For nine to ten days, Mary had carried with her the most astounding secret: She was pregnant—a virgin birth—and she was going to be the ‘mom’ of the long-expected Messiah! Yet she’d been afraid to share the news, for if the wrong person heard, King Herod would have her killed. Or, if her family didn’t believe her, they could turn her over to the religious leaders there around Nazareth and they could have her stoned to death, too. Perhaps, she herself was afraid to trust—at least for a time—that the...
As we hear the Christmas story over and over and over again, we sometimes become numb to what it really says. Why? Because we’ve heard it all before… But, have we? When many of us think of the town of Nazareth, that we talked about extensively last week, we tend to think that Nazareth is the town where Joseph & Mary are from—where Jesus was raised from his youth into adulthood. But, is that right? Last week, we listened to the start of the Christmas story from the Gospel of...
So, what’s the big deal about Advent? Two words: Black Friday (and some of you thought I was going to say, ‘Pepper Spray’)! Today, folks, it seems that Halloween is now the new unofficial beginning of the Christmas season! Yet somehow, even though we’ve extended the season of Christmas, we’ve also moved further away from the real meaning of Christmas… Christmas, all too often today, seems like an orgy of overindulgence. Many families go into debt to make sure their children have “enough” under the tree at Christmas … and...
So … who do I belong to? That’s the question you were asked last week—still applicable today. And if I say I belong to Jesus Christ, then what does that mean? What does it mean to truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ? The most practical and powerful way to get believers headed in the direction of spiritual maturity (becoming a disciple) is to help them establish habits in their lives that promote spiritual growth. [We here at DUMC are very serious about this!] Sometimes these habits are called ‘spiritual...
He is the Lord … MY God! And he is faithful! Always has been … and always will be! Listen now to what the psalmist wrote about God’s faithfulness to us, probably done in worship as a responsive reading. Just listen today… 1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever. 4 Give thanks to him who alone...
What is it in your life today that seems absolutely impossible? If you have any thought or any circumstance that seems impossible today, that folks is right up God’s alley… Let me begin today by saying this: As long as we honor God … nothing is impossible! And how do we honor God with our lives? Through obedience to what God calls us to do—by honoring God in all that we do… Let me share with you a story from the Old Testament—an incident in the life of a lesser-known...
I want to remind you of our worship together last week: It is essential that we learn to recognize who God is! Why? Because when we do, our automatic response will always be … worship. In a similar fashion, when we come to recognize all that God has done for us … we’ll be on our way to being true worshipers as well. Listen to Paul’s words to the church at Rome, from Romans, Chapter 7… “So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good....
Folks, please remember from last week: If we want our worship together—corporately—to be all that God desires for it to be, we have to be about worship … every single day! We need to ‘do all to the Glory of God’… And we need to intentionally make worship a part of our everyday lives! But, even with that in mind, folks, are we yet worshiping the God of scripture? Is our idea of God today … God’s idea? Here’s the bottom line today: It is essential that we learn to...
So, what is worship to you? Let me remind you of Jesus’ words from John 4:23 (NLT) as we begin: “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.” For quite awhile, when I first heard this passage, I thought that God was looking for worship. Then one day I read it again and a light bulb went on; that’s not exactly what it said. Jesus didn’t use...
Last week, we spoke of being obedient to God’s call on our lives in worship—what God asks us to do that affects our worship, in particular. Sometimes, God says ‘stand’ … and sometimes God says ‘bow down’ … and sometimes God says ‘Go!’ Whatever God says, we have to be obedient to it, if we want our worship of God to be unhindered… What is it that you’re struggling with doing, as you come to worship, today? What obstacle stands between you & your ‘unhindered worship’ of God? Let’s pray...
