Worship Series: “Created for Connection”

God created us for connection and community. 

Drawing on the experiences of the early church in scripture, let us relearn how God leads us into lives of meaningful relationship with Godself and one another.

The message: “Connection with Community”

Scripture Lesson: Hebrews 10: 23-25 CEB

In our loneliness, we often retreat from church and community.  We are called, as believers, to prioritize the time for worship and small groups to encourage each other in the faith.

Scripture: John 11: 1-7; 17-26

Today’s question is: “Will Purpose make me happy?”

In a world that prioritizes “happiness,” God calls us into a more expansive vision of faith and flourishing. 

When we don’t have the answer to where we are going, we often feel like we are wandering and “wasting time.” 

But with God, no time is wasted. In our wandering, God offers us an opportunity to explore new possibilities through acts of creativity, wonder, and play.

Scripture: Exodus 16

Purpose is what we can do today. We must not only focus on the future but also the present. What do we have to offer right now, and who needs it? When we offer what we have now, we find – often to our surprise – that our purpose begins to come into focus.

Who Am I? That is today’s focus. We may feel like we are defined by our highs and lows, but first and foremost, we are defined by God’s love for us. God’s love promises to redeem our whole stories. It allows us to look back over our lives and see how all our experiences—good, bad, and in-between—can shape and clarify our purpose.

Scripture: Matthew 5: 13-16

Finding our purpose is discovering who God has uniquely created us to be and how our gifts can serve others at any moment.

Message preached at Tuckerton United Methodist Church on Sunday, July 14, 2024.

Scripture: John 3: 1-9

Have you ever asked this question: Why am I here? Trying to discover the purpose of our lives can lead to a lot of questions: Who am I? Do I have a “calling”? What am I supposed to do with my life? What does purposeful living look like? Often, the world is all too ready to give us answers to these questions – promising that finding the perfect job or achieving the next milestone will make us happy. But in this series, we will embrace these questions as an invitation to discover what it is that God wants to do with the story of our lives right now.

Why Am I Here? That is today’s focus. Asking this question opens us up to God’s purpose for our lives.

Scripture: Jonah 1: 1-17

Jonah, called by God to share a message of grace and mercy, decided to run away from that calling. Still, God shared grace and mercy with Jonah, the same message God wanted him to share with Nineveh. Jonah thought he might run away from sharing the message, but in the end, he was running to God’s message of grace and mercy—the same way you and I are embraced by God’s love.

Scripture: Matthew 8: 23-27

In the face of a storm, Jesus is sleeping while his disciples are struggling to keep the boat afloat. The storm is hammering the fishing boat, the disciples are screaming, the boat is rocking hard, and Jesus is sleeping. Not bothered by all the commotion happening around him. He was in a deep sleep. The same happens to many of us who have a deep sleep. Things can happen around us, and we don’t even notice it. Who keeps on sleeping through screams like that? Who sleeps through a storm of that magnitude? We will meditate more about this in today's message.

Scripture: Matthew 7: 7-12