Lens of Grace

"Are you envious because I am generous?’
So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

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Scripture passages for this Sunday:
* Matthew 20:1-16

There are many perspectives for seeking, loving and serving God, the best allow to see and celebrate who God truly is, rather than who we want him to be. Unfortunately, us humans often miss out on fully experiencing God's love and grace because we seek God through our expectations rather than God's nature.

Jesus tells the Parable of the Laborers to reveal God's great generosity. The vineyard owner infuriates workers who were paid exactly what they were promised when others were given the same pay for far less work. The vineyard owner chose to be generous with all of his workers. Rather than being angry, the first workers could have been happy with what they were paid and celebrated with the recipients of the owners generosity.

Jesus concludes, "Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/2WSziBfrEpI

Out of Our Comfort Zone

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple
must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

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Scripture passages for this Sunday:
* Matthew 16:21-28
* Romans 12:9-21

This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/4NnJNYe3QIs

Setting Our Course

 On this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

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Standing in the midst of a center of pagan worship, Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"

Peter responds, inspired by God, that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus replies that God has revealed this great truth to Peter and that "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."

It must have seemed strange to his disciples when moment's later Jesus announces that he must go to Jerusalem where he will suffer, be killed, and on the third day be raised.

His disciples never imagined that Jesus would head to Jerusalem to die, but as Jesus proclaimed, that gates of Hades will not prevail, he would be raised.

Scripture passages for this Sunday:
* Matthew 16:13-20
* Romans 12:9-21

This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Belonging & Becoming

Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”

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Jesus celebrates the faith of a Canaanite woman, that others tried to chase away, praising her and condemning the religious elite.

All too often, Christians can be more concerned about drawing dividing lines and categorizing people by who is in and who is out, when our hearts and faith ought to be seeking and loving the people that Jesus loves.

As we do, God's spirit works within us transforming by the renewal of our minds, so that we might truly know and seek God's will in our life and in the world.

Scripture passages for this Sunday:
* Matthew 15:21-28
* Romans 12:1-3

This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Blessed to Be a Blessing

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.
What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them,
but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

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This pandemic has disrupted what we often think of as church. But how much of what we miss is human traditions rather than God's purposes? Jesus was confronted by Pharisees and scribes that complained that his disciples did not follow their traditions. Jesus responded that what comes from the heart is what matters to God, not what goes into our mouths.

May all of us take the opportunity to look past our expectations of how we encountered and worshiped God in the past, to encounter the risen Christ in the present.
Today's scripture includes:

Psalms 67
Matthew 15:1-20

God Remembers Us

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.
‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them:
‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’

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We will experience danger and storms in our lives. Rather than escaping difficulties, Christians are far more likely to experience storms than those who don’t venture far from shore.

The good news is that even in the storm we are not alone. If I know the one who can calm the seas, he can calm even me.

Today's scripture includes:

Psalms 105:1-6
Matthew 14:22-33

All In

“"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;
on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold
all that he had and bought it.”

Jesus calls for us to go "all in" fully investing ourselves in the kingdom of heaven. But we are not alone, God is "all in" for us and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Today's scripture includes:
Romans 8:31-39
Matthew 13: 44-46

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This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/0PwcQKvA04A

Gardened by God

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took
and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds,
but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree,
so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Jesus describes the kingdom of Heaven as a mustard seed or yeast, that don't look like much to look at, but grows and transforms everything it touches.

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This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/0PwcQKvA04A

Friends, Children, and Heirs

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Friends and Heirs

Life is filled with choices - some good and some bad. The amazing thing is that even though God knows everything about us, he chooses us and loves us.

It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Romans 8:16-17

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This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/VT2MoiRVgug

Lord of the Harvest

"The seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.
This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

In Jesus' parable, the sower's seeds land in a variety of situations. The seeds, representing the message of the kingdom of heaven are received and grow, or have no lasting impact. Jesus explains that the harvest depends on the seeds that fall on fertile soil, into lives and hearts who understand the message, and for whom the kingdom of God becomes their heart's greatest desire.

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This worship service is produced through the combined efforts of Hope Presbyterian Church at Lake Nona and Oviedo Presbyterian Church and we pray that God will use it to bless people far beyond our congregations. We are very grateful to all who contribute to these services.

Please share them with your friends and families.

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/dCD3jwWaRVU

Music performed under CCLI License No. 11123016 which includes streaming permissions
"Whom Shall I Fear" by Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash & Scott Cash © 2012 S. D. G. Publishing, McTyeire Music, Worship Together Music, Alletrop Music (admin. Capitol CMG Publishing, Music Services Inc.)
All rights are reserved by the copyright holders.