Stranger in a Strange Land- March 16, 2025

Well good morning everyone it's so good to see you all here today and I'm seeing lots of green out there so I'm guessing that you're all ready for your corn be beef and cabbage tomorrow on St Patrick's Day uh it sounds wonderful but we are here the Second Sunday of Lent and I realized that last Sunday I said it was the Second Sunday and it was the first Sunday but this is the official Second Sunday of Lent and so as we travel this time of preparing our hearts our minds our souls and our very lives

for the celebration of Easter this is a time for you to consider prayerfully asking the Lord what do I need to clean up a little bit what do I need to bring back in line with your will for my life so lent is a time of preparation and uh if you would like to we would enjoy invite you to come and join us on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 here in Barry Hall uh we are doing a Lenton soup and study uh we have had some marvelous chefs proi provide various kinds of soup for us we share in a bowl of soup and

then a study about God's grace and it's interactive it's not lecture it's an interactive study and I hope that if you have the time on Wednesday at 5:30 you will come and join us we would love to have you with us well we are here because God has called us here it is so wonderful to be called together together as the family of faith and I'm so glad that you are all here I would like to begin with a prayer and then we would like to hear from our mission committee we have a moment for Mission and I think

you will really enjoy hearing about this so I invite you now to please join me in a time of prayer merciful god open us to your word and your way help us to seek you your truth and the message that you send to us this day open our minds open our ears open our hearts for this we pray in Christ's name amen Elizabeth Elizabeth long is our Elder chairperson for our mission committee Elizabeth what do you have for us well offal oh and I understand this gong belongs to our church it says inog of firstan

Church of against for your efforts in the fight I think that's mine of them okay so yesterday around 25 of us gaed together at graceway Presbyterian church and joined six other churches to package meals with can we see who here went yesterday raise your hand if you went yesterday to pack meals I thought I saw most of you lovely faces yesterday so we joined 250 of us all together we join six other churches there and in three hours of work 40,000 meals so these meals are going to be shipped to a hospital in Haiti where

they have a community develop Community Development with orphanage they feed children in the orphanage and they also take theirs hospital and Rise Against hunger will be there and also teach them how to grow their own vegetables so it's a wonderful feed them and feeds later isth our church joined churches presan churches in Lake County to this and together since 2011 we have packaged over 690,000 deals wow isn't that awesome that is awesome totally fun ask anyone who need to go next year yes absolutely thank you

so much Elizabeth oh the gong oh I get to keep the [Laughter] gong and I believe an has something for us as well good morning I'm here to talk about hand in hand I have personally been involved with hand in for 15 years in 2007 it started out as the Ruth house and one woman Rebecca Rand started it home inisis Dr addicted alcohol add and 201 a men's started join the reason they have such a high success rate is you don't go for eight weeks 12 weeks am have job and car so most of the people for two to

years are people Sheriff's Department inar she had arrested this man 16 times in 10 years and she became his prayer Bo I mean the whole room was in tears and just such an amazing cheses changes changes thank you so much an absolutely what a blessing that our church can participate in such a wonderful ministry as well thank you let us sing let's stand and sing [Music] I Willer his with Thanksgiving in my heart I will enture hiss with praise I will say this is the day that the Lord has I willj he has made me

glad he has made me glad he has made me glad I will re for he has made me glad he has made me glad he has made me glad I for made Mead I will enter his G with Thanksgiving my heart I will enter his cours with praise I will say this is the day that the Lord has I Will Rejoice for he has made me glad he has made me glad he has made me glad I Will Rejoice for he has made me glad he has made me glad he has made me glad I Will Rejoice for Mead [Music] how deep Father's Love For Us how vast beyond all

me that he should give his son to make a his strength me how great the pain ofing the father turns his face away as would would the chosen bring many sons to Glory behold the man the cross my sin upon his shoulders ashamed I hear my moing voice call Out Among the sters it was my that him there until it was a but dying breath has bought me life I know that it is fin I will not boast in anything no gifts no power no wi but I will boast in Jesus Christ his death and Resurrection why should I gain from his

reward I canot give an answer but this I know with all my heart his [Music] wounds and you may be seated one of the most wonderful things about gathering together to Worship the Lord is that we may join in prayer together this is so special because we already know that the Holy Spirit of almighty God think about it has already been searching your hearts and Minds praying on your behalf because there are times we don't even know how or what to pray about so what a precious time this is when we can approach the throne of

God with our prayers of Thanksgiving with our prayers of request with our prayers for our family our friends and yes even for those we don't really even know around the world this is a precious time when we offer the prayers of the people of God we would like to begin by asking you if you have any particular prayer of Thanksgiving or request that you would like to share you do have to use the microphone and I I know many of you do talk right into it can you hear me now we can thank you I oh wonderful yes

[Applause] a well we're we celebrate with you we're so thankful as well and and certainly we know that uh God puts us in families in communities for a reason so that we may care for one another sharing our love for each other so thank you so much for sharing that that's wonderful we celebrate and we do have a wonderful praying church I must say it is a wonderful thing Alan over here has something he'd like to say yes I um dear friend of mine that passed away this hunting buddy for at least the last 20 years Dr

Lauren in Missi and he was a great doctor and he didn't show up to you know see his patience he was 82 years old and he didn't show up to see his patience on Monday and so they called a welfare person to go out and see him and they found thank you Alan could you tell us his name once again Dr Lauren H Lauren help Frey if you will please keep his family in your prayers during this time of grief 11 oh thank you siia I know we've been for yes usense finally on his way to see people actually went all the way to Pakistan to

see to and he gave a sermon to a rural Church where everyone is sitting on the ground except they had two chairs for him and his interpret I don't know how the church was but it's always very special thank you for his the prayers for him it's all wonderful hi the wife of okay we please pray for Michelle and that the surgery goes well anyone else I know everybody who came here this morning has a prayer or two or three or more in your heart and we will take time for you to offer those up to the Lord as

well so I invite you now to please join me in the prayers of the people of God let us pray oh Lord God our creator you made us for community and service you call us on the path of love and justice you entrust us with gifts and talents and a planet that resources all of our needs Lord God you have heard as we have mentioned them today the prayers of our heart prayers of grieving the loss of a friend prayers of Hope for those who are facing surgery prayers for travel safety as we pray that knowing that Pakistan is a part of

our world that seems to be extremely volatile at this time so we do pray for Barry long and and his friends who are traveling with him we are so thankful that he was able to share your word with a congregation anxious to hear the good news of the Gospel yet Lord we live in a world torn by greed and violence and so we pray for peace we pray for your peace that surpasses all human understanding as well as a sensation of violence in this world Lord we pray for our nation communities and homes that are tense

with conflict and division we pray for mutual respect and an ear for understanding and most of of all Lord we pray that families and communities will learn that love conquers all our souls are stressed stretched thin by responsibilities exhausted by conflict disappointed to not be heard or seen or understood so we pray for Sabbath for rest and refreshment we pray for friends and family neighbors who can and will understand and reach beyond the momentary frustration to find that there is peace there is love there is

understanding Lord God we do pray for individuals in this world who are in positions of power we pray that they might listen to your still Small Voice that they might become servant leaders caring for your people we pray for all of this knowing that you are very much a part of our lives and very much in this world working through your servants May each of us be open to serving you in this way as we share your love and good news with those around us and everyone here dear God brought prayers in their hearts and

we lift those up to you now in silence knowing that we may come to you any time of the day or night as you are so wanting to hear from us we thank you dear God for being with us this day and every day and we pray all of these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the one who taught us how to pray by saying 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 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 and let's stand and sing 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 came from Heaven to Earth to show the way from the Earth to the Cross to from the cross to the Grave from the grave to the I your name on high Lord I Lift Your Name on High Lord I love to sing your Praises I'm soad 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 from the cross to the Grave from the grave to the Lord I Lift Your Name High you came from Heaven to Earth to show the way from the Earth to the cross I dare to from the cross to the Grave from the grave to the Lord I Lift Your Name on High [Music] alone my hope is found is my my strength this Cornerstone Solid Ground through the F and Stor what Heights of what deps oface when tears are stilling

[Music] my comfor My All In All here in the love of Christ I Stand in Christ alone who ones fullness of God in heless babe this gift of love and rightous scor by the on he came to save till on that cross as Jesus died the of God was saisi forr I live no guilt in life no Fe death is the power of Christ in from to final breath Jesus comms my no power of Hell Noe of me from his till he returns or calls me home here in the power of [Music] Christ and you may be seated I forgot to mention one thing at

the beginning of the service and that is on each of the tables you will find a basket and for those of you who are used to this service you understand this but for others who are newer you may not understand where is the the alory during this worship service the alory is that baskets on your table where you may place your tithe your offering your particular pledge and there's also information in the little loose sight holder there if you would like to know more about this church so please help help

yourself our scripture lesson today is taken from one of Paul's most beautiful letters to the Church of Philippi and I have to say this is one of my favorites as well I encourage you all Philippians is a very short letter um we're only going to be reading a portion of it actually two portions of it and I encourage you all as you go about your daily Bible study that you open up Philippians and read the entire thing today you'll find that your soul will be enriched today we are reading Philippians chapter 3 vers 17 to

chapter 4 verse one so I invite you now to hear the word of the Lord join together in following my example brothers and sisters and just as you have us as a model keep your eyes on those who live as we do for as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears many live as enemies of the Cross of Christ their Destiny is destruction their God is their stomach and their glory is their shame their mind is set on Earthly things but our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior

from there the Lord Jesus Christ who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our our lone lonely bodies so that they will be like his glorious body therefore my brothers and sisters you whom I love and long for my joy and my crown stand firm in the Lord in this way dear friends and this ends our reading of God's holy word for us us today I pray that God will add to our understanding our application of its Truth for each of our lives and I invite you now to join me in a prayer of

preparation let us pray Lord God how wonderful for us to be able to take a portion of the Apostle Paul's lovely letter that he wrote to his beloved Church in Philippi these words that are as meaningful for each of us today in 2025 that we might do your will Lord with these lives that you have given to us as a gift we thank you for this and we pray all of this in Jesus name amen well in 1987 if you can remember back then my dad had worked for a Monsanto corporation and had traveled internationally and had accumulated a

lot of frequent flyer miles with all of his travels and he realized that with all those miles there was no way that he and my mother would be able to use them so he decided to take Michael and me and my sister and her husband to Hawaii for Christmas it was a great gift it was on United Airlines from St Louis so we had to fly from St Louis to Chicago to Miami to Hawaii kind of a roundabout way but we had a good laugh over it and had a lot of fun and it didn't cost us a dime it was a a fabulous trip now I have to tell

you I had lived in Hawaii and Honolulu of for a short time in my younger years and so it was great to be able to share that with Michael and with my sister and her husband so we did all of the Hawaii tourist things I mean we went to Pearl Harbor we uh went on an evening cruise and then uh we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center which you if you ever go to aahu I highly recommend it it is fabulous but it is on the North Shore it's on the opposite side from Honolulu so we we were actually staying

on the NorthShore in Makaha we drove up to that area and I must tell you if you go to Hawaii in December you got to go to the NorthShore you have to go to WEA Bay to see the waves these are the waves that you may have seen pictures of with all of those professional Surfers these are the the waves that are 20 and 30 feet high incredible waves and there were people out there surfing on these I think I could have sat there and watched that all day long but we had to go on to the Polynesian Cultural

Center now I come from St Louis as I said middle of the country but you know we we all watch the movies you know Beach Blanket Bingo and all of those so we thought we knew something about surfing even though you don't surf a whole lot in the Midwest and we had always heard that what every Surfer wants is to catch that perfect wave and I believe me as I was sitting there watching these incredible waves coming in and these Surfers literally risking their lives to go out to get a thrill on these waves I'm thinking that they probably

were praying that they would catch the perfect wave but I hear that term a lot in many different circles even among people in this church that are looking for the perfect golf swing or if you're a tennis player you want the perfect match or some of you pickle ball players you're I guess you're looking for the perfect return I think that many of us us look for perfection in our life it's one of those ideals you want to have the perfect home the perfect car the perfect vacation the perfect you fill in the

blank it's a part of our culture isn't it and yet in our scriptures we hear that we Christians are to be perfect Jesus said in Matthew just as our father in heaven is perfect as well so is that the same kind of perfection as the perfect wave or the perfect golf swing I think not because the kind of perfection to be like Jesus the son of God is not something that we are going to be able to attain on our own in fact we are already told that if you think that you are earning your way to Perfection or to God's salvation

you're fooling yourself because there's no way it is a gift it is a gift from God so as is our ability to achieve Perfection to become like Christ to become like our Lord and Savior Jesus that too is a gift that comes to us through the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives lives helping us every single day now Philippians many people call Paul's letter of Joy because he was so much in love with these people you could hear it couldn't you in the way he was talking to them it's like they are his best friends it's so

interesting to think of the Apostle Paul looking at these new Christians as his best friends because the apostle Paul wasn't always a good guy for those of you who have read your Bible you know that the Apostle Paul in his early years as Saul he was a Pharisee and he wanted to go search out Christians in this new burgeoning religion to search them out arrest them bring them in and have them killed get rid of them this was his duty this was his his purpose in life and God had other things in mind

for Paul Paul this well educated Pharisee of Pharisees as he called himself now you may know the story of his road to Damascus when Jesus knocked him off of his horse and said Paul Saul Saul why are you persecuting me and others around heard the voice although they could not see where it was coming from Saul was blinded and taken into town and he was cared for by a Believer there who if you can imagine here's the man who was searching for Christians to have them killed and he's brought into their house and ask if they will care

for him but as Saul got better this man this believer this Christian shared with Saul the good news of the gospel and his life was changed this not such a good guy was transformed by God into one of the most powerful voices for the gospel message I think for us to hear Paul talking to this virging young Christian and church as though I love you you are my beloved it reminds us all that no matter what our background when Jesus comes into our life you too will be transformed you too will become a child

of God just as Saul became Paul and became a child of God he was completely transformed you too can be like Moses who was a murderer and yet God used him to bring the isra Israelites out of Egypt and help to write the first five books of the Old Testament you too can be transformed this is good news for all of us especially those of us who have done something in our life that we are not proud of because we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God this is the person who is writing to to the Philippians saying that you are

my beloved but you are different than those who are persecuting Christ recognize that that you are a Stranger in a Strange Land your citizenship is in heaven and we wait patiently for our Lord and Savior Jesus to return to welcome us home Perfection is one of those elusive qualities but perfection in Christ is not impossible in fact it is guaranteed if the holy spirit is living within your life as Christians in this world even this day we know that Christians many times are mocked we are thought to be

simpletons we are do gooders that are really not very intellectual ual we're not realists you know you know the words that come out against Christians these days well it's it's stunning it's startling it's awful to hear it's you know you may become a little defensive as I might as well but I'm here to say we need to step back and realize that's only to be expected they don't understand for they are blinded to the truth that it is God's world that we are here for and we who belong to the Lord are citizens of another world we are

really Strangers In a Strange Land and no one knows this better than the Apostle Paul who recognized the transition that he went through that he he became a new person in Christ he knew that he was striving for the goal of becoming like Christ which should be our goal as well and it can only only be achieved by the Holy Spirit helping us every single day helping us so that the words that we speak the reactions that we have to insults that might be thrown your way will be Christlike that your your words your

your um movements your decisions will be Christlike loving for one another so how do you know where is where is the map where are where's the instructions for us to live out our life as as expats in a way living in this land but not being of this land how do we know if we are doing what Christ would have us do again Paul gives us the formula and I invite you if you have your Bibles here if not when you get home open your Bibles to the fourth chapter of Philippians because the very last part of Philippians his admonition to us all

gives us the most beautiful formula for being Christlike in this world for he says that we are get this to rejoice in the lord always and he wants us to remember that so much he says it again Rejoice that is supposed to be a depiction of our life we should be people filled with joy and joy is not something that you conjure up that is a gift from God so Rejoice God is here God is with us and God is the one who will wins this battle in this world that is our heavenly father rejoice in the lord always and I say it again

Rejoice then he goes on to say that we are to pray that we are to pray with Thanksgiving that means recognizing what God has done for us we Christians we do what we do not to earn God's love but because of God's love it is our response to God's love and forgiveness in our life that's why we do what we do we are so thrilled we are so Joyful We Are we have received the gifts of God through Jesus in our life and so we do what we do as a result of that if you go to Philippians 4 he says finally brothers and

sisters whatever is true whatever is Noble whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is admirable if anything be excellent or praiseworthy think about such things it's telling us right there that our minds should be someplace other than where the world would have us go when you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts thinking ugly thoughts always being dragged through the streets with whatever is coming off of television or the news remember these things whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is

lovely whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or trustworthy think about those things don't let yourself be dragged someplace else whatever you have learned or received or heard from me the Apostle Paul says or seen in me put that into practice that's the way we should be living out our lives and the God of Peace will be with you and the God of Peace the peace that the rest of the world does not understand but you do that very same God who made you who created you for the purpose of being

here today who is with you and has promised to be with you forever to the end of the age that very same God will give you peace and that kind of Peace as I said before is not just an end of war that kind of peace is a contentment knowing that you have all you need for this life that very same God of Peace that the rest of the world can't figure out how you can be so filled with joy when you're facing what you're facing in your family that very same God who is with you through all of the struggles of this life gives you

peace knowing that you have the Lord God in your life and then the Apostle Paul ends it with amen amen is a Hebrew word that means may it be so it's like exclamation mark amen my friends we are strangers in a Strange Land but we belong to the creator of this land and he will see us through this life and welcome us all home in heaven where we all belong one of these days will you please join me in a prayer Lord God we do thank you for reminding us that our citizenship is with you in heaven and that you are here

with us in this world to guide us through to shape us to transform us into your likeness into your Perfection for we pray all of this with gratitude and love in our heart in Jesus name amen and let's stand up and sing our closing song of joy we are singing for the Lord is our light [Music] we are sing for the Lord is our we are singing for the is our light we are sing for the Lord is our light we are singing for the Lord is our light we singing [Music] we are singing for the Lord is our we are singing oh we are sing for

is the is the strength of our of whom shall we be afraid though may be near to destroy the Lord will be our we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing oh we are singing for the Lord is our we are singing oh we are singing for the Lord is our one thing we asked of the Lord yes this is what we SE to dwell in the house of the Lord to live with God for we are singing for the Lord is our

light we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing for the the Lord is our light we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing oh we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing We are singing for the Lord is our we walk in the strength of the Lord God's love is ever we shout let the world may hear we sing a joyful song We Are sing for the Lord is our we are singing for the is our we are singing for the Lord is our light we are singing for the Lord is our light we are

singing oh we are sing singing for the Lord is our light we singing oh we are [Music] sing and the Lord is our light and the Lord will guide us with that very light guide our way through the darkness of this world and guess what we get to go together God has placed Us in community for that very reason that we may love and support each other through this very life let us thank God for that every day and let us go out now praising God in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen for the Lord is our light we are

singing for the Lord is our light we are sing for is our we are singing for is our we are singing We are singing for the Lord is our we are [Music] singing We are singing for the Lord is our light we walk in the strength of the Lord God love is never we shout let the world may we sing a joyful song We Are sing for the joy we are singing for the Lord is our light!