Doing God's work, one step at a time

Focus! Focus…alrighty! Isn’t that annoying?! I do that to Hannah when she is in the midst of one of her meltdowns or is just not paying attention to Sherri or I. Hannah has combined ADHD, is being screened for other syndromes and such…plus she’s 6, that’s not a great age for attention anyway…sometimes we have to get creative with her in order to bring her back to reality. Focus! She’s so funny sometimes…but isn’t that just like our culture today? Our culture is one that has so many things going on that it is so difficult to focus on one singular task. We are over stimulated to huge degrees that we lose our focus. Today we are going to talk about this idea of focus in Matthew 14:22-33. If you would, open up you Bibles and head there. 22 Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. 23 After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. 24But the boat...

When was the last time you heard anyone tell you to ‘hold fast’? It’s not something we say too often in our culture is it? A synonym for it might be adhere or bind; more than likely, we’d here, “Stick to it kid!” When I was in culinary school…back when I never finished anything in my life, my family always told me to “Stick with it!” Sure enough, I did…but if we are to ‘hold fast’ or ‘stick with it’, what are we really telling them? In a nutshell, we’re telling them to continue on the path their on despite the circumstances or perhaps to correct their course. ‘Hold fast’, ‘stick to it’ , because it’s hard to do! Today we are going to read out of Isaiah 56:1-8. This particular section is where Isaiah is talking about how the Gentile’s will be included in Israel’s blessing. A little background for this text, midway through Isaiah’s ministry Israel went into exile. Judah continued on for another 120 years or so before their exile, but Isaiah is prophesying at this point. Let’s read. Isaia...

When I saw the title and Scripture that I had planned out for this week on Monday morning at the office, I was a bit shocked. I had just preached this Scripture for the kids at camp. My initial reaction was to choose a different one. But after a day or so of pondering what to put in its place, I realized that it’s going to be a completely different sermon that what I used for the kids. This week we are going to talk about weeds. Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43. It’s the parable of the weeds and then the explanation of it. For the kids, it was, don’t be a weed. Weeds are bad. But for you and me, we already know weeds are bad. We have some gardeners here in the congregation and we are very aware of the nature of weeds. Weeds can choke off healthy plants and deny us the fruit of our labors. I was really looking forward to corn on the cob this fall, homegrown tomatoes and peppers to make spaghetti sauce with, onions, fresh lettuce for salad, zucchini, yellow squash and butternut squash, waterme...

Has anyone ever asked you who your favorite child is? It’s hard to decide isn’t it! It’s not that you love one more than the other, they are individual people and therefore you love them differently than the other. Right? Ok, now what about your siblings? Do you have a favorite sibling? Maybe you only have one sibling like me. Oh I have a step-sister and twin step-brothers, who by now are regular siblings. We’ve been family for over 13 years…once you reach the decade mark, it’s automatic! If you are anything like me, my natural brother and I fought all the time. When we do find the time to get together from across the country, we still have our little arguments! It’s a part of the whole brother/sister gig! Do you find that you favor a child or a sibling more so than the other? Are you harder on one child over the other? Perhaps you do the same thing with a brother or a sister? It is a natural thing to do. I know parents that love their children equally, but have a tendency to be closer...

Do you ever get tired of doing the right thing? Have you ever been in a situation where someone needed your help and you weren’t sure exactly what to do or even if you should do something? Have you ever been in a situation where someone was more concerned with your business than the problems that they face themselves? Today we are going to talk about idleness. Not idol, but idle, as in sitting around doing nothing. Idle as in lazy. We’re going to read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15. This is the letter from Paul to the church in Thessalonica. If you would, follow along. 6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching[a] you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so th...

When I say idol, probably the most common thing on the minds of most reality TV show watching people is “American Idol”. American Idol has developed into a phenomenon that swept the nation for 11 years. For 5 months out of the year, people are glued to the television set Tuesday and Wednesday night with between 18 and 38 million people tuning in. In a biblical sense, it truly has become an ‘idol’ that takes over our time. No, we don’t bow down and worship it, but we will do anything to make sure that we DVR it, make time to watch it, or get the scoop on what’s going on. I wonder what would happen in 18-38 million people went to mid-week Bible Studies for an hour instead of watching TV. Hmm. Interesting to think about. It doesn’t have to be American Idol…maybe you don’t like it. Maybe for you it’s Westerns; Movies, Music, a different TV show, work, games, money, food, alcohol, cigarettes…the list could go on forever. This week we have a two part sermon series called variations of Idol/I...

I cannot stand busy places…especially restaurants. That sounds funny coming from a guy who worked in restaurants for 13 years huh? They get so jam-packed, sardine tight that I feel like I have to yell at the person I’m talking to just to have a normal conversation. Forget being in the kitchen. You think the dining room is loud? Kitchens are horrid. Usually they are 300-500 square feet with over 50 people jammed into that space. Equipment running, fans blowing, servers yelling, dishes clanging, cooks swearing, Manager trying to keep a lid on it all to give customers the best service possible as quickly as possible. Places like that get me because too many voices really upset me. I have a hard enough time hearing people when they talk thanks to the noisy kitchens, let alone when you add 75 other people to the mix. But in today’s world, it seems that is what all companies are after. To see how many people they can jam into their “Super-Saver Mart with Restaurant One-Stop You’ll Never Have...