How Does God Feel About You?- May 11, 2025

[Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Good morning. We are small, but we're mighty. We are mighty. Good morning. I'm Cass Wedell. I will be your liturgist, introducer, whatever you want to call me this morning. First of all, I would like to welcome Linda Jberg. Reverend Linda Jberg lives in Westminster Towers. Um, she has been in ministry for a while. She has retired twice. uh last time she retired from just down the road at Howie in the hills at the community

church there. So, welcome Linda. We're glad to have you. Uh probably everybody knows here. If you don't, uh Brenda is in Philadelphia with a brand new grandchild, Sylvia. No, Sylvie Thea Loyal. and she I believe was born about four days ago. So I did get pictures. She's very cute. And what a Mother's Day this is for her and for her daughter-in-law. Anyway, thank you all. Um let me begin by welcoming everybody this Mother's Day. Uh first of all, real quickly, some housekeeping things. There's a red friendship pad on your

desk or your table. uh please fill that out so we know that you were here. Uh also we don't have an offering like we do in the main service. So that is on your table. There's a basket. So please just drop whatever you'd like to in there. That would be wonderful. Uh minutes. Uh if you'll look at u back of your bulletin there are several important things going on. Uh PW lunchon is coming up on the 20th. Sign in or sign up is in uh the entryway at the concier's desk. Please do that. Uh Sunday school class led by our own the

most reverend Dr. Thomas Barry ammeritus. Uh and that's right after this service. Um, also please note that uh the Mitchells gave flowers today and it is honor it is in honor of their 56th or 58th anniversary and his 80th birthday. So that's kind of neat for them. Um, so if you see him, please do give them a a hearty welcome and congratulations. Uh, let's see. Anything else? Um, please note the prayer concerns on the back of the bulletin. Um, the shiitakqua, our own um, let's see what do we've got on

shiakqua. Uh, oh, I think we're going to have pie baking. Would the pie baker please stand [Applause] up? Thank you, Emily. Emily, if you don't know, is a renowned pie baker and has won worldwide awards for her pies. So, and that is on the 20 28th 28th at noon. So, please sign up for that and and come and she does you do need to sign up so uh she can they can have an idea of how many plates and things to bring. Anybody else have any announcements before? Let's have a prayer. Please join me in prayer. Oh God, on this Good Sheeperd

Sunday, we celebrate your love. Christ Jesus, we lift up all the women in our lives. Those who have given us life, those who love us, those who have blessed us, those who have taught us. Today we celebrate mothers, but we should remember to celebrate them each and every day. We thank you for their love and we live them lift them up today, especially on this wonderful Sunday morning. We thank you for the gift they are in our lives. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Uh we have a moment for mission.

Uh Lo, I believe that's you today. Good morning. I'm here for a moment for mission today. U Barry Long is our chairman of the mission committee and Jane Warner is the ambassador for the fellowship of Christian athletes and that's what I'm going to speak on and share some information. U want you to understand that our our church supports them extensively. Um they make a pack positive uh across the world, United States, and in our own Mount Door area by helping to foster spiritual growth for both students and

coaches. Some of you may know the name Sammy Smith. He was raised in Zelwood and was a firstround draft pick by the man Miami Dolphins in 1989 after be being a star running back at Florida State. He now lives in Mount Dora and is dedicated to work with FCA. He hits the nail on the head when he says, "At this time in our world, more than ever, we need to be filling the minds of our young people with our faith." An outreach of FCA is something called huddles. A huddle is a small group of athletes and coaches that meet

at the schools uh for Bible study and devotion. It's here that the coaches and the students encourage and pray for each other. There are high school middle school huddles happening all over North County and that includes the schools in Mount Dora. Today, over 100 students at Mount Dora High, over 50 at Mount Door Middle School, and 60 at the Round Lake School are meeting in these small huddles to share values in safe environment with like-minded friends. The greatest impact FCA has is through its summer camps for local

students and coaches. Nowhere else in their ministry do they see so many lives completely transformed by the Holy Spirit. This year they've budgeted over $27,000 for the coming camp season in Lake County. Here the students can explore their faith, grow in leadership, and build a meaningful friendship with like-minded peers and then they can play sports. Shane Williamson, the FCA president, states their mission to be to serve God 247. God never sleeps or takes a vacation. He's always working for our good and

working to strengthen us. Thus, we pray we can lead every coach, every athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and his church. Hopefully, in December, when the mission committee sponsors the alternative Christmas market, you will be able to make the Fellowship of Christian Athletes one of your choices. By doing that, you will be able to support the youth in Mount Dora and you'll be helping them to come to know Christ. Your investment will be one that has an eternal impact on the life of a

student, athlete, or a coach. And in closing, I'd like to bring to your attention one other church matter. Uh the summer book club group is getting started or will be getting started. They begin on Tuesday evenings on June the 3. They're going to be studying the book Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. Miriam Rockchness will be the leader of the study. The signup sheet is now going to be available at the concurge desk. Everyone is welcome and we all we encourage you to all sign up. Thanks. Thank you, LOL. Let's stand and sing.

And Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I lift your name on [Music] high. Lord, I love to sing your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life. life. I'm so glad you came to save us. You came from heaven to earth to shout away. From the earth to the cross, my death to pay. From the cross to the grave. From the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I lift your name on high. Lord, I love to sing your praises. I'm so glad you're in my life. I'm so glad you came to save us. You came from heaven to earth, to

show the way. From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. From the cross to the grave. From the grave to the sky, Lord, I lift your name on high. You came from heaven to earth to show the way. From the earth to the cross, my dead. From the cross to the grave. From the grave to the sky. Lord, I lift your name on high. [Music] Majesty. Worship his majesty. Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise, majesty, kingdom of glory. move from his throne unto his own his hand of praise. So exalt, lift up on high the name of

Jesus. Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the king. Majesty. Worship his majesty. Jesus who died. The glorified king of all kings. And you may be seated. Good morning. It's um my phone did not charge overnight, but fortunately the alarm went off and it died on 4:29 before it told me when to turn off to get to Mount Dura. And suddenly I had no phone and I had no GPS. So, um, and the phone numbers that Brenda had given me for you folks were in the back seat and I'm flying along 429. I wouldn't have answered anyway.

You wouldn't have answered anyway. So, yeah, there was that. Anyway, uh, fortunately, I wandered into Mount Dora. Well, I could say by accident, but I think the Holy Spirit might have had something to do with that. And then apparently, there was a Baptist who knew where you were. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And he was a relatively new Baptist, but he gave me, you know, like six different directions of how to get here, which of course in my old brain I remembered three out of the six. And so

then I'm wandering around driving through the streets of Mentor and I come across these two guys walking their big shaggy dogs and I asked them where you were and they knew where you were but that was because they're standing in front of your church. But I got here so praise God for that. What are your joys and concerns this morning? I have a pen that writes I'm ready. By the way, if you came to take a nap, um I apologize. You probably won't be napping this morning. Um so share with me what would you like to pray

about today? We have a microphone here so that people can hear on the feed. Thank you. We uh we have some friends, the Dowlings, who uh had a car hit their house and virtually destroyed bedrooms and the whole end of the house. So, they had to abandon the house. They have their parents with them. Not a scratch on anybody, but they need our prayers to just handle everything they're they're going to need to handle. And um and then the other one is Phil Kaminsky. He's uh he's in rehab and um just prayers that

he uh he heals up and uh he listens to what the doctors tell him. And you just told us a lot in that last phrase that he listens to the doctors. Good morning. I'm Mike Smith. I'm the son of Karen Smith down from Michigan. As many of you are aware, mom fainted on her way into church last Sunday. Um so appreciate all the help that folks have have given to mom and dad. Mom's in rehab at Waterman right now. It's probably going to be a long road for her, but just thank the the outreach, the love that uh has been extended to

mom and dad. I'll be going home this week. So, dad's going to be here by himself, but uh just healing for mom, uh peace for both mom and dad, and just a wonderful church family. So, thank you. What is her first name again? I'm Mike. This is Patrick, my father. And your mother's first name? Karen. I'm sorry. Prayers for you. Anyone else? Couple of folks over here. They did that on purpose when you were over here. They did not put your hand their hand up just to make you I got a text uh yesterday afternoon from

Renee McCall. Many of you will remember she was the founding director of our preschool and did an excellent job. Well, she's retired now, but her young son uh and his wife welcomed a baby yesterday. So, she's a grandom for the for the first time. And so, I told her what a great mother's mother's day gift. So, many of you would remember her. I think she may still be in the director. You might want to reach out. Her son who was in our youth group was named Mike. I just like to say thanks to all for your prayers for my brother Elden.

His hip surgery was very successful and Now he's on the slow, I guess, PT exercise to get back to normal. But thanks again. I'd like to share a prayer of thanksgiving for our new pope and wishes for the large uh group of Catholics around the world who are who are now have a new pope the 14th. We wish the entire Catholic faith the best for that. Absolutely. Anyone else? I think that's it. All right. Thanks. Thanks for your help. Let's pray together. Gracious Lord, it has been a week filled with noise,

uh, challenges. We ask now in these moments of silence that you would quiet our hearts, that we might not only speak to you, but we might listen to you. Hear us, Lord, even as we pray in silence. Lord Jesus, we take so many things for granted like our homes. We pray for the dowlings as they uh face the complexity of repairing or rebuilding their home. Grant them uh resilience in these days. We lift up Phil and Karen and Elden in rehab. Grant them the resilience and the flexibility to deal with the pain of

rehab as well as the benefits. We lift up Karen to you and ask Lord that deep within her you would stir up uh memories, deep rich memories of your presence in her life and that those memories would bring her peace and confidence and strength for the days ahead. We pray for our Catholic brothers and sisters as they rejoice with the new pope. We ask Lord that um just as the previous pope was really the pope of all of us the people uh that Pope Leo the 14th would be the same a leader amongst all amongst all

Christians and even non-Christians. We pray for our country. We ask Lord that the voices of common sense, the voices of reason, the voices of justice and mercy would be heard and the voices of division and chaos and violence be silenced. We pray all of this, Lord Jesus, in your name, even as we pray together the prayer that you taught us. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also forgiven our

debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. I want to uh share with you uh Psalm 23, which I'm sure is very familiar to many of you. There are several different translations of Psalm 23, one of which you see in your bulletin this morning. And I invite you to join me as uh we refresh our memories of this Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet

waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. And even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And let's stand and sing hallelujah. Holly, holly, hallelujah. Halle hal

hallelu. Holly, hallelu, hallelujah, halleluah, holly, holly, holly, holly, holly, holly, holly, holly, holly, hallelujah, halleluah. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. to see you high and lifted up. Shining in the light of your glory. Pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want

to see you. I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory. Pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. I want to see you. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. I want to see you. And you may be seated. This New Testament scripture reading is rather long. So if your neighbor falls asleep,

just, you know, do a little do a little elbow thing and and and if you're falling asleep, you're by yourself, I'll just come down and give you a little nudge. Okay. All right. You're good. You're good. All right. The scripture text is from one of my favorite books of the Bible, Ephesians. Uh the apostle Paul writes these writes this to us in the first chapter. Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he

chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sunship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us and the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his

will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to his plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of

truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him in Christ with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Do any of you remember diagramming sentences in English? And yeah, this was a good experience in trying to diagram sentences when Paul has these long long run-on sentences. I once asked a retired um army sergeant, and you can just picture

what a retired army sergeant might look like. And I asked him, "How does God feel about you?" and he began to rattle off things like, "Well, I try to be a good person. I go to church occasionally. I'm not perfect, but I try to do the right thing." And and I said to him, you know, that's not really the question I asked you. I asked you, "How does God feel about you?" Now, we need to remember that God does have feelings. In the scriptures, it's talked where God weeps, he cries, he grieavves, God is

joyful, God is angry at times. Um, and so the the question is then if God has feelings, how does he feel about you? It's a simple question actually, but the answer has profound consequences about how you live your life. Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're I think there's one young person in this whole fellowship hall. Would I be correct in that? Yeah. Oh, actually there's two. Thank you. There are two people that classify as young. Although nowadays 70 is what, the new

40s or something like that. I don't know. Something like that. Yeah, but I think that we have learned in the course of our years on this planet that there are people who don't care about us or don't care for us. And I think what we've learned is so what? Do I hear an amen? Amen. We kind of have learned that over the years. So what? But we we come back to the question then of who is this God that we're asking? How do you feel about us? This God um who is all powerful, all knowing, lives in relationship with God,

three three persons. This God who is the creator of all things including pat platypuses. How did he come up with that thought of slugs, sloths, stars? He created it all. This is the God we're asking. How do you feel about us? The God who is our redeemer. How does that God feel about you? Paul goes on in this first chapter and he says, "God who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." What was your favorite Christmas present? There's silence because I'm waiting for somebody to tell me. A

bicycle. All right. A puppy. This side of the room. Come on. A car. Whoa. Everybody. One, two, three. Whoa. He was 12. He was 12. Little matchbox. Yeah. Um, this tells you something about um I grew up on a dairy farm and um and rode horses. And so for my I think it was my 11th or 12th birthday or Christmas, I wanted insulated underwear to wear in the winter time when I was rotting my horse. And I got it. Yay. The text says, "Every spiritual blessing in Christ is held for us in the heavenly realms." Every spiritual

blessing from Christ. wholeness, healing, a vision for the present and future, joy, peace. Every spiritual blessing is held for us in the heavenly realms. Let's just try to wrap our head around some of those blessings. In the fourth verse, Paul says, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." Do you remember junior high gym when um I think I had no girls, right? Girls, we were just girls, right? In gym class. They didn't have co-ed gym classes 70 whatever years ago or

whatever. Anyway, the teacher would tell us to line up on the wall. Do you remember this? And then the teacher would pick two of the most popular kids in the class or the best athletes in the class and they would be captains and then they would pick their teams one at a remember this. And then there would always be four or five kids left on the wall. You remember anybody left on the wall? No, you don't have to tell me. It's okay. It's okay. And then the teacher would have to go to those two captains and

say, "You must pick the last four or five. You just have to." And so, um, that's not a good feeling to be left on the wall. Um, remember who God is. God is more majestic than Caitlyn Clark. And I love Caitlyn Clark. He's more Maybe. Does anybody not know who Caitlyn Clark is? All right. Good. Oh. All right. Well, it's okay. You don't have to know. It's all good. How about LeBron James? Do you know who LeBron James is? Okay. God is more majestic than even LeBron James, even Keith Urban or even the president or even the Pope.

God is more majestic than any entity that has ever lived or will live. He's that majestic. And God chose you off the wall. That's how that's how chose you. God, the almighty, all powerful, all- knowing God chose you. How does God feel about you? Paul goes on and he says, "In love, he predestined us for adoption to sunship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will." God does just didn't pick you off the wall. He adopts us. He welcomes us into his family as full members. If any of you have adopted

children, imagine how big your heart is for that child. He adopts us into his family. He takes pleasure and welcomes us into his family. How does God feel about you? Paul goes on, "He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ." A man shows up at the um doctor's office and the receptionist says to him, "What do you have?" And he says, "Shingles." And so she proceeds to take his weight, his height, takes his blood pressure, tells him to wait in the room for the doctor

to come. The doctor walks in and the doctor says, "What do you have?" And the guy says shingles. And the doctor says, 'Well, where are they? And he says, 'They're in the driveway in my truck. Nobody bothered to listen. Nobody bothered to listen. We don't listen well. We don't even share ourselves well with other people. You know the conversation. Hi, how are you? And what is the typical response? Fine. your dog could have just died and you say fine because we don't share we don't talk to people about our real what's

happening in our inner being and typically we don't do that because we assume they won't listen. I know if you ask me how I am, um, I will say, "Well, do you really want to know?" Because it'll take me a while to figure it out. And if you really don't want to know, I don't want to spend the time figuring it out. Does that make sense? So, I will never ask you how you are unless I intend to sit down and listen to what you might have to say. And here is God. Here's God making known to us the mystery of his will.

God um he opens up to us his purposes, his values, all in the word of God and in the person of Jesus Christ. He wants us to know him. How does he feel about you? Paul goes on to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. Paul can't just use one word to describe grace. He calls it glorious. It is bright. It is radiant. It is

splendor. It is constant. It's always We are always welcomed in God's presence. Let that sink in for a moment. No matter what mess you find yourself in, no matter what pothole you've stepped in, or if you're familiar with dairy cows, whatever plop you've stepped in, whatever God welcomes you with open arms always, it's free. God's grace is free. There's nothing that you could do today or not do today that will make God love you more or less than he already does right now. Have you ever had a n How many of you

have had a massage? Had a massage? Okay. Have you ever had a 90minute massage? Yeah. I never make it to the whole 90 minutes. I'm fast asleep probably at 70 minutes. It is absolutely luxurious to have a 90minute massage. And here Paul tells us that God lavishes upon us his grace. Lavishes us with his grace. But Paul's not done. How does God feel about you? He chose you. He adopted you. He revealed his purposes to you. He lavishes with us with grace. And remember, there is no mention in all of these verses of anything you have done.

There's no mention of anything you've accomplished. There's no mention of how close you are in your walk with Christ. There's no mention of how many committees you have ever served on in the Presbyterian Church. It's totally God's initiative. All of these things, totally God's initiative. So, how does God feel about you? He's absolutely crazy about you. He takes delight in you. You are his joy every single day of your life now and forever. Why then do we keep our distance from God's love? Why do we do

that? We too busy trying to earn God's love? Are we somehow afraid of God's love? How foolish. How absolutely foolish. You are God's pride and his joy. Amen. Musicians, please come forward. Was I supposed to give some sort of clue? Was I supposed to go like that or something? You are good. Aren't you glad that God is crazy about [Applause] us? And on this Good Shepherd Sunday, let's stand and sing Shepherd of My Soul. Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control. Wherever you may lead, I will follow. I have made the choice to listen

for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go. Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control. Wherever you may lead, I will follow. I have made the choice to listen for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go. Be it in a quiet pasture, or by a gentle stream, the shepherd of my soul is by my side. Should I face a mighty mountain or a valley dark and deep, the shepherd of my soul will be my guide. Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control. Wherever you may lead, I will follow. I have made the choice to listen

for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go. Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control. Wherever you may lead, I will follow. I have made the choice to listen for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go. May Christ your shepherd supply your needs, refresh your soul, guide you this week in his way. comfort you even in hard places. Lavishly pour his love deep into your soul. And may you dwell in Christ's presence forever. And all God's people said, "Amen." Amen. I give you control. Wherever you may

lead, I will follow. I've made the choice to listen for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go. Shepherd of my soul, I give you all control. Wherever you may lead, I will follow. I have made the choice to listen for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go. Be it in a quiet pasture or by a gentle stream. The shepherd of my soul is by my side. Should I face a mighty mountain or valley dark and deep, the shepherd of my soul will be my guide. Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control. Wherever you may lead, I

will follow. I have made the choice to listen for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go. Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control. Wherever you may lead, I will follow. I have made the choice to listen for your voice. Wherever you may lead, I will go.