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God's Will

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I’m sorry but I have some bad news. John heard the words of the doctor again as he sat in the pew waiting for the service to start on Good Friday. He was at church because he was a regular and he hoped, he prayed that he could escape the rising fear and dread that had come from the medical appointment yesterday. The doctor had been sure there was no problem when John had told him the symptoms he was experiencing a couple of weeks ago. The doctor even told him to just ignore them as they were a sign of getting older. Johnwas uneasy and had been insistent that he wanted some tests just to be sure. Reluctantly, the doctor agreed, and John had undergone a couple of tests. A few days later, he got a call to come in and see the doctor.

The scans show that you have cancer in multiple places. John wiped at his eyes as the Good Friday service began. His mother and father had both died of cancer and images of them struggling for breath and in pain flashed before his eyes. He shook his head. He wasn’t that sick, but then neither were they when they were first diagnosed. Why was this happening? Where was God? How was he going to get through what was coming? God, why can’t you take this away from me? He stood as first hymn was sung, but honestly his mind was still reliving the pain and fear of hearing the news from the doctor.

“When Jesus had spoken these words...” the opening line from the gospel snapped John from his thoughts back to what was happening in the church. He knew the story of the passion and remembered that Jesus had prayed for what was happening to be taken from him. Yet this was the first time he actually heard those words and thought about what they meant. Jesus knew the pain and suffering that was coming and he dreaded it and wanted to avoid it. John could relate to that. He knew that there were days and weeks of treatment ahead of him. He wanted that future to just go away, to be different, for the burden to be taken from him. Yet he also knew that wasn’t going to happen.

John tilted his head. Jesus had ended his prayer by focusing on what God wanted and not his own desires. He decided to trust and rely on God instead of what he wanted to happen. John took a deep breath. The doctor had been hopeful that treatment would manage his cancer. He knew that things were different, there were better medicines and scans now than twenty years ago when his parents had cancer. He also knew that he wanted to see his kids grow up and hopefully to see grandchildren in his future. “What do I do, God?” he prayed softly and then John listened.

He listened as Peter denied Jesus and John realized it would be easy for him to rail and be angry at God and turn away looking for help and salvation somewhere else. He listened to the elders and scribes accusing Jesus with lies and falsehood and knew it would be tempting to deny he had cancer or to think it could be cured with some simple lifestyle change. He listened as Jesus was scorned and sent before Pilate and heard Pilate and Jesus speak of two very different kingdoms and ways. He listened to Jesus being condemned and dying on the cross. He could imagine those who mocked and rejected him and could hear the unhelpful things people would say to him when they learned he was sick.

As they stood to sing the final hymn, John’s future was still difficult and troubled. Yet John felt a peace that he hadn’t felt before. For John knew that he wasn’t going to face the stormy and chaotic times ahead by himself. He believed that there was love, there was grace, and there was hope even in the worst of times. Jesus had chosen to walk the road to calvary and had endured what was given to him. John believed in his heart that Jesus would not abandon or forsake him in the days to come. So as the hymn was finishing John whispered, “Not my will but yours, O God.”

John left the church thinking not of what the doctor had said to him and the prospect of the difficult days ahead, but rather of the waiting that happened between Good Friday and Easter. John smiled softly as he thought of what life would be like without any more worries about his health and he looked forward to that day. John walked toward his car thankful that he had gone to worship that morning and grateful that God had helped him to hear the good news again that day.
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John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity.

Note: You will need to select six children to play roles in this activity. If you have a smaller group, you might ask some older youth or even adults to play the parts of the two attackers and the man being attacked. I will give suggestions for how they can play their roles, but feel free to help your children make the story as fun and memorable as you can. I have used boys and girls in the various roles, but you can change those however you want to change them.

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The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
For July 13, 2025:
  • Samaritans Among Us by Dean Feldmeyer based on Acts 2:1-21. Samaritans were despised and dismissed by the original audience who first heard Jesus tell this parable. Who are the Samaritans in our lives and how does this parable apply today?
  • Second Thoughts: The Helpers by Katy Stenta based on Amos 7:7-17.

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
I say, “You are gods,
    children of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
    and fall like any prince….”
(vv. 6-7)

There have been any number of brother-sister acts that achieved a measure of fame. Take the Carpenters, famed for their singing, musicianship, and songwriting skills. Also worthy of mention are John and Joan Cusack who have acted together in over sixteen films.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
An ancient legend tells of a remote mountain village where people used to send their senior citizens out into the woods to die. The villagers had an eye to the future; they felt that those beyond a certain age would only slow down progress or use up valuable resources to no economically profitable end. Those who reached a certain age weren’t “put out to pasture” or “put out of their misery”; they were simply put out of other people’s way.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Mabel hummed a familiar hymn tune as she made her way to church. She always enjoyed her Sunday morning walk. It was one of the few times she felt safe to walk alone through the inner city, for she knew nobody would be up at 7.45 in the morning. Today was a particularly beautiful morning, with blue sky, warm sunshine, and the song of a few intrepid blackbirds who still inhabited the city.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Often, a distinction is made between the pastoral or priestly work of the church and the prophetic work. Pastoral care has to do with the care of souls, the offering of comfort in times of loss. The priestly character of pastoral work seeks to mediate the presence of God to those who are hurting.

Schuyler Rhodes
Trusting is never easy. Even in the best of relationships, people step into trust slowly. There is wariness -- questioning -- worry. What happens if trust is betrayed? What if this doesn't work? Sometimes it's like a dance. We step in and out of trust, moving to the rhythms of fear. For many, the routine is achingly familiar. Indeed, it's not easy to trust.
John Jamison
It was back in the days when the railroad was the most common mode of transportation. There were automobiles, and some airplanes, but the steam locomotive was the way most folks traveled and the way that most of the goods were distributed around the country. After dinner, people sat in the drawing room and listened to the radio programs, fading in and out from some faraway location, over the magical broadcasting signal.
Robert Leslie Holmes
Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It's the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline for your car and purchased it at a certain price per gallon.
David O. Bales
I have the two best jobs in the world. I teach social studies at Leon Griffith Junior High School (a fairly small junior high) and I am Sunday School Superintendent at Calvary Presbyterian Church (an enormous church school). Each job is my vocation. I tell people that at school they'll find my room where the halls cross. At church they can look but probably won't find me. I'll be in someone's classroom. At each job I practice what I most deeply believe: it's how you see the world that determines how you respond to it. I'll give you an example, actually, two examples.
Erskine White
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine)

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