Together Again

Terry Siverd
06/21/20 - Sun AM

TOGETHER AGAIN
Sermon By Terry Siverd / June 21, 2020 / Cortland  Church of Christ

Brief announcements regarding:  seating … songbooks … facemasks … communion … offering … dismissal.  

Other gatherings (Sunday AM Bible Class & Midweek) will remain “on hold” until August.
During the balance of June & July, we will only be meeting for Sunday AM worship.

This morning's order of worship will be as follows:  Opening Prayer…Songs…Lord's Supper…Scripture Reading…Announcements & Sermon…Invitation Song…Closing Song & Prayer.

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          Good morning to all of you......For the time being, our FamilyMatters is only being published online - - visit our church website for news and updates.  Please note that this is a different website than our church Facebook page.   The address for visiting our website is:  www.cortlandcoc.org......Happy Father's Day to all of you dads......Welcome home to Larry & Carol Pierson and George Henderson - - back from Florida ......Betina, Albert & George are now visiting with us - - they will be with us through August 4th...... Josh Espinosa will be with us for about seven more weeks before heading to Harding University in Searcy, AR ......Not present today - - Debby Rossi is having serious leg pain and was in ER yesterday.  Vic is wearing a heart monitor; Don & Shirley Davis had a tough week of medical treatments and visits to the doctors; Doug Cassidy is struggling in his battle with cancer.

          I want to commend you for your remarkable giving over the last three months - - steadfast and generous.  Our offering average during the last 13 weeks has held steady at a little less than $1,600 per week.  Your generosity has helped sustain our congregation.  And on a personal note, it has helped sustain my household.  Very few of you know that at the start of this year, I took a $5,000/year cut in pay.  I pro-posed this reduction in salary in a meeting with the elders at the end of last year.  We intended to make this know earlier in the year and got derailed by the pandemic.  We had hoped that this cut would assist the church in reducing our debts as we make plans for the future.  At some juncture in the next year or two we will need to begin planning for the hiring of a new minister.

          We are grateful for your presence today.  Finally, our Sunday Morning Worship has returned.  Over the last 90 days we, as a church and a nation, have been traveling in uncharted waters.  The epistle to the Hebrews was written during tempestuous times during the last days of the Old Covenant, just prior to the fall of Jerusalem.  The author of this epistle, whom I believe was the apostle Paul, called upon the first-century saints to REMEMBER.  Heb.10:32/remember the former days … Heb.13:3/remember the prisoners … Heb.13:7/remember those who led you.  While the actual word remember is employed in only a few passages, the concept is found throughout.  In particular, Hebrews chapter 11 is all about remembering the lives of other men and women of faith from times past.  As I have noted repeatedly over the last three months (in sermons and essays), there is great value in remembering.  It not only serves to take the focus off of ourselves, but it also stirs up fortitude for our present struggles - - if they could be faithful during such hardships, we can do the same.  As God was with the saints of old, so too, He is with us today. 

          I've been thinking a lot lately about a span of 90 days or so that we read of in the New Testament Scriptures.  Luke's gospel notes that after our Lord's resurrection (Lk.1:3) - - (Jesus) presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days...   Tens days later came the day of Pentecost that we read about in Acts 2:1ff.  That's a total of 50 days.  If we could back up 40 days prior to Jesus' crucifixion that would give us 90 days.  Talk about uncharted waters - - what a whirlwind they experienced.

          Matthew chapter twenty-six is filled with all kinds of information. Mt.26:2/you know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the  Son of Man is to be delivered up for crucifixion.  Mt.26:6f tells of how the disciples became indignant when a woman anointed Jesus with oil.  They argued that this actions of this unnamed woman was such a WASTE.  Imagine such an exchange taking place just a few days before our Lord's crucifixion. Jesus rebuked them saying that her brave deed would become a everlasting memorial of her loving kindness (vs.13).   Contrariwise, Mt.26:14f records the plans of Judas to betray Jesus.  Mt.26:17ff notes the preparations needing to made for the Passover and the Last Supper.  As Jesus and His disciples sup together, the bread and the wine were given a new and deeper meaning by Jesus:  The bread would come to represent the body of Jesus and the wine, His blood.  Mt.26:30 states, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  There, Jesus told them, “you will all fall away” (vs.31).  Peter spoke up and said, Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away (vs.33).  Jesus looked Peter in the eyes and said to him (vs.34) - - ...this very night, before the cock crows, you shall deny Me three times.  Mt.26:36f tells of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane.  He told the twelve to sit and wait and then He asked Peter, James & John to go with Him to pray.  You know the story, Jesus asked them to “keep watch and pray” while He pulled aside to pray.  Three times He prayed fervently, Let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt (vs.39f).  After each prayer, Jesus returned to find Peter, James & John sleeping.  The chapter continues in telling of Judas' betrayal with a kiss followed by Jesus' arrest (Mt.26:47-56a).  Peter attempted to intervene by cutting of the ear (perahps aiming for the head) of the servant of the high priest (vs.51).  Jesus told Peter to put away his sword - - “it must happen this way”.  Note vs.56b – Then all the disciples left Him and fled.  Jesus is arrested and taken before Caiaphas (Mt.26:57ff).  For a while Jesus stands silently.  When He does speak it results in being spat upon and beaten with fist. Mt.26:69 concludes with Peter's denial - - one of the most painful events in human history.  Three times Peter denied Jesus:  first saying, I don't know what you are talking about; the second time he denied Him with an oath; and the third time with cursing and swearing.  The last line of Mt.26 (vs.75) states, (Peter) went out and wept bitterly.

          I have chosen this morning for us to spend this together again time in reflection.  For the last 90 days or so out lives have been spinning out of orbit.  Our lives have been disrupted;  our saving$ have been taxed; our hearts have been burdened - - we're not sure what the future holds for us as a family or for our nation and our world.  It's time for us to re-focus on JESUS.  We've been distracted my many things:  the pandemic; the plummet in our economy; the protests; the static and noise - - and God only knows the degree of angst and worry that has surrounded us.  We're bothered and weighed-down by many things.   We may not know what the future holds, but we know HIM who holds the future.  The turbulence that we've experienced over the last 90 days has been troubling.  But, in all honesty, it pales in comparison to what we read about in the gospels and Acts.  For them it was much more than just three months of disorientation.  Would Jesus really be crucified?  Would one of the twelve truly betray Him with a kiss for 30 measly pieces of silver?  Would the vaunted Peter deny the Lord three times?  Would all of the disciples forsake Jesus and flee?  Would Jesus actually arise from the dead?  Were His post-resurrection appearances really real?  Could disciples who didn't see Him trust the eyes of those who did?  Why did He have to ascend back to the Father?  What was this promise (Acts 1:4) for which they were told to wait for in Jerusalem? How could they proceed without their Master Teacher?

          What would the days ahead hold for them - - would they bring smooth sailing or rough sleding?  The book of Acts chronicles their path forward, which was difficult to say the least.  But we know the rest of their story.  Many of them persevered.  Enough of them proved faith-ful to the cause that it resulted in the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ being spread far and wide.  Indeed as Paul proclaimed in the years to follow - - the hope of the gospel was proclaimed in all creation under heaven (Col.1:6 & 23).  As we remember the lives of God's faithful ones in ancient times, we are convinced that the answer to our turbulence is not to recoil and go into hiding.  The light of the gospel is needed now more than ever.  We must determine to trim our lamps so as to brighten our light as we hold fast and hold forth the word of truth (Philp.2:15-16).

Dear Heavenly Father,
We are grateful for Your loving care throughout the trials of the last few months.
We thank You for our beloved church family. Strengthen us all in our love for one another.
Help us to look to the future with confidence in spite of additional difficulties that may beset us.
Remind us that we can prevail (today and tomorrow) only in the power of Your might.
Through Christ Jesus, our mighty Savior, who overcame even death itself, we pray.  Amen.