Listen With Care

A dreary Sunday morning brightened when we entered the sanctuary where the walls were decorated for our upcoming week of Vacation Bible School theme, Maker Fun Factory: Created By God, Built for a Purpose.

Announcements
1. Dawn shared that we want to update our directory. A sheet is being passed around. Update or add your information.
2. VBS starts tomorrow!
3. Pastor Terry shared the news that their house has sold their home, but on the flip side the house they were seeking to purchase fell through. Pray for their next step.

Terry shared from Psalm 31 before leading us into a time of worship.

Karen shared details about the week ahead. In conjunction with VBS there is always a mission for which we raise money, in keeping with providing a vision beyond our own walls. Melissa shared what this year's mission will be supporting: clean water. Kelly then provided details, noting that every 20 seconds a child dies due to lack of access to clean water. Kelly read a letter from an 11-year-old girl from India who described their struggles to have water. The need is great in many parts of the world for this precious resource that we take for granted.

A massive thunderboom wiped out the power just as the children prepared to lead us in a song, We stood to sing but waited as the sound system was re-booted. High energy and a romp filled the church once the music returned.

Cheryl Borndal led us in a time of prayer before Pastor White came forward to share the message.

Listen With Care

Terry began by talking about the Ponderosa Pine he brought to today, to accompany his Azalea. Ponderosas are resilient. In contrast, the Azalea, so beautiful, is tender and not so resilient.

The sermon today was about evangelism and the Gospel. The theme for five weeks uses the acronym BLESS to bring home five points. Last week Terry spoke about the letter B.

B: Begin with prayer.
L: Listen
E: Eat
S: Serve
S: Share

This week is about listening. How well do you listen? How well do you hear what is said by others or by God?

The truth is that we don't listen well. Terry asked, "What are some things that keep us from good listening?"A number of responses followed including:
Distractions.
Thinking about what we're going to say while the other is talking.
Hearing aids.
Sometimes a person wants to talk and we try to fix things instead of just letting them share. Assumptions are a problem.
Changing the subject.

He then shared how there are inner questions many people have and we can hear what is taking place inside others if we become better listeners.

Am I alone in this world? People have a longing for community and friendship as well as purpose. By listening we can affirm people's value, and also help them feel connected to a community.

There are certain questions that rattle around in inside people no matter where they come from. Here are four basic struggles people have questions about:

Is there meaning to life?
Is there any hope in this world?
Do I belong in this world?
Is there anything beyond this?

All this served as a preface to a sermon on John 4, the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.

The disciples had gone into town. Jesus is by a well when a Samaritan woman comes along. He asks for water. She then asks a question, to which He replies in an indirect manner. Terry pointed out that only 3 times in NT does Jesus answer directly. More than 200 times He is asked questions, and Jesus' answers frequently move the dialogue to unexpected places.

We live in an era in which the basic truths of Christianity are no longer a part of our national understanding. Terry shared how missionaries have to approach their work in different ways based on the culture they find themselves in. They are sensitive to where the culture is at and it affects their approach to dialogue.

Ultimately, the basic questions are universal. Why am I here? Is there hope? What is life all about? What comes next after life?

Your assignment this week will be about learning to listen, and finding ways to turn conversations to the Lord, with the aim of hearing what is really happening in people's hearts. Your objective is not to convert people, but to sow a seed. If that person ever decides he wants to come to the Lord, they will know who to come to.

* * * *

Here is the passage from John 4 which Terry read from today.

John 4 (NIV)

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” 

Not New, New Things

A grey morning outside but warm spirits in the sanctuary as we gather for worship again. Chuck welcomed us and shared how things change. Chuck told a story about how he bought a bike in an effort to lose weight and be healthy. When he was riding his new bike he kept hearing a click-click-click sound. As he tried to figure out where the clicking sound was coming from he finally discovered what it was. It was his knees!

The story was shared to bring home thid point: Next week we will move to our summer hours, so the church service will start at 9:30 a.m. next week. Things change, and our schedule is changing for the summer.

Darlene played a beautiful introit on the piano, and then we turned to our hymnal and sang some great ones.

Cheryl Borndal invited the ushers forward to collect the offering, We then shared a time of praise and prayer.

Pastor Terry introduced a guest from the Gideons, Tom Engelmann. The Gideon's are not simply people who place Bibles in hotel rooms, but also are our partners in saving souls. Tom shared a story about a college student who became so depressed she wished she could take her life. By chance a Gideons Bible was there, arranged by circumstances orchestrated by God.

Not New, New Things

Terry opened with a story underscoring the importance of God's Word. He then had us turn to the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Terry's in the middle of a renovation at his house and he shared that it can be  real challenge. In order to move forward you have to often move backward to make progress. Like mountain climbing, you see that when you reach the current peak there is a lot more ahead of you still.

This is the cycle of life, not only in a house renovation project but also in our personal life goal. So we turned to Ecclesiastes 2:17-23.

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

Sometimes we complicate life. We overthink it.

God has given toil to us as a gift. Why do we see these things as a weight, as anything but a gift?

Eccles 3:22 says,
So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Ecclesiastes 9: 9, 10
9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

It's all worship. Whatever you do,

Ecclesiaster 11:1-6 also addresses our relationship to work.

In closing Terry had us look at Jeremiah 6:16 ...
This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.  

What does it look like to have rest for your soul?

And when we find the good path, we're encouraged to walk it. As you walk it, you will find rest for your souls.

Physical reality, emotional reality, social reality... these realities are all linked. And they all need to be healthy and well.

Every single moment every day, God wants us to love what we're doing and to honor Him.
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