Sermons

As the New Year begins we want to pose a question. What is sacred? What is sacred to you? When you think of your time, your priorities and the different spheres of your life what is sacred? As we begin to think about such this week we will start with prayer, a sacred communion.

As this year ends and next week a new one begins there is a word that is so crucial to this journey that we must all know and embrace. This week we will look at this word and be encouraged to continue to give presence.

We struggle with self-control, especially this time of year. That battle is aroused during this season. One of the fruits that God has so blessed us with is the fruit of self-control, that we would cultivate it and grow in it. From the internal battle to even the external we struggle with our self. We have a wrong view of ourselves and God. We have boastful hearts in who we are. Where does your boast lie? Everything in life is a glory issue. Our glory and whose glory is displayed in our life is whatever we are most satisfied in. For the issue of glory is also a joy issue and vice versa. Where your joy lies is where your boast lies. May we be happy in Jesus this advent season.

What if Christmas looked different this year? What if you could receive a gift that lasted forever? Or what if you could give gifts that did? We want to invite you to rethink Christmas with us this year and to experience it for what it was meant to be. On Sunday, November 30 Advent begins. For some this might be new. It was for me and my family a few years ago as well, but it is a season that my family and I have grown to love and enjoy. The word advent means to come. During the Advent season we celebrate God sending Jesus to earth wrapped in human skin. We also look with great anticipation to the second coming of Jesus, who is coming again for His Bride, the church. In Scripture Jesus testifies that He is the one who is and who was and who is to come (Revelation 1.8). This is what we will be celebrating this coming season. We will be celebrating Advent during our worship gatherings beginning November 30 culminating at our Christmas Eve service.

What a great joy to worship alongside our brothers and sisters of Nahnum Church. As we gather today we put our focus toward preparing our hearts for Advent, which begins November 30. May we worship Jesus fully, love all, spend less and give more this season as we seek to restore the scandel of Christmas in substituting compassion for consumption.

Those who have been set free by Jesus have been called to freedom, but that freedom can be used for different things. Today in Paul's letter to the Galatians he gives us the purpose of freedom and how we can enjoy the freedom that Christ has given freely to us.

Paul encourages the Galatians to live a life of obedience to the truth of God. They have been hindered from doing such by some false teachers. Paul in a most graphic manner wishes those hindering the Galatians to be rendered powerless. In this passage Paul takes us from the track and field arena, to the kitchen and to the movies with a closing scene that would cause the FCC and the MPAA to cringe. Paul's prayer is that truth with prevail in our life!