Ablaze Church Sermon Podcast (Audio)

We are to reflect God’s character in our lives and that would include giving. A devoted follower of Jesus will be, by definition, a giver. Everything we have already belongs to Him and giving back to Him acknowledges that truth and is an expression of grateful hearts.

If you are a Christian today, it is because: 1. God loves you and is passionate to restore fellowship with you. 2. God provided a plan and means to save us through Jesus Christ. 3. God asked one or more people to intersect your life with the Good News about Jesus. 4. Those people obeyed what God called them to do. These facts lead us all to consider our place in God’s plan to reach the world with His free offer of salvation. We are positioned in our world as witnesses to Jesus Christ. We are messengers of the Best News the world has ever heard. If we don’t tell, who will?

An athlete keeps working at improving and moving to next levels. If it is important in athletics, it certainly is more important is the most important pursuit in life – our relationship with God. That involves our personal time with Him, our connectedness with Him in his Word, our witness, our giving and our serving.

In 2022 expect to experience what the power of that fire is all about as we seek God’s will and His path for this journey of ministry.

There is life after Christmas and God never wastes time or years. If God’s ultimate desire is to draw close to us, as Christmas declares, He was working on that all year long. Even the strains we experienced can be pathways into greater intimacy with our Creator and Savior. There is nothing that ever happens that God cannot ultimately use for our good and to enhance our relationship with Him. Consider Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose."

Let’s thank God as we say farewell to 2021 and welcome 2022.

Jesus, the fruit of Jesse’s tree, brings the fruit of salvation into our lives. The container holds the fruit of salvation, forgiveness, love, joy to the world, peace on earth. God and man are reconciled.

John the Baptist strikingly proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was at hand. What brings the Kingdom? It happens when the King is present and reigns. One day the King, concealed in ordinary human garb, stands at the Jordan River requesting baptism from John. In this act Jesus takes his place among us all. Though He needed no baptism, we need his baptism. He did not need the water, the water needed Him. When He emerges from the water the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, descends on Jesus. Jesus now enters his ministry of giving that life to others and for others. “I am the Life,” He says. “I have come that they [his sheep] may have life, and have it abundantly.” He will give fullness of life to all who will receive. That life has the power to change our lives. He is the Life of Jesse’s Tree.

Genealogies are recorded in several books of the Bible. One can trace things all the way back to the Garden of Eden Of special note is the genealogy of Jesus. As we follow God’s story of salvation, the roots are important because they are wrapped around the promises God gave, already at the beginning. But there were times when it appeared that the roots were about to chopped out and the tree’s promise cut off. Our theme this season is the “Jesse Tree.” It appeared as though the promise of the Jesse Tree might not make it to fulfillment. God’s plans always seemed to have vulnerability and impossibility. There were times when God’s chosen people had to walk in faith and not by sight.

The season of preparation seems to be more stress and panic than quiet reflection, prayer, and worship. 2000 years ago in the weeks before the birth of Jesus people were also busy doing what was required to survive in the moment. For some it was struggling against hunger, with concerns of personal safety and survival. For others it was all about their wealth and ease. But God had waited for the right moment in history to send his Son as Savior for the world that had gone wrong already with the first two humans. Now comes the hero of a rescue mission, not in the flashing speed and blaze of a superhero, but in the humblest form of a baby in a barn. This Advent, in reflective preparation for our celebration of the Christ Child, we will meditate on the theme of the Jesse Tree, the seed, the root and the fruit. When it seemed all hope was cut off, God’s hidden plan is progressively made known through prophecy and promise. There is hope and joy on the way. Let hearts believe and eagerly receive.

This weekend we continue on the Lost and Found theme with a parable by Jesus about a son who is lost. It’s not that he is in a forested mountainous wilderness with no cell phone service to call for rescue, he’s “lost” in terms of relationship, his relationship to his family. He wandered off and soon found himself lost in the consequences of a series of very bad choices. The young man sick of home is now homesick and has no graceful way of getting back home. But when he turns his heart toward home his first encounter with his waiting father, he is met with grace that reconciles the alienated son with his father. That’s really about God and us, where He embraces his rebellious children with reconciling, forgiving love. I want you not only to know about it, but to experience it.