Pastor Kevin Todd and Pastor Drew Robinson | Witness to Hope

Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.


Selah

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Dr. Carl Leth | My Times are in Your Hands

Today is known as Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday Christians celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, one week before his resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as "Passion Sunday," marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.

The Bible reveals that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him with waving palm branches, and by covering his path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the cross.

We welcome Dr. Carl Leth as our special guest today. Dr. Carl Leth has been the dean of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry at Olivet Nazarene University since August of 2005 and has served as the chairman of the Department of Theology and Christian Ministry since 2003.

Dr. Leth has pastored Detroit First Church of the Nazarene in Novi, Michigan, and here at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene. He also served for four years as a missionary on specialized assignment in Kaiserslautern, Germany. In addition, Dr. Leth is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. We welcome Dr. Leth back to the pulpit of North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene.

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Pastor Rick Hudgens | He Went to the Garden Alone

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives and his disciples followed Him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed.” Luke 22:39-41 We have been traveling to Mountain Tops of faith. Today we arrive at the Mount of Olives and as we look at Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Passover supper has been eaten. Jesus has concluded His “upper room” discourse (John 17). Jesus and the disciples have sung a hymn, left the upper room, and they have crossed the Kidron brook to the Mount of Olives and specifically to the Garden of Gethsemane.

This past weekend we experienced as a family a 24 hour prayer vigil. Friday March 7, 2008 was the World Day of Prayer. World Day of Prayer is a worldwide movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year, and who, in many countries, have a continuing relationship in prayer and service. Throughout the entire day, we collectively pray all over the world, beginning with the first sunrise and ending at the last sunset. Our prayers follow the sun’s path around the globe. WDP’s motto is “Informed prayer leads to prayerful action.” Through World Day of Prayer, women affirm that prayer and action are inseparable and that both have immeasurable influence in the world. (http://www.wdpusa.org)

Today we celebrate the presence of God and the answers of prayer from our time alone with God during our 24 hour prayer vigil.

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Pastor Drew Robinson | The Daring Dance of David

Today our Lenten pilgrimage takes us on a familiar journey to countless faithful pilgrims of ancient times who made the trip frequently to Mount Zion (also known as the City of David and Jerusalem). Today’s text is about expressing worship to God.

The dance of King David is well known both inside and outside conservative Christian circles. The real theme of the passage is not so much about dancing, but celebrating the manifest presence of the living God to the point that we can’t just sit there, we are compelled to praise Him.

The English word "worship" comes from two Old English words: weorth, which means "worth," and scipe or ship, which means something like “shape” or "quality." We can see the Old English word-ship in modern words like friendship and sportsmanship – that’s the quality of being a friend, or the quality of being a good sport. So worth-ship is the quality of having worth or of being worthy. When we worship, we are saying that God has worth, that He is worthy.

Worship means to declare worth, to attribute worth; or to put it in Biblical terms, we praise God. We speak, or sing, about how good and powerful God is.

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