How Are You Shaped In Challenging Times?
Sunday May 9, 2021

Object Lessons:
Children and those with a childlike heart – I have an activity for you. I would like you to make a paper airplane….. you can do that right? Go ahead. How long does it take you to make a paper airplane…. 15- 30 – 60 – 90 sec – what you are done! That was amazingly quick…. does it fly? Cool. If you have not made your paper airplane let us make one together – listen to some instruction of how to make one… it flies too.

“Todays focus is on How Are We Shaped In Challenging Time”

Now I wonder what are some challenging times you have faced?

• Each time we come up with a tough challenging time – we are going to trim the wings of the airplane: (because we know it is challenging to fly when wings are cut)
  ** Can you help me with what is a tough time…..?
  not getting a hug when I see people I love …. that is tough!
  Now your turn….. call out a challenging time
  yes that is tough
  Another idea…
  wow that is tough
  Challenging times, difficult times, shape us. Just like the airplane has changed its shape.
  Let us all open up the hood of our paper airplanes to see its engine…. open up the paper and lay it flat…. see anything?

This one has the shape of a cross… it took a little longer to make! However it reminds me:
that in tough/challenging times God is with me.
that it is God who is my strength
3) not to rush ahead on my own …. it is important to pray – listen for/ask for God to help…. for God will carry us in tough/hard/difficult times.
So remember be shaped by God’s word…


Message:
We all face difficult/tough/challenging times in our lives and how we navigate the situation is critical as it shapes us – it impact our call to respond to life. So when I face those times – I think about biblical stories or a biblical character – trying to see if there is one that resonates with my heart, my soul, my mind during that circumstance.

My favourite biblical character is Moses … So I often look at Moses’ journey in life. For today I share what resonated with me as life presents challenges/tough times. This Scripture is taken from the story of the Israelites (God’s chosen people) and their tough/difficult/challenging experience in Egypt.

Exodus 3:7-8
Then the Lord said, “I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings, and so I have come down to rescue them.

Did you hear that?
God had seen cruel treatment,
God has heard them cry out and
God known all about their suffering

God response is to his people -

“so I have come down to rescue them.”
Our relational God “comes down” to be in the midst of the people and their circumstances.
Our Relational God -who knows us – knows our need for guidance. So he comes to be with his people.
Does that not give you hope?
Does that not encourage you in the midst of you challenges, tough times?

****That is the story of the Israelites. What is your story – what is/are the challenges you face in life?

Who are you crying out to in challenging times?
who or what is shaping your heart, your soul, your mind during challenging – difficult- tough times?
who do you call out to…. ?
who are you listening to…?
who is walking/guiding you…?
God is in the midst of our life circumstance – in our object lesson the cross was at the core of the paper airplane – it did not look like it originally did – beautifully and unexpectedly – at the core was the cross!
…are you allowing God to be at the core?
…are you allowing God to shape you?

In life our character:
can grow by feeding on external circumstances or it
can grow by feeding on the internal strength and love of the Lord

What shape is your internal – spiritual heart in?
Has hardship/challenges hardened your spiritual heart? If so, delight and rest in these words
Hear these words from Ezekiel 36:26
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
God can turn a heart stone to flesh pumping love of Lord through us

b) Do your actions align with your spiritual heart? Do you present well/health to people yet your heart holds grudges, bitterness, anger Hear these words form 1 Samuel 16:7b
“People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
God sees – turn to him and release the grudges, bitterness – receive in return joy and peace.

c) Our relationship with God takes time to nurture…. we need to tend to it otherwise like the Parable of sower who scatters seed ….found in Matthew13:6-9
 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

The world is facing challenging times – Allow God to shape you. Allow the cross to be the at the core of who you are. Jesus at the centre of your life circumstance. Perhaps you long to experience joy again, the abundant blessing of God – pause right now and talk with God tell him…. your longing, your desire.

Let us long to be people God shaped to encourage others to come follow Jesus – who is the Giver of True Life… Jesus our hope and strength.
Some ideas that can help us be SHAPED by God so we have strength and hope in times of trouble/challenges.

Read the Word of God – get to know God – discover that God is relational – we talk about how important relationship is and spending time building into one another life …. it beings with a healthy relationship with God.
There are great Bible Apps that can keep us daily in the Word of God, present a daily devotion. Reading an actual copy of the Bible. These can be a few verses , they need to be Meaningful, helping us Grow in faith. Keeping is connected to scripture presents opportunities to discover more about God.
Memory verse – Mrs Faye has been helpful and I know she has plans to continue with Bible memory verse – let us rise up and learn to grow strong in God Word.
Prayer
Talk openly to God sharing what is truly going on in our heart. Importantly we also need to LISTEN.
sit and be still in God’s presence… God I just want to be with you.
Sometime we struggle to find words:
use a passage of scripture – often psalms
use lyrics from a song or listen to a song as a prayer
Breath Prayers

• literal breath – Yahweh inhale & exhale
• short prayers
  Name of God which reveal his attribute
  (Shalom (peace); Jehovah Jire (Provider); El Shaddai (All sufficient One/ Lord Almighty)
  Image of God – Shepherd, Light, Gardner, Potter
  Posture
  I CANNOT (hands down) – YOU CAN LORD (hands raised)
  Kneel
  Gather up concerns/needs (cup hands), then offer (keep hands cupped and extend them forward to God) and then give release them into God’s care (raise and open hands).
  lift hands in thanksgiving or pleading with God
  tears – of sadness, grief or joy
  Imagination
  Immense yourself into a biblical story
  Engage with the story and pray as if talking to Jesus who is present in story.

Being in God’s Word, Praying are ways in which we are shaped by the Spirit of God.

So I encourage you to allow yourself to be shaped by God rather than being shaped by the circumstances surrounding you.

Be assured that in joyful times, in challenging times the Spirit of God which is within us…. longs to lead us, guide us, counsel us… providing wisdom from God to shape our response to life.

Let us be shaped into relational people of God, reflecting the love of God to those who are around us.

Let us be generations that gather together, grow together, goes together into the world – our homes, our community – shaped by God sharing generously the Good News of Jesus.

How
continue to reach out and connect with someone within the generation and someone from your community
continue to read scripture & pray
continue to pray for leadership in world, country, province, church

Special – we ask that you take time this week to draw a picture (children & you can call the office and) and send it to a shut-in from our church family
you can call the office and provide a name and address
or drop picture off in mailbox and we will post

Mother’s Day – take time to connect your Mother today, the women who have been positive influences in your life. If not possible to connect offer silent prayer of thanks or perhaps forgiveness.

Please remember Verlie, Doug, Jasmine, Nick and Chris – mail a card
Please remember Pastor Dave, Shannon, Josh, Andrew & Caleb too – meal, cards
Please remember Carol and Peter – call, card, email
Please remember Larry and Joan too.

Closing:
Remember our paper airplane – those built quick did not have the shape of the cross. Those that took a little longer to make for they took time to listen to instruction – were shaped by the cross.

i) Please slow down – sit with God – immerse yourself with a few verse of scripture each day. Commit to memory the Word of God.
ii) Pray – be honest as you talk to God and allow God to shape your heart. 
iii) Don’t react to circumstances – allow the Spirit of God to shape our response to life circumstance.

Lord be gracious – the world is in turmoil and we desperately need you … we long for your return. Lord
Mother Day

Peace: Communion Reflections
John 14:1-6
May 2nd, 2021

Has your heart ever been troubled? Have you ever been scared about something? Been concerned or uncertain? Maybe a bit worried? Or have anxiety?

Back when I was in grade 11, so about 23 years ago now, I had something that caused me to have fear. It was an afternoon like any other. I was walking home from school like I would any other day. I had only been going to that school for a few months as my family moved halfway across the city, roughly the distance of Hanover to Walkerton. By coincidence, on the walk home, I crossed paths with a guy from my old school that was on the other end of the city. He did not know where I moved to and had no idea that I would be there at that time. But what he did know is that he didn’t like me, and for whatever reason, he had a score to settle. And this was in the day when wearing army boots, black leather jackets, and dog collars was the in thing…. And this dude who was the better part of 6’4 decided that as I was walking down a walkway between two buildings, that he was going to come running at me. I turned around and stood there as he planted his army boot square in my chest. By the grace and protection of God, I didn’t fall… which then caused him to run.

After the attack, I remember how much fear I had. For a few days, I did not want to walk home because this guy knew where I lived. And even as time passed and I began to feel safer, I still was always looking over my shoulder. And if I saw someone down the street who looked like they were wearing a dark jacket, I would feel fear.

And because the police got involved with dealing with the attack, I had to go to court to testify against him. And I remember the fear when I saw him sitting in the hallway outside the court room, and all the anxiety that filled my heart and mind.

Concern, fear, worry, and anxiety are things that we all experience at some time or other. Is your heart troubled today?

The disciples even had ‘troubled hearts’. There were things that bothered them. Prior to Jesus death:
a. Jesus gathers them for a final Passover supper.
b. During the supper He shares that He will be going away from them. Can you picture their anxiety? Their teacher, their leader who they devoted three years of their life to was now leaving them. What would happen next?
c. He breaks bread and pours the cup as a symbol of His impending death, and talks about his death that is about to come.
d. John 13:21 says that Jesus was troubled in spirit as he talked.
e. He says that one of the disciples will betray him. Peter asks John to ask Jesus who it could be as they all wonder.
f. He tells Peter that he will deny Jesus 3X after Peter pledges his allegiance to Jesus.
This was not an easy dinner conversation. On top of that, Jesus knows what is about to happen to all of them in the coming hours, days, weeks, and months. It is out of this that Jesus speaks the following words:

John 14:1-6
Jesus says to them: don’t be troubled. Paraphrased, He says:

Don’t be afraid, anxious, worried, uncertain, concerned, or on edge. Yes, what is coming wont be easy. I know what you are about to face, and I know what you are thinking even right now, and I know things will be hard. But don’t be discouraged by all that is going on and will happen. Instead, keep believing in God, and believe in me! Keep your eyes on me. Everything I am about to face is so that I can give to you a life beyond compare in Heaven, for eternity, with Me and My Father. Through what I am about to go through, I am going on ahead to get ready your place, your room in God’s big house. Don’t get caught up in the worries of the here and now. Don’t get caught up in what could happen. Instead, know that I am the way to life. I am the way to eternity. I am the way to God.

The lesson to us is that when we are living life with God, and living Jesus’ life through us, with life in Heaven before us, the things around us suddenly begin to lose their value. We know that as difficult as things get here, this life isn’t it. Yet even when everything around us seems to be falling apart, and even in the face of incredible difficulty, somehow we can still have hope because of what is to come.

Last week I talked from the very next chapter in John about being connected to the Vine, and finding life because we grow out of the Vine. When we understand, accept, and receive that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and that no one comes to God except through Him, we are connecting ourselves to life in the Vine. In that Vine, even when things seem uncertain, chaotic, frightening, stressful, anxious, and concerning all around us, because of what Jesus did for us through His death on the Cross and His rising from the dead, through Him beating the power of darkness, evil, and death itself, we have the hope of a life yet to come that continues on and can not be taken away from us. We do not need to let our hearts be troubled.

Jesus says in John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

As we take communion in a moment, it is a statement that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is a statement that He is the Vine and we are the branches. And it is a statement that because of the hope of eternity in Heaven that He gives us, we do not need to let our hearts be troubled here, knowing that nothing here can change what is waiting for us on the other side in the presence of our God and Father.
So this morning, ask yourself this question as we prepare for communion: Where is your heart troubled today? And where do you need to embrace, accept, and receive the life of Christ, the life in the Vine today?