Sermon Cloud

The Church is God with us.

If I could be like anyone in the world it would be him. If there was ever anyone I wanted to be proud of me it was him. When I would screw up he was the only person I didn’t want to find out. He loved everyone, and was loved by everyone. He is the smartest man I know. He was the most self sacrificing person I have ever met.

He hadn’t smoked for nearly 30 years. You can imagine how stunned we were when we found out he had cancer. Everyone was so upset, tears everywhere. It was so hard for so much of my family. My grandfather was a rock. When I saw his courage and his confidence I knew without a doubt that he would be fine. I knew there was more for him to do. I still needed his guidance. I wasn’t done with him yet. So I knew he would pull through.  

3 months later he still had cancer and I remember praying over him at church before he had to start chemo, I just knew then that God would heal him. Another 3 months went by and remember seeing him lying in a hospital bed barely able to move, barely able to speak, but still smiling, and I knew that any day he would get up and walk out of that hospital with a clean bill of health.

He never got out of that bed. It made me so angry. The most important man in my life was gone. I wanted him to watch me grow up and be a pastor, I wanted him to watch Lana grow up, and I wanted her to know the greatest man I knew, the man who helped make me who I am today. But that would never happen.

I had to hold it all in. I didn’t have time to talk to anybody, because everyone was running to me for a shoulder. It was my turn to be the rock. I had to be there for everyone else, but no one was there for me. I felt alone. I didn’t cry one tear. I walked into church that Sunday like a rock, but the moment I stood up at that pulpit and looked over to where my grandfather sat every Sunday I lost it. I ran to the back and just wept on the shoulder of a church member.

Immanuel, God with us. It didn’t feel like it. God felt so far away.  How could he allow something like this? Philippians 4:5, 7 ….The Lord is near. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. It is when I got into the church that I felt that peace. The world that we live in does not care about you. That world only cares for itself, but there is a place that God established for you, a place where you can hide, a place where you are safe, and a place where people love you. God was thinking of you the day he established the Church.

The Church has not been perfect. Everyone say “No kidding”. It will never be perfect; it is run by imperfect people. I realize that some have been hurt by churches, but the only thing I can promise is that at Great Lakes Church you are welcome as you are. If you are down, broken, beat up, sick, or lost, then you are where you need to be.

Joshua 1:5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. I know there are times when God feels far away and sometimes like He doesn’t exist, but God promises to be with us as He was with Moses….

Psalm 27:5: “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” The Church is His dwelling, and it will hide and comfort you. Whatever your struggle is God is big enough to handle it.

The Church was there for me when I lost my grandfather, and it is here for you.