Christmas is about JESUS!

Luke 1:25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Christmas is God’s arrival of stepping into life on this planet to fulfill his plan to restore our world. We live in a world that is broken and messed-up … God’s left behind a footprint of HOPE which points to HIM!

A lady told her husband that she had dreamed that he had bought her a diamond necklace for Christmas! The husband responded positively to her dream by bringing her a beautifully wrapped gift. As she eagerly tore open the wrapping to see her diamond necklace, all she found was a little book. It was titled, 'How to interpret your dreams’! 😃

Christmas is a difficult period for a lot of people … sin clouds our vision of God’s prints in the world … Country legend Merle Haggard sang, 'If we make it through December, everything is gonna be alright I know'. The song speaks about a father who has just lost his job at the factory & he's wondering how he can make Christmas special for his little daughter.

Christmas is not a dream … Christmas is not about stuff … Christmas is not about the food, feelings, or the weather!  Christmas is about JESUS!

Christmas is about God’s footprint of Hope for our lives!

 

I am grateful for God's footprint! You know I love ya, Don

Mercy!

I once read the true story of a preacher was organizing an evangelistic outreach using small acts of kindness to demonstrate Christ's love. He phoned several neighborhood grocery stores and Laundromats for permission to do specific services.

On one call, the employee who answered the phone hesitated, then said, "I'll need to ask the manager, but first, let me make sure I understand: You want to clean up the parking lot, retrieve shopping carts hold umbrellas for customers, and you don't want anything in return."

"Yes, that's right," the preacher replied.

After a few moments the employee returned to the phone.

"I'm sorry," he said, "we can't let you do that because if we let you do it, we'd have to let everyone else do it, too!"

(Ann Jeffries, Kansas City, KS Christian Reader, "Lite Fare.")

Now why did that store respond like that? Because NO ONE does stuff like that!

This church was obviously out for something… an ulterior motive. And the grocery store was right. The church did have an ulterior motive - they wanted to reach their world for Christ and the tool they were using was something called “showing mercy.”

What exactly IS mercy? Mercy is:  a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion (that’s what God does) and it is also … compassionate treatment of others because of his divine favor (that’s what Jesus-followers do).

Basically, mercy is the act of getting your hands dirty helping others. Mercy is where a person visits the shut-ins, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked. This is giving your offering first and making a point to give over and beyond. Mercy is when is follower of Jesus is doing the love of Jesus. And they do this act without expecting to be paid to do it or recognized.

You know I love ya, Don

Heavenly Minded: Foundation for a greater Existance!

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Colossians 3:3-4; “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

We weren’t raised with Christ and left in the graveyard. We may be physically on earth but spiritually we should be soaring. Heavenly-minded people are living a life with the foundation of an eternal existence.

Heavenly minded people live Isaiah 40:30, which states: “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Heavenly Minded is to SOAR in life because Jesus lives and working in our lives today and is working to give us a greater future.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,

And feel the pride and joy he brings;

But greater still the calm assurance:

This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

And then one day, I'll cross the river,

I'll fight life's final war with pain;

And then, as death gives way to victory,

I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

My Friends like that Eagle, we weren’t made to remain on the ground, we were made to spiritually soar. “SOAR” We weren’t raised with Christ and left in the graveyard, we weren’t raised with Christ to mire in crud … we were made to reflect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control…Run and not grow weary… Walk and not be faint…heavenly minded is the foundation for an eternal existence that fuels our every action and reaction. 

Being a Jesus follower is being heavenly minded because that is where Jesus is … He is our foundation for optimism. Jesus defines the best possible outcome because of his love. We are to diligently, actively, single-mindedly pursue the things of Jesus. We need to be a generation of heavenly minded people who see human beings and the earth itself not simply as they are … but as God intended them to be…

Heavenly minded is to live optimistically because of the foundation of an active Jesus, of right living, and an eternal existence.

Do you believe God walks on water?

            God is walking on whatever you are drowning in.

Do you believe God gave sight to the blind?

            God sees beyond what you cannot see.

Do you believe God parted the red sea?

            God can part the obstacles in your life.

Do you believe God healed the broken?

            God is ready to heal you broken relationships.

Do you believe God provided manna for the people?

            God is ready to feed your spiritual hunger.

Do you believe God raised Jesus from the dead?

            God is ready to lift you from the death and set you to soar with the eagles.

God is able and willing to mount you up and lift you to the highest heights as you set your mind on Heavenly things. Keep looking up and you know I love ya, Don

Heavenly Minded is the foundation for knowing an active Jesus!

Colossians 3:1; “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”

Being heavenly minded lays the foundation that Jesus is working in your life. Jesus is seated on the right hand of God mediating on our behalf. He is active, he calms our spirit, empowers our work, and strengthens our resolve.

"Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.

One man lost a valuable watch while WORKING in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.   ----   Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.

I closed the door,' the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking."

God desires us to focus our thoughts and therefore our minds on the eternal and not the worldly… Jesus is sitting on the right hand of God … When we focus on the Heavenly Work of Jesus…we calm down, we stop struggling and we listen to hear him.

Heavenly-minded thoughts are the foundation for a sharper focus on the work of Jesus. 

Keeping looking above! You know I love ya, Don

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & Mockingjay

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

The Hunger Games trilogy and movie franchise has made millions over the last 5-6 years. The franchise spins an apocalyptic tale on poverty, totalitarian government, and oppression. People can relate to these issues because everyone is under the curse of sin and oppressed by the results and consequences of sin. Life is a true game of hungering for abundance in life and in healing from the brokenness of rejecting God.

Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection, establishes a path out of darkness. It is our faith and trust of Jesus which brings true victory. Every follower of Jesus is a true victor. Jesus blesses those who accept the challenge to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Do not be deceived by the enemy and try to fulfill your hunger with worldly desires. The only way to fill the hunger and thirst is to seek the face of Jesus in the abundance of life he offers.

You know I love ya and may the love of Jesus be ever in your favor. Don

Learning to see with big boy eyes!

Mark 6:5-6 – “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.”

We shouldn't be too hard on Jesus' home town. They are a great deal like us.  Joseph was dead and Jesus, being the eldest male child, was expected to take on the role of the head of the household and breadwinner for the family. These people, relatives some, maybe felt that Jesus had shirked his family duties by leaving the family to fend for themselves. He had stepped away from his “role”, what he was expected to do according to the customs of society. And his “extended family” wasn’t too happy to see him striding back into town as a “Rabbi”. That’s not his “role”.

How you perceive it… defines it. How do you perceive Jesus?

Can you imagine it? God in the flesh. Standing right there in front of them. And they’re going, “Ahh! It’s just that carpenter. Mary’s kid. He’s no prophet!” Rejected! “And he was amazed at their unbelief.” Jesus knew who he was. Why couldn’t they see it? We need to remember the image of Jesus that people had in their minds. He had left Nazareth alone, the carpenter, and returned with 12 guys, a prophet. 

I live in Howard, PA. A small community in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by a beautiful lake. Now Nazareth is a town probably not a whole lot bigger than Howard. Probably, like Howard, many of the people were related. And possibly upset because Jesus left his family when they needed him.

We’re the same today as those people were back then. We watch the children of our church and town grow up and we’re amazed at what they become and we are skeptical when they change. We sometimes refuse to believe how they turn out. And, in doing so, refuse to allow them to minister to us.

Again, How do you receive Jesus? All too often we receive Jesus as the impression and perception someone else forced on us. I want to receive Jesus as an adult the thrives in the abundance of His grace, mercy, and healing. You see, when we realize that our impression, our perception, and our reception of Jesus defines our relationship with Jesus, we learned that the only way to receive Jesus is through faith in His ability to be the Son of God in our lives.

You know I love ya, Don 

A New Perspective!

Mark 11:11 states: “Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything.”

We find another often overlooked detail in the clamor of Palm Sunday in the last verse  At the end of this incredible day. He is at the Temple and the commotion is everywhere and he sees the money changes and the lack of people paying attention to what is right in the eyes of God. The people are out of perspective of God’s provision, direction, and ultimately relationship.

Perspective is defined as: “a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view:”

Jesus does not set up a command center in Jerusalem that night … He leaves the city and goes to the suburb of Bethany…we assume to spend the night with His beloved friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Jesus was not the kind of Messiah the people of Jerusalem expected, and yet they were right to greet Him as a king. Jesus, God’s son, enters he bring the perspective of mercy. He won’t release the people from Roman occupation or take revenge upon their enemies, but He will offer them redemption!

A young couple rented a vacation cottage for a week. One afternoon the husband looked out a window at the swimming pool and exclaimed, "Let's change our clothes and go get some exercise!" His wife, who was washing the dishes in the kitchen and looking out the window watching some people play tennis, quickly agreed. While she dressed for a tennis match, he put on his swimming trunks. The window a person chooses to look out at the world often determines that individual's perception of reality. 

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34; "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

When Jesus enters our perspective is changed to seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness. 

You know I love ya, Don

When Jesus enters He brings healing!

When Jesus enters He brings healing … Here Comes Jesus!… turning over the tables.

Matthew 21:14 “The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.”

Preacher/author Tony Campolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man’s healing. That next week he got a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer."

Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer had been eradicated! But before he could think much about it she said, "He died." Compolo felt terrible. But she continued, "Don’t feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God.”

She said, “He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn’t take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence.”

But the lady told Compolo, "After you prayed for him, Jesus came and gave him peace.  Peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We’ve sung. We’ve laughed. We’ve read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they’ve been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing."

And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, "He wasn’t cured, but he was healed."

While Jesus may not heal certain physical infirmities that we have, He does want to bring healing to our spirits. I’m not saying that Jesus can’t bring physical healing, it’s just that we don’t see that happening all the time. And hopefully, all of us know that our ultimate healing will come in heaven.

Romans 5:6 states: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” You and I are ungodly without Jesus and His healing.  

Here Comes Jesus!… turning over the tables.

You know I love ya, Don

When Jesus enters He calls for prayer!

When Jesus enters He calls for prayer … Here Comes Jesus!… turning over the tables.

Matthew 21:13 "It is written," he said to them, "’My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ’den of robbers’."

Our house should be a “house of prayer” but often it’s a house of confusion and conformity. Confusion, because we allow the rush of the day to invade us to the point where God is shoved out and we have no time to talk to God.

Conformity, because we are conformed to the surroundings around us instead of drawing aside to have some quiet time with God. But God wants us to be a people of prayer. Not simple, surface prayers, but prayers that penetrate our own hearts and the heart of God.

The early African converts to Christianity were faithful to pray. Each one reportedly had separate spots in the thicket where they poured out their hearts to God. The several paths to these spots became distinctly marked; and when any one began to decline in prayer time, it was soon apparent to others. They would then kindly remind him, saying, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”

What about you? Does the grass grow on your path to God? For the Christian, prayer should be one of the most natural things we do every day, every hour of the day.

Phil. 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Karen is the best minister’s wife…she is a prayer warrior. We pray as a family in the morning and before we go to bed. Now Karen hears the fire whistle and she is praying. I hear it a night and think, “Oh great, this is going to wake up the children.” Then I hear Karen praying for the firefighters and those in need of help. We are driving down the road and she sees a car on the side or an accident and she starts to pray…She is lifting in intercession and she is guarding the heart with prayer.

When we pray… Here Comes Jesus!… turning over the tables.

You know I love ya, Don

Peace in our fear!

            Matthew 14:26, “When the disciples saw him waling on the Lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” They said, and cried out in fear.” Just as they crumble… Here Comes Jesus!… walking on the water

Emotional storms within us can be as hard to handle as external physical ones. Grief, fear, and worry can cause us to be in great turmoil. To see us through the rough times of life, God provides His protection and peace. But protection does not mean that troubles won’t occur. Jesus allowed the disciples to experience the fear and anxiety of being in a boat on a turbulent sea. He permitted them to suffer because He has something far more important in mend He wanted to teach them to recognize their own helplessness, His sufficiency, and their need of Him. The same principle applies to us as well.

The peace that God provides is not dependent upon the quieting of our circumstances or the removal of external pressures. Nor does it mean the absence of conflict. The promised peace comes in three ways.

-       First, Jesus Himself becomes our peace. Through His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus has reconciled (that is to make us friends again) with God. We are no longer enemies with God. In God we can rest.

-       Second, When in right relationship with the Father, we have the ability to live at peace with others. Through God, we have the power to choose to forgive, to keep no record of wrongs, and to show love to people who oppose us.

-       Third, the transforming work of the Holy Spirit enables us to experience an increasing sense of inner tranquility.

So, in our fear … Here Comes Jesus!… walking on the water! You know I love ya, Don

Alone or Not Alone ... equally terrifying.

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British author, inventor and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. Although I disagree with Mr. Clarke’s religious assumptions, he is credited with this one saying that speak clearly the feeling of our culture. He said, “Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” (Visions : How Science Will Revolutionize the Twenty-First Century (1999) by Michio Kaku, p. 295)

Jesus entering Jerusalem on first day of the week of His crucifixion enters with great pomp and circumstance and he has come to declare that we are not alone in this universe. Mr. Clarke’s quote is speaking about alien life, I am addressing spiritual life.

If you believe in a huge explosion established life and that mankind is here alone…it is terrifying.

If you believe that a great and powerful creator created this world and is actively working among his creation … it is terrifying.

I am happy to declare my allegiance to the truth that a great Creator is here. He is working among his people. He is to be respected. He is not to be taken lightly. He will not be mocked. He left eternity and entered into history so that you might have a destiny…He is love.
  

Mr. Clarke died in 2008 a sinful man without any hope of knowing that we are not alone in this world, that the coming King came and will come again. He became so judgmental of religion that he was lost in the facts that clouded his faith. He had no hope and truly died a tragedy. 

He wrote in his personal "Credo," an essay published in 1991, Clarke writes, "No intelligent person can contemplate the night sky without a sense of awe. The mind-boggling vista of exploding supernovae and hurtling galaxies does seem to require a certain amount of explaining." Yet, he was so captivated by his own awareness that he could not see the hand of a loving God reaching to touch his own world.  He never discovered peace, nor did he find the only path to the very thing that would relieve that which terrified him.

The coming King has come and he will come again. Don’t be so caught up in your own life, your own terrifying existence, that you loose your place in eternity.

The Son of God stepped out of eternity into History so that You and I might have a Destiny. Are we prepared to meet the Returning King? 

I am ready and pray your are as well ...  you know I love ya, Don 

Jesus the Son of Man... infinitely approachable!

The sick, hurting, and dying need the SON of MAN…

You have probably heard it before. There is a saying commonly attributed to Marie Antoinette,  the Austrian princess who became queen of France after marrying Louis the Sixteenth.  Legend says that when she was informed that her subjects, the French peasants, were starving because they had no bread, she naively answered, “Let them eat cake!” While there is no evidence she ever said those words, she was nonetheless beheaded in the early days of the French Revolution.

But the legend lives on, and has come to symbolize a person who is spoiled and privileged, and out of touch with common people and everyday life—like a queen who would assume that someone who has run out of bread could eat cake instead.

It is a common failing of the rich and powerful. Someone who has been raised in a wealthy family may have trouble understanding what it is like to work hard and still not be able to make ends meet.  …a person that cannot relate to the people they lead.

Politicians and presidents are sometimes lampooned because they don’t know how to use a grocery store scanner, or because they’re caught without cash in a sandwich shop or don’t have to pay their own insurance premiums.

And then there’s the rest of us. We get an overdraft notice or a shutoff notice, and we wonder if there’s anyone who really knows how bad that feels. Someone treats us like dirt, and we sense there’s no one else who truly understands how that feels.

We doubt ourselves, disappoint ourselves, and think that no one could possibly identify with us. This past week, I played keyboard in the Orchestra Pit for the BEA Production of Shrek…that music is fast, detailed and HARD…I had to take it to the woodshed a few times. My fingers have not done that type of playing for a long time…I started to doubt…be disappointed…alone. With a little hard work…and a lot of prayer…it was a good show and a memory that many will never forget…my fingers finally caught up.

If any of that is close to what it feels like to be you, you are not alone today.

In fact, you couldn’t be less alone because of what God has to say to you through His Word today. Today we begin a series of sermons and worship experiences examining the questions concerning “Who is Jesus?”

Jesus called himself the Son of Man. In fact, He is called “Son of Man” eighty-eight times in the New Testament. He said: “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” —Matthew 8:20, NIV He also said: “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” —Matthew 12:8, NIV

And so on. Many would have recognized it as a reference to the prophecy of Daniel, from hundreds of years earlier, who wrote:

I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. —Daniel 7:13–14, NIV

When Jesus called himself “Son of Man,” He was making a clear reference to His identity as the promised Messiah. But the phrase “Son of Man” also refers to the fact that Jesus shares in our humanity. Jesus could relate to our human-ness.

Of course, the Jews of Jesus’ day expected the Messiah to be fully human. Jesus did not surprise anyone by being human; He surprised them by being much more than fully human.

And so the title, “Son of Man,” means that Jesus is not out of touch…more in touch!

He knows what it’s like to work hard; He knows what a blister feels like.

He knows what it’s like to have bills to pay; He helped support his family.

He knows what it’s like to face disappointment, rejection, betrayal, and grief.

He knows what it’s like to be you. He is able to identify with you in your sorrows and sufferings, as well as in your pleasures and successes. Who is Jesus? He is the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, Jesus understands our human nature. Because the proof overwhelming shows God’s desire to know us and our human nature, we are able to embrace Him.

He knows us better than you we know ourselves...you know I love ya, Don