“Mild he lay his GLORY by”

Philippians 2:6-8

Matthew 1:18-23

It is easy to OVERLOOK what has become FAMILIAR.

v. 19 - It is COSTLY.

v. 20-21 - Joseph had courage.

Courage to take the world’s DISDAIN.

People thought that Joseph was FOOLISH.

Courage to GIVE UP your right to self-determination.

Who is LORD?

Courage to ADMIT you are a sinner.

What if Joseph didn’t think there was a PROBLEM?

Love gives COURAGE.

Hope is the PRESENCE of God in the midst of a dark time.

Luke 2:1-12

“I bring you GOOD NEWS that will cause great joy for all the people.” - v. 10

Good News is not good ADVICE.

Matthew 1: “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about.”

Genesis 12: All the peoples of the earth would be blessed through his descendants.

If you’ve been WAITING on God, you are in good company.

“You cannot judge God by your calendar...” - Tim Keller

God make take his time, but he always KEEPS his word.

The story of Christmas is a story of WAITING.

Because it HAPPENED, the promise still remains.

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

We follow a DARKNESS-INTERRUPTING God.

TO us.

A CHILD is born.

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace are titles that BELONG to God alone.

Isaiah 8:21-22

“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.”

The light exposes what you can’t SEE when you’re in the dark.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” - Psalm 119:105

Some things were scary in the dark, but not when the light comes on.

The light exposes some of the things that you’ve had HIDDEN in the dark.

We have some things that we’d rather KEEP in the dark.

The light gives LIFE.

“For the rest of my life, I want to reflect on what light is.”

2 Corinthians 4:4-6

My goal for our church is not to just BE generous…I want all of us to LIVE generous.

RANDOM acts of GIVING are not GENEROSITY.

When you become truly generous, as Jesus defines generous, you will GIVE more. You will SAVE more. You will CONSUME less.

Luke 21:1-4 (pg. 1,635)

v.1 “As Jesus looks up, He saw the RICH putting their GIFTS into the Temple treasury.”

v.2 “He also saw a POOR WIDOW put in two very small COPPER coins.”

v.3 “Jesus said, Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in MORE than ALL the others”

v.4 “All these people gave gifts out of their WEALTH; but she out of her POVERTY put in ALL she had to live on.”

Generous people PLAN Generous people CALCULATE Generous people DESIGNATE.

Always give from a GRATEFUL heart and a BROKEN heart.

You cannot ACQUIRE or CONSUME your way into happiness...But you can LOVE, SERVE and GIVE your way there.

How can EMPTYING myself leave me feeling so FULL? DIVINE Design.

SELFISHNESS is the result of BROKENNESS.

Sin SEPARATES us into our own SELF-CENTERED worlds.

Galatians 5:19-23 (pg. 1,815)

v.19 “The ACTS of the FLESH are OBVIOUS: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred discord jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions factions and envy, orgies and the like...”

v.22 “But the FRUIT of the SPIRIT: is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

v.23 “Against such things there is NO law.”

The VALUE of a LIFE is always measured by how much of it was GIVEN away.

“It is HAPPIER to GIVE than to receive.” - Jesus, Acts 20:35

Where I Am From Poem

This template is here to help you reflect on your story. Use it as a guide. Feel free to adjust the prompts, add your own lines, or remove others. Make it your own as you write and reflect on your journey!

I am from ____________________

From ____________________ and ____________________

I am from ____________________

I'm from ____________________ and

From ____________________

I'm from the ____________________

From ____________________

I'm from ____________________,

I'm from ____________________

From ____________________

I am from ____________________

I am from my ____________________

I am from ____________________

If you want to read more poems, check out iamfromproject.com. Original poem credit to “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon.

Guest Pastor: Matt Schuler, Journey Lutheran Church, Oxford, MI

DOING SOMETHING NEW sometimes requires UNLEARNING SOMETHING OLD.

What can a group of church planters learn from an episode of BLUEY?

What we don’t KNOW, we are invited to LEARN.

John 1: Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael - (pg. 1,647)

FOLLOW ME leads to COME AND SEE.

John 4: Jesus and the Woman of Samaria. - (pg. 1,651)

KNOWING leads to SHARING.

Luke 19: Jesus and Zacchaeus. (pg. 1,630)

INVITATION leads to TRANSFORMATION

Under the fig tree, by the well, in the sycamore tree...

Jesus SEES them. Jesus KNOWS them. Jesus INVITES them.

Jesus invites them to unlearn something OLD and to do something NEW.

They BELONG. They BELIEVE. They BECOME.

Are you under the fig tree….by the well…in the sycamore tree?

Jesus sees YOU. Jesus knows YOU. Jesus invites YOU.

“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirt of your minds; and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” - Ephesians 4:22-24

Who is someone for you to SEE….to KNOW….to INVITE?

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” - Ephesians 4:25

Here’s to DOING SOMETHING NEW.

Did you know that Jesus got ANGRY?

Mark 3:1-6 (pg. 1,555)

v.1 “Another time, Jesus went into the synagogue and a man with a SHRIVELED HAND was there.”

v.2 “Some of THEM were looking for a reason to ACCUSE Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would HEAL this man on the SABBATH.”

“RELIGION that God our Father ACCEPTS as pure and faultless is this: To look after ORPHANS and WIDOWS in their DISTRESS and to keep oneself from being POLLUTED by the world.” - James 1:27

v.3 “Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, STAND UP in front of EVERYONE.”

v.4 “Jesus asked them: Which is LAWFUL on the SABBATH:

Is the law of God for the BENEFIT of GOD or Is the law of God for the BENEFIT of those God LOVES?

“Then Jesus said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, NOT man for the Sabbath.” - Mark 2:27

v.4 “But they remained SILENT.”

v.5 “He looked around at then in ANGER and deeply DISTRESSED at their STUBBORN hearts, and said to the man, stretch out your HAND. He stretched it out and his hand was completely RESTORED.”

“Jesus, show us the FATHER. Jesus said, Don’t you know ME...even after I have been among you for such a long time.” John 14:8-9

v.6 “THEN the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might KILL Jesus.”

Jesus DIDN’T get ANGRY when He didn’t get HIS way.

Jesus got ANGRY, when people WOULDN’T go out of their way to HELP those who are SUFFERING.

Follow ME.

God’s extravagant GENEROSITY towards US, compels us to be extravagantly GENEROUS towards OTHERS.

James 1:27

Why does OUR church do this, and why should EVERY church do this?

Everybody in America thinks something when they hear the word, CHURCH.

God’s extravagant generosity towards US compels us to be extravagantly generous towards OTHERS.

“If you DO GOOD to those who are good to YOU, what CREDIT is that to you? Even SINNERS do that.” - Luke 6:33

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have LOVED YOU, so you are to LOVE one ANOTHER. By this EVERYONE will know that you are my DISCIPLES.” -John 13:34-35

James 1:27 (pg. 1,881)

v.27 “RELIGION that God our Father ACCEPTS as PURE and FAULTLESS is this:

To look after ORPHANS and WIDOWS in their DISTRESS and to keep ONESELF from being POLLUTED by the world.”

If religion for you is about ATTENDANCE and some sort of ROUTINE.

Eventually you’ll become CYNICAL and you’ll become CRITICAL.

Church is more than SERMONS and SONGS.

God honoring religion ALLEVIATES distress and AVOIDS the behaviors that create it.

God honoring religion requires two things, SELFLESSNESS and SELF-CONTROL.

At the center of the Gospel is not the fact that God BELIEVED something, but that God DID something.

CHURCH.

John 1:14, 14:8-9, 17:4, Acts 6:2-4

God BECAME one of us, and DWELT among us.

“The Word BECAME flesh and made His DWELLING among us.” - John 1:14

“Father, I have GLORIFIED You on the earth; HAVING ACCOMPLISHED the WORK You gave Me to do.” - John 17:4 NASB

Jesus came to take the GUESS WORK out of God.

Jesus came to demonstrate WHAT God was like, and more importantly, WHO God liked.

“Phillip said, Lord show us the Father...Don’t you know ME, Philip, even after I have dwelt among you, for such a long time?” John 14:8-9

If you’ve ever heard the ideas that:

All three of these ideas are UNIQUE to the teaching of JESUS.

First century culture was a SLAVE culture. In a slave culture EVERYONE is devalued.

In a culture defined by slavery the idea of COMPASSION was completely UNNECESSARY, because people got what they DESERVED.

What Jesus TAUGHT was nothing compared to what He DID.

This is why no strings attached COMPASSION and GENEROSITY became the HALLMARK of the first century Church.

“God is Love” - 1 John 4:8

So, What does Love REQUIRE of ME?

The teachings of Jesus have shaped the CONSCIENCE of our nation.

The CHURCH’s role in our community is to REMIND the world through our BEHAVIOR that red, yellow, black and white, EVERYBODY is PRECIOUS in the sight of our Heavenly FATHER.

Everybody in America thinks something when they hear the word, CHURCH.

“You are the __________ ____________”

“Who do ________ say I am?”

“You are the _________, the Son of the Living _____.”

Christ fulfilled ______________.

“Why do I believe in __________________?”

“Inspired Evidence”

How can you and I...living in a ___________ _____________ world...have a growing vision of Jesus’ true ________________?

“_______ them by the truth; your ____________ is truth.”

Jesus ___________ based upon His identity.

You are invited to walk in the ____________ of Jesus.

Three Prayers: