Orange United Methodist Church

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 We are saved by the grace of God, the gra...ce that comes from a Father’s heart with divine love. That gave His only Son to die. It’s that same love of God that let Jesus to willingly die on a cross for us, with faith that he would live again. And it’s that same love of God that sent the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter and Helper. And this is that same love of God that grants to all that believe and follow Christ as savior and example - to be called God's children. Now we only have an inkling of what it means to be God children. We will have hardships during our lives, but we will also have joy. But the joy of this life is nothing compared to the joy to come. Because in the end we will be like Him like Jesus. That just seems impossible, but that is our belief and faith. Peace and Blessings Pastor Tom

Romans 8:35-39 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.[a] 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 ...neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I believe that God can and will let good come out of everything, even the greatest evil. . . . I believe that in every moment of distress God will give us as much strength to resist as we need. But it is not given to us in advance, lest we rely on ourselves and not on God alone. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer Peace and Blessings Pastor Tom

Online Worship Oct 25th, 2020 Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 - Matthew 22:34-46 Music: Stand by Me - Pass It On

God will reward each of us for what we have done. He will give eternal life to everyone who has patiently done what is good in the hope of receiving glory, honor, and life that lasts forever. Romans 2:6-7 Have you ever watched a bird build a nest? Twig by twig, straw by straw, pieces of yarn, string and anything else they can find, one at a time they weave the items into the nest. It take a long time but they are persistent at it, they just keep going at their task, and af...ter all their hard work they have a sturdy nest ready to start their family. Lifelong faith takes persistence also. Bit by bit we build and show our faith in acts of piety, such as worship, reading Scripture, and prayer, and work of mercy such as, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and befriending the outcast. These things don’t earn our way to heaven, but they are things Christians do because of their faith in response to our love of God, through Jesus Christ. Peace and Blessings Pastor Tom

2 Timothy 3:14-17 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is[a] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.... This passage made me think about all the different bibles I’ve had and read over the years. I vaguely remember a children’s Bible that my mom and grandmother used to read to my brother and I when we were little, and if I close my eyes, and concentrate I can still see some of the pictures. . Then when I was in first or second grade, my church gave me a Bible. I used that for some years through grade school and junior high. Then in UMYF we received ``Good News Bibles. Since then I have had paraphrased Bibles, study Bibles, and Historical references Bibles. But they were all God’s word presented in slightly different ways. A few years ago I had the chance to look through that first Bible given to me in grade school, and the one given to me in high school. It was interesting to see what I had underlined in those Bibles of my youth and to wonder what was going when I underlined certain passages. I’m sure that the longer that I am in ministry and the lectionary scripture begins to repeat I’ll find additional truths and different inspirations in even familiar scripture. God never changes but God’s words in scripture are living and continually reveals the nature of God throughout its pages and in different ways throughout our lives. Peace & Blessings Pastor Tom

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, no...r anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 We are never left alone if we have faith in the love of Christ. Even in our darkest time the love of God through Jesus Christ will stay with us. This love will comfort, strengthen, and lead us though anything that the world can throw at us. Detrick Bonhoeffer a German theologian executed by the Nazis in 1945 writes I believe that God can and will let good come out of everything, even the greatest evil. . . . I believe that in every moment of distress God will give us as much strength to resist as we need. But it is not given to us in advance, lest we rely on ourselves and not on God alone. Peace and Blessings Pastor Tom

Mt. Zion - Orange United Methodist Churches On-Line Worship for Oct. 18th, 2020 Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 - Matthew 22:15-22 Music:... Blessed Assurance - He Touched Me See more

In the past, God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many times and many ways. In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him. The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message. Hebrews 1:1-3a In Jesus we see the clearest picture of who God is, what God does, and how God invites us to live as God’s children. Jesus... revels God to be greater that we could ever imagine, God creator of everything. Through Jesus we find that God’s ways are not the ways of the world that our priorities are turned upside down. Bishop Rueden Job write: Jesus reveals a God who is always and forever beyond us, completely other than who we are, and yet who wants to come and dwell within us (John 14:23). Jesus reveals a God of love. Peace and Blessings Pastor Tom

What you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in temples made with human hands. Nor is God served by human hands, as though he needed something, since he is the one who gives life, breath, and everything else. From one person God created every human nation to live on the whole earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. . . . In fact, God isn’...t far away from any of us. In God we live, move, and exist. As some of your own poets said, We are his offspring. Acts 17:23b-28 God is sovereign and God is able to care for all of creation. With today’s almost instant communication and special effects movies and games, it is easy to forget this truth. Once we lose the concept of God as sovereign,everything we do: our prayers, our faith, and our wonder begins to shrink. We begin to believe in a smaller God and that can take the heart out of reverence and out of prayer. If our Commitment to a god that is too small, how can we have any hope to transform the world. We can then become trapped in our own weaknesses and the evil of the world when we forget that God is sovereign and God is able.Not only our salvation, but our prayers, our hope, our trust, our work, and our very lives are at risk when we follow a god too small to meet the needs of all of creation. Our God is sovereign and much bigger than we can ever imagine. Faith in our awesome God will lead us to do tremendous work through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Peace & Blessings Pastor Tom

Philippians 3:13-14 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. I really dislike when someone keeps bring up the past lifestyle of someone who has be changed by the Gospel through Jesus. They say ya but he or she was this or that when they were young. The change that took place is... exactly the point, they have been transformed into a new creation. Many times, those lives that have been transformed become the most zealous followers of Christ. They can understand how the Good News can change lives, even better than someone who has been a life long follower. And they are enthusiastic to share the Good News and do the work of a Christian. We need to rejoice for their newfound faith, not question their motives or chain them to their past. Peace and Blessings Pastor Tom

MtZion - Orange United Methodist Churches On-Line Worship Oct. 11th, 2020 Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14 Music: Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing - Your Grace Still Amazes Me

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17 A living faith always has works associated with it, which is our faith... in action. Even if we are doing the work through a secular organization, we can do it with Christian love. Throughout the Gospels Jesus not only took care of the spiritual needs of the people He also took care of their physical needs. If someone is cold and hungry the Good News of the Gospel may just be words. But actions speak louder than words and the Good News in conjunction with work speaks loud and clear. The early church spent as much or more time doing good works than it did in worship. But good works are a form of worship in that we are honoring God as we work. Having empathy for our sisters and brothers is part of our Christian walk as it calls us to action. Peace and Blessings Pastor Tom

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you... on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. -- Corinthians 5:17-21 As we were walking on the prayer walk this morning with the church group at Frances Slocum State Park, I couldn’t help but noticed the colorful leaves on the tree even as some blew in the breeze and fell. Nature is always renewing itself without resisting the cycles of the seasons. But I know that I resist the cycles not wanting to pass from summer into fall and the early darkness. Sometimes we even resist Christ’s call to become a new creation through Him. But if we would let that happen, we would see life with new eyes and a new heart. How much better the world would be if were reconciled to God, and become a new creation in Christ. Peace & Blessings Pastor Tom