Doing God's work, one step at a time

It’s official. The Christmas season is now over. One more week to go in 2010 and we will start a new year. So, now that Christmas is over, what now? The anticipation is over, Christ is born and now normal life resumes right? Well, sort of. Jesus is born, but the story just doesn’t end there. In the season of Advent, we have been looking at “The Five Gifts of God”. Now, it’s time we took a look at the gifts that man gave Jesus. So, what is it that you bring for a gift to someone who has everything? God lacks nothing, so what can we give that would mean anything to him? I mean, he’s put himself into human form, but he still has everything, knows everything and is fully complete. Have you ever tried to find a gift for a couple who was celebrating their 50th (or more) Wedding anniversary? It’s nearly impossible isn’t it? I mean, they’ve had a lifetime of memories, they’ve got more stuff than they can ever imagine…and yet, we have to find them something! I remember some years back my grandp

I started thinking about this sermon many months ago, and I’m not sure how to say anything about this Holiday. I am a new minister, what could I have to say about Christmas that someone hasn’t thought of or said already. I decided early on that I was going to title the Advent season “The Five Gifts From God”. The first four titles were rather generics, Gift 1, Gift 2 and so on. Well today’s sermon is titled Gift 5: Christ but there is another little zing to this title…the rest of the title is “Hinged on the Revolving Door”. Sound a bit odd for a Christmas sermon? I pray by the time I am done, God has shown the light upon why the title is what it is. I love Easter. Easter is a time of springtime, blooming flowers, budding trees, new life and renewed hope. So why does culture put an emphasis on Christmas, but not Easter? Easter is when we celebrate the resurrected Christ; wouldn’t that be a more important holiday? Well, not necessarily, because they are equally important. We have to reme

Love is not a feeling. Hate is not the opposite of love…apathy is. Love is helping with the dishes. Love is doing something you hate in order to support the other. Love is a dozen roses. Love is a greeting when you see the other person walk in from work. Love is tending to things when the other is sick. Love is reaffirmation. Love is helping with a need though no favor is asked. Love is surrendering the thing you want the most for someone else. 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 is probably the most famous wedding Scripture in the Bible. I’m not sure if I have ever NOT heard it at a wedding. When asked this past summer to come up with another verse that spoke love as well for a wedding, after all my research, I couldn’t come up with one. It FITS. So, even though this isn’t the scripture I am preaching this morning, let us read it again, to refresh our memories what love really is. I want you to really hear the words Paul speaks here. I am going to read it a little slower than normal so that we can

As we continue to go around the wheel of natural flow of the Five Gifts From God, this week we look to Joy. We’ve spent time looking into hope and peace, knowing that one flows right into the other. Having found true peace, we now look at joy and what that truly entails. If I were to say the words ‘false front’ most people would know exactly what it is that I’m talking about. Having a false front is so much different than a Christian having joy despite circumstances. Given example: A man from a large, wealthy family in upper New England, because of a business opportunity is ‘promised’ to marry a girl to benefit the families financially. (Whether or not we realize it, this actually happens fairly often.) They marry because it is what their parents want. They do not necessarily ‘love’ each other, rather it is a ‘you’d better marry that person or you’ll be cut off’ sort of deal. So, they marry, each pursue their respective degrees and become very successful, wealthy socialites. They had t

Peace. So many things can be said about that word. It sparked a controversy during a time of conflict in the Vietnam War. During the 80’s it was a two fingered symbol and saying. To a foreigner coming to our land, if you said the word peace to them, they might think you’re talking about a piece of something…pie or cake maybe. Can you imagine coming to America with all of the slang words we use? Geez, how confusing would that be?! “Peace!!! Piece, what? Of pie? Ha!!! Back to reality now, ultimately, peace is something that is used throughout the Bible. The word peace is used 271 times in the OT and 96 in the NT for a grand total of 367 times. There are 365¼ days a year, so we’ll round it up to 366, so, for every occurrence of the word peace, there is a day…and one extra for the trying times. All I am trying to do, is drive home the point of how exceptionally important peace is for us. According to New Man magazine, write, theologian and onetime Harvard professor Henri Nouwen once broke

Luke 1: 26-38, traditional Advent week one reading: 26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. S

*Remember, if you want a copy of the audio sermon from Sunday Morning, leave a comment here with your email address and I'll get it to you!* When bad things happen, how many times do you wonder why? It seems like when one thing goes wrong, the floodgates open and it is all you can do to stay afloat. During these times it is so easy to get lost in translation. I got an email a while back about a bagpiper who played many funerals. He was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky backcountry. As he was not familiar with the backwoods area, he got lost and, being a typical man, he didn't stop for directions. He finally arrived an hour late and saw that the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. He felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He w

*Before you start reading the sermon, I have a sound byte file of the actual sermon given Sunday morning. If you want, please leave me a comment here or on my facebook page with your email address and I will send you the file. Have you ever thought about decisions as you make them each day? Have you ever thought about the weight of each issue as you decide one way or another? Whether or not we realize it, each moment makes a difference. I want to tell you a story about a young man. This young man was divorced recently from his wife of a year and had gone off to the big city in order to start his life over. He had problems with women in the past, dating and finding someone who was fit for him. Soon after the divorce, he was back trying to find the hole missing in his life. He thought it was a woman so he went to different websites to try and find someone that would fill the empty place within him. Through it all, he eventually met a girl on the dating site and they conversed back and f

Halloween. Whether or not people admit it, it is a holiday that is filled with controversy within the Christian church. There are those who believe churches and Christians should stay out of it; and there are others who believe that since Christ overcame evil on the cross and resurrection, we have the freedom to participate and have good Christian fun in it. No matter what we believe, the one fact we have to admit is that there are those who celebrate Halloween as an evil holiday. I used to work for the Denny’s that was located right next to Six Flags in St. Louis. One of the assistant managers there was of the Wicca religion. If you are not familiar with it, they are witches and warlocks. They literally protect themselves with spells, superstitions and their big holiday is Halloween. In addition, a server there was of the satanic worship religion. He did not practice sacrificing, but Halloween was his big holiday as well. To see their excitement arise as the holiday got closer was a l