"Mistakes" with Nancy and Randy

PRELUDE:  
Nancy & Norm 
 
PROCESSIONAL: Thy Word 

CALL TO WORSHIP:
God has given us breath to live and spirit to sing. 
Thanks be to God. 
God has gathered us into a community of care and worship. 
Thanks be to God. 
Let us worship God with love, thanksgiving and praise. 
Thanks be to God. 

WELCOME & COVID RULES: 
  
OPENING HYMN: 
#56 Great Is Your Faithfulness Vs. 1 & 2 
 
OPENING PRAYER & THE LORD'S PRAYER:
Lord, we gather together this morning to worship You and to pray. We pray that You will always be there to light our way.  We strive every day to resist evil and pray that Your light will always shine on. May 
others see Your glory through us and come to worship You as the Living God. And we continue to pray with Your words, 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, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS, BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES: 

OFFERING: There will not be the usual collecting of our offering. 

God's kingdom is brought to this earth whenever we choose, and we bring our unique gifts. To pray for God's kingdom means we are making a commitment to create a world here on earth that closely mimics what we imagine heaven to be like. Every decision we make, every choice, every action, every offering has the potential to bring God's promised kingdom to life here. We are all given different gifts so we can all bring a small piece of God's kingdom in the way we are gifted to bring it. Let us pray: Gracious God, accept these gifts, and with them and our lives, to be used in Your service, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ​

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 

Psalm 19:12-14
New International Version

12 But who can discern their own errors?
    Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
    may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
    innocent of great transgression.
14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
    be pleasing in your sight,
    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Acts 2:36-41
New International Version
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
James 1:12-18
New International Version
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
HYMN:        #3     What A Friend We Have In Jesus Vs. 1 & 2
 
PRAYER:
Lord, please forgive us for what we have done to You. We offer up this forgiveness prayer in hopes that You will look at our mistakes and know that we didn't mean to hurt You. We know that You know we are not perfect. We know that what we did went against You, but we hope that You will forgive us, just as You forgive others like us. We will try, Lord, to change. We will make every attempt to not give in to temptation again. We know that You are the most important thing in our life, Lord, and we know that what we did was disappointing. We ask, Lord, that You provide us with guidance in the future. We ask for the discerning ear and open heart to hear and feel what You are telling us to do. We pray that we will have the understanding to remember this time and that You give us the strength to go in a different direction. Lord, thank you for all You do for us. We pray that You pour Your grace upon us. This we pray in Your name, Amen.

​SOLO: 

"Wide River To Cross"  Norm Rennie

​MEDITATION:   

M:istakes

"lf we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8. Have any of you ever made a mistake? Be honest. Hands up if you've ever made a mistake. See, even my hand is up r When you made that mistake, whether big or small, did you do anything about it? You've probably heard the story of the man who got up early and dressed in the dark, only to find out later, when he got to work, that he was wearing one blue sock and one Argyle sock, He couldn't go back home to change them, so when anyone noticed, he just said, III have another pair just like them at home!" The lesson: if
you learn to chuckle at your mistakes, you will seldom be short of laugh material.

We all make mistakes, and some of these mistakes are funny, like the two different socks. But we don't like admitting that we've made a mistake because we get embarrassed and we think those who saw or know about our mistakes will look down on us. Most of us don't like to admit when we're wrong. Some say the three hardest words for a man
to say is "I love YOU," but it's probably more true that the three hardest
words for us to say are "I was wrong."

Some mistakes are quite serious, and, at the very least, can cause of lot of problems. A drum major on parade in a California town tossed his baton which hit two 4000-volt power lines, melting the baton as well as blacking out a ten block area and putting a radio station off the air. A bank robber told the teller not to give him the cash but to deposit the money into his checking account. Thank God for dumb criminals. On his first assignment for a newspaper, a rookie reporter drove a company car to a car-crushing plant, parked in the wrong area, and returned from interviewing the manager just in time to see the vehicle compacted into scrap metal.

However, some mistakes turn out to be very good. Alexander Fleming left a pile of dirty petri dishes stacked on his workstation before he left on vacation and when he returned home he discovered a lot of contamination. He dumped most of the dishes in a vat of Lyso!. But when he got to a dish containing staphylococcus, something odd caught his eye. The dish was covered in colonies of bacteria except in one area where a blob of mold was growing and that's when penicillin was identified. From that little act of scientific sloppiness, we got one of the most widely used antibiotics used today. Other discoveries made by mistakes include the slinky, Post-it notes, the colour mauve, plastics, Corn Flakes and Wheaties, the pacemaker and many others. 


These mistakes brought something positive, but not all mistakes end up that way. In life, all Christians will make mistakes, but we should all want to use our mistakes for good and to learn from them. Everyone makes mistakes, even those in the Bible. Ask yourself, are you gaining wisdom from your mistakes?

All of us have said things we wish we hadn't and we have dome things we wish we hadn't done. But what is past is done and we don't get a do-over with our past mistakes. So how can we fix it? There's only one place to find the answer and that's the Bible. Everyone makes mistakes, even those in the Bible. The heroes of the faith were not perfect, they had their share of blunders. But God will always forgive us our little mistakes and our largest sins as long as we ask for His forgiveness. I'll give you a few examples: first from Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." And from Daniel 9:9, "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have reb lled against Him." From Micah 7:18-19. "Who is a God like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us." So let's ask ourselves, once we ask for forgiveness are we gaining wisdom from mistakes?

Now, let's listen to a Bible story about making a mistake.

When Jesus came out of the wilderness, having passed through the great temptation, He was filled with the Spirit of God. He came once again to the place where John was baptizing. It was late afternoon and John was standing with two of his disciples, John and Andrew. After seeing Jesus, John the Baptist said to his disciples, If Look! There is the Lamb of God." Hearing this, John and Andrew quickly ran to Jesus. Jesus asked, "What are you looking for?"

They asked Him where He was staying and Jesus invited them to come and see. John and Andrew spent the rest of the day with Jesus, but first Andrew said, "I want my brother Simon to be in on this." Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, and Jesus named him Simon Peter.

The next day Jesus was determined to go to Galilee, but first He found Philip and told him to come with Him. And Philip went and found his friend Nathanael whose home was in Cana. 

When Jesus met Nathanael He said, "Here is really an Israelite, true and honest." Nathanael was surprised that Jesus knew who He was. Jesus told him that He noticed him earlier under a fig tree praying secretly under the tree's branches. And then Nathanael knew that Jesus was the Son of God.

Jesus asked, "Do you believe? You shall see greater things. I'm telling you that you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

That made Nathanael think of Jacob's dream. In his dream, Jacob saw a ladder or stairway reaching from heaven to earth, and angels going up and down on it. Nathanael had called Jesus the Son of God, but Jesus called Himself the Son of Man. That made a connection between heaven and earth. Nathanael was a very thoughtful man, and he thought a lot about what Jesus had said. He realized that Jesus is the ladder reaching from heaven to earth: Son of God, Son of Man. And
through Him God sends the angels from heaven to earth to care for us.

Then they all left and went straight to Nathanael's home in Cana. On the third day there was a wedding there and Jesus was asked to attend. Jewish weddings were steeped in tradition and ritual. One of the customs was providing an extravagant feast for the guests. Something went wrong at this wedding however, because they ran out of wine early. In that culture such a miscalculation would have been a great humiliation for the bridegroom. Mary, Jesus' mother, was also attending the wedding. It was an open wedding where everybody was welcome. There were more people than had been expected, perhaps because they heard that Jesus was there. Before long the refreshments were gone. The bridegroom was very embarrassed. But Mary quietly said to Jesus, "They have no wine."

Jesus replied, "Do not try to direct Me. It isn't time yet for Me to act." But His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you to do."

Jesus loved His mother and He wouldn't disappoint her when He could help it. The servants stood looking at Him, waiting. There were six big jars standing there. They had probably held the wine that was now depleted or perhaps they had been filled with water for household use. However, they were empty now.

Jesus told the servants to fill the jars with water. They hurried to the well and drew the water, bucket after bucket, and poured it into the six big jars. Soon all six jars were full of water.

Then Jesus said, "Draw some out and take it to the master of the feast."

They did as they were asked and the master of the feast tasted it. Then he called to the bridegroom. He said, "Everyone else serves his good wine first, and his poorer wine after the guests have drunk a lot. But you have kept back your good wine until now."

The master of the feast didn't know, the bridegroom didn't know and all the guests didn't know where the good wine had come from. But the servants knew, and it didn't take long to let all the people know that Jesus, the Son of Mary, had turned six big jars of water into wine. And Jesus' fame grew.

Turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana was the first miracle Jesus performed. This miracle, showing Jesus' control over physical elements like water, marked the beginning of His ministry. Like His other miracles, it benefited people in need. Not only did Jesus produce a large quantity of wine, but the quality of it astonished the banquet master. In the same way, Jesus pours His spirit into us in abundance, giving us God's best. And after they saw this miracle the disciples began to see how amazing Jesus really was. 

Running out of wine was hardly a life or death situation, nor was anyone in any physical pain. Yet Jesus interceded with a miracle to
solve the problem. God is interested in every aspect of our life. What matters to you and me matters to Him.

We all make so many little mistakes and blunders. And there's a knock, knock joke that can help remind us what to do. Knock, Knock. Who's there? Leon. Leon who? Leon me when you're not strong. So when we get discouraged and sometimes we get depressed, and we know exactly what to do, we can always lean on Jesus. Because if Jesus is our guest, He will know what to do. He will take the little, common things we have in our homes and make them sweeter than anything we could purchase. Jesus doesn't offer us anything cheap. Everything He offers us is the very best.

I leave you with you two questions: Have you ever asked Jesus to come and be a guest in your life? Is Jesus a friend of yours?

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we thank you that Mary believed in Jesus and encouraged Him to begin His ministry at the wedding at Cana and help us to be bold disciples. Like the master of the feast at Cana, everyone makes a mistake, big or small. Thank you for the many times You have given us a second chance. We ask that You provide us with guidance. We accept the responsibility for the mistakes we make. We know You have given us Your grace. We know You have given us Your mercy. Forgive us for the times we have made bad choices and help us forgive ourselves. This we ask in Your name. Amen.


CLOSING PRAYER:      
God loves us like a good parent and is present in every aspect of our existence. Let God's joy, peace, love and justice be the reality for us as we live the way Jesus taught us to live. Let us always stay centered on God's
love, for that is the true reality in this, our present, and in all our future. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 

CLOSING HYMN:  #42 lean On Me

BENEDICTION & CHORAL AMEN:   Go now, and live out our song of praise to God. Discipline yourself in all things, however small, so that you may attain the prize of salvation that is yours in Jesus Christ. We go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

POSTLUDE:  Nancy & Norm