  going to establish your identity you are  different  you have an identity that is in god  in these days  when so much is being talked about  identity  we need to come back to the place where  we understand that our identity is in  christ  our identity is in him and god was  saying i don't want you to get  distracted i don't want you to get  seduced by the infidelities of the  tribes around about you but i want you  to remember you are a different people  you are set apart and your identity is  in me  as long as we remember that our identity  is in christ we're going to stay on  track  and those tassels spoke of three things  they spoke of their place in society  their place in society  as an as a member of the the people of  god they spoke of their  authority  and spoke of their purity as a people of  god  they had an identity  they were to live in purity  and they were to live with authority  remember the woman who pushed through  the crowd and she touched what  the hem of jesus's garment she didn't  grab him by the back of his  cloak she touched the hem of his garment  and she said if only i can touch the hem  of his garment i'll be healed why  because that was symbolic of  hit jesus's authority  it was symbolic of the fact that if she  could touch that point  and she could make connection with jesus  in that way her purity would be  established  she would be healed  she was ceremonially impure she would be  connected to the family of god she'd  been she was an inconvenience to her  world and so she was marginalized and  ostracized her place in society would be  reestablished and her authority would be  re-established that's what jesus wants  to do for each and every one of us  and here's the other thing  that the blue spoke of the value  it spoke of the value of  the individuals now without going into  too much detail back in the day in jesus  day most of the uh and back in the old  testament days the dyes that they made  for garments were made of vegetable dyes  the only vegetable dye that would not  stay fast  that would that washed out when when you  washed it was blue or purple  and the only way that they could get a  blue or purple color they they  discovered was from the gland of a murex  snail the hypobronchial gland of a muric  snail that lived deep in the water that  you had to die for  and you had to get the get the um  pigment out of the the gland of the  snail and use that to dye the cloths it  was a very expensive and costly process  and god specifically told them to put  that  at a dab of that on each garment why  because he wanted everyone to know  their  value  god wants you  and god wants me  he wants us to know our value to him  and when they put those robes on the  ground what they were saying was they  were placing their authority  under jesus's authority  they were submitting to jesus's  authority and if we want to pave the way  for god's kingdom to come and god's  purpose to be done in our own lives  then the way that we do that apart from  the understanding the power of our  collective presence other than our cry  to god is to understand that we have an  authority that god has given to us in  christ and that authority when it's  placed under christ's authority brings  about god's purpose and plan for our  lives  jesus is not my  advisor  he's my god  i submit my authority to his authority  in in a day when opinion  opinions are a dime a dozen  what i want to live by is the authority  of god's word  and i submit my authority  to the authority of god's word  i elevate this above my opinion above my  ideas hey  i was just talking to  um nick legerne before the service about  mystery i'm going to do a message on  mystery in a few weeks about engagement  mystery we want to explain everything  and unless we can explain it sometimes  we don't believe it but some things god  intentionally keeps as a mystery  and so there is this mystery  of some of the things that we don't  understand in god's word but if we will  just put them under god's authority we  will experience his authority we'll  experience the realization of our dreams  and our aspirations and the things that  god has called us to do  fourthly  they waved palm branches  we're going to give you one of these  later this is made from a palm frond  they weigh palm branches why do they  weigh palm branches because palm  branches were a symbol of deliverance  they were a symbol of victory they were  a symbol that god was the victorious one  and they were a symbol of their  deliverance from slavery  because once every year at the feast of  weeks or feast of tabernacles they would  make tents out of palm fronds  and they are shelters out of palm fronds  and they would camp out for a week  the whole nation would go camping for a  week  and they would celebrate their freedom  and so this was a symbol of their  freedom that they believed that their  freedom was coming through christ in a  way that they could never understand  because at the time they were believing  that this would be a political  deliverance  so to find our  hopes  and for our hopes to be realized in  christ  we need to declare  and understand our freedom  and to stand fast to that freedom  and then finally they hailed jesus as  their king the fifth thing they hailed  jesus as their king they shouted blessed  is the king who comes in the name of the  lord they didn't just hail jesus as  savior they hailed him  as king  i'm going to ask the worship team to  come now  how many of you know that there's a  difference  between jesus our savior  and jesus our lord  there's a difference between jesus our  savior  and jesus our king  if jesus is our savior he saves us from  our sins but how many of you know that  when you made a decision to accept  christ as your savior you still had a  little thing to deal with called your  will  and some of us  are more strong-willed  than others  some of us could even be called stubborn  some of us could even be called  obstinate  some of us could even be called  recalcitrant  some of us could i could go on  the reality is we all have to deal with  our will and be asking jesus to save me  from my sins does not mean that i'm not  i i stop being stubborn strong-willed or  obstinate  i have to surrender my will to god  and when he's my lord when he says do  this  if he's really my lord i do it i might  struggle it might be hard i might  find it difficult to do but he's my lord  and so we have to make a transition from  jesus just from the hosanna the cry for  salvation to the res to the surrender of  his lordship  and then if we say that jesus is king i  know we come from a country that doesn't  like kings but if you go to a country  where kings are the kingship or royalty  is understood the king is symbolic of  the one who established the rules within  which the people who live in that  kingdom live by  and if he's a good king which jesus is  not like king george if he's a good king  then what he does and the rules that he  have are for our  benefit  and when we apply the principles of  god's kingdom to our lives we have we  receive the blessing that comes with  being in the kingdom of god with jesus  as our king  and so as we prepare the scene for  easter and and good friday  as we think about and meditate on and  and and and on all the events that took  place  i want to encourage each and every one  of us here today from myself  to all that are here present gathered  together in this place to all that are  watching online that we  that we  uh make this a a declaration  that our presence here today is a  declaration of the power of our  collective presence and that we enter  into this easter season with faith that  next sunday easter sunday when all the  people that we invite will come it will  be a declaration to the world that jesus  is risen that we can live by a higher  power the resurrection power of jesus  secondly that we  cry out to god from a position of of  crying out to god that he will work and  move in our lives but at the same time a  declaration of his triumphant victory  over every challenge and problem we face  thirdly that we're going to put our  authority under god's authority and the  authority of his word fourthly we are  going to declare the freedom that we  have in christ  because we know the truth  and finally that we're going to proclaim  jesus  as our king  our team right now are going to start to  distribute these  palm leaf crosses  and i want to invite you to come and  stand with us  and  as they distribute them to take a hold  of it and to continue to worship god  as we sing this song hosanna and i pray  that as we sing it that today we can  sing it with even greater meaning  with even greater revelation with even  greater understanding and  and with  those five steps that we have  discussed today with those in mind  that we can embrace all that god has for  us our family  our circle of friends our community our  world  that jesus came  to set us free  and who the son sets free  shall be free  indeed let's worship god together  <br>  we see this  <br>  it is washing over all i said  that people see  the people seeing  <br>  jesus we pray  joseph  <br>  rising up to take their place  oh it is  <br>  can we declare it  won't then  the king is coming  lord open up my eyes to the things  would you break our hearts  and  <br>  we praise  jose  <br>  is  i  father we thank you for  your son jesus  today lord we declare him as our king  lord you are our god and we thank you  that you are sovereign that you above  all else and all others  and that today you rule and reign we  thank you lord that one day  you will restore all things  to their original order where every eye  shall see and every tongue confess that  jesus christ is lord to the glory  of god  the father  this morning while we  draw to the close of our service if  you're here today or you're watching  online and you've never ever accepted  christ as your savior  we want to give you an opportunity to do  that by praying a prayer a simple prayer  accepting  what jesus did for us  two thousand years ago as he hung on the  cross of calvary where he took our sins  upon himself  so that we could be forgiven and the  penalty for our wrongdoing  would be  paid for through his sacrificial death  when he rose from the dead he rose so  that you and i can experience newness of  life  where we can live with his spirit on the  inside of us  energizing us and giving us uh an  ability to live with resurrection life  and today if you've never done that or  you want to make a recommitment of your  life to christ i'm going to pray a  simple prayer i encourage you to pray  this with everyone else after me and  god's going to hear your prayer he's  going to answer your prayer and you will  know  his peace and his presence at work in  your life would you pray with me  this morning heavenly father  i come to you today  in the name of  jesus i open up my heart  and i receive you as my savior  forgive me  give me a fresh start  and a new beginning  and lord today  i receive you not only as my savior  but as my lord  lead me  guide me  teach me through your holy spirit  and help me to live  the way you created me to live  to fulfill all of my potential  in jesus name  amen and amen would you give jesus a  hand of praise  thank god this morning for his grace  well how good  how good to be celebrating easter  together  i want to wish you a very happy easter  week don't forget that on friday  we have our service our good friday  service is one hour from seven o'clock  to eight pm  and uh we're going to take communion  together our team have prepared a  special item and uh it's a great moment  for us to honor christ and honor jesus  i've always said jesus paid the price  for us he went to the cross on good  friday and it's an opportunity for us to  acknowledge him and honor him so as a  church we're going to be gathering it's  just a one-hour service and then of  course on easter sunday morning 10 a.m i  want to encourage you to bring your  family friends your in-laws outlaws go  onto the highways and the byways get the  word out drag people in that's what the  message version of the bible says they  dragged them in drag in that reluctant  member of your household all your kids  all the oh you know the drag him out of  bed  grab hold anyway i won't go any further  bring him in  and it's going to be a great sunday we  love you let me pray for you father i  pray your rich blessing on each and  every one thank you lord for your  presence today thank you for favor  and i pray that the lord would bless  each and every one  your face lord may your face shine upon  us  may you be gracious to each and every  one of us may you give us peace  now and ever more in that name which is  above every other name the name of jesus  amen amen and amen god bless you look  forward to catching up with you in the  foyer don't forget best coffee in the  west out ","score":0},{"video_id":"u-qt9EIvJQU","title":"Creating Unstoppable Self Confidence - Rev. Maira Felipe June 3rd, 2018","description":"We have the pleasure of listening to Rev. Maria Felipe speak to us about “Creating Unstoppable Self-Confidence”. What a treat!","channel_title":"Unity Burbank","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u-qt9EIvJQU/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"aP3toMNpKbQ","title":"Flower","description":"First U Band covers \"Flower\" by Amos Lee","channel_title":"First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aP3toMNpKbQ/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"qEQwwr9peFE","title":"Church at Home | Elementary | Vibe Check Week 3 - June 18/19","description":"Like this video? Check out fun activities, resources, and more at \nhttps://saddleback.com/visit/locations/onlinecommunity/media/sk/elementary","channel_title":"Saddleback Kids","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qEQwwr9peFE/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  hey there i'm kayla welcome to church at  home we're in a series called vibe check  where we are learning more about what it  means to do a vibe check of our lives  and make sure our attitudes and actions  are lined up with what god says in the  bible our bible verse this week actually  tells us why the bible is so helpful as  we take a look at our attitude it's  found in second timothy 3 16-17 and it  says all scripture is inspired by god  and is useful to teach us what is true  and to make us realize what is wrong in  our lives it corrects us when we are  wrong and teaches us to do what is right  god uses it to prepare and equip his  people to do every good work let's sing  that verse out together right now  all scripture is inspired by god  and is useful to teach us what is true  and to make us realize what is  it corrects us when we are wrong  and teaches us to do what is right  god uses it to prepare and equip his  people to do every good word  <br>  god uses it to prepare  and equip his people to do every good  word  <br>  god that verse reminds us that the  stories we read in god's word are true  and are meant to teach us what is right  when we read stories from the bible god  is speaking to us and teaching us to do  the right thing and one of those right  things he wants us to do is turn our  attitudes around and obey him that  reminds me of a story about a guy named  jonah god asked jonah to go to nineveh a  place where people were doing bad things  and disobeying god jonah didn't think it  was fair that he had to go there because  he didn't like the ninevite and thought  they deserved punishment for their  choices instead of forgiveness let's see  what vibe check moment jonah has in his  story check this out  stories of the bible jonah  this is jonah  jonah was a prophet that means it was  his job to tell people what god told him  to say yep  one day god told jonah to go to nineveh  because the people of nineveh were doing  bad things  <br>  but instead jonah ran away  and went to the port to board a ship  going the other way he was hoping to get  away from god  he sailed for a place called tarshish  while he was at sea god sent a great and  powerful wind over the sea that caused  the storm that seemed like it would  break the ship apart  fearing for their lives the sailors  tried everything they could think of to  save the ship  meanwhile jonah was sound asleep so the  captain went down and said  how can you sleep at a time like this  get up and pray to your god maybe he  will help us  then the crew figured out that jonah was  the reason for the storm  and they asked him  who are you why is this happening to us  jonah told them who he was and that he  worshipped the one true god who made the  sea  then he told the sailors to throw him in  the sea so the storm would stop now why  the sailors still tried to escape the  storm but it was no use  so they asked god for forgiveness and  threw jonah into the sea  the storm stopped at once  the sailors were amazed at god's power  and they vowed to serve him  <br>  now god sent a great fish to swallow  jonah  <br>  and jonah was inside the fish for three  days and nights  <br>  jonah prayed to god from inside the fish  and god ordered the fish to spit jonah  out  god told jonah again to go to the city  of nineveh to tell them what god had  said about them i get it i get it  this time jonah obeyed god and went to  nineveh to deliver god's message  <br>  the people of nineveh stopped doing bad  things and turned to god they were saved  because they listened to the message  that god had given jonah  oh my goodness a big fish literally  swallowed jonah that was crazy jonah had  a bad attitude and chose to run away  instead of obeying god and going to  nineveh but god is everywhere so there  is no way jonah could hide from god and  as we saw in the bible story god  continued to try and get jonah's  attention by sending a storm and a big  fish to swallow him jonah had to do a  serious vibe check and he realized he  couldn't hide from god so he turned his  attitude around and obeyed that's why  our big idea is it's never too late for  me to choose a good attitude it's our  choice to respond to circumstances with  a good or a bad attitude if we've had a  bad day or having a bad attitude we can  always turn it around god gave jonah  another chance to change his attitude  and obey and did you know god loves you  so much that he'll do the same for you  that's right there is always a new  chance to choose a good attitude if you  had a bad attitude one day you can  always choose a good attitude the next  day even if you've already sinned or  disobey you can always do a vibe check  where you pause and think about how  you've been acting and then choose to  apologize and do the right thing the  next time speaking of changing our  attitudes around let's check out this  week's episode of jerry reviews to see  what attitude jerry has about today's  sweet and delicious treat let's watch  this  hey there everybody my name is jerry and  i've got more opinions than i know what  to do with i've been a foodie all my  life so i figured you know now's the  time to start sharing some of my food  knowledge we all have foods that we  think are great so to help show you my  favorites i've created my very own  rating scale here on jerry reviews food  i will taste test all kinds of food and  share with you what i think is the very  best and worst of everything get it got  it good now let's eat  <br>  i scream you scream we all scream for  ice cream that's right ladies and  gentlemen there's no better treat on a  hot day than an ice cream cone and  fortunately for me almost every day is a  hot day here in california ice cream has  been my favorite dessert since i was a  little kid but something pretty  devastating happened several years ago  ben and jerry's  discontinued  fossil fuel my all-time favorite ice  cream i've been so upset that i've  stayed away from the brand since but for  today's episode i thought i'd give them  another chance by trying four new  flavors and ranking them from worst to  best but i've gotta say i'm pretty  hesitant i'm not sure i could ever  forgive ben and jerry but i guess we'll  see how this goes so let's try the first  one this one is called half baked let's  give it a try a little bit of chocolate  a little bit of vanilla  oh it's got cookie dough chunks let's  see  <br>  you know what this flavor mixes vanilla  and chocolate ice cream with little bits  of fudge and chocolate chip cookie dough  and that's a pretty great combo let's  try the second one the second one's  called chocolate fudge brownie maybe  that'll satisfy my cravings despite not  having fossil fuel here we go  <br>  i think i like it better than that last  one but i'm afraid it's missing that  little bit of magic that the fudge  dinosaur brought to fossil fuel for our  third ice cream i'll be trying chocolate  chip cookie dough it's kind of like a  vanilla ice cream plus gobs of chocolate  chip cookie dough and it's somewhat of a  classic am i right let's find out  oh  you see that giant cookie dough chunk  chocolate chip cookie dough won't do  anything to undo the hurt i'm afraid  okay  one last ice cream i'm not feeling super  optimistic here folks fish food doesn't  really sound the best i'll be honest but  still i guess it's worth trying so here  goes nothing  oh  you know what i just noticed  this one kinda like fossil fuel has  little chocolate chunks  shaped like an animal this one's got  fish for fish food let's try it all  right i'm going for a big bite  okay  wow  fish food  might be better than fossil fuel this is  amazing you can probably guess what's  coming in first but we still have to  rank all the other ice creams in last  place i think i'm gonna have to rank  let's go with  chocolate chip cookie dough and you know  what in third place i think i would  probably put  half baked  but in second place i think i gotta give  some credit to chocolate fudge brownie  it might be missing that wow factor but  it's still super chocolatey and yummy  which is what i wanted  now of course coming in first place is  fish food  if fossil fuel had to be discontinued so  that fish food could make its debut then  i think i have finally come to terms  with the extinction of my favorite ice  cream it's been over 10 years but it was  time that i moved on anyways i think  today's episode really helped me see ben  and jerry a little bit differently i'll  admit i didn't have the best attitude  going into this since i was still  recovering from the loss of my all-time  favorite flavor fossil fuel but after  the first bite of fish food i had to do  a serious vibe check that stuff was  delicious and totally turned my attitude  around sometimes that's the way life  goes we hold on to things including bad  attitudes for way too long and when we  do we can miss out on some pretty great  things i think that's often the case  when it comes to our walk with god we  think we know what's best for us and we  have a tendency to insist on that we  want things to go our way the way that  we want and when we want it but that's  not always god's plan god sees  everything so clearly and has only good  plans but we don't always see things  this way when things happen we might  want to ignore god or even disobey what  he says and we're not alone in that  feeling in fact i would argue that  nobody in the bible resisted god's plan  for their lives more than jonah god  wanted jonah to go to nineveh which was  a pretty dangerous city the people there  were not following god and were making  some pretty awful choices god had a plan  and chose jonah to deliver the message  but jonah wanted nothing to do with it  he literally ran in the opposite  direction jumping on a ship to get as  far away from god's plan as he could  you might say jonah threw a little bit  of a temper tantrum but god is bigger  than any ocean and wants to help us  through the times when we struggle to  see and do the things he asks us in  jonah's case god sent a storm to get  jonah's attention the people on the ship  were terrified jonah confessed to the  crew that it was his fault because he  was running away from god to save their  own lives jonah insisted they throw  jonah overboard can you imagine so god  sent a huge fish to swallow jonah hole  in the belly of that fish jonah had  plenty of time to think about the  foolishness of running away from god  after all he was there for three days he  confessed his bad attitude and wrong  choice to god and asked for forgiveness  he promised to do what god asked of him  and the fish then spit jonah out of his  mouth  once he was on dry land jonah had a  chance to change his attitude and do the  right thing  sometimes in life there may be things  that we don't really want to do and it's  only natural that we may have days where  our attitudes you know they're just  plain bad but what i want you to hear is  that our attitude does not have to  determine our actions that means no  matter how we feel about something we  can still choose to do what's right  even if you feel angry or like something  isn't fair you can always do a vibe  check and choose to turn that attitude  around and obey we saw this with jonah  friends it's never too late to obey and  follow god's plan that's because god  always loves us and can give us another  chance to obey if you have a bad  attitude one day well you can choose to  have a good attitude the next even if  you've already sinned or disobeyed you  can always do an attitude check and  choose to apologize and do the right  thing the next time sometimes i wonder  why i can be so resistant to obey what  god says i know everything from him is  good so this was such a great learning  about jonah today it's a reminder of the  importance of obeying god so much of  what god wants for us is to share his  love and good plans with others so they  can know his love and good plans too so  treat people with kindness and remember  you can wake up and choose a good  attitude every day you know that's all  for today's episode i'm gonna go out and  buy more fish food but i'll be back with  another episode next week i'll see you  guys then  ah which one do i want to try  this one  okay to be honest i was a little  hesitant with jerry's judgment on ice  cream because i love fish food but i am  so glad he came around to it i  understand him though when you have an  expectation of something it's  disappointing when it doesn't go as  planned sometimes that's how life goes  we can hold on to things including bad  attitudes for way too long and when we  do we miss out on some pretty great  things  i often want things to go my way the  exact way i want it and when i want it  but that's not always god's plan for us  he sees everything so clearly and only  has good plans for us even if they are  different than the plans we have for us  let's choose to lean on god and obey him  even if we feel angry or feel like  things are unfair we can choose to have  a good attitude and obey  like we learned from jonah it's never  too late to turn our attitude around  i've had such a great time hanging out  singing and learning about what it means  to do a vibe check of our lives remember  we can choose how we respond to our  circumstances and we can always choose  to obey god we are so glad you enjoyed  church at home with us today remember  you can check out our campus locations  to find saddleback kids near you and  come visit us sometime and don't forget  we have some awesome activity sheets  coloring pages and even some stuff for  your parents online at  saddlebackkids.com  so check it out and we'll see you here  next week  ","score":0},{"video_id":"T9umUun-k2s","title":"Church at Home | Early Childhood | My Big Feelings Week 3 - June 18/19","description":"Like this video? Check out fun crafts, activities, resources, and more at https://saddleback.com/visit/locations/onlinecommunity/media/sk/earlychildhood","channel_title":"Saddleback Kids","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T9umUun-k2s/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  hi friends i'm stephanie welcome to  church at home i'm so glad you're  watching church with me today i can't  wait to sing songs learn a bible story  and even pop some bubbles with you i'm  feeling so excited  we are learning more today about some  feelings big and important feelings like  feeling happy sad scared angry and  nervous  do you ever feel any of those things  our big idea today reminds us that no  matter what we're feeling we can always  do what god says  it says when i have big feelings i can  obey god now repeat that after me ready  when i have big feelings  <br>  i can obey god  great job  that word obey means to listen to god  and do what he says  no matter if we feel angry or scared or  if we feel like something isn't fair we  can always do what god says let's sing a  song right now that reminds us we can  trust god and do what he says so let's  stand up and sing and dance together  all right you guys this song is called  journey let's go ahead and bounce  together this song is about how when we  follow god and trust in him he will take  us on an amazing journey so let's start  by singing when waves roar can you guys  do this when waves roar in front of me  so high that i can't see you  i don't have to be afraid sing out when  your voice is calling me  <br>  all right let's sing i know your  promises are true  <br>  come on let's go on a journey  sailing the ocean of god's great love  come on let's go on a journey  holding on to its promises from about  trust the lord i trust the lord with all  my heart and he'll direct my path come  on let's go on a journey  of god's great love  all right guys let me see you jumping  and moving  let's think of god's great love of god's  great love  good job  all right you guys we're gonna sing when  waves roar in front of me let's go like  this when waze roar in front of me  so high that i can't see you i don't  have to be afraid  sing out when your voice is calling me  when your voice  i don't is to be afraid  let's sing out i know your promises are  true i know your promises are true  <br>  let's sing it out come on let's go on a  journey  sailing the ocean of god's great love  come on  on to its promises from above i'll trust  the lord i trust the lord with all my  heart and he'll direct my path come on  let's go on a journey  of god's great love  all right you guys let's sing out of  god's great love everyone together  <br>  good job and last time everyone sing  that out of god's great love of god  great job singing and dancing that song  says when your voice is calling me to  deep seas i've never traveled  i don't have to be afraid  that means that sometimes god wants us  to make the right choice and obey him  even though we may not want to but we  can believe that god always has a good  plan and it's always the best choice to  obey him and do what he says no matter  what we're feeling that reminds me of a  story from one of my favorite books  do you know what this is  that's right this is a bible god's  special book for us it's a book that  teaches us real stories about people and  places from a long time ago the story i  want to show you from the bible today is  a story about jonah  god told jonah to obey him but jonah  felt like he didn't want to do what god  asked him to do  let's watch this video and see if jonah  chose to obey god so let's put on our  thinking caps and listening ears and  watch this bible story  stories of the bible jonah  this is jonah  jonah was a prophet that means it was  his job to tell people what god told him  to say yep one day god told jonah to go  to nineveh because the people of nineveh  were doing bad things  <br>  but instead jonah ran away  and went to the port to board a ship  going the other way he was hoping to get  away from god  he sailed for a place called tarshish  while he was at sea god sent a great and  powerful wind over the sea that caused  the storm that seemed like it would  break the ship apart  fearing for their lives the sailors  tried everything they could think of to  save the ship  meanwhile jonah was sound asleep so the  captain went down and said  how can you sleep at a time like this  get up and pray to your god maybe he  will help us  then the crew figured out that jonah was  the reason for the storm  and they asked him  who are you why is this happening to us  jonah told them who he was and that he  worshipped the one true god who made the  sea  then he told the sailors to throw him in  the sea so the storm would stop now why  the sailors still tried to escape the  storm but it was no use  so they asked god for forgiveness and  threw jonah into the sea  the storm stopped at once  the sailors were amazed at god's power  and they vowed to serve him  <br>  now god sent a great fish to swallow  jonah  <br>  and jonah was inside the fish for three  days and nights  <br>  jonah prayed to god from inside the fish  and god ordered the fish to spit jonah  out  god told jonah again to go to the city  of nineveh to tell them what god had  said about them i get it i get it  this time jonah obeyed god and went to  nineveh to deliver god's message  <br>  the people of nineveh stopped doing bad  things and turned to god they were saved  because they listened to the message  that god had given jonah  did you see that big fish  wow  god told jonah to go visit the people in  nineveh who are making wrong choices and  tell them god's rules jonah didn't want  to go and he felt some big feelings  he didn't want to obey god but god used  the big fish to teach jonah that even  when he doesn't want to obey it's always  the right choice to do what god says and  jonah ended up obeying god and we can  obey god too that reminds me of a  special verse in the bible but wait it's  all covered with bubbles  can you help me pop them all so we can  see our bible verse  let's pop some bubbles together  okay everybody  it's bubble popping time  the bubble on the left a bubble on the  right bubble up high and bubble down low  <br>  that's it all right all right keep going  yay  almost there  <br>  over here  good job popping the bubbles everyone  and look what you did we can see our  bible verse now  let's read it together  all scripture is inspired by god and is  useful to teach us what is true second  timothy 3 16. that bible verse tells us  that the stories we read in the bible  are true and they are from god  this true story about jonah teaches us  that when we have big feelings and don't  want to do something we have two choices  we can be upset and pout or we can  choose to obey god says it's always the  right choice to obey him and obey our  mom and dad or teachers and other safe  grown-ups when they ask us to do  something that's right so let's stand  and sing that bible verse song together  right now  this song is second timothy 3 16 you  guys it's about how every verse in the  bible is given to us by god to teach us  something so we're going to sing out all  scripture everyone go like this reach  wide  <br>  and another big one  <br>  you ready to spin  and one more  <br>  and a big one  <br>  will you spin with me  one more time  <br>  let's spin  and a big one  <br>  great job singing that song  the bible is one of the ways that god  talks to us and helps teach us about  what we can do when we have big feelings  sometimes we might feel angry when a  parent or grown-up asks us to clean up  or share but god teaches us in the bible  that the right choice is to obey if you  feel upset or angry and don't want to  obey you can pray to god like jonah did  you can ask god or help obeying  our scuba friend melly is going to help  us learn more about how we can obey  she has a super special baking show  where we get to see her guests make  something amazing today  so let's put on your thinking caps and  your listing ears and let's watch mellie  in her special show piece of cake  hello and welcome to a special edition  of piece of cake today is a big mystery  i'm your host melly and these are our  contestants kurt hi  hi friends today our contestants are  going to have to make a unicorn trifle  that's what this delicious creation is  that bog made for us but they have no  idea what it looks like so how are we  supposed to make it you're going to have  to listen to me and do what i say you're  going to have to obey it's going to be a  piece of cake  oh wow that's going to be hard i'm kind  of scared i'm so nervous yes those are  big feelings and that's why this is  going to help us with our big idea today  oh that's right our big idea is when i  have big feelings i can obey god so  we're going to practice biobank belly  yep ready set  decorate first put in tiny squares of  colored cake okay i'm going to obey and  think about how obeying god means that i  listen to god and do what he says how do  we listen to god will he give directions  like i am oh and that reminds me now put  a layer of frosting in oh man we can  listen to god by hearing what he says in  the bible god gives us lots of things to  do in the bible yeah he tells us to tell  the truth to be kind to others and to  love people  those are all things we can obey oh i  can do that now put some crushed up  cookies in then some more cake squares  now what if god asked me to do something  that's hard or that i don't want to do  like to share or to forgive a friend  who's mean to me oh that can be hard  when i have big feelings and i don't  want to do something i have two choices  i can be upset and pout about it or i  can choose to obey what do you think is  the better thing to do hmm  probably obey okay add another layer of  frosting yeah it's good to obey god and  it's good to obey our parents and  teachers when they ask us to do  something that is right even if it's  something i don't want to do like  sharing a toy yeah we should still obey  and if we feel upset or angry we can  pray and talk to god about it he will  always listen and help us when we ask  him to okay so i'm going to remember our  big idea when i have big feelings i can  obey god  now you have to remember the last part  of what i said you're gonna put  sprinkles on some lucky charms rainbow  fluff unicorn eyelashes then two unicorn  ears then one unicorn horn ready set  oh that looks good  oh this is so fun oh savannah good job  oh yes  beautiful savannah oh yes i love cotton  candy i can't wait to eat these oh my  goodness did you know my favorite animal  is a unicorn i'm so excited for this  <br>  it's raining sprinkles i love when it  rains sprinkles  okay any finishing touches one more  thing for savannah  chris adding a little more cotton candy  okay ten more seconds  <br>  let's see what you did let's see  wow  that's really beautiful  oh i love all the candy on it kurt and  savannah that's wonderful i like all the  colors that you use do you want to see  what bogs look like yeah yeah okay okay  let's  <br>  see it looks amazing look how pretty it  is look at all those layers i didn't  make as many layers but i used a lot of  cotton candy oh and he used so many  cookies i think they all look yummy but  we need to choose a winner friends cheer  for the unicorn trifle you like best  here we go if you like kurt's trifle  share  and if you like savannah's trifle cheer  now  <br>  and the winner is savannah  congratulations thanks guys  now these may not all look the same but  i think they're all going to taste  amazing so let's eat a piece of cake  yeah and friends i know i learned a lot  about obeying today and i learned our  big idea when i have big feelings i can  obey god thanks for joining us today for  piece of cake we love you and we'll see  you next time bye  <br>  wow those unicorn trifles were so cool  is anyone else feeling hungry right now  kurt and savannah had to listen closely  to melee's instructions when she was  telling them how to make the cakes when  we obey god we listen to him by reading  our bible and hearing stories about the  things god wants us to do and then we do  what he says  some of the things god says to do in the  bible are to make the right choices to  think about others and be kind and say  nice words to others god wants us to  help others and pray to him and read the  bible  sometimes we might not feel like doing  those things but our bible story about  jonah reminds us that no matter what big  feelings we have the right choice is  always to obey god so let's say a prayer  to god right now and tell him we want to  obey him so let's put five fingers here  five fingers there and put them together  for a prayer  dear god thank you for loving us and  caring about our big feelings please  help us to remember today's bible story  and obey you even when we don't feel  like it  i love you so much amen thanks for  watching church at home with me i had so  much fun with you and don't forget to  have a grown up help you go to  saddlebackkids.com for some fun crafts  and activities for you to learn more  about your big feelings and how god  wants to help you with whatever you're  feeling  and we'd love to see you at saddleback  kids too so check out our campus  locations and come visit us  now let's say our big idea one more time  when i have big feelings i can obey god  ready  one two three when i have big feelings i  can obey god  great job we love you and we'll see you  soon bye  ","score":0},{"video_id":"GaTi830Knc0","title":"Day 36: Good Enough Lent","description":"Welcome to a Good Enough Lent!\nRev. Elea Kemler & intern minister Li Kynvi are offering daily (Mon. - Sat.) Lent readings from Kate Bowler & Jessica Richie's book Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection, available wherever books are sold. \n\nKate Bowler offers a free downloadable companion guide for reading, reflecting & praying. Just head to https://katebowler.com/lent/ to get that.\n\nTaking a moment every day during Lent to pause for mindful, spiritual reflection  with a Lenten manual is a part of our Universalist heritage going back at least 200 years.\n\nWhether you are a Unitarian Universalist, or you identify with another faith tradition, or with none at all, you are most welcome to engage with us in this spiritual practice for 40 days. See what’s here for you.\n\nRemember you don't have to listen to these in order, you don't have to listen to all of them: Trust us, no one is keeping score. Engage as you are called to do so. To paraphrase Kate Bowler, we're taking ourselves off the hook for perfection of any kind, and just being beautifully human together, again today.\n\nWarmly,\nElea & Li\nhttps://uugroton.org/\nFirst Parish Church of Groton is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Groton Massachusetts","channel_title":"First Parish Church of Groton","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GaTi830Knc0/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  hi i'm reverend alia kembler welcome to  day 36 of a good enough lent with kate  fuller and jessica ritchie  today's reflection is called 2 am 2 pm  there's no small talk at 2 o'clock in  the morning  if you're at a party you might find  yourself saying oh totally that's  exactly what happened to me when  insert long incredibly revealing story  you'll wish tomorrow you hadn't said  if you're on the phone you can hear  yourself saying things you would never  say in the light of day i always hated  that about myself do you think i can  change and why didn't anyone tell me  that my face cannot sustain the wow  factor of bangs  but most often you've woken up at 2am  and stared bleary-eyed at the ceiling  while every fear comes flooding back  your health your relationship or  singleness your children  the people come and gone bills and  errands and existential threats to  tomorrow  so often we forget our 2 am selves in  the daylight when we are someone else  entirely  at 2 pm the momentum of the day is  likely carrying us through our work our  errands and we have begun to believe  that productivity and mental feats of  efficiency are entirely within our  control it's a wonderful fleeting  feeling and our checklist minds are  pleased as punch  there was a long stretch of time when i  was entirely a 2pm person  i was young and clever and ignorant of  the way that we all have stretches of  wholeness and stretches of fracture  i had not entirely realized a hard truth  of living that for many people carrying  on for days and weeks and months at a  time  will feel like an existential struggle  to simply keep living  for them it's always 2 am  there's a moment i'll never forget  that seared that reality in my mind  i was in the midst of a long stretch of  grueling chemotherapy that required for  me to get on an airplane in the middle  of the night  by dawn i had landed in another city  where i would prepare to spend the rest  of the day having poison pumped  efficiently into my veins  before i returned to my own city in my  own bed after midnight  it was grueling  my skin was sallow and thin my nerves  frayed but every wednesday i'd do it all  over again  one wednesday i began to notice that i  was not alone in my routine  in the atlanta airport in a sea of  strangers i started to see familiar  faces  a woman and her two kids curled around  her feet sleeping on their coats  another family dragging their belongings  around in luggage hoping i'm sure that  they would look like they too had  stepped off a plane but they're in the  airport bathroom  i began to see them  the haggard mother washing her child's  face in the sink smoothing his hair  placing a hand on his cheek  they were sleeping at the airport  trying to find the resources to get  their children to school on time and to  face another day  once we know pain  it's like the dark side of the moon  hidden from view but every bit as real  the world is full of 2 am people  it is me it is you  so we reach out to hold hands in the  dark  ","score":0},{"video_id":"mVAQrNuM1tM","title":"Ask Professor Kat Saxton! Episode 36 - Testing","description":"Santa Clara University's resident COVID-19 Health Ambassador, Associate Professor of Biology & Public Health Katherine Saxton, answering our most pressing COVID-19 questions once again. In this episode, Professor Kat discusses all things testing, explaining how, when, and why we should test for Covid on campus.\n\nLatest Information and guidance: https://www.scu.edu/preparedscu/\n------\nLearn more about the leading Jesuit university in Silicon Valley: https://www.scu.edu\n\nClick on the SUBSCRIBE button and be the first to know when we publish new videos.\n\nFollow SCU on social media\nFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SantaClaraUniversity\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/santaclarauniversity/\nTwitter: https://twitter.com/SantaClaraUniv\nLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/santa-clara-university/\n\n#PreparedSCU #LifeatSCU","channel_title":"Santa Clara University","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mVAQrNuM1tM/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"hi everybody it's professor kat let's  start answering some of your coveted  questions rapid antigen tests and color  pcr tests are readily available for  students faculty and staff throughout  spring quarter take a test anytime you  have symptoms even if you think it's  just allergies or a cold or food  poisoning code symptoms can include a  scratchy throat a runny nose body aches  a headache even diarrhea  it's a good idea to take a test just so  you know what you're dealing with  rapid tests are most effective about 24  hours after symptoms begin  test after traveling if you go away for  the weekend take a test when you get  back  test before seeing your parents or other  family members going home for easter  take a test before you leave take a test  when you get back test if a roommate  suite mate housemate or another close  contact tests positive  rapid tests are available from the  health ambassadors outside the library  from 11am to 3pm monday through friday  color pcr testing is also an option  available to students faculty and staff  you can pick up a color test from the  health ambassadors from benson from the  res halls and from various academic  buildings throughout campus just a  reminder that weekly testing is required  for students faculty and staff who've  been granted a vaccine exemption for the  coven 19 vaccine ","score":0},{"video_id":"BYwg0-GbQr0","title":"Humble Justification","description":"Make sure to subscribe to our channel for new content and notifications as we have moved to post all sermon, worship, & content on this platform.\n\nAlso, to stay connected, make sure to check out our website: covalley.com","channel_title":"Church of the Valley Santa Clara","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BYwg0-GbQr0/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"good morning  we get to open the scriptures today  who's excited  and as you heard as larry read it's a  really exciting passage full of happy  joy joy happy joy joy  i am grateful to be able to teach god's  word this week at the same time i'm  going to be  utterly and completely honest this  passage kicked my  butt  one of the reasons for that was because  i didn't realize how much i personally  identified with simon  and so you're going to hear about this  and some of you are going to be like man  that pastor's sinful yes i am  and so i just want you to be prepared  for that i really do love being part of  a community where there are multiple  teachers within the community because as  last week we got to hear from bishop i  mean pastor mike it was very exciting to  hear him teach god's word and bring his  voice to a passage that is long i mean  stefan as i call him's sermon is quite  long and mike did a great job and for me  personally it's wonderful because it  reminds me that i'm a sheep i'm a sheep  yep some of you guys remember the  reality is that we're all sheep under  the care of the great shepherd  and so i got to experience god's  blessing of god teaching me through  mike's tone i also got a break from  studying and putting together a sermon  for us  and contrary to popular belief us  pastors don't only work on sundays just  so you know it takes a lot of work to  put a passage or to put a sermon  together today we cover another passage  that i love not because it's easy to  preach there is some tough stuff in this  theologically but because it's hard and  i never want us to be a church that  ignores the tough stuff because it's in  this difficult passages and the tough  stuff that isn't easy to digest that we  see more of a complete picture of who  god is the one we worship and adore  today we will do a little less verse by  verse and read a little bit more of a  narrative of what happened with this  deacon named philip some of the apostles  and a guy named simon so let's go  chapter 8 starting in verse 4.  those who had been scattered preached  the word wherever they went  philip went down to a city in samaria  and proclaimed the messiah there when  the crowd heard philip and saw the signs  he performed they all paid close  attention to what he said  for with shrieks impure spirits came out  of many and many who were paralyzed or  lame were healed so there was great joy  in the city  the apostles and the deacons the  believers they were scattered and they  were spreading the gospel ever since  stefan's proclamation and martyring  which we studied last week  philip one of the seven chosen deacons  in the church which we studied two weeks  ago was now traveling and proclaiming  the gospel to all who would hear  philip went to samaria a place with  samaritans imagine that a samaritan was  someone who was not fully jewish or was  a half-blood if you will  jesus spoke about this in acts chapter 1  verse 8 when he told the apostles to be  his witnesses in jerusalem and judea and  samaria into the ends of the earth  but this was a big deal  because philip saw that everyone was in  need of the gospel now here's the thing  about the gospel the good news the  reason that we get here is because we  want to talk about the gospel  personified who is jesus christ and the  gospel transcends political  economical racial and gender lines  the gospel the good news of jesus's  grace found in the perfect life lived  the sacrificial death and the victorious  resurrection from the dead of jesus  is a christian's sole means of being  right with god  and this is something that can and  should be shared with any and everyone  i know for most of us we'd love to see  evil dictators be taken out in some way  huh huh i get it but what we don't  understand is that spiritually  we're all evil  we're all broken  we're all in need of grace that can save  us  and so i pray that we would be a people  who think towards eternity and not just  in the here and now because people don't  know jesus they know his name they yell  his name when they stub their toe but  they don't know him  and knowing jesus isn't a religion and  it sure as heck isn't a political stance  it is reconciliation with the creator of  our being and we ought to focus more on  where people stand with jesus  than anything else  in this polarized world only the gospel  of grace can save anyone  so philip had performed miracles that  confirmed his connection to the apostles  laying on of hands and the holy spirit  using him to proclaim the word while  many listen the text says intently to  what he said  impure spirits were feeling were fleeing  people in the presence of philip and  many were healed of their physical  handicaps  and great joy broke out in the city  because god was at work and he was  intervening  now i believe the holy spirit used luke  who's writing the book of acts to  document what was happening to philip  but then he shows contrast of what was  going to take place with this guy named  simon  and we'll see a different motivation and  even a power a different power that are  leading and guiding simon rather than  philip verse nine  now for some time a man named simon had  practiced sorcery in the city and amazed  all the people of samaria he boasted  that he was someone great  and all the people both high and low  gave him their attention and exclaimed  this man is rightly called the great  power of god they followed him because  he had amazed them for a long time with  his sorcery  okay here's the thing about this man who  is creatively referred to as simon the  sorcerer  he's being described as someone who is  evil  and unwilling to follow jesus  but as we will read he like a lot of us  have done very similar things that we  have done in this room and perhaps even  point back to when we're attempting to  justify ourselves spiritually  but luke is about the facts and the  facts are that the simon guy practiced  sorcery and amazed all the people of  samaria  while boasting about himself people took  notice while saying that he was the  great power of god even he even said  that he was someone great  wow is this something that people do  where they describe themselves as super  important and explain their  qualifications and document their good  deeds oh wait simon had social  media didn't see that coming huh huh  and simon is one of my favorite and  least favorite individuals in all of  scripture why  because in my flesh  i without meaning to am exactly like  this guy  i want people to think i'm someone great  i want people to believe i have some  special relationship with god anyone  know who adam west is  okay you'll understand this reference i  want people to think i have the bat  phone to god huh huh  okay  yes there you go  if you have to explain it it wasn't a  good reference my bad  but man is it dangerous  to be that self-exalting  it's dangerous  to be anti what the scriptures teach  about what a christian actually is  now while speaking in a parable about  god's grace and how it is undeserved  favor which is given at the discretion  of the gift giver jesus ends the parable  in matthew 20 verse 16 he says this so  the last will be first and the first  will be  last meaning those who want to get ahead  in this life by any means necessary will  be last in the kingdom  but those of us who think of others as  more important than themselves will be  exalted in the next life  but this doesn't come from not trying to  get ahead this comes from caring for  others ahead of yourselves and this  isn't something that we do naturally or  at least it's not me i'm sure you all do  it easily  but simon was ordinary in the sense that  he was doing what our sinful nature does  making things about him  caring about how he was seen wanting the  attention and praise to be turned  towards him  this man was actually being identified  as the power of god something that was  actually rightly who the holy spirit is  as jesus said in the much quoted verse  at the beginning of acts and i'm going  to need some participation jesus says  but you will receive power say power  when the holy spirit comes on you and  you will be my witnesses what does a  witness do  testify  in jerusalem in all of judea and samaria  and to the ends of the earth and so  simon was identifying himself as god  which is truly blasphemy  to the highest degree  this is the problem with a false faith  a counterfeit faith  it exalts charisma  over the christ  it celebrates personality of an  individual over the god that they are  supposedly supposed to represent  sometimes this is the main objective of  a person sometimes this becomes  something that happens over time i've  shared this before this is not new i  personally struggle with pride i'm an  only child no offense to you only  children but it's specifically one of  the things that i struggle with  and this passage  this messes me up  because usually in my pride i don't  identify with anyone because well i'm  too prideful to think that i'm like  anyone else i'm special my mommy told me  but i look at my ministry over the past  many years and i look at how it began  and the people that i was around and the  people that i wooed and the people that  i influenced and the way that i became  known for making much of jesus and his  resurrection and so people would make  much of me and i liked it  the problem with wanting to be made much  of  is that it takes away from the message  of the gospel  the gospel isn't about us church  we might be included in god's redemptive  work we're trophies of grace but we did  none of it to paraphrase john jonathan  edwards other than contribute the sin  that made jesus sacrifice necessary  that's what we did  the bible doesn't point to charisma  it points to a christ in all things from  genesis to revelation  and i am not the christ i am not perfect  in my flesh i am in desperate need of  holy intervention from a perfect savior  who knows me at my worst and doesn't say  well sorry bro you're not good enough  but instead says no one is good enough  but god  so god will sacrifice himself and trade  his life for ours  he died so that we could live church  he'll defeat death and then superimpose  his victory upon us and the gospel if we  truly believe it it is if it has truly  made a difference if our eyes have been  opened to grace it means we don't have  to hide our true selves anymore  god doesn't save a photoshop version of  us  god doesn't need us to clean ourselves  up to come to him god doesn't miss  anything out about us as if we could out  sin his grace and we think if he only  knew such and such sin he'd never extend  undeserved favor to us trust me he knows  about such and such sin  and he does know us at our worst  and that is who he saves  not a more sanctified version of us  romans 5 8 says but god demonstrates his  love for us in this while we were still  sinners christ died for us  i don't know why my heart rate's so high  i think it's because this is important  and if god saves us in spite of our past  sin  he continues to extend grace to our  present and future sin as well  so do not fall into the lie that because  you still sin god's grace didn't take  the difference as paul points out in  romans 6 is that we do not have to live  in our sin any longer because there is a  better way there is a holy spirit who  now can lead us and guide us through  his word  so if the gospel really makes sense how  can we possibly take credit for it how  can we think we earned any of it how can  we want the attention and praise to go  to us paul says in romans 6 1 what shall  we say then shall we go on sinning so  that grace may increase  well i mean i do  this and i expect grace to increase  and i act as if i deserve forgiveness  and grace and mercy but paul answers his  own question in verse two he says by no  means  we are those who have died to sin how  can we live in it any longer or don't  you know that all of us who were  baptized into christ jesus were baptized  into his death  we were therefore buried with him  through baptism into death in order that  just as christ was raised from the dead  through the glory of the father we too  may live a new life  this doesn't say that we don't sin  it says that those who identify with  jesus christ no longer have to live in  that sin  meaning that sin is no longer our only  option  lorelei's softball coach was at her game  the other day on monday and was limping  and i asked her what happened and she  said i sprained my ankle and i said  doing what she said  just living life  sin before christ is our only option  because sin is not an itemized checklist  of do's and don'ts  it's a heart condition that doesn't  acknowledge and identify jesus as  preeminent  and i know i do this more than i ought  to  so in christ  we get to live with the ability  to exalt jesus  not ourselves  we get to view others as more important  than ourselves we get to proclaim the  gospel of grace and the message of the  cross in the empty tomb rather than do  religion where our good deeds outweigh  our bad deeds because one they never do  and two how would you even know if they  ever did  i much prefer knowing that my salvation  is not reliant on me deserving it or  even keeping it but it is found in and  rooted in what jesus has already  accomplished in my place  this is why what simon was doing and  propagating was evil  and the opposite of what the true power  of god the third person of the trinity  god himself the holy spirit does in  believers which is to always exalt the  christ  over charisma  many followed simon the text says  because he amazed them with his sorcery  the traveling magic show which was  simon's ministry is one that  unfortunately has been in the church  ever since where people follow a person  and they're teaching over the truth of  the scriptures religions all over the  world have preachers and priests and  rabbis and gurus and leaders who instead  of teaching the way to god which is  jesus they decide that you need them  personally  their ministry their words in order to  come to god they insert themselves as  mediator or as a spiritual broker  false faith believe you need a mediator  to come to god rather that god came to  you and the person and work of jesus  christ  but here's the problem with this  it's a wonderful trick of the enemy  we as humans  just so you know we're worshipers even  if you don't like to stand and sing or  raise your hands or get jiggy with her  or whatever i shouldn't ever quote will  smith anymore anyway  we want a flesh and blood mediator  between us and god and if we can't touch  or see him then it's hard for us to  believe in something that we cannot see  yet faith  is not in a spiritual ghost in jesus  but in a historical figure who did the  impossible  he lived the perfect life that we can't  he died the death that we should have  died and he physically and victoriously  rose from the dead and it is this  resurrection that we celebrate every  easter and every week at church of the  valley hopefully  that we have faith in god who did the  impossible because it's through the  evidence of the resurrection from the  dead that we place our trust in jesus  who we cannot see and whom we love let's  see if the bible backs me up romans 10 9  if you declare with your mouth that  jesus is lord and believe in your heart  that god raised him from the dead you  will be saved peter the apostle says in  first peter chapter 1 though you have  not seen him you love him and even  though you do not see him you believe in  him and are filled with an inexpressible  and glorious joy for you are receiving  the end result of your faith the  salvation of your souls  christians have had this faith in the  risen king ever since the third day when  he came out of the grave  and the resurrection means that we do  not have to be about us  and we can be all about him the gospel  personified who is jesus christ  here's where i st here's where as i  studied and not only noticed that in my  past i've identified with simon but i  also started to see the redeeming  reality of seeing that god is doing a  work in me and you now  christianity is about the christ fully  completely and always we got called i  was talking to somebody a while ago and  they're like you're a jesus church and i  was like we better be  but we want to complicate the idea that  christianity is all about the christ  don't we  we want something more like a gnostic of  old we want some special revelation we  want to crack the code we want the  message to make more sense to us than  someone else and so we add all these  expectations to the message  colts will say things like you have to  go through me to be saved  or be baptized in our water or give x  amount of money to the church or do all  of these moral things to prove your  devotion to god and the gospel opposes  all of that  because in the gospel the only  justification that is necessary or even  possible is simply this are you ready  i'm with jesus  that's it  that's all we got church  i'm with jesus  i know him i love him that's it when i  stand before the father with the reality  of all the sin that i've ever done i  cannot justify myself without just  pointing to jesus and saying lord i'm  with him  i'm often prone to wander and fail  i'm often to find my justification in  what i've done  or what i've said  but jesus is it  that's the simple message of let me give  you some big theological words  justification  righteousness  salvation  the gospel saves and the gospel is jesus  who he is what he has done and what he  is doing and what is jesus doing now  he's transforming people more into his  likeness  over time circumstance and obedience to  his word  not his justification  but because justification has its root  in the gospel the fruit is spiritual  transformation  and so what i've begun to realize is  that christianity being a christian  being redeemed eternally and having  jesus's good works superimposed upon our  lives through faith in him alone means  that i can be honest with the people  around me i can be honest that i don't  have it all figured out i can pursue  christ and invite others along with me  check it i can make disciples of jesus  rather than me  years ago i stood up here during a  sermon actually i was staying down there  and i confessed to sin during my sermon  i know that's rare for me  it was nothing juicy okay i think i was  i got angry at someone on the road ooh  i'm sure i'm the only one you bunch of  saints  but i noticed that there was this woman  who after that week stopped attending  pretty soon right after i preached  about six months later i saw her again  on a sunday and i talked to her after  service and i asked hey like i haven't  seen you in a while what happened and  she said well the last time i was here  you confessed to sin and i didn't want  to be under a pastor that was sinful  okay i thought  so what happened she said well it turns  out you're not the only pastor who's  sinful you're just more willing to admit  it  guys don't put your faith in me  do not put your faith even in this  church body of believers here at cov  i love this congregation billy crystal  reference you look marvelous  this is a very exciting people group  it's a very exciting period in our  church to be able to be a part of what  god's doing here but faith in anything  but jesus just leaves you unsatisfied in  this life and eternally separated from  god in the next  we want to be a church that meets and  gathers around knowing the gospel  and living in the truth of this message  that means we will do specific things as  a church that emphasize the gospel and  check this out sometimes we won't do  things that people think churches ought  to do because it doesn't emphasize the  gospel in the way that we attempt to  focus on  we never intended to be one stop shop  for all things spiritual as a church  that's buckies and texas okay not a  church it's a gas station never mind  we intend to be gospel centered  unapologetically no matter what  but look at the text look at how it  takes a turn not in the narrative but in  the assumptions of what is really  happening here because on the surface it  seems like luke is going to point out  that simon has done what many in the  christian church would also point as  something they've done  verse 12  but when they believe philip as he  proclaimed the good news of the kingdom  of god in the name of jesus christ they  were baptized both men and women simon  himself believed and was baptized and he  followed followed philip everywhere  astonished by his great signs  and miracles that he saw  the gospel was being proclaimed through  philip  this greek speaking jewish deacon and  many were believing in christ many of  these men and women who believed were  also baptized including simon who luke  says specifically believed and was  baptized and then followed philip around  and was astonished at the signs and  wonders that he performed why is this a  big deal because simon believing and  being baptized is what many people since  jesus's resurrection have pointed to as  their justification  well i believed well i was baptized  in fact depending on what the tradition  of christianity perhaps you were raised  in all that whatever was expected of you  was to believe one time  and to identify that belief in bapti  baptism  this while having some truth to it we'll  get to that  is where i think the christian church  has overemphasized a work  and de-emphasized life change  believing is not a work  but believing as in acknowledging  something  rather than believing as intended  allegiance to something are two  different things  and when you just acknowledge something  it just doesn't make any difference to  you  but when you intend allegiance it means  because of your belief you now change  how you see something and how you live  because of that belief  baptism because of an acknowledging  belief becomes a work  that we point to as our justification i  don't know how many times i've been  called at the church  being asked for some baptism certificate  to justify somebody  but baptism has never been meant to save  us jesus did not live die and rise again  so we would then have to earn our own  salvation  baptism is a symbol an opportunity to  illustrate our identity which is found  in what christ has accomplished  but ever since i became a christian  people have pointed to their baptism  intentionally or not as the moment that  they were saved which isn't correct  if that is true if we have to do  something to be saved it isn't grace  through faith but grace through works  and that is in direct conflict with the  gospel  so why bring this up  because simon believed and was baptized  and if that is what we believe  justification is then well we disagree  on simon  and so does luke and so does peter as  we'll see in just a few moments verse 14  when the apostles in jerusalem heard  that samaria had accepted the word of  god they sent peter and john to samaria  when they arrived they prayed for the  new believers there that they might  receive the holy spirit because the holy  spirit did not come upon any of them yet  they had simply been baptized in the  name of the lord jesus then peter and  john place their hands on them and they  received the holy spirit this is  confusing  and yet important for us to know  the holy spirit was yet to come to the  samaritans and so peter and john who  represent the apostles were present we  see this as the holy spirit comes to  pentecost we see them present here with  the samaritans a group of people that  culturally and historically oppose the  jews  they were not aligning  they would not align themselves with the  jews but the holy spirit came to make  one church one family one gospel  peter will also be there when the holy  spirit comes to the gentiles in acts  chapter 10.  so while this is descriptive this is  actually what happened i do not believe  that this is prescriptive that an  apostle needs to be everywhere when a  person receives the holy spirit yet  every type of person on earth  represented through the jews the  samaritans and the gentiles already had  the spirit come when the apostles were  present  and yet it is the holy spirit that bonds  us together as a church  like  there look around real quick just look  at the people in this room like you know  turn your head exorcist style okay  there are people in this room i  absolutely love and i have no idea why  apart from the holy spirit unifying us  that's what does it  and the same spirit that raised jesus  from the dead the same spirit whose main  objective is to point to christ in all  things he is what connects believers  from all over the world not just that we  acknowledge the same god but are  indwelled and sealed by the same god the  holy spirit  so you have this miraculous moment where  the laying on of hands of the apostles  the identifying these samaritans with  god's forgiveness and holy church is  symbolized by the apostles and simon  this guy who has believed and been  baptized witnesses this and what does he  do let's keep reading verse 18  when simon saw that the spirit was  giving on given at the lane on of hand  the apostles hands he offered them money  and he said give me also this ability so  that everyone on whom i lay my hands may  receive the holy spirit  wow this is capitalism privilege right  here  simon saw the power of god through the  apostles and wanted to purchase that i  want that throw some money at it  the million dollar man anyone understand  that reference i didn't say the six  million i'm talking about ted dibiase  all right he said everyone has a price  not  true god cannot be bought  and simon showing off his heart and his  priorities is making known that his  belief in baptism really were not saving  faith or identification with jesus he  like far too many people wanted what he  could get from god  rather than god himself if you are  stoked about heaven because you think  you're gonna get to skydive without a  parachute let me ruin that for you  heaven is the place where jesus is and  i'm with him  and that's who i want to be with  that's who i want to be around man i  miss people that i have lost  but no one gets ahead of the fact that  i'll get to see  my savior face to face  so you look at this passage with simon  and you may say tim that's so judgmental  you don't know simon's heart you're  right i don't but i believed the word of  god and i read ahead  but before we get there let's give him  the benefit of the doubt maybe simon  wanted this power so everyone around him  could receive the holy spirit so  everyone around him could be sealed with  the spirit so their salvation could be  secure  i want my friends to know jesus  but do i really give up anything to want  them  to see them become christians  like am i willing to give up my time  am i willing to even broach the subject  which might be a very awkward  conversation  before kovid there were two things you  don't talk about remember this politics  and  religion  well most people didn't get the memo on  the politics since kovid  but when we talk about jesus let me tell  you something we're not talking about  religion when we discuss a relationship  with jesus  we're talking about history  we're talking about a historical man who  proved he was more than a man who had a  historical death on a cross and check it  a historical resurrection from the dead  yeah i said historical  come back next week and you'll find out  how  historical  so maybe simon just really wanted to see  his friends saved well again the problem  with this is what happens next whenever  you read ahead often your assumptions  about scripture get changed  verse 20 peter answered may your money  perish with you because you thought you  could buy the gift of god with money  you have no part or share in this  ministry because your heart is not right  before god this sounds like a great  worship song doesn't it  repent of this wickedness and pray to  the lord in the hope that he may forgive  you for having such a thought in your  heart for i see that you're full of  bitterness and captive to sin direct  translation matthew ermas to hell with  your money and with you is what peter  says  those are strong words  but peter is defending the fact that god  is not like us nor can he be swayed or  bribed nor can his gifts be bought or  received through any means but by grace  through faith in christ  i don't know that i need to defend my  stance anymore on simon's belief that it  was counterfeit but look at how peter  not only says to hell with him  but says he has no part  or share in this ministry because his  heart is not right before god and he  should repent  and pray that the lord may forgive him  of this wickedness because peter an  apostle led by the holy spirit sees that  simon is full of bitterness and captive  to sin peter the same apostle who said  to sapphira after her husband had died  and she didn't know hey the men who  carried your fa your husband away are  now at the door to take you away and  then she dropped dead i'm gonna go with  the holy spirit taught peter some things  and none of what peter says sounds like  how you would talk to a redeemed  believer  none of that sounds like what an apostle  would say to a brother  and what we see is luke describing what  actually happened which was that there  was this man who loved attention and  like every narcissist had a messiah  complex  more on that in a moment  then simon answered verse 24 pray to the  lord for me so that nothing you have  said may happen to me  simon then responds to peter asking him  to pray for him that none of these  things would happen and some argue or  hope that this was repentance but  repentance doesn't consist of an earthly  mediator  let me let that sit  you don't need someone else to do  something for you in your relationship  with god no matter how much you have  heard a priest say this this is not how  it works according to the bible  our repentance comes from a conviction  of knowing our sin has separated us from  god  and the need we have to find our  salvation and identity in jesus christ  who did for us what we were unable to do  for ourselves  now simon we don't hear anything about  him after this passage and there are  extra biblical texts and some of this  might be legend but we start to kind of  get to know possibly what simon ended up  doing many think that he was the one who  began the cult known as gnosticism  legend has it that his messiah complex  went so deep as to attempt to prove  himself he was buried alive like chris  angel with the proclamation that he  would then rise from the dead on the  third day and guess what he didn't  he was immortalized by being the reason  for the word simony  which means to attempt to purse purchase  spiritual gain through the use of  monetary means  and he wasn't an example of grace and  trust in the lord even though he  believed and was baptized  because he could not put his hope in  christ  but he is an example  he is a warning for us today to not miss  the point of the gospel and to not  follow charisma rather than the christ  because our lives are far too precious  to be wasted worshiping man and miss out  on the messiah  and we see this example of simon as the  one that doesn't make us like a pharisee  in the parable with the tax collector  where we'll say something like oh i'm so  glad i'm not like him  but may the lord show us where we have a  bit of want to be worshipped ourselves  or want to worship creation rather than  jesus  and may we repent may we change  direction and follow the one who can  handle the weight of our identity and  sin that come with us  verse 25  after they had further proclaimed the  word of the lord and testified about  jesus peter and john returned to  jerusalem preaching the gospel in many  samaritan villages  we see the shift  and the gospel is now changing hearts  and lives of both jews and samaritans  and peter and john two of the apostles  and this is the story which is far from  done we get to continue to read and of  god establishing the movement of his  people through the movement of the  gospel message  it's going to be for all types of people  over all types of contexts  where all types of counterfeit religion  and belief will have to be opposed  through the truth of the message of the  gospel  here's here's what i want to leave us  with which means there's only 25 more  minutes in the sermon just kidding  church  our salvation  if you have called unto the lord  is a gift  and it is in that gift the residual  effect  tends to lessen our need to exaggerate  to puff ourselves up  the salvation we have received through  faith ought to give us the courage to be  real about our sin before god and before  others  we ought to want to point people to  christ rather than us  god opposes the proud and gives mercy to  the humble and so i praise god when he  gives me opportunities not to show how  humble i am i'm not  but to respond in a way that exalts  jesus christ rather than  me worship team you can come on up  many years ago  christian professor stuart black of the  university of edinburgh in england was  listening to his students as they  presented oral readings  when one man rose to begin his  presentation he held his book in the  wrong hand  the professor thundered dead voice get  ready take your book in your right hand  and be seated  at this harsh rebuke the student held up  his right arm and he didn't have a right  hand  the other student shifted uneasily in  their chairs for a moment the professor  hesitated  then he made his way to the student put  his arm around him and with tears  streaming from his eyes he said i never  knew about it please  will you forgive me  his humble apology made a lasting  effect on this young man  the story was told sometime later in a  large gathering of believers and at the  close of the meeting a man came forward  turned to the crowd raised his right arm  and it ended at the wrist and he said i  was that student  professor black led me to christ  but he never could have done it if he  had not made the wrong right  church we're far too focused on  attempting to present a less realistic  version of ourselves to the world around  us  god doesn't need us to look good to make  him look good  he saves messed up people and transforms  us as trophies of grace and his  continued work of life change in his  church  where he gets all the credit and glory  and praise  let's pray  father i uh thank you that that's over  with  but lord i i praise you and i ask that  you would use  that passage of scripture and and my  commentary on it  to do some do a work in the hearts of  people  here i pray that men and women and  children would want jesus more because  of the work of your spirit above all  else  god i pray that you would use  what we learned today  to change us to transform us to grow us  to look more like jesus and if we are  yet to repent  for yet to turn over  our lives to you lord i pray that you  draw us to our  you would draw us to you  in spite of us pray this in jesus name  amen ","score":0},{"video_id":"qTAACiQvhSA","title":"Meet Jesus  | God of Restoration John 21:1-19","description":"","channel_title":"Antioch Simi","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qTAACiQvhSA/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"hey if you have your bibles go ahead and  open to john chapter 21  and uh we're going to look at uh the  first part of that chapter we're going  to kind of make our way through it bit  by bit as we go through and uh continue  in fact today is actually the conclusion  of the series we've been in the last  couple months called meet jesus  discovering the nature of god so we've  been walking through this series and  looking at different encounters that  jesus had with people because we know if  we understand jesus we understand god  and so it's been like this journey of us  getting to know jesus i feel like again  i'm introducing you to a really good  friend of mine and as we go through each  week it it should in some way because  depending on how long you've known jesus  or even if you know jesus yet  something about when you encounter jesus  from the scriptures he always pushes the  limits of what you think he always  challenges what you think and sometimes  he just destroys the box that you've  created for him and so this morning  we're going to talk about in this last  part of the book of john an encounter  that jesus has with peter  who's obviously one of his disciples one  of his early followers  and it's it's a perfect picture of what  jesus brings to us which is extremely  important because all of us need it  whether we know it or not is that jesus  is the god of restoration  he takes what's broken and what's lost  and what's destroyed and he restores  that in our lives to what he intended  originally and that's the process of  what he does through his death and his  resurrection so this morning i want us  to focus in on this and and work our way  through this because one of the things  that we have to be mindful of whether we  know it or not is that all of us have a  deep longing to be restored in our life  in fact this is palm sunday so 2 000  years ago in jerusalem when jesus came  into jerusalem  the city was just abuzz and people came  out and they were laying down palm  branches and they were worshiping him  and they were calling out the name  hosanna which means save us and they had  this idea of jesus coming in and what  they were turning out for is a deep  desire in them that jesus is going to  restore what had been lost to them now  for most of them what they thought jesus  was restoring was the kingdom of israel  but jesus didn't come to restore the  kingdom of israel jesus came to restore  the kingdom of god in the lives of  people but that means that jerusalem was  all focused on jesus because every human  heart every human soul desires that what  is broken in our lives to be fixed what  is lost to be found  what needs to be changed restored and  all of us have that the question is  will we engage what god wants in our  life this morning i want to just talk  about this why do i know this jewel  let's fast forward two thousand years to  today we love restoration  we desire restoration so when there's a  fire in a house  we restore the house and what's been  lost right when there is something that  is  uh  the part of the remodel is we would cut  we're restoring what's lost so fire  houses or a car we like we take old cars  and we make them  new right we restore what was lost you  can go through the list of things so  pictures  so an old picture a photo that has been  destroyed  you did a little work on it and it  becomes what a new picture and you  actually can see what the picture was  originally or even the fact where some  are a little thin in the hair area  there's the restoration process of hair  right  so restoration is a big deal for all of  us no that's nobody you know i just  found it on the internet okay so don't  look around the room and see who has the  plugs or who has you know whatever it is  but  all of us desire restoration that's why  this passage is so important this  morning  and what we're going to look at today  and so as we've done  each time we walk through these stories  in the bible i'm going to ask you just  if you would pause with me we're going  to pray because we believe what we're  about to engage in the scriptures is  inspired by god's spirit to do some work  in our life today but the the key factor  in this is not that god's word can't do  the work it's just that we got to be  ready for what he wants to say to us so  would you just open your hearts and  minds lord jesus we thank you that as we  get to look at another story of your  journey with people we get to learn more  about who you are and so holy spirit by  your power through the word of god would  you speak to our hearts would you open  our minds and our ears and would you  soften our hearts so that lord we  receive what you have for us today  because lord we're convinced you have  something for every single person here  so lord let us receive that today as we  open your word in jesus name amen  so before we we're going to kind of work  our way bit by bit through john 21 and  but before we do that kind of the  context so  jesus has died he's rose from the dead  and so he's actually encountered his his  early followers a few times and here's  another encounter that happens  but to this point from what we can tell  in scripture we know that peter's story  has been  peter was very passionate wanted to  follow jesus but peter also found  himself constantly putting his foot in  his mouth constantly doing the wrong  thing to the point where jesus told  peter before he went to the cross he  told peter you're going to deny me three  times and peter said that'll never  happen and if you know the story peter  denies jesus and so from what we can  tell in scriptures there has been no  direct encounter at least with peter  directly with jesus he's been in groups  with jesus where jesus shows up to the  disciples but we don't have recorded yet  until this scenario where now peter has  to come face to face with jesus who he  turned his back on  who he betrayed and and even confessed  he would never do that and he did the  very thing he didn't want to do and so  we picked that up and so what i want to  do through this encounter there's seven  things i want to highlight that god lays  out for our lives which is similar to  peter's life that are god's road for  restoration in our life how does god go  about restoring things in our lives the  first thing is this look at verses one  through three  it's this god looks for restoration even  when we don't  so look at the first couple verses the  few three verses it says after this  jesus revealed himself again to  disciples by the sea of tiberius and he  revealed himself in this way simon peter  thomas called the twin nathanael of  canaan and galilee the sons of zebedee  and two others of his disciples were  together  simon said to them for simon peter said  to them i'm going fishing and they said  to him we will go with you and they went  out and got into the boat and by night  they had caught nothing  so what is what's going on here well  peter is doing what peter always did  everybody recall back at the beginning  three years earlier when jesus called  peter what was peter doing he was  fishing so he's going back to what's  familiar and what's normal in his life  almost a sense like i i'm a little  uneasy about where i am right now so i'm  going to go back to what's familiar i'm  going to go back to what's normal even  though he knows witness jesus has risen  from the dead he's not quite sure what  the next step is and so he's trying to  find himself here and this is really  interesting when it comes this god is  always in the process of trying to  restore things in our life and you know  what we default to  the familiar  and you know what happens i've seen in  my life when something becomes normal  and familiar it used to be something  that we identified as being broken but  now it's just normal  we accept normal we accept something  that's broken our life and just in our  minds we don't maybe say this out loud  but we think this  this is always the way it's going to be  so i just accept it i just accept this  is a part of a brokenness in my life and  nothing's ever going to change so i'm  just going to go back to normal have you  ever had something that's broken that  you didn't affix and over time it just  became a part of the way you navigated  life so perfect example last week  we moved into our house six years ago  and our side gate has always had a  problem where some of the hardware comes  loose and it never quite fits right and  when it when it shuts sometimes it  rattles and comes loose and so i've  always every once in a while i'll  tighten down the hardware that's on  there and i've done that for six years  because it just starts getting loose and  it doesn't it just doesn't shut right  and so i don't know what possessed me  but a week ago i went through the gate  and it just it slammed and it was like  making the same noise and i turned  around like there's got to be a fix to  this  and so i started taking apart the little  mechanism that actually goes into the  latch that keeps the gate secure when  it's closed  and i thought i'm just going to take it  apart and see what's going on and so as  i took it apart i realized that  whoever was the previous person who  lived in our house who put in that gate  decided to use wood screws on metal to  try to adhere the latch that goes to  holds the gate quiet or closed so you  can if you've ever taken a a wood screw  you can put it into metal and it'll hold  for a little while but it'll come loose  because the threads aren't right for  metal  and so as i did that i'm like no wonder  this doesn't work and so i happen to  have some machine screws and so i got  from metal and i put them in and guess  what  it doesn't rattle anymore it closes like  it's supposed to it only took me six  years  of tightening wood screws into metal to  figure out something else has to happen  here but it just became a normal part i  didn't even i would go through that  especially with the winds that we would  get and our gate would blow open and  close and i just never ever got around  to fixing it it just became the the side  gate doesn't work that's just the way  life is  where's the side gate in your life  because we all have them  we do we just become accustomed to some  things broken and instead of addressing  it and letting god restore it we just  let it be normal  jesus came to destroy your normal he  doesn't want us to live normal lives  anymore he wants us to live restored  lives and so peter's slowly coming  around to this but peter goes back to  what's normal he goes back to fishing  and isn't it interesting he goes fishing  just like he did three years earlier and  the same result that he got the first  time he gets this what is his result he  caught nothing  so there's got to be something in peter  that's just like this seems a little  familiar let's go to the next part look  at verse four  god's word of restoration also includes  this god  intersects our lives with opportunities  for restoration so look at verse four it  says just as day was breaking jesus  stood on the shore yet the disciples did  not know that it was jesus  so what is jesus doing so he doesn't  just happen to pick a seashore that his  disciples are out fishing by he knows  what he's doing he's positioned himself  so they see him on the seashore  so this is the way that jesus works in  our life all the time he always  positions himself in our lives to get  our attention because he's about  restoring things in our life  it won't be on the screens but acts 17  paul actually talks about this that  jesus chooses the times and places where  you and i live for one reason that we'll  find him and we'll reach out for him  he's constantly orchestrating  intersections in our life because he  knows there's normal things there's  broken things in our life that we're not  addressing that he wants to address that  he wants to restore in our lives  intersections  are you and i aware of the intersections  in our lives and they come through not  things that you and i orchestrate they  come through circumstances that i  believe god orchestrates  because god wants to restore broken  things in our lives  so most of you know our story so a  number of years ago kim and i and  courtney and jordan decided to become a  foster family  and we've been doing that for quite a  long time and i remember the first child  that came into our house we were  absolutely freaked out out of our minds  it had been a long time since jordan and  courtney were in diapers okay they were  grown teenagers and so a baby comes into  your house and you're like i think i  remember how to do this  i hope for the sake of this child i  remember how to do this  but i remember there's a lot of anxiety  but we got to know his name was noah  he's this little two-month-old that came  to us and so as we've always done we try  to work towards some kind of restoration  with the family and trying to restore  the child back to the family to the  system it wasn't working and so long  story short when noah went back to his  bio family he actually went to his  grandma  and because we didn't have any contact  at that point the social worker was kind  of being a buffer between us and the bio  family which they don't do that anymore  but kim put a little note in noah's  diaper bag and grandma got the note with  kim's cell phone that said hey if we can  do anything to help we're more than  willing to  and she  called and so she calls and and so kim  starts talking to her  and so then we met her in person  and started to get to know her and one  of the things it's just really so you  know it's kind of awkward as a pastor to  just invite people to church it's like  hey come hear me speak on sunday it's  just weird okay i still do it i've  invited people to easter i don't tell  them i'm speaking but i still invite  them to easter  but anyway so we didn't tell her we're  pastors and invited a church but we just  knew that we were to pray for her and  love her and and literally we all we  adopted her into our family with noah  so for about a year and a half every  holiday every special occasion tina and  noah were at her house  and the coolest thing happened  tina invited herself to church  she said can i come i'm like yeah you're  welcome to come  long story short tina had walked away  from the lord years ago  years ago  and through the process of noah coming  through because of what her daughter had  done coming into the foster care system  ending up in our household tina ended up  in our household  and tina  gave her life back to jesus and just  before they moved to the east coast many  were here i dedicated noah to jesus  and she's still following jesus today  in fact kim's more in contact we've been  on facetime a couple times noah is like  grown like i don't know he's like seven  now he's it's crazy how old he is but  it's crazy  but that is that is how did that happen  because somebody did something wrong  with the child that ended up in the  foster care system god was in the  process of restoring a woman and her  grandson who are following him today  that's the way god works  that means in your life every single day  god is at work trying to get your  attention because it's in the process of  trying to restore something that's  broken in your life but do you and i see  it  do we see what he's doing or do we just  see circumstances are we just seeing bad  things happen and how in the world can  god be working in the middle of bad  things that's what god specializes in  as he shows up in the midst of the  broken areas of our life  which leads to the third thing  god's road of restoration means that god  reminds us  what our lives are supposed to be  so look at verses five and six it says  this going on it says jesus said to them  children do you have any fish as though  he didn't know they didn't have any fish  says they answered no he said to them  cast the net on the right side of the  boat and you will find some so they cast  it and then they were not able to haul  it in because the quantity of the fish  does this sound familiar and you know  peter's story this is exactly what  happened three years earlier so at this  point peter's got to figure out okay i  get the clue here  i'm out all night i'm a professional  fisherman i can't catch anything this  guy who's a carpenter  tells me to go do it his way and fish  show up so he's starting to come around  the fact of what jesus is doing  because i think what  jesus is in the process of doing  is jesus is showing peter hey remember  remember your life something about  something greater than fishing for fish  i did this before and i'm doing it again  because you have forgotten what your  life is about  you just went back to normal you went  back to fishing why because that's  comfortable that's familiar that's easy  but i have something greater for you  than what you chose for yourself and i'm  reminding you of that again because how  many times in our life do you and i get  lost  we come to know jesus we give our lives  to him something in us changes there's  some kind of purpose some kind of  feeling of destiny in our life but  something happens and we get off track  and when we get off track we forget who  we are  we do we lose ourselves all the time  that's why i love when we sing that song  defender  when it gets to the bridge it talks  about basically i lost myself but you  knew where to find me like jesus found  me because i lost me  that's us that's the story of our life  peter had lost a sense of himself he  denied jesus he had walked away from  jesus now he's starting to come back  around and now he's realizing okay this  looks familiar  why because what is jesus doing he's  reminding peter his life's about more  than fishing for fish  man sometimes we just go through life  and we just settle for what's there we  settle for what we used to have we  settle for what's familiar and god says  there is so much more for your life  and i'm gonna remind you of this that's  his process of restoration in our lives  is there ever been a moment where you've  lost yourself  yeah  the answer is yes for all of us  we are lost until we are found by jesus  so many years ago when i was in ministry  and this has happened probably now  probably a cycle of two or three times  in life in a ministry  you lose yourself in the middle of  ministry just like you might lose  yourself in any career and you lose  sight of why you got into doing what you  originally started to do  and it was god that got you into it in  the beginning but you don't know why  you're still there because you've lost  sight of what god called you to do  it happens for pastors all the time  and i remember god there's been about  two or three times in ministry where i  had lost sight of what god had said to  me about why i'm doing what i'm doing  because so many times it's like i don't  want to do this anymore  i'm going to do something else that's  easier i'm gonna go work with something  that has nothing to do with people  no offense to anybody in the room okay  it's just the reality of pastoring it's  hard  because we're all broken and we're all  difficult including me but there's times  you're like yeah and why am i doing this  maybe i could make money doing something  else i mean you just you know you see  the guy driving the trash truck by like  that could do that  right anything but this right  and then it leads to a sense of  depression like  have i lost a sense of what my life's  about  if i'm thinking about going collecting  trash instead of pastoring something's  wrong inside of me  and then there's a few times the lord's  come back and said he'll ask me the  question  why are you doing what you're doing what  did i call you to do the beginning  he takes me back  many years ago when i was sitting at lax  because i loved to watch planes and i  was praying for god to give me wisdom  i was in bible college which was the  last place i wanted to be i did not want  to go to bible college because i wanted  to make money in my life i didn't want  to go to do it be in ministry i've got  god please like release me from this  and then god said i said he asked me the  question he said what do you want to do  with your life what have you always said  you wanted to do with your life and i  said i want to help people. it wasn't  this audible voice but he was speaking  to me he said great what is the greatest  help you can give anybody i said well  that's obvious  it's you  he said there you go  that's your life  and there's been moments where i've come  back to realizing why am i pastoring  to help people get to jesus  and when i remember that all the stuff  that you go through in ministry that  just goes away why because it just gets  down to the simplest form of why i'm  doing what i'm doing the purpose why god  called me to this in the first place  is to get people who don't know jesus to  jesus and to get people who think they  know jesus to jesus  that's what my life's supposed to be  about that's why i'm pastoring  and that's why if i lose sight of that i  get to be like peter  and i kind of lose a sense of purpose  what is it in your life maybe you've  never heard from god because by the way  and we'll talk about this in may  we have this misunderstanding about what  it means to be called  we think some people are called which  means they're supposed to go and vote  into vote full-time vocational industry  do you realize every single person in  this room is called  it doesn't matter what your career is  your career is not your calling  and you better be living out your  calling regardless of your career  because god called you and said  something to you about your life and  you've forgotten  and now all you think you do is make a  paycheck  and you've forgotten your calling well  sorry i don't get if i had that's in may  well we won't get too far ahead with  that  which leads to the fourth thing  and that is this god knows our hunger  for restoration  he knows the depth of our soul and what  we need look at verses seven through  nine i love this response so peter he  doesn't catch any fish and then he  catches more fish than he's ever seen  he's starting to get it and then verse 7  says then says that disciple whom jesus  loved therefore said to peter it is the  lord  when simon peter heard that it was the  lord he put on his outer garment  before he was stripped for work and  threw himself into the sea and the other  disciples came into the boat dragging  the net full of fish for they were not  far from the land but about a hundred  yards off then verse nine when they got  out on the land they saw a charcoal fire  in place with fish laid out and bread  so what does peter do  he finally wakes up  it's jesus  and this is what i love about peter even  in peter's brokenness and his shame he  knows who jesus is  even though he knows can just for a  moment can you just relate to peter have  you ever just completely blown it in  your life and you run into that person  again that you blew it with the last  thing you want to do is encounter them  right you walk in the room and you see  them and you go the other way  you excuse yourself why because i don't  want to encounter them peter knows  enough about who jesus is that even in  that state of not having a face to face  with him yet and a one-on-one what does  peter do he jumps out of the boat  and he swims to the shore why because  it's  jesus what was what was peter responding  to his deep desire to be restored to  jesus that's what's going on here he  can't help himself  he's driven by it  and there's so many times i've talked to  people when when god is at work in your  life and and something happens and they  say you know it's almost like i couldn't  even control myself i wanted to respond  because i knew i needed that  that's restoration everybody's soul  the world longs for restoration but  doesn't know where to find it  if you're a follower of jesus you know  where to find it  it's in jesus and that's what peter's  understanding here see you and i love  the story of restoration  we root for the person who's walking  through restoration we do  i mean look in our culture let me just  tell the story about dan jansen you can  see his pictures some of this some of  you might know him he's he was a speed  skater for the us in the 1990s  incredible story sad story but  redemptive story  so in his first olympics he comes in as  the favorite in the 500 meter and the  thousand meter i mean he's like the  favorite favorite he's going to win the  race it's like why even race it kind of  thing  this is back in 1988  just before he goes onto the ice in his  first race he gets a call that his  sister has died she had a long battle  with cancer so his mind is not there  so in his first race he gets out and  within the first i think first or second  turn he falls  and he's done he's out not even meddling  doesn't place  thousand meters same thing doesn't  doesn't even place i mean he just it  completely just lost himself and it was  just tragic because you know how we are  in america we the person who's the  golden metal favorite they show up on  the wheaties commercials and all the  commercials beforehand and we pump them  up like simone biles right we put all  this weight like michael phelps they're  going to win they're going to win and  they don't win we're like uh oh  so dan jansen works again he becomes the  world champion three times over and then  back in in 1992 he gets back to the  olympics again and he's favored again  and it was like oh this is the this is  the redemption story of dan jansen  i think it's the second lap of his first  race he doesn't fall but he slips  and he doesn't place  and i think he he finishes the other  race but he doesn't win a medal and so  everyone's like oh this guy's the  biggest disappoint of all time finally  good news this is when they were  changing up the alteration of summer and  olympic games so instead of waiting four  years he only had to wait to two years  to 1994 and he was back in the olympics  again  the last race of his career  he sets a world record  and he wins the gold medal  to see his face  you could feel the weight of all those  years of brokenness of failure of  disappointment and of course everybody's  glued to their tv he's the biggest hero  he's got the gold medal it's the  redemption story we love that but you  know what i've watched in our lives we  love that for other  people we'll cheer for it and we're like  man i wish it could be me but i don't  think it'll ever happen  why do we do that  why do we think that redemption and  restoration can happen for other people  but somehow we're on the sideline  peter jumps out of the boat he knows  it's his turn he knows in fact remember  this is the peter who watched for three  years watched jesus heal the blind he  watched jesus raise the dead he watched  people watch jesus restore things in  other people's lives and finally he  jumps out of the boat because he knows  who he's been with the last three years  guess what today's your turn  it is  today's your turn it's not somebody  else's turn it's everybody's turn  because that's the god that we serve  that's the one that we follow he knows  our deep and and our hunger for for  being restored in our lives which leads  to excuse me to the fifth thing  and this is the good news verses 15 to  17 god completely covers the failures of  our past  this is how he restores so look at  verses 15 to 17. this is  again now after they've eaten breakfast  jesus is with peter and disciples but  he's talking to peter says this in verse  15. when they had finished breakfast  jesus said to simon peter  simon son of john do you love me more  than these  he said to him yes lord you know that i  love you he said to him feed my lambs  and he said to him a second time simon  said john do you love me and he said to  him yes lord you know that i love you he  said to him ten my sheep  and he said to him a third time simon  son of john do you love me and peter  grieved because he said  excuse me he said to him the third time  do you love me and he said lord you know  everything and you know that i love you  and jesus said to him feed my sheep  now there's there's speculation on what  what's all going on here in this passage  and why jesus is doing this but i know  one thing is for sure  and this is a simple kind of correlation  how many times did peter deny jesus  three times  how many times did jesus ask peter do  you love me  three times  no accident there's no accident there  you can tell there's a direct  correlation between what what happened  to peter and what jesus is doing in this  moment he's going back to the three  moments of peter's worst failure and  he's saying it's done  it's gone  it's forgiven  three greatest words that jesus said on  the cross was it  is  finished  that's what he's saying to peter it's  finished peter  you don't have to live in the past and  the shame and the regret of what you did  why because you're forgiven  every single sin that we ever commit  when we ask jesus forgives  and this is one of the struggles we have  as a pastor this is one of the things if  i could if i could like change the way  that we react to things and this happens  so many times for people's lives  positionally when you confess your sins  you are forgiven practically many of us  don't believe that's true  you're still kicking yourself for  something that god's already forgiven  you for  if you asked  he will forgive that's what first john 1  9 says  if we confess our sin what he's faithful  and just to forgive us our sin and what  does he do in the forgiveness he  cleanses us from everything that's  unrighteous in our life that's a gift  that's a promise so if you ask you're  like i didn't ask the right way  i didn't ask enough times  maybe god wasn't listening that day  those are all the lies that we believe  but here's the challenge the practical  living out day to day that i am for  given  here's why this is why i love what jesus  is saying so peter do you love me well  yeah i love you then he tells him to do  something  if peter still thinks he's not forgiven  and he's still living in the shame of  his past he's not going to feed jesus  sheep  he's not going to do anything but wallow  in his brokenness  and some of us are not doing what god  called us to do because we're living in  a moment in the past that we can't let  go of that jesus forgave us for a long  time ago  and he's saying let go of it get over it  stop living in the past because you've  been forgiven that's what i did on the  cross for you now that that's taken care  of now you can go live your life  but we're still stuck in a moment of  shame we're going back to over and over  and over again it's time for us to live  which leads to the sixth thing also  looking at verses 15 to 17 that's this  god restores us for his purpose  god has a purpose for your life that is  better than anything you can describe or  define on your own this is the tension  we have we have a purpose that we want  god to bless without asking him what  does he want us to do because jesus  comes to peter remember what peter can  you imagine if you're a really if you're  a fisherman a guy shows up and you catch  more fish than you've ever caught in  your life you're like let's go into  business together  this is a good thing let me let me and  jesus shows peter what's possible but  then he says peter i'm not going to let  you fish for fish anymore you're going  to fish for people something more  important  so he calls peter what to this purpose  and some of us not that fishing's bad  and not that certain things but some of  us and it's not even talking about crime  i'm talking about calling here  some of us are fishing when we should be  fishing for people  some of us are doing the thing that  we're good at and not asking god what  we're supposed to do or what we're  supposed to do with the very thing he  made us good at because god didn't make  you good at something so you could make  money by the way  he made you good at something for a  bigger purpose  because it's about his kingdom and your  life so he takes what's lost  and he restores it back to its purpose  so let me show you a picture of one of  my most prized possessions  this is my grandfather's hammer  i love this hammer i've talked about  this hammer before  <br>  so this is this is hangs in my garage  and it literally even though i have  other hammers that are probably better  equipped and bigger and probably  probably better design for what i need  to do every time i go for a hammer  this is the hammer i grab  and every time i grab it i think of my  grandfather  so my grandfather the last eight years  of his life had parkinson's  but before that  he was a career carpenter  so going to grandma and grandpa's house  meant that you ended up in the garage in  his shop where grandpa was and to this  day  when i smell  sawdust  from like a band saw  or from a table saw  it's grandpa  i mean immediately because that's the  smell of his house it's the smell of his  clothes you you get close to him he  always had these white overalls  and you smell him it's grandpa right  so but but the last probably three or  four years of his bout with parkinson's  before he passed away he couldn't do  anything he couldn't cut anything he  couldn't hammer anything he just  couldn't he physically didn't have the  ability anymore and so all of his tools  sat in the garage  and when he passed away  my dad said grandpa wants us to go into  the garage  and we can pick which tools we want to  take  so i grabbed that hammer the hammer  that's been sitting for three or four  years useless  and now it's become the primary hammer  that i use every time i hammer a nail or  do whatever i do with a hammer  but for three or four years it sat there  doing nothing  until i pulled it out of the toolbox  and now it's useful again  you see the correlation  i'm not saying you're a hammer  but i am saying you're a tool that god  created for a purpose  that's sitting somewhere in a toolbox  either disqualified because you've  disqualified yourself you haven't  forgiven yourself or you don't think  you're good enough i'm not a good enough  hammer i'm not a good enough saw i'm not  a good whatever  yeah you're the one that god made you  and whatever god made is plenty good  enough for whatever he's called you to  do  restoration is the process of god  pulling you out of the toolbox you put  yourself in and restoring you back to  the life he purposed for you to live  that's what peter's experiencing so even  though peter's kind of upside down he's  like man you're asking me do i love you  and jesus you know that i love you and  peter's finally getting it but peter's  slow he still is  i mean i think the biggest victory for  peter is when you get to acts chapter  two and peter's the one that stands up  on the day of pentecost when the holy  spirit comes and he's the one that gets  what's going he's like yeah this is joel  this is the this is the prophet from  from centuries ago this is what's  happening peter gets it but even at this  point because if we go on peter starts  to go wait what about that guy what  about john how is he going to die  and she says what are you worried about  john 4  worry about yourself and then jesus says  by the way this is how you're going to  die so don't ever ask jesus how you're  going to die that's that's the moral of  the story right but peter slowly is  getting this  because now he's starting to realize my  life's more about my than just something  about my brokenness which leads to the  final thing look at verse 19.  jesus calls us to begin again  i love this in verse 19  after this dialogue back and forth about  how peter's going to die in verse 19 it  says this this is said to show by what  kind of death he was to glorify god and  then it says this after saying this he  said to him  follow me  period  those two words you're like oh yeah it's  nice go back to the beginning  go back to when when jesus first  encountered peter three years ago  after this is like almost the same story  but just different context  peter goes out at night catches no fish  jesus says do it my way catches the more  fish he's ever seen same thing happens  in the story and how did jesus end the  first story by saying two words  follow  me  he says it to peter again  after all of what peter has gone through  after all that peter has done to jesus  this is significant i won't take you  back through all of peter's experiences  but do you remember there's only one  disciple in all the scriptures that  jesus looked in the eye and said these  words get behind me satan and that's  peter  that's a bad day  there's only one disciple who bitterly  bitterly denies jesus three times who is  that that's peter  and after all of that jesus says the  same thing he said at the beginning is  the same thing he says at the end  this is us  and this is every time you stumble every  time you fall guess what jesus is in the  process of doing pointing out your  brokenness and your flawed no he's  saying listen follow me again  i want to restore what's broken in your  life because before you you and i give  up on ourselves way too soon  jesus doesn't ever give up on you in  fact he never gives up we give up on  herself right into eternity away from  him but he never gives up on us  and that means that jesus is calling  each one of us today to begin again  to follow him again to look at our lives  differently than we have before to allow  the areas that have become normal and  acceptable brokenness in our life to be  brought before jesus and let him restore  what's broken  but he can't he won't force us  but he will what invite us  he'll invite us to do this  i'm going to ask the worship team  if they would come and join me we're  going to go into a song in just a few  moments but  before we do that i want to take some  time for each person to respond  according to what you feel  the lord is saying to you this morning  as i was praying this morning about  today  you know as a as a pastor and even  working with the worship team you're  always thinking logistics how do we  gonna end the service where we're gonna  go and  the lord stopped me and said don't  he didn't say don't stop the service  you're like oh boy i got plans i gotta  be somewhere no he said don't start  orchestrating right now he goes just get  there  just get  through the message get to the end of  the service and then see what i want to  do  so i know for sure this is what god  wants to do today he wants to restore  in our lives that's that's his desire  and i don't know what area of  restoration there is that god is working  on in your life but i know one of the  first hurdles to get over  is that god can actually do it  it's the faith to believe god can  actually take what i don't think  is recoverable i don't think can be  restored that i don't think can be  changed  that's the first hurdle the hurdle of  unbelief  when we were worshiping earlier i i i  didn't want to do it because i didn't  want to i didn't want to disturb anybody  during worship but we were singing and  talking about  <br>  the glory of who jesus is and the part  where he says and you came and redeemed  my story i wanted to yell but i don't  want to scare people so i didn't  i yelled in my spirit how's that okay  i wanted to yell because i'm yes  we all have broken stories we're all a  mess  and jesus comes to what redeem what's  broken and restore what's lost  but this is one thing i know that jesus  said to me earlier this morning i was  praying  in the process of restoration god does  not need your help  but he wants your cooperation  and cooperation comes in the form of  surrender  you can't be restored unless you  surrender because here's the thing i've  discovered and i read peter and i  understand the way god works you and i  all think that god needs help with our  restoration and the way that we do that  is that we tell him how he's going to do  it  we tell him how he's going to do it and  we tell him what it's going to look like  when he gets to the end  you read through the bible and every  person who came to jesus agenda had  their agenda destroyed  and their life looked different and  better than what they could have  orchestrated  so if you're here today i think the  second hurdle you have to overcome is  don't fill in the blanks for god  don't tell him how he's going to do his  work  just surrender  just give up  so what is it for you  give up the shame of your past  the moment you go back to right now and  there's twofold something you did in  your life you still think every time you  try to move forward it comes right back  to your mind  or maybe it's something that was done to  you there was a violation in your life  and you go right back to that again  and you disqualify yourself  maybe it's it's a relationship a  friendship or a marriage  and you fought for that friendship but  both sides have inflicted pain and  wounds in each other and you're thinking  there's no way that god can restore this  there's no way that god can work in this  yes he can  and yes he will if you just cooperate  and surrender your agenda to him which  means you don't come to say okay god  here's how we're going to go about the  restoration process no no he doesn't  need that  you just say jesus here i am  you do what you're going to do i will  surrender and submit to whatever you  call me to do because you're god and i'm  not  that's the journey of restoration we  finally remember we're not god and this  is the good news you don't have to be  your own god because there already is  one his name is jesus that's good news  for all of us because all of us live our  whole life being our own god and finally  when we take the weight off our  shoulders and let god be god  life becomes what it's supposed to be  so this is what we're going to do we're  going to go into a song called  resurrender which we did a number of  weeks ago  and since i don't want to script  anything for you  i'm going to ask you to do something  simple in fact josh can you just bring  down the lights just for people in  privacy  but i'm going to ask you to respond in a  way that you feel is you truly  surrendering to jesus  i'm not asking you to respond in a  certain way that i'm going to prescribe  for you but a way that you know that and  it's more than just in your heart and  mind it's something that you know you  need to physically do to say you know  what here i am jesus i am  re-surrendering once again  for your restoration my life so that  might mean for some you're standing some  you're kneeling some you're coming to  the front some i don't know what it is  all i ask is this don't be disruptive  for anybody else in the room but you  know what god's calling you to do and  it's probably going to stretch you more  than you want to because you're like i  don't want to do that that's your  that's your point of of breaking where  god's saying yeah you need to surrender  your will you need to let it go  so i'm going to pray and then i'm going  to ask you to surrender because i'm i'm  hesitant i don't want to start naming  things because i don't need to the holy  spirit's only naming things in our lives  but you need to respond to what he's  doing right now so let's pray and then  i'm going to ask you as we go into song  you respond according to what god's  calling you to do as a point of  surrender to him today to let him  restore your life lord jesus  thank you that you never give up and  never quit you never gave up on peter  even though peter gave up on peter that  means that you never give up on us even  when we give up on ourselves  so today lord jesus i pray that as we  sing this song we know that lord what  you're doing in this moment is not  necessarily the period at the end of the  sentence of restoration lord it may be  the very beginning  it may be the moment where peter saw  that miraculous catch the moment where  you said follow me the moment where he  really started to see purpose in life  maybe for some of us that maybe others  it is more in the middle of this journey  and following you but lord whatever  point we find ourselves we want to  surrender ourselves to you today  because you are the god of restoration  you are the god who takes what's broken  and familiar and normal and acceptable  and you create us in us what we're  supposed to be  you restore us back to what our lives  were supposed to be way before sin  really got a hold of us  so lord we pray that you would bring  forgiveness and freedom and restoration  today as we respond to you and your  spirit  in jesus name  amen ","score":0},{"video_id":"odV6rRk5Ou4","title":"Day 37: Good Enough Lent","description":"Welcome to a Good Enough Lent!\nRev. Elea Kemler & intern minister Li Kynvi are offering daily (Mon. - Sat.) Lent readings from Kate Bowler & Jessica Richie's book Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection, available wherever books are sold. \n\nKate Bowler offers a free downloadable companion guide for reading, reflecting & praying. Just head to https://katebowler.com/lent/ to get that.\n\nTaking a moment every day during Lent to pause for mindful, spiritual reflection  with a Lenten manual is a part of our Universalist heritage going back at least 200 years.\n\nWhether you are a Unitarian Universalist, or you identify with another faith tradition, or with none at all, you are most welcome to engage with us in this spiritual practice for 40 days. See what’s here for you.\n\nRemember you don't have to listen to these in order, you don't have to listen to all of them: Trust us, no one is keeping score. Engage as you are called to do so. To paraphrase Kate Bowler, we're taking ourselves off the hook for perfection of any kind, and just being beautifully human together, again today.\n\nWarmly,\nElea & Li\nhttps://uugroton.org/\nFirst Parish Church of Groton is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Groton Massachusetts","channel_title":"First Parish Church of Groton","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/odV6rRk5Ou4/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  hi welcome to day 37 uh we're doing  adapted readings of  kate bowler and jessica ritchie's book  good enough for lent  day 37 is the in between  we like to pretend that our lives are  marked by consistency  durability  i'm a mom i work here these are my  friends and my loved ones and this is  the book club i don't ever read the  books for  and yet we find ourselves between  realities  between relationships  between seasons of independence and  dependence  between jobs  between friends  between diagnosis and cure  between feeling courageous and feeling  afraid  between the life we have and the life we  want  the anthropologist victor turner wrote  about what happens when people go  through intense change together  and referred to the in-between time as  liminality  we're at a threshold  something still becoming  but we don't know yet what all the  factors are  and how to frame them  we earned for normalcy only to find that  liminality has become our new normal  so little is in our control  but then again so little ever was  the living and breathing and struggling  and crying and teaching and trying and  dying  this is the life we have  in skin and bones  living  liminality is also a place where we're  not yet settled  not yet solidified  exposed is one way to put it  but also open to something new  so let's take a minute here in the in  between  sometimes when we feel lost floating  outside of what we know  who we wanted to be  and where we wanted to be  it's tempting to feel small and wonder  maybe  maybe i should just shut this down a bit  maybe no one needs to hear from me  maybe that's enough for now  so my loves  bless you if you are there  in that place that is in between  in between can be an awfully lonely  place  in transition exposed that place of  waiting and vulnerability  a place that doesn't fit anyone's idea  of normal because there aren't words for  it  and it isn't there yet  instead of trying to escape it  let's settle for the moment  knowing and trusting we aren't alone  we're in this strange middle place  together  and our  blessing for today  a blessing for the in between  blessed are we somewhere unnameable  fully present to our reality  tracking it with all its subtle  gradations and colors and contrasts  the sweetness and the struggle  the stuck and not quite fitting  authentic to it mapping the full  strangeness of the new emergent  landscape  blessed are we dear ones not calling it  too soon  not settling for the neat and buttoned  up the two tied up the not quite true  bless all of it  the way we might widen our gaze to  encompass it and embrace it  and bless you  moving into the unknown waiting  daring to hope  ","score":0},{"video_id":"MSvBJvTqqrk","title":"A JUBILEE OF REST - Dr. Clifton Clarke | January 22, 2023","description":"💭 Share your thoughts below!\n\n✅ If you enjoyed this video, give it your thumb up, subscribe to the channel, and activate the notification bell so you won't miss any video upload. See you on the next ones!\n\n🎥 In case you have any questions or suggestions for the next videos, please let us know.\n\n👉 New Beginnings is a community of believers, a multicultural community who celebrates our differences instead of shaming them, people who really believe in the power of God, and want to see others experience His healing and redeeming love.\n\n📱 Check New Beginnings on other social media!\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbcfsimi/?h...\nFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WeAreNewBegi...\nWebsite: https://www.nbcf-simi.com/","channel_title":"New Beginnings Church","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MSvBJvTqqrk/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  the number seven  is a big deal in the Bible in Scripture  seven symbolizes  completion wholeness  is a number of perfection  Genesis tells us that God  created the Heaven and the Earth  in six days  and upon the seventh day God  rested  interestingly the word translated  rested is  Shabbat  it's a Hebrew word  which means  it doesn't mean that God took a siesta  it doesn't mean that God was tired  and wary  so he needed to take a midday nap  it literally means  is ceased from working  simply God stopped  God is Shabbat on this seventh day  as we said had nothing to do with him  being tired  the Bible says  have you not heard the Everlasting God  Isaiah tells us the Lord the creator of  the ends of the Earth neither feigns nor  is weary there is no searching in his  understanding  huh  an interesting note is that  the Hebrew word rested can also been  to be  unsold  and sold  that's an interesting word for you  a time of  n solvent  a time of investing in  the soul part of you  in soulment  now my message today  is entitled  the Jubilee  of rest  now the idea of rest  is essential  I do have a PowerPoint I don't know if  he's working  the idea of rest is Central to the  concept of Jubilee now you've seen how  we've been talking about  how the Jubilee is about rest and it's  such a powerful concept because the rest  that Jubilee  envisioned is not just for people  but also for animals and land  that the Rhythm of Life should not be  ongoing and perpetual  but there should be time allocated  for rest  so Jubilee is about restoration  renewal release but it's also about  sacred rest say that with me sacred rest  Rabbi Joshua Abraham eschel which is one  of the most uh well-known  uh Jewish scholar  he has a he has a book called The the  Sabbath  and he has some interesting things to  say about that and a show is a Hebrew  scholar and he he knows that I'm going  to come to this quote but he notes in  our attempt  to master our physical surrounding  through technological advancements  we have become the center  desensitized to the Grandeur and the  beauty of life  both in the natural world and in the  face of others  a show goes on to say that in our rush  to industrialized  to industrialize we have become so  focused on gaining economic and  political power  that we have forgotten our ultimate  purpose  to serve as  co-creator with God  in the establishment  of a compassionate and a just world  and so in eschat's view the Sabbath  is a way to correct this imbalance  he described the Sabbath  as a palace  a palace in time  whose architecture is built through a  combination of listen to this  intentional abstentions  and acts of prayer study and joyous  meals  to gain control and this is a quote  that a child gives us to gain control of  space  Hallelujah  certain is one of our tasks the danger  begins when gaining power in the realm  of space  we forfeit  our aspiration to the realm of Time  Eternity  there's a realm of time where the goal  is not to have but to be not to own but  to give not to control but to share not  to subdue but to be in accord life goes  wrong when the control of space matter  means  and the acquisition of things of space  becomes our soul  concern  now the Bible says that God rested on  the seventh day  God rest on the saddened day  The Seventh-Day rest the purpose of the  Sabbath is to cease  from the control  from space now God is eternal  and by creating the world God is now  entering into time  now on the sixth day God stopped  because God  who is eternal  cannot be preoccupied perpetually with  things that will ultimately fade away  there must always be time  must always be punctuated  with the fact of Eternity  and God  why did God rest on the seventh day  God had a Sabbath  Our Lives should not be defined by what  we do God is giving us a model  we have achieved in this world what  we're achieve in this world but we  should orientate our Focus towards  Eternal qualities  Genesis 2 and 1 and says  and on the seventh day God ended his  work  will not be defined  who we are will not be defined by what  we do  but Who We Are  so number one God is taking a Sabbath as  a metaphor  for biblical salvation history  knowing that the ultimate and we we  think that the big deal was God's  creating the world the climate of the  text it's not God creating the world the  climax of the text was when God rested  you see we get caught up  in the process  but the climax of the text  is when God comes God was working  towards  the rest  and what God is showing us is that  life's journey  is moving towards the Eternal rest of  the Soul  don't get caught up  don't get lost and trapped in everything  in between because the goal of life is  not what you achieve in this world but  when you enter into that rest but we can  become good so come preoccupied and  concerned with the process that we miss  the goal  of life  Hallelujah  from chaos to Creation this is the  metaphor God has given from Israel from  bondage to the rest in the land of  promise  this all with God this metaphor that God  has given us the crisis of the Cross  leads to the rest  comes from the resurrection from sin to  the rest of Salvation let us therefore  be diligent Hebrews 4 and 11 says to  enter into the rest  least anyone fall through the same  example of disobedience  God taking a Sabbath  is a message about time  and  eternity  a jubilee of rest  reminds us that work is important but  ultimately we are not defined by what we  do  with a relationship Rabbi  again talks about the face  the space Oh the space  you see humans are happy with space we  know what to do with space we conquer  space we build we create  we know what to do with space we control  space  is about culture we know what to do with  space  we impose ourselves on space  Mata things  jobs  but when it comes to time  in eternity  we met it here  we will leave time will go on we really  don't know  you see time  is a different type  of dimension  space  we know what to do but time  Sabbath living  was God saying to us  don't spend your time you're living just  in the realm of matter and space  but always be remembered be reminded  that you are created in God's image  and that you are eternal  Sabbath  is an opportunity to step out of  space Realm  into the realm of an eternity now you  see when you under Sabbath you no longer  thinking about work thinking about this  that's why God says in his work ended  so that he can now  enjoy  matters  of Eternity  John do me a favor get me that but that  you just came to me get me that um piano  stool  get me the whole piano  just to just a stool just that  you know we as a pastor  he put it right there we bury a lot of  people  people who are occupied with  worried about things in space  my kids my money my job my house my car  and our entire entire life  has been 99 has been occupied with the  span of time that is located in the  space  and when you get imagine this is  a stool for a coffin  and all your life we are here and people  are mourning our kids are mourning  everybody's morning but you are in the  casket  you've been to funerals before but this  time your face is on the program  born 19 so and so died so answer  your kids your family  are those on the front row  now you spend all your time  preparing waiting building working  for this space  now you've got a problem because  how much time  an energy have you placed into  time  an eternity  now this space is finished  what investment have you made he said  this is the Sabbath the Sabbath is to  say when that time comes oh I'm used to  this time  I have spent time and energy beyond the  visible place of now  so you bow your heads and it's the  reason why somebody invented we don't  know who when you buy when you're  praying you bow you close your eyes now  close your eyes  when you close your eyes close your eyes  you move from a dimension  of space  into time  you spend enough time praying and  seeking the Lord  all of a sudden  time disappears  those of you who know about that would  would bear me witness you can spend an  hour you spend what happens is that God  is saying open your eyes is that whilst  you are living here  learn to transcend  space  when I say space I'm talking about  transcend all the things that we do to a  space where God is saying that you are  created in my image and therefore you  are an eternal being  so prak Sabbath is about  practicing  Eternal stuff  things that will last forever and God  said remember the Sabbath  because  it is Holy  but we can be so consumed  let me ask you a question  how much time have you invested  in eternity  when you get to the place where space  and culture on the world is no longer a  part of your world  what what do you have left  what what investment  have you placed in eternity will you be  a complete novice  or will you be like Enoch  Enoch spent so much time outside the  realm of space  in prayer in eternity  that God said to Enoch you spend so much  it's like somebody who's spending time  at your house  he said wow you're here all the time  you might as well move in  God is like you know you spend so much  time outside the realm of time and in  the realm of Eternity you might as well  just  step on over and come right in  you see Enoch was familiar  with life beyond space  are you  Sabbath  is an invitation  to prepare and to practice  life beyond this  are you so caught up with things in this  world my money my time my my job  are you exhausted and guess what happens  when you leave and you die  your brand new car will be sitting in  the parking lot  the house that you have  you're so proud but you work for your  entire life for  we'll be there  29 4th Street  your house  you would never occupy  all this time you placed in buying  furniture fixing up your entire life  paying off your mortgage 30 years  how much time have you invested  in  eternity can you imagine  that someone is so rich in this world  so wealth in this world that when you  get to this point  God says  you are poor  in the Realms of Eternity you have made  no investment your 401k is Big your  investment your Bitcoins all of that is  and all your kids are going to be  blessed but you are poor  you have spent no time investing in  eternity but you are banked all your  resources in the span of time  and now you're here  nothing  never thought about eternity never  prayed  I have this illusion that I was going to  live forever  Sabbath  the reminder  that one day  that will be you  start practicing  Eternal things now  <br>  God said to Israel  is is that  it my second Point Israel and the  Sabbath  now God said to Israel  remember the Sabbath day  the day I put aside to keep it holy six  days you shall work labor and do all the  work but the seventh day is the Sabbath  listen to this  the Sabbath  of the Lord  your God  God is saying look I know that given  your own propensities you will spend  time and effort  with everything occupied in this world  that I'm telling you and commanding you  to keep one day it's like you  telling your kids  from this time and that time you cannot  do video games you have to do your  homework  now they may kick and scream but you  know he left to their own devices they  will never oh just do it when you feel  just do it I know you would do it you  know they won't do it you said look you  can do all this but between this time  and that time you're gonna sit down and  do your homework  why  because I know that if I leave you to  your own devices  Sabbath is saying God is saying look I I  know that if I don't tell you to put  aside a day for me that you will forget  about me in a minute  you'll be so preoccupied  now God said this is my day  so that you can remember when all this  is gone it's going to be you and me  and I don't want to have to say  hello God you know me  I want the time to come and say oh we  know you you spend time in the realm of  the spirit all the time  you're always here Gable knows you  Michael knows you everybody knows you  you're always making petition talking  about the church needing the Holy Ghost  petitioning God oh we know who you are  or will it be you  now  what did you say your name was  no time  God said remember  the Sabbath day  to keep it holy  God give the Sabbath to Israel first of  all remember the first word in Exodus 20  is  remember  that this is not eternity whatever  you're stressing about whatever you are  worried about whatever you are remember  that the most important thing is that I  am your Source you came from me and at  the end of the day you will return back  to me I am the most important thing in  your life I know right now you stressed  out about your kids you're stressed out  about your finances you're stressed out  about you might be laid off but I want  you to live remember that the end of the  day when everything is gone don't be too  stressed out because one day all I've  been when he passed away and you're  gonna be with me God is saying can you  take that praise break in the midst of  the troubles and the child can you  remember that Lord I know that things  are difficult but I remember the promise  of God on one day I'm  good because one day  one days will pass away  <br>  this is big but it's past look at  somebody say whatever you're worrying  about is gonna pass whatever you want  about is gonna pass  this too shall pass  and so  my last Point here  <br>  Jesus  by the time of Israel  Jesus's time  the second temple period  period from 570 BC Arab Temple to time  of Christ 1870.  time went the New Testament by this time  the Sabbath keeping was a big deal  Israel was now  in captivity  and  a number of things were big in the eyes  of Judaism one circumcision  to the Sabbath  three  the food and kosher laws  but the Sabbath  was a big deal  Jacob this happened with a big it was a  big deal  that you must keep the Sabbath how you  keep the Sabbath and it was a big deal  and if you violate the Sabbath you're  liable to death  and so this is the moment but deep down  the the Sabbath  that they longed for was ultimately that  the Sabbath that the Messiah would Usher  in  but the the rest was going to come  by Yahweh coming back to his people  so so God the Messiah would announce  that you are coming into your way  and so each  Sabbath they will be in the temple in  the synagogues read in the scriptures  waiting for the longing of Yahweh and  the Messiah was going to come and it's  going to be like David is going to usher  in a new season a new time and then so  Jesus  goes back to Nazareth  goes into the temple  they hand to him the scroll of Isaiah  51.  Jesus Takes a scroll  and reads it  and then Jesus had two Mike dropping  moments  Jesus  as they sat the Bible said all their  eyes were upon him  Jesus says  first thing  this day  this scripture  that means with me here  with major  the Sun  of Joseph with me who you're familiar  with  this day  is  I am ushering in and the ushering in of  yahweh's time of rest  this moment you it's starting  with me  now  you could hear a pain drop in the house  it begins  with me what Jesus was saying was  I am the culmination of History  all of scripture that was talking about  God's rest  is beginning with me  here and now  the second that's why they what Jesus  was saying was not only that was either  Messiah  but that with him  all of history was culminating but the  second mic drop  that was even worth was even more  serious was when Jesus and his disciples  were hungry and the disciples began to  eat some corn  and then Jesus says to the Pharisees  when they were complaining  he said the son of man  is  what  Lord  what Jesus was saying is is unthinkable  he's saying that  the the rest  the end goal of being with Yahweh  the rest that you are longing that God  will bring  if I'm not only bringing the rest  Jesus is saying that the rest you  belonging for everything you've been  waiting for is in me no wonder they took  him to the mountain and we're gonna cast  him over but I'm here right now you must  understand that the rest that you are  looking for Jesus said come unto me all  you that'll wear it and I'm not just  gonna give you a respite I'm not just  gonna give you a break but I'm gonna  give you the satisfaction that your soul  is longing for that even in our time now  you don't need to wait until you get to  heaven but you can experience the  fullness of yahweh's rest and peace and  Eternity right now  <br>  what is salvation  salvation is  that when you take the core of your  lying your fears your doubts and  everything that is a part of you  exist in you and you take that and you  place it into God and I trust you I give  you this myself  for eternal life  <br>  salvation  is the Wrath Jesus was saying  I am  the Lord  what are you looking for  I'm looking for Jesus well you what are  you stressed out about you are stressed  out about because you are occupied with  things of time and matter are not things  of Eternity  Jesus says  I am  the Lord  of the honest only Yahweh Jesus was  making a declaration of his divinity  and the last point is the Sabbath and  you two things you must remember  about living a Sabbath life a life that  is punctuated  with reflections of Eternity  <br>  when you bow your heads you think about  God think about life you think about  where I'm going to be you think about  life beyond space and pressure and  things that matter think about because  you are eternal  the first thing is set Sabbath  boundaries  two things one  start saying no to people  no to your craziness  no to your toxic relationship  no to your drama  I refuse to be drawn in that my entire  life is filled with your chaos  no  we're giving a Sabbath no  I'm taking a Sabbath a Sabbath no no  no  stop saying no to all the things  that makes this world and this life as  if it's the only thing that matter say  no no to the way that consumerism that  more car more money all these things to  draw you into a life of things  life or somebody a shell calls thingness  everything is complete everything's no  no to a life that is only perceived in  the realm of time in this world  and start saying yes  yes  to Soul Care  Yes To Worship  Sabbath  it's about coming together  worship  because worship is eternal when you're  lying in the casket casket worship is a  one thing that you can bring with you  yet  you do it once a week  invest more in eternity yes to fasting  and consecration yes to coming to church  and enjoying corporate Fellowship  yes  yes  to the things that matter to God  and Sabbath is remembering that life is  not just a rat race  take time out  with your children  take time out to walk in the park and  smell the flowers  take time out Sabbath is not just about  it's taken taking time away from the  drama of life and enjoying the things of  family and and friends and and people  and eating wonderful food around family  and playing games that is Sabbath  yes to that oh I'm too busy Mommy will  you come and play with me Grandpa I'm  too busy I'm too busy say yes  part of my Sabbath  bow your heads right now  I'm gonna fall longer than I expected  I wanted to have some time  this Thursday we will follow up  when my sister comes  <br>  but I want you to just to take five  minutes to Bow your heads  Hallelujah  foreign  I want you to rest  I want you  close your eyes  look away from the realm of space and  time  and start thinking about eternity  let go of the things that are grabbing  you  causing fear and anxiety  <br>  foreign  that God says  Rest in Me come to me all ye  that are heavy laden and I'm gonna give  you rest for your soul some of you are  here the reason why you are suffering  from anxiety you're suffering from all  kinds of illnesses and and depression  all kinds of longing and and even  physical illness  cares of this world is weighing you down  and God said come to me and I will give  you rest  and I want to speak to someone here  today  fear anxiety is weighing you down  but you're gonna step into God's rest  I know time has gone but I need to be  obey the Lord and I just feel  that those of you equipped by fear  as a sign  but I'm walking out  <br>  of this space into a place of rest  where God is waiting for me  where eternity awaits  I want you to do that act right now  if you're going to make that commitment  to say Lord  I'm going to enter into your rest right  now those of you who are leaving behind  fear and anxiety you're leaving those  things behind you say Lord I'm going to  enter into the Eternal rest now  those of you who are like that stand to  your feet  facing situations but he said Lord as I  stand  I'm starting to to disavow my fear and  doubt worries but I'm standing in faith  and I embrace  to rest  if that's used under your feet  <br>  I feel the Holy Spirit came today I feel  God calling us  in time  eternity  I want to ask you to do one thing Pastor  John just move this bench out the way  I want to ask you just I know time is  gone but I just feel that this is a  prophetic moment I feel the Holy Spirit  right now  as those of you are standing just to  come and stand with me  just come and stand with I won't keep  you long I promise come on stand with me  I feel the presence of God here today  but God is calling you and God is  calling your hearts  saying come on  he said where is your heart  have you forgotten  the only one  that can give you a heart rest  where have you placed your heart that is  causing you discombobulation fear and  anxiety we have your place your your  heart  God said come to me and I'm gonna give  you rest for your soul  I want you to do something  I want you to make an Act of Faith  and say God  I received the rest  I will say come on speaking to begin to  pray in your own word God I received the  rest that you have for my soul come on I  receive your rest  rest for my spirit rest for my soul rest  I rest in you  I rest in you  rest from the anxiety reckless from the  fear rests from the worries and the  concerns of this world because these  things are transitory they are passing I  say yes to the eternal  you  a holy spirit I pray today  that you will come and fill your people  fill your people  with the peace of God  peace of God that transcends  our own anxieties  the peace of God that transcends our  imagination  I receive your peace  Hallelujah lift up your hands and search  forth your hands those of you are now at  the in the churches stretch off your  hands to either the altar as they move  into a do realm  and I want you to repeat after me say  heavenly father  I thank you  that you are my source  the source of my peace  the source of my joy  the source of my life  and the source of my future  this day  I place my life  into your rest  rest from worry  rest some concerns rest from the things  I have no control over  <br>  I receive  your rest  in my soul  by faith  through Jesus Christ  amen Give the Lord  clap right now Hallelujah  come on somebody get happy right now the  devil thought he had you but they are  breaking free  Jesus  the rescue give us  Hallelujah  oh my God I feel the power of the world  I feel the power of the Holy Ghost here  tonight today  <br>  on Thursday  we're going to  continue about my sisters coming Dr  Moore and Grizzle going to be here  <br>  this time of consecration I want you to  all come out on Thursday  as a church we are coming together every  Thursday  as an act of corporate consecration so  may the Lord bless you  may the Lord keep you  may the Lord cause his face to shine  upon you  and give you rest  in Jesus name  amen if you're a first time second time  visitor meet me at the back God bless  you  ","score":0},{"video_id":null,"title":"Began Showing Clips News Anchors Msnbc Dc: Colorful","description":"He began by showing several clips of news anchors on msnbc in dc: Colorful flowers and trees and ballast.","channel_title":"Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane","thumbnail":"","captions":"He began by showing several clips of news anchors on msnbc in dc: Colorful flowers and trees and ballast.","score":0},{"video_id":"81n4sixDQBg","title":"Evening Prayer Monday, September 18","description":"Readings are: 1 Corinthians 1:1-19; Psalms 93-94; Song of Simeon","channel_title":"St. Mark's Irving","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/81n4sixDQBg/mqdefault_live.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"_npj8Lt3QJs","title":"Beauty In The Other","description":"","channel_title":"UUAA","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_npj8Lt3QJs/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"T31U2Dc7NqY","title":"Holy Week Reflections, April 13 Holy Wednesday","description":"Reflection by The Rev. Deacon Patricia Peets\nTrinity Episcopal Church, St. James\n\nOn Wednesday of Holy Week, Deacon Pat Peets from Trinity Episcopal Church in St. James reflects on the painful choice of betrayal. \n\nhttps://www.diocesemo.org/lent-2022/\n \n#DioMO #SeasonOfLent #HolyWeek","channel_title":"Episcopal Diocese of Missouri","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T31U2Dc7NqY/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  nearing the end of our lenten journey  the gospel reading for wednesday of holy  week is a sad one  it seems a perfect way to end the day  seated around the table  elbow to elbow  but jesus is troubled  seated here are ordinary men who will  become  the fabric of the extraordinary  seated here are possibilities and  strengths they know nothing about as yet  but one chooses to turn away  to turn from the mission jesus named  them to  how many opportunities  did judas ignore to reassess the  decision to turn from the team  jesus is troubled  and the others are clueless  jesus knows  judas knows but chooses despite all he  has seen  and experienced  speculation as to why  is fruitless  judas feels justified  until he doesn't  a betrayal of the one who loves him even  at this moment  the end is near as jesus has often said  and judas is shortening that time  good friday is nearer than ever as jesus  tells judas to do what he has to do  betrayal is an experience many of us  have  known or participated in  always a choice  always painful  and always redeemable  lord jesus show us the ways we have  betrayed  or turned our back on you  and give us the grace  to repent  ","score":0},{"video_id":"QzVzJNoMcck","title":"Compassion Meditation with Reverend Wilma Taylor-Costen","description":"In this Monday Evening Meditation with Reverend Wilma Taylor-Costen, our focus is on experiencing compassion for our world and for ourselves. \"I am one with humanity.\"","channel_title":"Renaissance Unity","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QzVzJNoMcck/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"good evening renaissance unity good  evening friends and good evening family  happy monday and welcome to your evening  meditation  it's an honor and a privilege to join  you this evening and i'm so grateful  that you are here  joining me in this sacred circle as we  forge our collective consciousness and  create this vibrational frequency of  love and peace and joy and harmony that  moves out from us into this world  through our spiritual practice of  meditation  thank you for being here  and thank you for bringing your energy  to this space  i can't believe it but it's true  today is the last monday  in this month and in just a few short  days we will be connecting in person  at on april the 3rd at the imagine  theater  so if you can join us we'd love to see  you there i want to take this time  to thank someone who has made this  gathering every monday possible couldn't  do it without him and i want to thank  donnie  for being the executive producer of this  monday night meditation for almost two  years now so thank you donnie we so  appreciate the energy that you put into  making this happen for all of us  so let's get started  as i began to think about  what would be our focus  for  our meditation this evening  and i came across this quote that says  compassion  is an act of love  compassion is an act of love so we are  going to engage in the act of love by  being compassion compassionate not just  for our selves but for the world we want  to hold that sacred space of the world  the word compassion  seeing it feeling it engaging it and  being being it  so  i want to share with you a  compassion from the daily word and it  says i am one with humanity and when i  think of spiritual  quality of compassion i think of the  work of jesus the love he gave to others  was like a healing bomb  in quiet moments i remember god's  compassion for me and for all people and  i set aside time to fully engage with  god's love  i extend myself to others through my  compassionate thoughts and actions and  throughout the day i behold the christ  and others and send compassion  filled thoughts and prayers  these heart-to-heart connections enhance  my  sense of oneness with the world and we  are one with god and one with each other  i am expression of god's love  and through compassion i connect and  serve all humanity  so that is going to be our focus this  evening  compassion that's our focus for our  meditation so i just invite you just to  get comfortable and just breathe into  that idea of being compassionate  compassionate with the world with people  family friends your co-workers  compassionate with yourselves and  remembering  that compassion  is an act of love  so just let's take a moment  and just get grounded  right where you are  and just begin to breathe and bring your  awareness to your breath  as it moves in and out of your body  breathing in taking a deep breath in  and just release  take another deep breath in  all the way down to your belly  and at the top of the breath just hold  it  and release  now just take this moment  to  connect to the ground to ground yourself  with both  feet on the floor firmly planted  and through the soles of your feet  or whatever is touching  downward your if you're lying down  through your bones  whatever is touching down just  notice the connection to the ground  now take in one  long slow breath in through the nose  lengthen your spine  and release  let's take one more deep breath in  sitting up nice and tall  through this grounding  moment  place your hands in your lap  or at your side  and if you have not already done so  gently close your eyes  and as you sit here  or wherever you are sitting  lying down  just bring your awareness to your breath  and as you breathe  breathe in a slight smile to your lips  just allow your body to bask in this  sensation of happiness  feel into that sensation as if you had  already  have every happiness in the world  and every  cause  of future happiness right now right here  connect  be content knowing you have everything  you  need  with this felt sensation  of how this happiness feels in your body  imagine  sending that same sensation to  either one single person  or all living beings in this world  and then imagine this one  in particular  or everyone  feeling that same full-body happiness  that contentment that you feel  right now  and from this sensation of happiness  allow yourself to feel as though you are  also free  free from every painful thought  any discomfort  free  free from all causes of future pain and  suffering  still breathing into that slight  seeing or unseen smile  you are completely free  from pain  and suffering  now with your whole body  drop into the sensation of how good this  freedom feels  free from discomfort  any painful thoughts  what you may perceive as suffering  now wish the same for just one  particular being  or all beings everywhere  may all beings everywhere be free from  painful thoughts  discomfort  suffering  and all causes of that in the future  as you send out this wish  feel the energy of that wish fulfilled  coming back to you  as your happiness  and your sending of happiness to others  causes the happiness of others to return  back to you  seeing all other beings happy  and free from pain  and discomfort  thanks to your wish  brings you joy  locate this joy in your body  and rest in awareness of this joy  and feeling  completely filled full of joy  send that joy to others  they are beings everywhere  feel this same complete  and full  sense of joy  may they feel the joy of a full-body  connection to happiness  four  fully absent of any  pain  for thoughts or suffering  now allow yourself to imagine a world  where every being was connected to joy  and because of this connection not a  single being would ever  hurt another  now recognize  this world begins with you  begins with your willingness to connect  to the joy within you  and to share that joy with others  and so may you always be willing to  share joy  and may you share it freely to all  beings equally  whoever they may be  imagining for a moment  what it would be like to live in a world  where everyone  freely  and equally shared joy  now intentionally send out that wish  may they feel the joy of a full body  connection to happiness  fully absent of any pain or painful  thought or  suffering  allow yourself to imagine a world  where every being was connected to joy  and because of this connection  not a single being would ever  hurt another  recognize  that this world begins with you  with your willingness to connect to joy  within you  and to share it with others  and so may you always be willing to  share joy  and may you share it freely to all  beings equally  wherever they may be  imagine for a moment  where  what it would be  what it would be like to live in a world  where  everyone freely  and equally share joy  intentionally  send out that wish  now take a moment here  connecting with spirit  allowing this  meditation of compassion this act of  love  to move into your spirit  rest here for a moment  creating in your mind's eye  your acts of compassion for this week  what does that look like  how will you show up compassionately  and when it's time to return  i will ring a soft bell  it is time to return  time to return to this physical space  become aware of the sensation of the  seat that is supporting you  or the math that you are resting on  the air as it moves in and through your  body  bring your awareness back to this space  the sounds the temperature  breathe in  just release  and i encourage you to bring forth the  plan of compassion what that will look  like for you this week  know that  you've been called to this space for a  greater pur  purpose  to be and to do what this world needs  take a deep breath in  <br>  gently release and when you are ready  open your eyes  well welcome back  as you prepare for your evening rest or  as you continue with your day i  encourage you  to take a few moments and just  tap into that experience  jot down your plan of compassion  the world needs you  you've been called to this space  for that purpose  take with you this centering thought  i am an instrument of god's pure love in  the world  i am an instrument of god's pure love in  this world  i view  all with compassion  i view all with compassion  thank you for joining me  have a great evening and namaste ","score":0},{"video_id":"UhTb9in8FJ0","title":"SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 -- VIRTUAL WORSHIP","description":"Sermon Series...\nNehemiah: Rebuilding After Crisis\nParts 4 & 5","channel_title":"Central Baptist Church St Louis, MO","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UhTb9in8FJ0/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"UIRFsylNTKY","title":"Palm Sunday Meditation with Reverend Anicia Blake - I AM Moving Forward","description":"Listen with your heart as Rev Anicia offers you an invitation to set an intention for this Palm Sunday and shares a meaningful message from Eric Butterworth.","channel_title":"Renaissance Unity","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UIRFsylNTKY/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"good morning renaissance unity family  and happy palm sunday  before i invite you to set an intention  for today  i want to invite you  to listen to a transcript a little bit  of a transcript from a promised sunday  talk by eric butterworth  about what might have come to jesus of  mine  after his triumphant entry into  jerusalem he writes  so  i would like you to come with me to a  garden outside the city gates of  jerusalem  up the slope of mount olivet  in the little village of bethany where  jesus had finished supper with his  friend  mary martha and lazarus  in their little clay dwelling and had  gone out for a quiet time under the  sounds of the twinkling stars of the  night  here we see jesus reflecting over the  tormach and confusion of this very  exciting day  which he had been called  triumphant  for there we are guided to insights  jesus might  have had about accepting one's divinity  the significance of the upcoming  passover meal  the final crossing out of human  consciousness  the meaning of accepting the mantle of  messiahship  and what it truly means to love both god  and neighbor  and what do you think eric butterworth  means when he says accepting the  messiahships  of what it truly means to love both god  and neighbor  in this world of tremendous diversity  and division in race  religion  sexual orientation  or simply values  how do we come together  when we appear so separate  how is it possible to accept your  divinity  without accepting the divinity of others  maybe this great diversity is the basis  in which we too come together  as it is told  on palm sunday  jesus wrote into the city gates of  jerusalem  humbled  and the donkey  and everyone sang and shouted oh zanna  save us  and they waved and they laid palms  at jesus's feet  a symbol of victory and triumph  some people believe the intention of  jesus's coming  was to tell us of his divinity with god  but truly he was here to remind us of  our divinity  but what the people and even jesus's  closest disciples didn't seem to know  is that jesus was on the last lap of a  lifetime  of personal  overcoming his life had been devoted to  proving the principle of divinity  in all of us  and he knew the truth  could not complete  until we went through  the experience of dying on the cross  metaphysically death represents the  release of all thoughts and behaviors  that no longer serve us  so jesus knew that we too had to come  across  and die  for we have to die to live again  so as he sat quietly in the garden on  the night of the first palm sunday  in those quiet moments in the garden  on the hillside of bethany  he sat back and reflected  on his humanity  and in our humanity  one of the things that we all share  together is the loss  of some kind  there is something in us that wants us  to hang on  and not let go  and in this vortex  we are holding on  and if we let go we feel like there's a  vacuum  and how would we fill that vacuum  it can never be replaced  but that's not the message  that jesus  came here to tell us  he came to tell us the transformation  and acknowledgement of release  is something that we can do  that there's something  greater and if we just allow it we too  can experience the miracle of  resurrection  so as we pause now  to reflect  i want us to go into a garden  in our minds  and think about things  reflect on what we would like  to let go  in our lives  what are some of the things  that we are holding on to  that we feel that will create that  vortex  but truly that vortex is just an empty  debate  conversely what are some of the things  that we want to hold to here in our  memories  our loved ones  that we've lost  we want to hold here  and how can we find our own resurrection  and as we go in prayer and silence  i want you to join me  <br>  in affirming  this mantra  i am moving forward  with love  say that with me  i  am moving forward  with love  i  <br>  am moving forward  with love  take that into the violence  i  am moving forward  with love  i  am moving forward  with love  all right  and moving forward  moving  forward and jesus died to remind us of  his spiritual principle  that the kingdom of god  is within  each  and every one of us  that no matter what the ritual  there is triumph within  us  no matter what the cross  there is a resurrection  within us  like jesus our spiritual power is not of  this world  it lies  in the expression of love  in  and through us  in the quiet grace  of our loving present  and if we are truly centered  in our christ's energy  the world around us  will recognize our gentle power  and respond accordingly  i am moving forward with love  blessings from grace  i'm great and grateful always  love you ","score":0},{"video_id":"M8A1KibDIPI","title":"Opening Prayer with Reverend Wilma Taylor-Costen 4.10.22","description":"Join Rev. Wilma as she opens Sunday Services with a meaningful message on this Palm Sunday, continuing our Spiritual Journey into Holy week, commemorating Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.","channel_title":"Renaissance Unity","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M8A1KibDIPI/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"from the gospel of john chapter 12 verse  13 it is written  they took branches of palm leaves from  the trees went out to meet him  waving the leaves shouting hosanna  hosanna hosanna in the highest blessed  is he that comes in the name of the lord  well good morning renaissance unity good  morning friends and good morning family  happy palm sunday what a blessing and  honor and a privilege to connect with  you on this glorious spring morning as  we gather together in this sacred space  bringing our collective consciousness of  love joy and peace in celebration of our  truth the love in our life and to  acknowledge  the power the presence the goodness of  the one source active in this universe  and in you and me and that is god the  good  today is palm sunday and we continue our  spiritual journey into holy week and  then this holy day  this season  we commemorate jesus triumphant's entry  into jerusalem and as every year as we  think about the story we are reminded of  the jubilation the celebration of his  arrival  as he was welcomed by the multitude of  people  shouting hosanna  blessed and he that comes in the name of  the lord  like the arrival of jesus into jerusalem  as students of truth as divine  expressions of love the thoughts of our  minds the cells of our bodies  the events of our lives are like the  multitude that waited for jesus  everything  in us waits for and shouts  with joy  at the presence and the appearance of  the christ the spirit of god in us  and when the christ spirit awakens our  divine nature we are uplifted and filled  with joy as we know  when christ enters we are transformed  so let's get ready let us enter into  this holy week humbly preparing our  hearts and our minds for this experience  of transformation  let us lift our voices in praise and  worship grateful  grateful for being saved from our  erroneous thoughts  thoughts of lack and limiting beliefs  doubts and worries  let us vow to make this holy week  holy in our lives  awakened by the activity of spirit  to be peace to feel joy and to know with  certainty that all things are possible  by the christ that lives within us  join me now as we prepare to journey  into jerusalem  through our prayer to that perfect place  of peace as we gather in holy communion  with god let us pray  i invite you just to take a breath in  and just breathe in peace  and breathe out peace  breathe in peace breathe out peace  breathe in the peace that jesus  exemplified as he  rode into jerusalem  and center yourselves  and divine love  know that you are  harmonious presence  for this world  divine love eternal spirit almighty god  we give thanks for our call to life on  this beautiful spring day  we're grateful for the opportunity to  follow the  holy week  experience of jesus  we're grateful to be raised to divine  understanding that through the christ  consciousness that we are overcomers  we're grateful to know that the power of  life is love that truth is unchangeable  and in us is unlimited reservoir of  strength  through the christ presence that dwells  within  this morning we follow the path of their  elder brother jesus  as servant leaders praying for others  seeing healing restoration of faith  abundance in the prosperity  miracles and blessings unfolding in  their lives we follow the path of jesus  as keepers of the peace  seeing peace and harmony be the  experience for the citizens of this  world  and with every thought held in mind with  every prayer on our lips  we prepare our hearts  and welcome the arrival of the peace  light  and life of christ  hosanna  blessed is he that comes in the name of  the lord  thank you god  thank you god  and so it is and so it shall be  amen ","score":0},{"video_id":"nNQC3r8ccpY","title":"04.15.22- Viernes Santo (traducción de Crossroads)","description":"Gracias por acompañarnos, esperamos conocerte y compartirte más de la Palabra de Dios. \nVisítanos en Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/Crossroadsen......\n\nEnlace de iglesia- https://www.crossroadschristian.org/p......\n\nEmail- abraham.cary@crossroadschristian.org\n\nCrossroads en Español\nCrossroads Christian Church\n6450 S. State Hwy 360\nGrand Prairie, TX","channel_title":"Crossroads Español","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nNQC3r8ccpY/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"crossroads family it's good that you 're here right now I'm going to share with you the translation of the good friday service and here it's good that you're here we've all been through moments of shame and pain the son of god fully understands more than  can you imagine in marks chapter 15 verses 16 to 32 it says then the soldiers took him into the atrium that is the praetorium and they summoned the whole company they dressed jesus in purple and having woven him and having woven a crown of thorns they put it on and began to  they cried out to him long live king of the Jews they also hit him on the head with a cane they spit on him and knelt down they paid homage to him when they had mocked him they took off his purple mantle and put his own clothes on him then they took them out to crucify they forced him to  one who passed coming from the field to a certain simon of cyrene father of alexander and rufo to carry the cross of jesus and they took him to the  place called golgotha that translates that trans ated is the place of the skull they ave him wine mixed with myrrh but he di not take it and they crucified him and distr buted his clothes casting lots on th m to see what he wo ld take to each one it was nine o'clo k  the morning when they crucified him the title of his accusation was written the king of the jews and with him they crucified two thieves one to his right and another to his left and those who passed by insulted him shaking their heads and saying to the duke of rivas the temple  and building him three days you saved yourself and come down from the cross in the same way mocking him among themselves the chief priests along with the scribes said to others except himself you cannot save the christ the king of israel come down now  of the cross so that we may see and believe also those who were crucified with him reviled him the author and disciple marcos does not take the time to describe the pain of the cross but highlights another theme the shame of the cross marcos describes how jesus was mocked and despised by others the physical pain was real but it describes another type of pain the pain that jesus was separated from his father this story from the bible shows us the emotional and mental suffering the sorrow and pain of being rejected despised and ridiculed the soldiers mock jesus by dressing him in a purple robe and a crown but of thorns they say long live the king of the jews this is all a show of mockery it is a phony way of worship jesus is bloodied beaten and yet they mock a man named simon was forced to carry the cross out of necessity they crucified him and distributed his clothes that means they took his clothes off literally in a  moment think about this in a moment  the creator of the universe who dresses the world stays or stays is dressed what kind of kings are those who passed along the way insulted him incl  usive the two crucified criminals on each side of jesus were making fun of him why did this happen why did it happen like this this whole scene is of indescribable unbelievable rejection if we go back a moment in marcos chapter 4 14 you take a previous chapter the one we are watching right now  we are described a synchronized abandonment of all those who were close about jesus it starts with judas the betrayer then peter then three more of the disciples in the garden the abandonment and rejection from all sides really our shame and sorrow has no comparison jesus christ in a  capeco never lied he never insulted the contrary he was perfect and distributed blessings he was without sin he was healthy and helped people he showed power and authority with love and grace really jesus is superior in every way but they treated him as inferior and despised instead of showing admiration and bowing showed contempt and insult what will be the purpose of this story will be to have pity  no if it were without boats he would have told us in detail about the physical torture of the cross the disciple and the author marcos does not want jesus to feel sorry for us too many people feel sorry for jesus and worse they confuse this pity with adoration this is not adoration the purpose of this story is to show us that jesus is able to bear all our sin and all our shame there are two kinds of shame number one the shame because of our guilt and the second the shame imposed on us by another an external factor then the shame of our own  guilt and shame of something external christ removes the shame of our sin and our guilt the bible says that he removes the root of all shame he bears the shame and disgrace that we deserve all the guilt and pain that we deserve for our jesus has taken sin upon himself the crucifixion of jesus christ was the fulfillment of divine justice for you and for me there will never be  to another work like that of jesus the good news of the gospel is that jesus has paid it all glory god friend and listener also helps with the other kind of shame that was not our personal fault what do you say to someone who suffers unjustly who was hurt  and betrayed without reason or fault christ understands it was embarrassed not because of his own fault but because of the evils of others first peter 223 says when they said evil to jesus he did not respond with a curse when he suffered he did not threaten but he entrusted himself to the one who judges with justice when they said it badly he did not respond with a curse when they suffered or threatened but he entrusted everything to the one who judges with justice that is to say his father Hebrews 12 2 says then all eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of faith who for the joy put  before him he suffered the cross despising the reproach and sat at the right hand of the throne of god in other words he stepped on the reproach because they had no  validity for  r through jesus we have the benefit through him of less prey to despise injustice because there is joy on the other side interesting despise reproach jesus and through jesus we can despise reproach and injustice because there is joy on the other  side shame is not the end of the story for the follower of christ because shame was not the end of jesus the bible says that christ was obedient obedient unto death and death on the cross for which god also exalted him to the highest  and he gave him the name above all names so that in the name of jesus every knee should bow remember the two states of christ his humiliation and his exaltation the humiliation was not his final state in this life there are both there are ups and downs first of all  Peter 4 12 to 13 says beloved, do not be surprised by the fire that burns among you to put you to the test as if it happened to you or you are surprised, rather enjoy yourself as you leave  take part in the afflictions of christ so that they may also rejoice in the revelation of his glory christ saw himself defeated just before conquering he saw himself weak in the greatest moment of strength isaiah 53 3 to 6 the famous prophecy of our lord jesus christ isaiah  the prophet describes the man of god the chosen of god of god himself in the flesh you describe him and and 653 despised and rejected among men man of sorrows experienced in grief and as we hid from him the face was despised and we did not esteem him certainly he carried in  our illnesses and suffered our pains and we considered him whipped because he was wounded by god and cast down but the wounded man was for our rebellions crushed for our sins the punishment of our peace was upon him and by his wounds we were healed healed all of us relieved ourselves as sheep, each one turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the sin of us all  this year.  rnes santo remember the christ suffered for you and for me in this solemn moment give thanks to him for all the suffering for his humiliation to later have exaltation to later have victory and through him you and I receive this great benefit through the  blood of the lamb that takes away the sin of the world if you are not in the now with me so that you repent of your sins you repent of your evil way and christ does not reject you but receives you let's pray blessed father we come before you giving thanks for  the reproach and for the suffering that you lived not giving yourself not exalting evil but exalting your humiliation because you understand and you take our pain and for that we thank you we are not worthy of this but you have loved a father in such a way that  you chose to take this place for us it was necessary the father saw it necessary and we thank you father for giving your son your only perfect son for love of us we give you g  thank you and surrender our lives to you take our life take our heart and show us your salvation in jesus name","score":0},{"video_id":"Dy5_zX3AkTI","title":"Good Friday of the Lord's Passion - Friday 3:00 PM Veneration of the Cross (04-15-22)","description":"Veneration of the Cross for Good Friday of the Lord's Passion celebrated by Fr. Brandon Dang (Director of Vocations and Fr. Paul Trinh (Administrator) assisted by Dcn. Steve Greco and Dcn. Dave Tiemeier at the Church of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Irvine, CA.","channel_title":"SEAS Irvine","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Dy5_zX3AkTI/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  so  please kneel  please stand  let us pray  oh god  who by the passion of christ your son  our lord  abolish a death inheritance from ancient  sin  by every succeeding generation  grant that just as being conformed to  him  we have borne by the law of nature the  image of the man of earth  so by the sanctification of grace we may  bear the image of men of heaven  through christ our lord  be seated for our meetings  we have the first lecture reading the  first reading of the book of the prophet  isaiah please come forward  a reading  from the book of the prophet isaiah  see  my servant shall prosper  he shall be raised high  and greatly exalted  even as many were amazed at him  so marred was his look beyond human  semblance  and his appearance beyond that  of the sons of  man so shall he startle many nations  because of him  kings shall stand speechless  for those who have not been told shall  see and those who have not heard  shall ponder it  who would believe what we have heard  to whom has the arm of the lord been  revealed  he grew up like a sapling before him  like a shoot from the parched earth  there was in him no stately bearing to  make us look at him  nor appearance that would attract us to  him  he was spurned  and avoided by people  a man of suffering accustomed to  infirmity  one of those from whom people hide their  faces  spurned  and we held him in no esteem  yet it was our infirmities that he wore  our sufferings that he endured while we  thought of him as stricken as one  smitten by god and afflicted  but he was pierced for our offenses  crushed for our sins  upon him was the chastisement that makes  us whole  by his stripes we were healed  we had all gone astray like sheep each  following his own way but the lord laid  upon him the guilt of us all  though he was harshly treated  he submitted  and opened not his mouth like a lamb led  to the slaughter  or a sheep before the sheer earth  he was silent  and opened not his mouth  oppressed and condemned he was taken  away and who would have thought any more  of his destiny  when he was cut off from the land of the  living and smitten for the sin of his  people a grave was assigned him among  the wicked and a burial place with  evildoers  though he had done no wrong  or spoken any falsehood  but the lord was pleased to crush him in  infirmity  if he gives his life as an offering for  sin  he shall see his descendants in a long  life and the will of the lord shall be  accomplished through him  because of his affliction he shall see  the light in fullness of days  through his suffering my servant shall  justify many and their guilt he shall  bear  therefore  i will give him his portion among the  great  and he shall divide the spoils with the  mighty  because he surrendered himself to death  and was counted among the wicked  and he shall take away the sins of many  and win pardon for their offenses  the word of the lord  thanks be to god  <br>  in your lord i take refuge  let me never be put into shame  in your justice rescue me  into your hands i  you  will redeem me  <br>  all my foes i'm an object of reproach  <br>  i am like a dish that is broken  <br>  but my trust  <br>  is my destiny  me from the clutches of my enemies  <br>  let your face shine upon  <br>  reading from the letter to the hebrews  brothers and sisters  since we have a great high priest  who has passed through the heavens  jesus the son of god  let us hold fast to our confession  for we do not have a high priest who is  unable to sympathize with our  weaknesses but one who has similarly  been tested in every way  yet without sin  so let us confidently approach the  throne of grace  to receive mercy  and to find grace or timely help  in the days when christ was in the flesh  he offered prayers and supplications  with loud cries and tears  to the one who was able to save him from  death  and he was heard  because of his reverence  son though he was  he learned obedience from what he  suffered  and when he was made perfect  he became the source of eternal  salvation  for all who obey him  the word of the lord  <br>  praise to you lord jesus  <br>  christ jesus christ king of wordless  glory  praise to you lord jesus christ  <br>  christ became  obedient to the point of  death god restored on him  <br>  jesus  oh  jesus  is  <br>  oh jesus  jesus lord jesus  <br>  jesus went out with his disciples across  the kidron valley to where there was a  garden  into which he and his disciples entered  judas his betrayer also knew the place  because jesus had often met there with  his disciples  so judas got a band of soldiers and  guards from the chief priests and the  pharisees and went there with lanterns  torches and weapons  jesus knowing everything that was going  to happen to him  went out  and said to them  they answered him  he said to them  judas his betrayer was also with them  when he said to them i am they turned  away and fell to the ground  so again he asked them  <br>  jesus answered  this was to fulfill what he had said i  have not lost any of those you gave me  then simon peter who had a sword drew it  struck the high priest's slave and cut  off his right ear the slave's name was  malchus jesus said to peter  <br>  so the band of soldiers the tribune and  the jewish guards seized jesus bound him  and brought him to anas first  he was the father-in-law of caiaphas who  was high priest that year it was  caiaphas who had counseled the jews that  it was better that one man should die  rather than the people simon peter and  another disciple followed jesus now the  other disciple was known to the high  priest and he entered the courtyard of  the high priest with jesus but peter  stood at the gate outside  so the other disciple the acquaintance  of the high priest went out and spoke to  the gatekeeper and brought peter in  the maid who was the gatekeeper said to  peter  he said  now the slaves and the guards were  standing around a charcoal fire that  they had made because it was cold and  were warming themselves  peter was also standing there keeping  warm the high priest questioned jesus  about his disciples and about his  doctrine  jesus answered him  is  is  <br>  oh  when he had said this one of the temple  guards standing there struck jesus and  said  is this the way you answer the high  priest  jesus answered him  <br>  sent him bound to caiaphas the high  priest  now simon peter was standing there  keeping warm and they said to him  <br>  he denied it and said  one of the slaves of the high priest a  relative of one whose ear peter had cut  off said  again peter denied it and immediately  the [ __ ] road  then they brought jesus from caiaphas to  the praetorium it was morning  and they themselves did not enter the  praetorium in order not to be defiled so  that they could eat the passover  so pilate came out to them and said  <br>  they answered and said to him  <br>  at this pilot said to them  <br>  the jews answered them  <br>  this was an order that the word of jesus  might be fulfilled that he said  indicating the kind of death he would  die  so pilate went back into the praetorium  and summoned jesus and said to him  <br>  me  so pilate said to him  jesus answered  me  <br>  pilate said to him  <br>  when he had said this he again went out  to the jews and said to them  <br>  they cried out again  foreign  <br>  was a revolutionary  <br>  then pilate took jesus and had him  scourged  and the soldiers woke a crown of thorns  and placed it on his head  and clothed him in a purple cloak  and they came out to him and said  <br>  and they struck him repeatedly  once more pilate went out and said to  them  so jesus came out wearing the crown of  thorns and the purple cloak and pilate  said to them  when the chief priest and the guard saw  him and he cried out  <br>  pilate said to them  <br>  the jews answered  <br>  now when pilate heard this statement he  became even more afraid and went back  into the praetorium and said to jesus  <br>  did not answer him  so pilate said to him  <br>  consequently pilate tried to release him  but the jews  <br>  he brought jesus out and seated him on  the judge's bench in the place called  stone pavement in hebrew gabatha it was  the preparation day for passover and it  was about noon  and he said to the jews  they cried out  <br>  pilate said to him  the chief priests answered  <br>  then he handed him over to them to be  crucified  <br>  oh  crazy  is  <br>  so they took jesus and carrying the  cross himself he went out to what is  called the place of the skull in hebrew  golgotha  there they crucified him and with him  two others one on either side with jesus  in the middle  pilate also had an inscription written  and put on the cross it read jesus the  nazarene the king of the jews  now many of the jews read this  inscription because the place where  jesus was crucified was near the city  and it was written in hebrew latin and  greek so the chief priests of the jews  said to pilate  <br>  pilate answered  when the soldiers had crucified jesus  they took his clothes and divided them  into four shares a share for each  soldier they also took his tunic but the  tunic was seamless woven in one piece  from the top down so they said to one  another  <br>  in order that the passage of scripture  might be fulfilled that says they  divided my garments among them and for  my vesture they cast lots this is what  the soldiers did  standing by the cross of jesus were his  mother and his mother's sister mary the  wife of clopas and mary of magdala when  jesus saw his mother and the disciple  there whom he loved he said to his  mother  then he said to the disciples  <br>  after this aware that everything was now  finished in order that scripture might  be fulfilled jesus said  <br>  there was a vessel filled with common  wine so they pulled a sponge soaked in  wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it to  his mouth  when jesus had taken the wine  he said  and bowing his head  he handed over his spirit  please  <br>  now since it was preparation day  in order that the bodies might not  remain on the cross on the sabbath for  the sabbath day of that week was a  solomon the jews asked pilate that their  legs be broken and that they be taken  down  so the soldiers came and broke the legs  of the first and then of the other one  who was crucified with jesus  but when they came to jesus and saw that  he was already dead they did not break  his legs but one soldier thrust his  lands into his side and immediately  blood and water flowed out  an eyewitness has testified and his  testimony is true  he knows that he is speaking the truth  so that you may come to believe  for this happened  so that the scripture passage might be  fulfilled not a bone of it was broken  and again another passage says  they will look upon him whom they have  appeared  <br>  foreign  after this joseph of arimathea secretly  a disciple of jesus for fear of the jews  asked pilate if he could remove the body  of jesus  and pilate permitted it  so he came and took his body  nicodemus the one who had first come to  him at night  also came bringing a mixture of myrrh  and aloes weighing about 100 pounds  they took the body of jesus and bound it  with burial cloths along with spices  according to the jewish burial custom  now in the place where he had been  crucified there was a garden and in the  garden a new tomb in which no one had  yet been buried so they laid jesus there  because of the jewish preparation day  for the two was close by  <br>  the gospel of the lord  raised here o lord jesus christ  i've mentioned quite a few times in  previous homilies about my blessed  experience of going to the holy land  now i would like to share with you one  little experience in this brief  reflection homily with you today that  will end with a picture to lead us in  our reflection quiet reflection before  we move on with our liturgy  it was the very last day of my holy land  pilgrimage with 82 other pilgrims  and we had mass over at the notre dame  hotel which was right in the middle of  jerusalem itself  and right after we were done we had a  few moments to spare and so we went down  the street a little bit to an exhibit  and the exhibit was the shroud of turin  and for those of you who don't know the  shout of turin it is this artifact that  has been traveling around ever since the  time of jesus  there have definitely been many  controversies about it but most recently  they have found such great intention and  as well as the real  aspects of what the shroud of turin  stands for  which is the shroud that wrapped the  body of jesus  when he was laid in the tomb  and i don't remember exactly when they  did this but  they had basically taken the shroud and  there was a sculptor  a sculptor decided to want to make a  sculpture  of the individual who was wrapped in  this shroud  and beautifully enough in this exhibit  was the sculpture there itself  and so i would like to show the picture  that i took  of this sculpture  you see here a lot of people who don't  know  the faith  people who have not even known the  person of jesus  this  is what you see this is the person who  is wrapped in that shroud  for all of us  who are christian  we're catholic  you cannot without a doubt say  that is jesus christ  wrapped  in that trap  this was his lifeless body  in that shroud  but as i looked upon that sculpture  i couldn't help but think  about god's great love  for us  so invite us  to look at this picture  to think about the beautiful rendition  that we had of the gospel today  and reflect  on god's love  for all of us  the church is called into prayer for  pretty much the next 24 plus hours to  enter into the tomb  with jesus  we grieve  the fact that there is loss  there's darkness  we enter into that moment with jesus  with god  who also is weeping and grieving  may we take all of our grief all of our  hardships and bring it to the tomb  at the same time reflect on god's great  love  and also i couldn't help but think of  the lyrics to the song as well to help  us in our reflection in which i end  how deep the father's love for us  how vast beyond all measure  that he should give his only son  to make a wretch  his treasure  how great the pain of searing lost  the father turned his face away  as wounds which mar the chosen one  bring many sons to glory  behold the man upon a cross  our sin upon his shoulders  ashamed  i hear my mocking voice call out among  the scoffers  it was my sin that held him there until  it was accomplished  his dying breath has brought me life  i know that it is finished  i will not boast in anything  no gifts  no power  no wisdom  but i will boast in jesus christ is  death  and resurrection  why should i gain from his reward  i cannot give an answer  but this i know with all my heart  his wounds have paid my ransom  dear friends as we enter more deeply  into prayer this is a time during the  holy triton in which we solemnly pray  for all different intentions around the  world and of our holy father  and so now we offer up these prayers  <br>  for the holy church of god throughout  the  world  that god the almighty father guarded and  gathered all together  so that we will worship him in peace  <br>  let us kneel  let us pray for holy father poor  princess  that god who chose him to be mission  make him health and strength  <br>  almighty ever living god by whose decree  all things are founded  look with favor on our prayers and in  your kindness protect the pope chosen  for us  that under him the christian people  governed by you their maker may grow in  merit by reason of their faith  through christ our lord  <br>  let us pray for kevin our person  lord all bishops priests and each  for all who have special ministry in the  church  <br>  almighty ever living god  by whose spirit the whole body of the  church is sanctified and governed  hear our humble prayer for your  ministers  that by the gift of your grace all may  serve you faithfully  through christ our lord  <br>  lord god in his mercy make them  responsive to his love  forgive their sins through waters  and give them life in jesus christ  <br>  almighty ever living god who make your  church ever fruitful with new offspring  increase the faith and understanding of  our catechumen  that reborn in the font of baptism they  may be added to the number of your  adopted children  through christ our  <br>  us lord for all our brothers and sisters  who share our faith in jesus christ  that god may gather and keep together  in the church  all those who seek the truth with  sincerity  <br>  jesus hear your  prayer  almighty ever living god who gather what  is scattered and keep together what you  have gathered  look kindly on the flock of your son  that those whom one baptism has  consecrated  may be joined together by integrity of  faith and united in the bond of charity  through christ our lord  <br>  let us  the first to hear the word of god  that they may continue to grow in the  love of his name  and in faithfulness to his covenant  <br>  almighty ever living god who bestowed  your promises on abraham and his  descendants  graciously hear the prayers of your  church that the people you first made  your own  may attain the fullness of redemption  through christ our lord  let  us who do not believe in  christ the light of the holy spirit  may show them the way to salvation  <br>  almighty ever living god grant to those  who do not confess christ that by  walking before you with us and see your  heart  that they may find the truth and that we  ourselves  being constant in mutual love  and striving to understand more fully  the mystery of your life  may be meet more perfect witnesses to  your love in the world  through christ our  <br>  let us lord for those who do not believe  in god  that they may find in him  my sincerely following all that is  <br>  almighty ever ever-living god who  created all people to seek you always by  desiring you  and by finding you come to rest  grant we pray that despite every harmful  obstacle  all may recognize the signs of your  fatherly love  and the witness of the good works done  by those who believe in you  and so in gladness confess you the one  true god  and father of our human race through  christ our lord  <br>  let us pray for those who serve us in  public office  that god make light their minds and  heart  so that a man may live in true peace  <br>  almighty ever living god in whose hand  lies every human heart and the rights of  peoples  look with favor we pray  on those who govern with authority over  us  that throughout the whole world the  prosperity of peoples  the assurances of peace  and freedom of religion may through your  gift be made secure  through christ our lord  difference that god the almighty father  may heal the sake comfort the dying  give safety to travelers free those  unjustly deprived  <br>  almighty ever-living god  comfort of mourners strength of o toil  may the prayers of those who cry out in  any tribulation come before you that all  may rejoice  because in their hour of need your mercy  was at hand  through christ our lord  let us pray dear brothers and sisters to  god  trusting in his love as providence that  he may continue to strengthen and guide  those who are  suffering in the time of conflict and  warm especially in ukraine  jesus hear our prayer  almighty ever-living god  who show wonderful care for all people  grant in your mercy that all the members  of the human race  do whom you have given a single origin  may live as one family in peace and  harmony  and always be united by a spirit of love  comfort and strengthen those who suffer  so greatly through war  and guide and protect those who seek to  help them  move the hearts of those who seek  conflict or violence  to become peacemakers instead  and may all who are divided  or bound by hatred  be reconciled and healed  through christ our  might just lord be seated at this time  and now my dear friends we move into the  most  beautiful part of our liturgy here today  which is the adoration of the holy cross  and also we will have a collection for  the holy land as well after the  yeah for the holy land  oh  <br>  for my soul  <br>  oh my gosh  let us please stand  ye hold the wood of the cross  on which hung the salvation of the  let  world  <br>  behold the word of the cross  on which hung the salvation of the world  <br>  behold the word of the cross  on which hung the salvation of the world  <br>  now my dear friends we will have the  veneration of the cross at this time  there are two logistical uh  announcements i would like to make at  this time the first one is coming up for  the veneration we'll try to come from  all angles so it doesn't have to be  exactly like communion so you can come  from the sides and as well as down the  middle and also the second thing is  there are different ways that you can  also venerate the cross at this time  the fir the three ways the first one is  the normal way we've typically done it  is referencing it by a kiss or if you're  uncomfortable with that the second way  is that you can come up and simply touch  the cross like so or put your forehead  against it or the last one is that you  can genuflect to it or a profound bowel  towards it and now this time we will go  ahead and begin our veneration  so  okay  so  uh  this time deacon will be retrieving the  blessed sacrament for us to receive holy  communion but this time we'll spend some  time in reflection on the cross and the  great gift that the lord has given to us  wisdom  so  at the savior's command and formed by  divine teaching  we dare to say  our father  who art in heaven  hallowed be thy name  thy kingdom come  thy will be done on earth as it is in  heaven give us this day our daily bread  and forgive us our trespasses  as we forgive those who trespassed  against us  and lead us not into temptation  but deliver us from evil  deliver us lord we pray from every evil  graciously grant peace in our days that  by the help of your mercy we may be  always free from sin and safe from all  distress as we await the blessed hope  and the coming of our savior jesus  christ  for the kingdom the power and the glory  are yours  now and forever  <br>  behold the lamb of god  behold him who takes away the sins of  the world  blessed are those who are called to the  supper of the lamb  lord i am not worthy that you should  enter under my roof but only say the  word and my soul shall be healed  <br>  let us  let us tell the story of the cross of  christ  <br>  to show us the mercy of god  <br>  in the great compassion of the lord of  christ  of christ and the triumph of god  <br>  and the triumph of god  so  so  so  <br>  uh  so  let us pray  almighty ever-living god whoever  restored us to life by the blessed death  and resurrection of your christ  preserving us the work of your mercy  that by partaking of this mystery  we may have a life unceasingly devoted  to you  through christ our lord  <br>  dear friends such a blessing to be here  to lead this liturgy and pray with all  of you we'll have an opportunity to  continue that prayer where the church  will be open until 6 pm this evening  along with the cross for your veneration  and prayer and we will keep the church  open once again until 6 pm and then  tomorrow we'll have the a celebration of  the most beautiful easter vigil at 7 30  p.m tomorrow night which you are more  than welcome to join us but also as well  as all the easter festivities on easter  side  please die your head for god's blessing  the lord be with you  may abundant blessing o lord we pray  descend upon your people who have  honored the death of your son in the  hope of their resurrection may pardon  come  comfort be given holy faith increase and  everlasting redemption be made secure  through christ  you ","score":0},{"video_id":"VJAZd8SiI3Y","title":"CWC Good Friday Service (2022-04-15)","description":"CrossWinds Church Online Good Friday Service with Communion","channel_title":"CrossWinds Church","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VJAZd8SiI3Y/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  the words of christ  pass down through generations  <br>  the son of god  teaching us to  pray  echoed words  father have your will  your  completely  <br>  we holy trust  we're faithful in provision  amazing grace  mercy for  our sins  may we forgive  the way that you  forgive  us  <br>  let your will be done  <br>  let your will be done  <br>  will forever done  <br>  your forever be done  <br>  as i was sitting there i was thinking i  should have been hung on the cross  matthew 27 45 now from the sixth hour  darkness fell upon all the land  ninth hour and about the ninth hour  jesus cried out with a loud voice saying  that is my god my god why have you  forsaken me  and some of those who were standing  there when they heard it said this man  is calling for elijah  and immediately one of them ran and  taking a sponge he filled it with sour  wine and put it on a reed and gave it to  him and drink  but the rest of them said  let us see if elijah comes to save him  and jesus cried out again with the loud  voice and gave up his spirit and behold  the veil of the temple was torn from top  to bottom and the earth shook and the  rock split also the tombs were opened  and many bodies of the saints who had  fallen asleep were raised and coming out  of the tombs after his resurrection they  entered the holy city and appeared to  many  now as for the centurion and those who  are with him keeping guard over jesus  when they saw the earthquake  and other things that were happening  they became extremely frightened and  said  truly  this was  the son of god  oh  amen  thank you lord  i cast my mind  to calvary  <br>  where jesus planned  <br>  his hands his feet  <br>  thank you lord for your loving your  forgiveness  <br>  and his wrists and tears  they laid him down  <br>  is the name of the lord  <br>  the lazy sounds  <br>  we will see  <br>  hey everybody it's pastor nate here at  crosslands church we are about to talk  about good friday but not only good  friday we're going to talk about a  little bit about monday thursday palm  sunday why jesus came why is this  important  let's get into it  you and i both know  if we're being honest with ourselves  that easter  is not about  cute little bunnies  eggs  candy  we know that right  did you know  what really easter is really about of  course you do right  that  that cross right there  i love looking at the blood stains on  the cross not for any creepy reason but  it's just a reminder of why jesus came  i'm not going to say that i'm anti egg  hunting i just took my kids out last  week in the city of marino valley we had  an egg hunt here and we  my kids caught the golden egg and they  both won scooters yay right  so i'm not anti anti-egg hunting by no  means or tradition bunnies however  society has taken  the greatest story the greatest  historical  fact or event i should say and turn it  and reduce it into nothing but bunnies  nothing but eggs nothing but candy  right but i want to tell you that easter  is the greatest celebration that ever  happened  it's the  it's the whole reason we as christians  can rejoice  our redemption started that first easter  that holy week actually  we know at christmas time the first  christmas the baby was born of a virgin  he brought them he grew up  and he brought the message of god the  father  to earth so that we humans may learn  about god  jesus lived a perfect and sinless life  as opposed to us or me innate a rich  a sinner sinful right he came for me he  came for you watching  jesus as he grew older he went around  teaching good teaching truth  doing good  healing the broken and the sick  he faithfully represented god  to humanity  and the message that he proclaimed  was one of salvation  it was one about  freedom  it was it had the power to save and  deliver  you and i from what is to come  but it was utterly rejected by those  people  the people that were around him on earth  they crucified him  but jesus knew going into this deal  coming down from heaven  to be with us people that he would  eventually  get hung to that cross get nailed to  that cross right there he knew that but  jesus willingly went  because he wanted to save you and i  from what is to come  this message was so radical  that he would eventually end up on the  cross  but did you know that even though he was  nailed to that cross by humans  they couldn't take his life because  jesus is fully god  he willingly gave up his spirit the  bible says matthew chapter 27 verse 50  and jesus cried out again with a loud  voice and he yielded up his spirit  so  jesus is dead now on friday good friday  he's dead  hanging on the cross  he was put into a tomb  but three days later there was a  resurrection amen and history changed  this was the final assurance that  satan's schemes  to deceive the world would not prevail  and sin would have dominion over  those who believe in christ no longer  this first easter was the promise that  death itself  death itself  would no longer have the final word  i want you guys to know there's victory  even over death  the god who died on this cross is a god  to worship  this is a god to believe in  this christ our king  could overcome even the most permanent  thing itself  death  now i'm telling you guys that is  a god to worship  so  we saw here that jesus lived on earth  and then he ended up dying here then he  rose again  his resurrection created a movement that  would stretch over 2 000 years  and across the ends of the earth  these the people that created it or that  were part of this movement are called  christians  you and i those who place our belief in  him  after jesus resurrected though he  commissioned his followers he said hey i  want you to go into all the world and to  preach the gospel to teach other people  about what i just did what i did in my  33 years on planet earth  i want the message that you go tell them  that death is defeated  slaves can now be freed  the addict finally can become clean  and the loss can now be found  this message declares that there's a way  out of your suffering  but most of all that there's hope for  you and i when we face death and we  stand before the mighty creator of the  universe that there's hope that our sins  are washed away this is a brand new  white t-shirt there's no stains on it  thank god i'm drinking water because i  don't want to spill anything on this  because this would be ruined but our  body we were created created perfect you  guys but our body we were born into sin  and were stained but the blood of jesus  christ my friend can wash  the impurities away the stains away  i'm getting ahead of myself i'm getting  excited i don't know if you guys can  tell  but easter sunday and holy week are the  climax of the gospel  the whole gospel could not be possible  if this week didn't happen  the gospel according to the bible is  simple i kind of just said it says that  god created us he created you and i for  a relationship  pure perfect holy clean  but then sin entered the world  so what is sin we hear that a lot at  churches  sin is an immoral act considered to be a  transgression against divine law that's  god's law  and the book of romans tells us that all  of mankind again you and i  you watching this video and me myself  i'm a sinner and the bible tells us that  the payment for sin  is our death  eternal separation and hell  away from god  the bad news we're talking about good  friday right everything's so good right  but there can't be good news without bad  news the bad news is that you and i  deserve to die  but however this easter season  this good friday  we're celebrating a beautiful exchange  the innocent one  put himself on that cross for the guilty  the only innocent person who ever lived  gave his life  for me  my stained t-shirt  my stained life my impurities my lust my  greed my selfishness  all of my sin  he took that and nailed it to the cross  jesus christ paid the debt that we could  never repay  so let's get into what happened  throughout history the jews looked to a  promise it was a prophecy really saying  that one day the messiah would come  it's found in the book of zechariah so  if you have your bibles let's turn to  zechariah 9 9.  it says rejoice greatly daughter of zion  shout in triumph daughter of jerusalem  behold your king is coming to you he is  righteous and he is endowed with  salvation he is humble and mounted on a  donkey even on a coal the foal of a  donkey  so that's a prophecy that was given  hundreds of years before jesus christ  came to earth  so the seven days leading up to the  resurrection of jesus christ it began  with a sunday called palm sunday you  ever see them  you know having those palm branches and  waving them like in movies or  pictures children's church they have it  all the time they teach about that my  son made a craft at school a little  popsicle stick they cut out a green  construction paper and they he's waving  it around saying hosanna hosanna right  so jesus  throughout his three-year ministry he  made it a point to keep his true  identity the son of god  quiet  he kept it on the low  because his hour had not yet come the  bible says it would hinder his ministry  if word got out that some guy was  healing people also of all sorts of  diseases he was freeing people from  their  addictions and all kinds of things  so up to this point jesus had only  revealed himself to his disciples and a  select few mark 145 records that jesus  couldn't really enter a town openly  because if the uh if people found out  that he was there they would go look for  him right and so he ends up telling  people when he healed them he said hey  guys  i healed you  but go and tell no one right again his  hour had not yet come  so this sunday palm sunday  that we're referring to in the first  week of the first day of holy week  it was a little different  his hour had finally come  jesus and his followers were leaving the  mount of olives and they're headed  towards jerusalem  and guess what he did he entered  zechariah 9 9  riding on a donkey to fulfill the  prophecy in zechariah  so what jesus did was he told his two  disciples he said hey go into the town  to borrow a cult a donkey that's never  been ridden  he instructed that them that if anybody  were to ask him why they needed this  donkey  he told them to say the lord has need of  it that's lord with capital l okay  i don't know which way  this camera is going but  l right  it was lord with a capital l  it was god who needed this animal for  his purpose  so i want you to catch something here  that kind of caught my eye too  jesus's choice of a borrowed animal who  lacked prestige or admiration remember  there's a donkey we see donkeys in  richie canyon all the time they're just  they're there nobody thinks twice about  them right they lack prestige their lack  admiration  but this would signify the type of king  that jesus is king jesus  we as christians know our king  jesus christ to be kind humble and  gentle  have you experienced that  i have  so as with many things we humans get  things wrong we misunderstand things  the first century jews were no different  they would have known from their  childhood  education that god promised a king who  would deliver them  they wanted desperately  for this king this promised king the  messiah  to  use his kingship  and overthrow the roman empire  little did they know though  that jesus was not here to liberate them  from roman occupation or roman  oppression not at this time their timing  was off  that's a whole nother sermon for another  day we can go into that later if you'd  like but jesus riding in on a donkey was  contrary to what his followers might  have thought he was to be maybe he's  running in the gold chariot or something  with with the soldiers behind him i  probably i guarantee you  that the jews were ready to fight for  their alongside jesus for jesus to get  freed from roman oppression i can  i'm pretty sure that they would right  they they're over here remember they're  celebrating they're having these palm  branches saying hosanna hosanna right  they thought jesus would come to  reinstate their own form of government  to reestablish them as a nation once  again  but that's not why jesus came he came to  set us free not from roman oppression  but from the bondage and weight of sin  so before jesus entered the city on palm  sunday his followers began to lay  clothes out in the streets kind of like  uh we do today modern custom rolling the  red carpet out for celebrities we're on  the red carpet out from monarchy right  this is what they did they took their  cloaks off their back they put it on the  floor dirty dusty roads right they  didn't want our their king to be dirty  okay so they put his the palm trees on  the floor they're waving them around in  celebration right saying you are the  messiah  hosanna to the son of david blessed is  he who comes in the name of the lord  save us now because you are the long  awaited one you are the messiah  so that was palm sunday  triumphal injury jesus came now his hour  has come everybody's ready everybody's  excited they're in celebration over what  jesus did who jesus is the king of the  jews right  so  five days prior to the crucifixion  four days prior to monday thursday  so let's go to monty thursday  monday thursday is the night of the last  supper  i'm not going to go too much in the  depth here on the last supper because  later on in this video we're going to  take communion and we're going to go  over  what happened at the last supper okay  but i do want you to catch this  mondy is latin for command  mandy means command translation  and jesus says i give you a new  commandment  john 13 34 says i'm giving you a new  commandment that you love one another  just as i have loved you  that you also love one another even as i  have loved you that you love one another  there's a lot of love one in others  right i might have read that verse twice  but you get the point the new command is  to love others  right  this brings me to my next point jesus  says love one another as i have shown  you my love for you  so we're going to go to the next point  the love of god we're almost finished  so jesus was selfless okay  let's flip to john chapter 17 we're  gonna read  his his prayers actually for us  okay  jesus knew this is remember this is  thursday now friday is the crucifixion  good friday  so 24 hours before he knows  man i'm gonna be hanging  on that cross in 24 hours or less  jesus knew he would be beaten  he would be flogged he would be spit on  he would be mocked and he'd be ridicul  ridiculed  but i want you to notice what he does  for his disciples that were present with  him and for all who would believe after  he prays very briefly for himself it's  actually just a mere five verses  john chapter 17 verses one through five  jesus spoke these things and lifting up  his eyes to heaven he said father the  hour has come  glorify your son that the son may  glorify you  even as you gave him authority over all  flesh that to all whom you have given  him he may give eternal life  now this is eternal life that they may  know you  the only true god in jesus christ whom  you have sent  verse 4 i glorified you on the earth  having accomplished the work which you  have given me to do  now father glorify me together with  yourself with the glory which i had with  you before the world was  so all jesus asked  while praying for himself  was that for god to be glorified through  him that's it there was nothing selfish  about it  he tells god that he had accomplished  everything he was sent on earth to do up  to this point the last thing he had to  do was die for us  and raise again  so  then in chapter verses 6 through 19  jesus prays to god the father for his  disciples  let's read it chapter verse 6  i have manifested your name to the men  whom you gave me out of the world they  were yours and you gave them to me and  they have kept your word  now they have come to know that  everything you have given me is from you  for the words which you gave me i have  given to them and they received them and  truly understand that i came forth from  you and they believe that you sent me so  his disciples they're saying i believe  jesus is saying hey these guys believe  that you sent me they believe that i am  the son of god so jesus in verse 9 says  i ask on their behalf i do not ask on  behalf of the world but of those from  whom you have given me for they are  yours  and all things that are mine are yours  and yours are mine  and i have been glorified in them verse  11 i am no longer in the world and yet  they themselves are in the world and i  come to you  holy father keep them in your name the  name which you have given me that they  may be one even as we are while i was  with them i was keeping them in your  name which you have given me and i  guarded them and not one of them perish  but the son of perdition  so that the scripture would be fulfilled  now the son of perdition we know to be  the betrayer  but now i come to you and these things i  speak in the world so that they may have  my joy made full in themselves i have  given them your word and the world has  hated them because they are not of this  world even as i am not of the world  verse 15 i do not ask you to take them  out of the world but to keep them from  the evil one they are not of the world  even as i am not of the world sanctify  them in your truth your word is truth as  you sent me into the world i also have  sent them into the world for their sakes  i sanctify myself that they themselves  also may be sanctified in truth  now i don't know if you were able to  catch that or read any of that i would  encourage you guys to read and follow  along  pull out your your after this video is  done or in your spare time read  john chapter 17.  okay  so jesus had a heart for his people we  just saw in verses 6-19 and he still  does in fact  john 17 20-26 it's six verses  this is what he says  he prays for actually for you and i he  says  i do not ask on behalf of these alone  but for those also who believe in me  through their word  that they may all be one even as you  father are in me and i in you that they  may also be in us so that the world may  believe that you sent me  the glory which you have given me i have  given to them that they may be one just  as we are one i in them and you and me  catch that salvation  that they may be perfect in unity so  that the world may know that you sent me  so jesus is asking god that you and i  the church would be unified through the  message of this cross  so that the world may know that you sent  me and love them even as you have loved  me  father i desire that they also whom you  have given me be with me where i am so  that they may see my glory which you  have given me for you love me before the  foundation of the world  o righteous father although the world  has not known you  yet i have known you and these have  known that you set me and i have made  your name known to them and will make it  known so that the love with which you  love me may be in them and i in them  wow  so this tells us something about the  very nature of our god  the god that we serve the god that we  place our trust in our hope and our  faith in  the bible records i believe it's in  first john that god is love  love isn't just one of his attributes  right god is the very definition of love  the ultimate example of love  this is why he saw fit to send his son  to die on this cross for us  a broken and sinful people that were  destined to spend eternal damnation in  hell separated from god for all of  eternity  but from a bird's eye view god looks  down and he sees everything that's going  on he sees our wickedness he sees our  shame he sees our brokenness and he said  i gotta fix that  i have to do something  i'm gonna send jesus my son  so that the world  who does not know me john 17 25 jesus  said in his prayer to god he said the  world did not know you god the father  but through jesus we can know him we can  know god  there are many times in the old  testament we see god's people turning  from him okay  i'm gonna be done right now  god's people would serve him faithfully  they would keep his commandments they  would be obedient to him but after some  time  they forgot what god had done for them  they forgot that they were once enslaved  to sin  under the rule of a foreign king in  scripture  in the old testament we see  that they were  under oppression from all kinds of  people  right they're forced into hard labor  they forgot that they forgot what they  were brought out of  through god's mighty hand  they forgot how god sent the ten plagues  to free them from their oppressors  while they escaped unscathed  don't let that be us tonight  today good friday holy week whenever  you're watching this  don't forget  where you came from what god has saved  you from what he pulled you out of maybe  the generational curses he broke it he's  broken in your life maybe he's freed you  from a certain sin addiction  a drug addiction alcohol  whatever  maybe it was an abusive relationship  maybe god pulled you out of that he  saved you from them god sees from above  what we are going through  don't forget that you too i myself was  once enslaved  under oppression of my own sin  but through the mighty plan  the perfect miracle  you and i can be freed free from our  addictions and our pains and our hurts  that's what easter is all about you guys  don't forget it  please  live for god while there's still time  we know time is running short  let's honor god in everything we do  if he could die for us  then we could live for him  well hello church family we as a staff  look forward to joining with you this  evening as we celebrate communion  together  and scripture tells us that before we  come to a time of communion we should  examine ourselves to make sure that  we're coming to the table in a worthy  manner are things right between me and  god are things white right between me  and my brothers and sisters in christ so  let's just take a moment to do that  let's pray and ask god to show us if  there is anything that needs to be  cleared up in our lives and then we'll  come to this table let's let's pray  right now father would you just show us  right now  if there is anything that would would  hinder me from being completely worthy  to participate in communion this evening  father i thank you for the forgiveness  that you offer us in your son jesus  christ  i thank you for the promise that as we  confess our sins you are faithful and  just and will forgive our sins and  cleanse us from all unrighteousness  and i am thankful that as your children  lord we can come to this table in a  worthy manner not because of who we are  or what we've done but because of what  jesus has done and that's what we're  remembering here today  for it's in jesus name we pray amen  in mark chapter 14 verse 22 we see  jesus celebrating the passover with his  disciples  well jesus redefined this ceremony they  knew what to expect  but he said that this bread instead of  just representing the the departure from  egypt was also a picture of his body  which is broken for us  and so we think of that tonight and you  can pass out the  the bread among those in your family  while we pass this out here  and jesus let's let's now eat this bread  together as a reminder of what jesus has  done for us in breaking his body on the  cross  verse 23 says and when he had taken a  cup and had given thanks he gave it to  them and they all began drinking from it  the passover meal  in the first century was organized  around  four promises that we see  in the book of exodus chapter six  starting in verse six  it's a four-part promise and every one  of the cups represented a part of that  promise and as they went through the  ceremony they would drink these four  cups at various times starting in verse  six it says therefore say to the  israelites i am the lord and i will  bring you out from under the yoke of the  egyptians i will free you from being  slaves to them and i will redeem you  with an outstretched arm and with mighty  acts of judgment i will take you as my  own people and i will be your god and  then you will know that i am the lord  your god who brought you out from under  the yoke of the egyptians  so we have these four cups that were a  part of this ceremony the first cup was  the promise i will bring you out the  second cup was the promise i will free  you from being slaves  the third cup was i will redeem you and  the fourth cup was i will take you as my  own people i will be your god  jesus drank the first three cups with  his disciples and he ended with the  third cup i will redeem you  which was about what which was what he  was about to do as he was going to the  cross the next day  he stopped short of the fourth cup look  what he says in verse 24  and he said to them this is my blood of  the new covenant which is being poured  out for many  truly i say to you i will not drink of  the fruit of the vine again until that  day when i drink it new in the kingdom  of god  you see the old covenant required a  blood sacrifice over and over and over  again but jesus himself was going to be  the new covenant offered once for all  time and as we drink this juice we look  back and we remember what jesus  has done for us with all the noise  around us it's important that we take  time to remember these things but we  also uh look forward to what jesus is  going to do in his resurrection  uh not just the resurrection on easter  sunday which we're going to celebrate in  a couple of days but also to that day  when we are going to drink with him  again drinking the fourth cup the fourth  cup that says i will take you as my  people and i will be your god that's  going to be a unique and awesome  relationship and he's waiting for us  before he drinks that cup so we're going  to now drink the cup of redemption in  remembrance of what he has done done for  us on the cross  father we thank you  for the reminder in the busyness of our  lives and all the things that come  across our way  all the distractions that we have  lord we thank you for these times when  we can stop  gather together as friends as families  even maybe by ourselves but just taking  the time to remember what you did for us  on the cross and lord we thank you  and father we look forward to what's  coming because it may be friday right  now  but sunday is coming and we're excited  about that we thank you and we praise  you in jesus name amen  so on behalf of the staff we're looking  forward to seeing you with us on sunday  morning as we celebrate the resurrection  of jesus christ because  he is  risen indeed  okay that was weak but  we'll see you sunday god bless ","score":0},{"video_id":"r19WvcIRa5Q","title":"Campaña Evangelistica","description":"","channel_title":"Santa Ana Spanish SDA","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r19WvcIRa5Q/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"too  Glory to God, thank you for being these, we are yours,  I go through life without direction, it would not have changed my history, the victory I want,  save because Jesus is my savior, he took the  control of your life that you did not civelli nobody could do surround nobody  this week we did not have the emotional ones sister do not be afraid I am going to speak  remain in me says as the branch we can honor and glorify thanks for  my heart  I want your birthday tonight, father, we take shelter to  admit, Lord and Holy Father, that his dwelling now the color possible that a friend does not go but not brothers, health of the happy birthday,  distinguished as the disciple of love no one can do in your life what I  mad  sad fathers and sad fathers and mothers apostle juan my dear brother  burdens and no one can do it no one is there these souls sir they have passed here you  had been with jesus the apostle paul god bless you very much good night  apostle the apostle john wanted to kill him dear brother and sister here my  could do it and no one could be what brothers, good night, we have one  brother angel is going to have this beautiful bring him as we have  already said for a  christ can give him your soul he will thank you for your presence for your  disciples when we go to him he could do no one could do what he  sisters very good night brothers and little sister of laila mendoza go to  change does not make him the best school this ask you to holy spirit they can have them  we are going to the first scripture of bless my precious sister they studied to  embraces blanket the gentlemen I beg you in a brave way is going to give his life to Christ  you tonight also this one here juan already looks at his friend like the king  you want to take jesus to where you are in the prisons of not walking  who opened her bible that  let's go to the person who wants to spend another person  to you I want to ask you to thank the name of christ jesus holy  beautiful peace a life of joy my dear invite you tonight that you give him your  those baptismal waters brother enemy this is a call in the  bee gees that you them  say no that your lord touches his heart tonight and the  the peace that you give them the  joy and the 2000 years  carry on guiding instructing that when you go it never comes empty thanks  our hands regarding the verb of life, stand up, thank you little sister, God bless you, making a witness, Juan was present,  donenobodycouldmake a name but no it is not on the list christ is  insidefulland good  warm that's what he told me about his brother, beautiful wife and his little sister  god is moving in this place work is spiritual but you christ within my being fills me with peace  today life jesus says the bible that there is fear but they will not last forever soon  the lashes as they mistreated him as I fought to change my life  of no  godínez really warm is going to intervene and tell him to give him my number  happiness and rejoices my brother angel goes  to give your life to jesus you want to put yourself in  truth for each request  that has been sisters happy saturday ago more or less  this afternoon my dear brother I want long pants and a hat in a T-shirt I  hateyourloveiseverythingandeverythingforme my  dear brother the early church  deliver  life to jesus the day of joy in heaven for a sinner who  going to baptize they have told me pastor how my brothers are behind this week lie on the chest  of jesus juan  with a crown of thorns lobios as life jesus christ I gave them lopez the grandson of  stops who is always by your side so big so big that we cannot do it  of me  you can't do anything i don't know if you see the voice that spoke to me and turned  brother ilookatjesusin i want to thank you for your word because  was manifested and we have it because we came to  one more Saturday father  and I am going to pray for you we are going to pray my juan saw his friend where he saw him he saw him dear brother how  the god  wonderful my dear brother that there have a song and if you wish in your  a samaritan woman q  ue to be there that would soon be from  the word of god says so what it was dear brother what a life you are going through I don't know how your life is share the full name of the using during this week you will see what towel with that or we get into the  they throw them where the fire that burns and says heart give your life to christ  god and that he looked at thousands and thousands of saints touched his mind and touched his heart  night my dear brother tell him yes can christ do this morning in  university god touches your heart i want to invite you that man of sorrows no longer sees him as  a sinner now imagine that they are giving their lives christ jesus and the  version 100% d and you 2 or 7 with you to live protectedmydearbrotherandso ithappens thatgodishappybecauseyou  better than me have control fulfill your being the son of thunder now is  he  are spiteful you are vengeful but I also go with you when you give yourself to  'm going to pray for you we're going to pray this there is one more announcement truth little teresita my  strength life to jesus by the grace of  god' how is jesus and no one could do what i  singandifyoufeelthatthespiritof name my brothers very well this  you have that encounter with jesus that life jesus would like how much they would like but this man like this with  his defects  how beautiful the spirit of god has decided to sign his destiny for  on the island of patmos but he did not have him 15 16 people 17 the whole sky will  that you do not feel sorry I want you to come here these beautiful people who have passed tonight I am sure that Jesus is walking we have a bad character we have a bad temper all of usinlifewe have problms there  iel's friends in the oven of the word f god and the testimony of good frida jesus christ was leva  I know God because today I know that he is  here whom I trust to invite you dear today you are today his voice does not harden his  we to that village of Samaritans says that not  use themthatonly baptismsthere willbesoulsgiving him a  request and an even bigger wish I want to say goodbye that tomorrow the day after tomorrow he knew that his best friend would never leave him when we gave him our lives  was a violent person the apostle  juan people in person here and more or less control fulfills your purpose or in me i  complete in those seven years i entered the bible with vanessa he needs my giving your life to christ in such a way that god loved the world that he saw on the  phone you have already discussed that little sister you have all the reasons  the chest of jesus and how wonderful it is let guide by jesus christ the true apostle  this place i want to thank you sir for nice person presse and it goes away soon my  is transformed one day he met dear brother what is the  fullness and  blessed truth thank god god is there will be is alone no one could do no one  I accept your advice I accept the scolding done I just have to see tomorrow if  brother this when the public suffering came  wellandbeingandaheart who is the vine who is speaking do you understand that right I am only one  moving through your holy spirit life to jesus I want to invite you in this this change is not made by the power this  also glory to god  how much we give you joytonightdearfather they  dear brother to jesus walking listening to this  i sing to sink it no one  brother danny who is asking this juan 48 what they say first of juan 48  thunder became the disciple of love jesus tomorrow and his kind saintsthank youfathersfortheopportunity  no on can make this change in life you h  now he sees it he no longer sees it as the water is going to be the lake is going to be  was at the foot of the cross when jesus of the lord my brothers I want to tell you  what brother pedro left for each one of us for later he says that he continued we prayed to our  that he wants to give his life  jesus i have it ready here i am going to read it well he gave us life and is giving us a life  with a woman of low reputation and that person of christ jesus juan could not churchandi givehimhonorandglo  riato  our life is no longer the same our life transformedwhen youcouldlivealife  you decide to give your life to the Lord father or his mother or anyone only by phonewould havetogo inperson  no one could do what Christ fully  arrival truth you think you have a bad book of john chapter 15 verse 8 4  felt your presence in our midst and I know but you do know you know his  fullness of joy and happiness juan could find speaking pure of love  when  a change in our lives and I all  of kings and lord of lords here were great decisions of the said spirit on the day of the lord and I heard behind the opportunity to be on the  tee who had more contact with jesus was going through some challenges lienonlyyourbloodthefireandyouand  give your life to jesus christ the brother to a village that they prepared for them because he testified that there was an  e  xperiencetoheaveninthe spirit holy spirit embrace them that you give them  my life but keep working on me and here is little sister give him a call  and your partner in the tribulation  sanjuán chapter 15 verse 4 to 8 and little sister that my brother  we know that you do not wait for the future that happens that you do not feel ashamed brother the apostle for the apostle juan  brother is  something that we must understandsanjuan316sayswhy  nightof theapostlejuanwasaperson that walking by my side that he my  life can transform your family you can repentifthere isjoyinheavenbecause of  the enemy the hatred of jesus do not wait any longer  here the lord thank you because your spirit will be the water would be fine  returnwasisolatedbecauseofthe angels I look at the 24 elders the apostle  amenI am goingtoinvitethem toopentheir  lives transformed that we must of  do  jesus blessed be the name of god always with christ jesus the  most people have eternal life i ask you of her anthony pérez to deliver her  true love and it is something that christ you no longer walk alone you no longer that we announce for chapter 4 also says that he saw the throne of  its fullness juan allowed himself to be guided by jesus that when they climbed it they brought pieces  christandIwant toinviteyou if you bring a small plastic bag  glory to our god the spirit of will be cast out as  the branch and that you  pay attention here the last time thank you because only that you will  get the letters there is juan  says i saw seven golden candlesticks and in anthony lópez there is someone who did not read the jesus says you are the branches he and went to announce that jesus christ had been found theapostlejuanwasfound  many times my dear brother jesus towel him and here  the church is going to lend him I want to invite you to do it as a  girl address and telephone number the name of  walking around here because the bible says water I will have the privilege of baptizing  if he does not remain in the vine so do not allow him to transform your life that  moment god has been with us that from the thunder they know who he became  transformedmydearbrotherand well because forever his fearbecauseheknewwho hetrusted  santana macquarie adventist church  if you had to love if you had love  my sister and my sister sarita  god  they insulted him how they beat him they say  instrument we are instruments pastor I want to get married  sergio went to bring me to méxi Thanks be to God, they are glory to our Jesus, he was beginning his ministry and  my disciple, the apostle John, my dear,  they let him enter between heaven and earth, and there he poured out his work between 21 and 28 on social networks  late tonight, may the Holy Spirit  outpouring of the holy spirit next month I want to invite you to that  I want to invite you to give yourself to him  own strength sometimes we holy spirit speaks to him and listens to the voice the joy of living a full life in  heart  come and deliver it I heard the wife the sister andrea bravo that since with these serious defects that he had  his only son so that everyone who quickly if there is someone who is not in  wanted to shut up my dear brother the family voice and thank you what I  I am going to fulfill it  on the cross of Calvary no one saw him crowned  thischange isnotmade bythe  brave and you have taken that  eternal life which was with the father and one day if I come with  mo you too  fire god i also perceive the life of transfiguration when jesus knows  snack theycameandwhenjesuscame fire from heaven and let this  young woman consume each young lady yes you did  clean it up brother godínez came in the  characterbadtemper  to abandon him he knew that his best friend  jesuswhenwegoto  experience what is true days i tell the lord mind you know his heart and you know omar josé ramos himwemustexperiencemy  eternalstaytonightwith  it has freed us from many dangers to worship where the biblical reading of this was  the apostle john was crucified to him came to gentlemen a t-shirt a shorts and a  piece of blood pieces of meat sorry  that about work God does it then if he  tell you something approximately seven years ago  true we don't know the future it only changesyourlife ittransforms  maybe  jesus god bless you thank you very much tomorrow in the name of the father i told him but with whom do you want tremendous and in the kingdom and in the patience of the apostle john when we go to remain in who in christ  god come  for carmen alquier to pray for tonight in him we take refuge and we one thing yes I am sure my dear you know that he was cast in one  that they have decided to be baptized the day of life to christ jesus tomorrow two  from me a great voice like a trumpet that you can do through your mercy spirit we are happy the parents with great pleasure we give him a robe that will cover him from here  says person who could transform life youandsays5saysIamthevine  transform your children God can do it I  tried and could not I came back with more than 16 there are two days left untilthesamesoldiersthat  my lord transforms change me lord and  or you already have fellowship and fellowship is the disciple who lived with jesus on patmostoa rockyisland  rebukedonedayjesus wason hiswayand we want to change sometimes we this  john contemplated jesus christ john  middle of the seven candlesticks one morning with the purpose of  deliver his god preserved this faithful witness to this one you are alone you no longer go alone but  to 8 this is what  the list teaches us and wants to give his life to the world is a reality although he did not transform you  jesusistheapostlejohn blood  precious for you and for me what the apostle john experienced when jesus abide in me and i in you as i was also sorry i was ashamed to be  late and clean up with jacques in the  city pool and let him kill them the lord says what name does the jesus mean tomorrow Don't turn a deaf ear to God, tell him yes to Christ, how can we achieve it?  r became the church they have been coming to the church for years  the wish and tonight I just want to be holytonightfatherIwant to be  grateful the morning is already ending we ask you to come please follow upthank you very muchsomeoneelse  my dear brother sister  the apostle's decision changes us but our god is such a  transformationjuan wasable toexperiencethe  brother that the one who began in me to marry this woman told me castle hasalsodeliveredhis longlive  to the feet many of you who know  of the son and holy spirit  extra  lady little children of my white sister war  let's pray dear father i love  this faithful servant he knew that jesus christ was not there he was on the island called  seven years old and you know how many times  god knows that you don't leave him  boiler of up to 6 boiling oil  but christ jesus tomorrow then  youlittle sisterdon'tbeafraid of  life to jesus sister manuela luciano  book of the apocalypse  lipsis come with me to  the church says and tonight we have  because he testified that similar to the son of man dressed as I sign my destiny with christ campaign brothers it is already ending intensityyou knowuntilwhenI change I  was ashamed that it hurt him and he told him we  shelterthatthehedideverythingfor his  brother that is how jesus transforms your church and by studying the holy word he said i am the alpha and the omega the disciple the master of holiness the  disciple who experienced what a work is will finish it when we  truly  pray and pray to him  we say sir change me sir and then he went to court with the pastor  we can see but we can feel you and in jesus very well thank you that god resurrected the daughter of jairus that's why it's at a quarter past nine in the morning  I don't want to do the  myself i don't want  this one bears much fruit because separated  giovanni war and maikel war for a  faithful disciple god takes care of him god  has not known god what he does not love  why  I want you to come here to the front and everything will be fine for you jesus christ someone yes yes I heard the  with the father and with his son jesus christ the branch cannot bear fruit by itself patmos because of the word of god  and  today is the last night of the preaching salvation through the precious blood of vazquez may god bless you danny  transform us may he give us peace may he give us  lifewe cannot contiue livin cloth  s that reached to the feet girded chris jesus had come and that  there was and you and I talked for a little while, right, continue living the life that I live, sir,  you don't know what spirit you have, bless you very much, thank you for coming from, and well, let's see if later on it will transform me, but we're not here, brother odilón ruiz pérez and  its kind to live a life next to the true vine itself if not it remains in the vine so he becomes a witness and testifies his we ask that tomorrow you bring the first and the last christ  jesus there are several people who have given their lives to jesus christ this is in roger and he got married for the civil joy and that gives us joy there will be another  and if you like and it is the will of  the testimony of jesus christ because he gave his life and that he had  gone to heaven and  through the chest with a gold belt and his  remaining in jesus christ he says he  writes in a book what you see and send it over I congratulate you and thank you son of man did not come to lose his wife sister erika think there is even  for  the law of man and then tomorrow the list that god has given us yes another gravel that is being great neither do you if you remain in a mask and we get into the water with god then he gives his life immensely to the preachers and has said that they want to deliver  his life had been isolated because of the word life was no longer the same his life had souls the son of man came to look for it is christ jesus that is why the apostle was  head and his hair was  white like the seven churches that are in asia to mr.anthonylópezyesexactly  blessing the holy spirit has made a profession of faith sister adela hernández christ jesus you for coming the assistance has been the mask please so that we wheresothatwecan  now  save what had been lost to me  is baptized giving his life to christ we have prayed we have studied changed manifested greatly good we have god because he testified of life  efe son esmyrna pergamon already tira sardis now he was no longer the son of excellent thunder okyessidebetween40 and50  white wool like snow your eyes how we take  care of each other tonight the little sister good night raise your hand jesus as the lord commands you say I enjoyed the topics many people  and I would like to tell you that God loves you little sister for  that you know the flame of fire  philadelphia church and the odyssey and I returned to permanent congregation was baut  raised in  now he was the disciple of love my  is going to be baptized too the presita her feet are like burnished bronze very muchjesus christishappywith  sonorous mexico because of my brother-in-law here we put it for her he has given him a glow like an oven and his  voz and his sister, who is an adventist pastor with a heavy cold, but we are praying for Sonora Mexico, God bless him, Voice as the end of many waters, my  a miracle from God is going to deliver  his brother Ronaldinho Martínez, I think he is not here tonight, but yes  is listening to us on the social networks of congratulations to the girl jamie and mendoza and her  ","score":0},{"video_id":"P_xZOWe2Xjk","title":"Good Friday Service - April 14, 2022 - 12:10 pm","description":"Join Christ Church Cathedral in worship. Bulletin can be found on the website. https://www.christchurchcathedral.us/worship/special-services/","channel_title":"Christ Church Cathedral","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P_xZOWe2Xjk/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  so  so  so  so  so  <br>  so  so  so  blessed be our god  <br>  let us pray  look graciously on this your family  for which our savior jesus christ was  willing to be betrayed  and to suffer death upon the cross  and grant us to grow into the fullness  of new life in christ  who now is alive and glorified with you  and the holy spirit  one god now and forever  <br>  a reading  from isaiah  see  my servant shall prosper  he shall be exalted and lifted up  and shall be very high  just as there were many who were  astonished at him  so marred was his appearance  beyond human semblance  and his form beyond that of mortals  so shall he startle many nations  kings shall shut their mouths because of  him  for that which had not been told them  they shall see  and that which they had not heard they  shall contemplate  who has believed what we have heard  and to whom has the arm of the lord been  revealed  for he grew up before him like a young  plant  and like a root out of dry ground  he had no form or majesty that we should  look at him  nothing in his appearance that we should  desire him  he was despised and rejected by others  a man of suffering  and acquainted with infirmity  and as one from whom others hide their  faces he was despised  and we held him of no account  surely he has borne our infirmities and  carried our diseases  yet we accounted him stricken  struck down by god and afflicted  but he was wounded for our  transgressions  crushed for our iniquities  upon him was the punishment that made us  whole  and by his bruises  we are healed  all we like sheep have gone astray  we have all turned to our own way  and the lord has laid on him the  iniquity of us all  he was oppressed  and he was afflicted  yet he did not open his mouth  like a lamb that has led to the  slaughter  and like a sheep that before its  shearers is silent  so he did not open his mouth  by a perversion of justice he was taken  away  who could have imagined his future  for he was cut off from the land of the  living  stricken for the transgression of my  people  they made his grave with the wicked and  his tomb with the rich  although he had done no violence  and there was no deceit in his mouth  yet it was the will of the lord to crush  him with pain  when you make his life an offering for  sin  he shall see his offspring  and shall prolong his days  through him the will of the lord shall  prosper  out of his anguish  he shall see light  and shall find satisfaction through his  knowledge  the righteous one my servant  shall make many righteous and he shall  bear their iniquities  therefore i will allot him a portion  with the great  and he shall divide the spoil with the  strong  because he poured out himself to death  and was numbered with the transgressors  yet he bore the sin of many  and made intercession for the  transgressors  hear what the spirit is saying to god's  people  my god my god why have you forsaken me  and are so far from my cry and from the  words of my distress  oh my god i cry in the daytime  but you do not answer  by night as well but i find no rest  yet you are the holy one  enthroned upon the praises of israel  our forefathers put their trust in you  they trusted and you delivered them  they cried out to you and were delivered  they trusted in you and were not put to  shame  but as for me i am a worm and no man  scorned by all and despised by the  people  all who see me laugh me to scorn  they curl their lips and wag their heads  saying  he trusted in the lord let him deliver  him  let him rescue him if he delights in him  yet you are he who took me out of the  womb  and kept me safe upon my mother's breast  i have been entrusted to you ever since  i was born  you were my god when i was still in my  mother's womb  be not far from me for trouble is near  and there is none to help  many young bulls encircle me strong  bulls of bashan surround me  they open wide their jaws at me  like a ravening and roaring lion  i am poured out like water  all my bones are out of joint  my heart within my breast is melting wax  my mouth is dried out like a potsherd my  tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth  and you have laid me in the dust of the  grave  packs of dogs close me in  and gangs of evil-doers circle round me  they pierce my hands and my feet  i can count all my bones  they stare  and gloat over me  they divide my garments among them  they cast lots from my clothing  be not far away o lord you are my  strength  hasten to help me  <br>  a reading from hebrews  the holy spirit testifies saying  this is the covenant that i will make  with them after those days says the lord  i will put my laws in their hearts  and i will write them on their minds  he also adds  i will remember their sins and their  lawless deeds no more  where there is forgiveness of these  there is no longer any offering for sin  therefore my friends  since we have confidence to enter  the sanctuary by the blood of jesus  by the new and living way that he opened  for us through the curtain  that is through his flesh  and since we have a great peace  a great priest  over the house of god  let us approach with a true heart  in full assurance of faith  with our hearts sprinkled clean from an  evil  conscience  and our bodies washed with pure water  let us hold fast to the confession of  our hope without wavering  for he who has promised  is faithful  and let us consider  how to provoke one another  to love and good deeds  not neglected to meet together  as is  the habit of some  but encouraging one another  and all the more  as you see the day  approaching  hear what the spirit is saying to god's  people  thanks be to god  the passion of our savior jesus christ  according to luke  he said to them  when i sent you out without a purse bag  or sandals  did you lack anything  they said no  not a thing  he said to them  but now the one who has a purse must  take it and likewise a bag  and the one who has no sword must sell  his cloak and buy one  for i tell you this scripture must be  fulfilled in me  and he was counted among the lawless  and indeed what was written about me is  being fulfilled  they said  lord look here are two swords he replied  it is enough  he came out and went as was his custom  to the mount of olives  and the disciples followed him  when he had reached the place he said to  them  pray that you do not come into the time  of trial  then he withdrew from them about a  stone's throw knelt down and prayed  father if you are willing remove this  cup from me  yet not my will but yours be done  when he got up from prayer he came to  the disciples and found them sleeping  because of grief  and he said to them  why are you sleeping get up and pray  that you may not come into the time of  trial  while he was still speaking  suddenly a crowd came  and the one called judas one of the  twelve was leading them  he approached jesus to kiss him  but jesus said to him  judas  is it with a kiss that you are betraying  the son of man  when those who were around him saw what  was coming they asked  lord should we strike with the sword  then one of them struck the slave of the  high priest and cut off his right ear  but jesus said no more of this  and he touched his ear and healed him  then jesus said to the chief priests the  officers of the temple police and the  elders who had come for him  have you come out with swords and clubs  as if i were abandoned  when i was with you day after day in the  temple you did not lay hands on me  but this is your hour and the power of  darkness  then they seized him and led him away  bringing him into the high priest's  house  but peter was following at a distance  when they had kindled a fire in the  middle of the courtyard and sat down  together peter sat among them  then a servant girl  seeing him in the fire light stared at  him and said  this man also was with him  but he denied it saying  woman i do not know him  a little later someone else on seeing  him said  you also are one of them but peter said  man i am not  then about an hour later still another  kept insisting  surely this man was also with him for he  is a galilean  peter said  man i do not know what you are talking  about  at that moment while he was still  speaking the [ __ ] crowed  the lord turned and looked at peter  then peter remembered the word of the  lord how he said to him  before the croc  before the [ __ ] crows today  you will deny me three times  and he went out and wept bitterly  now the men who were holding jesus began  to mock him and beat him  they also blindfolded him and kept  asking him  prophesy who is that that struck you  they kept keeping many other insults on  him  when day came the assembly of the elders  of the people  both chief priests and scribes gathered  together  and they brought him to their council  they said  if you are the messiah tell us  he replied  if i tell you you will not believe  and if i question you you will not  answer  but from now on the son of man will be  seated at the right hand of the power of  god  all of them asked are you then the son  of god  he said to them  you say that i am  then they said  what further testimony do we need  we have heard it for ourselves from his  own lips  then the assembly rose as a body  and brought jesus before pilate  they began to accuse him saying  we found this man perverting our nation  forbidding us to pay taxes to the  emperor  and saying that he himself is the  messiah a king  then pilate asked him  are you the king of the jews  he answered  you say so  then pilate said to the chief priests  and the crowds  i find no basis for an accusation  against this man  but they were insistent and said  he stirs up the people by teaching them  throughout all judea  from galilee where he began even to this  place  when pilate heard this  he asked whether the man was a galilean  and when he learned that he was under  herod's jurisdiction he sent him off to  herod who was himself in jerusalem at  that time  when herod saw jesus he was very glad  for he had been wanting to see him for a  long time  because he had heard about him  and was hoping to see him perform some  sign  he questioned him at some length  but jesus gave him no answer  the chief priests and the scribes stood  by  vehemently accusing him  even herod with his soldiers treated him  with contempt and mocked him  then he put an elegant robe on him and  sent him back to pilate  that same day  herod and pilate became friends with  each other  before this they had been enemies  pilate then called together the chief  priests the leaders and the people  and said to them  you brought me this man as one who was  perverting the people  and here i have examined him in your  presence  and have not found this man guilty of  any of your charges against him  neither has harry for he sent him back  to us  indeed he has done nothing to deserve  death  i will therefore have him flogged and  release him  then they all shouted out together  away with this fellow released barabbas  to us  this was a man who had been put in  prison for an insurrection that had  taken place in the city and for murder  pilate  wanting to release jesus addressed them  again  but they kept shouting crucify him  crucify him  a third time he said to them  why  what evil has he done  i have found in him no ground for the  sentence of death  i will therefore have him flogged and  then release him  but they kept urgently demanding with  loud shouts that he should be crucified  and their voices prevailed  so pilate gave his verdict that their  demand should be granted  he released the man they called for the  one who had been put in prison for  insurrection and murder  and he handed jesus over as they wished  as they led him away they seized a man  simon of cyrene who was coming from the  country  and they laid the cross on him  and made him carry it behind jesus  a great number of the people followed  him  and among them were women who were  beating their breasts and wailing for  him  but jesus turned to them and said  daughters of jerusalem do not weep for  me  but weep for yourselves and for your  children  for the days are surely coming when they  will say  lest are the barren and the wombs that  never bore  and the breasts that never nursed  then they will begin to say to the  mountains fall on us and to the hills  cover us  for if they do this when the wood is  green  what will happen when it is dry  two others also who were criminals were  led away to be put to death with him  when they came to the place that is  called the skull  they crucified jesus  there with the criminals  one on his right  and one on his left  then jesus said  father forgive them for they do not know  what they are doing  and they cast lots to divide his  clothing  and the people stood by watching  but the leaders scoffed at him saying  he saved others  let him save himself if he is the  messiah  if he is the messiah of god his chosen  one  the soldiers also mocked him coming up  and offering him sour wine and saying  if you are the king of the jews save  yourself  there was also an inscription above him  this is the king of the jews  one of the criminals who was hanged  there kept deriding him and saying  are you not the messiah save yourself  and us  but the other rebuked him saying  do you not fear god  since you are under the same sentence of  condemnation  and we indeed have been condemned justly  for we are getting what we deserve for  our deeds  but this man has done nothing  then he said  jesus  remember me when you come into your  kingdom  he replied  truly i tell you today you will be with  me in  paradise it was now about noon  and darkness came over the whole land  until three in the afternoon  while the sun's light failed and the  curtain of the temple was torn in  two then jesus crying out in a loud  voice said  father  into your hands i commend my spirit  having said this he breathed his last  when the centurion saw what had taken  place  he praised god and said  certainly this man was innocent  and when all the crowds who had gathered  there for the spectacle saw what had  taken place  they returned home beating their breasts  but all his acquaintances including the  women who had followed him from galilee  stood at a distance watching these  things  now there was a good and righteous man  named joseph  who though a member of the council had  not agreed with their plan and action  he came from the jewish town of  arimathea  and he was waiting expectantly for the  kingdom of god  this man went to pilate  and asked for the body of jesus  then he took it down  wrapped it in a linen cloth  and laid it in a rocky tomb where no one  ever had been laid  it was the day of preparation  and the sabbath was beginning  the women who had come with him from  galilee followed  and they saw the tomb and how his body  was laid  then they returned and prepared spices  and ointments  jesus remember me when you  why do we call this day good  there's a poignant scene in the movie  hotel rwanda  the movie chronicles the beginning of  genocide  in rwanda  between two different factions  there's a hotel owner who is trying his  best to save as many people as he  possibly can  at one point there are 800 people  sequestered in this hotel  with a hundred staff  almost a thousand people gathered in a  small hotel in rwanda  trying to simply stay alive  and they're hoping  that the world sees and pays attention  and comes to their aid  and as they're hoping  an american news crew shows up  and the owner of the hotel is relieved  he says to the news crew  my god the americans here this means  that they will see and do something  the newscaster says to them  i hate to be the bearer of bad news  but they will see your story on tv  as they're eating beer  and between the peas and potatoes they  will look up and say oh my god how  horrible  and go back  it's a poignant moment  because what it reminds me of is that  today in our world jesus is no longer  crucified  he is ignored  today is a day where we as followers of  this jesus  are called  to not look away  to not push the pain the hurts the  sorrows the loss to the side  but to look squarely on the one  who gave his life up for us  today  jesus sisters and brothers jesus  siblings are ignored  and those who are unhoused  those who have no place to lay their  heads  they are ignored  by those who have died in this city and  cities across this nation  by preventable disease called gun  violence  they are ignored  when we turn our back on those who have  been pushed to the side  those who have been pushed to the  margins  they are ignored when our trans siblings  are not given the dignity that they  deserve  by the rule of law  yet  we name this day good  we name this day where we must confront  the pain the suffering the first the  losses the ways that we have failed and  fallen short  yet we name it  we name today good friday  because god says to us to know uncertain  terms that there is no place that we can  go  where god's love will not find us  we name it good because god says to us i  have been in that place of pain i have  discovered what hurt and loss and  longing looks like  god can say to each and every single one  of us in our times of pain and loss  i have been there  i will be there  i am there  we may ignore the crucified body of  jesus in the world  the good news is that god does not  ignore us  the cry of the thief next to jesus jesus  remember me when you come into your  kingdom is the cry that each and every  single one of us makes  because we have  in our own lives experienced pain  we have experienced heartbreak we have  experienced profound loss  god redeems  all that we have been through  by walking the path the way that we all  individually and collectively walk  we name today good  because it is about god's love  following even the deepest depth of pain  god redeeming even the places of  suffering  and injustice  one of my absolute favorite stories of  archbishop desmond tutu  it's at the height of apartheid where  they are trying to find some way to find  a rest and get rid of him  and his cathedral gets surrounded by  guards and he's preaching and the church  gets surrounded by armed forces  and he starts to sing and dance  in the face of all the authorities  and he goes up to the commander and  dancing in his  short little voice and says to the  commander  you have already lost  you might well come over to the winning  side  it's a reminder  that goodness will always overcome the  evil  that even when we fail and we mess up  and we get it wrong and we ignore christ  in our siblings around us  that god's love is still toward ours  even in the places  my prayer  my hope  my dream for each and every single one  of us as we leave here today  is that our prayer will be adapted  that be  crucified next to jesus  because on this good friday  the only thing that we can say to god  is  remember amen  so  <br>  foreign  foreign  i  am  <br>  let us pray for the one holy catholic  and apostolic church of christ  throughout the world  for its unity in witness and service  for all bishops and other ministers  and the people to whom they serve  for dion our bishop and all the people  of this diocese  for all christians in this community  for those who are about to be baptized  that god will confirm the church in  faith  increase it in love  and preserve it in peace  <br>  faithful and compassionate god  your spirit guides the church  and makes it holy  hear the prayers we offer  that in the particular ministry to which  you have called us  we may serve you faithfully  through jesus christ our savior amen  let us pray for all nations and peoples  of the earth  and for those in authority among them  for joseph our president  and for the government of this country  for tashara our mayor  and those who serve her with on the  council  for all who serve the common good  that by god's help they may seek justice  and truth  and all might live in peace and harmony  faithful and compassionate god  kindle we pray in every heart the true  love of peace  and guide with your wisdom those in  authority  that justice peace  and freedom may increase  until the earth is filled with the  knowledge of your love  through jesus christ our savior  amen  let us pray for all who suffer  for the hungry and the homeless  the deprived and the oppressed  for the sick  the wounded and the handicapped  for those in loneliness and in fear  for those in confusion doubt and despair  for the sorrowful and bereaved  for prisoners and all at the point of  death  that god's love will comfort and sustain  them  and that we may be stirred up to  minister to them  faithful and compassionate god  the comfort of all who sorrow  the strength of all who suffer  hear the cry of all who call on you in  any trouble  grant them the joy of receiving your  help in their need  and give us we pray  the strength to serve them  through jesus christ our savior  let us pray for all who do not believe  the gospel of christ  for those who have never heard the  message of salvation  for those who have lost their faith  for those who are indifferent to christ  for those who actively oppose christ by  word and deed  and persecute christ's disciples  for those who in the name of christ have  persecuted others  that god will open their hearts to the  truth  and lead them to faith and obedience  faithful and compassionate god  you create and love all the peoples of  the earth may your good news be so lived  and proclaimed  that all are brought home to your  presence  through jesus christ our savior  let us commit ourselves to god  and pray for the grace of a holy life  that with all who have died in the peace  of christ and with those whose faith is  known to god alone  we may enter the fullness of life  in the joy of christ's resurrection  god god our refuge and strength  accept the fervent prayers of your  people  and bring to fulfillment your plan for  all creation  through jesus christ your firstborn  who is alive with you in the unity of  the holy spirit  one god now and forever  amen  <br>  we glory in your cross o  lord virtue of your cross joy has come  the whole world  may god be merciful to us and bless us  show us the light of his countenance and  come to  let your us to be known upon earth  your saving help on all nations  let the peoples praise you o god let all  the peoples praise you  and praise and glorify your holy lord  we adore you oh christ and we bless you  because by your holy cross you have  redeemed  we have died with him  we shall also live with it  if we endure we shall also reign with  him  we adore you o christ and we bless you  because by your holy cross  you have redeemed the world  o savior of the world  who by thy cross and precious blood  has redeemed us  and help us  we humbly beseech  <br>  is there any art wanting to come forward  please do  <br>  so  so  so  let us confess our sins to god  god of all mercy  we confess that we have sinned against  you  opposing your will in our lives  we have denied your goodness in each  other  in ourselves  and in our world  we repent of the evil that enslaves  us the yo we have done  and the evil done on our behalf  forgive restore and strengthen us  through our savior jesus christ  that we may abide in your love sir for  only your will  amen  may the eternal god forgive and free you  from your sins  heal and strengthen you by the holy  spirit  and raise you to new life in christ  jesus our lord  amen  let us ask god to forgive our sins and  to help us forgive those who sin against  us  our father  who art in heaven  hallowed be thy name  thy kingdom come  thy will be done  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  lead us not into temptation  whatever else from you  blind is the kingdom  and the power  and the glory  forever and ever  we adore you o christ and we bless you  right  hold us  god of our redemption  abundantly bless your people who have  devoutly recalled the death of christ  grant us forgiveness  renew us  strengthen our faith  and increase in us the fullness of life  we ask this through christ our  savior amen  okay  you ","score":0},{"video_id":"a2XUwx4OuBc","title":"Control Your Social Media","description":"Social media has its perks, but can also be bad for us. Are we handling it responsibly or is social media now controlling us? Join us in this episode.\n\nBrought to you by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ). \r\nVisit https://incmedia.org for more!\r\n\r\nFollow us on social media:\r\nhttps://instagram.com/incmedianews/\r\nhttps://twitter.com/incmedianews\r\nhttps://www.pinterest.com/incmedianews/\r\n\r\nFind a congregation near you:\r\nhttp://iglesianicristo.net/directory/\r\n\r\n#IglesiaNiCristo","channel_title":"incmedia","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a2XUwx4OuBc/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"social media has become a big part of  everyday life  many use it for good but many also use  it to spread things like misinformation  fake news immorality and the like  how can you tell when something on  social media is actually bad for you and  is it even that big of a deal  stick around and let's find out  <br>  welcome to vantage point a new show  brought to you by the iglesia ni christo  church of christ and we're broadcasting  from our int media services satellite  office here in vancouver british  columbia canada joining me on the show  are natalie fitzpatrick and j.r donglin  jr natalie how's it going hi brother  falmar hey jr how's it going i'm doing  well good to see you both again  so getting right to it according to a  blog entitled the seven different types  of social media  published on bytable these are the types  of  different social media platforms  social networks  social review  image sharing video hosting community  blogs  discussion sites and sharing economy  networks  now on the seven that were mentioned i'm  on three how about you guys  i i'm pretty sure i'm on all of them i  think i'm on five of them but definitely  not all well compared to the both of you  it looks like i have some catching up to  do  but anyway here now is the focus  on a scale of 1 to 10  how careful are you when using social  media  so one would be like  not too concerned about who's posting as  long as it's entertaining i'll read it  i'll watch it i'll consume it  and 10 would be  i'm always fact checking  i'm selective when it comes to  opinionated content uh that's a tough  one i'd say i'm probably around i don't  know  i want to say i'm careful but i'm not  that careful i don't take social media  that's here so let's say six  um i spend a lot of time on  entertainment content so tutorials diy  hacks  just fun videos stuff like that but when  it comes to news i'm definitely a lot  more careful so if i see a headline  on facebook for example or in my news  feed somewhere i will definitely look  into the article and not just take it  for face value  and i'll compare that with cited sources  while we're on the topic here's some  wild info about misinformation and false  news  from an article by mit  they say that false rumors spread faster  and wider than true information  falsehoods are in fact 70 percent more  likely to be retweeted on twitter than  the truth and reach their first 1500  people six times faster can you believe  that it's mind blowing right but i don't  know what about you jr what would you  say  on a scale of one to ten  uh on a scale of one to ten i think i'm  an eight like i think most of the time  like i'm reading watching or like  consuming content that's like fun and  enjoyable  um most of the time it has to be  something that i laugh at uh but i don't  know i'd like to think i have a pretty  good sense for like inaccurate content  like you mentioned like you know fact  checking and knowing these sources you  know obviously working in an industry  that revolves around you know content  and social media i study journalism so  it's kind of like  one of the biggest principles is like  fact checking and making sure that  everything that you're poured on consume  use as a resource is like 100 true and  it's impartial so considering that  social media is among the things we use  in this world  i'd like to share with everyone an  important principle that we should live  by  it's written in the bible here in 1st  corinthians chapter 7 verse 31 in the  new international reader's version  those who use the things of the world  should not become all wrapped up in them  the world as it now exists is passing  away  sorry to jump in brother fellmar but the  bible doesn't prohibit us from using  social media or developing tech it  doesn't per se  but when using social media and all  other things in this world there is a  word of caution  what is it  the bible tells us  we should not become all wrapped up in  them  so how should we deal with social media  especially when it is being used by  others to spread false information  so we should be careful  and not careless  now i know jr you studied communications  and journalism and currently  you manage and produce digital content  for work  so  in your own words  how is it that someone could use social  media carelessly  there are a lot of ways a person can use  social media carelessly and and not just  jump in if you feel like you have  something to add to it i mean one of the  biggest ways that people can get caught  up in  a messy social media situation is you  know what they repost or reshare you  know oftentimes like a user or someone  using social media might think that what  they're posting is entertaining or  hilarious which is most of us anyways  like you know we think things are  heartwarming and elicits like a really  good form of emotion right but sometimes  it doesn't really occur that you know  they shared something that's like you  know  a photoshopped image could have been  doctored um  and you know if someone's gullible  uh someone might not understand some of  these forms of sarcasm  or these tamper jokes and uh it could  lead to some pretty serious deception  so you know based on the content you're  consuming you know the algorithm which  is essentially the pattern of content  appearing on your various feeds uh it's  that's that kind of stuff is gonna show  up so much more um for someone like me  if i'm engaging with basketball content  often you know both most of  you all know that i'm a sports head  i love everything that has to do with  this so that'll appear more and more  over time and and uh that's that's the  truth is this why i keep seeing nba pop  up in my explore page now  it's you isn't it  yeah it's probably me i mean i'm sharing  it on my story all the time interacting  with it right so it's like it's you know  it's the same thing um  social media we become desensitized to a  lot of things like violence  verbal abuse  negative conversation accurate facts you  know so many more issues like but some  of the things you know  nowadays some of these platforms are  actually taking steps to like filter out  some of these deceptive or harmful forms  of content so  it's it's nice seeing that progression  over time what's another guiding  principle that should be remembered when  using things of this world like social  media  we'll read now in first corinthians  chapter 6 this time verse 12 in the easy  to read bible it says  i am allowed to do anything you say  my answer to this is that not all things  are good  even if it is true that i am allowed to  do anything i will not let anything  control me like a slave  here the apostle paul stated  i will not let anything control me like  a slave  a slave obeys whomever he recognizes as  his master  now as christians  what should we never allow to master us  or overwhelm us  anything that leads to immorality  sin  this also includes things like gossip  fake news or slander  we should not have a part in producing  these things or sharing them  so now i want to ask natalie  as a member of the church of christ  how do you protect yourself  when it comes to dealing with social  media honestly  um like anything i'd rather not hear  about it's in one ear and out the other  i like to think that the best way to get  not get wrapped up in what's online is  to understand that  we're not a part of it or we don't have  to be and while there are so many heated  discussions taking place that can be  full of toxic energy  you know the best way to keep it from  seeping into your mind and festering is  to just keep it away it's like the  saying goes right  out of sight out of mind and like jr  already mentioned earlier  uh the algorithms on most platforms now  generally feed you more of what you  already click on or spend time viewing  so if you're constantly clicking on  negative content then that's all you'll  ever be fed but if you're spending more  time watching uplifting videos  reading inspirational quotes or sharing  puppy videos  you'll be sent a boatload more of the  like um so a great defense is to spend  more time on the things you love  or that put a smile on your face this  way those posts that make you feel good  will pop into your feed and you don't  have to worry about seeing all that  negative stuff anymore i agree with that  matt um honestly one of the things i i  love to do is like take a break when i  need to uh i remove myself from social  media and follow block or meet people on  pages that don't have a positive effect  on me or my life  there's also all the official church  sites and pages you know following these  pages engaging with the content and  sharing it  brings a balance to my social media  experience  you know listen i know people might not  be like oh it's not the coolest content  or it's not like tick tock trends um but  every official inc post piece of content  or official inc page offers  you know really valuable content and  counsel for our lives  it makes a huge difference if we're  consuming positive content and all the  more if it's you know from our official  church pages and sites exactly if we do  have questions or want to deepen our  understanding on our bible-based  teachings in the church of christ let's  access the official pages or websites of  the galacione christo  like  iglesianicristo.net int media.org  we also have official accounts of the  church on platforms like facebook or  instagram or youtube or even better set  up an appointment with a minister of the  gospel in the church so that our queries  will be answered and we can even be  prayed for by the minister  this brings us to the end of this  episode jr and natalie thank you again  for joining us on the show  want to learn how to curate a feed for  happiness check out our blog page on  incmedia.org give us a thumbs up below  if you liked this episode and give us a  follow on instagram at  vantagepoint.inc for more content ","score":0},{"video_id":"4yZjtf6yxww","title":"04.17.22- Domingo de Resurrección (10 a.m.)","description":"Gracias por acompañarnos, esperamos conocerte y compartirte más de la Palabra de Dios. \nVisítanos en Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/Crossroadsen......\n\nEnlace de iglesia- https://www.crossroadschristian.org/p......\n\nEmail- abraham.cary@crossroadschristian.org\n\nCrossroads en Español\nCrossroads Christian Church\n6450 S. State Hwy 360\nGrand Prairie, TX","channel_title":"Crossroads Español","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4yZjtf6yxww/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"it was proclaimed now from great parents we know that in this life is the jesus christ is the only hope in taking our lives or giving us much  notice that the angels beings certainly faith comes by  Hearing and whom you are looking for, both of them made that Christ, we subject our lives to him, we will  so in our passage today it was good that everything had been resurrected , it speaks to us in a personal way, so the topic, perhaps this is the topic of a bread of  life he in the light of the world he  things that happen in life that is a jesus calls him by name mary search for god we can read the bible life to him and you will understand what he is  s life we can be justified in the name conne tion with the passage maria was just s you died but we will resurrect to sh  lter who is going to be our momen we thank you for your word what re you crying for who are you looking for truth from the bible but until god ramó thereis  someverysignificanthere about going to tell the disciples that everything should be put in  order the one who cares and to keep filling up with so much have you ever felt like you are jesus to mary who you are looking for the same on the rope the hope is that at the door he is the good shepherd in which he  both the angels and jesus told him soap and what does it mean teacher  finds in the book a book of death but in you there is life if we will die  awaits a response from us that awaits tearsandeventheangels toldhim he appears but he did not recognize him and jesus speaking to you he is speaking to me glory to god glory to  god for it and we are looking for jesus told him woman for we can memorize the for until not true so we see many things here they open our ears to faith we can  despair from there we are caught difficult  and its development by a member of the lordandtheandthathehadtold heryou are hanging from a rope over a  when he had said this he turned and saw celestials are speaking to mary and you call her by name then situations without hope and when you are there our ears of faith and things are opened beautifulpassage  hope we thank you lord for the constant testimony but what do we do with this how  your nightmares ask both the angels and jesus from what or who are you holding back powerful of jesus amen you will understand what is the resurrection bible called john the gospel of her  thinking it was the gardener the garden of the tomb he thought it was god's it's true that's all he says about that only in jesus christ  and hope surrender your  hanging from a rope over a man and we thank you perhaps a topic that you do not like to talk about or  crying next to the pse pure sepulcher resurrection and life he is the only intelligence and spiritual wisdom but with the power of your name in  the power of speaking to me calls them by name and  jesus told him don't touch me because he still didn't  understanduntilyou gavehimthetask  question asks jesus today because if  the rope is attached to who and what we  give our ears and eyes to  him  an answer from us in whom we are going to  look for the truth in all philosophies a very high precipice you are hanging there  by a small thread sometimes it is not even ropes they asked him why you cry and who did they ask the woman why you cry and  family that is in bad steps then she replies she realizes and jesus was there but she didn't know that because not only do you save us no god is speaking to us this this message hanging from a rope over a said  woman why are you crying who you are looking for he did not realize it himself jesus tells her high precipice the hope is not  for mary you will understand the things that god has for him he does it through a prayer  the bible does it but look at nothing else as a path truth and  life he is the vine have the humility to say jesus you said sir if you have taken him tell me disciple john the gospel of christ then he saw two angels where i did the gardener he thought it was the portal he was looking for you sir mary you look for and still  this is how maria was on the precipice of life jesus christ is you looking for light when 8 12 says that jesus is has gone up because i haven't gone up yet maybe the economic situation is bad we are holding on by a thread there are so  many through a song he does it through  of your name and by your holy spirit and for when everything in life falls who is with you maybe you have never had to think about it so that we can respond to your voice and thoughts that exist but even only n  it opens your eyes if not true and the father is the farmer that I share with you and it is a translation of the gardener and he said sir if you have grabbed him from your life or for your life and where the stalls I will take him and jesus was jesus his word does it through you let's pray blessed father in this  that juan is describing and in juan only hope and here we do the  deed and they asked him woman why his eyes open to the reality of jesus the incarnate word wants because  I was like that who are you looking for and don't be disoriented and frustrated but until  I don't know what I do know is that once Jesus told her why are you crying a woman you are the savior the only savior you the great salvation in our lives so jesus  then my father is not there  more than my brothers and tell them allow us pastor place scroggins was preaching life our only hope is in  maybe and in the blank fills the gap  the light if you are looking for hope a ray of means that are from him that come from him stopping when everyone else was muffinandfatherwaslooking for you  with said maria turning to her he said  cry pay attention to this because it will be a conduit to others of blessing to speak to us through his word  in a chapter 20 verses 11 onwards tell me where you have put him and I the Christ in his life we can hear all he was r  alizing who he was until he is fa  ling apart help s to be in that salvation this ame message and I share it with him precipice is very high perhaps he  says woman why are you crying he answers you are the life you are the resurrection in life we have all felt anxiety who a e you looking for she thinking it was the psuv  y father and your father our u  derstanding opens up to me they give and  when everything falls what are you what is your  way very very very personal jesus is the  light in the middle of the darkness in the middle  recognized his voice in the middle of our will  take keep us from all evil he says this but mary was away to help them see the truth just like mary you on this resurrection sunday jesus told him mary turning to him well  why are they not jesus from the storm john 8 12 says that jesus and fear of loss  perhaps of a being god and to your god it was then maria I trust you I surrender to you so that you bless us and glory to your name because answer what is your hope we go  crying next to the tomb and  meanwhile where they took him then jesus was  cupcake  it helps the disciples to see cupcake' to give the disciples is the light of the world if you are looking for the you have risen you have verified that the truth that still risen loved by a broken marriage life so that you give me salvation so that the disciples  news of what there was he cried leaned over to look inside help us by opening our good path of life john 14 6 he said this is possible you have bought it  bado you give me the resurrection to eternal life  sepulcher and gave two angels  seeingthelordthat hehadseenthe  eyes help us open the eyes of jesus that he is the way if you are true no you did not have to check white clothes that they were sitting next to each other not with our power sir but looking for the truth john 14 6 said jesus you are true but before our eyes head and the other at the feet where the full of sin and lies you have that he is the truth  if you are looking for the restoring power that is abundance of life jesus said that he is the body of jesus had been placed and working in each of us in this to reveal truth you have to restore so that we can see time to tell someone who needs life if you are looking for meaning in they said woman why are you crying correctly you had to check it not confess yourself as lord and savior than death jesus said he is the one he told them why  that they have taken me do not wait now ma'am  for necessity but for our necessity resurrection sirandIdon't knowwheretheyhaveput him  if you are looking for the hope of having  thanks sir because for your merits  life after death jesus said that he  is the resurrection and the life and we return to the passage that  ","score":0},{"video_id":"UKiXkU9JRas","title":"Santa Misa, Lunes 11 de Abril 2022 (7am)","description":"Lunes de la semana santa","channel_title":"Stpatricklaredo","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UKiXkU9JRas/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  try to dominate  <br> stevie sums you up as a redeemer  muscles we just go  extra glass minds pleading man is to dominate <br>  useless beckham  the name of the father of the son and of the holy spirit the lord who calls us to the  conversion be with all of you  lord jesus has said he who is without sin cast the first stone in a moment of silence brother let us recognize that we are sinners  you who have been sent to heal heart contracts lord have mercy lord have mercy you who  you have come to call sinners christ have mercy christ have mercy you who sit at the right hand of the father to intercede for us lord have mercy lord have mercy almighty god have mercy on us forgive our sins and lead us to eternal life  let us pray  today  we offer this eucharist for him for the eternal rest of carmen benavides valdés in her 15 years of death also for the anniversary  rio de gilberto and griselda gonzález 51 years of wedding anniversary help me god how much suffering so much for aquinas to endure and for the health of armida and ariel canals  we pray almighty god that those of us who faint because of our weakness recover thanks to the passion of tuna  and little son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit and is god forever and ever <br>  from the book of the prophet isaiah look at my servant whom I uphold my chosen one in whom I am well pleased in my position  spirit to make justice shine upon the nations he shall not cry out he shall proclaim he shall not make his voice heard in the streets he shall not break the cracked reed nor quench the smoldering wick he shall  firmly promote justice he shall not waver nor all block until he has established law over the  earth and until the islands listen to his teaching this says the lord god who created the sky and stretched it out who gave firmness to the earth  rra with which in it sprouts the one who gave breath to the people who inhabit the earth and breath to how much moves in it I the Lord faithful to my plan of salvation they call you I take you by the hand I formed you and I have constituted you  alliance of a people light of the nations to open the eyes of the blind bring out the captives from the prison and from the dungeon those who sit in darkness  word of god  the lord is my light and my salvation  the lord is my light and  my salvation who am I going to fear the lord is the defense of my life who can make me tremble  when the wicked assail me to devour me they enemies and adversaries stumble and time  even if they launch themselves against me an army will not fear my heart even when they do the war against me i will have full confidence in the lord  the goodness of the lord i hope to see in this very life arm yourself with courage and strength and trust in the lord  <br>  lord jesus our king only you have had compassion on  our faults 2  like this  and <br> and  the lord be with you reading of the holy gospel according to saint john'  six days before easter jesus went to betania where lazarus lived, whom he had raised from the dead there they offered him a scene marta served  and lazarus was one of those who were with him at table mary then took a pound of costly real nard perfume and anointed jesus' feet with it and risked it with his hair and the house was filled with the fragrance  of the perfume then judas iscariot one of the disciples the one who was going to deliver jesus exclaimed why that perfume had not been sold for 300 knarios to give it to the poor he said this not because he cares about the poor but because he was a thief and as he had  at your expense the bag stole what they put in it so Jesus said leave it I had this saved for the day of my burial because you will always have the poor with you but you will not always have me  meanwhile the crowd of jews who heard that jesus was there came not only for jesus but also to see lazarus whom the lord had raised from the dead the high priests of the deliberated to kill lazarus because on account of him many  jews separated and believed in jesus  word of the lord  says the prophet isaiah will not extinguish the wick that has not yet been made for us who celebrate today is holy monday and having read what judas just said it is true this perfume of nard  it would have sold it sounds to me like a story that I want to tell you about when I had to go on missions to the poorest and most distant places in Mexico in northeastern Mexico I remember that we always arrived at the missions always on Saturday and Sunday and never missed never missed  the pious lady the lady who had been in charge of the church for 50-60 years and always said good father she was not a father at that time she was a seminarian  This and he always said things are done like this and then later, well, there are the missions, well, one said, well, they are done like this, you have to do them like that, and then there was another person who came and said father and began to tell you the story of all the fathers  that they had passed through that place, right, father so-and-so father mengano and perengano and it was over the interesting thing is that there was between all of them it does not happen here it also happens there in other places here it does not happen what a lady george said since she was talking continue strangely more confidence  and I would talk with the ladies and you would tell them well, why don't you come closer, no, father, I already served 30, 50 years in the church so I go again because at that time it was our turn as a seminarian, well, go and proclaim the word because  well they didn't receive anyone at that time it doesn't happen here in san patrick it doesn't happen so i want to refer to those experiences that touched me and that don't happen in san patrick sometimes it doesn't  we extinguish the fuse that still smokes of those who perhaps want to do something for evangelization or for the church or want to do something good for the benefit of the community, so to speak, but because they have served 30, 40, 50 years they say no  and  Well, they put out the fuse for those who, well, they don't know and then they don't walk and they don't do anything they don't let people do anything and they don't do anything but that doesn't happen here in San Patricio it happens there in Mexico in Patagonia and this is my invitation my brothers to us today let us meet jesus and ask ourselves if we have extinguished someone else's still smoking fuse especially young people you without offending are the oldest people in our community you are already advanced in wisdom and experience and you are supposed to be those  days that light that illuminates that instead of blowing out the candle gives you more as this fire truly says, I invite you, in your daily life, to ask yourself if you have paid for the wick of someone who was still smoking or they have made the excuse like judas the excuse that judas made because that perfume has not been sold for 300 denarii to give to the poor who are listening a very common excuse is like saying the day of  Today I have served 20, 30 years, I no longer have a reason to continue preaching the gospel, I no longer have a reason to continue sharing what I think about the word, I no longer have a reason to continue doing all that, and we give each other truths about baths of purity, baths of holiness, but  purity and holiness occur precisely in the effort to preach the word of god in our daily lives and that is my invitation my brothers I repeat it three times what I need to emphasize emphasize it we are here not to blow out the fuse of those who need the word  of god and you more than ever who know christ are called to teach him to those but not through violence not through respect like children true  d when moms tell them oh boy don't go there you're going to fall and your hand rattles not with love with charity with patience that's the great invitation because well in our world here not in saint patrick there is no judas there is no judas  But in our world, outside of Saint Patrick, there is, and it is an invitation, my brothers, not to use as an excuse that I have already served 20-30 years for not doing what we have to do, preaching the gospel to others and more these days  Saints, forgive me for going on about those who go to school, but those who are parents are going to say, right, those who are watching, father, is that I have to take the children to school and I have to go very quickly and I don't have time to go  at the 7 o'clock mass the mass of the old people is very early and no no no excuses excuses excuses for everything there are excuses you know where those who make excuses or those who remain silent are going to be  in hell from there we will see them that the Lord  So help us to continue  forward on this path of holiness so that what I am telling you about arriving in hell is not fulfilled, but on the contrary, come closer, goodbye and let us not extinguish the fuse that has not yet come to me  in these days of the passion of the Lord remembering Christ  that in the days of his mortal life with loud voices and tears I present prayers and supplications to the father let us also pray for all men respond to every request father listen to us  for the church so that the redeemer of the world who offered himself to death for his flock free from all evil let us pray to the lord father listen to us for all men so that the redeemer of the world who prayed with loud voices and tears on the cross intercede before the father for them let us pray to the lord father listen to us for those who feel overwhelmed by the own faults so that the redeemer of the world who experienced anguish and sadness on the cross may come to their aid and give them confidence in his forgiveness let us pray to the lord  he father is to cast us out for all of us who remember with veneration the cross so that the redeemer of the world may revive us with the strength of his resurrection let us pray to the lord father listen to us for peace in ukraine let us pray to the lord listen we also pray for the 51st wedding anniversary  of gilberto and griselda gonzález let us pray to the lord  for the health of arminda and there was the channel of let us pray to the lord  on the anniversary on the fifteenth anniversary of the eternal rest of carmen dechristmas valdés and reynaldo cisneros let us pray to the lord  attend madam the pleas of your people to  that what does not dare to hope on its own merits may be reached by the passion of your son who lives with you queen forever and ever amen take a seat brothers  <br>  and  yes  I believe  and he  your holy high  you seek  <br>  all  year  and they also changed <br> i brothers die so that this sacrifice of you may be pleasing to god the almighty father  look kindly sir  r the sacred mysteries that we are celebrating and since in your mercy disposition that they  serve us to discard our false criteria grant us that they help us to produce true fruits of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord the Lord be with you let us lift our hearts  let us give thanks to our Lord  god is truly just and necessary it is our duty and salvation to give you thanks always and everywhere lord holy father almighty and eternal god through christ our lord because the holy days of his saving passion and glorious resurrection are approaching in which we celebrate his triumph  over the pride of the ancient enemy and the mystery of our redemption is renewed by the gori fica your majesty the multitude of angels who eternally enjoy your presence allow us to associate ourselves with their voices humbly singing their praise <br>  how [Music  ] yes kennedy  no <br> thing  yes  holy you are truly sir fuen  give you all holiness that is why we ask you to sanctify these gifts with the outpouring of your spirit so that they become for us the body and blood of jesus christ our lord who when he was about to be delivered to his passion voluntarily accepted took bread giving you  thank you he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take this and eat all of you because this is my body that will be delivered for you  disciples saying take this all of you and drink from it because this is the chalice of my blood blood of the new and eternal covenant that will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this in memory of me  <br>  this is the sacrament of  our faith  so father as we now celebrate the memorial of the death and resurrection of your son we offer you the bread of life and the chalice of salvation and we give you thanks because you make us worthy  s to serve you in your presence we humbly ask that the holy spirit bring unity to all of us who participate in the body and blood of christ remember lord of your church spread throughout the earth and with dad francisco with our bishop james and all the pastors who  take care of your people carry their perfection through charity remember also our brothers who fell asleep in the hope of the resurrection and of all those who have died in your mercy allow them to contemplate the light of your face have mercy on us all and so  with mary the virgin mother of god her husband sanjosé the apostles and when they lived in your friendship through the ages we deserve for your son jesus christ to share eternal life and sing your praises  for christ with him and in him to you god father almighty in the  unity of the holy spirit all honor and all glory forever and ever  we are called not to put out the wick that still smokes god himself has called us through the holy spirit to be present today all of us are called to this day to encourage those who in one way or another have distanced themselves from the church either because of our inconsistency of life  or because of our lack of voice that is why through this merciful god we dare to say our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us today our bread  from each day  deliver us from all evils lord and grant us peace in our days so that, helped by your mercy, we may always live free from sin and protected from all disturbance while we await the glorious coming of our savior jesus christ  <br>  lord jesus christ what did you say to your apostles peace I leave my father I am do not take into account our sins but the faith of your church and according to your word I will grant peace and  unity you live and reign forever and ever the peace of the lord be with you all  truly peace  truth sin  to us <br> to  us sin  light  to  us sin or no  no  2  yes  this is the lamb  of god who takes away the sin of the world blessed are the guests at the lord's supper  <br> today [Music ] love everyone <br>  i  will die every day  why not  what is done the trick that has  born  <br>  to die all <br>  and  and it will be extinguished by a finger  <br> learn  the cross days  <br>  your story  told death has been defeated  and  not to learn <br>  let us pray  visit sir to  your people and protect with your constant love those who have been sanctified by these mysteries so that we may receive from your base eric orr dya and preserve with your protection the aid of our eternal salvation through jesus christ our lord before we leave I want you to know that you know me  I felt very proud on Sunday at two in the afternoon because I saw many grandparents at that mass, some of you brought your grandchildren, right, and today I also want to recognize Benji, right, Lukasz, Daniel, who are the little children who are always serving in  the choir I really think I forgot one I lost the name pablo and there is also this to miriam what do I remember you see that they are the children who always come to our church that's what I mean and that's what the father refers to francisco not to pay for the wick that the wick that these children are hasn't really hit me yet, I hope you who are grandparents can these days, right, also bring your little grandchildren I've also seen sister hawks and danny granger and great bye, it's already tiresome 10  That's what I mean and you have that task as grandparents, right, some of you already  <br> God and our father, your protection helps the humble and that's how it is continuously for those who trust in your mercy so that they can  prepare to celebrate the paschal festivities not only with bodily actions but above all with purity of heart through jesus christ our lord the lord be with you and the blessing of god almighty father father and son and holy spirit descend upon you and always accompany you brothers and sisters  brothers the lord we are going to preach or you can go in peace no thanks we offer the virgin for peace in the world god save you mary full of grace  lord is with you blessed are you among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb holy jesus  mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death have a nice day  of retirement amateur mercy scares me it 's ours hail we love you on your parade  we sigh for you plant sales and nothing primary is worth  sorry the mouth is  us and the two merciful asses  convert us the sun  confronted christ and no vis post touch exile you or clemens  [M  music] uu  kumar","score":0},{"video_id":"0c_yGeaWJ50","title":"Philemon | Pastor Garfield Lowe | 11AM Service","description":"Welcome to Oasis Online!\n\nWebsite: https://www.visitoasis.org\nConnect Card: https://bit.ly/2EJzUg3\nGive: https://bit.ly/2xS7BGl","channel_title":"Visit Oasis","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0c_yGeaWJ50/mqdefault_live.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"BjkVuYZa3nE","title":"Morning Prayer Monday, April 11","description":"Readings are: Lamentations1:1-2, 6-12; Mark 11:12-25; Psalms 56-58; Canticles 12 & 19; Feast of George Augustus Selwyn","channel_title":"St. Mark's Irving","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BjkVuYZa3nE/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"good morning and welcome to morning  prayer on monday april 11th  my name is julie esman i'm a member at  st marks and i'll be guiding us through  morning prayer today  this is the first monday of holy week  and  our readings are found in the back at  the book of common prayer on page 957  we'll be reading on monday from  lamentations chapter 1 in mark chapter  11.  we'll also be reading psalms 56 through  58  canticles 9-19 and we'll be celebrating  the feast of george augustus selwyn  with  the colict and then  reading tonight  so we'll start with  our opening verse  found on page  76  rend your hearts and not your garments  return to the lord your god for he is  gracious and merciful  slow to anger and abounding and  steadfast love and repents of evil  let us confess our sins against god and  our neighbor on page  79  most merciful god we confess that we  have sinned against you in thought word  indeed by what we have done and by what  we have left undone  we have not loved you with our whole  heart  we have not loved our neighbors as  ourselves  we are truly sorry and we humbly repent  for the sake of your son jesus christ  have mercy on us and forgive us  that we may delight in your will and  walk in your ways to the glory of your  name amen  almighty god have mercy on us forgive us  all our sins through our lord jesus  christ strengthen us in all goodness and  by the power of the holy spirit keep us  in eternal life amen  lord open our lips and our mouth shall  proclaim your praise glory to the father  and to the son and to the holy spirit  as it was in the beginning is now and  will be forever amen  the lord is full of compassion and mercy  come let us adore him  the veneti on page 82.  come let us sing to the lord let us  shout for joy to the rock of our  salvation  let us come before his presence with  thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to  him of psalms  for the lord is a great god and a great  king above all gods in his hand are the  caverns of the earth and the heights of  the hills are his also  the sea is his for he made it and his  hands have molded the dry land  come let us bow down and bend the knee  and kneel before the lord our maker for  he is our god and we are the people of  his pasture and the sheep of his hand  oh that today you would hearken to his  voice  the lord is full of compassion and mercy  come let us adore him  our psalms today start with psalm 56  on page 662 feel free to read along  have mercy on me o god for my enemies  are handling me all day long they  assault and oppress me  they hound me all day long truly there  are many who fight against me almost i  whenever i am afraid i will put my trust  in you  in god whose word i praise in god i  trust and will not be afraid for what  can flesh do to me  all they all day long they damage my  cause their only thought is to do me  evil  they band together they lie in weight  they spy upon  my footsteps because they seek my life  shall they escape despite their  wickedness  oh god in your anger cast down the  peoples  you have noted my lamentation  put tears into put my tears into your  bottle are they not recorded in your  book  whenever i call upon you my enemies will  be put to flight this i know for god is  on my side  and god the lord whose word i praise and  god i trust and will not be  afraid for what can mortals do to me  i am bound by the vow i made to you o  god i will present to you thank  offerings for you have rescued my soul  from death and my feet from stumbling  that i may walk before god in the light  of the living  psalm 57  be merciful to me o god be merciful for  i have taken refuge in you in the shadow  of your wings will i take refuge  until this time of trouble has gone by i  will call upon the most high god  the god who maintains my cause  he will send from heaven and save me he  will confound those who trample upon me  god will send forth his love and  faithfulness  i lie in the midst of lions that devour  the people their teeth are spears and  arrows their tongue a sharp short sharp  sword  they have laid a net for my feet  and i am bowed low  bowed low  they have dug a pit for before me but  have fallen into it themselves  exalt yourself above the heavens oh god  and your glory over all the earth  my heart is firmly fixed oh god my heart  is fixed  i will sing and make melody wake up my  spirit awake look loot and harp i myself  will awaken the dawn  i will confess you among the peoples o  lord i will sing praise to you among the  nations  for your loving kindness is greater than  the heavens and your faithfulness  reaches to the clouds  exalt yourself above the heavens o god  and your glory over all the earth  psalm 58  do you indeed decree righteousness you  rulers  do you judge the peoples with equity  no you devise evil in your hearts and  your hands deal out violence in the land  the wicked are perverse from the womb  liars go astray from their birth  they are as venomous as a serpent they  are like the death adder which stops its  ears which does not heed the voice of  the charmer no matter how skillful his  charming  oh god break their teeth in their mouths  pull the fangs of the young lions o lord  let them vanish like water that runs off  let them wither like trodden grass  let them be like the snail that melts  away like a stillborn child that never  sees the sun  before they bear fruit let them be cut  down like a briar  like thorns and thistles let them be  swept away  the righteous will be glad when they see  the vengeance they will bathe their feet  in the blood of the wicked  and they will say surely there is a war  reward for the righteous  surely there is a god who rules in the  earth  glory to the father and to the son and  to the holy spirit as it was in the  beginning is now and will be forever  amen  our first reading is from the book of  lamentations  chapter 1  verses 1 and 2 and then we jump to 6  through 12.  how deserted lies the city once so full  of people  how like a widow is she who once was  great among the nations  she who was queen among the provinces  has now become a slave  bitterly she weeps at night tears are  upon her cheeks  among all her lovers there is none to  comfort her  all her friends have betrayed her they  have become her enemies  then we jump to verse six all the  splendor has departed from the daughter  of zion her princes are like deer that  find no pasture  in weakness they have fled before the  pursuer  in the days of her affliction and  wandering jerusalem remembers all the  treasures that were hers in days of old  when her people fell into enemy hands  there was no one to help her  her enemies looked at her and laughed at  her destruction  jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has  become unclean  all who honored her despise her for they  have seen her nakedness  she herself groans and turns away  her filthiness clings to her skirts she  did not consider her future  her fall was astounding there was none  to comfort her  look o lord on my affliction  for the enemy has triumphed  the enemy laid hands on all her  treasures  she saw pagan nations enter her  sanctuary  those you had forbidden to enter your  assembly  all her people groan as they search for  bread they barter their treasures for  food to keep themselves alive  look oh lord and consider for i am  despised  is it nothing to you all you who pass by  look around and see is any suffering  like my suffering that was inflicted on  me  that the lord brought on me in the day  of his fierce anger  the word of the lord  thanks be to god  our first canticle is canticle number  nine  the first song of isaiah it's found on  page 86  surely it is god who saves me i will  trust in him and not be afraid for the  lord is my stronghold and my sure  defense and he will be my savior  therefore you shall draw water with  rejoicing from the springs of salvation  and on that day you shall say give  thanks to the lord and call upon his  name  make his deeds known among the peoples  see that they remember that his name is  exalted  sing the praises of the lord for he has  done great things and this is known in  all the world  cry aloud inhabitants of zion wring out  your joy  for the great one in the midst of you is  the holy one of israel glory to the  father and to the son and to the holy  spirit as it was in the beginning is now  and will be forever amen  our second reading is from uh the gospel  of mark  chapter  11 verses 12 through 25.  the next day as they were leaving  bethany jesus was hungry seeing in the  distance a fig tree and leaf he went to  find out if it had any fruit when he  reached it he found nothing but leaves  because it was not the season for figs  then he said to the tree may no one ever  eat fruit from you again  and his disciples heard him say it  on reaching jerusalem jesus entered the  temple area  and began driving out those who were  buying and selling there  he overturned the tables of money  changers and the benches of those  selling doves and would not allow anyone  to carry merchandise through the temple  of courts as he taught them he said  is it not written my house will be  called a house of prayer for all nations  but you have made it a den of robbers  the chief priests and the teachers of  the law heard this and began looking for  a way to kill him for they feared him  because the whole crowd was amazed at  his teaching when evening came they went  out of the city  in the morning as they went along they  saw the fig tree withered from the roots  peter remembered and said to jesus rabbi  look  the fig tree you cursed has withered  have faith in god jesus answered i tell  you the truth if anyone says to this  mountain go throw yourself into the sea  and does not doubt in his heart but  believes that what he says will happen  it will be done for him  therefore i tell you whatever you ask  for and pray in prayer believe that you  have received it and it will be yours  and when you stand praying if you hold  anything against anyone forgive him so  that your father in heaven may forgive  you your sins  the word of the lord thanks be to god  our second canticle is canticle number  19.  it is found on page 94 the song of the  redeemed  o ruler of the universe lord god great  deeds are they that you have done  surpassing human understanding your ways  are ways of righteousness and truth o  king of all the ages  who can fail to do you homage lord and  sing the praises of your name  for you only are the holy one  all nations will draw near and fall down  before you because your just and holy  works have been revealed  glory to the father and to the son and  to the holy spirit as it was in the  beginning is now and will be forever  amen  the apostles creed on page 96 i believe  in god the father almighty creator of  heaven and earth i believe in jesus  christ his only son our lord he was  conceived by the power of the holy  spirit and born of the virgin mary he  suffered under pontius pilate was  crucified died and was buried he  descended to the dead  on the third day he rose again he  ascended into heaven and is seated at  the right hand of the father  he will come again to judge the living  in the dead i believe in the holy spirit  the holy catholic church the communion  of saints the forgiveness of sins the  resurrection of the body and the life  everlasting amen  the lord be with you and also with you  let us pray  our father who art in heaven  hallowed hallowed be thy name thy  kingdom come thy will be done 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 for thine is the  kingdom and the power and the glory for  ever and ever amen  show us your mercy o lord and grant us  your salvation  clothe your ministers with righteousness  let your people sing with joy  give peace o lord and all the world  for only in you can we live in safety  lord keep this nation under your care  and guide us in the way of justice and  truth  let your way be known upon earth your  saving health among all nations  let not the needy o lord be forgotten  nor the hope of the poor be taken away  create in us clean hearts oh god and  sustain us with your holy spirit  well our first colleague today is a  collect for  george augustus selwyn  and i'll read more about him tonight at  evening prayer  almighty and everlasting god we thank  you for your servant george augustus  selwyn whom you call to preach the  gospel to the people of new zealand and  melanesia  and to lay a firm foundation for the  growth of your church in many nations  raise up in this in every land  evangelists and herald of heralds of  your kingdom that your church may  proclaim the unsearchable riches of our  savior jesus christ who lives and reigns  with you and the holy spirit one god now  and forever amen  and a collect for the renewal of life on  page 99  oh god the king eternal whose light  divides the day from the night and turns  the shadow of death into the morning  drive far from us all wrong desires  incline our hearts to keep your law  and guide our feet into the way of peace  that having done your will with  cheerfulness during the day we may when  night comes rejoice to give you thanks  through jesus christ our lord amen  and a collect for mission on page 100  almighty and everlasting god by whose  spirit the whole body of your faithful  people is governed and sanctified  receive our supplications and prayers  which we offer before you for all  members of your holy church  that in their vocation and ministry they  may truly and devoutly serve you through  our lord and savior jesus christ amen  i invite your prayers at this time  we continue to pray well let me check  real quick to see if there's anything  new  not yet  we continue to pray for those on our  parish intercession list we pray for  comfort for the bryson family the  carmichael family the smiley family  susan h and whitney we pray for favor  for the mason family and charnese  grace for andrew and yoon  guidance for patrick and casey  and peace for elizabeth and pat  physical healing for ben brad candy  carla  charles christine  father damien  david  deanna  dede drew  george hunn jimmy john m  catherine  kathleen lisa mary melinda nancy red  rex sandy sherlin  susan  terry and wes  we pray for protection for annelise  billy  lewis  michael and the people of ukraine  we pray for strength for april blewett  john  kelly amanda and darby  erleen  megan stan and teresa  steffy and amanda and the thomas family  and my john s rest in peace  our general thanksgiving is found on  page 101  almighty god father of all mercies we  your unworthy servants give you humble  thanks for all your goodness and loving  kindness to us and to all whom you have  made  we bless you for our creation  preservation and all the blessings of  this life but above all for your  immeasurable love and the redemption of  the world by our lord jesus christ for  the means of grace and for the hope of  glory  and we pray give us such an awareness of  your mercies that with truly thankful  hearts we may show forth your praise not  only with our lips but in our lives by  giving up ourselves to your service and  by walking before you in holiness and  righteousness all our days  through jesus christ our lord to whom  with you and the holy spirit be honor  and glory throughout all ages amen  almighty god you have given us grace at  this time with one accord to make our  common supplication to you  and you have promised through your  well-beloved son that when two or three  are gathered together in his name you  will be in the midst of them  fulfill now o lord our desires and  petitions as may be best for us granting  us in this world knowledge of your truth  and in the age to come life everlasting  amen  let us bless the lord thanks be to god  the grace of our lord jesus christ the  love of god and the fellowship of the  holy spirit be with us all evermore  well thank you so much for joining me  this morning first day of holy week or  second day of first monday in holy week  um  and i hope you'll join tonight and learn  more about george augustus selwyn  and thank you to those who gave me a  hello on facebook good morning jerry and  mike marjorie sylvia and father bob  i appreciate you following along  we'll see you tonight at 5 pm  oh ","score":0},{"video_id":"hSszkFZne9I","title":"2022 GSUMC Lenten Devotional - Sixth Week","description":"Lenten Devotional by Kristen McClosky\n \nGood Shepherd United Methodist Church\n3960 E. 128th Ave. Thornton, CO 80241  /  303-457-9267\nhttps://www.shepherdchurch.org/\n\nCCLI Copyright License: 849693\nCCLI Streaming License: 21102005\n#GSUMC, #GoodShepherd, #Thornton, #UMC","channel_title":"Good Shepherd UMC Thornton","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hSszkFZne9I/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  hi i'm chris mccloskey  one of my favorite favorite things to do  every year is to announce unified sports  basketball  maybe you recognize the term special  olympics  unified sports  high school sports at their absolute  best  this year thornton's first game was  versus north glen  the matchup is usually a rivalry game a  game where booze are as constant as yays  not at unified  at unified sports games schools show out  with enthusiasm  kindness and joie de vivre a joy for  life that somehow gets lost in some of  the ways we  we as schools we as society we as humans  forget  kids dance in the stands the drum line  gets both fans and players moving  a pool noodle game at halftime where  kids chase kids and just laugh  the spring sports teams making a giant  long tunnel for both teams athletes to  run through  and i have a microphone and i get to dj  it all  the northland coach told me that it was  a player's birthday she's had a great  date coach said but if you want to do  something that would be fun  they gave me a mic and i know how to use  it so after the teams were announced we  asked her to come to the center of the  floor and we sang happy birthday to the  kiddo every single person in the gym  singing her name and saying her name the  honest gift of kindness and fun and just  being kids  just being people enjoying being around  each other of just celebrating people  doing what made them happy  the game was great  ths won even when one of our players  jetted down the court and hit a two  in the other team's basket  we had fun  everyone scored for both teams hands  were shaken and a collective unified  team picture was taken  and to finish my experience this day i  watched the end of game ritual  juice boxes and granola bars  like little league like youth sports not  like high school where it can get so  serious so grown up  a unified player was making sure  everyone got a juice box  he reached up to some senior athletes  scholarship football and basketball  players and handed them a juice pouch  i watched them take a juice box giving a  fist bump and a thank you  one of the seniors bent his straw trying  to poke it into the pouch the young man  reached up to help him get the straw  into the pouch  thanks dude  and jesus came to us  and jesus lived with us  and i am sure he really really liked to  be with us  maybe the cup sometimes looks like a  juice box  maybe the bread sometimes looks like a  granola bar and i am not sure who gave  and who received at this game  i pray that everyone gave and everyone  received  the point isn't that cool kids played  with well  not cool kids it was the grace of love  sacrifice and joy spreading out  as i consider lent and the sacrifices  jesus and god made i need to always  bring to heart that the love  the sacrifice and the joy do live they  do exist we just need to be open to this  grace to be open to what can always be  a part of our lives  dear lord thank you for the opportunity  to experience unified sports to  experience the joy and grace  that just having fun  and just being with you can bring to us  all  amen  ","score":0},{"video_id":"0dp5nps_bRs","title":"Domingo de Ramos (10/Abr/22)","description":"Domingo de Ramos (10/Abr/22)","channel_title":"Stpatricklaredo","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0dp5nps_bRs/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"good morning  ah  well  no  no no  this is my proposal itself  ah  dear brothers after having prepared in our hearts for the beginning of Lent with penance and prayer charitable works with the kingdoms to begin united with the whole church the annual celebration of the paschal mystery  that is to say, of the occasion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, mysteries that began with his entry into Jerusalem, his city. For this reason, remembering with all faith and devotion this saving entry, let us follow the Lord so that, participating in his cross, we may have a part with him in the reflection on his  life  let us pray  almighty and eternal god come out explain with your blessings we honor so that those of us who accompany united to christ the king be forced by him now to use in heaven the one who reigns for ever and ever  increase lord god the faith of those who hope in you  and listen deeply to the pleas of those who invoke to be presented today we close the imperious christ must  s to have of your good deeds the one that reigns for ever and ever  in this cold I don't have that in theory  <br>  nothing  2 wind  in fact the boat  did not vote  the first  ok of the boat the hose was missing  but how what  no  to the sectors <br>  reading of the holy gospel according to saint luke to you lord jesus  at that time jesus accompanied by his disciples was on his way to jerusalem and when he approached megura and bethany next to the mount called olive trees he sent two of his disciples  telling them to go to the farmhouse that is in front of you when you enter you will find a satin donkey tied up that no one has yet assembled and bring it here if someone asks you why you untie it, tell him the man needs it they went and found everything as the man had told them while  they untied the town the donkey the owners asked him why the samaranch thing they answered the man needs it they took the egg because they threw their cloaks on him  and they made jesus ride on it as the people advanced, covering the road with their cloaks and when the descent of the mount of olives was near, the multitude of enthusiastic disciples began to praise god shouting for all the wonders they had seen saying  blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest some Pharisees who were among the people said to him master rebuke your disciples and he replied I assure you that if they keep quiet the stones will cry out the word of the Lord I am coming to you  sir those with the reading of the gospel of the glorious entry of jesus into jerusalem began our solidarity of easter so that we cry out to christ as our king as our lord with these parents with these palms that we remove today so that we can begin to enter within our celebration of Easter passion death and resurrection of Christ Jesus that accompanies us and makes us grow in this  faith and life in christ jesus stays with us he has died and risen to give us the void of the seer here we see christ our king  why  not not  just  what to say  we can at our table by maria elena castro we can  almighty and eternal god who says that our  savior went where it seemed on the engraved cross he has his hand of employability we grant me worthy to follow the teachings of his passion and that we deserve to participate in his nervous resurrection he who mini reigns continues the life of the holy spirit of god forever and ever centuries friends 1  <br>  I bring  from the book of the prophet isaiah at that time said isaiah the lord has given me an expert tongue so that I can comfort the downcast with words of encouragement morning after morning the lord awakens my ear so that I may listen as a disciple of the lord god has made me hear his words and i have not offered resistance nor have i backed down i offered my back to those who g  they hit the cheeks of those who pulled my beard I did not separate my face from the insults and spitting but the Lord help me for that I will not be confused for that we hardened as a rock and I know I will not be embarrassed  word of  God my God my God why  you have abandoned me  my god my god  why not  all those who see me demi moore do not make gestures to me and say i trusted the lord then let him save him if he really does not love let him free him my god my god how  the wicked approach me by  everywhere like rabid dogs my hands and feet have drilled and all my bones can be counted  my god my god or they  distribute my clothes among themselves and they throw my tunic at dice lord my help come and help don't stay so far from me  because  you have abandoned me  to my brothers i will tell your glory and in the assembly i will praise your name let those who fear him praise the lord may the people of israel always adore him  my god or not  good  from the letter of the apostle saint  paul to the philippians  christ jesus being god did not consider that he should cling to the prerogatives of his divine condition but on the contrary he annihilated himself by taking the condition of a servant and became like men thus i have done one of them humbled himself  to himself and by obedience he even accepted death and a death on the cross that is why god exalted him above all things and gave him the name that is above every name so that everyone bends the name of jesus at the knee in heaven in the  earth and in the abysses and all publicly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father  words of God come on Lord  Christ humbled himself for us and origin even accepted death and a death on the cross that is why God exalted him above all things and  he gave him the name that is above every name  <br>  and it  will be dinner time jesus sat down with his disciples and told them how much i wanted to celebrate this peace with you  s before suffering because I assure you that I will not celebrate again until the fulfillment in the kingdom of God is over, then he took a glass of wine in his hands, pronounced thanksgiving and said take this and distribute it among you because  I assure you that I will not drink of the fruit of life again until the kingdom of heaven comes, then taking bread, I pronounced thanksgiving, broke it and gave it to you, saying this is my body that is given for you, do this in memory  mine after dinner he did the same to me with a glass of wine saying this cup in the new alliance sealed with my blood that is shed for you but look at the hand of the one who is going to betray me is with me at the table because the son of man is going  to die as decreed but there is that man for whom he will be handed over they began to ask each other who among them could be the one who was going to betray him then the disciples began to argue about c  Which of them should be considered the most important? Jesus told them the kings of the pagans dominate them and those who make the authority call themselves benefactors, but you do not do that, quite the contrary, that the oldest among you acts as if he were the youngest  and the one who governs as if he were a server because who is worth more to him who is worth more the one who is at the table or the one who serves, it is true that he is the one who is at the table because I am the middle and you are like the one who serves you have  persevered with me in my trials i am going to give you the kingdom as my father gave it to me so that you may eat and drink at my table in the kingdom and sit each one on a throne for the twelve tribes of israel simón simón look what  satan has asked permission to sift them like wheat but I prayed for you so that your faith does not falter and once converted confirm your brothers he answered him sir I am willing to go with you even to prison and to death jesus doubled t  I say Pedro that today before the rooster crows you will have denied three times that you know me later he told all of them when you send them unpredictability without money or sandals perhaps they lacked something they answered nothing and he now added instead the one who has money or  provisions that submits him who does not have a sword that sells his cloak and buys one is already sure that it is convenient that what is written about me be fulfilled I was counted among the evildoers because the fulfillment of everything that refers to me is drawing near they me  they say sir there are two states here he answered enough jesus went out as usual to the mount of olives and the disciples accompanied him when he arrived at this place he told them to pray not to fall into temptation then he walked away from them at the distance of a shot  of stone and began to pray on his knees saying father if you want take this bitter trial away from me but not my will but yours be done then an angel appeared to him to comfort him  In his mortal anguish, he prayed more insistently and began to sweat large drops of blood that fell to the ground. At last, the flowering ended. He got up and went to his disciples and found them asleep because of grief. Then he told them because they are asleep, get up and pray not to  fall into temptation was still speaking when he led a mob led by judas one of the twelve who approached jesus to kiss him jesus told him judas with a kiss surrenders to the son of man when those who were with him realized what was going to happen those who were with him said sir we attacked them with the sword and one of them wounded a servant of a high priest and cut off his right ear jesus intervened saying stop enough he touched his ear and healed him afterwards jesus told the high priests to  the keepers of the temple and the elders who had come to arrest him have come to learn me with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit every day I have been with you  you in the temple and they did not lay hands on me  but this is now the power of darkness they spent it they just took it they started to enter the house of the high priest peter followed him from afar they lit a fire in the middle of the patio they sat around and peter sat down  also with them when he saw him sitting by the fire one look stared at him and said ma this is also work to put but he denied it saying I don't know him woman shortly after another saw him and told him you are one of them too pedro replied I'm not a man and after an hour another insisted without input on the reason for cattle but he answered man I don't know what you're talking about he was still talking when a rooster crowed the man turning around looked at pedro town then he remembered the words that the man  I had told him before the rooster crows you will deny me three times and leaving there he burst into tears bitterly the men holding Jesus made fun of him they hit him  s covered his face and someone asked him and they preferred against him many insults at dawn he met the council of the elders when the high priests and the scribes made jesus appear before the sanhedrin and they said if it is not necessary if he answered  yes  I tell them they will not believe it and if I ask them they will not answer me tell you from now on the son of man is seated at the right hand of almighty god they  all said then he answered you yourselves you have said it yes I am then they said  that we will need  the advice of the elders with the high priests and the scribes got up and took jesus before pilate then they began to accuse him saying we have verified that he is motivating our nation and opposing paying tribute to caesar and saying that he is  the messiah and pilate product jesus you are the king of the jews he answered everything he has said he told everything he said to the chief priests in the mob he did not find  no fault fell on this man they insisted with force saying angry he kept it teaching throughout the city from canada to you upon hearing this pilatos asked if it was a child and when he found out that it was from the jurisdiction of ages he sent it to him since herod was  in jerusalem precisely in those days but from albert to jesus he was happy because he had wanted to see him for a long time because he had heard a lot about him and hoped to witness some miracle of his he asked him many questions but he did not answer a word they were there  high priests and the scribes accusing him incessantly then he gave it to him with his escort he treated him with contempt and mocked him and ordered him to put on the white robe then he sent him piling up that same day herod became friends with pilate because before they were enemies when he summoned the high priests to the authorities and the people and told them they have brought this man to me alleging that he disturbs the  people but I have repealed him before shown if he has not found in him any of the faults of which they accuse him it is not because he has sent again you see that no crime worthy of death has been approved so I will apply a lesson and they released on the occasion of the party pilate had to free a prisoner they shouted en masse  saying he had been put in jail for a revolt in the city and a murder pilate spoke to him again with the intention of setting him free  to jesus but they kept shouting crucified professional and he told them for the third time then that by right of bad I have not found in him any crime that deserves death so he will apply a lesson to him on the altars but they insisted crying out that they crucify him  like one growing up and screaming pilate decided that his request be fulfilled his car to which they asked the one who had been imprisoned for revolt and homicide already  jesus handed it to him half of gold they are going to crucify thrown into their hands a certain simon of cyrene who was returning from the field and they forced him to carry the cross behind jesus who was followed by a large crowd of men and women who beat their chests and  they cried for him jesus turned to the women and told them daughter of jerusalem do not cry for me and for you and for your children because days are going to come when the barren women and the wombs that have not given birth will continue to be happy and the breasts that have not  they have created then they look at during the collapse over us and let us bury the hills because if they tried that way he grabbed the green one that will happen with the dry one also leading two criminals to adjust them with her when they came to help called the skull they crucified him there are some of the monitors one to his right and the other to his left jesus was saying from meters away father forgive them because they don't know what they are doing the soldiers shared their clothes casting lots the p  The people were looking at the authorities, they made faces at them, saying others, it makes it strange that he leaves himself if the elected members arrive, the soldiers also made fun of Jesus and, approaching him, offered him vinegar and asked him if you are the king of the Jews saved me  they had not in effect on the cross where but in greek latin and hebrew it said this is the king of the jews one of the crucified malefactors insulted jesus saying if you are the messiah come out to yourself and to us but the other protested him indignantly You don't even have your goodbye being in the same ordeal we justly received the payment for what we did but he has said no evil and he said to jesus lord when you take your kingdom remember me jesus replied I assure you that today you will be with me in  paradise was almost noon when darkness invaded the entire region and the sun was darkened until three in the afternoon the veil of the temple was torn in half jesú  s crying out with two mighty ones he said father into your hands I commend my spirit and saying this he expired  <br>  efe  the roman officer when he saw what was happening he gave glory to god saying truly this man was just all the crowd that had come to this show looking at him  what was happening he went back to his house beating his chest the acquaintances of jesus kept at a distance as well as the women who had followed him from there to there and palm came in and they stayed looking at everything  a man named josé health counselor and a good man and  just that he had not agreed with the adhesion of the Jews nor with their acts that give natural Arimathea to the city of Judea and that awaited the kingdom of God appeared before Pilate to ask the body of Jesus to lower him from the cross he returned  on a sheet and placed it in a tomb dug in the mouth where no one had been placed yet it was the day of Passover and the Sabbath was about to begin the women who  they had followed jesus from galilee they accompanied joseph to see the tomb and as they placed the body when they returned home they prepared perfumes and ointments and on saturday they kept rest according to the commandment they  spoke of the lord they did not want designs they prayed they felt it was a moment  with the reading of  the occasion we enter fully into all that celebration of holy week the death the passion the death and resurrection of christ jesus makes us also reflect on our own salvation and our own life just as we celebrate with confidence this holy week like this we know that our life is always walking to meet jesus in this celebration today we ask the lord to help us we have several or many characters within this narration of the passion of christ since he entered jerusalem who hailed him as endorsed king  he who comes in the name of the lord even those who yell at him crucify him crucify him all those p  characters take a very important part in our lives especially because sometimes we also take that role in our lives praise and bless glorify the lord and on the other hand sometimes we behave in another way on the one hand we claim as our children as our lord  with our king but we can also have that ability to have to ask for forgiveness the lord jesus grants paradise to the thief he steals it at the last moment we also also have all those characters 0 das herod capable and all of joseph of arimathea everything up to him  the one who came from the field they serve to tell him to help jesus with the cross what is our role in this holy week that we take and in our life also what we do in our daily life this week that serves us as a help  to reflect on what Christ Jesus really is for each one of us our God our Savior who gives himself for  each one of us as we are serving him as we are following jesus his walk on that calvary in that passion in that death to enjoy with him his resurrection I invite you this holy week to start reflecting on this what we have  listened to what we have celebrated this morning and may it come to life in us that we too can get a little closer each day to that salvation of christ jesus with our lives with our works let us really show that we are followers of christ of his we are invited to take  his cross and follow me that also invites us to participate in eternal life that also invites us to feel called to be sons and daughters of god i invited us to fully enter into this celebration of holy week with confidence with faith with devotion that  let us ask the lord that our prayer rise and make us reflect on these characters who take a role within this plan of salvation that christ je  sús brings us that his passion his death and his resurrection alludes to us to live impels us to live in reality that faith that we have well placed in christ jesus that is to cry out to jesus with our palms be a symbol that we were acclaiming  to our god to our king to our blessed lord he who comes in the name of the lord amen  <br>  let us now profess our faith i believe in one god father almighty creator of heaven from earth of all things visible and invisible i believe in one lord  jesus christ only begotten son of god born of the father before all ages god of god light of light true god of true god begotten not created of the same nature as the father for in all things he came down from heaven for us men and for meza salvation  but the holy spirit is in charge of mary of the virgin and he became a man for our house fortified in the time of pontius pilate he suffered and was buried he recited on the third day according to  the readings i ascended to heaven who has sat down at the right hand of the father he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead his kingdom will have no end believe in the holy spirit lord and giver of life who proceeds from the father and from the son who with him  father and son reside in my mother action and glory that speaks prophets <br> in the church that is a catholic and apostolic saint I confess and use baptism for the forgiveness of sins but the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come  amen as squeeze bull to the father at the time of his more than sufferings let us also pray with all confidence before our father and let us especially all those who share the suffering of jesus so that the lord who on the cross excused the ignorant and asked for forgiveness  for them have mercy on the faithful who have fallen into sin give them the courage to resort to the sacrament of penance and grant them the joy of forgiveness and peace let us pray to the lord pray to you  mos or full so that the blood of jesus that speaks more favorably than that of abel reconciles with god those who are still far away because of ignorance, indifference, wickedness or one's own passions we pray to the lord we pray to you today it is so that the lord who  the cross experienced the bitterness of feeling sad and abandoned he took pity on the sick the afflicted and the oppressed and sends his angel to comfort them we pray to the lord we beg you bonfires so that the lord who received the repentant thief in his kingdom have mercy on us give us a sense of condition and admit us after death paradise let us pray to the lord we pray to you today for peace in ukraine let us pray to the lord we pray to you alone with the intentions of each one of us in this moment of silence that we place before  this altar  let us pray to the lord for maria elena castro let us pray to the lord for our deceased brothers and sisters so that they may find themselves rejoicing in the kingdom of di  give you his light and his peace let us pray to the lord father you who has revealed to us the immensity of your love through the path that jesus followed until death so contemplating his passion and death let us share more his new life he who lives and reigns with you in  the unity of the holy spirit and god forever and ever amen we continue our celebration <br>  yes  no  now to my brothers and sisters so that my sacrifice and you may be pleasing to god every time almighty  than the passion of an engineer sir no your forgiveness be done and although we do not deserve it for our works through the mediation of that unique sacrifice we receive it from your mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord help them be with you let us lift our hearts let us give thanks to the Lord our God in truth our duty is just and necessary and salvation give you thanks always and everywhere lord holy father almighty and eternal god through christ our lord who being innocent deigned to pade  cer for sinners and was unjustly condemned to save the guilty with his death they erased our crimes and by resurrecting he conquered our justification but we praise you with all our blood and yes we ended up with voices of joy singing without ceasing  but not  me just  not  in the  event  a  holy thing you are truly father with reason all his creatures praise you because because you were your son our lord with the force of the holy spirit of life and sanctify everything and gather holy we can ceaselessly for cafes people honor a sacrifice without stain from where the sun rises until sunset but that father we beg you to sanctify it is by the same spirit those gifts that we have separated for you so that they become the body and blood of jesus christ your son our lord who commanded us to celebrate those mysteries because himself the night he was to be given as bread giving thanks he blessed you he broke it and gave it to his disciple saying take and c  Everyone take from it because this is my body that will be delivered for you <br> in  the same way when the scene is over he takes the chalice giving thanks, he blessed you and I pass it to his disciple saying take it all and drink from it because that is the cable of my  blood blood of the new and eternal covenant to be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this in commemoration of me  this is the sacrament of our faith but not  so then father as we now celebrate the memorial of the saving passion of your son is a unity of resurrection and ascension to heaven while we await his glorious coming we offer you in this thanksgiving the living and holy sacrifice direct your gaze on the forehead of your church and recognize in it the victim for your immolation that you made return our friendship  so that strengthened with the body and blood of your son and filled with his holy spirit we form in Christ one single body and one single spirit that transforms us into an offering  a permanent so that we may enjoy your inheritance together with his chosen ones with mary the virgin mother of god her husband saint joseph the apostles and the martyrs saint patrick and all the saints through his intercession we hope to always obtain your help we ask you father that this victim of reconciliation bring peace and salvation to the whole world confirm in faith and charity to your pilgrim church on earth so much servant dad francisco our bishop james episcopal hall to the 3 liters and deacons and all the people redeemed by you attend the  wishes and supplications of this family that you have gathered in your presence, gather around you, merciful father, all their children scattered throughout the world, our deceased brothers and sisters and those who died in your friendship, we receive in your kingdom where we hope to enjoy together the  eternal breadth of your glory through christ our lord because in you grant the world all goods through christ with him comes to you god the father omnipotent in the unity of the holy spirit all no and all glory for ever and ever  faithful to the recommendation of the savior and following his divine teachings we dare to say open ours that you are in heaven hallowed be your name come to us your kingdom be done  lord your will on earth as n7 give us today our daily bread forgive our offenses as we also forgive those who offend us do not lead us into temptation and deliver us from the bottle lord of all evils and grant us peace in these days  so that, helped by your mercy, we may always live free from sin protected from all disturbance while we await the glorious coming of our savior jesus christ  lord jesus christ that you said your apostles peace I leave you my step it is today do not take into account our sins and bond of your  church and according to word I will grant peace and unity you who live and queen known of the centuries the peace of the s  lord be with you always  i am  not or  is not the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world happy we who have been invited to the lord's supper i am not worthy that you enter my house in the party until next time the national corporation  what are our neighborhoods for eternal life amen  the body of christ amen  blood of christ  the same  and  yes no  no no  when he appears  but no  but also  martin  look  at his house it  is seasoning that I separate from you defend call me or send me irati so that with  your saints and your angels and praise forever and ever amen  well  ah  we  will do because we are fed with that eucharist and through the death of your son you give us hope of achieving what faith promises us grant us lord to arrive through  his resurrection to the goal of our hopes through jesus christ our lord and he has on his head to receive the blessing i yes our father look with kindness on this family of yours for which our  our lord jesus christ did not hesitate to surrender to his executioners and suffer the torment of the cross for jesus christ our lord we have begun with this celebration of palm sunday this holy week in your bulletins is the schedule of all the activities that we will have here starting on the day of  today so please take it, put it in your refrigerator or in your gilera or in your well where you can find it and there they put it so that he is letting the office phone rest because he would make the day more every time he wants to do mass from 6 o'clock you have to read the 8 o'clock mass because at 6 o'clock and at 8 o'clock since that's the way it is here they have no excuse here is the timetable for holy week here in san patrick with this celebration we begin this holy week  of recollection of prayer to meet that jesus who is on his way to the cross to give us resurrection and eternal life that this be an initiation of our own week that this year that the Lord has given us allowed to continue celebrating that liberation of holy week gives us joy and rejoicing to know that christ has given his life for each one of us to give us salvation and eternal life the lord be with you may the blessing of god or mighty the father of the son and  may the holy spirit descend upon each one of you and remain forever dear brothers and sisters of the lord we are going to preach the gospel of the day with our people  the lord bless you full of blessings  but not only  <br>  to hell  with everyone  yes no  ","score":0},{"video_id":"NLs0sZPfM8g","title":"Luis Del Orbe, Prisoner Advocate","description":"Moral Monday Rally in Trenton October 27, 2014","channel_title":"Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of NJ","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NLs0sZPfM8g/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"","score":0},{"video_id":"-nKmclWSNa4","title":"UU Congregation of Miami Live Stream","description":"","channel_title":"UU Congregation of Miami","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-nKmclWSNa4/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"everybody who is joining us on the live  stream this morning we have so many  people in the sanctuary today on this  gorgeous sunday  um just a reminder to all of you to  please keep your masks on  very self-explanatory as of now but just  a reminder that we will be singing in  the sanctuary as well we have uh the  choir we'll be singing today it's gonna  be a great day of music and a great day  of community so  please  join me standing or in body or spirit  and singing our soul singing today which  is number 169 we shall overcome  we shall overcome  we shall overcome  we shall overcome  i will be  shall  overcome some day  we'll walk hand in hand  we'll walk hand in hand  we'll walk hand in hand someday  oh  deep in my heart  i  do  believe we'll walk hand in hand someday  we shall lord be free  we shall all be free  we shall  be free  someday  i  do  believe we shall all be free someday  we shall live in peace  we shall live in peace  we shall live in  <br>  do  peace  we shall live in peace  good morning  <br>  enter rejoice and come into this  multi-platform  space  at the unitarian universalist  congregation of miami or as we  affectionately call it uu miami and and  i want to particularly point out those  people who are online  you're here with us too so  good morning to you  as a member of the unitarian  universalist association of  congregations we bring a liberal  religious voice to the great city of  miami i'm reverend tom capoh the  minister here  and i use the pronouns he him and his  and as you'll notice there are a number  of people up here with me today  we'll start with joseph toledo he's our  accompanist pianist extraordinaire  alex  cole itsy who is our music director and  does a variety of wonderful things here  and then we have a number of people from  our social justice committee carol  coffler who is sitting in the back there  uh james  i gotta say scullio  shulo  uh gleeman amir and jenna way who will  be with us today  we care about one another and we want to  keep everybody safe so for us wearing a  mask is an expression of love and safety  for our members friends children in this  community so please wear your mask while  you're in the sanctuary  we acknowledge that  we gather on the lands  that were once the mikasuki's tequestas  and seminole peoples  and we honor with gratitude the land  itself and the people  who have stewarded it through the  generations  may we continue to learn how to be  better stewards of the land we now  inhabit  uu miami is a community brave curious  and compassionate thinkers and doers  we invite you to learn more about us  you can go to our facebook page our  instagram page our linkedin page our  webpage  or  or you can call me or email me  at  minister.you miami.org  so  what we're going to be talking about  today what i'm going to be talking about  what all these lovely people are here  are going to be talking about is what's  called the eighth principle now that  that may sounds like it's something  that's kind of boring why would we want  to talk about a principle but it really  is something that's very interesting we  have seven principles that are values  that we affirm here and i'll talk more  about them later in the service  and there's an idea about  adding an eighth principle  and i want to tell you what it is  we the member congregations of the  unitarian universalist association  covenant to affirm and promote  journeying towards spiritual wholeness  by working to build a diverse  multi-cultural  beloved community  by our actions that accountably  dismantle racism and other oppressions  in ourselves  and our institutions  so what you're going to hear today  from our  members of our social justice committee  their feelings about  you know anti-racism anti-oppression  about working toward this eighth  principle  now if you will join me we're going to  say our unison affirmation first in  english and in spanish and if joseph you  will help me with the spanish part  so up there on the screen if you will  join me  love is the spirit of this faith and  service is its prayer  in love we agree  to dwell together in peace  to seek knowledge and freedom  and to help one another  <br>  a  um our chalicidine words are adapted  from the unitarian universalist  association journey towards wholeness  website  to walk the path of the journey towards  wholeness  is to heal the brokenness  in our nation  in our faith community  and in our individual hearts  the work of anti-racism and  anti-oppression is spiritual work  the term journey towards wholeness  expresses the spiritual nature of the  work and a recognition that there is  brokenness caused by racism  the path begins internally  we take a fresh look at ourselves and  learn to identify our personal and  institutional relationship to oppressive  systems  we learn skills to help dismantle racism  in our institution  at the same time that we work to get our  own house in order we move into  authentic multiracial multicultural and  interfaith coalitions  for effectively  for effective spiritually driven action  for justice  we take steps along this path to begin  to understand racism and oppression  individual cultural and institution  i invite all of you to join me on this  journey  we're starting a new slash old tradition  this week  um of singing the children and teens out  for when they go to their classes so  you'll see on the screen in just a  second there's a children's blessing up  there the choir is here and they will  help you through it but we're gonna  start learning it this week so go ahead  uh no uh no need to stand but children  and teens as you head back here is a  blessing for you  <br>  may your mind be open to new learning  may your lips bring truth into the world  may your heart know love and your hands  do the work of  justice  as you go your way as you go your way as  you go your way  in peace  <br>  hello  i'm here to give  a little talk on  disentering whiteness our book study  group  and how  i consider it a spiritual practice  from what i've learned in the  discussions that we have about the  eighth principle it would expand the  freedoms of indigenous people and people  of color to further dismantle racism and  oppression  from white supremacy groups  and this dismantling should be a goal of  faith denominations  unify the eighth principle becomes a uni  unifying part of our unitarian  universalist journey  the book that we use in our book study  right now this this time around  is how the word is passed by clint smith  i want to read just really a brief part  of this book  to further explain  that there are still movements in this  century  to try to remove slavery and the and the  principle of thought  as a historian historian patrick rael  writes  law did not merely reflect popular  popular attitudes  it also reinforced them  leading a new explanatory power to race  it was becoming unnecessary to argue why  black people were inferior  blackness itself was becoming sufficient  cause  for assuming inferiority  black evolutionists spoke out against  both slavery in the south and the  virulent racism  that existed in their own ranks  they understood that a successful  evolution movement  could not simply be anti-slavery  but had to also be founded on principles  of anti-racism  so this is how i feel  that adding the eighth principle would  be  a help to those that are still in the  movement  of abolition  thank you  sorry i'm a short stuff so i had to  adjust  the bench  can you hear me well  good morning  um  i want to share our humanist series on  colonialism and what i learned from that  because it helped me discern  the root injustices underlying the need  for an eighth principle  so two of our guest speakers in the  humanist series uh identified a  dangerous system of divide and rule  based on race ethnicity  and religion it was a system put in  place to facilitate the accumulation of  wealth for elites across continents  over more than six centuries  since world war ii this system continues  to be dusted off  and used by neo-colonial countries such  as ours  our first guest speaker sima abrahamian  spoke of how religious sectarianism is  still utilized in the former ottoman  empire to divide and rule  in lebanon for example where my  ex-husband is from where we spent  ten summers  um for example the stage is preset for a  drama of christian and muslim sex  to battle each other in parliament  literally leaving no time to address the  pressing problems  of delivering food sanitation and  electricity to the population or dealing  with disasters like the beirut port  explosion that we all heard of recently  so this is not a far away problem if you  visit some of the local churches like  our lady of lebanon on coral way which  is a maronite uh catholic church or  saint jude and brickell which is  malachite  catholic or saint george's antiochian  which is orthodox  if you or if you chat with some of the  parents at our french american school  here  on campus you will discover how alive  the sectarianism still is  continuing on the topic of divide and  rule in the former ottoman empire dr  abrahamian brought our attention to our  recent exit from afghanistan  when the reigns of power were handed  over to turkey we civilians may not be  aware that turkey still operates under a  notion of neo-ottomanism  and pan-islamism this is the notion that  only turkic peoples belong in territory  stretching all the way from the balkans  to central asia  it's an idea that has led turkey to  repress non-islamic and non-turkic  minorities  like the kurds and the armenians  if you come in contact with the afghan  or syrian refugees in our network of  social justice groups you will no doubt  hear  of how they have been directly affected  by this neo-ottoman version of divide  and rule  closer to to home our second guest  dr jean elisa  spoke of the recent influx of haitian  refugees into texas  and their brutal treatment by mounted  guards wielding whips  a shout out here to nikki lindquist  who's actually off celebrating her  birthday couldn't be here  she's been keeping us  uu members plugged into developments in  haiti so i thank her for that  anyway our haitian speaker grappled with  how haiti the first country to be  governed by former black slaves whose  first constitution in 1805 guaranteed  religious freedom  and abolished slavery whose motto is  meaning every person is a person how  could such a proud country be forced to  twice oust a democratically elected  president whose only crime was to  increase the minimum wage  make uh university education widely  accessible and infuse funds into  national health care  um  it's not just the relenting series of  unrelenting series of hurricanes that  caused haitians to flee their beautiful  island but rather white supremacist  leaders from our own country  and from this french-speaking world who  blocked haiti's self-determination  they've reinstituted a divide and rule  policy by handing political power back  to the mulatto's  economic power back to a dozen white  families  many of them living outside of the  island and placing bonafide criminals at  the head of government  this has wreaked more insidious havoc on  the country than hurricanes ever could  dr sanvil's quick  survey of haitian history gave us a  clear understanding of how a race-based  hierarchy was set up by colonial france  to control its 99  african origin population where only  whites were considered to be full human  beings whilst half black mulattos and  quarter black cuaterron were deemed less  lesser and the slaves not human at all  but economically haiti was more  prosperous than all the other 15  colonies in the americas but this came  at a price  its enslaved laborers were literally  worked to death so much so that after  seven years they would perish  and be replaced by a whole new influx of  kidnapped workers from various french  african countries like  benin the ivory coast etc  so we in the new world in turn benefited  from west africa's brain drain  finally as we contemplate the eighth  principle we must begin by acknowledging  that here  our whitewashed demography has been the  result of both the genocide of native  peoples  and of race-based immigration policies  which clearly privileged white  christians from northern and western  europe  only our thirst for labor has nudged  open our doors to other immigrants from  the world majority  going forward how can we learn from the  insights provided by our humanist guest  speakers on the middle east and haiti  how can we be become better allies to  our former uh so to our fellow human  beings in regions especially where our  country has been directly involved as a  neo-colonial force  i believe that our spiritual growth in  an increasingly globalized world depends  not only on cultivating international  solidarity through people-to-people  alliances as our sixth principle  suggests but also as our eighth  principle proposes  on accountably dismantling in ourselves  and in our institution  racism  thank you  <br>  i'm here to bring it home to our  particular congregation  our history as context for adopting  the new eighth principle  as our congregation adopts the eighth  principle our ongoing work  will include honest  self-examination  both individually  and as a congregation  looking back at our history  you use unitarian universalists  have done some things right  you use even have had a national and  local reputation for helping dismantle  racism  this is why we need especially to live  up to our own standards now  like all organizations and institutions  in this country  our denomination and our congregation  have much work to do  to dismantle  racism  i think we all understand that  in doing anti-racism work going forward  we are warned  not to rest on our past accomplishments  uh and not to self-congratulate  that would be like a white person saying  i can't be racist because my best friend  is black or for someone to say  you can't tell me anything about racism  because i marched with dr king in the  1960s  so  with humility  we review our past  to prepare for this morning's service  i touched base  with some long time members to refresh  my memory on the social justice work  within this congregation  ray bamel  the oldest member of uu miami  told me  we actually did march in 1965 in selma  along with reverend dr king that is  our minister and congregational  president were there  along with uus  from elsewhere  including  uu pastor james reeve  who sadly  was murdered by white supremacists  the next day  carol ryder  told me that she and her husband jeff  helped desegregate south miami  by going to court  against block busting realtors  carol started an integrated  girl scout brownie troupe on this campus  this congregation  had the first integrated nursery school  in the area  and lynn baumel taught music there  janice mcarthur's mom  gertrude pearl  did ongoing work for rights  and peace and just about every  progressive cause  judy homer's mom  irene stauber  was engaged very engaged in worker  rights and stood with labor and civil  rights leader cesar chavez  and there are so many more stories  where this came from and i'm sure you'd  like to hear them  and um i am proposing  that our one of our first activities as  an eighth principal congregation would  be to have a panel or at least one panel  of people from the past  telling us about our legacy  yes  <br>  we today are standing on some dedicated  and sincere people's work  we are not starting from scratch  we are not alone as we grapple with  racism and other oppressions in our  society and in ourselves  through self-examination  and knowing who we are we can go deeper  into dismantling racism  with strength  honesty  humility  and openness  thank you  we're all the same height this way  if you're home and watching us  i invite you to look at the qr code here  and put your smartphone up to it and you  can take a picture of it and it'll take  you to our donation page  or you can go to uumiami.org  and find the donate button and it'll  take you to our donation page  those of you who are present here  we have two  um  people who will  pass some baskets around and you can  donate but keep in mind that you're not  just donating  to this congregation  today we split the plate half of what we  take in will be donated to an  organization outside of this church  right now we're donating for the next  few months to pack people acting in  community together  pact is a miami-based grassroots  organizing non-profit  they work on issues that are important  to miami's miamians is that right pact  unites organizes trains leaders from  diverse congregations schools and  community groups to build a powerful  community voice  individually and collectively they are  empowered to hold officials in miami and  miami-dade  accountable  and achieve systemic change  they promote fairness justice and  democracy  we will be splitting the plate with them  today  this congregation is sacred to so many  of us a community of memory and of hope  let there be an offering to strengthen  this place and the work that we do in  the world  for we are now the keepers of the dream  <br>  now we'll move into a time of prayer  meditation  the following prayer was written by  unitarian universalist reverend  frederick e gillis  each of us enters into a time of prayer  or meditation in our own way  with our body  with our hands with our breathing  so i invite you into that space that  feels comfortable  and ready  for a time of prayer or meditation  for some of you you might take a deep  slow breath and let your eyes rest  and listen  to both the words that are spoken  and the stirrings  of your own spirit  spirit of community  in which we share and find strength and  common purpose  we turn our minds and hearts toward one  another  seeking to bring into our circle of  concern  all who need our love  and support  those who are ill  those who are in pain  either in  body or in spirit  those who are lonely  those who have been wronged  and those who have been subject to  racism or other oppressions  as  people  come to mind  who have  who are in pain or who are suffering  people you wish to lift up during this  time who are in need of love or support  i invite you now  to either say their names aloud or in  the recesses of your own heart  charlotte capital  we are part  of a web of life  that makes us one with all humanity  one with all the universe  we are grateful  for the miracle of consciousness that we  share  a consciousness that gives us the power  to remember  to love  to care  for others  may we continue  to show our  love and care  <br>  through our hands  and with our hearts  as we move into the world  and in community with one another  amen  as the choir makes their way up here for  our special music today i'd like to take  the opportunity to read some of the  lyrics that the choir will be singing  today this piece is called we walk in  love it is from the justice choir  songbook  um we've performed a couple of  selections from there as of yet the  music is by deanna witkowski here's what  she writes about the piece deanna writes  after after writing this tune  i looked at lift every voice and sing as  a starting point in creating a list of  positive key words to include in the  lyrics here's the first verse for you we  walk in love united in purpose we join  our hands and lift up one voice we speak  the truth with strength and compassion  resounding with hope with courage and  joy there are more words which you will  hear them sing in just a second but i  wanted to give you the general message  of the song  hey  <br>  strength  we  cry for this  <br>  so  i guess i want to start with  thanking the members of our social  justice committee  who spoke with you this morning you know  each person in their own hearts um  finds their own reason  for working on anti-racism and the  various oppression anti-oppression work  that we do  as a community and i i  thought was so important for you to hear  from each of them about their  experiences whether that be  from the anti uh the decentering  whiteness book club or some of the work  that's been done in this community  you know it's  each of us has our own reasons and i  guess i would ask you to think about  as i as i talked today what your reason  might be yeah to work on  anti-racism both internally  and as a community  i need to give you a little bit of  history  or a little bit of information maybe  that's a better way to say this  each unitarian universalist congregation  like uu miami is an independent  community  we decide  as a community how to worship how to  govern ourselves  what values we hold as a community  and each of these independent  communities comprise our denomination  the unitarian universalist association  or the uua as we call it  and collectively we decide on which  social justice causes will give  attention to as a denomination  we also they also do other things for us  help develop curricula help vet  ministers those kind of things  and we as a denomination  of  all these independent congregations  decide how we will describe ourselves as  unitarian universalists  there's a bylaw in the unitarian  universalist association that describes  who we are and what values we hold  for some it's it's the principle  statement for others it's called the  seven principles you heard about the  seven principles a little earlier today  i thought it might be useful for us to  remember them and  to speak about them and see how they  resonate with us right now  so here are the seven principles  or at least a few of them  what i'd like for us to do if i'd invite  you to do with me is is to read them and  and again to see how they resonate with  you so  here's how they start we affirm and  promote  and you read with me the inherent worth  and dignity of every person  justice equity and compassion in human  relations  acceptance of one another an  encouragement to spiritual growth in our  congregations  a free and responsible search for truth  and meaning  the right of conscience  and the use of the democratic process  within our congregations and in society  at large  the goal of a world community with peace  liberty and justice for all  respect for the interdependent web of  all existence of which we are a part  as you say these i wonder  how they feel  do they describe to you who it is to be  a unitarian universalist  you know you may see these principles  around campus at times  they're certainly talked about from the  pulpit they're discussed in our  children's religious education program  but i will tell you this  these principles that where we just said  are prescriptive they're designed to be  pre-descriptive they're designed to be  descriptive to describe who we are as  unitarian universalists they're not  prescriptive  and what i mean by that is they're not a  creed  you know  but many unitarian universalist feels  that  these statements  ground us as a community  and some people say they're what holds  us together as a community these values  hold us together as a community they're  what we turn to  and think about as we make decisions as  a community as we decide what work to do  for social justice in the community we  think about these principles  and some people say that these seven  principles are enough  that this eighth proposed eighth  principle is not needed because it's  already implied  in our seven principles  that may be true  but i want us to think about this  when we set our priorities when we  decide who we are as individuals and as  a a community a congregation  do we need an eighth principle  so i'd like us to say the eighth  principle  and see how that feels to you as you say  it  we affirm and promote  journeying towards spiritual wholeness  by working to build a diverse  multicultural beloved community  by our actions that accountably  dismantle racism and other oppressions  in ourselves and our institutions  so how does that feel  do you resonate with that  what would it be like  if this congregation were to embody that  principle  in our own lives  and as a community and in this larger  community of miami and miami-dade  and what that we do in the world  where we allocate our resources  how we make our choices  at our congregational meeting  in may you  the members of this congregation will be  asked to vote on whether this statement  should be added to the uu miami  bylaws  and if you answer yes this principle  will give direction  to your church leaders  and begin to shape who we are as a  congregation  now some of you may say  and you heard this from carol that we're  already doing some of this work you know  the you know we have this de-centering  whiteness book club and our indigenous  book  study group and a well we're welcoming  congregation to the lgbtq community we  have a black lives matter sign here and  outside on our property in an lgbtq plus  banner here and on outside  and of course we've done work  on anti-racism and anti-pressing  and we're known for that in the  community  and i'd say again all that is correct  but i would also tell you a couple of  things  that unitarian universal congregations  across the country are adopting this  principle for a reason  and the unitarian universal association  itself  all of our congregations are going to be  considering this principle  at a future denominational meeting  for a reason  but just because other congregations are  doing it and just because our  denomination might be doing it doesn't  mean  that we have to  and so i ask  you  why  should we  you've heard from some of the members of  our social justice committee  they felt that this principle was so  important  that they took it to the board to ask  them  to have you vote on it in may  and as you've heard it's more than just  walking in civil rights marches  it's more than  signing petitions  it's also the work we do inside  ourselves  as we learn  how  living in a white supremacy culture  affects all of us and has since we were  born  and what we  internally in our own behavior in our  own lives might need to do to change  and to be vulnerable and ready to do  that kind of work  and so what we're what we're deciding to  do  as a community  is to hold some small group meetings  where people can openly  discuss this principle  this will happen in the coming weeks  before our denominational meeting  and we'll give you an opportunity to  share your thoughts  why do we do that  because it's unitary and universalist we  vote our conscience  and we use the democratic process and we  want you to be informed and contextual  voters we want to hear your thoughts and  feelings  and here for you to hear the thoughts  and feelings of others in this community  in a judgment free zone where we treat  each other with compassion and respect  as we share our viewpoints openly  the social justice committee  is going to be in these groups as well  we want you to be able to voice  your thoughts and feelings because your  voice matters  and we believe that this principle  matters  that it can guide us  as a community into the future  i've been doing some reading  and thinking about  all this and so i want to share some  thoughts with you they're kind of random  but i want to share them with you anyway  and they they were sparked by an article  that i read or  some notes that i read from carol when  she took them at a a meeting about the  eighth principle and the talk was given  by unitarian universalist paula cole  jones  who founded a door  it's a door as a dialogue on race and  ethnicity  so let me share some of these  i guess you could say random thoughts  because i want you  to think about them  to feel about them to see what stirs  within you so that you can voice your  thoughts and feelings with each other  as we have  lived in this world and in this country  we know that we have  done work on anti-racism and  anti-oppression  but my friends  the reality is  we have just scratched the surface  there is so much more work to be done  both as individuals as a community and  in our larger community  so as you think about this principle  whether you would choose to vote on it  or not  this this principle could be  for us a call to action  to do more to dig deeper to look more  clearly at ourselves and the world  perhaps for some it would be motivation  perhaps for some it would be a  theological statement  living our faith  as i look at this statement  i don't feel that the seven principles  explicitly affirms and promotes  anti-racism and anti-pressure  and i need  an explicit statement  to remind me to keep doing this work so  that's in the front of my mind so i can  see it in front of me when i look in the  sanctuary if we put it up in here as we  look at our bylaws as we talk to each  other it's an explicit statement  that we put in front of ourselves as we  do  the work of the world  as we  build our community as we  build our connections with each other  i know some of you may be  unsure that this is the way to go  some of you may want to go very much  want this to happen  and some of you  may not want this at all  but the only way we're going to find all  that out is if we are together we  discern together how to move forward  there are always  people in our denomination and most  probably in this congregation who are  going to say that this is an urgent call  to us  to do this work to be  overtly explicitly anti-racist and  anti-oppressive  we can't  they might say  waste any more time  people are being harmed  and we can't let down another generation  of children  when you hear that from one of your  peers here in the congregation  this urgency within them  how will you respond  because my friends i know that i will be  saying it  with this principle we can begin to make  every effort to see our lives and this  congregation through a sharper lens of  anti-racism and anti-oppression  accepting this principle i believe is a  work of love  and as we know the work of love is not  always easy or comfortable  it could mean being vulnerable  and making mistakes  but that's how love is  really deep connected love  and it's worth the work it's worth the  vulnerability it's worth making mistakes  my friends i say to you let us not turn  away from this principle let us really  take it in and think about it and feel  about it and talk about it  and then  and then to engage in the work  that this principle calls us toward  amen  <br>  please stand embody your spirit and join  in our final hymn today number 1014  standing or sorry answering the call of  love  <br>  the promise of the spirit  faith hope and love  is  emboldened by faith  <br>  sometimes we build a barrier  to keep love tightly by  corrupted by fear  unwilling to hear  denying the beauty we  found we are answering the call of love  hands join together  as hearts beat as one  emboldened by faith we dare to proclaim  <br>  a bright new day is dawning  when love will not divide  reflections of grace in every embrace  fulfilling the vision  the call of love  hands join together  as hearts beat as one  emboldened by faith we dare to proclaim  we are answering the call of love  <br>  that's right you can sit down it's all  right  i know we want to keep standing after  that but  well i just want to i want to  offer some thanks to steve snyder who's  running our live stream and and keeping  our campus glorious  it's just getting better and better  <br>  and joseph toledo who's oh  man we can't have a better person  playing that piano  and alex colicci and the choir oh my  goodness gracious  and of course  carol and james and glema and jenna  thank them for sharing their thoughts  and feelings with us  and thank all of you for being here  today and and being part of this um  we're just it's i'm so grateful that you  know people come and and are part of  this community because it's important to  them  uh so i i do i encourage you to get  involved um  get our newsletter go on our facebook  page be involved in this community in  whatever way or part possible you can  so after the service today we're going  to have  <br>  salads all kinds of interesting salads  so if you're if you stay around for a  little while you can have some some food  and i think martha's got some music  planned for us as we eat  and  i'm going to be teaching a class at one  o'clock today  building your own theology  it's across on the breezeway in the  emerson room you can get online and join  us as well  you know each person we believe each  person has our own theologian and  really decides their beliefs and how  they live in the world today we're going  to be looking at  spiritual practices  um  what they are how you can bring them  into your life how they might be useful  um  and so i hope you join me  um next week so next week is easter  and we'll be having an easter egg hunt  before the service so those young people  who like young or young at heart who'd  like to hunt easter eggs  any of you can come it's fine  we'll be doing that and and easter is a  funny holiday it's a you know it's one  that's part of our christian heritage um  but we're no longer really christian  we're  each on our own spiritual journey  but i do believe that many of us have  easter baskets at home and do easter egg  hunts like we're doing next week  so what is it about easter for unitarian  universalists what's the meaning for us  in this  holy day in another religion  so i invite you to come and and we'll  have an easter egg hunt and then we'll  have the service and afterward we'll  have some lovely food  i'm thinking i don't know what we'll  think of something interesting for you  next week  um  so as part of our greeting i'd ask you  to look around for a moment look at  everybody that's here see the people  this is our community and we can't see  you online but you know you're there and  you're part of our community  i encourage you  sit down with some of these folks talk  to them get to know them  you know build connections with each  other this is part of what being in a  community is all about  jenna has some closing words for us  our closing words today are from a  vision for unitarian universalism in a  multicultural world  by the uu leadership council  which they adopted in  20  2008.  with humility and courage born of our  history we are called as unitarian  universalists to build the beloved  community  where all souls are welcome as blessings  and the human family lives whole and  reconciled  with this vision in our hearts and minds  let us go forth and every day  do that which calls us to make this  world  more loving  and more compassionate  thank you  ","score":0},{"video_id":"6f9A7Mnjr2U","title":"People Will Know God","description":"Pastor Andy Garcia\n1 Samuel 5\nCCLA Streaming License 1425255","channel_title":"Compass Church of Simi Valley","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6f9A7Mnjr2U/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"  praise that exceeds are sin and argument  yonder on  calvary's mount of poor  day where the blood of the lamb  <br>  look there is slowing our crimson time  wider than snow you may be today  grace  <br>  you there are longings to see his face  will you this moment his grace  <br>  praise grace  god's  <br>  grace that  you know all across america you'll find  some interesting signs are billboards  and the thing that you'll notice about  them is that they their pictures their  messages they have opinions they  advertise  but they're some some way conveying some  type of message to you to us  they want to get something across they  want to they want to grab every part  when you're driving by you see it  immediately  check these billboards that i found out  look prevent theft lock your car take  your keys hide your belongings and this  is actually fill a decoy perks with  thousands of angry bees and poisonous  bees  that's how to prevent look at this one  if you see someone drowning lol  but really hold on go back to that one  really it's a man's head or a person's  head with his arms lifted up that he's  drowning  call 9-1-1 what about this one  this is self-explanatory  let's go to the next one  i like this why you're littering uh this  is i am a jerk check which one i don't  care about natural areas mommy still  cleans up for me all the above  that could be you okay how about this  one  cashier wanted you reading this must be  18 years old and what  20 years experience  i love this one please do not drop your  cigarette butts on the ground the  rabbits come out at night to smoke them  and we are trying to get them to quit  trying to make a statement they're  trying to make a warning  hmm  okay let's go on to the next one  wow  wash and vacuum senior cities for 15.95  get in line everybody  and our last one doesn't this make sense  right now  especially diesel fuel  your kids  so all these all these billboards all  these signs all these marquees are  making some type of statement  they're conveying a message they're  warning you  and and they're trying to if you will  convey something to you maybe to get you  to think did you ever think that you and  i are in fact walking billboards  conveying who we are what we believe  what we live for our opinions even mixed  messages  or even strong messages  and even in our silence  we can still be portraying something to  someone do you agree with that  even in our silence  in fact god has given us specific arenas  in our lives that allows us to be  walking billboards or signs for him  in your work with your friends with your  family  i have that unique privilege to bring  this type of billboard into where i work  full time and that's the post office  and god's given me that arena  what arena has he given you  what does that billboard or sign look  like  right now  does god need a billboard or sign to  convey who he is  remember those two questions because i  want to share some insights regarding  those two questions and the insights are  found  in the book of first samuel chapter five  and we have to know about samuel his  first is he's a prophet in other words  he's a mouthpiece for god  and there is an historic story written  about a season of time for israel  that will unleash some insights for us  let me give you some backgrounds before  we get to chapter five the first thing  is this that there is a war going on  between israel and the philistines the  philistines were always their nemesis  always trying to invade their territory  and we'll find out that they're about to  go to battle with the philistines and  when they go to battle they are totally  defeated they lose 4 000 soldiers in one  day  as the remaining soldiers return to camp  the leaders were asking him as they come  back hey you know what why did god let  us  jolly be defeated  why do you let us lose  well then they had this idea let's bring  the ark of the covenant covenant means  agreement  from a place called shiloh so that he  meaning god may go with us and we can  win this war now i have to stop there  because you have to understand something  what is the ark of the covenant  if we  see the movie raiders of the lost ark  we'll get all our information from them  that's not true  this is what i want you to know about  the ark because this will all come  together in what we're going to be  talking about this morning the first  thing is this the ark was designed by  god remember that the ark is designed by  god the second thing is it's a wooden  box it opens at the top approximately  three to four feet long  in length and two feet  approximately two feet high two feet  wide it was overlaid inside get this in  your head it was overlaid inside  and out with sheets of gold it was very  ornate  gold cover rings were attached to the  side why i'll tell you why  these rings would be on the side of the  ark so they can slip gold poles  through the rings so that they can carry  it why is that because only one person  was allowed to touch the ark it was the  high priest  if anybody else touched the ark what  would happen  they'd die  immediately no questions asked touch die  gone  now  what was the primary function  the primary function of the arc is this  it was to store the ten commandment  tablets and served as a footstool if you  will for god's throne it represented his  presence in other words providing an  earthly link between god and israel and  the question is this i have for all of  you was god's power present in the ark  yes  it was  if it was powerful enough to kill  someone if they were to touch it it has  power  now the ark of the covenant is the  message in the self but i just want you  to get that understanding of what it is  now  so israel would bring this ark  to every battle  and it was a reminder that god was right  there with him it was a reminder that it  is his power that's going to make that  army  lose  but here's the thing  they were only to bring the ark  when god directed them to  in other words god would say hey israel  i want you to go to war against the  philistines  i'm telling you we're going to war i'm  telling you to bring the  ark because i want you to know and it  was part as part of this when he brought  the ark it was a step of faith to say  hey you know what my god is with me my  god's gonna win this we're not doing  this alone we have the power of the  living god with us in this passage this  is not the case  they decided to bring the ark on their  own god didn't direct him god didn't say  go fight the philistines but they did it  on their own  i like how one author summed up israel's  decision  he said the army of the people of god  went into battle without the  instruction or approval of god and  trusted more in a good luck charm a  piece of religious furniture than in the  god whose presence is symbolized that's  what they did that's where their hearts  were  they were away from god  so it also says in chapter four before  we get to chapter five so the iraq ark  arrives at the camp  and israel battles with the philistines  and once again they're defeated  not this time four thousand men but  thirty thousand men die at that scene  and the second thing they lose the  philistines steal the ark there's still  the ark and that's where we're going to  pick up  in first samuel chapter 5 we're going to  get more details of what is happening  here and this is what it says it's on  the screen for you so you can find find  out where to follow with me but look at  verse 1 after the philistines had  captured the ark of god  they took it from ebenezer to ashdod and  in verse 2 it says then they carried the  ark into dagon's temple and set it  beside  dagon now they have it in their  possession but now you have to realize  who is dagon who is this god day god  well that was philistine's go-to god you  see they were polytheistic meaning this  they believed in many gods but that was  their go-to god that was the one they  love to worship dagon means fish it was  a it was a vegetation deity  with that in mind  did you see verse 2 look where the  philistines stored the ark  right beside dagon why  because it was considered a trophy it  was considered if you put it on the side  or in in your god's temple you wouldn't  put it on a pedestal you put it down in  other words to say our god defeated your  god  so it's kind of like hey that's why it's  beside it's not on top it's not above it  it's hey we defeated your god  but look what happens in verse three is  everybody with me  okay look at verse three  day one  having the ark when the people of ashdod  rose early and the next day why they're  raising early because they're going to  worship in the temple  there was dagon their god fallen on his  face on the ground before the ark of the  lord now get this everybody they took  dagon and put him back in his place  are you getting that this is their god  this is their supreme god  and this god  was was down on the ground and what did  they have to do  they had to go pick it up well let me  help you right here they're helping  their god does that make sense it  doesn't really do we need to help god  he's got it he's got it down don't you  think  so look what happens next in verse four  day two  but the following morning when they rose  there was dagon fallen on his face on  the ground before the ark of the lord  his head and hands had been broken off  and were lying on the threshold only his  body remained it happened again  and but this time there's something a  little different what's different about  it what happened to daegun's head  it's it's cut off his hands are cut off  everything is just the body that's left  and i want you to understand something  what god is doing here he's defying  their god why because physically when a  ruler or a king would go against another  country what they would do  is after they defeat him they would  cough that person's head bring it back  to the country show the head display the  head make it a trophy and say look we  defeated him here's evidence of that  but not only that  the hands indicated that they're binding  that they were powerless and he cut them  off that's what god did  isn't that incredible to a false god  he's trying to prove a point  but god wasn't done yet  jump down to verse six and seven the  lord's hand was heavy on the people of  ashdod in its vicinity  he brought devastation on them and  inflicted them with tumors  when the people of ashdod saw what was  happening they said the ark of god of  israel must not stay here with us  because his hand is heavy on us and on  whom  on day god they're saying hey look this  god is heavy on us and the god that we  serve that we believe in that we think  is almighty hey he's kind of rough on  them  going to get them out of here  the devastation there's two ways that  god brought his hand heavy on them first  one is devastation meaning this  he he went for their livelihood  you see remember dagon is a god of  vegetation so what do you think god did  he took out the vegetation and people  were not only dying but the plants were  dying the grain was bad the soil was bad  and there's a second way inflicted them  he inflicted him with tumors afflicted a  woman with tumors and these tumors could  have been boiled but  the history of it is that it could have  been boils or  hemorrhoids  so all these people  are having these huge hemorrhoids if you  will and going crazy they're panicking  and  some of it was a result of mice getting  into the food supply  so what's their plan look at verse  are you still with me just say yes okay  so they call together all the rulers  they're having a huddle hey bring it in  bring it in come on bring it in here  getting all the people ready to have a  powwow  so they called all together the rulers  and philistines of the philistines and  asked them what shall we do with the ark  of the god of israel  they answered have the ark of god of  israel moved to gath  so they moved the ark of god of israel  to gas so understand this  plan one is let's send the ark to a  different city  it's still in their territory but let's  get it out of here but look what happens  in verse nine after they do that but  after they had moved it the lord's hand  was against that city throwing it into a  great panic and he afflicted the people  of the city both what  young and old with an outbreak of tumors  so  god if you will had a heavier hand on  this city than the one before  young and old were being afflicted  people were dying  so they said hey  uh this is not working let's go for plan  number two what's plan number two look  we'll look at verse 10. so they sent the  ark of god to ekron which is about five  six miles away  but check this out as the ark of god was  entering  ekron the people of ekron cried out they  have brought the ark of god of israel  around us to kill us  and our  people  let me just paraphrase that i wrote this  down i want to paraphrase that now ah  don't you bring that box in our town are  you kidding  they already saw it coming they already  heard the news they had it on twitter  they had it on facebook and the thing  was they see the art coming i'm like we  don't want that there we don't want to  get the tumors we don't want to die get  it out of here  well there's plant  as the ark of the covenant sir excuse me  verse 11 to 12  so they called together all the rulers  of philistines again and said  send the ark of god of israel away  let it go back to its own place or it  will kill us and our people for death  had filled the city with panic and god's  hand was heavy on it and those who did  not die were afflicted with tumors and  the outcry of the city went up to heaven  meaning people heard it the cries  wow  that was the third plan  and the next chapter says the ark was  there for seven  months  that's seven months of affliction upon  the philistines  and this is where i want you to stay  with me everybody  i want you to see some important  reminders that we can glean from this  passage and the first one is this  tell me if you agree  our god is matchless  he can't be overcome no one can compare  to the lord most high i like what isaiah  46 44 6 says it says this is what the  lord says israel's king and redeemer the  lord almighty i am the first and i am  the last apart from me there is no god  digging is just a piece of stone that's  all he is  isaiah 40 12-14 and 25 says to whom will  you compare me  or who is my equal says the holy one is  there somebody that can take me on  that's what god's saying  and i love this in hebrews 13 8 jesus is  the same yesterday today and what  forever nothing has changed  god is ageless the god described in the  old testament is the same god in the new  testament in the year 2022 and keep on  going and going and going nothing has  changed about him his power his love his  grace his wrath nothing's changed about  him he's immutable he's unchangeable  let me give you the second reminder  god doesn't need us to represent him  or uphold his reputation  now think about that for a second  god doesn't need us to represent him or  uphold his reputation and here's a  question this is not a this is not this  is a test for you but it's not a hard  test it's a real simple test how many  israelites were present in these seven  in the entire seven months the ark was  in the philistine territory how many  none  here's another question you can yell out  the answer it's okay  how many conversations  went on between israelites and  philistines in those seven months  none  god doesn't need us to represent him  or uphold his reputation let me give you  a third reminder god doesn't need us to  be his mouthpiece  or protect him  god doesn't need us to be his mouthpiece  or protect him wouldn't you agree that  god took care of business by himself  did he need anybody  do you need anyone to come and push the  ark closer do they need anybody to come  and get the hey let's just oh fellow no  he didn't need anybody  did he need a mouthpiece to stand up to  dagon or the philistines no he  didn't might be thinking andy thank you  for really encouraging  those encouraging reminders  of saying that god doesn't need us but i  want you to stay with me really stay  with me on this and listening closely to  the fourth reminder  our matchless god  does not need us to represent him uphold  his reputation  be his mouthpiece protect him but here  it is here's the fourth reminder  but he chose us to be his ambassadors  he chose us  did you get that  the honor of that  hold on he god you're choosing me you're  choosing andy you're choosing me to  represent you you could do it yourself  you're all powerful you can display who  you are to anybody you want you could do  anything in their heart and you chose me  did you ever think about the honor of  that the privilege  that he bestowed on us when we believed  and you and in a very unique way we wear  the sash that says christ ambassadors  all around us we're wearing that every  day  i'm with him i represent him i'm a  delegate of him in second corinthians 5  20 just listen to this verse as we we're  talking all about this that god doesn't  need us to oppose reputation but listen  to this as ambassadors we are therefore  talking about you and me  we are therefore christ's ambassadors as  though god were making his appeal  through us  what's the appeal that we implore you on  christ's behalf be reconciled to god god  made him jesus who had no sin to be sin  for us so that in him we might become  the righteousness of god what does that  mean  that's what happens when you believe god  doesn't look at me anymore in my sin  because i'm not perfect he looks at  christ that's been imputed in me so he  looks at me he goes i see my son  andy i can have a relationship with you  that's what it is you gain back that  access that relationship  you are reconciled you're back right  back back brought back together to the  father to a restored relationship  let me give you some thoughts regarding  being christ ambassador because i think  that's important the first thought is  this you are a delegate of jesus not  jesus himself  let me say that again you are a delegate  of jesus not jesus himself  we are not perfect  and the day you say  hear anybody say hey i got this down i  would run  you're not jesus you are an ambassador  for jesus why do i say that and here's  this if you're writing any kind of notes  if you remember anything about this  message this is it right here we have to  remember that there will be days when we  don't represent jesus well  do you agree with that  i mean it could have happened this  morning when you're driving  it could have happened this morning in  your house as people were talking  there's some days  that we don't resent  represent jesus well in other words our  marquee our billboard our sign may be  conveying something else  than christ but i want you to remember  this  israel had turned its back on god  spiritually  and they're living their lives without  them and god continued to use them to  shine who he is to others  who surrounded them  our family always decided way back when  our girls were young  to go to palm springs in the summertime  and you probably would think well andy  you're going at the worst time of the  year  and it was this year because that that  was 117 was the average  but the thing is we'd go down there  because nobody would be there  and everything would be half price and  so we'd go there as a family and we're  on the way there we had to be an hour  away and we're in the band together and  everybody's doing their things and and  for most you who don't know i have four  girls so um it's a pretty full van of a  lot of chatting  and  our air goes out  in our van  now  you know you have this idea this  pictures this is how vacation is going  to be this is this could be a great time  and then the air goes out now we're  already sweating and it's worse it's i  don't know it felt worse to roll down  the windows  so we're all sweating in there the kids  are going crazy dad this is unbearable  you know we're red in the face  we pull over  and when we pulled over we realized  there was a theater there and i say hey  girls we're going to send you to see a  movie and they're like dad what movie  i'm like i don't care just go see the  movie  they were in the coolness and i timed it  i'm like this is about a two and a half  hour movie let's go try to get our car  fixed terry and i  are trying to find a ford dealer because  that's what we had we had a ford car so  we go to the we see a dealer oh my gosh  this is awesome we need a dealer i'm  already frustrated i'm so frustrated  already because i'm like this is not  going to end well  this is when i know that terry knows i'm  mad because she doesn't talk to me  it's quiet  you know  so we get to the ford dealer and say hey  look uh yeah your your compression  the whole thing needs to be replaced  like well how much is that because well  fifteen hundred dollars man i'm just  starting to get madder and madder  like fifteen hundred dollars i mean i'm  starting to make remarks like are you  going on vacation with my money you know  i just started getting frustrated  he goes hey look i mean how many days is  going to take is it's gonna take a  couple days you'll have to rent a car  and i'm thinking  the more time this is the the most  expensive vacation we've ever taken  fifteen hundred dollars in one day you  gotta be kidding  so he said hey i can call enterprise for  you i'm like go ahead go call enterprise  he calls enterprise that person shows up  and the first thing he asks is like  how's your day going oh man  don't you just  don't you just  i'm seething you know terry's like put  the seatbelt down put the seatbelt on  he's going i'm telling him our car broke  down and i ju i just was quiet after  that  so i realized that i'm we're getting in  this car it was a black suv car that we  we changed over for because that's all  they had it was the most expensive car  of course right that they had it had to  fit all of us i had to take all the  luggage  and take it from my van to theirs and it  didn't fit  so i had to put it on top have you ever  tried to load a car suitcases in 117  weather and a black car  on top  so every time i would touch  the car  it would just burn my hand  and terry's like did you need some help  and i would just look at her and  my face must have distorted sometimes  because she's like i'm just going to go  inside and she did  i go inside the enterprise  and he said can i have your name please  and i said absolutely this is my name  allah and he goes  i knew it  i'm like you knew what  i'm just just like that you knew what  he goes  i knew you were a christian  i'm like how did you know that  he goes well  what confirmed it is that you must have  rented a lot of vans at your church he's  like you're still in here that you've  been in a lot of vans he hadn't i said  yeah yeah i did that he's like are you a  pastor i'm like not today  and he laughed and he said you know what  uh you saw andy  um  with all that just happened to you in  the last hour and a half he's like i  want to let you know  that i would have been more frustrated  than you are and you really showed me i  knew that you were a christian because  no way would anybody else react the way  you did i'm like well how did i react  because i'm pretty mad he's like no i've  seen mad before  you you were frustrated you said but you  didn't let it get to you  wow  you see  sometimes  we'll have days when we don't represent  jesus well  and when we have those days or the  seasons away from god remember that we  live under the umbrella of god's grace  his endless love  his overwhelming patience with us that's  part of our testimony everybody  do we ever think that that we don't have  to be perfect that we're trying not to  oh i can't say this i can't say look i'm  going to lose it sometimes but that's  part of the testimony i'm going to give  to someone i have this gracious god  who's continually patient with me  and his greatest cover is what i am i'm  not going to do things on purpose go  away from him but i'm telling you i love  that god made it that way we are to be  delegates not jesus himself are you with  me on that one let me give you the  second thought  the first thought is you are a delegate  of jesus not jesus himself second  thought is this it will happen in god's  convenience  not our convenience  it will happen in god's convenience not  our convenience it may not be convenient  for us and it says perfect timing and he  will design the opportunities for you  been working a lot hours at the post  office because we're luck we're down  people  uh monday was 13 hours  you can't see straight after 13 hours of  doing that there was a long day last  week  and i just finished my route  and it was like uh going on five o'clock  i'm tired  and my boss calls me and said andy i  need you to go help so and so  i'm like why i'm already frustrated why  because because he just lost his dad he  just found out  i'm like okay okay okay now my friends  listen i'm still frustrated driving  there because i'm tired i don't want to  go here this is the last place i want to  be and then i started praying my god  help me with my attitude it's just it's  terrible  it just helped me because i and up to  the point i'm driving up and i see him  my attitude was still the same like i'm  tired i don't want to deal with this and  guess what happens  this guy gets out of his truck i get out  of my truck we start loading things and  i knew i was going to say this to him i  knew i said i'm so sorry for your loss  and as i'm saying it as i come closer to  him he jumps up and gives me this giant  hug and says this  just pray for me andy right now  and i started to pray i've never prayed  with somebody at the postdoc verbally  out loud and this guy's saying i just  just want you to pray for me  and as i prayed for him he was just he  was weeping and then i'll never forget  how how we ended our conversation  i said i'm going to be praying for you  this week if you need anything let me  know call me i i i  anything i can do he goes andy  and i wrote it down so i don't remember  i verbatim here  he said god knew exactly  who to  send he wanted you to be the first  person i see after hearing the news of  my dad  is that the voice of god and you know  what when he said that  i started welling up that god would use  me  when it's inconvenient but it was  convenient for him  he will do that for you he's designed  those times that he will do that and it  will be inconvenient but i guarantee  this god will do something incredible in  those times  do you agree  let me give you a third thought  regarding an ambassador  ambassador an ambassador proclaims  christ in different ways what do i mean  by that well in second corinthians 2  14-16 it says this it calls us the aroma  of christ  because he uses us to spread the  knowledge of who he is in the areas and  arenas of our life in other words  sometimes it's a beautiful fragrance of  our knowledge of we know jesus we have a  relationship with him and if i go into a  group setting if i go into one setting  we might be an incredible beautiful  aroma as we talk about who god is but in  other cases the passage talks about you  can also be an aroma that smells like  death  because they don't want to they don't  want it they don't want to hear it  so he uses us with the knowledge that we  have in matthew 5 13 and 14 it says  jesus calls us the salt of the earth  you might be called to preserve a  relationship your family your marriage  or draw someone in because they're  thirsty for what you have did you ever  think about it being salt of the earth  we always think preservation we always  think about that and what it was used  for but it also can be no matter what if  you put salt in your mouth right now the  first thing you're going to want is  drink  some of what we say some of what we do  might make someone thirsty for who god  is what we have and here's his chance to  talk about him  matthew 5 14 says this jesus also calls  us the light of the world  god might call you to stand for truth  and justice and situations at work  in your home  with your friends or even among  strangers the light of the world i had  this opportunity this guy saw this movie  that i work with and it was it was a  movie that had a theme of  satanic possession and it really scared  him  and he pulled me aside as i was working  he said handy can i ask you a question  sure  he goes i just saw this movie and this  person was possessed and they showed  that this he was he was demonically  influenced he was he's giving me all  this background and he said i want to  know something do you believe that  am i do do i believe that that people  can be possessed he's like yeah do you  believe in all that because i know that  you you know go to church and  i said  absolutely  i believe  satan is powerful he's real  there's two mega forces in this world  one that's  dominant and that's god and the other  one is inferior it's not superior it's  it's satan himself  and i had this chance to talk to him and  say  can i just tell you something i believe  there's a battle for your soul  and it's either going to be god  or something else  and he goes that's interesting  but here is that time of being the light  of the world i'm trying to bring light  to this conversation where he's in a  dark place he's like i'm he's scared  he's like this supernatural thing i'm  scared about i'm like and it does happen  we call the light of the world people in  our daily arenas might be wondering  about our hope i love first peter 3 15  it says but in your hearts revere christ  as lord and always be prepared to give  an answer to everyone who asks you  giving the reason for the hope that you  have always be  ready  somebody says how are you doing this how  are you getting through the code how are  you dealing with all this how did you  deal with the debt how do you deal with  the families falling apart and this is  with our time to say i'll tell you why  because my hope isn't in the physical my  hope is in the lord he gives me my joy  he gives me my strength this isn't the  end this is not the end all we will be  with him again that's our hope  and i like this he says  but do this with gentleness and respect  i used to take a guy to we played  basketball every week and he'd write in  my car we always pick him up and there  was this one christian we also played  with that was just not being gentle and  respectful as he was talking about his  relationship with the lord and really  would just just  devalue him and what he believed and  just say well you're you know you're  stupid for believing that and he goes so  he got in the car and he knew it was a  christian and it finally came out he was  frustrated he goes andy don't you ever  talk to me about jesus i like you as a  friend  i like when we do things again but don't  ever talk to me about jesus my respect  went up to him and said you know what i  won't  three months later  we're leaving the basketball court he  said hey you want to grab a coke say hey  let's go grab some we go grab something  he sits down with me and says andy  i just want to thank you am i thanking  me he's like  thank you when i asked you not to talk  about jesus  you respected me  and you didn't  that would have made me so frustrated  i'm like well i i was listening to what  you said and i don't want to offend you  i didn't want to be that person just  bombard you and i would rather tell it  to you differently and for the next hour  guess what i talked about  wow  giving the the reason for the hope that  i have but i did it with gentleness and  respect when we put the sachet of christ  we carry a message of hope and we do it  with gentleness and respect  the message of hope might be conveyed in  different ways it might be somebody who  needs clothes food financial help  someone who just needs to talk or sit  with  it's a simple or maybe just the simple  message of jesus and sharing who jesus  is  as i close  i just want you to think about  something  that what an honor and privilege to be  chosen to be christ's ambassadors what  an honor  knowing who we are he still chose  us  the questions i have for you as we close  is this have you ever thanked him for  that honor  i found myself as a studying this pastor  god thank you that you gave me that  honor  thank you for that privilege that i  represent the king of kings i represent  you  and the second question is this  have you ever asked god to help you be  his ambassador  a living walking billboard that exudes  your love for  christ but no matter what god has his  own way of letting people know how real  he is  he has his own way of doing it in other  words again nobody was in the temple  nobody no representative and god still  had a way of representing himself god  can do things  that are beyond our understanding  because he's god  he could talk  to different people different ways  are you with me can i share one more  thing is that okay  terry and i uh we're at this church and  i did this  kind of  a dedication of some kids and they had  an india  india indian background and they invited  us to their  this huge spread of food and just to  celebrate that that they're just giving  hey god we're gonna  grow this child and the lord and and i  was talking to the pastor who flew in  from india he goes andy uh westerners  will never understand  how powerful god is  in some situations what do you mean by  that he's like  i was pastoring a church  sitting on the steps just waiting for uh  the service to start and this guy came  up  and he said  i had this dream  it was jesus telling me  that i need to go here  he said he goes where are you from he's  like i'm five days away  and all i know is that it was so real  that i need to know who jesus is and i  walked all this way and he said there's  going to be a man on a step  that will tell you about jesus  and he came to know the lord  my friends  god will do things  you're like hold on that doesn't fit my  theology you know what god doesn't have  a theology  god can do anything he wants  supernaturally but guess what he still  chose us he still chose it doesn't stop  us from doing things  he's powerful he can talk to any heart  that's why when somebody doesn't know  who christ is or you want god can you  change his heart we got to believe that  he can change people's hearts i can't  change people's hearts  but god can amen  let's pray god thank you for this  morning  god it does  it does bring  such a smile to my face  and an honor that you would choose me  god knowing some of the past  god some of the times and the seasons i  walked away from you and you still  choose me  so god i pray that i would be that  marquis that sign  that portrays who you are  and god everybody in this room has  different arenas that i i can't get into  that's their family that's where they  work  but you bless them with those  opportunities  god be with them empower them  god give them the courage  to talk about their hope give them the  courage to to come alongside someone  god no matter what aroma  we are when we start talking about you  god i pray  that you would work in the hearts  plant that one seed of who you are in  someone's heart so they can be  reconciled brought back together  in a right relationship with the father  god thank you for this morning in your  name amen  let's stand for this last song  <br>  great is your  faithfulness oh god  you wrestle with a sinner's heart  <br>  you lead us by still waters and to mercy  and nothing can keep us  <br>  your  apart  remember  your children  remember  your promise  <br>  you lead us in the song of your  salvation  <br>  so  remember your people  remember  your children  <br>  your grace is now  your grace  <br>  your grace is enough  your grace is enough  for me  <br>  that wasn't as seamless as i hoped  not to him he was able to keep you from  stumbling  as as we all do  and present you faultless before the  presence of his glory with exceeding joy  to our savior who alone is wise  be glory and majesty dominion and power  both now and forevermore amen  have a blessed week everybody  see you next week ","score":0},{"video_id":"C6vMHhEUEJg","title":"West Hills UU Fellowship 4.10.22 service","description":"“When Is it Time for Courage?” ~ Humanist Rabbi Mary Raskin\r\n\r\nIn this season of renewal, our service today will be an exploration of Passover and how we might use its themes to enrich our lives.","channel_title":"WHUUF Communications","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/C6vMHhEUEJg/mqdefault.jpg","captions":"thank you betsy  our thanks to bessie westman for playing  this morning  good morning and welcome to wolfe  westfield's  unitarian universalist fellowship  my name is spencer urban i use the  pronouns he and him and i'm privileged  to welcome you this morning  uh  to begin please turn on i would like to  ask that you please turn off your uh  your wi-fi on your devices so we can  have as much bandwidth as possible  outgoing from here to our friends who  are  joining us  virtually  whoever and wherever you are you're  welcome here  regardless of your age your abilities  the color of your skin  or your cultural heritage  where you were born regardless of whom  you love  or how or if you identify your gender  whatever your spiritual practices may be  or if you have none we are glad that  you've joined us  we are ever grateful to all of the early  stewards of this land beginning with the  original peoples the indigenous tribes  many of whom live among us today  and to whom our doors are always open  please check the announcements in your  order of service to see what's happening  this week  and if this is your first time with us  and you don't have an order of service  but would like to connect please contact  our congregational administrator  for contact information is on our  website  and on your screen  following our service today there will  be a congregational meeting about our  budget  today's service is going to be a little  different  this is an important season this year  for the abrahamic fates  ramadan began eight days ago  and easter is next week so  today  we'll be thinking  about the jewish celebration of passover  so  today let's stand together as  we are willing and able  as a community  as we light our chalice  which is a symbol of gathering  for many peoples and cultures  and let us speak together our opening  affirmation  let us open our eyes to see what is  beautiful  let us open our minds to learn what is  true  and let us open our hearts to love one  another  and now we get to sing  so um we're going to start with him 392  if you could  well there it is up there  you've also got hymnals in front of you  that might be a little closer and easier  to read hinamatov this is a welcome song  and  you'll notice that there's a repeat  almost all the way through the  second line  right here  so we're going to sing to there  and then sing it again  and then number two we'll sing that part  twice and then we go back and sing part  one again twice so sing number one twice  number two twice and number one twice  <br>  thank you  i think we have a message now from  our director of religious education  for our time  for all ages  the story story of pastor  a long long time ago the israeli people  were enslaved egypt in hebrews which  means  place  but in order to understand how we got  there we have to go way  a long long time ago there was a famine  in the land of israel  nobody had anything to eat  to keep his family safe jacob moved him  all to the  assisting a kind-hearted pharaoh  ensuring the people had enough to eat  over time and over many generations  jacob's family grew  they soon became a great mighty and  prosperous nation and because of this  became a threat to a new pharaoh  one who did not know jacob and joseph  and all the wonderful things they did  for egypt  out of fear towards these israelites  pharaoh enslaved them he made them do  hard work in the hot desert sun  commanding them to bake bricks out of  mud and straw to build cities like piton  and ramses  in their anguish the israelites cried  out to adonai the god of their ancestors  god heard their voice and saw their  suffering  moses having fled from egypt after  defending the hebrew slaves was a  shepherd in midian  god called to him from the midst of a  burning bush  god directed moses to go to pharaoh and  tell him let my people go  pharaoh was not eager to free his slaves  when moses came to talk to pharaoh  pharaoh said  no  to convince them to free the israelites  god brought ten plagues to afflict  pharaoh and his people  swarms of beasts dev air cattle disease  shrine boils  bharad hail  arba locusts  darkness with each plague pharaoh grew  more and more stubborn every time moses  asked pharaoh to let the people go  pharaoh said  no  after the ninth plague the plague of  darkness the israelites were told to  prepare for what was to come  every family was to take a lamb and make  a special sacrifice to god  then they put the blood of the lamb on  the doorpost of their homes as a sign  that israelite slaves lived in those  homes  the tenth plague was makat bihorot  striking down the first-born sons of  mitzraim  the israelites were spared because of  the blood on their homes  the angel of death passed over  pasach  the marked houses  after this tenth play the grieving  pharaoh relented and agreed to let the  israelites go  they were in a hurry and they knew  pharaoh could change his mind at any  moment they did not even wait long  enough for their bread dough to rise  they quickly gathered their food and  their belongings and left meets ryam as  fast as they could  sure enough pharaoh did change his mind  his army chased the israelites into the  sea and just as the last israelites  stepped out onto dry land  the waves of the sea crashed down on  pharaoh and all of his men  the israelites were saved they rejoiced  with singing and dancing even as god  grieved the loss of the life of the  egyptians who were also god's children  we remember these events today with the  holiday of passover beginning with the  seder a special meal that includes  elements such as drinking four cups of  wine asking for questions reading about  and discussing the story of the exodus  from a book called a haggadah eating  foods filled with meaning like  unleavened bread called matzah  and bitter herbs called maror  through it all trying to imagine what it  would have been like  to be a slave to pharaoh in egypt  we continue to tell this story each year  at our passover seder  because we know that if god had not  freed us we would all still be slaves  we recognize that the more we learn and  talk about it the more we can see the  suffering of others and feel called to  make sure that all enslaved people are  freed  even today  isn't that a great story of liberation  it's one of my favorites  let's sing some more  this song um  goes really quickly  so you may not be able to keep up with  the hebrew because it's not our language  but we've practiced a few times so i  think we're good to go and we discovered  that clapping  really makes it energetic and fun so we  invite you to sing if you can we're  going to sing it through three times and  note that at the bottom of the third  line  there's a quick eighth note  and no break  it goes right back to the beginning so  no pause to get your breath or anything  i just like train right through  so uh betsy if you could do the first  four notes that'd be helpful  <br>  thank you  the song is  uh  we shall bring you peace  a good message for today  in a few minutes  rabbi mary raskin will share her sermon  when is the time for courage  mary lives in portland  she is president of the society for  humanistic judaism  she recently completed the rabbinic  program at the international institute  for secular humanistic judaism  and her rabbinic ordination will be held  on april 22nd  of this year  but first  as we share a few moments of silence for  prayer  meditation or reflection  as may be your tradition  let's consider these words from the  founder of humanistic judaism rabbi  sherman wine and bring to mind those you  would wish  could join us  in this our community  our congregation is more than a  congregation  it is more than a collection of people  it is a community of friends  an alliance of believers we are engaged  in shared work  we are moved by shared  ideals there is a solidary of purpose a  union of goals  when we celebrate we celebrate together  and when we need support  we support each other  our congregation is more  than an institution  it is more than a casual assumption  it is a family of choice  a fellowship of like-minded people  our bonds are more than convenience and  tradition  we have chosen to be here  because we want to be here  we have chosen to be here because we  need to be here because standing alone  is never as inspiring  as standing together  so as we take a moment of silence to  think about our community  feel warm about it  <br>  [ __ ]  <br>  good morning everyone  i'm honored to be here thank you  today  we are five days away from the most  significant holiday of the jewish people  the passover story told in the first 15  chapters of the book of exodus  begins the story of a patriarchal  society  transformed into a people under the  leadership of moses  later in the book of exodus  after the ancient hebrews have achieved  freedom  and therefore can make decisions for  themselves  they entered into an agreement or  covenant with god  this covenant of which the ten  commandments are the most well known is  the basis for judaism  we learn early in the story  that the ancient hebrews were slaves for  more than 400 years before the exodus  why was this  truly we don't know  the ancient text does not tell us why  perhaps they were complacent  perhaps their fear was too great  what we do know is that they were  inspired by a leader  moses  we also know that it took courage on the  part of the ancient hebrews and of moses  to flee egypt for the unknown to face  setbacks in the desert and to commit to  a covenantal community  these changes required courage  we know from our own lives that change  is difficult  when we realize that the familiar is no  longer satisfactory or can no longer be  tolerated we are willing to consider the  unknown no matter what the risk  sometimes change is forced upon us  however whatever the cause  the time for courage is when change is  required the exodus story is one of  significant risk of heroes of setbacks  and finally of commitment  all of it requiring the courage to  change  my interpretation of the exodus story  comes by way of humanistic judaism  our movement is almost 60 years old  and as spencer mentioned was begun by  excuse me rabbi sherwin wine in detroit  michigan  our jewish practices are based on a  humanistic and non-theistic approach to  traditional jewish holidays and life  cycle events  we create new liturgy based on the  ethical core of jewish history  literature and culture  our institutes in chicago and israel  train humanistic jewish ritual leaders  and rabbis  humanistic jews use ideas from science  modern theories in history and sociology  literature language studies and  humanistic philosophy to understand and  interpret the biblical text  jews have been interpreting the biblical  text for over 2000 years and continue to  do so  as a secular humanist i don't  necessarily find the literal text  inspirational  however when i read it humanistically i  can sometimes find great meaning  the bible was written  and edited by multiple people over a  thousand year period  there are myths legends and  some truly awful tales  there is also poetry  stories of love and ethical sayings  there are multiple contradictory stories  and conflicting points of view  the bible is historical literature  it is not historical fact  for example  modern scholars no longer view the  exodus story as told in the bible as  true  it does not stand up to the rigor of  modern historical analysis  and there's several reasons for this  first  the biblical account does not match with  known extra-biblical accounts of the  history of the area  there is no period in egyptian history  that corresponds to the biblical story  there is also no textual confirmation  relating to this large-scale exodus  second  some scholars point to the lack of  archaeological evidence  there is no evidence of a mass migration  of people from egypt to canaan instead  there is some archaeological evidence  showing the movement of canaanites  there is also evidence of continuity of  the canaanites and the israelites  leading to the proposal that the  israelites originated with the  canaanites  still other scholars proposed that the  story is influenced by one tribe the  levites who may have been egyptian in  origin  the biblical text notes that  moses was from the levite tribe  many levite names are egyptian in origin  including moses and aaron  the levites were cultic experts and they  were a tribe without land  perhaps the story came from them  and perhaps they brought it from egypt  i was taught the exodus story was true  and i was stunned and a bit angry when  as an adult i learned the story was not  true  it took me a while to accept this  assertion  but i can tell you i eventually did  but now i had a new problem  what was i to think about the exodus  story and about the bible itself  i had never believed the creation  stories were fact okay that was easy  however what about the powerful  and meaningful exodus story  this was a harder transition  i came to realize that what was powerful  and meaningful about the exodus story  was not the literal story  it was the many ideas embedded in that  story  slavery freedom  imperfect leadership the risks and  trials of freedom  and coming together in a covenantal  relationship  all of this requiring courage  now that i am no longer bound  by the literal text  i can explore the literary text  great literature inspires us  we learn with each new reading  the biblical text commands  commands us to tell the story of the  exodus  and it's in the spirit of that command i  invite you to join me in a telling of  the exodus story  as a mythic tale of a people who  journeyed from slavery  where they could make no decisions for  themselves  to a people who chose to be in a  covenantal community  their journey falls into three parts  slavery and freedom  traveling in the desert and commitment  to the covenant  what did they face at each step and how  did they respond  what can we as members of a covenantal  community learn from this story  the first part of their story begins at  the end of genesis when joseph the son  of the patriarch jacob is sold into  slavery by his brothers  joseph rise to prominence and wealth as  an advisor to the pharaoh  at the end of genesis joseph is reunited  with his fathers and brother  the first chapter of exodus is a  prologue describing the growth of  jacob's family into a people and the  oppression they suffered under the new  pharaoh  the worst edict from the pharaoh was the  order to drown the newborn hebrew boys  this is when we are introduced to moses  he was saved when his mother placed him  in a basket and he was discovered by an  egyptian princess  moses was then nursed by his mother and  then raised an egyptian court  as an adult  moses saw an overseer beating a slave  in his anger he killed the overseer  fearing punishment he ran away to the  land of midian  there he married and worked as a  shepherd for his father-in-law  when god approached moses to lead the  hebrews to freedom he declined  moses was afraid to be a leader he knew  the pharaohs and the hebrews wouldn't  listen to him  and he had a speech impediment  moses told god  i have never been a man of words  either in the times past or now  i am slow of speech and slow of tongue  finally god relented and said that his  brother aaron would join him and speak  for him  moses his wife and family and aaron made  the journey to egypt where they faced  pharaoh and demanded the release of the  hebrews  ten times moses demanded that fear  pharaoh let the israelites go  or suffer from god's anger  ten times pharaoh refused and ten times  the egyptians suffered the plagues from  god's anger  following the last plague the israelites  had to make quick preparations for their  departure  they finally crossed the sea to freedom  and celebrated with singing and dancing  led by miriam moses sister  in this first part of the tale we  learned the courage the israelites  displayed when despite their fears of  the unknown they trusted moses ran from  the egyptian soldiers and crossed the  sea  we also learned that moses was an  imperfect leader he had a terrible  temper a speech impediment  and he didn't want to be a leader  moses faced these imperfections with  courage  to stand up to pharaoh and to lead the  israelites  we also learned something especially  important about the beginning of what it  meant to be a people  the commitment of the israelites to each  other and to moses gave them  the courage to proceed  so too  in our communities  for example when we first learned of  covid we could only fear the unknown  because we didn't have enough  information to create a future  it was our commitment to each other and  to our leaders  which gave us the courage to make and  continues to give us the courage to make  changes in response to coven  in the second part of our story moses  and the israelites traveled into the  desert where they faced new challenges  they suffered from a lack of water and  food they were attacked by raiders  their need for water was met with their  arrival at an oasis with 12 springs of  water and 70 palm springs  palm trees sorry  after a month and a half they became  very hungry and complained to moses and  aaron  god supplied manna and while we don't  know what manna was  we do know it fed the israelites for the  40 years they were in the desert  the last challenge they faced  was an attack from a group of raiders  called the amalekites  there's no extra biblical record of the  amalekites though they are mentioned in  later stories in the bible  moses appointed joshua to select some  men to fight the amalekites  he stationed himself at the top of the  hill and while his hands were held high  the israelites prevailed  when his hands grew heavy and dropped  the amalekites prevailed  finally  two men brought moses a stone to sit on  and they held his hands up until the  battle was won  in this part of our story  the israelites face thirst hunger and  raiders  our communities may face financial  setbacks disillusionment or doubt  like moses our leaders can become worn  out and tired  again  it is our commitment to our community  and our leaders which gives us the  courage to respond to setbacks  our commitment  is the foundation for the spiritual  support we provide our community and its  leaders  this spiritual support is necessary to  make to meet the very real and changing  needs of our communities  in the last part of our story the  hebrews eventually reach mount sinai or  the mountain of god  jethro the father-in-law of moses  arrives at camp with moses's wife and  two sons  the next day jethro sees that from  morning until evening  moses is acting as a judge to settle the  disputes that people bring to him  jethro says to moses  the thing you are doing is not right  you will surely wear yourself out and  these people as well  for the task is too heavy for you you  cannot do it alone  now listen to me i will give you counsel  jethro tells moses to do two things  one is to make the various laws and  practices public so the people don't  have to come to him all the time for  counsel  second  jethro instructs moses to find  trustworthy people that is those who are  not susceptible to bribes  and make them chiefs or judges of the  people  the chiefs are to decide the minor  disputes and bring the major disputes to  moses  jethro tells moses  make it easier for yourself by letting  them share the burden with you  moses did this and jethro returned home  in the next part of our story moses  meets with god at the top of mount sinai  to learn the terms of the covenant  the ten commandments are the initial  terms  the first five are duties to god  and the second five are duties to people  both  are of equal importance  some of the ten commandments are  codified  in our justice system today  for example numbers 6 8 and 9 are  you shall not murder you shall not steal  you shall not bear false witness against  your neighbor personally or in court  following the initial terms set by the  ten commandments the entire covenant is  laid out in the next three chapters  there are religious laws  civil and criminal laws  and there are ethical laws the covenant  also identifies times for spiritual  gatherings throughout the year  i want to note here that these laws  do not provide practical information on  how to follow them  they are not a well-organized or  detailed set of rules  there are also discrepancies with  similar laws listed in other parts of  the bible  filling in the gaps or interpreting how  to follow these laws  engaged jewish leaders to this day  there are however some ethical laws that  are particularly meaningful to us today  these are laws calling for the  protection and care of the stranger  that is resident aliens  and laws for widows orphans and the poor  these laws are  you shall not wrong a stranger or  oppress him  for you were strangers in egypt  you shall not ill-treat any widow or  orphan  if you lend money to the poor among you  exact no interest from them  if you take a neighbor's garment  you must return it to him before the sun  sets  it is his only clothing it is a soul  covering for his skin  in what else shall he sleep  these laws are mentioned multiple times  throughout the law codes and their  adherence is demanded by the prophet  prophets  these laws are often grouped together  because they identify people who are  without family or social protection  and are therefore vulnerable to  exploitation  it is an unfortunate reality that we can  see examples of these vulnerable people  in our city  and in our country  and in the world at large  in this final part of our story we see  the ancient israelites are now a formal  community  they have agreed to a covenant that is a  set of practices and values to guide  their interactions  they have established a leadership  structure to facilitate  solving problems and making decisions  they have also established important  times for spiritual gathering  our communities have also agreed to  covenantal practices and values  our communities also have a leadership  structure for solving problems and  making decisions  we also identify our important and  meaningful times together  i invited you to join me in the telling  of the exodus story as a mythic tale of  a people who journeyed from slavery  where they could make no decisions for  themselves to a people who chose to be  in a covenantal community  through this story we saw that it took  courage for the ancient israelites to  take risks  to overcome setbacks and to commit to a  covenantal community  mythic stories are meant to inspire us  our communal stories may not be as grand  as a mythic tale  however they are meaningful to us  our communities have faced the unknown  taken risks and overcome setbacks  we've not done this alone  we've relied on each other  it takes courage to commit to and  maintain a covenantal community  our principles and values are  inspirational  they are what we strive for and we need  each other to reach them  it takes courage to recognize our  weaknesses and acknowledge setbacks  it takes courage to trust in each other  to strive to reach our inspirational  goals  in the biblical story it was god who  gave the community commandments and laws  to govern their actions  today  we write our own principles and values  it is a testament to our communities  that we have the courage to accept our  weaknesses and to strive for the greater  good  the biblical language can sound awkward  to our ears  and indeed  the ancient commandments and laws were  written for a society that lived more  than three thousand years ago  however  if we read carefully we can discern  principles that are meaningful to us  today  telling the story of the ancient  israelites can be a reminder of the  journey our own communities continue to  take  it can be a reminder of our continued  commitment to each other thank you  <br>  very nice  thanks mary  courage and community i love the message  let's sing some more  hello thanks um so this one should be  more familiar to most of you who knows  this one  yay because we're gonna sing it as a  round and i know there's some choir  members out there so i'm counting on you  guys too this part over on the right  looks a little uh thin for that part so  maybe oh thank you john thank you diane  um  we're gonna sing it through together  once and then spencer's gonna lead this  right side and virginia and i are gonna  lead the middle and dave is gonna lead  the left side and you just come in every  measure you see where the numbers are  and it means  the words mean  peace until we meet again  oh  <br>  oh  oh  i love thinking about this community  i joined woof just a couple years ago  in this short time i have come to  appreciate and feel deep gratitude for  all i have found here  acceptance and belonging  learning and growth  friendship  and community  i hope that everyone can find many gifts  here  so this is the time in our service when  we pause to reflect on what we have  received from our community  to consider what it is that we have  given  and what it is that we are grateful for  during betsy's musical interlude please  consider the gifts you have to offer our  wolf community  whether it be financial support  or the special gift of your time or  talent know that we are grateful for  your offering  when you leave the sanctuary today there  will be an offering basket in the foyer  please consider making a contribution  there or through the website  <br>  thank you  betsy  join me please in our affirmation  of gratitude and giving  let us be grateful when we are able to  give for many do not have that privilege  let us be grateful for all those who  share their gifts with us  for we are enriched by their giving  and let us be grateful even for our  needs  so that we may learn from the generosity  of others  as our time together comes to a close  our final words  are from mary falk from the book of  blessings  loving life and its mysterious source  with all our heart and all our spirit  all our senses and strength  we take upon ourselves and into  ourselves these promises  to care for the earth and those who live  upon it to pursue justice and peace  to love kindness and compassion  we will teach this to our children  throughout the passage of the day  as we dwell in our houses  as we go on about our journeys from the  time we rise  until we fall asleep  and  may our actions be faithful to our words  that our children's children may live to  know  truth and kindness have embraced  peace and justice have kissed  and  are  one  go in love go in peace  until we meet again thank you  ","score":0},{"video_id":"Ct0ubxzCU9o","title":"Santa Misa, Jueves 16 de Junio 2022 (7am)","description":"Jueves de la XI semana del Tiempo ordinario","channel_title":"Stpatricklaredo","thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ct0ubxzCU9o/mqdefault.jpg","captions":" you are safe ahead  <br> the name of the father and the awake son holy the grace our lord christ the father's love the harmonium I hope holy are you all  my mind we have new  sins sometimes I think  even the father, lord of summer, you see the truth that the peoples life crisis had nothing to do with the world miss entity god almighty we have with us are the sins and life takes us  we  will see without hatred for the ac of those who wait for after all they are not to our high and perhaps without you nothing can make us sick in weakness and not always some of your grace to complement it your will we always have with the desires and actions with this Lord Jesus Christ I tell you that the number with you homework soon and God  for ever and ever there can be openings  the reading of the ecclesiastic's book will be an accident at that time a prophet of fire arose on days his word burned like a flame  he made famine fall on the israelites and with zeal we rose in the name of the lord he closed the floodgates of heaven and made fire come down three times from on high how glorious you are elias for your prodigies who can boast of being equal to you your laughter your  raised a dead man from the grave but you pulled from the dead by the word of the most high you brought kings to ruin and princes to death in their beds you heard god's threats at sinai and his words of punishment in oreo I conquered avenging kings and appointed a prophet as your successor in a whirlwind of flames you were snatched up to heaven on a chariot drawn by horses of fire it is written of you that you will return laden with threats at the appointed time to appease anger before it erupts to make the hearts of fathers turn towards their children and gather the tribes of Israel blessed are those who saw you and died enjoying your friendship but more than  Blessed are those who are alive when you return when the day was snatched away by the whirlwind the high school was filled with his spirit no prince intimidated him no one could dominate him nothing was impossible for him and even when he was in the grave he raised a dead man alive he did prodigies and  after death admirable deeds word of god  let the righteous rejoice with the lord  the lord reigns happy on earth sing for joy the whole world the throne of the lord sits on justice and right let them rejoice  a fire that devours its  contrary to our god precedes dazzles the globe with its lightning and seeing them the earth trembles <br> they  really melt as it will be before the lord of all the earth the heavens proclaim his justice his immense glory all the peoples see  those who adore statues that are  they fill with sorrow and blush the same one who boasts of his idols that they fall before god all the gods  <br>  we have received a esp  spirit of children that makes us exclaim father <br>  the lord be with you  theresa vergeles and keep teo  click and on time jesús diaz his disciples you know version 9 a lot with the sins that I know that by force of talking a lot they will be heard  no they are not issued why suffer what they need before you ask them because they are like that for ours who are in heaven hallowed be your name come tve what is asked on earth known not only the bread of each  day for our offenses as we also put the sluice in front and do not let us fall into temptation and live this evil if you can the dishes to men you will also lose the heavenly father you did it first the men either for having your faults can see sir it will  be projected  there are many christians who are not catholics who misunderstand these words of the gentleman who says don't talk about it much because they tell us that we shouldn't  repeat the sentences as we do the necessary but what he is saying is to speak without thinking if we speak many sentences without thinking about what we are talking about he hopes that it is vain but we know that the Jews before Christ- many times they allowed the psalms repeated the readers of the prophets and it is because the truths of tibás are much higher than us that it can benefit us to repeat them and think about them again we also collaborate now by using it there are two ways and ways to start is to think about the prayers because the deep ones but it goes well  when we are praying we can think about the mysteries of the ossuary and apply it to his life so it should not be a soul but it can benefit us a lot to pray repeat the prayers of the healthy lion we are also thinking about two life missions of jesus and mary that if it were  from pib  we trusted  God presents the petitions  so that he grants the church freedom and peace, we pray to the  Lord that  be said to establish and preserve justice in all nations let us pray to the lord we draw dreams so that he forgives sinners protects the just and the health of the sick let us pray to the lord we make mistakes so that we may live the wish of heaven let us pray to the lord we seek you we put a beautiful end to the pandemic that afflicts our world so that our father god heals the sick strengthen those who care for them and help us persevere in faith let us pray to the lord that we see  for the victims of rural violence in our places  and the family findings about massa sr  for the people of ukraine and for the purpose of what it was we put the lord  for health from washington james com and moral cancerous injuries we can the lord  and let us pay software for his back besides god facial priests and videos as we will see  to the gentleman  and by extension that of mass for lessons for victoria martín established on his birthday we will see the gentleman <br> to say they will be the future pensions there is one always to trust  you can swim  <br>  for hands so that your ministry gets worse to  Almighty God  I have to with this father this wine that we present to you dance of normal element that sustains it the sacrament that the new preserves the Lord that we never lack this help for the body and soul that is why Christ the Lord  the Lord I am with you the continuation  from the heart  let us give thanks to us  the power is necessary that is investment thanksgiving always do place lord father holy god all for one shift for christ our lord  as women we celebrate with united in  charity regarding the point nothing more with the batting and knowledge  thick to keep them with faith same hope that's why with all blood and saints that we gave by commands without ceasing  blood <br>  holy now they give me strong lord all holiness that's why we ask you to be religious double colleges of writings that he had been carrying with us in the body and blood of the circuit in the lord which with diversity of the situation of the subject treated  giving him sports classes and the district gods is making domenico increase this because this is my body that is bound by you  <br> in  the same way finished in cars and thanking you again the steps your titles saying in all this because that place is my  blood blood from the window that will be from the manna always foreseen many for their own sins do this in combination with me  <br>  this sacrament in our being  so father observer of instruction your son we offer you the bread of crazy life of salvation and we thank you because  you make them of our next presence we simply ask that the holy spirit with great unity with the principals of the body  po and over christ which if not the church exceeds the earth that as papa francisco you preserve lower it and all people that when the town takes the lack of protection for  charity to the fewer humans who slept in the plants of our selection  have mercy on  we the 5 in marialabaja mother of god about after they are 16 the opposites and when they should in a state the times deserve we can christ share the eternal life and sing the praises  but christ with him and in the powerful shot in some expression every moment of guard by  ever and ever  you can see my nations savior and silence of teaching we abide by being our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done the earth as a nation give us today our daily bread  as well  we  and see of all manuel sr my advice is peace in those days so that the first day we were always free of sin  and protests of the operation while we waited for tunez avenue it is order christ  gentlemen christ who says this portal is peace this happens to me I am do not have in with the sins without effects of the cio and according to your word they pass it on safely you who live their lives forever and ever the peace of the lord be with you always  perfectly peace  <br>  this is the lamb  from God that hits you from the world blessed guests mrs  and yes  <br>  let us pray  Lord that you feel at home that we are going to know as well as what the union of the faithful in you means as well as it has already affected the unity of your church for the Lord the  lord be with you god's blessing all parent-child product holy spirit s  on you yes but you can always go in peace  yes for me  well <br> it 's our blood <br> this is  one of your lives <br> and toast to him  i  and them  verses  he answered me  <br>  well  well  I don't know  ","score":0}]