THE BLOG
Topic
- Anxiety 2
- Beauty 1
- Bible 5
- Blessings 1
- Body of Christ 1
- Burden 1
- CEO 1
- Christian Living 127
- Christlikeness 6
- Christmas 12
- Commandments 1
- Community 1
- Conflict 1
- Cults 1
- Culture 1
- DDM 1
- Death 1
- Discipleship 5
- Emotions 4
- Eternity 2
- Evangelism 6
- Faith 2
- Forgive 2
- Freedom 1
- Fusion 1
- Gather 1
- God 2
- Gospel 2
- Gratitude 1
- Hebrews 11 1
- Holiness 1
- Holy Spirit 1
- Homosexuality 1
- Humility 1
- Israel 2
- Jesus 6
- Joy 2
- King of Glory 1
- Lying 1
- Missions 1
- Outreach 1
- Pastor Jeff 1
- Perspective 2
- Prayer 7
- Psalm 119 3
- Reading 1
- Salvation 13
- Sanctification 1
- Satan 1
- Scripture 2
Readiness For Sunday Worship
Have you ever taken the time to think about your readiness when gathering together with God’s people in worship on Sunday?
When I was growing up, after dinner every Saturday night, my parents had us lay out our clothes for Sunday, bathe or shower, and go to bed a bit earlier so we would be ready and energized Sunday morning when we climbed into our station wagon (remember those?) and drove to church. My point is we had a plan for readiness on Sunday because it was an important day for our family. We would get our mind, body, and spirit ready to give our best to the Lord and with His people (and I might add, we were never late).
Disciplemakers
This Sunday, January 5th, we begin our 13th DDM (Disciple Development Month) that began almost 4 years ago in January of 2021. We schedule this focus three times a year (January, May-June, September) to intentionally focus our attention on internalizing and applying our God-given mission “to glorify God by making more and better disciples of Jesus Christ through intentional relationships.” These 3–4 week DDMs are designed to highlight and reinforce the more, better & intentional parts of our mission.
Why Read the Bible
There are many reasons to make a commitment to read your Bible regularly and there’s no better time to start than at the beginning of a new year.
God is all-knowing, all-wise, all-truth, and all-good, so what He says is authoritative, accurate, supernatural, sufficient, and indispensable for our lives. Here are just a few of the many benefits of reading God’s Word:
Don’t Miss Christmas
It seems very strange that the world would hold such an elaborate and enormous birthday party and then totally miss the very Person it is being held in honor of, yet this is what happens every year. However, missing Christmas is not a modern-day phenomenon as you could trace it back to the very first Christmas.
Destressing Christmas
I’m guessing that I don’t really need to establish the fact that Christmas season brings an elevated level of stress to all of us. With all the family and friend gatherings, decorations, shopping, budgets, gift-giving, schedules, and perhaps difficult family dynamics, there’s enough stress to go around for everyone. In fact, I just read that 89% of U.S. adults experience stress during the holidays, and 41% say their stress levels are higher than other times of the year (American Psychological Association Survey).
Incarnation Paradoxes
The following article, Augustine’s Christmas Sermons, was written December 11, 2023 by John Stonestreet and Glenn Sunshine from the Breakpoint Ministry of the Colson Center. It highlights some of the many paradoxes of the incarnation that early church father Augustine proclaimed:
From the earliest days of the Church, Christian theologians have marveled at the paradoxes found in the incarnation. Among the earliest expressions of this marveling comes from St. Augustine, the most influential theologian in Western Christianity.
Be Grateful, Not an Ingrate!
At thanksgiving, we expect everyone to be thankful, but be aware there is always something in the moment that can squeeze that gratitude right out of your life.
You can either act like an ingrate or remember to be grateful. Which will it be for you?
The following two acrostics spell out some of the differences between being an ingrate or being grateful. How are God’s myriad of blessings showing up in your life?
You can spell an “ingrate” this way:
The Cure for Loneliness
Do you know anyone suffering from loneliness? Statistically, nearly 75 percent of all Americans report moderate-to-high levels of loneliness. The U.S. Surgeon General has stated we have an “epidemic of loneliness” and it is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes day. This loneliness is not only leading to poor health conditions, but also costing employers an estimated $154 billion annually in absences and $6.7 billion annually in excess Medicare spending. All this sounds prolific and problematic, but there is hope.
Pot Disaster
It is sad for me as a pastor to hear how some in the church go to the mat regarding their own beliefs and conscience convictions about issues of liberty in their life (e.g., practices that Scripture does not directly prohibit such as drinking alcohol, political views, education of children, music choices, insurance, use of TV, marijuana, etc.). What is sad and even tragic to me is to see how certain liberty convictions are justified and appear to be held stronger than the essential and clearly stated doctrines of the faith.
