Monthly Archives: December 2011

Christmas Eve Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Christmas Eve 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.     The text is Luke 2: 8-20. We look at how God shows up, uninvited in so many lives in scripture. Just as He does on Christmas Eve. And just as He does in each moment of our lives. Through the miracle of Christmas, God is with us each moment and makes all of life holy!   You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking the link below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

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Uninvited – Christmas Eve Podcast

Christmas Day Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Christmas Day 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.   The text is John 1: 1-10. Jesus Christ is life, and His life is the Light to the world. Go and tell it on the mountain  You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking the link below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

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Life and Light – Christmas Day Podcast

The Biggest Thing about God that I don’t Understand

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God seeks us out. That’s it. That is the biggest thing about God that I can’t understand. That doesn’t make sense to me. That I can’t understand.

God seeks after us. God comes to us. God chases after us. No matter what we’ve done. No matter what has happened in our lives. God comes to us.

We don’t have to earn His approval. We don’t have to earn His love. We don’t have to earn His grace. It’s just freely given to us. No matter what.

God is a God that seeks after His children. That delights in His children. That gives love even when that love is undeserved or unwarranted.

Listen to what the Word says in Ezekiel 34:11-15:

“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

God seeks us out. God comes to us. God looks for us.  Even thought we are lost sheep. Even though we have forsaken His ways. Even though we have turned away and failed.

God seeks us out. God comes to us.

My mind can’t fathom that. In this world we live in, we have to earn everything. Our jobs, our education, even for some of us the love of other people. We always have to perform. Do right. Act right. Hit the mark. No matter what.

And then if it doesn’t happen, we are out. We are unloved. We are unworthy.

We have to earn everything. No free lunch.

That simply is not the case with God. He loves you. He seeks you. He cares for you. No matter what. Even if you walk away. Even if you don’t return it. Even if you forsake it.

He loves you.

That blows my mind, that God loves me, no matter what. I can’t explain it. I struggle to accept it. I don’t understand it.

I just know it to be true. And that knowledge has changed my life and changed everything about me.

Today, no matter where you are in your life, in your walk with Him. He is seeking after you.

He loves you. And there’s nothing you can do about it. 🙂

Other than accept it!

Comfort

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God desires good things for us all. For every one of us. Good things. Life. Peace. Joy. Comfort. God wants us to know life as it was intended to be.

We see in the very beginning of the Bible that God’s desire for His people is for good things. He walks with them in the cool of the evening. He wants to know them, and them to know Him. He desires that relationship.

We also see soon thereafter, through the choices of Adam and Eve, that sin enters in. They choose to disobey God, and instead of the comfort God wanted them to have, instead of the relationship God wanted them to have, toil and trouble began.

That wasn’t God’s perfect will for them, nor is it His perfect will for us. Comfort. Peace. Relationship. That’s what God wants for us. That’s what God wants to give to us.

Listen to what God says today in Isaiah 40:1-5:

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Comfort. That’s what happens at Christmas. Through Jesus’ birth God walked among us, talked among us, dwelt among us. So that we could be saved. Healed. Forgiven. Be made whole.

Receive comfort.

Today, in your pain, in your hurt, in your loss, in your sin, God’s desire for you is comfort. Comfort for my people is what the word says.

Today, no matter where you are in your walk with Him, may each of us turn to Him and find that comfort. And in that comfort, may we find the life and peace that we were created for.

God With Us

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God with us. That’s the hope of the Christmas season. That’s the hope of really, life. God with us. God of creation, God of redemption, God of salvation.

With us. With you. With me. Today.

Listen to what God says through the prophet Isaiah today:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

That’s the miracle of Christmas. It’s a time of joy and peace. A time to spend with family and friends. A time to worship, to pray. To praise. To focus on what matters the most in our lives. To remember. To refocus. To rejoice.

Immanuel. God with us.

Think about that one simple comment for just a moment right now. There will not be a moment in your life today, a moment that passes by you right now, that God is not with you. A moment where God is not at your right hand. A moment where God is not closer than your next heartbeat.

That’s the miracle of Christmas. God entered into our world. To save His world.

Through the spirit He enters into our lives. To save our lives. And so that we can be a blessing to others.

Today, He is with you. He has not, and will not, leave your side.

Remember that. May the knowledge of His presence guide you, shape you, protect you, keep you, correct you, and encourage you.

Today, God is with us! May we never forget the message of Christmas!

Getting Ready – Calling Podcast

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The sermon podcast for Sunday, December 18, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website.  This is the fouth sermon in our Advent 2011 worship series “Getting Ready.”  In this sermon we talk about how God has a calling for us as the church, to make His will done on earth as it is in heaven. And one day He will make all things right.  The text for this sermon is Mark 13: 24-37.  Also by clicking on these verses you can see my notes from the sermon as a note in the YouVersion online Bible.   You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking the link below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.

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Getting Ready – Calling Podcast

What the Lord Looks At

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What does the Lord look for? What does He value in our lives? What matters? What’s important.

We see in this passage the Lord tell Samuel, don’t look at the outward, don’t look at the height of a person or their appearance, look at the heart. Look at the inside.  Listen to what 1 Samuel 16:6-7 says:

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Today, you are going to have a lot of people come into your life. You are going to have a lot of people in your life today. You are going to have conversations with many different people.

At work, at school, at Wal Mart, wherever.

How do you see them? What are you looking at? What are you looking for? What do you see?

The Lord looks at the inside. The Lord looks at the heart. The Lord is not guided by what is on the outside, but what is on the inside.

What about us? What do we look at? What do we look for? What do we see?

Do we judge others for their outward looks? Or do we look inside? Do we look at the heart? Do we look at what truly matters?

This text tells us how God looks at us. And it raises the question, how do we look at others?

Today, how will we?

Some Important Things to Remember

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It’s good to be reminded of things sometimes. I always joke with folks at church, if I don’t set a reminder in my phone for things that I’m supposed to do, then things won’t get it done.

And even those of us with exceptional memories can at times forget things; forget things we are supposed to do; forget what is on our agenda; forget all kinds of stuff.

Today, this passage from Revelation is a good baseline reminder of some important things that we, and the church, need to be reminded of.  Listen to what John writes in Revelation 1:4-6:

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

First, He loves us. The text describes all that Jesus is, and it say this – “to Him who love us . . . ” Today, no matter where you are, what you have done, are doing, or will do, Jesus loves you. Today, no matter what has happened in your life, Jesus loves you.

Today, in this moment, you are loved. You are loved by an amazing, powerful, awesome God. You are loved. Don’t forget that. You are loved.

Second, not only does Jesus love us, but He also “frees from our sin by His blood.” Today, through what He did for us upon the cross, you are forgiven. You are forgiven of your sin, you are free to walk in grace, you are free to lay it all down.

Today, through what Jesus Christ did for you, you are forgiven. Don’t beat yourself up. You can let it go. Jesus has paid the price for you and you are forgiven. You can let go and let God have it!

And last, you were created for something bigger than you can ever imagine. It says “and has made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father . . . ” You were made for a grand and glorious purpose. You were created for something special and amazing. You were born for some great thing that only you can do.

You are talented. You are made in His image. You can do it. God has made you for something amazing. Live into that today!

Today, these are some important reminders. May we never, in our lives, forget what truly matters!

His Grace is Enough

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None of us like to be weak. None of like to think about or be reminded about the things that we don’t do well. None of us enjoy these things.

But, we all have them. We all have areas of weakness. We have things that are painful.

And I’m not talking about temptation. I’m not talking things that we are not great at. I’m talking about things that hurt. That tender spot in your life that when you, or someone else, touches it, it really hurts.

I’m talking about those flaws, those pains, that when they flare up, it hurts. I talking about the things in our lives that make us doubt ourselves, doubt God, doubt everything.

I’m talking about the spot in your life that have flung your hands up to the heavens and yelled – please God, please take this.  That is what Paul is talking about today in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. Listen to what he say when talking about his thorn in the flesh:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul asks three times for God to take this thorn. To take this from him. To give him relief and peace.  And God doesn’t take it.

Because sometimes, we need that moment and spot of weakness to know how strong God is. We need to sometimes be reminded of how weak we are, to know how strong He is.

When we see what we can’t do, we are reminded about what He can do. When we see that efforts are enough, we see that His are more than enough.

In our weakness, His grace is made perfect.

His grace is enough. For you. Today. No matter what you are going though. No matter what your weakness. No matter what your pain. No matter what is happening. His grace is enough. For you. Today.

Rest in His grace. Rest in His mercy. Rest in His life. Rest in His hope. Rest in His strength. It is enough for you.

Even in your weakness, in your hurts, in your frailties. God is enough for you. Know that. Live that. Believe that.