Sent With a Plan - May 31, 2026

Good morning. >> Good morning. >> It is so good to see you all on this beautiful Holy Trinity Sunday morning. I welcome you all. I hope if you have not already done so that you will find the red friendship pad that is located on the inside of each of the pews, please sign your name and let us know that you're worshiping with us.

Call to worship. >> In the beginning, God spoke and creation came to be. >> We worship the God who creates, redeems, and sustains. >> In Jesus Christ, the word became flesh, full of grace and truth. >> We worship the son who calls us, teaches

us, and sends us. >> The Holy Spirit breathes life into the church and the world. >> We worship the spirit who guides, empowers, and goes with us. >> Come, let us worship this the triune God, >> Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. >> And join me in the unison of prayer. Holy God, we come before you in wonder. You are the creator of heaven and earth, who walks with us in grace and truth, and the spirit who gives us life and breath. Open our hearts to your word,

our minds to your wisdom, and our lives to your transforming love. As we gather to worship, remind us that we are not only called to believe, but sent to serve. Not only gathered by grace, but guided by your spirit into the world you love. May our worship this day glorify you. Our lives reflect your love. We pray in the name of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit now and forever.

Lord our God, how majesty majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory in the heavens through the praise of children and you have

established a stronghold against your enemies to silence the flow and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which have set in place. What is mankind that you are mindful of them? Human beings that you are them. You have made them lower than the angels and crown them with glory and honor. His his victims are crushed like glass. They fall his strength. He says to himself, "God will never notice." No, I'm not. I'm sorry. You made them rulers,

the rules of your hands. You put everything under their feet. flocks and herds and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. All that swim with paths of seas. Lord, our Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Our scriptures tell us that if we claim we have no sin, we are truly deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. So it is important for us to take time whenever we worship together to confess our sin. Let us now read our confession that is printed in your bulletin as we

confess our sin before God and one another. Please join me. Holy and gracious God, you have created us in love, claimed us in Christ, and called us by the spirit. Yet we confess that we do not always live as people send in your name. We doubt when you call us to trust. We hesitate when you send us to serve. We are slow to teach, reluctant to listen, and quick to turn inward instead of outward in love. >> Forgive us for forgetting that do not go alone, that you are always in joy and in struggle, in faith and in doubt.

>> Renew us by your spirit. restore us through your grace and send us again to live as disciples of Jesus Christ to the glory of your holy name. Amen. Let us take just a few moments of silent personal confession as well. My dear friends, hear now the good news. While it is true that we have all sinned, it is a greater truth that in the name of Christ Jesus, we are all forgiven. Let us thank God for this because we are forgiven and we may live in peace. Thanks be to God. And all God's children say,

>> thanks be to God. Glor to the son to go. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen. Please be seated. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful words. Sing them over to the world to see. Wonderful words. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful words of life that you love and peace to wonder. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful.

Thank you so much choir. That's a wonderful piece and I hope that you all feel lifted by that. I was just thinking as I was praying through that beautiful piece that the choir presented. We should all be filled with joy and thanksgiving and smiles should be on all of our faces because there is nothing that we will face without the Lord in our life. What a wonderful, wonderful life of love that God has given to us all. We are blessed also to be able to come together to join our hearts in prayer.

Praying for our friends, praying for our family, even praying for ourselves because God has asked us to do so. I think that uh you all probably have been a part of the prayer chain that Nancy Sullivan so faithfully sends out and Nancy, I see you there and I thank you on behalf of everyone here for that ministry to this church. You have heard about the need for prayer for Diane Gadson who has recently had surgery and is in the process of recovery. Please uh keep her in prayer and she has asked for no visitors at

this time um because she's she's in pain right now and would prefer not to have visitors or calls until she's feeling a little bit stronger. Uh please also keep Diane Woods and daughter Tiffany in your prayers as well. She was asking this morning for that. And also continue to pray for Jane Garner and D. White and Carolyn Erdman. And I bet there are people I'm even forgetting or that you know who need our prayers as well. So as we join together in the prayers of the people of God, I will pause and invite

you to please feel free to speak verbally even the prayers that we need to lift up to the Lord together. So I invite you now to please join me in the prayers of the people of God. Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, hear us now as we pray, as we lift up to you the prayers of each of our hearts and the concerns that we have for the world around us. Where there is oppression, Lord, where there is injustice, may your kingdom reign. May your will be done where there is war and violence. May your peace come and be a reality.

We pray that you will be with those from our nation's armed services as they seek to keep peace in this world. May we each work for peace and the good of others around the world and even close to home. We pray for our nation. We pray for our leaders. May they be tuned to your still small voice leading them and speaking to them about how they should govern those whom you created and whom you love. Dear God, it seems as if our divisions seem to define us these days. We have lost the vision of one nation.

That we are to be together with hope for all and the common, the greater good. Lord, be with us. Keep us from focusing on our own special interests that divide us. Forgive us, God of unity, and guide us again to see the humanity in one another regardless of political position. We pray Lord for our communities. May the local church be the source of hope and help in each place where we live. May our witness be strong and sure to the neediest in our communities and may our church work for the better

future of all. Dear God, we pray for all who are sick or suffering or recovering from illness or surgery. Be with them, Lord. Comfort them, give them your peace and strength, and help their bodies to return to wholeness and health. >> As Jesus was near to those who suffered, teach us to do the same, whether it is physical presence or through prayers lifted up to you on behalf of one another. Lord, teach us to serve as Jesus did and to surround those who need your special care with your peace that

surpasses all understanding. Lastly, Lord, teach us your ways and grow us into the disciples that you want us to be. Lord, we lift to you all the prayers of our hearts this day. We pray all these things in the name of the one who taught us all how to pray by saying, "Our Father, who are in heaven, 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 debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. in a prayer of dedication. Lord, we do thank you for these our tithes and offerings that we return to your service. We pray, Lord, that they will reflect our love and gratitude for all that you have given to us. For we are so grateful to participate in what you are doing in this church and through this church through our denomination in service to you around this world. For we

pray all of this in Christ's name. Amen. >> Amen. Let me see. Our scripture lesson today is taken from the Gospel according to Matthew. This is at the very end of Matthew. I will be reading from Matthew 28 16- 20. And most of you will know this scripture. And if you do not, I would recommend that you get your Bibles. Please this particular section of Matthew. Dog ear the page. Highlight it. Circle it. Keep it close at hand because you'll want to refer to this over and over again here. Now, Matthew 28

16 to 20. Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. As surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I ask you to please join me in a prayer

of illumination for this God's holy word. Let us pray. Loving God, open our hearts and minds to what you would say to us this day. By your Holy Spirit, we ask that the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all of our hearts and our minds will be acceptable in your sight. For we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. There is a mother preparing breakfast for her two sons, Kevin, age five, and Ryan, age three. The boys began to argue over who was going to get the first pancake that she was preparing.

Now, mom saw the perfect opportunity now to teach a moral lesson. And she said, "Think about Jesus. Jesus would let his brother have the first pancake. I can wait. Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "You be Jesus today." Well, as the Apostle Paul would say, may grace and peace be with you today. We can imagine ourselves standing alongside of the other disciples, those disciples that Jesus called to the mountain in Galilee. We can listen to these very same words that have been saved for us in our holy

scripture today. We have come today to worship the very same Lord and Savior. And I can say that one of the things I love about our Bible is that it captures the humanity of all of us, all of us who follow Jesus. When it says that they saw Jesus, this is after Jesus was raised from the dead. A miracle. And where he was. They see him. They saw him. They worshiped him. And yet our scripture says, "And some doubted." It's great because it captures the humanity of us all, doesn't it? It

doesn't sugarcoat what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, which I would believe we all claim to be because we're here today worshiping God, worshiping Jesus. When they saw him, they worshiped him. And some doubted. What a beautiful honest picture this is of even our fellowship when we gather together. There are times when every one of us has doubts. How can you manage this Lord? How do I truly understand that you can bring peace to this world? How can I believe that you are going to be able to help me

in my life? How are you going to be able to help my loved one in the hospital? How can you take the pain that I am experiencing? How can you help me heal from this? The depth, the hurt that I can barely manage. And yes, we do have doubts, don't we? But what is good news here in this story is that Jesus doesn't come to the disciples knowing that some have doubts and says you all of you doubters out of here. I just want to talk to those who believe. Jesus doesn't do that. Jesus addresses

all all of his disciples, the doubters and the non-doubters when he says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, you go into the whole world and make disciples, teaching them everything that I have commanded you. These are our marching orders. By the way, this is what is called the great commission. This is what Jesus has given to each of us who are disciples of the Lord. Each of us who belong to the family of faith, this is our plan. This is our commission. This is what God Almighty

has asked of us to do with our very lives. Not for us just to come to church and stay in church and just develop a little club here where we can all be together. Yes, that's wonderful and it feels really wonderful and good and We are here because we all love the Lord. But we're not to stay here because Jesus says to go into the whole world and make disciples, teaching them everything that I have commanded. It is so important for us to realize that this plan is for us personally. It's not just some theological concept

that's out there in our holy scripture, but this is a personal directive from our Lord and our Savior. We are called to make disciples. We are called to baptize those who become disciples and we are to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now, one of the things I I have two two questions that are asked of me most frequently. One is how do I know the will of God? And the second one is can you explain to me exactly what is this trinity thing? It's a very complicated concept this

three in one god thing. Well, I can understand that because we are not divided into three. How can there be one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? How does that work? We are called to baptize in the name. Got that name singular, not names of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is not just some kind of complex puzzle to be solved. I know when I was in middle school, I was trying to get my hands on this, my mind wrapped around the

trinity. What is Trinity? And I had a marvelous social studies teacher who was a part-time pastor. And I said, I don't I don't get this. And he said, think of it like an egg. An egg has the egg shell. It has the egg white and the egg yolk, but it is one egg. Now I have heard from many people that that is too simplistic but it does help us to understand the oneness of something that can be known in different ways. It certainly doesn't capture the fullness of who the one God is that we are here

to worship today who has all authority in heaven and earth. It's a relational outward focus that God has given to us. God the Father is the architect of our salvation. God the Father who existed outside of time before time even began. God knew that God wanted to create a world that he loved because we know now that God himself is love. That God, the architect of everything, who made everything, is the one who also created us. He created us and then sent us his only son Jesus Christ who is our redeemer because

we were given we were created with choice and God knew that with that choice we would choose unwisely that we all would sin and fall short of what God would want for us. So God went ahead and paid the price with his only son, the redeemer. That shows God's love for us, showing exactly how we are to live this life. Jesus says, teaching others how to be disciples because God loves them and made them. And that we are to care for one another. We are to feed the hungry, heal the brokenhearted, love because God

first loved us. This is what we are to teach. And how do we do that? We do that with the power that has been given to us by God's Holy Spirit that comes to live within each of us, leading us, teaching us, empowering us to live out this life as God would have us live. You see our our mission, the commandment is that we are to go into the world and invite others to the dance of love that God has laid out before us. We go into the world and we show others that we may love the Lord our God with all of our

heart and soul and strength. All the while we love others one another as well. Now in the Presbyterian tradition we hold that God's grace, God's love, God's forgiveness is primary but because God's loved us so much that we then live out our life in response to that love filled with joy. Just like I was talking about this wonderful hymn, about this wonderful love, this wonderful life that God has given to us, that should fill us all with thanksgiving and joy every one of our lives. It doesn't mean, first of all,

let me step back. It doesn't mean that because you're a Christian everything is rosy and good and wonderful. But it means that you can handle whatever comes your way because you know you do not go alone. You go with the love of God living within you giving you the power to push through because God is with you. This great commission is not about building an exclusive club just for us who know the secret of life. It is not about just knowing that it's like your yacht club or your golf club or your bridge

club or your pickle ball club, whatever your club might be. That is not what God was talking about creating here. It is taking a movement out into the world that God would like for you and me to participate in leading. Now, that's really a pretty amazing thing when you think about it because we are all sinners and yet God who created everything chose to work through us. chose for us to be the ones to take that unconditional love out into the world and share with others. God loves you. God loves you

even in your sin and you are forgiven because of that love. So how do we do this? How do we do this in a world that is skeptical? In a world that seems to be tremendously divided, how do we accomplish teaching everything that Jesus commanded? That is a big order, right? Well, the only way Jesus answers the question, the only way we can achieve that is by realizing that we do not go alone. Jesus says in his final words, remember I am with you always. I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. Which means always that

we are never left alone. That we have the one who has all authority, all power, created everything. He created you, created me, who has asked us to go out into this world and share that love with others through the way we live our life. That that very one is right there with us always. Always, even to the end of the age. You see this plan, this mission that we have been given is not grounded just in human ability, human strength, but in Christ's enduring living within us, love and presence.

I remember one time when God God does this, I'm sure God's done this in your life. If not, you need to listen. God came to me while I was at Disney World of all places. I was sitting on the bench out at the beginning entrance of Epcot. I love to watch people and there's a great no better place than watching people at Disney World because people come from all over the world. So, you've got all types there. And I was sitting on a bench watching all these people coming and going, families, all different types

of people, all nationalities. And God entered my mind and said two things I ask you to do. Love me with all your heart, with all your strength, your whole life. The second thing is I want you to love all these people. Two things. All that Jesus has commanded us to do. Love the Lord your God with all your strength, everything within you, with the joy, the gifts that God has given you. Everything, all of your talents, every opportunity, everything within you should manifest itself in love for God.

The second thing, look around you. You should love one another. And not just all of these perfect people in this room, but also all of those tremendously imperfect people who are outside these doors, you're to love them, too. And if you find it kind of hard sometimes, which we all do, and sometimes those people even in our own families, talk to the one who is right here who said, He will never leave you. He's right there with you, empowering you. And ask God, help me to see this very difficult person.

Help me to love this person. Help me to see this person with your eyes, Lord. And you will. It's a promise. God will help you love others as you love yourself. The father who creates, the son who redeems, and the spirit who lives within you is the one God that we worship with our very lives. What a what a gift this is. What a wonderful plan that God has given to you and to me to live out our life with the most supreme purpose ever. So let us go. Let us go from this place and make disciples. Now I am not talking

about just pinning someone against the wall and say I want to share with you the gospel. This is living the life authentically, meaning that you belong to the Lord, which will change everything about who you are. And the way you make decisions and everything that you say, everything that you do will be shaped according to the Holy Spirit going with you, empowering you, and living within you. That's what we are to take out into the world. That's how we will create disciples, invite people to come and to

learn about the one who loves them with a neverending love. And we will then celebrate by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I am so thankful that you are all here today and I want to just share with you if anyone is here today and has not been baptized this wonderful right that we have this wonderful covenant that we have in this church the church not just first Presbyterian church Mount Dora the church that is Jesus Christ if you have not been baptized please let

me know or let of our elders know it would be such a joy to celebrate with you that wonderful covenant of the church as you would be baptized in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. What a wonderful thing to know that you have been completely cleaned and refreshed and adopted into the family of God. I cannot think of any greater joy than living your life knowing that you are a part of the family of God. Well, my friends, we've got a lot of work to do. There's a lot of people out

there who have not yet heard the message of God's love. So, let's take this commission very seriously. Let us leave this place with a smile on our face and joy in our heart and thanksgiving forever on our lips. Will you please join me in a prayer? Dear Lord, we thank you for this great commission, this amazing, wonderful commission, this lifechanging plan that for some reason you have chosen to to institute using each of us, the sinners that we are, yet the forgiven, redeemed sinners that we are because of your

love. We thank you for this Lord and we pray that you will go with us as we fulfill this commission in your name. Amen. We praise your name. Oh, heat, heat. Heat. Heat. to me. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Glory. Jo and the blessing and the holy Son, Heat. Heat. Now, now it begins. We have our marching orders. We have been given the greatest commission in the world. Now, we must implement by taking the Holy Spirit of Almighty God with us through those doors out into the world and living a life of thanksgiving and joy and most of all

love. Let us go now in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit this day and every day of our life. Amen. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. All right, lovely lady. Get up now.