Sunday AM Recap
April 12, 2026
Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/9J0DpmExNGs?si=Z-DhUYe5pSu71--f
Apostle Susan Powers opened the service asking the ministry team to come up to the altar and start while she shared. Apostle is struggling. She needs help. She is not ok, and she is showing us that it’s ok to be vulnerable. It’s ok to not be ok. We need each other, and we need HIM. And it’s ok to not be ok.
That morning, after worship practice when she had asked to be alone, the Lord told her to look down and her Word, and He had turned the pages to Psalm 31, which she read for the congregation:
Psalm 31 - A psalm of David
O Lord, I have come to you for protection;
don’t let me be disgraced.
Save me, for you do what is right.
Turn your ear to listen to me;
rescue me quickly.
Be my rock of protection,
a fortress where I will be safe.
You are my rock and my fortress.
For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger.
Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me,
for I find protection in you alone.
I entrust my spirit into your hand.
Rescue me, Lord, for you are a faithful God.
I hate those who worship worthless idols.
I trust in the Lord.
I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love,
for you have seen my troubles,
and you care about the anguish of my soul.
You have not handed me over to my enemies
but have set me in a safe place.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress.
Tears blur my eyes.
My body and soul are withering away.
I am dying from grief;
my years are shortened by sadness.
Sin has drained my strength;
I am wasting away from within.
I am scorned by all my enemies
and despised by my neighbors—
even my friends are afraid to come near me.
When they see me on the street,
they run the other way.
I am ignored as if I were dead,
as if I were a broken pot.
I have heard the many rumors about me,
and I am surrounded by terror.
My enemies conspire against me,
plotting to take my life.
But I am trusting you, O Lord,
saying, “You are my God!”
My future is in your hands.
Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.
Let your favor shine on your servant.
In your unfailing love, rescue me.
Don’t let me be disgraced, O Lord,
for I call out to you for help.
Let the wicked be disgraced;
let them lie silent in the grave.[a]
Silence their lying lips—
those proud and arrogant lips that accuse the godly.
How great is the goodness
you have stored up for those who fear you.
You lavish it on those who come to you for protection,
blessing them before the watching world.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence,
safe from those who conspire against them.
You shelter them in your presence,
far from accusing tongues.
Praise the Lord,
for he has shown me the wonders of his unfailing love.
He kept me safe when my city was under attack.
In panic I cried out,
“I am cut off from the Lord!”
But you heard my cry for mercy
and answered my call for help.
Love the Lord, all you godly ones!
For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him,
but he harshly punishes the arrogant.
So be strong and courageous,
all you who put your hope in the Lord!
Rachael Gilmore led worship.
During worship, a time of ministry happened, where people were invited to come to the altar for prayer, and members of the body ministered to one another for a time.
Apostle Susan Powers transitioned the congregation to the time of the message. We need each other. We need God. We don’t have to do it all ourselves - in fact, we were never meant to. We need to be vulnerable with one another. We look for love in all the wrong places - the times are evil, but Jesus is GOOD. It’s going to be all right - He is with us. We need to become the ones known as overcomers, to help others overcome. We have to trust each other, be weak and vulnerable with each other.
Early Childhood Worship
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzMRHH2XZsY&list=PL5aPdmniG3y8oMovZSL8BQ1O488OhKVQz
Play God’s Way, Week 1
Bible story: The Good Samaritan
Bible verse: John 13:34
Message: Pastor Jeff Spangler
Part 2: “He’s Alive”
Koinonia: they came together in the NT church to go deeper, share what was happening, and grow; so many thought they understood, but it wasn’t the way they thought it was.
God has put within you good seed. The point of coming together is to be ministered to and grow in the corporate sense - we can only go so far on our own. Coming together as a body, we can minister to each other, not to focus on ourselves, but to be set right on a path where we can share.
Last week, Part 1, Resurrection Sunday - taught from Matthew 28:1-10.
Christ is Risen! He referred to the disciples as disciples (talmidim) and brothers.
What does calling someone brother or sister mean? There’s intimacy there, it’s greater than just someone you know.
Jesus has love for all - but there are those that responded to Him intimately. Thousands came close to Him, and when He spoke truth to them, it changed how they felt about Him. Maybe that has happened to you.
In Part 1 we saw: He was not mostly angry with them for running scared. Have you ever felt like He is? Like you let Jesus down? The fact is, He still calls YOU brother! We are much like the disciples - running away, etc. - but He calls us brother!
Mary’s response was that she thought He was a gardener. She wanted to make it right, wanted to know where He was - I mean, what was she going to do with the body of Christ if she found it? But she wanted to fix it: “Just tell me where you put it and I’ll take care of it!” There’s something in us that just wants to make it right.
We all have a sense of right and wrong, and we fill our lives trying to fill it with something else. We all have to make a choice.
Mary thought He was a gardener and didn’t recognize Him…why?
Mary was looking for a horizontal, dead, mangled Jesus. This was an alive Jesus, and that’s not what she was looking for. She had set her expectations a certain way.
You’re looking for love in all the wrong places - we think it looks horizontal and not vertical. We need to be careful we are not looking for the Jesus on the stained glass windows - because He’s not coming back like that.
Our connection with God is vertical - but we have a charge to take that and be horizontal with it. And HOW we do that is what we are going to talk about today.
We have shifted since Passover - the Angel of Death has passed over us. Whom shall I fear? By the blood of the lamb the angel of death has passed you by. So where to next?
Out of captivity. Out to the wilderness, to an entirely different expectation, because they were used to Egypt and their gods, and they had to unwind some stuff to get to what God wanted for them.
God has some stuff for us that He needs to unwind so we can level up. Mary and the disciples needed to have their hearts unwound.
And then He spoke to her. And she said “Teacher.” He was still teaching her.
You’ve got to be ok with not being ok. The world hates you and is working against you. You have to be ok with not being ok. You can’t go back to Egypt - and it wasn’t great for you then either!
On the table in the sanctuary, we need a seed and a half apple where we can see the seed. The apple seed has to die to become something else. There was a Morning Sun article this week declaring “apples, apples, apples.” It was an article about Pitt State Apple Day. Little do they know what they are prophesying…the seed dies, but when you cut the flesh open, the seed is in there and lives on!
Back in Matthew: Jesus rises, everyone is scattered, the city is in turmoil, and Jesus seems profoundly, supremely unworried about His brothers.
When we give seed and minister to others and they don't do what we told them to do, that doesn’t describe tend to describe us. We tend to get supremely upset.
Our job is to come, gather, get our sack full of seed, and then give it away. Some of falls on good soil and some of it falls on bad. We don’t get to choose what happens to the seed when we sow it. Our job is to fill up the seedbag, have our testimony, fill up on the Word, and then go scatter the seed.
Jesus was supremely unworried because He had already put the seed into His disciples. Jesus poured out the seed equally to His disciples - some just didn't take it and do what they should have. You do not have to “get everyone saved.” That’s Holy Spirit’s job, not yours.
We spread seed through relationship!
Where exactly in the Scripture is the “sinners prayer”? It’s not there - so where did it come from?
Next series coming up: Right vs Almost Right
Matthew 16:13-20
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”[a]
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[b] the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John,[c] because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),[d] and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell[e] will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid[f] on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit[g] on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Why did He call Himself the Son of Man? When He did that, he was saying “I am a son of a man I am one of you.” That’s how He referred to himself up to this point. In this culture, you didn't reveal your title. You dressed a certain way and let your actions speak.
Why was Jesus unworried about His brothers? They were not manifesting what they were supposed to…yet. We feel like that - we are doing the thing but it’s wrong. We feel condemned because we aren’t doing what we are supposed to be doing But we're not ok. Jesus does not show up and condemn them, they were not rebuked - He called them brothers.
It’s good seed - and in Matthew 16 He tests for Himself what had been sown there.
Verse 13-14
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”[a]
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Verse 15:
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Who do YOU say that I am? YOU who have been in My sphere of influence, who has been with Me in life, who knows Me well, who has an intimate relationship with Me. He chose some who chose Him back - “who do YOU say I am?”
Verse 16:
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[b] the Son of the living God.”
He had never been told this. Think of Jesus’s response: “Peter! That seed I have worked so hard to plant in you just gave a sprout!”
But it took A YEAR AND A HALF.
We always want it right now. But what does the seed become before fruit? A sprout. And then the sprout becomes a tree. Then the tree has fruit. It takes YEARS.
Somewhere along the way, the Church has bought the lie that all we have to do is do the sinner’s prayer and count everyone and we can say “a thousand were saved.” But where is that thousand a year later?
We were called to go and make DISCIPLES. Not CONVERTS. We think the discipleship is someone else’s job.
As the gardens move forward, we are going to learn more about what it means to help someone make a decision for Christ. Which is not about pounding them about what they need. That becomes about YOU, not them. That’s about YOU confirming feeling good about it.
Each one of us needs to know putting your arm around someone and praying for someone may be what is called for in the moment. And prayer can just look like speaking love to someone.
Who do YOU say Jesus is, right here, right now? Right now where you are in your life…who do you say He is?
Peter spoke something that may have even surprised himself - but it had been sown deeply into his heart.
And Jesus said, “on THAT I can build My Church.”
And, Peter gets a little haughty and makes some choices. Jesus can undo your choices - He doesn't force Himself on you, but He can undo your choices. He told Peter “I’ve prayed for you.” If we are bound and determined to do it our way, we get the consequences of our way…and He still loves me. And sometimes discipline is love. We want the things of God and the goodness of God without doing it God’s way. So He has to correct it.
Jesus is saying to you in this Part 2 of He’s alive - there’s an old paradigm of nickels and noses.
That isn't how we measure the garden. Seed takes time. We have to trust God over TIME.
Exponentially, over time, the harvester will overtake the sower. But we have to let go of the old paradigm of just evangelizing everyone and getting everyone saved.
It’s each one, reach one. It’s about sprinkling seed to those who are sick. It’s about the ones you are in relationship with that have seen you in the good stuff and the bad. THOSE are the ones He wants you to minister to. Don’t worry about the truth running people off - just speak truth.
Why did they come to Jesus? The Word said there was nothing about Him that drew people to Him. It was by the testimony of those who had witnessed Him. It was His words. It wasn’t charisma and doing the “thing.” It was because He spoke with authenticity and authentic love of His Father. He spoke of loving the Father so much that He wanted to be part of the Kingdom no matter what.
We can start with “I’m not ok - but I want to share with you the Kingdom that I’m a part of. Let me tell you about my family.”
We want to be marked as one that says “YOU are the Christ.” And then be told - go, take your seedbag, make disciples, not because of what you think they need but what JESUS says they need.
It took about a year and a half, and Jesus gave a test, and He could see they were starting to get it. Right after this was His transcendence - and Father touched Him. (The Transfiguration)
****Apostle Sue Powers asked the question here: Did Jesus know Peter was the one the Spirit would reveal the truth to? Is it possible that Jesus’s response was “oh, you're the one who was chosen?”
We don’t have a solid answer to this, but let’s ponder it!
Ponder this too: why did Jesus call them brothers? They weren’t manifesting the fruit at that time. Eventually they did and they testified to it. But not at that moment. Jesus was so supremely unworried because in this moment, a year and a half into his ministry, He gave a test and saw that a seed was starting to sprout.
On the cross He said “it is finished,” How could He say that? He had taken His seed bag and He knew it was taking root. He scattered the seed and gave to those He was in relationship with, where He had been positioned by the Father.
Don’t get caught up in “I have to go minister to this one person.” It’s another level - when we relax about it, our life is the testimony.
The gardens are going to be those that risk in coming, from many walks of life, for short time and for long. But if you are looking for someone else to minister to them, you don’t have your seedbag on. It’s about ministering from right where you’re at. Put on your seedbag, and know that it’s not on you for YOU. He will love you, and minister to you, and call you brother. But He has a greater expectation than you just getting caught up in the cycle. Be able to speak of the dynamic of the truth of the risen Lord, no matter where you are in your life.
The moment Peter died to his own expectation: You are the Chirst!
It didn't even make sense! But he saw with his heart, and God said “on that kind of heart, I can build another talmidim. Or…church.”
Let Him shine through the cracks. It’s going to be ok.
Pastor has a new prayer every day: “Lord, Be a light to my path and a lamp to my feet.”
It’s time for us to be supremely unworried. The seed is in there and it’ll sprout. It’s about being fruitful FOR OTHERS.
And know this: that He is mostly happy with you - not mostly unhappy with you. No matter where you come from today - this is the way that Jesus revealed - He revealed the Kingdom principles and the power. That’s what people were drawn to. Are you doing that with your life?
It’s not about the instant gratification. It’s about growing trees.
No comments:
Post a Comment