Lewisburg United Methodist Church: Recent Episodes
Lewisburg United Methodist Chu
Lewisburg United Methodist Church is a place where all persons are welcomed and respected. We invite you to join us on a journey that is growing, changing, and some days even faltering on the road of faith.
Pastor Bev Colombo Sermon: “Love, Trust, Joy” Special Music: Give Me Jesus (Kiersten White, Solo) Sharing Our Gifts: True Colors (Emily McCourt, Solo) 1 Peter 1 : 8 8 Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.
Pastor Tim Halloran Sermon: “God Against God” Sharing Our Gifts: Chris Hicks Offertory: Morning Has Broken (Emily McCourt, Solo) Luke 13 : 1 – 9 1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will
Pastor Tim Halloran Sermon: “Happily Ever After… Not” My Story: Rhonda Stout Offertory: I Would Be True (Kiersten White, Solo) Daniel 3 : 13 – 18 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up?
Pastor Tim Halloran Sermon: “Does Worship Matter?” Offertory: Ashokan Farewell (Marie Shelton, Violin) John 4: 7 – 24 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to
Pastor Joe Geiger Sermon: “What’s Right With The Church?” My Story: Teens from Mission Trip Offertory: Jesus Built This Church On Love (Cassidy Hicks, Solo) Matthew 16: 13 – 20 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “What Does God Think Of Me?”
My Story: Anne Baldwin
Offertory: The Prayer (Kiersten White, Solo)
Matthew 20: 1 – 16 1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4 and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5 When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6 And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ 9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Two Parts Of Me”
My Story: Flo Simmons
Children’s Message: Tina Campbell
Offertory: Have A Talk With God (Drew, Jim, Emily & The Band)
John 3 : 6 – 8 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “Healing Grace”
Special Music: Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (Soloist, Drew Johnson)
Ephesians 2: 4-10 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “Talking A Good Game”
Special Music: Lord, Be With Us On This Day
(Trio: Donna Ream, LJ Fauber, Charley Fauber)
Matthew 23: 23-28 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. 28 So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Sharing From Belize”
Offertory: The Wonder Of It All (Donna Ream, Soloist)
Mark 16 : 15 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. “
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “No More Bull”
Offertory: Rebel Heart (Mary Donovan, Solo)
Special Music: Salt & Light (Mary Donovan, Soloist)
Exodus 32: 1-14 1When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Peacemakers”
Offertory: Spirit, Spirit, On The Sea (Manley & Snyder)
Matthew 5 : 9 28 “ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. “
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “Pure In Heart”
Offertory: A Living Prayer (Emily McCourt, Solo)
Matthew 5: 8 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.“
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Mercy”
Song of Praise: The Potter’s Hand (arr. Lloyd Larson)
Offertory: Rainbow (Emily McCourt, Solo)
Matthew 5: 7
6 “ Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. “
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Those Who Hunger and Thirst”
Song of Praise: Precious Lord, What A Friend (arr. Patsy Ford Simms)
Offertory: Calypso on “He Leadith Me” (arr. Tammy Waldrop)
Special Music: I Need The Every Hour (arr. Matthew Prins)
Matthew 5: 6
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled “
Sermon: “Can The Meek Inherit The Earth?”
Song of Praise: Just A Closer Walk With Thee (arr. Ed Lojeski)
Matthew 5: 5
5 “ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Those Who Mourn”
Song of Praise: I Believe (arr. Mark Miller)
Offertory: Drew Johnson
Matthew 5: 4 4 “ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “The Poor In Spirit”
Song of Praise: Blest Are They (arr. Mark Hayes)
Offertory: Emily McCourt
Matthew 5: 3 1 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “Living Like Easter People, In A Good Friday World”
Song of Praise: Easter Triumph (arr. J.D. Frizzell)
Offertory: Chloe Johnson, Drew Johnson, Jim Snyder
John 20: 1-10 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Who Are You?”
Song of Praise: Lamb Of God (arr. Lloyd Larson)
Offertory: How Deep The Father’s Love For Us (Bob Riggleman, Julie Riggleman, & Jim Synder))
John 12: 12-19
12 The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. 17 So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.[d 18 It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. 19 The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “Give Up Pettiness For Lent”
Song of Praise: I Choose Love (arr. Mark A. Miller)
Children’s Time: Tina Campbell
Offertory: Jim Snyder
Luke 6: 32-36 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Give Up The Enemies Within For Lent”
Song of Praise: You Are My All In All (arr. Benjamin Harlan)
My Story: Kenzie McPherson
Offertory: Broken Ladders (Drew Johnson, Soloist)
Luke 11: 37-40 37 While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38 The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “Give Up Running Away For Lent”
Song of Praise: Take My Life, Lead Me, Lord (arr. John F. Wilson)
Special Music: Rebel Heart (Solo, Mary Donovan)
Offeratory: God Named The Animals (Solo, Jim Snyder)
Luke 9: 10 – 171
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting[b with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,[c but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
Pastor Bev Colombo
Sermon: “Give Up Harsh Judgements For Lent”
Song of Praise: Open The Eyes Of My Heart (arr. Jack Schrader)
Offertory: Londonderry Air (arr. Donald E Allured) (Chapel Ringers)
Matthew 7: 1 – 5 1 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “Give Up A Bad Habit For Lent”
Song of Praise: I’d Rather Have Jesus (arr. Joseph Martin)
My Story: Lee Godbey
Offertory: Sarah Hann, Mbira
Luke 19: 1 – 10
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
Pastor Tim Halloran
Sermon: “What You See Is What You Get”
Song of Praise: 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord) (arr. Dave Williamson)
My Story: Chloe Johnson
Offertory: One In The Spirit (arr. Peter Scholtes)
Matthew 25 : 14-30
14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents,[f to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’