LCC Sunday Messages

Ah! 2015 is upon us, and with the changing of they year comes the desire for many to see a fresh start in their own lives. Resolutions are made, hopes are high, and the sky seems to be the limit. However, for many, these hopes are quickly dashed when the pounds don't come rolling off, the money doesn't come rolling in, and the ruts of our lives become deeper. But, there is indeed a way to truly become new, and it's found in Christ.

No matter how difficult life has been, Christmas is the one time of year when we anticipate things being a little better, with a few less hassles, a little less pressure, and a little more joy. Yet the very first Christmas was with stressful situations. Have you ever wondered why God allowed such stressful situations to surround the first Christmas? Have you wondered why He allows them in your life?

You're a mean one Mr. Grinch! We all know the story of the beloved Seuss character whose change of heart (three whole sizes exactly) caused him to celebrate a Christmas he sought to destroy. But, did you know that there was a "Grinch" more terrible in the past. That's right. A Grinch named Herod the Great who sought to destroy what Christmas was all about, the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Today we will take a look at the two kings in Matthew 2. One, desperately trying to cling to power, and another born to forever change the world.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Or is it? With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, it's so easy to become overwhelmed by all the business and busyness of the holidays. It's in moments like these we need to stop, and focus on the real reason for the season, the coming of Jesus. When was the last time you dwelled on the implications of the Incarnation of Christ? When was the last time we really though about what it meant that God came to this world in the flesh? Why did He come? Today, we are going to stop and dwell on that great mystery, the Living Word.

We are Assemblies of God World Missionaries from the United States to the nation of Japan. We have been in Japan since 2006 fulfilling a life long dream of serving God specifically in Japan. We live in Tokyo and serve as site pastors at Tokyo City Church, an international and multicultural experience with a focus of ministering in Japanese to the Japanese and to internationals who have a desire to see their Japanese family members introduced to Christ.

“…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” No doubt many of us have prayed these words, perhaps hundreds of times. Yet what do they mean? What does it mean to pray to the Creator God of heaven and earth and ask that His kingdom and His will be manifested on earth as it is in heaven? Perhaps the phrase “as it is in heaven” is a clue, the key to our understanding what it means, and for determining when God’s kingdom is being manifested on earth.

Christ's disciples desired to pray like Jesus prayed. They saw firsthand the importance of prayer in His life. In Matthew 6, they asked the Lord to teach them to pray, and for the next several weeks as we continue the Sermon on the Mount series, we are going to examine the Lord's Prayer, and see in it the model by which we ought to pray. Today, we will focus on the fact that we have a holy, heavenly Father who loves us deeply, whom we ought to love deeply in return.

In our text this morning, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns about the empty consequences of pride and the blessings that accompany a life of humility.

Harvest is a time to bring in the bounty with which God has blessed us. It is a celebration, the reaping of what was sown. Today, we will examine the concept of sowing and reaping that we might experience the harvest Christ desires.

This world constantly tells us that everything revolves around us. From social media, to our consumerism, we are a nation of narcissists. We want to project our image to the world, but Christ has called us to be REAL people who experience REAL life in HIM! Today, as we continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount we will learn that life isn't about us. It is about finding who we really were made to be through our relationship with Jesus! It's time to trade in religion for relationship!