Last week, we talked about this biblical guideline for worship: true worshipers will worship God in spirit (heart) and in truth. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman that this is the kind of worship God is looking for … and it begins with hearts that have turned toward God… If we are not willing to turn our hearts toward God—fully, we’ll never know the kind of relationship (or worship) that God so desperately wants us to have! That’s where it begins. And once we’ve turned our hearts over to God,...
Folks, please remember from our introduction to this series last week: We are not just supposed to be people who come to worship … regularly … or occasionally, but we’re supposed to be worshipers who worship God with our whole selves (heart, soul, and mind), no matter when & no matter where… Becoming true ‘worshipers’ should be one of the most important things in our lives—something that we were actually born to do! And anytime we worship, as worshipers, we need to make sure that we worship the way Jesus...
Let me begin with these questions today… Is it more important that we come to worship (Saturday/Sunday) … or that we truly become worshippers … in every aspect of our lives? What does God expect of us, when it comes to worship? And how important is worship to our eternal relationship with God? All pretty heavy questions … but ones we hope to answer during this series entitled “Born to Worship.” In case you weren’t aware, the DUMC has a 5-year ministry plan … working through various aspects of our...
As we begin today, let me ask you this: DO YOU HAVE A SERVANT’S HEART? If we are growing in our discipleship—as followers of Jesus Christ, we will be growing in this area of our lives… Howard Snyder says in his work called Decoding the Church, “The purpose of the church is not to help people be religious; it is to help them live like Jesus Christ seven days a week.” — Howard Snyder, Decoding the Church And, folks, quite frankly … that’s exactly what Jesus was trying his best...
One-time Prime Minister William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told this touching story: “The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child’s breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, ‘Momma, kiss...
Some of you may be wondering … WHAT CODE? What silly code does Pastor Rom want us to know now? Well, to be exact, our spiritual genetic code… And, why is that important for us to know? Well, though genetics and DNA are relatively modern concepts, they’re rooted in creation … as it comes from the hand of God. So, our lives are actually closer to scripture, and to the way God works both in nature and in society, when we think genetically about the church … instead of just...
Dr. E. Stanley Jones, that great Methodist preacher & missionary, once said, “I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath, these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely, these are my native air....
I don’t want you to forget that this is what Titus is really all about. “Laying a Christian Foundation in An Un-Christian World” … is really about building a community of faith for Christ, which includes building its leadership! Basically, the question is: Will there be community … or won’t there? That’s the bottom line… Last week, we talked about ‘good’ or ‘Godly’ teaching … that resulted in ‘good’ or ‘Godly’ living… Today, we move on just a bit, to put that teaching into practice. Now, we need to turn...
For Father’s Day & for my birthday, this year, my son Josh bought me a print of one of my heroes—one of those who has been a role-model to me, even posthumously… His name is VINCE LOMBARDI. I love football. I don’t mind saying that I’ve been a Green Bay Packer fan ever since the mid-60s when I’d go down to the Ford dealership in South Wayne and pick up a copy of the Packer Yearbook. But, folks, Vince Lombardi is one of my role-models in life, because … he...
Folks, last week we began a new series that will attempt to parallel the new church on the island of Crete—with its new pastor Titus—alongside the Church of today. As a reminder, we spoke of building a Christian foundation for community in a world that was anything but… That was the task at hand for the young pastor, Titus, and that’s the task we’re still called to today, as well… Eugene Peterson describes the work of Titus (NT book) in this way: “I want to characterize Titus’s pastoral task as...
