Grace 4 All

Listen to the folk tale of the poinsettia - and learn how important a star is in our lives - this season, and always.

Join us this week as we talk about the true light of the world, Jesus Christ, through the story of The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen.

In our second message of the sermon series "Christmas Traditions," we explore the meaning of Carols - both from a historical perspective, and how they enrich our lives today.

In the complexity of this holiday season, Carols can give us a stronghold.  Join us today as we take a new look at the songs that help us when the world is not as we would expect.

This week we begin our new Sermon Series "Traditions," with the message "Angels."

Our traditions this year look drastically different, but God still paves the way for us.  Join us this week as we discuss how we can transcend our own human traditions to rely on God in a very tough time.  It is a message of hope - and of relationship, with God.

Today we talk about how hope may just be everything this holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In this stand alone message, we talk about where our strength comes from, especially in the hardest of times.

May you be blessed today as we join together in one voice, one family, singing praises to our God.

Amen.

This week, we finish our sermon series, "United and Divided" with "Pray for Those."

We are called to love and we are called to pray, and we are called to be IN RELATIONSHIP with one another, no matter how difficult that may be.

Join us as we conclude this sermon series with a sense of peace and hope for our world today.

This week in our “Us vs Them” series, we are Loving our Enemies.

Easier said than done, right?  Yeah, I get it. 

But why should we do it?

Sin is anything that turns us away from God, anything that forms a chasm between us and our Savior. I would think hate and resentment would be PRIME EMOTIONS FOR CREATING A PRETTY BIG CHASM.  Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice to bridge this chasm, but it is up to us to not re-create it. 

We are called to love as God loves. Remember that is a love filled with unending grace. And boy, do we ever need a lot of grace. Hate and resentment in our hearts does not allow room in our hearts for God (and God’s blessings), and it leaves us little opportunity for healing.

If you think that sounds pretty heavy, I would have to agree.  We are meant to be in joyful relationship with God. To do this, we have some pretty big bags to set down. Forgiveness=freedom and joy. 

So how do we do this if it is easier said and done?  Well, I guess you will need to tune in this week, when we discuss the nuts and bolts.

We continue our sermon series “United and Divided” this week with “Us vs. Them.”

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse appear in the New Testament as a metaphor describing end times.  John and Julie Gottman, (remember the folks that said 70% of what we argue about is unresolvable?), use this metaphor to describe things in our relationships that cause complete breakdown.

The Gottmans say that  the four ways that we communicate that DESTROY our relationships are:

Criticism - attacking others at the core of their character
Contempt - disrespect, looking down our nose at others
Defensiveness - how we respond to criticism - we play the innocent victim
Withdrawal - just like it sounds - we get fed up and we shut down

John Gottman can predict divorce - by only meeting with a couple for 1/2 hour - with 90% accuracy, based on whether or not the above are present in a relationship.  This is absolutely incredible.

However, he says the BIGGEST INDICATOR OF A FAILED RELATIONSHIP COMES DOWN TO CONTEMPT.  When we lose respect for one another, we assuredly are in a failed relationship.

This week in “Us vs. Them,” we are going to discuss these four horsemen, specifically contempt, and its place in our world today. 

Some people are just hard to love, and God calls us to love them anyway.  Listen to 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7:

Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand its own way.  It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Are we missing the mark?

Us vs. Them  

This week, we begin a new sermon series “United and Divided.”  Pretty timely considering, well….

2020

I have been preaching for the last two years that 70% (actually 69.999%, but let’s round up) of what we argue about are PERPETUAL PROBLEMS.  That is to say, problems that are unresolvable.

You might have believed me then, but wow, believe me now?

This comes from the research of John and Julie Gottman, where they studied people in relationships, and divided their problems into three categories:

Solvable Problems - Problems that have a solution.  When my husband and I “argue” about whether so and so was in a movie, I pick up my phone and Google it.  Then he knows I am right, (just joking), and problem solved.  

Perpetual Problems - Problems which have no well defined solution.  These problems center around differences in the way we see the world, our values, even our personalities. 

Gridlocked Perpetual Problems - Problems which are perpetual, but have been handled in such a way as to make a situation very “uncomfortable.”  

Which one do you think most of us are in today?

Jesus broke it down for us into two commands - Love God; Love Neighbor.  Can you love someone if you do not agree with them?  With that 70% rule in place, we certainly better hope so.  We all think that Abe Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” and he did, but the real quote originates from Jesus, Matthew 12:25:  Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 

Let’s all stand together.  Join us for this four week sermon series.