What a grand Saturday...

     I don't think I could have ever imagined the meeting that we had this morning at the church but I am glad for the love and support in that room.  We held our first meeting on nutrition and healthy living with the help of God and each other.  A lot of information was shared, maybe too much, but my prayer is that each person take away and put into practice one thing that was learned.  Maybe the year of cancer will be used to help others that are closest to me have a better life physically and spiritually because of what Steph and I have gone through.  Steph was so great in her presentation of the material that I see that what she learned in college and in life has not left her.  She could walk into any job dealing with health and pull it off.  Maybe my bias coming through there.


     Sunday is a comin' and the sermon this week came together without much fanfare.  Plenty of time to think and read and study.  Matthew 2 deals with 4 different types of people.  The first is Joseph who listens to intently to God to be guided by dreams sent by Him.  The second are the wise men who get up to go to Jesus to worship Him.  The third is the king Herod who opposes and is threatened by even the mention of Jesus' name.  The fourth is the chief priests and scribes who had the right answers but did not have the right actions.  I think there are very few Joseph's in our world who actively act on directions from the Lord.  I think there are a few more wise men who engage themselves in worship of Jesus.  I think there are a few Herod's who flat out deny and oppose and fight against the forward progress of the gospel.  I think there are many chief priests and scribes within the church who play the role and know the answers but lack the heart of worship to go beyond what they know.  My prayer is that the church I serve for Jesus would gain more Joseph's and wise men when it comes to worship.


     Always remember that worship is not only a noun but also a verb.  Let's come together for worship tomorrow to worship Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords.  


Adam
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connect a bit of Scripture with a bit of life - Spurgeon

     I heard this phrase today along with another that if you connect a bit of Scripture with a bit of life, it will end up effecting all of your life.  This came up in my study of the book of James and specifically the verses dealing with not just being a hearer of the Word but also be a doer of the Word.  It is all about application.  I can't look at preaching the Word without giving steps of applying the Word.  It really is an incomplete sermon if I don't.      Many times I think it has to be big and many points and given cute aliteration that makes it snappy and I think easy to remember and fun to write down.  Reality is, if I would make it a bit of Scripture connected to a bit of life and just that it would probably accomplish much more.  How much time I spend on the opening statement and lame joke and research and introductions and how many points and the closing statement and so little time on connecting the bit of Scripture to the bit of life.      So I guess I ha
Read more

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlier in  Ga
Read more

Sermon prep and maybe a video...

     James 4 has brought up some interesting study.  First, "the quarrels and fights among you."  Those are usually worse than you think even though we try to minimize them.  The source is simpler than you think because it is coming from within you.  The solution is easier than you think because the solution that James gives is that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.  Any sincere resolution is specific and brief.  Beware of lengthy resolutions that usually include explaining it away or excusing some of the behavior.      As I have seen before, the words are a sign of the heart.  I read this week that if we have a critical heart we usually start by speaking evil of another to ourselves.  Then we progress to speaking evil of another to that person with a running tally in our heads of all their wrongs.  Finally, we speak evil of another to others and broadcast in a way that we are thinking that we are helping.  Giving judgment is always easier than giving mercy.  I
Read more