Wye Mills UMC Podcast

Today I want to look at Genesis chapter 1.And specifically I want to look at 2 doctrines introduced in Genesis 1.Genesis 1 is the creation story and in that is a story of creation AND blessing.So before we dig in to these two doctrines, what is doctrine?Well, simply put it is a ‘teaching’.Christian doctrine is the attempt to state intellectually the message of the Gospel and the content of the faith it elicits - BritannicaSo Christian Doctrine is the teachings of our faith.The first doctrine I want to look at this morning is the Doctrine of Creation.God created everything known and unknown.And this creation had a specific order of events. Let’s look at it.Day 1 - - The earth created from a watery, formless object suspended in space; - God created light - God separated the light from the darkness (which is an indication of the earth beginning its rotation on its axis)Day 2 - - God forms the earth’s atmosphere Day 3 - - God separates the dry land and the oceans - God creates a system to water the earth - God creates vegetationDay 4 - - God places the sun - God places the moon in its orbit establishing the marking of time and seasons - God creates stars and other planetsDay 5 - - God creates the water creatures - God creates the birds of the airDay 6 - - God creates the land animals - God creates man - God creates womanNow the reason we spend time looking at the order of creation is because it has purpose.And in this purpose we see that God is a God of order and purpose.God created light first, because as we know without light life on earth will not flourish.Next God separates the light from the dark implementing the earth’s rotation,Which keeps what’s on earth, on earth…After gravity is established through the earth’s rotation, the atmosphere is created,Which is necessary for life on earth.Then the land and water are separated and a system of watering the earth is established.This is because created life on earth will need both land and water.After this, vegetation is created producing food and oxygen.The oxygen will fill the created atmosphere as a result.Now the sun and moon are placed in the correct order to establish time tracking, seasons, tides, etc.Now that all of that is in place and food and water and atmosphere are established to support life, the animals are created.Then man and woman are created to care for all of it.So we can see now that the world was created in specific order,To both establish and support life.We can also see that God created the earth to fulfill a purpose…the earth itself has a calling by God.In the very beginning of Genesis we can see that God forms the earth…Calls it to its purpose even though the earth isn’t ready or able to fulfill that purpose,But has to depend entirely on God to fulfill that purpose.Look at the similarity between God forming/calling the earth,To God calling you.When God calls you and I, it is not when we are educated enough,Or skilled enough, or talented enough.God calls us when we are formless and void in our life with Christ,Into the Kingdom of God, through God…dependent o

Continuing on in Genesis and looking at what doctrines are in Genesis,This morning we are going to look at Genesis 3.This is the account of the fall of man.And the most obvious thing to look at is the Doctrine of Sin,But I want to look at two other doctrines this morning;The Doctrine of Disobedience and the Doctrine of Provision.I know that disobedience and sin could be the same teaching,But I want to look specifically at disobedience because it is the base action of sin. Pride is the underlying attitude of sin and disobedience is the base action.So, the Doctrine of Disobedience - we have the serpent show up and deceive Eve and Adam.So we have here the deceiver doing what the deceiver does,And in doing so, leads Adam and Eve away from what they know is true,Or away from what they think might be true…or finding an area where they weren’t confident in the subject.Now, it is inferred here that Eve knew everything Adam knew;That God had made known everything to Eve that had been made known to Adam.And that Eve was held to the same standard as Adam.And for whatever reason, Eve falters here and presents an opening for the deceiver,And the deceiver takes full advantage.In this exchange between the deceiver and Eve in Genesis 3:1-7,We learn a critical lesson.We learn that it is important to pay attention to what God says,And to not even entertain the deceiver.If we do not pay attention to God and the deceiver comes as something or someone,More wise than God trying to tempt us away from the Truth.This leads us away from God and into disobedience.The Doctrine of Disobedience is telling us to be firmly grounded in God, lest we be led into disobedience.Now this act of disobedience is the first act we see that is contrary to God’s created order.We see throughout the story of Israel that this disobedience is repeated over and over again,And each time has grave consequences…even in forgiveness there are consequences to sin.We don’t need to look any further than Genesis 3 to see that. ***READ some of Genesis 3***Some consequences of disobedience here: - Creation is cursed- Serpent is cursed- Ground is cursed (thorns and thistles; will not easily give up its fruit)- Birth will be painful and dangerous- Man and woman will experience the need to work at relationships and how they see one another- Kicked out of the place of their creationThe Doctrine of Disobedience clearly teaches us, throughout Scripture,There are always consequences to disobedience to God.Now - Does God leave us alone in our consequences?Hallelujah! No He does not!!!Look at Genesis 3:21 ***READ***This is the Doctrine of Provision.So, here we have Adam and Eve learning the dire outcome of their disobedience,And God does what? Does God abandon them in their consequences;Wish them good luck and send them on their way?Nope.God looks at His beloved Eve and Adam and has mercy on them even in the midst of judgement.Let me say that again…God has mercy even in the midst of judgement.And in this mercy is provision (and protection, but we will get to that in chapter 4).We see that there are consequences to our disobedience,But do we realize

This morning we are going to look at Genesis 2. I wasn’t going to.I was going to skip it and go to chapter 3 because chapter 2 is a retelling of the creation account.But there is something in chapter 2 that needs to be unpacked.In verse 18 we heard this morning that God said “It is not good for man to be alone…”There is a lot in this statement and I call this the Doctrine of Togetherness.The synonyms for togetherness, according to thesaurus.com, are:affection, intimacy, closeness, friendship, fellowship, close, feeling, inseparableness…Togetherness encompasses all of these, so, the Doctrine of Togetherness.God speaks a deep lesson in this phrase.It is not good for us to be alone.God creates another human being so the first human being will not be alone.I know this verse is most often used in the context of marriage,But I believe it is much broader than that.See, God is sovereign and knew/knows what will happen in the history that is to come.And knew/knows all of this before the earth is ever created.Along with that, two human beings, male and female, goes along with God’s created order (that we talked about last week).God created the earth in such a way that is sustains itself,And with two humans that can reproduce, that creation can sustain itself,In that we will never have to be alone.The beauty of this is it wasn’t just Adam and Eve God was looking at here.God was looking at forever.God was looking to you and I.God was ensuring we (all of us; you and I; future generations),Would not be alone.When God spoke the words - It is not good for man to be alone,God was speaking for that moment and every moment to come after,From that moment until now and future moments.Can you see how wide and how deep God’s creative process is?God deals in eternity as much as God deals in right now.And when God speaks something, then we need to look to then, now, and ahead.And when we limit this verse to the context of marriage,We are missing so much of what God is doing here.Don’t hear what I am not saying here.This verse is 100% relevant to marriage,It is just not limited to marriage.We were created to be in relationship, friendship, in intimacy, in love.God created us to experience togetherness,And being alone too much will have negative effects on us.Now - being alone sometimes is a good thing because we need that reset.If there had never been any sin, we wouldn’t need that reset and could be around everybody all the time.But as it is, being alone too much is not good for us.Take stock of the times you were lonely…or maybe you’re lonely right now.Think about your emotional state during loneliness…during times you are separated from people.I know some of my lowest times were in loneliness.When I thought that I had no one.There was this feeling of no one caring enough about me to be with me.One of the loneliest times in my life (and I was surrounded by friends),Was when my best friend in high school was killed in a car accident.I was at a really low point and in fact had thought about just driving my car into oncoming traffic at full speed.I felt like I was alone in this world.The

Looking at God's reaction to Cain killing Abel

Well - we are living in an interesting time right now.There is no shortage of opinions and commentary,On everything that is happening right now.And it is easy to get caught up in all of the misinformation,And all of the ‘shade tree medical professionals’,(Those who are not professionals but want to tell us what and what not to do).Now I am not going to get into what we should and shouldn’t do concerning the corona virus this morning.I do have some thoughts on it, but I am not going to voice them here.I will do that outside of this virtual pulpit,Because the pulpit, wherever it is, should not be for public service announcements.It should be for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,And that is what I am going to do this morning.In 1 Corinthians 1 this morning, you heard Kristi read that the Cross of Christ,Is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction.But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God!God has seen to it that the world will never know God through human wisdom.And instead uses the preaching of the foolish to save those who believe.To that I say - Praise God!Not because I am a preacher, but instead because God proves Himself in this,Because through the preaching of those who are only able to preach,Because of the foolishness of their faith,God draws people to Himself and saves them!That is foolishness to those that do not know the saving grace of Jesus Christ.But to a wretched sinner like myself, that is the most glorious thing I have ever heard.The Wisdom of God confounds those who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior.Yet, you and I were once among them.You and I were once sinners being drawn by a loving God,Even when we didn’t know that was what was happening.God doesn’t wait for us to realize what He is doing,Before He does a thing.God’s Wisdom is to reach down and draw us to Him even while we are his enemies.And that is the message of the Cross of Christ…That while you and I were yet sinners - enemies of God - God sent His Son,Jesus Christ to live among us, to suffer in our place, to die in our place,And to defeat death and the grave and sin so that we may live with God…So that we may be resurrected with Christ, right here, right now!So that we can be made brand new,With the old sinful man gone and the new creation alive in Christ!You see, like it said in Ephesians 2 this morning,Once we were dead because of our disobedience and our many sins.Some would stop there, because the next sentence is offensive…You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil.Well, the truth is that we are for Christ, or we are against Christ.There is no middle ground.I hear people say they are riding the fence,Well I am here to tell you - the devil owns the fence.And God is calling you and I to get off that fence…trying to leave one foot in the world…And get fully committed to Christ.Now, I am not saying that we cannot enjoy all that God’s creation has to offer.What I am saying is - trying to keep that sinful heart, while at the same time trying to honor God.Church, you cannot serve two master

I know last week was Transfiguration Sunday.I know I am a week late according to our calendar of Sundays. Sorry about that.But, I do want us to see how the Transfiguration prepared Christ for what He had to do.Listen to the text of the Transfiguration…Luke 9:28-36.Jesus was discussing His exodus from this world.Which is what the Passion leads up to.So Jesus was there, with Elijah and Moses, discussing what would take place,In the upcoming days.So we know, that Jesus had a work to do.He had the work of salvation to do.And in that work of salvation, were some hard things.And Christ had to be prepared…ministered to…spoken over…equipped.Jesus invited some Disciples to go up with Him, and they fell asleep.I mean, think about what they had already witnessed.You would think that when Jesus invites just a few of them somewhere, they would pay attention.But, nope.And let’s be honest…neither would we.We would most likely be like - ‘Jesus going up to pray again’…And not think anything of it really…just like Peter, John and James.But what was happening was Jesus was being prepared for His upcoming suffering, death, and resurrection!You see, there is a lesson here for us.Jesus was about to enter into the salvation work of God,And knew He needed to be equipped.Not in oratory skills, or administration, or creativity, etc.But He needed to be equipped spiritually;Strengthened spiritually;Guided by the Father.You see, when God calls us to something, He will equip us.We may not get Elijah and Moses to meet us on the hilltop,But God will equip us.And if we move into that which God has called us without God’s equipping,Then we are working under our own resources…And that is never enough.I mean, Jesus gave us this example for a reason.Now - Jesus was transfigured…The Greek for transfiguration is metamorphoo,And means - to change after being with; changing form in keeping with inner reality.Jesus was changed in His appearance and readiness,While staying true to who He is.I love this.We think when God prepares us, or changes us,We have to get the stereotypical western Christian look, and speech patterns,And personality, and ‘fill in the blank’.When, of we look at what happened to Jesus during His equipping moment,He remained Jesus, but His preparedness for the task was in place.This is yet another example set forth for us by Christ.When you feel, or hear God speak to you to do something,Seek God for the equipping that only God can provide.What will change when God equips us is we will be more like Christ.And that brilliance of the Transfiguration will be how your spirit looks. Listen to it again…When I submitted to God and God’s call on my life,God began equipping me at an accelerated rate.And part of that was the healing of hurts, and stripping away of fears,And breaking of chains all while leaving me who I am.Not who I was…but who I am.Right - because Christ changed me from a person that knew death,To someone who is alive and learning to live as the person God created me to be.

We are about to enter into the season of Lent. Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent,And next Sunday we will talk about what that means from a Biblical perspective…Not a worldly perspective.And to prepare for this upcoming season of Lent, i want to look at God’s Saving Grace.And I want to start by looking at the Ten Commandments.Let’s dig in.The 10 Commandments…the Law of God.Where is the grace in the Law?Well, we heard in our reading this morning these Ten Commandments,And it would seem there is no grace in there.Just a list of what, and what not, to do.And that is true on the surface.Now, I am not going to go through each commandment this morning.Instead I want to look at the Spirit of the Law.What is the purpose of the Law?It is to show us our need for God’s Great Grace.We can’t live up to the letter of this Law.Let me ask you something…Have you ever lied?Then you are a liar.Have you ever stolen anything?Then you are a thief.Have you ever gossiped or been involved in rumors?Then you have borne false witness.Have you ever not honored your parents?Have you ever misused the Name of the Lord?You get the point?You and I cannot, and have not, lived up to the letter of the Law.We are sinners.And in the presence of a Holy and Just God, we cannot stand.Because of God being Holy and Just and Omniscient,God knows we cannot live up to the letter of the Law.Then why give it to us?Well, because without God’s Law, we sinners do not know we have sinned.Without something to measure against, we cannot know where we stand.And this Law of God is not just on a couple of tablets.It is written on our hearts and minds.You see, God has made known to each one of us the Law of God.And in this Law that is written on our hearts and minds, we find that we have a longing,To be made right with God…to worship God.We recognize there is a hole in who we are that needs to be made complete.And we will spend our lives trying to find that completeness in any variety of ways.God’s Law is in us, but to be fully realized, there is another component we need.See, this Law of God doesn’t save us, or show us grace in and of itself.Instead, it points us to Grace.The Law shows us where and why we need God’s Great Grace.It points out my need for a Savior…for Christ.Because of my sinful nature, the Law itself cannot save me.And that is why God used the Law to show my need for Him,And then gave himself TO save me!God told us, ‘here is what is required, and you cannot meet it.But do not lose hope because I have made a way for this requirement to be met!’God says to us that though we fail short, and cannot meet the Law’s requirements,He is faithful to us, even in our sin…our falling short!Hallelujah! Praise God!The Law shows us that our sinful nature leads to death, because not meeting the Law’s requirements leads to death!Our sinful nature cannot fulfill the Law, and failing to meet the Law’s requirements brings death.I hope you see the connection here.List

***Old cheesy martial arts movies******My favorite was Bruce Lee******Saw a documentary on Bruce Lee discussing his fighting style - Be like water***Ok Dane, how does that pertain to this morning’s Scripture lesson?Well, water takes the form of whatever it is poured into…Its shape and boundaries are defined by whatever vessel it is in.And depending on angles and gravity and other factors,The water can sit dormant, or it can move.When water sits dormant, it becomes stagnant and begins to stink and become good for nothing.But when water is moving, or being consumed by something,Then it is good for something.Now water can also be a powerful force when moved by the right circumstance.When there is a raging river, or a storm, or something happens in the ocean,Or closer to home - when it is pumped through a hose…I saw a video this week about a water drill and this thing was impressive.By using a high pressure jet of water it was cutting through steel like it was butter.So water, when calm and unmoving, is harmless,But when acted on by an external force is powerful.Now, with all of that in mind, let’s look at our lives…In particular, our spiritual lives.You see, in Romans 12 Paul exhorts us to not be conformed to the world any longer…What does that mean; to be conformed to the world?It means do not think or act the way you did before knowing Christ.See, before knowing Christ, the way we handle things,The way we perceive things, what way we treat our relationships,The things we put our hope in, the way we trust, the way we love,The way we see money, the way we use our money,It should all be different from how the world operates.“The world” here, is not God’s creation; is not the things in the world we enjoy,Like food, or technology, or entertainment, etc.Now some of this will change when we know Christ because our world view changes.We no longer look to these things for our worth, or our purpose.Instead we see them for what they are, nothing more.Food, technology, entertainment, money, etc. - these things cannot define us,Or be our driving force when we know Christ, but the “world” being spoken of here,Is deeper than these things, even though these things are included.See, the “world” here in this statement is the underlying way of thinking,The underlying spirit of the world.Looking out for me first.Keeping all I can because the one who dies with the most, wins.Using others to get ahead in life.When we speak of the world we are talking about a way of thinking,That divides and that has a 100% me first attitude.One that looks at others to determine where they fall short so I can feel better about myself.And Paul is admonishing us - those of us who know Christ - to not conform to this.But instead, be transformed by a renewing of our mind.See, following Christ is first and foremost a spiritual pursuit,But it is one that also includes our mind and logic.And we are to seek God’s Word and seek God in prayer,So that we know what this looks like.When we surrender our lives…ourselves…to Christ, we are given a new heart,We are forgiven and redeemed, and

You ever hurt yourself, or get injured through the fault of someone else?Either way, you have that one part of your body that is injured and not functioning,The way it is designed to be working.And this throws off how you do things, how you get around…Like maybe you break a toe, and now you can’t walk the way your body is designed to walk.Or you have shoulder surgery and your arm now doesn’t function the way it is designed to,And this throws off the way you perform daily functions.Things you normally wouldn’t even have to think about how to do,Are now requiring actual thought and intention to accomplish.I have had multiple physical injuries…neck injury, broken foot, sprains, pulled muscles, back injury, etc.And with each one, something in my body had to compensate,For the part of my body that was injured so I could accomplish every day tasks.And that throws the whole body out of whack.Because of the inability of this part of my body to contribute,Another part of my body has to pick up the slack and do more than it is designed to do,Or do a job that is completely foreign to its design.And because of that, the body isn’t as effective as it could be,If every part was working as designed.Now, it will still function and get done what it has to do,But not as well as it otherwise could, and not as effective as it should be able to.And it isn’t just when we are physically injured.We withdraw into ourselves when we have been injured emotionally; spiritually.When our emotions and spirits and minds are injured,We think we have nothing to offer; we are not useful; we are not a loved part of the family.And that can be way more debilitating than a physical injury.A physical injury will heal, or the body will adapt in a way the still allows the body to function.When we are injured emotionally; spiritually; mentally,Our body cannot make the adjustments to adapt.We cannot not physically heal an injury of that depth.It isn’t a ‘rub some dirt in it’ kind of injury where you can just ‘walk it off’.The emotional; spiritual; mental injury is by far the more devastating injury,When it comes to the Body of Christ.It can be hidden, yet still be broken…we can be broken and no one can see it.But inside we are shredded.And that is not only devastating to the person,But it is a real blow to the Body of Christ as a whole.You see, the Body of Christ needs all of us to be what we are created to be.Now that being said, just like the human body,The Body of Christ can heal itself through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.Just like our body can mend itself with help from doctors,The Body of Christ can mend itself with help from Christ.By that I do not mean the Body of Christ can do it on our own.What I mean is that through our dependance on Christ, we can be healed.Now - Let’s look at our little part of the Body of Christ here in Wye Mills.All the folks in here are important parts of the Body of Christ.We have folks that love through food. - Expand on this (cooking for those who can’t; participating in Neighborhood table, etc.)We have folks that love through making things. - Expand on this (making blankets and giving them away, etc)

Lord, I Want to be Like Ananias Dane Rada 2/2/2020 When I was a kid ***tell the story of always wanting to be the Thing when playing Superheroes*** I think we all, regardless of our age, still have someone we look up to, Or hold as an inspiration. Maybe even someone we ascribe to be like. I have heard, countless times, Christians say which disciple they want to be like, Or whose faith they would like to mirror. And the disciples are indeed rocks of our faith, That we should look to be like. I mean, they spent time with Jesus, learning at His feet; They preached the Gospel of Christ in power and walked in the power of the Holy Spirit. Page 1 of 11 Lord, I Want to be Like Ananias Dane Rada 2/2/2020 And I so terribly want to do that. I, with all my heart, want to walk through this life like that... Sitting at the feet of Christ, listening, learning. And walking in the power of the Holy Spirit at all times. You know? Walking around like someone that has the Spirit of God in them. There are other giants of the faith in the Bible that people look at and think, man...I would love to be that person. Like Daniel. Daniel worshipped God, and stayed strong in His belief in God, And God saved him from the lion’s den. Page 2 of 11 Lord, I Want to be Like Ananias Dane Rada 2/2/2020 Or how about Meshach, Shadrach, and Abnedigo? They had such a faith that Christ saved them from the furnace. There are so many. There are so many faithful believers and followers of Christ. There are so many we haven’t heard of; There are so many who may only be mentioned once or twice in Scripture. But if I could say there is a person in Scripture whose faith I would like to mirror, (And I do not say this lightly, because I am not one for trying to be someone else...) It would be Ananias. We read about Ananias this morning in Acts 9. Page 3 of 11 Lord, I Want to be Like Ananias Dane Rada 2/2/2020 Listen to that passage again ***READ ACTS 9:10-19*** So what is happening here? This is just after Christ blinds Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul is a Pharisee - a very well educated Jew in the Law. Saul has been going around persecuting and killing those who follow Christ. And Christ stops him on the road one day and actually confronts Saul about this. Saul, why are you persecuting me, etc. etc. And Christ blinds Saul. Now let’s pause here for a minute. When we think of Christ operating in our lives, blinding us is never an option. Page 4 of 11 Lord, I Want to be Like Ananias Dane Rada 2/2/2020 Is it? We always think the Christ is going to do all the good things for me, And we never think Christ may actually give me a hinderance...a thorn in my side... To get my attention; to cause me to listen to Him. But look what Christ did here! Christ took Saul’s sight so Saul would stop and listen to Him. In fact, in the passage we just read, Christ tells Ananias that Saul was praying to Christ even now. We get so caught up in having an easy, trouble free life, And we make that our goal. We are missing it. Page 5 of 11 Lord, I Want to be Like Ananias Dane Rada 2/2/2020 That is not the goal. That is not the end game. A trouble free life is nice and comfortable, but it isn’t necessarily what Christ has planned for me. Amen? Jesus suffered and bled and died for me, and tells me in His Word that I will have trouble in this lif

Today I want to take a look at persistence, and in particular,Persistence in our faith; our walk with Christ.We live in a time of instant gratification that is unrivaled historically.We have information at our fingertips;We have cell phones that are more powerful than the first computers,And on them we can access any data and information we want.And we can have access to it in seconds.We don’t have to wait for hardly anything,And we don’t like it when we do.With all of this information and data and things to aid in our decision making,So readily available at a moments notice.With one search we can get millions of places on the internet that can answer our request.And this kind of access to information can be a really good thing.But one thing we don’t have to do is persist to find our answer.I mean, if I ask Siri to find something on the internet for me, she can do it and I only have to ask once.So when it comes to having to be persistent in something,We have gotten to the place where we might just give up,Rather than having to keep after it.Do you remember anything in your life you have had to be persistent about?***Tell the story of the year it took to get the job in Nashville***Persistence…it pays off.Now, the Bible has a lot to say on the topic.The three Scripture passages this morning each have to do with being persistent.Hosea, chapter 6 verse 3 reads:Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him.He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”“Let us press on to know Him”…What does this look like; Pressing on to know God?Well, have you ever read a passage of Scripture and thought - I have no idea what that means;Or - I have no idea how to apply that to my life?Well, pressing on in this would be to keep reading it; pray about it;Study it; write your thoughts down about it; read it again…Rinse and repeat.Seek advice and counsel about it from someone you trust in the faith.in pressing on to get to know God, you have to be persistent in your prayer…You need to seek God in the area you have questions,And to not be satisfied with anything other than God’s very own revelation to you.***Tell the story of Kenny being baptized in the Holy Spirit***Persistence, when spent in relation to God, will NEVER leave you wanting…Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. “And run with endurance the race God has set before us”Now, how do you run a race with endurance?First thing is training.You practice running and running and weight training and proper diet and rest.Right?You go about it with a disciplined mindset that prepares for the obstacles to come in this training.When you are training for that race,You approach everything you do in your training with the race in mind.You are not pulled this way or that, instead you are focused on your

A couple of weeks ago we talked about Christ’s peace,And what it means for us to have Christ’s peace with/in/for us.This week I want to look at fear.What is fear?Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm;A feeling of anxiety regarding the likelihood of something.Now - knowing the definition of fear, let’s look at Romans 8:15 ***READ***Do you hear that?!We did not receive a spirit that makes us fearful slaves to sin!Well, what spirit did we receive then?According to Romans 8:15, we received the Holy Spirit.It says that we did not receive a spirit (lower case s) of fear,But instead, we received the Spirit of adoption (Spirit with a capitol S)…the Holy Spirit.The Spirit of God.Oh Church, this is about to get good.We received the Holy Spirit of God.Well, that’s great and all, but how does that relieve our fear?Where does our fear stem from?I mean as someone who knows right from wrong;As someone who is a rational human being;As someone who has been through some ups and downs and come out ok…Where does our fear come from?Well, what kind of fears are we talking about here, right?I am talking about fear of the future; fear of tomorrow; fear of failing;Fear of walking through a door we WANT to walk through…Fear that we will not do the right thing;Fear that God will be disappointed with me if I choose “wrong”;Fear of the immediacy of life and decision we think need to made right now;I am talking about deep seated fears that ultimately come from being deceived in the Garden of Eden.I am NOT talking about fear of snakes, or creepy crawlies, or clowns…I am talking about fear that hinders us everyday…The same fear that grabbed a hold of Adam and Eve.Sin brings with it fear,And for some of us, it I can be crippling to our walk with Christ.Now, the laws of God…the precepts of God…are written on our hearts and mindsJeremiah 31:33 ***READ***Now, this is for the Jews, but we see in Romans 2:14-15, that under the New Covenant (Christ),This reaches the Gentiles as well:14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) So you see, these precepts of God are there, and when we are not aligned with them,There is fear in our very soul because - when we are not aligned,With the will and heart of God - we are aligned with sin.And when we are slaves to sin; when we are controlled by our sinful nature,That causes this deep seated fear that seems irrational.Listen to Romans 8:5-6***READ***You hear that?When we are dominated by our sinful nature, we think about sinful things,And that leads to death…which carries with it profound fear.Conversely, those who have submitted to the Holy Spirit,Think about the things of the Spirit…Godly things, things that please the Holy Spirit,And this leads to life and peace, which carries none of that fear with it.Now, those

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, and today we talk about Love.Normally, in a sermon, you build up to the main thing.But this morning, I am going to start with the main thing.1 John 4:19:We love each other because he loved us first.In fact, listen to verses 16-19 0 ***READ***Now, pair that with Jeremiah 31:31-33 ***READ***Now, listen to Hebrews 10:8-17 ***READ***Now, Jeremiah is in the Old Testament, and 1 John and Hebrews are in the New Testament.Yet they all have this in common:Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ as the New Covenant.You see, the birth of Christ is the beginning of the New Covenant,Coming to mankind.With Christ, God’s Law is written on our hearts.And what is it that God expects from us?Micah 6:8No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you:to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.And this fourth Sunday in Advent speaks of Love…And it is a Love that is from God; that is God.And you and I can love one another because Christ first Loved us!And how did He/does He do it?With the New Covenant that begins with the birth of Christ.This one act…this universe altering act of God…This one act that changes everything!There are no more Convental sacrifices;There is a revelation of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ!Now, we think we know what it means to love.Before we know Christ, we think we have it figured out.Let’s see, before Christ, I thought love was people doing good things for me;Giving me good things;Giving me what I want;Being what I considered nice and what I considered good.But then Jesus comes and shows me a different way…Jesus comes and shows me THE Way…Jesus comes and shows me what Love is!Jesus comes and shows me it is more about loving than it is about being loved.If we seek to be loved, then we will take almost whatever comes along.Do you understand what I am saying?I am saying that if I spend all my time looking to be loved, eventually,I will settle for something that looks like love but has its own best interest in mind.What does Jesus tell us about this?John 13:34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another”The command is not “seek love”, but rather “to love”.You see, we go around getting our feelings hurt because we expect people to love us,Which translates into us looking to be loved,Instead of looking to give love.What is God doing by the birth of Christ?Is God looking to BE loved?God is looking to SHOW His Love for us!God is looking to Love you and I.The birth of Christ is such a joyous thing because it is not a ‘what can you do for me’ event.It is a ‘I love you’ event.There are a lot of people out there that hate religion.And I 100% understand that.They hate it because religion has this ‘follow my rules, or else’,This ‘I am better than you’, and this history of violence toward those that don’t follow that religion.

So, here we are this morning, and we are about to talk about Joy.Joy with a capital ‘J’.Not joy that is defined by easiness of life,Or joy defined by what we consider to be good circumstances.Don’t you know there are different kinds of joy?There is a joy that comes from your family being together;There is a joy that comes after a relief from something;There is a joy that comes from certain types of food…like chocolate.There is a joy that comes from an accomplishment.You get the point.There are more than just a single type of joy,Just like there is more than one kind of love,Or one kind of peace.I want you to think about a time of joy in your life.And I want you to remember that feeling.I want you to be intentional today and really think of a time or moment of joy,You have experienced in your life.Do that at some point today.I can recall times of joy just sitting round the dinner table with my family.I can recall times of great joy when my sons were born.I can recall times of relief that felt like joy.And as I thought about and prayed about this week’s sermon,I was doing ‘joy comparisons’.Comparing times of joy in my life to one another,And kind of weighing them against one another.And those times and types of joy are wonderful,And make for great memories and great times.But they can be washed away by the circumstances of life.Maybe washed away is too strong a term…Maybe something more like temporarily overshadowed.With all of that in mind, I want to look back at Elizabeth and Zechariah.God answered their prayer with a yes, and allowed them to conceive a son.But the timing, from their perspective, was a a bit questionable.They were well past child bearing years at this point,And I would imagine it was difficult for Elizabeth.Even though she was, I am sure, overjoyed - there had to be some times,Some days, where she was ‘other than joyous’.But then Mary comes to see her.Now when I read this greeting from Elizabeth to Mary,Elizabeth sounds so excited!Listen to it again - READ LUKE 1:42-45Do hear how Elizabeth sounds like she is almost tripping over herself?Sounds like she is trying to say 60 minutes worth of words in 2 minutes?And during her greeting she says:“When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.”This unborn baby recognized the creator of the universe through Mary’s greeting,And leaped for joy.Now how does Elizabeth know that was joy?It is because you cannot hide the Joy of the Lord, even in the womb.I am 100% confident that Elizabeth knew this was the Joy of the Lord…Joy with a capital ‘J’.In the midst of weight gain, swelling, doubt, a husband that couldn’t speak,Because he doubted an Angel of the Lord…In the midst of all of that, and more,Elizabeth recognized the Joy of the Lord in her unborn baby.You see the power of Jesus; the Holiness of Jesus; the Grace of Jesus…None of that could be hidden or masked by something He created!The womb could not hide the deity of Christ!And the Joy of the Lord would shine through that,

Today is the second Sunday in Advent, and the theme is peace.Last week, the theme was hope, and I think it is important to know the order,Of the Advent themes, because I think they lead into one another.Hope leads into peace; peace leads into joy; joy from peace and hope,Leads us to recognize the Love that initiated the hope, peace and joy.So, today we talk about peace.I want to start this week by looking at turmoil, an antonym of peace.And to do that, I want us to look at Joseph.Now, if you remember from last week, Mary received her calling, and was in 100%.Don’t you know that’s how it is?When its our calling, we want to jump in with both feet;When we know it is what we are supposed to do,We can’t wait to get started, and we might not understand,Why everyone around us isn’t as ‘on-board’ with it as we are.So, Mary has been called by God to be Christ’s mother,And all that entails.And Mary was all in.In fact Mary told the angel “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”Mary is 100% in it.But what about Jospeh?He has been told by his fiancé that she is going to become pregnant,Even though she is a virgin,And give birth to the Messiah…the one Israel has been waiting for.Picture this scene.I would imagine there is a bit of disbelief on Joseph’s part.Jospeh wasn’t believing this…Right?I believe Joseph is having a hard time with this.In fact, he decides he is going to quietly break the engagement.Joseph was a good man, and didn’t want to disgrace Mary,So he planned to just quietly break off the engagement.You see, Mary could have been stoned to death if Joseph would have gone public with this.Both Mary and Joseph knew this.So, Joseph is not having a peaceful time.He has to decide, do i have her killed; do I publicize this?Well, Joseph decides that was not the way to go.,But he could no longer marry her…So a quiet breakup it is then.But then what happens?Listen to Matthew 1 starting in verse 20.Joseph is visited in a dream and told that Mary is pregnant with Christ!And that Joseph is to name the child Jesus.And when Joseph awakes, he does as the angel of the Lord commanded him.So in this turmoil, the Lord knows that Joseph will need some convincing,And sent an angel to do that.Can you imagine how clear this dream had to be?So Joseph marries her and does not consummate the marriage until after the child is born.Why is this important?Well, by Joseph marrying Mary, she is legitimized, and so is the child.And if Joseph had consummated the marriage while Mary was pregnant with Christ,That would have only proven to have been an act of pride, and,Pride is an abomination to God,And this miracle could not have any of that associated with it.Joseph’s sin of pride would have been intermixed with the birth of Christ, and that could not happen.And Joseph and Mary knew this and were honorable.And through all of this, Joseph found peace.And what is ‘all of this’ that brought Jospeh peace?It is the hope of C

Well - here we are…Thanksgiving is over, and Advent is here.This freight train just keeps on keeping on…Today we are going to look at hope,But to do that, we are first going to look at doubt.I am sure you noticed we had two Gospel readings this morning,Both from the first chapter of Luke.The first one told us of the angel Gabriel visiting Zechariah,And foretelling the birth of John the Baptist.The angel tells Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth will have a son,But Zechariah doubts that because he and Elizabeth are way past child bearing years.Now, put yourself in Zechariah’s shoes for a minute.Think about something in your life…Maybe something you have been praying for for a long time,And haven’t seen any movement on it by God.Even so, you have been praying and praying…Almost out of duty at this point, rather than out of expectation.And one day someone tells you,‘Hey now…that thing you have been praying for for so long is about to come.’You might be thinking, ‘yeah right…it hasn’t come yet, why should I think it will come now?’Maybe you are in a place of doubt concerning the very thing that was once,Your greatest desire in life.That’s where Zechariah was.Even to the point that he was visited by the Archangel Gabriel,And doubted Gabriel!You see, Zechariah had forgotten that we don’t always get to see our prayers answered in our lifetime,Or in the way we want them answered.Look at Moses.All those years leading the Israelites for God, praying for them,And did not get to see them cross over into the promised land.You see Church, we don’t always get the answers we want;We don’t always get our prayers answered the way we want them to be answered;We don’t always get to see the answer to our prayers in our lifetime.And, honestly, it is easy to get caught up in that and get discouraged.Now, let’s jump to the next Gospel reading from this morning.A little later in Luke 1, Gabriel makes another visit.Gabriel visits young Mary and tells her she is going to conceive,Even though she is a virgin,And she is going to have a boy, and He is going to be the Savior!When Mary hears this, she also asks a question, but her question does not contain doubt.You see, Zechariah questioned Gabriel, but his question had doubt.Listen to Zechariah’s question - Luke 1:18 - How can I be sure?Now listen to Mary’s question - Luke 1:34 - How can this happen?The difference is Zechariah’s question is based in years of frustrated prayer,And Mary’s question is based in her understanding of the way things work.So, when Mary hears this proclamation by Gabriel, she asks an innocent question,And is given an answer to her question.And the answer is steeped in God’s power.Verse 35.The power of God…that’s how this will happen.And then Gabriel tells Mary of Elizabeth’s conception and that she is pregnant with a son.Then Gabriel gives Mary a great hope…Verse 37 - For the Word of God will never fail.Zechariah gives us a lesson in doubt and how costly doubt can be.Zechariah and Elizabeth were both from priestly lines, and Zechariah was in fact a priest.

Last week we looked at Jesus’ response to the Pharisees concerning them being blind,Even though they thought they could see.And how Jesus came to pronounce judgement on those who think that way,Proving to them that they are, in fact, spiritually blind.And on the other side of that, Jesus will open the eyes of those who recognize their need to be spiritually healed.Now, today I want to look at what led up to this conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees.So in John chapter 9, we see that Jesus heals a man blind from birth.Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus if this man’s blindness was due to his parent’s sin, or his own.And Jesus’ answer comes from a completely radical direction.Jesus states that this man’s blindness is not because of his sin, nor his parent’s sin.Listen to verse 3. ***READ***I mean, what?!This man is blind through no fault of his own, or his parents?That was completely foreign to them.The disciples here are still looking at illness and handicap as a result of sin.‘It is because this person is sinful against man and God that he is blind’…And that is a completely Pharisee way of looking at things.But Jesus…Jesus flips this sideways, or upside down, or some other way…And tells them that this man is blind so that the power of God could be seen in him.Jesus is telling His disciples…and us…don’t look at people,With eyes jaded by traditions, or culture, or even laws.Instead, look at people as if they are going to be changed/healed by the power of God.Be honest with yourself - if someone had not looked at you as if the power of God could be seen in you,You would not be following Christ right now.Someone was praying for you…someone IS praying for you right now!What is the second part here?Jesus puts mud on the man’s eyes and tells him to go wash.The blind man did not see Jesus…The blind man did not KNOW Jesus!Let’s look at that for a moment.The blind man, in his desperation, let a stranger put mud - made with the stranger’s spit - On his eyes, and followed the stranger’s directions to go and wash.Are you kidding me?That is some serious desperation.Have you ever been that desperate?I have. I most certainly have.I am not going to share the specifics with you,But suffice it to say, I was in a place of frantic desperation,But I knew Christ already, so while I was frantically desperate,I held on to Christ, whom had I not known, I don’t know what I would have done.So I want you to reflect for a moment…Have you ever been so desperate that you would trust a stranger?Trust that stranger with your greatest need?That is what the blind man did.He trusted a complete stranger with his greatest need.The next point in this, concerning the man not knowing Jesus,Is Jesus didn’t wait until the man recognized Jesus as the Christ.The man could not see Jesus, had never met Jesus, yet Jesus knew the man’s desperation,And met the man right where he was…Hear that this morning Church.Jesus met that man, right where he was.And met his greatest practical need.What does this tell me about Jesus?It kind of

So, I know a lady whose husband disliked cats.He had retired and was home during the day so the wife wanted to get him a pet to keep him company.She didn’t want to get a dog because if the initial work of training a puppy,And then the walks etc, so she got him a cat.Now this cat wasn’t the one she wanted.She thought it was ugly and wanted one of its siblings,But this cat was the only that didn’t run away.So, she took this kitten home and gave it to her husband.He told her again that he didn’t even like cats.Then he said, well we have to get the cat declawed.So she got the cat fixed and declawed.And her husband fell in love with the cat.The cat laid in his lap, went where he went, etc.And this man loved that cat.Well, the cat got loose and was gone for a few days and got injured.When the cat returned home, the man took the cat to the vet,And the vet said the surgery would cost anywhere from $800-$2000…And the man pulled out his check book.He was going to pay.The vet insisted the surgery had a very low chance of success and strongly advised against it.So they put the cat down…and the man wailed in the vet office.You see, he thought he knew himself.He thought he knew what he liked and didn’t like.He thought he knew what was good for him, and what wasn’t.I tell this story this morning because it goes along with our text from John 9.Listen again to verses 35-41 - ***READ***Jesus is telling the man here that He, Jesus, is the Christ.So who is this man?This is a man that is born blind, and Jesus heals him.The thing is, Jesus heals this man on the sabbath,Which is against the law.Now, there is a LOT to unpack in John 9, but we are going to just touch on a piece of it this morning.What we are going to look at is what the Pharisees say and Christ’s response.But I think to do that it is important that I pointed out what started this whole exchange.In fact, next week, I am going to go to the beginning of this chapter,And go over that…I know…its backwards.So, Jesus heals the blind man on the sabbath and the Pharisees throw a tizzy.Then Jesus is talking to the man He healed and tells him this:***READ VERSE 39***So Jesus tells them He has come to render judgement.And this judgement is to open the eyes of those who are blind,And to show those who think they are not blind, that they really are.Jesus is telling us here that the world had become blind to God.The religious had become wrapped up in their own idea of justice and religion,And were depending on their own logic and traditions as God’s religion,Instead of depending on God.They worshipped their own set of rules and laws,Instead of worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth.The religious leaders would rather hold people to an impossible standard than to show mercy or charity.And Jesus is calling their sight - blindness.You see, Jesus is showing them what real sight looks like…What true colors are, what true depth perception is, what the true sense of sight is,And the Pharisees are telling Jesus, ‘nope…we already know and already can see……We don’t need y

I want to share a story this morning.I was talking with someone yesterday and turns out she knew a lot of my dad’s side of my family.Well, we talked about people’s choices, and how we can love them, but we can’t save them.And in this discussion I shared with her a story about an uncle of mine,Whose granddaughter had a baby with a black man.My uncle told my aunt he didn’t want that baby in his house.But my aunt told him that baby was welcome in their house and he just had to deal with that.So he told her that if the baby does come over, he didn’t want anything to do with the baby.Well, the granddaughter came over with her baby,And my aunt took the baby in the living room where my uncle was,Laid the baby on the floor and told my uncle that she and their granddaughter were going outside,And he needed to keep an eye on the baby.Well they went outside and when they came back in,My uncle was on the floor playing with his great-grandchild.Why am I telling this story this morning?Because I believe it fits with James 1:19-20.Listen to it again:19Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.You see, regardless of our prejudices;Regardless of what we consider our righteous indignation…Our deserv-ed anger;Our justifiable anger,It does NOT produce the righteousness God desires.What it does produce is bitterness; loathing; and division.And God sees our self-righteous anger and bitterness and division and does what?He sends a baby.You hear that? In my story, my uncle’s self-righteous prejudice,Was broken down by a baby.Church, God sent us a baby.God sees our ridiculous self-righteousness;Sees our ridiculous division;Sees our laughable attempts at justice…And sends a baby.Church - I hadn’t thought twice about that story of my aunt and uncle until i relayed it yesterday.And now I can see the Gospel of Christ in this story.Christ came and healed us of our ridiculous self-righteousness, etc.And in doing so, teaches us that we must be quick to listen,Slow to speak, and slow to get angry.One of my favorite examples of this is the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi,In which Francis prays:Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy. And int he second pat of his prayer, he makes sure we don’t get full of ourselves in this endeavor.O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved, as to love; For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.You see, this prayer is born ou

This week and next week we are going to look at Lessons from Jonah.What brought this on was I learned that during Yom Kippur, on the Day of Atonement,The Jewish folk read the book of Jonah.So I read the book of Jonah…again…And took my time, reading a few verses and reflecting.This is a book of the Bible that is rich in lessons.Early in this book, God’s lessons to us become clear.First, God gives Jonah a message telling Jonah to go…You see, as followers of Christ, we are to wait on the Lord to put us in action.Now, there are commands of Christ in the Bible that do not require us to sit and wait today.‘Love God; Love your neighbor; visit the imprisoned; take care of the widows and orphans;Feed the hungry; help the poor; visit the sick; pray for one another;Love justice; show mercy; walk humbly with God.You get the point.But when it comes time to move;When it comes time to ‘go’;As a follower of Christ, that message NEEDS to come from God.What doe s the Bible say about that?James 4:13-17‘13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.’You see here…James is telling us that to presume to go and do is trusting in yourself,And not in the providence of God.And that to know that we are to move in God,And not do that, but move in our own ‘wisdom’, is sin.So, the first lesson in Jonah is echoed in James;Go when God says go, not when you say go.Now - Jonah does go, but not in the right direction.The second lesson is to move in God’s direction.Jonah hears God, and overtly disobeys God and goes in the other direction.Who in here this morning has heard God, and gone the other way?Gone the other way in blatant disobedience?I have.***Story of my disobedience that caused me to not take communion***You see, disobedience to God ends in one of two ways.It ends in ‘eventual obedience’, - Eventual obedience because eventually you realize that God is right; God is Omnipotent;God is Omnipresent; God is Omniscious; God is Just;God is Mercy; God is Love; God has our spirit and soul’s best interest at heart. - Or it ends in death.Death - When we die physically and die while being disobedient;When our soul shrivels and dies and needs the resurrection power of Christ yet again to revive it.Now, part of this second lesson of disobedience is the fact,That when we disobey God, it doesn’t just affect us.When I was being disobedient to God in the account I just shared with you,I was rebellious, sarcastic, a bit angry and bitter.And this wasn’t just pointed at who i thought it should have been pointed.It was pointed at my famil

John 14:19b:“Because I live, you also will live.”Jesus said that to His disciples.Jesus says that to you and I today.Because Christ lives, you and I also will live.This week I have been thinking of being Christ’s representative.Kristi and I were at a dinner at New United Methodist Church this past week.As we were leaving, we were speaking with a lady named Christine.She and Kristi shared how wonderful it is that their names mean ‘Christ-like’……that their names mean they are a representation of Jesus Christ.As they were speaking about this, my spirit leapt.I felt excitement in my soul.They were sharing with one another how they speak of Christ to others,And share the love and peace of Christ with others.How no matter where they are, or who their audience is,They represent Christ in their words and in their actions.I was just listening to them and looking at them.And I was seeing two people that loved Jesus more than anything else.AND they loved people so much that they could not imagine not showing them Christ.It was a conversation that took less than 5 minutes,And in those 5 minutes, I could see two people that would happily,Sacrifice people’s opinions of themselves to be be sure someone knows about Christ.I had a meeting with another pastor this week,And in our meeting he talked about how we represent Christ.How we represent Christ in all things, no matter where we are,Or who we are with,Or who we are in the company of.And how its not about being well liked;Its not about self gain; its not about being spoken well of.Who we are - is because of who Christ is.And our life is not about our reputation - it is about Christ’s reputation.Look - I want my sons to be upstanding, caring, thoughtful,Strong men who care about their fellow man and do right.I want that because I love them, as well as the fact they carry my name.I want my name to be respected.I want to be well represented.I want my mother and father to be well represented.When people interact with and talk about my sons,I want them to talk with admiration and respect.We all want that.We all want to be well represented.I expect it.I expect to be well represented by my children.I expect to be well represented by my wife,AND I expect to represent my children and my wife well.Church, I expect those that come to this church to represent this church well,And I am 100% sure this church expects me to represent her well.It is important to us to be represented well by those in our care and trust.And it is important for us to well represent those in whose care we are.Well - Christ expects us to represent him well.Those who are in Christ…those who are followers of Christ;Those who are born again in Christ,Are expected by Christ to represent Him well.Why?Because - because Christ lives, I live.Because Christ lives, you live.You see, we represent someone well because we love them.I love Christ…I am IN love with Christ and therefore,I will be Christ’s represent

Last week we looked at Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well,And why these details, Samaritan, and Jacob’s well, are important.We looked at what made this encounter special, or radical.We looked at the state of this Samaritan woman;Her standing int he community, etc.,And how Jesus didn’t see any of that as a reason to put him off.Instead, Jesus saw all of that as the reason to show her His love for her.Now we move on to the end of this account.We see the disciples come back during this conversation and they ‘marvel’ at this interaction.And they know this woman is at the well at noon because she can’t come in the morning with the rest.And then they see her leave her water jar and go into town.Now this is important.I think it stands to reason that this lady didn’t have an abundance of water jars.And knowing that these jars were used to get the household water,For everything in the household; hygiene, cooking, etc.,It is not something that is likely to be just left about.It is important to everyday life.And there is nothing to imply this woman is wealthy, so she doesn’t have an excess of water jars.But, she just leaves it where it is, and goes into town.She does something else here.She leaves the safety of her solitude.She leaves a place where there is no one to treat her as less,No one to treat her as something to be pitied or scorned.She leaves a place where her shame can be kept out of the public eye,And goes right into a place where she has no cover.She is bare and vulnerable to the looks; the words; the actions,Of people who would wish her embarrassment or even harm.She goes into this town to tell the people in the town who she has just met.She goes, knowing what she is walking into, but being driven by a mercy and grace,That diminishes anything that could be said to her or about her,Because Jesus has come.And she know that they all…all…have been waiting for the Messiah to come.She know that Jesus is more important than her past,And more important than whatever she may face in town.This woman goes into town and says come and see this man who has told me everything about me…Could this be the Christ?Now, before we get to the rest of this part of the account,Let’s look at what the disciples are doing.Remember, they were off to get food and returned to see Jesus,Talking to woman at noon time at the well.The disciples, at this point, try to get Jesus to eat something.But Jesus tells them that He has food they don’t know about,And it is to do the will of the One who sent Him.The well meaning disciples are trying to get Jesus to eat, not realizing Jesus isn’t finished yet.While the disciples are trying to get Jesus to eat, The towns people are coming to the well to see Jesus.So Jesus tells His disciples, there is more important stuff to be done here than eating.Yes, food is necessary, but Jesus is telling them that God the Father will sustain you.You see the disciples were so attentive to the food, they were missing the harvest.Jesus tells them that the harvest was then…was right now.In other words, get to ministering to these pe

A few weeks ago now, we looked at John 4:1-4 and how Jesus moved on,And focused on His mission/ministry rather than focusing on those that would argue with Him.And how Jesus recognized the obstacles to His ministry and moved on to where God was moving,And not getting weighed down with the enemy’s hinderance.And this week I want to look at another part of this passage.The one where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.So, when Jesus leaves the Pharisees, He travels to Samaria,On His way to Galilee, and stops at Jacob’s well and sits down.Now this is a radical move on the part of Jesus.Why?Well, the Jewish folk and the Samaritans did not interact…peaceably anyway.Why is that?Well, here is some history on it.Israel was divided into two kingdoms,The north, called Israel,And the south, called Judah.In 722, Assyria conquered Israel and took most of Israel’s people into captivity.The Assyrians brought in Gentile colonists from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim (that is from 2 Kings 17:24).122 Years later, the southern kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon.Its people were also carried off to captivity.Now, 70 years later, 43,000 people from Judah were allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem.The people in the north - the Samaritans - opposed this repatriation.The Samaritans had, by this time, already inter-married and began practicing the idol worship of the Babylonian pagans.The southern Jews were still monotheistic and resented the Samaritans….and vice versa.And at this point in the Gospels that we read this morning,The Jews and Samaritans still resented one another and supported racial and ethnic barriers.But, Jesus…But Jesus, being bigger than culture…Hear that?Jesus is bigger than any culture.Jesus - God in the flesh - is bigger than the Jews; the Samaritans; the Gentiles;Jesus is bigger than America, Europe, Asia, Africa…Jesus is bigger than what divides us…So, Jesus and His disciples go to Samaria,And the Disciples go off to buy food,And Jesus goes to Jacob’s well…a holy place in Samaria…And sits down right beside the well, and something amazing happens…Something radical.Now - what does ‘radical’ mean?Well, one meaning is - arising from, or going to a root or source.Another is - very different from the usual or traditional.Now what Jesus did here is actually both of those meanings.Jesus goes to the root…and by doing so, does something very different from the usual.Jesus, a Jew, camps out by Jacob’s well, in Samaria.Now Jacob’s well represents the root, or source here for the Samaritans, AND for the Jews.Jacob (who is called Israel) had 12 sons, whose descendants became the 12 tribes.And here Jesus is, at the root…At the well of the man who was renamed Israel, and whose name was given to the nation.So, what is Jesus doing here?Jesus is about restoration - restoring us to God.One really powerful thing here is that Jesus is making a statement,That, yes, Jacob was important, and a patriarch.But Jesus is above all, even the patriarchs.And because of that, the woman He meets at the well is transformed

I know this morning’s Gospel lesson is a long one.We are not going to attempt to cover everything in the passage today,But I want to hit a couple of what I consider to be key points.In the first few verses we read that Jesus hears the Pharisees are talking.The Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing,More disciples than John the Baptist.Now, Jesus didn’t baptize anyone, but His disciples did.So, upon hearing that false news…fake news…was reaching the Pharisees,And knowing that the Pharisees were going to make a big deal out of this,And possibly use it to hurt Jesus and His ministry,Jesus leaves Judea, heading for Galilee.So, why does Jesus leave instead of confronting the Pharisees?Well, Jesus wasn’t sent to win arguments.Jesus was sent to gather a remnant; die for you and I, And defeat death, the grave, sin, satan - on the cross and in the resurrection.Jesus knew, and knows, that wasting time arguing with those out to do you harm,Hurts the ministry to which you have been called.Also, Jesus is loving these Pharisees by not sticking around.If they had pursued this and Jesus was there, then the confrontation would have resulted in the Pharisees losing face.Jesus showed them a kindness by leaving.Jesus didn’t let pride get in there and convince Himself to stay and fight.Jesus knew there was greater work to be done, and He went to do it.Jesus left there also because He was about to do something crazy radical.i mean CRAZY radical.And being distracted by the unfounded ramblings of power hungry,Pride filled, self satisfying men would only distract Him from His mission.Let that soak in for a minute.Jesus has every right to confront those Pharisees.Every right as a leader in ministry and especially because He is the Son of God.Jesus could have went and shut them down,But Jesus knew that there was a bigger picture to be realized here.We can look at our own John Wesley and see where he did this as well.John Wesley was thrown out of church after church,For preaching scripture and sound theology.Now, John could have stayed and fought the Church of England,Tried to convince them of his methods and theology.But instead, John relented and left the building and went outside and continued preaching.One time he went outside and preached from his father’s grave.Instead of taking on the system, John Wesley followed the mission to which God had called him.John Wesley even went to help his friend George Whitefield,Run a preaching ministry at a mining camp that involved preaching on the street…Which John Wesley considered to be in poor taste.But he went and helped his Calvinist friend, even though that was taboo in the Church of England.John Wesley even started street preaching in that mining townAnd he and Whitefield saw thousands come to Jesus through that street preaching ministry.John Wesley saw the bigger mission, and didn’t waste his time trying to win arguments,When it would interfere with the mission.How often do we focus on the opposition,Or the distraction to our calling?I would venture to say more often than we think we do.Let’s

So, this morning’s preaching text may seem a bit unusual.It comes from 2 Kings, chapter 6,And is a miracle performed by Elisha for one of the Company of Prophets that were under Elisha.Now first, who is this Company of Prophets?Well, scholars believe there were schools of Prophets and they sat under a major Prophet,For Example, in 1 Samuel, there was a school of Prophets that sat under Samuel.And we read in 2 Kings - there were schools of Prophets in Bethel, and Jericho.And before Elijah was taken up to heaven, two different schools of prophets (one from Bethel, and one from Jericho),Told Elisha that Elijah would be taken from him that very day.And once Elijah was taken, and Elisha proved himself, That school of Prophets then sat under Elisha.Now that you have the quick and dirty history of this School of Prophets,Listen again to 2 Kings 6:1-7.Ok - so what is going on here?Well, The Company of Prophets say to Elisha, ‘look, it's too cramped for us here.Let’s go to the Jordan and build better lodgings.And Elisha said go, or do so.The word for ‘go, or do so’ here is “lechu”,And it means - “go, and I’m not going with you”See, Elisha didn’t approve of, or agree with this plan of theirs.Elisha didn’t see anything wrong with their current situation,And thought it a bit ‘showy’ to need bigger space.But one of them, in Hebrew the word “haechad” - which literally means ‘the one’,So probably the senior student, or senior prophet under Elisha,Pleaded with Elisha to go with them.Elisha relented, but wasn’t happy about it.So they arrive at the Jordan and begin chopping down trees,When the “haechad” - or the one,Has his axe head fall into the river.Now this had to take place on a back swing or come off when he hit the tree.And it landed in the river…in the Jordan river.Now, let’s pause here for a minute…The Jordan river…A few weeks ago we looked at Naaman, the Syrian general who came to Elisha to be healed of leprosy,And Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan.The Jordan is a very spiritual place in the Hebrew faith.A place of spirituality that is disconnected from the everyday life of regular people.So, moving to the Jordan was also seen as a way to separate the prophets even more from the lives of the people.And Elisha didn’t agree with that.Elisha also believed the Jordan to be sacred,And their intrusion on it as a living place would diminish that.Now, if they hadn’t come to the Jordan and started chopping down trees,Then the axe head never would have fallen in the river.It would have fallen on the ground and a miracle would not have been needed to retrieve it.So, back to the axe head in the river.The word used for the person that lost the axe head is the same as before ,For the primary student - “haechad”.So the same guy that pleaded with Elisha, now pleads with him again.The “haechad” now cries out to Elisha for help because he had borrowed the axe head.At this time, you couldn’t just go to the store and buy an axe head like you can now.These things had to be made and weren’t inexpensive.So someone had trusted this guy with th

Last week we talked about Christ being God's mystery,And about how the fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ.We also talked about how Christ's spirit fills us, and since the very DNA of God is in Christ,And Christ dwells in us, then when we answer Christ's call and turn to him in repentance,Then our very spiritual DNA changes.This week we are going to look at some more from Colossians 2 about us being circumcised and baptized,And in Hebrews 2 at how Christ calls us family.So, let's jump in.In Colossians 2, starting in verse 11, Paul writes that we are circumcised in Christ.Not with a physical circumcision, but with a spiritual circumcision,That puts off the flesh.What does that mean...put off the flesh?Well, it means to no longer confuse what is fleshly with what is spiritual.Before knowing Christ, we have a tendency to gratify the flesh in attempting to gratify the spirit.And this can come in many forms.Forms that we can think of right away, but also in the form of possessions,Relationships, Likes on social media, number of Facebook friends I have, etc.You see, when we talk about the flesh, we are also talking about our pride...Our self centeredness...our 'me first' world view.It is not just the physical flesh and the gratifications that come with that.It is anything that attempts to satisfy our spirit with anything other than God.For example, I am feeling a bit down today, so i eat a lot...Or, I have had a rough week and need some rest and relaxation, so I go out drinking...When really these yearnings...this stressed out week, or this time of feeling down,These yearnings for peace and to be satisfied can be my spirit seeking God's rest and relaxation.I am not saying times of feeling down aren't legitimate, Or times of stress aren't legitimate.What I am saying is that we seek to satisfy in those moments with God substitutes.And here in Colossians, Paul is telling us that when we turn ourselves over to Christ,We cut off those God substitutes like a circumcision cuts off flesh.And then in verse 12 tells us when that circumcision takes place....That taking off of the God substitute...It is in our baptism!When we are baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,We die to our self, and we die in the flesh...And we put off those God substitutes (because they no longer come even close to satisfying),We put off those God substitutes when we are raised, with Christ, from the dead in our baptism.I hope you are getting this.When we accept Christ, God gives us a new heart, answers the cry of our spirit,And saves our soul.When we are baptized, we are committing to Christ that we will no longer look for God substitutes,That nothing else will satisfy,We die to self and are raised with Christ.You see, we not only look forward to the resurrection to come,But we are living in a state of resurrection right now!We are in a state of not living according to the flesh, but according to Christ,And if we are not living that way as those who have received Christ,Then how miserable must we be?Walking daily in two worlds at the same time.Livin

Have you ever struggled with understanding God?God, I just don’t understand Your ways…God, I don’t understand why You are allowing this to happen…God, I don’t understand how all of this fits together…I want to pose the question a different way…What do we NEED to understand about God?Or, better yet…what do we NEED to KNOW about God?Because, we will never understand everything about God, ***READ***Isaiah 55:9 - “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”In fact - let’s put that together with verse 7 - “Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them; and to our God, for He will freely pardon”So, God - what do I need to know; what do I need to understand?God is confounding the way of the world with verse 7.“Forsake your wicked ways and thoughts, and I will freely forgive you…freely pardon you.” - says God.This is indeed Good News…This news tells us that the Kingdom of God is at hand.If we know this, then we know enough about God to preach the Good News.If we know this about God, then we know enough to share the love of God with others.When we know this much about God and who God is,And we have personally experienced this pardon…this forgiveness…This Love of God,That is all we need to know to walk in God’s forgiveness,And to tell others about God’s forgiveness.We may not understand the how of this…like…how God does this.And that is fine. That is not for us to know.God does what God does, and God does it how God does it.God does tell us - this is what is required of you, and in return I will pardon you.The mystery, for us, is, what do we NEED to KNOW about God…What do we NEED to understand?Well, all we need to know about God…all we need to understand about God……Is Jesus Christ.Jesus Christ is the true knowledge of God’s mystery.When we know Christ, we know God.Listen to Colossians 2:2 **READ**The mystery of God is Christ.Colossians 2 verse 3 says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.We need know nothing else, other than Christ, to know God.If we spend time in the Old Testament…we will see that the Old Testament points to Christ.Some scholars say there are over 400 places in the Old Testament that point to Christ.The mystery - Christ - is woven throughout the Jewish Scriptures.So, its not just the New Testament that speaks to the Messiah, Christ,But the Jewish Scriptures as well.All pointing to this Christ…this mystery of God…In whom are hidden all the treasures and wisdom and knowledge of God.Because, Christ is God.Colossians 2:9 reads - **READ**‘In Him dwells the fullness of God bodily’Now, when we are conceived, and we are being formed in our mother’s womb,The traits of our mother and father are also forming in us.Eye color, hair color, height, musculature, shape of our face, our hands and feet,Facial expressions, personality, sense of humor, likes/dislikes; etc…And even in all of that, we are unique…containing bits and pieces that make me…me.

This morning we are going to look at Luke 11 and Psalm 86.We are going to look at a house divided against itself like what is spoken about in Luke 11.And with the state of our denomination today, we could talk about that;And with the state of our nation today, we could talk about that.But I want to look at this passage in a personal light…Internalize it.I want to look at that struggle that is in each of us.That struggle where the world, my own will, and God are in conflict.‘Are in conflict’ - that’s nice, isn’t it?That’s a nice, non-threatening term that we hear often when it comes to this.When it comes to this internal struggle.Really this is an internal battle for our soul.Listen to James 1:2-4 **READ**Here James is talking about counting it all joy and letting steadfastness have its full effect.Counting it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds.I don’t think James is just speaking of physical trials here.I think James is speaking more to internal trials that we face;The internal struggles that we have in times of crisis…In times when we have a crisis of faith,Or when we fear an outcome because of our faith, etc.I believe James is speaking to internal trials, or conflict, because steadfastness speaks to that.Steadfastness means:‘Stability of mind or purpose; resolution; constancy; faithfulness; endurance.’So when James speaks of ‘the testing of our faith producing steadfastness’,And letting steadfastness have its full effect,He is speaking of internal struggles that are resolved in working through it,With God, Christ, Holy Spirit to its conclusion.2 Corinthians 10:3-5 reminds us of this.***READ***Here we are reminded that we do not walk through trials according to the flesh.How does the flesh…the world…our own will…tell us to deal with trials and conflict?With both barrels…that’s how.We are taught through the examples we have in our everyday life,To push through according to our own strength;To face whatever it is head on, in our own power;In our own understanding;Trusting in our own abilities to see us through.Well, Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians that we face these trials and conflicts,These battles for our very souls,Not with tools and abilities according to the flesh,But with Divine power.Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 11:14-23 this morning.When the strongman (flesh) protects the house, he is only able to do so until someone (or something) stronger comes along…Church - This is true in our soul as well.What we rely on in our soul, that is based on ourself,Will be overpowered by some trial or conflict.It happens to the best of us.And I am not talking about being overcome by some circumstance,Like, losing a job, or going in debt, or piling medical bills.Those things are all too real and all too familiar to many of us.And we can be overcome, in a physical and practical sense.The struggle that ensues inside of us in those times is what will overtake us,If we depend solely on our own understanding and abilities in fighting that battle.In times when we feel overcome by life, we can easily blame God for that…

This morning we are going to take a look at the interaction between Jesus,And the expert in the Law, as well as the parable of the Good Samaritan.Jesus has an encounter with an expert in the Law…He was not an expert in the law as we might think.This man was an expert in the Law of God…so most likely an experienced Rabbi, or the like.And this expert confronts Jesus with a question concerning eternal life,From the point of view of the Law.So what was going on when this man stood up to test Jesus?Well, the 72 had just returned and Jesus was rejoicing in the Holy Spirit!I love that.I love that Jesus was rejoicing in the Holy Spirit…Are you kidding me?!Jesus -the Son of God - rejoicing in the Holy Spirit at what the Holy Spirit was doing in the disciples!Church - if Jesus rejoiced at the work of the Holy Spirit, how much more should we?!How much more should we rejoice in the work of the Holy Spirit?!“I want to, pastor, but how do I know what that is?’’Get in the Word, pray, worship, fellowship…When you are steeped in those four things, you will recognize the Holy Ghost!So, here we have Jesus rejoicing int he work of the Holy Spirit,And an expert in the Law is there to challenge Jesus.Listen - that’s how it goes…you get all full the Holy Ghost and are riding high on Jesus,And some ‘expert’ in something comes along to challenge you..So - obviously there are others around who are not Christ’s disciples,Like the Law expert who challenges Jesus.Have you ever ben challenged by an expert in the field in which you are working, or speaking about?Oof. It can be off-putting to say the least.They don’t even have to be an expert…just know more about the subject than you do.I used to work with a guy who was very smart in our field.If he asked you a question, and you hesitated before answering,He would look at you and say..’you don’t know’…And then leave.I could not stand working with that guy…You see, it is ok to be an expert…to really know your stuff.But it is not ok to hold that over someone else’s head.I am not sure if that is what this Law expert was planning on doing,And I will give him the benefit of the doubt here and say it wasn’t.I do know his temperament seems to change in this exchange with Jesus.The beginning reads a bit haughty to me…Luke 10:25-37Like - ‘you know so much, answer this…’And then his second question is a bit more shaky…Like…’well…well then, who is my neighbor?’And the third time this man speaks, it is like resignation…‘…***sigh*** the one who showed mercy’And Jesus was not only answering the man here, but teaching the man as well.And teaching us in the process.You see it isn’t about ‘who is my neighbor’.It is about ‘be someone’s neighbor’.We tend to focus on who our neighbor is in the commands of Christ.Love your neighbor as yourself.Well, That to me says I need to identify my neighbor, Then treat that person the way I want to be treated…Which I think is absolutely valid.But what if Jesus is saying here that it is more important to be this Samaritan neighbor,Than to identify who is my neighbor

Today we are going to talk about trust.How many of you remember learning to swim?Did your mom or dad take you out in the water and teach you?Do you remember your mom or dad waiting for you to jump into the water as they catch you?Were you just tossed into the water and quickly learned to swim on your own?Maybe its a completely different scenario you recall on learning to swim,Or something else like riding a bike, or working on a car, etc.I remember my uncles telling me the only way to turn the push mower off was to remove the spark plug cap…Funny for them…not so much for me at the time.We all have times in our lives that represent trust lessons.Some were great and really built our ability to trust, and some did just the opposite,Teaching us to not trust in some very important areas of our ives.Our experiences of these trust lessons shape who and how we trust,And can restrain our ability to trust at all in some cases.And we carry that restraint into every relationship and encounter.And I know some of us have been told that if we just come to Jesus,All of that will be better.All of our past stuff will be healed and we won’t struggle any more.Well, maybe.But more probable is that Jesus will work with us to get to the root of those issues,And lead us through the valley of that stuff as He heals us.Now - of course my life is immeasurably better with Christ,However, that does not mean that I am necessarily healed of any trust issues right away.This mistrust definitely carries over to trusting God,And many folk do not trust God, even though they say they do,Because of issues and requests that are not handled or answered the way they think that request or issue should be handled.I know I’ve been there…I have most certainly been that Christian,The kind that questions God’s ways.Prayers for work…prayers for finances…prayers for healing…prayers for relationships.I had my own ideas of how those things should be handled,And they were very often not handled the way I saw fit.Kristi and I asked our church for help with our bills in Nashville…We were dirt poor, living in the projects in Nashville, TN.We routinely gave plasma to pay our electric bill…or to have it turned back on.And I asked our church for help in paying our bills and the church prayed about it and said no.Now, I would have liked them to not even pray about it and just give me money,But that is not how it worked out.And I am thankful for that.You see, in that struggle, God taught us some lessons that I am grateful for to this day.We made out ok, and got through that ‘lean’ time and are better for it.We better understand God’s building up in the valley than we would have been otherwise.Another example of this is Naaman from this morning’s Old Testament reading.Now, Naaman had leprosy and was told that the prophet Elisha could heal his leprosy.So Naaman worked it out so that he could travel to see Elisha.Snd Naaman shows up at Elisha’s house in full effect…Horses, chariots, officers, money…Showing up like, ‘I am someone important…heal me.’And what’s funny to me in this account is that Elisha doesn’t even greet Naaman in person.

This morning’s sermon title is ‘Where is my Focus?’Well - they say you preach on the things you are struggling with.This week that couldn’t be more true.I am having a very difficult time focusing this week.The whole week has been like trying to nail down jello, where my thoughts are concerned.It has been that way at work and in ministry this week.This past Kairos weekend took a toll on me spiritually.Not in a bad way, but in an exhaustion way.My spirit is was tired this week.And my spirit being tired this week made it difficult to focus on the things of the spirit.It wasn’t until yesterday that the sermon came together.I mean, I use a method to get my thoughts out and arrange them,And then I further arrange those into an outline, then a written sermon.Not this week.This week it has been like reaching into a whirlwind to pluck out blades of grass.And then I realized, yesterday, that this is exactly right.When we cannot focus spiritually…focus on the things of Christ,This is what our mind and spirit feel like.A mass of ‘almost’…you know what I mean?I can almost see what I need to see.I can almost grasp that thought.I can almost articulate what I’m thinking.Like looking out a dirty window into a thick fog.So this week - God was teaching me something…Teaching me something to share with you.I was looking for God in the midst of all of this…I was looking for God’s clarity while focusing on the fog……While focusing on the whirlwind.I couldn’t get my mind off of the whirlwind.But yesterday, I went back to SCI for a Kairos thing, and on my way home,I was thinking about today and getting anxious because I could not get my thoughts in order for the sermon.I mean, I could come up here and wing it, but I believe in preparation.I tell the people that work for me, the success of the thing is in the preparation, not the execution.While I believe the Holy Spirit can accomplish what needs accomplishing whether I am prepared or not,I believe God honors preparation.So, when i got home from Kairos yesterday, I almost just went to bed and said, ‘Well, I am just going to shoot from the hip.’Then, I was like - nope…go in there and start writing and see if anything comes out of it.So here we are.I wanted to share that with you this morning, because it is part of the lesson God was teaching me this week.Don’t focus on the whirlwind, or the fog…Focus on Christ. Meditate on God’s Holy Word.This is similar to Elijah hiding in the cave after defeating the prophets of Baal.Jezebel sent word to Elijah that she was going to kill him.Elijah got scared and ran.In his running, Elijah focused on nothing but the whirlwind of his situation.He runs and cannot see past his situation,So much so that he sits beneath a tree and prays for death.When we are laser focused on the fog, we cannot even see behind us what has so clearly happened.How, so clearly, God is on our side.We can be fresh from the mountain top experience,And have a crushing bout of anxiety that takes the thing God has done completely out of focus for us.This is what happened to Elijah.Elijah is sitting u

Today is part two of the New Covenant according to John 21.Last week we looked at Jesus making the disciples breakfast.How Jesus went out and found His disciples, reminded them of who He is,Then made them breakfast and served them.This morning we look at the next part of that morning.They had finished eating, and Jesus started to speak with Peter.And Jesus dove right in by asking Peter a very pointed question.Do you love me?Now let’s look at a bit of recent history in the relationship of Jesus and Peter.Let’s look at Luke 22:54-62 **READ**Here we see Peter deny Jesus three times.People confronted Peter point blank about his relationship with Jesus, and Peter denied knowing Christ three times!Have you ever done that?Have you ever been confronted directly about knowing Jesus;About who Jesus is to you;About knowing Christ as your Lord and Savior,Then denying Christ in your response?Well - let’s look at what was happening here.Peter was scared that if he was found to be a disciple of Christ, he would be killed.So, Peter put his safety and life before Christ by denying his relationship with Christ.Have we ever done that?Now, we may not have been in danger of losing our life for our faith,But I would bet there has been a time when we put our popularity before Christ;Or a time when we put a relationship before Christ;Or a time we put our wants before what Christ was calling us to do.I know I have…I remember this one time when I was really trying.I was younger and not married yet.Kristi and I hadn’t even started dating.All my friends knew I had turned to Jesus and I had even told a couple of them that I was called to be a pastor.And I was trying really hard to live like a young man called by God.And I wish I could say that something happened and I got mad at God or something.But the truth is, I got bored.I got bored with God and wanted to do my own thing.So I went to this party and one dude I didn’t know very well came up to me and asked me what I was doing there,Saying he heard I was going to be a priest or something.And as I was sitting there drinking, I told him I was thirsty.He didn’t understand, of course.But the truth was - I was thirsty and I was trying to quench that thirst on my own,Instead of Following God and listening to God and doing what God was calling me to do.I was a bit lost at the time honestly.My faith support system was away at college…Now there were others I could have turned to, but I didn’t want to.I wanted to wallow in my ‘being lost’…So I told this dude that I was thirsty - and I was.I was thirsty for more, more of God, more of Christ,But in my thirst I was impatient and self loathing.I went back to what I knew…partying.And that night went real sideways real fast…And it didn’t take me long that night to realize I didn’t belong there anymore.I realized that I was a new creation…And the ways of my old self were empty and lacking in any real fulfillment.I had been a fool to think I could turn from Jesus and go back to loneliness, and emptiness,And think that would bring me

Have you ever had a time of great fellowship where Jesus is in the midst;One where you were experiencing a time of God’s presence that was speaking to your soul?You know what I mean?A time of being refreshed by the Holy Spirit…Really know God’s presence?And then you go back to work the next day…To the same old same old.Like - did that time with Christ really have any lasting affect on me?You know, we are always looking for that experience that will just set it off…Right? The one that just makes everything click…The one that makes our faith worthwhile.But you see…it isn’t those times that sustain us…It isn’t those times that lead to great faith and understanding.When Jesus was working with His disciples,Walking with His disciples,That is where the faith building was happening. And the lessons learned; the great moments of sustaining faith and God’s presence,Came out of those times of learning and working with Jesus.You see, we have this idea that we need to first have this mountain top experience and then our faith will be strong.But I look at the disciples and see that they first had deep work with Christ,Then the big mountain top experiences made sense and had some footing…some permanence.Sure, Jesus did miracles all along the way with them,Even in the very beginning with them,But there was always faith building work that went on after those.And why was it that Jesus spent so much time teaching the disciples,So much time explaining things to them,So much time investing in them the lessons of faith building?Well, listen to Jeremiah 31:31-34 againA new covenant. And we heard the same in Hebrews 8 this morning.Jesus is the New covenant.Jesus had to teach His disciples about the New Covenant.Sure - they understood the Old Covenant and the ways and laws, etc.But Jesus was bringing the New Covenant.This is a big deal you see.This is what God had prophesied about through Jeremiah all those years ago.So we read throughout the Gospel accounts that Jesus teaches His disciples about this New Covenant,And the ways of Christ; the goodness of God; what it means to love;Why love is so important.And even after all of this…after Christ’s resurrection, the disciples are still out of sorts,Even though Christ had appeared to them after the resurrection.They were still confused and scared and out of sorts.So, then, how does Jesus seal the deal?How does Jesus bring them back to the New Covenant,And their role in the New Covenant?He makes them breakfast.Jesus appears to the disciples for a third time after His resurrection,And makes them breakfast.Now - here we have some of the disciples deciding to go out fishing…And they didn’t catch a thing all night.Now these fellas were good fisherman, and weren’t accustomed to getting skunked.These guys were pros and knew what they were doing.They were comfortable fishing.That is the life they came from.So, to get all their gear together, get the nets ready,Get the boat ready, push off and start fishing…They were fully expecting to make a haul.

Alright - well, happy Mother’s Day.Do you know the history of Mother’s Day?Mother’s Day in the U.S. was started by Anna Jarvis and was first celebrated in 1908,When Anna held a memorial for her mother, Ann, at St Andrew Methodist Church.Anna’s mother, Ann, was a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War.Ann created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health issues.Anna worked tirelessly to make Mother’s Day an official holiday,And in 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May to honor mothers.Well, soon after this, Hallmark started making Mother’s Day cards,And people started buying gifts and cards for their mother.Anna started a movement at that time to boycott Mother’s Day,Stating it was a day to honor your mother with a hand written letter,Instead of buying cards and gifts for your mother.Anna threatened lawsuits and protested at candy makers’ conventions,As well as meetings of American War Mothers.She was arrested several times for disturbing the peace because what she intended for honor,Became a tool for profit.I shopped for my mother this week and wanted to get her something out of the ordinary.I didn’t want to get mom just any gift, so I searched for something I thought would fit her personality and our relationship.Mom and I honor one another with our words and actions and I know that I didn’t need to buy her anything.However, I wanted to.I wanted to get her the perfect gift.And the more I thought about it and looked I realized,Knowing mom, whatever I got her, she would love.So I wasn’t under any pressure to find the perfect gift.Which then freed me up to really enjoy looking for stuff to get mom for Mother’s Day…Out of the ordinary stuff…Because its not that I get mom the perfect gift,But that I love mom and want to honor her - that means the most to mom.And you moms out there,The struggle is real.Being a parent (not a mom obviously) i know to some extent,How it is to raise kids.I know the fear and uncertainty.The striving for perfection in parenting.There are times of exhaustion, times we struggle to keep our kids safe,Times we struggle to love our kids through their poor choices,Times we ask ourselves ‘Am I doing the right thing?’,Or ‘Where did I go wrong?’Well, I’m here to tell you this morning that we don’t have to be perfect.You don’t have to get it right all the time.You don’t have to be the perfect Dr. Oz, Oprah, Ellen, Dr. Phil, Martha Stewart mom.Yes, you will get it wrong sometimes.Yes, you will be angry with your children at times.Yes, you will miss doing the right thing sometimes.We are not perfect.Your kids are not perfect.Listen to this verse - 1 Peter 4:8Do you hear that?Love covers a multitude of wrongs.Here is God’s inspired Word telling us that we don’t have to always get it right.In fact, we will not always get it right.And that’s ok, just love, because love covers a multitude of wrongs.A multitude of not getting it right…A multitude of imperfect.Look, the fac

Today is the beginning of Holy Week…Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then Easter/Resurrection Sunday.And today is Palm Sunday. The day we call Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem.Palm Sunday is absolutely a day that signifies triumph,But not the way of triumph that was expected.Here we have Jesus going into Jerusalem for Passover,Knowing there are those in Jerusalem that wish to kill him.Knowing He was about to suffer and die.The Jews that followed Jesus looked to Him to dethrone Rome from their rule over Israel.That is what the general group of His followers were expecting.I believe the Disciples had a different idea of who Jesus is.Now, if we pay attention to Jesus in Scripture,He does not confrontRome during His time here.No. Jesus confronts the rulers of Israel…the religious leaders.Jesus confronts incorrect understanding of God and God’s Law.Jesus confronts sin.Jesus confronts the kingdom of satan.That is the real kingdom Jesus was fighting.So here we have Jesus…Messiah…Riding into Jerusalem for Passover.And Jesus rides into the city on a donkey’s colt.Humbly entering Jerusalem.And fulfilling Zechariah 9:5-10 ***READ***This is pretty awesome…but probably a bit confusing to the Jews.How was Messiah coming in a show of power and strength,On the back of a colt…which is completely the opposite of power and intimidation.And - to make it even less of an impressive entrance of power,Roman historians recorded that Pontias Pilate was entering Jerusalem on theater side of the city in military force.At the beginning of Jewish festivals, Rome would show up in force,To squash any thoughts rebellion that may crop up.So, on one side of town we have Jesus entering the city humbly, on a colt.And on the other side of town, Rome entering the city in a show of military force.A donkey colt vs a stallion/war horse.Meekness vs pride.But - the very Power of God vs a person of the dust…Or more accurate - the very Power of God vs the kingdom of satan.The Jews were waiting on a Messiah that could forcefully expel Rome.What they got was a Messiah that wasn’t concerned with shows of force,Or powerful appearance, or military strategy.A Messiah that was concerned with their heart/soul.mind relationship with God…Regardless of their circumstance..Jesus entered Jerusalem knowing what was coming…The mocking; the beatings; the lashings; the denial; the cross, AND the resurrection.But - Jesus did not enter with a chip on His shoulder.Instead Jesus entered in humility, as one that has submitted to the will of God.Jesus entered Jerusalem already victorious.Another interesting piece to Matthew’s telling of this account is that Jesus rode two animals…A donkey and a donkey’s colt.And in Zechariah, he prophecies the same.So I read some stuff this week and came across some wirings that suggest,Christ rode in on both because the donkey represents the Old Covenant,And the colt represents the New Covenant.And Jesus bridges the two…or fulfills the one and ushers in the new.Now, Bethpage - where Jesus gets the donkey and the colt,

It is not physical death from which we need to be freed.

Jesus lifts the Veil

Freedom for a Follower of Christ

Freedom From Sin

Just how do we love God with all our mind? What does that even mean?

How do we love God with all our soul? Well, let's look at Scripture and what CS Lewis has to say...

We are commanded to love God with all our heart. How do we do this? Well, the good news is we can't on our own...

Being known by God brings freedom and rest to our souls.Scriptures for this sermon:Exodus 33:12-17Galatians 4:1-9John 17:20-26

We, as Followers of Christ, should understand what it means to live according to God's Kingdom. We will start by looking at our citizenship.We are citizens of Heaven with Christ!