Intentionally Keep One Christmas Decoration Out

intentionally

Christmas is over and the un-decorating now begins, making room for all of the new gifts we received for Christmas. How do we repack the ornaments? Where we store the lights? And what we do with the nativity scene? As you put the decorations away, let me challenge you to intentionally leave one of the items on display. 

When you pack your nativity scene and safely secure Mary, Joseph, and the manger, don’t put Jesus in the box.  At least metaphorically, keep Jesus unpacked throughout the year.

Often, we denounce our culture for “taking Christ out of Christmas.” But do we conveniently leave Christ out of our lives when it seems beneficial to do so? We stand firmly against those who have “taken prayer out of our schools.” But we do regularly pray with our children or pray privately in our prayer closets? We lament culture’s attempts to remove the Bible from public life. But do our Bibles gather dust on our end tables and shelves in our homes?

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Why Jesus Is Better than Santa Claus

santa

used by permission www.pexels.com

I know a lot of people who are struggling in many ways during this Christmas season.  Several are experiencing their first Christmas without a loved one.  Others struggle under the burden of a busier than normal schedule.  There is the pressure of attending special events, juggling the demand to visit pockets of family scattered here and yon.  We stress over selecting the perfect Santa gift for each person on a bottomless Christmas list. Moreover, we struggle to find creative ways to stretch an already overextended budget.

Through the “Santa Claus” ritual, we expose our children to the pressure of behaving to please a fictional character.  Why would we call a man a saint who would stalk little children? After all, he meticulously keeps and checks a list of every good and bad deed and thought they have? We pressure ourselves to conform to others’ demands on our time and finances.

Better Than Santa

I know I sound a little like the second coming of Ebenezer Scrooge. However, let me remind you that Christmas was never intended to be about demands on us.  Christmas is not about us at all, it is about Jesus.  It is not about what we do, but a reminder of what He has done.  Christmas is not about performance, it is about GRACE.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.   John 1:14, 16

Do not judge this Christmas by your ability to meet someone else’s demands. Also do not grade your Christmas by your success at making someone else happy.  Judge this Christmas . . . and EVERY DAY . . . by the price tag God places on you.  To Him, you are worth Him sending His Son to die for you. From Him we receive not just a “little dab” of grace, but we receive grace upon grace…stacked up…piled high…sufficient grace, and then some.  Click this link to see how you can experience this kind of grace.

This Christmas remember that YOU are the Son of God’s gift to His Heavenly Father.


Fire Station Burns Down – Could Your Church Be Next?

fire truck

In an ironic but unfortunate turn of events, fire destroyed a local volunteer fire department station.  Since the station is manned by volunteers, no one was there when the fire broke out.  And by the time firefighters arrived, flames fully engulfed the station.  Thankfully, other than a knee injury to the battalion chief, no other firefighters were injured battling the blaze.

The Station Fire and the Church

The fire at the fire station was an accidental and unfortunate event.  No one would have ever imagined a fire destroying a fire station.  But as I read the story, my mind immediately began to envision parallels and implications for local churches.

One if the ironies about the catastrophe was that a pumper truck parked inside the station was also destroyed in the fire.  Something that normally fights fires succumbed to fire.  Our mission as Jesus’ church is to take His life saving message to a broken community around us.  But, like that fire truck, when we keep the mission inside the church, we risk not only the loss of our community but our church as well. Jesus warned the church at Ephesus that He would remove their light if they didn’t return to Him. (Revelation 2:1-7)

I sense the 21st Century church has become very inward focused and consumer minded.  We want to attend a church that caters to our needs and our preferences.  We are content keeping the firetruck parked in the station so we can admire it.

A Practical Consideration

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When Jesus Caused a Near-Riot at Hanukkah

Hanukkah

Yes, even Jesus attended the Feast of Dedication, otherwise known as Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is a joyful celebration for the Jewish faith commemorating a very important time in their history. The celebration runs for 8 days and is usually celebrated during the same time Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth.

The Background of Hanukkah

Mid-2nd Century BC, the Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes overtook Jerusalem and forced Greek culture and worship on the inhabitants. Antiochus went so far as to declare the Temple a temple of the false God Zeus. He did the most unthinkable thing in the Jews eyes, he sacrificed a pig on the altar.

In 165 BC a group of rebels headed by Judas Maccabee, won a long battle to regain control of Jerusalem. They rededicated the Temple desecrated by Antiochus and re-established the worship of Yahweh. Judas declared an 8 day celebration of the temple’s rededication. Hanukkah, which means “dedication,” became a yearly celebration of remembrance of that event.

Jesus Celebrates Hanukkah

About midway through John 10:22-39, we read of Jesus attending the Feast of Dedication. As he attended the feast, the Bible says the Jewish leaders surrounded him. They asked him to declare so publicly if he claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah. Jesus countered that he had already declared that truth and proved his claim through several Messianic signs.

Up to that point, Jesus had verifiably performed six of the seven signs John would record in his Gospel  Read More


The Bitter Pill

bitter pill

The heart of every sin and every temptation we face is a question of whether or not we will believe who God is and take Him at His word. When we fail to believe Him, we sin.

Misbelief and/or disbelief in God and His word will always lead to sin. The remedy however is one of the hardest things we have to do. It is like swallowing a bitter pill. Repent – to admit to God that we were wrong and to begin walking he path of obedience.

This short, two minute video take a look at why repentance is do difficult but so necessary.

1 John 1:8 – 2:1

For the full sermon and to view other sermons go to My Sermon Page


Listen To Yourself! Your Pronouns Reveal Your Heart

pronouns

Jesus taught us that our words come from the overflow of our heart (Matthew 12:34).  If we take the time to listen to what we say, we can learn a lot about our spiritual condition.  Our use of pronouns is a great indicator of our attitudes toward ourselves and others.

Pronouns are words that stand in the place of proper nouns.  For instance, if you tell a story about a man named John, you do not use his name every time.  You use the pronouns he, him, his and such as that.  But even more telling is the way we use pronouns that refer to us in comparison to others.  

The New Testament records the phrase “one another” about 50 times in ways that instruct us how to treat each other.  Nothing diagnoses our attitude about our other people more than the way we use pronouns to refer to them.  Here are three pronoun “red lights” and ways we can reframe them for a more others-friendly attitude.

You Instead of Me Assigns BLAME

Blaming others comes naturally.  That started in the Garden of Eden.  Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  The devil still finds success getting people to blame others rather than taking personal responsibility.  

Sometimes others are responsible for the circumstances of our lives.  But more times than not, our actions and reactions could have made the situation turn out differently.  

Listen to yourself.  When less than desirable circumstances befall you, what is your default explanation.  

“If only she had ____, then…” 

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Don’t Let the Fire Die – Come Back to Church

Fire

As I write this blog, I am sitting in a chair watching the yearly Halloween night fire die. The trick-or-treaters are done, and I am listening to the Braves’ World Series game on the radio.  Trust me.  It’s better that way. But back to the fire.

To hasten the fire’s demise, I split the one remaining log in half and spread the coals around the pit.  As I watch the fire die, I am reminded of an important spiritual reality. Separating the coals is much like a believer neglecting gathering with the church.  At that point, two detrimental things happen.  The believer experiences a slow and initially imperceptible loss of spiritual fervor.  Additionally, the church suffers a loss of effectiveness because a “body part” is missing.

I’ve heard the argument from some.  “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.”  I understand the myriad of reasons people give for not going to church.  Churches have been responsible for causing some people serious emotional and spiritual pain.  I also understand that the current narrative about COVID makes many fearful of attending church.  And I realize that some people have some real-life obstacles that provide a challenge for church attendance.

But those who justify staying away from church stand in stark contradiction to God’s instruction to us in the Bible.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25

The Church Suffers

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ….If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

1 Corinthians 12:12, 26-27

Church is neither a place nor an event.  Church is a collection of believers who come together for at least 3 reasons.  First, they collective learn from God’s Word and grow in their faith.  Second, they join together to take the Kingdom of God to their community and beyond. But a third and very important reason is to support, encourage, and hold each other accountable in their Christian journey.

God designed the local church to be an organic collection of diverse gifts and strengths.  Then, God directs believers to a particular church for their good and for the benefit of the church.  So, when a believer neglects church participation, they deprive the church of what God wants to provide through them.  It’s a selfish choice when you think about it.   The decision to neglect church places the individual’s desires above the good of the body.

The Believer Cools

In the Hebrews passage above, we see that believers have the opportunity and responsibility “to stir up one another to love and good works.”  When a believer isolates himself from the church, he misses the benefit of being inspired by others’ Christian experience.  With Holy Spirit inspired wisdom, Solomon writes,

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Have We Added People to the Disposable List?

Sunday

We live in a disposable culture.  In many cases, it is now less expensive to replace an item than to repair it.  The technological age has created a plethora of replaceable goods.  Unfortunately, I think we are beginning to see the same attitude toward people.  Imagine that…disposable people. 

I read with great sadness as sports fans trashed a player after his second bad game in a row.  His performance in the first of those bad games was instrumental in a team loss.  A teammate came in and “bailed him out” in the second game with a masterful performance of his own. The fans seemed to forget that the object of their criticism had been one of the most reliable during the season.  Had he not performed so well during the year, his team would not have been in the playoffs. How quickly fans forget, and how quickly they disqualify a once beloved team member!

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Listening to Your Heart – What Do You Hear?

Listening

I hate listening to myself preach.  I don’t like the sound of my voice.  But for “quality control” purposes, I regularly take the time to listen to my sermons.  I have found myself more sympathetic towards those who fall asleep during my sermons.  Occasionally, I do the same. But listening to myself helps me look for verbal noise, bad phraseology, and fuzzy communication. Hopefully it makes me better.  I have a lot more listening to do.

But what if we all could listen to what we say throughout the day every day?  What would our words tell us?  Imagine that someone without your knowledge place a recording device on you.  When they played back the recording, what do you think you would hear?

Our conversations and words reveal a lot about us.  Consider what Jesus told a group of religious people about their words.

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Disbelief May Have Snuck into Your Heart

disbelief

The shift is subtle.  No one wakes up one day and decides to no longer believe God.  The journey into disbelief is more of a drift than a plunge.  

In His book You Can Change1, Tim Chester suggests that the heart of every negative emotion and sinful behavior is a failure to believe a truth about God.  This dangerous disbelief originates in an unkempt heart.  Consider Hebrews 3:12:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 3:12

Who Is Targeted?

Notice that the writer of Hebrews addresses this warning to brothers. In the New Testament this is a general term that describes believers in Jesus, of both genders.  But, yes, believers misbelieving.  It is possible to believe IN God but not actually BELIEVE God.  One can affirm God’s existence and even claim to have a relationship with His Son, Jesus but not believe Him. 

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