Weekly Sermon: Does God really love me? - 05-18-25

The Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, O Lord.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man has been glorified,

and God has been glorified in him.

If God had been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

Little children, I am with you only a little longer.

You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you,

where I am going, you cannot come.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved

you. You also should love one another.

By this, everybody will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. All right, you may be seated.

All right.

So this morning, I want to cover another passage that was not the John passage,

because I didn't come prepared with John today.

And that's okay, because this one's from Philippians 4.13, and it says,

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

When we are in times of discomfort or uncertainty like today,

when all your best plans fall apart when you feel powerless when everything

just doesn't seem to be going right,

And maybe you've found yourself in all these awkward situations,

maybe at work, or maybe a moment where you don't know the words to say.

It's easy to feel weak. It's easy to feel like everything is outside your control,

and nothing can go right.

But this scripture reminds us that we are never facing these moments alone,

as it says in philippians 4 13 i can do all things through him who strengthens

me this verse is powerful because it's assurance that no matter how certain

or awkward situations seem to be or are,

God equips us with strength.

It's not about having the perfect response or avoiding uncomfortable moments altogether.

It's about relying on God, a God who will guide us through these awkward situations,

uncomfortable situations.

And next time, when you're in an awkward situation, Like today.

I hope that you can take a deep breath, and I want you to do it with me now.

Everyone just take a deep breath.

Let it out.

And remind yourself that God is with you.

You don't have to navigate these situations on your own.

You have your church family with you. You have all your loved ones with you.

I'm with you right now, and most importantly, you have God who is with you.

And like last week when I spoke, I talked about you belong to God.

You are a child of God.

And for me, that sermon, it was powerful not just to deliver,

but to write and to talk about and study because I needed that reassurance as well.

That I am a child of God, that I am loved and taken care of.

And that in those moments where I feel like, where do I belong? I'm lost and confused.

I can go to God and God takes me into God's loving arms and gives me that peace,

gives me that reassurance.

And says, you are my child, and everything is okay.

Everything is going to be okay. And today, our scripture in Philippians, not John,

tells us that not only are you going to be okay, God is going to give you the

strength to go through every awkward and hard situation that you are going through.

Whether you're at work and you're wondering, like, can I get this deadline done?

Can I meet this deadline? God holds you and gives you the strength to be able to do it.

When you're wondering how to navigate a family situation,

God holds you and caresses you and says, everything is going to be okay.

I can give you strength to get through it. And when you get into your golden

years and things are changing so quickly and so fast,

God also holds you, says, you are my child.

I love you, and I take care of you, and I'm going to give you the strength to make it through this.

So whatever it is that you need, whether it is that you need to feel loved,

that you need to feel like you belong somewhere,

you can turn to God. And if you feel like you need a moment where you need strength

to make it through a hard situation,

you can turn to God, and God will give you the strength to make you through that situation.

And if we can all embrace that, if we all can say that we can go turn to God

and find strength, we can do the same thing to help each other.

We can lift each other up during those hard times.

When we see our neighbors struggling through a situation, we can come alongside

them because they're our brother or sister or sibling and say,

I will give you strength as well.

I will team up with God and walk alongside you and help you make it through that situation.

If you're feeling alone and you don't know how to continue on to do the next

goal you have in your life.

Your brothers, your sisters, and your siblings can come alongside you and give

you strength to make it through that as well.

So I thank you all for being here.

I thank you all for being the children of God, for being the family of God at St.

Luke's. i think you've forgiven my me

strength for listening to god and

helping give me strength but also i think

you've forgiven each other's strength i see it all the time we lift each other

up we support each other we love each other because we want to follow in god's

will We want to do what God calls us to do,

which is to love each other and give each other strength.

So I thank you all so very much for being the family of St. Luke's.

And we're going to make it through this service.

We're going to have a fantastic potluck afterwards, and we will be the family of God together. Amen.

Filled with the joy of new life go in peace to love and serve and welcome all

thanks be to god and we will if you're inspired by this week's.