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Our transformation pastor, the Rev. Dr. Kevin Yoho, shares an energizing and interactive message from the Bible each week. Hear and share the Good News!

Jun 16
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2019-06-16 Message- Here I am (God). I Am Here (Us).

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It’s Father’s Day, and we honor everything that is awesome and amazing about dads. Often we recognize how our experience with our parents can inform our understanding of God, too, for good or bad. Father’s Day is a great time to reconnect with the best of Dad-ness, whether our own dad, our experience as a dad, or the role of dad that someone had in our life. It’s also Trinity Sunday when we celebrate the collaborative nature of God expressed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When Jesus introduced the idea of a trinity- three in one- it not only startled his listeners;  this idea angered most. Find out why during worship on Sunday!

We will take a look at our gospel text, John 16:12-15, when Jesus sent his team out with a special presence of God. This new gift of the Holy Spirit, would reveal the truth, the “real deal” about the awesome and amazing abundant life that was announced as now accessible for everyone. That includes you and me!

The Greek word for truth used in this text is “aletheia,” literally meaning to “come out of hiding.” While the disciples were “hiding” in Jerusalem since the crucifixion and resurrection, now under the Influence of the Holy Spirit, they were sent on a mission from God and to “come out of hiding” and live the truth of Jesus Christ as the Messiah to all the world.

Possibilities abound when Jesus saying, “Here I am” invites us to respond, “Here am I” in courageous hope as together we are sent on a mission from God, too!

Jun 16
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2019-06-16 Message for Kids- Unlocking Your Jesus Potential

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What kinds of things in your home needs a code or keys to open? Right! The house. Car. Your iPhone. Logging into websites. Well, there’s one thing in your home a very special key is needs to open… you! You were created with amazing potential, and to unlock that potential, a very special key, custom made for you, is needed, and Jesus is that Key to unlocking your life’s potential. Pray. Listen to God as you read the Bible. Meet with others who inspire you, maybe like your dad! Or other care giver. Be open to the possibilities as you follow Jesus here at Cold Spring Church. You’re amazing and God will unlock that potential more and more every day!

Jun 02
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2019-06-02 Message- Everybody Out, The Message of Grace and Gratitude

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Grace and GratitudeThe human instinct to survive is our most powerful drive. From our earliest age, we learned to respond instantly to danger. Everyone understands, “Everybody Out!” We practice fire drills at school, regularly change batteries in our smoke detectors, monitor neighbors who need mobility assistance, and do all we can to keep our homes safe and smart. Our Deacons in cooperation with the Session are also learning how to make our campus safer and welcoming. Some of our leaders have attended local security seminars led by the Department of Homeland Security. We will hear more about these initiatives in the months to come.

But there’s a different, hope-filled occasion when we hear the words, Everybody Out! As the Easter season concludes this Sunday, June 2, our Bible reading from Acts 16 tells how the Apostle Paul in Jesus name called people out of whatever held them back. Jesus doesn’t want people to barely survive, but to thrive!  To the woman’s dangerous spirit, Paul said, Everybody Out! To those merchants who took unfair advantage over their customers, Paul said, Everybody Out! To those bound in prison, Everybody Out! To those who were emotionally restrained, Paul said, Everybody Out! The Good News about Jesus provides a way out into a future of hope and possibilities. Jesus called that spiritually thriving life, the abundant life! And, its available to all.

If you’re looking for a safe place, a welcoming place, then you’ll want to come by Cold Spring Church on Sunday. Because once the gathered community of faith experiences worship, is equipped by the Spirit, nourished at the Lord’s Table, and then enjoyed the Hospitality Table, all of us will hear Jesus’ encouraging and words, Everybody Out! God sends us out, Everybody, every day, to show the grace and gratitude of God through Christ in all we do. See you Sunday!

May 29
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2019-05-29 Funeral Service Celebrating the Life of Robert Rhoads

By Music, Sermons

A Service of Witness to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and A Celebration of the Life of Robert E. Rhoads, 1949 – 2019

The Rev. Dr. Kevin Yoho, Officiant, Transformation Pastor

Prelude: Ms. Jayne McDonough, organist

Welcome Rev. Dr. Kevin Yoho

Gathering Music: Offered by Damien and Nathan Cwik

The Times They Are a Changing (Bob Dylan)

That’s Just the Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby)

Scripture Readings: Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, Isaiah 40:28-31

Music: Amazing Grace Offered by the Grandchildren

Accompanied by Randy Wehry

Remembrances

The Lord’s Prayer: (debts/debtors)

* Congregational Singing: #341 (blue)       Blessed Assurance, Accompanied by Randy Wehry

Scripture Readings: Psalm 23, John 14:1-6

Music: Rock of Ages Randy Wehry  

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 64:8, Ephesians 2:8-10

Music: How Great Thou Art Randy Wehry

Meditation- The Singer and the Song, Pastor Kevin

Psalm 98:1, 4, 8; Luke 18:39-41

* Congregational Singing: #223 (red) It Is Well With My Soul, Accompanied by Randy Wehry

Prayer and Benediction

Postlude: Ms. Jayne McDonough, organist

At the conclusion of this service, you are invited to the committal service in Cold Spring Cemetery, and luncheon following at West Cape May Fire Hall, 732 Broadway, Cape May, NJ 08204

May 26
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2019-05-26 Message- Conversations At the Shore

By Sermons

Thank you for being a neighbor! The fifteen minutes it takes to enjoy this message may forever change the way you look at our shore visitors! What makes a good neighbor? Are you one!? What kind of neighbor are you? Let’s consider the new neighbors we will welcome to our worship, our streets and neighborhoods, our beaches, this Summer!

Four Summer Conversations:

  1. Have you always lived here in Cape May? Awesome. If so, you’re a Remainer. How did you decide to stay in this neighborhood? Did you stay because of work? Maybe a family fishing business? Landscaping? Farming? Have you briefly lived in any other places? What keeps you here?
  2. Were you born somewhere else? Super. You’re a Relocator. Where did you move from? Did you  move from an urban area? (Perhaps Philadelphia?) Or, did you move here from a Suburban, or Rural community? Why did you choose to move to this neighborhood?
  3. Or, maybe, you were born here, but moved away, but moved back later in life. That makes you a Returner. How old were you when you left our neighborhood the first time? Where did you first move to and why? What caused you to move back to this neighborhood? Before coming back, where did you move from? Would you characterize where you moved from as Suburban? Rural? Urban?
  4. Are you a seasonal visitor? Then you’re a Retreater, someone who is vacationing on a seasonal retreat for a day, weekend, week, or all Summer long. How did you choose Cape May as a place of retreat? Have you vacationed here before, or is this your first time? What are your lasting Cape May memories you take home to share?

Let’s create welcoming conversations at the shore this Summer. Engage people you meet with an open and inquisitive spirit. Have fun by discovering whether those you meet are a Remainer, Relocator, Returner, or Retreater. And this Sunday, find out something really amazing about Lydia, who most mistakenly regarded as the first European believer in Jesus. She wasn’t from Europe! With the Apostle Paul, we can become a strategic neighbor and improve our cultural humility as he did when he had Conversations At the Shore.

May 26
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2016-05-26 Message for Kids- Being A True Friend

By Sermons

Memorial Day reminds us of the women and men who loved this country so much, that they did whatever it took to keep us safe, but sadly for them and their families, gave their lives for our freedoms. One day, Jesus told the people who followed him how to be a good friend: (John 15:13-15 The Message (MSG))

“Put your life on the line for your friends. …I’ve named you friends…”

What does it take to be a best friend? Honesty. Acceptance. Caring. Trustful. Loyal. Right!

What do you look for in a friend? Same qualities. Correct. God is amazing in blessing us with friends. Whether we have one, or ten, God did not put us on the plant to be alone. We have parents, grandparents, great-grand parents. The list goes on and on. 

Jesus is our friend. But even cooler, he calls us friends. That means we can be honest with Jesus. Know he accepts us. He cares for us. He can be trusted with anything. And everything! Jesus will never desert us. He is loyal. And remember, Jesus gave his life he loved us so much, so we could live an abundant life following him, and joy now, and in the life to come.

Let’s give God thanks for women and men who protect our freedoms, and for Jesus who gave himself to give us life everlasting, who calls us to be a friend to other’s too.

May 23
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2019-05-23 Memorial Service Celebrating the Life of Betsy Crosby

By Sermons

Memorial Service May 23, 2019 • 11:00 AM 

Rev. Dr. Kevin Yoho, pastor

Ms. Carol Obligado, organist

Ms. Barbara Cain, soloist

A Service of Witness to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and

A Celebration of the Life of Betsy Crosby

March 14, 1927 to May 3, 2019

Prelude:

Gathering and Welcome

Music: Precious Lord, Take My Hand Scripture Readings:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Isaiah 40:28-31

John 14:1-6

Psalm 23 (responsive reading)

Hymn #280 (blue) Amazing Grace

Remembrances

The Lord’s Prayer: (debts/debtors)

Meditation- The Giver’s Joy 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

* Hymn #525- (blue) Here I Am, Lord

Prayer and Benediction

Postlude:

May 19
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2019-05-19 Message- Jesus’ New Whole-World Diet

By Intersections, Sermons

We do like thinking that life is simple. We often prefer thinking Binary. Off/On. Good/Bad. Right/Wrong. Sacred/Secular. Rich/Poor, Republican/Democrat. American/Foreigner. Male/Female. Believer/Atheist. Light/Dark.

Even as small children, we looked at life through safe/danger absolutes. Consider the things that go bump in the night. That is what scares us when we are children. And the same panic can continue as a fear factor throughout our adult lives. It is the same fear that makes possible all those awful “teenage slasher” movies, zombie stalker sagas, and all the ghost stories you ever heard around a campfire. Our childhood insecurities, and the need for us to somehow divide the world into a “safe” (day) and a “scary” (night), is a way to manage the chaos and unexpected outcomes that are part of daily living. We can tell out kids, there is nothing “bad” out there at night that is not present in the day. God created the world and said it was all good. The world of day and the world of night are the same world. The world created by the divine does not know the difference between night and day. God’s presence is always and everywhere, even when the world looks dark and scary, not just when the world looks sunny and bright.

The amazingly diverse world and God’s abiding presence is behind the text in this week’s reading from Acts. Peter, who had already been preaching to the Gentiles about Jesus, is criticized by those who believe in Jesus as the Christ, but still cling to their unique Jewish identity (Kosher/Unholy). One of the hardest things for some of the earliest disciples of Jesus to learn was that our identity does not come from family or ancestry, gender or race, or the foods we eat, but from our relationship with Christ. It is still one of the hardest things disciples of Jesus are still trying to get right: Having the capacity to see the spectrum, the continuum of life experience that reflects the range of God’s beautiful creation.

A continuum of choices applies to our diets, as well. For example, many years ago I decided a great way to become healthier was to adjust my diet to reduce carbohydrates. Even without carbs, there are so many choices that contribute to my wellness. (Recently, I became aware of a very useful chart for those following a Keto lifestyle at Ketogenic Supplemental Reviews. It shows the incredible range of food choices that optimize the low-carbohydrate diet.)

In the first century “binary” world of good/bad, kosher/forbidden food choices, Jesus spoke of whole life wellness and a continuum of choices. To dine with someone with a different background was to suggest that there was also a spiritual union as well. For a Jew in the First Century, to dine with a Gentile suggested that you approved and participated in their pagan practices. Eating with outsiders was not just a breach of protocol, it was a break with hundreds of years of tradition. That is, until Jesus shows us the depth of God’s Table of abundance. Are you hungry for some new spiritual food? You will want to join us on Sunday as we consider Jesus’ New Whole World Diet.