Take a second look at how we interact with "those people", regardless of what they look like or the assumptions we've made about them. They are also lost children who need the love of our God. Love them, but also like them.
When we find ourselves in dark places, God's answer may not be easy...
but it is powerful when we see in Jesus "Light vs Dark."
Whether you feel it or not, the same Spirit that was at work in the first Christmas story is at work in you today. You have the Christmas Spirit!
When you're in the dark where it seems like God is absent and not doing anything good, everything can change with the "Light Switch."
May God empower us to tell everyone we can that Jesus is waiting to come into their hearts and homes - just like Jesus did for this short man.
What's that around your heart? Sometimes we put up a barrier around our heart that keeps the Gospel message from really sinking in, transforming us and flowing into our lives. Thankfully, Jesus meets us right there and reminds us of how beautiful it can be to "Cry Your Heart Out."
There are times in our live when we have to say "My bad!" What comfort to know that we have a God who has mercy on us and sent His Son to live the perfect life we couldn't.
If you could see God's face in this moment, how would He be looking at you? You might be surprised and amazed by what you would see, because of what is revealed to us about Jesus "In Judgment."
May the Holy Spirit keep us from making false judgements as we look at others, that we may be filled with His power to share God's message of love.
When you get a little older and roles change a bit, Christmas can look completely different. How, different then, might Christmas look from the perspective of the angels? What insights might they give us to the birth of Christ and what it means to the world? Get a glimpse of what Christmas looks like "Through Angel Eyes."
Friends... For Life!
We all want to live well. That means, we all need friends! Dig into Luke 7:31-35 to see just what God gives us through "The Value of Friendship."
You're Different Now
On Easter we don't just remember an event that happened long in the past or something we're looking forward to happening in the future. Easter means that you are being transformed right here today. Because of Jesus' resurrection, we are now "Easter People."
God wants us to grow up and mature, like His own Son did. Humble and willing to submit to the Father's will, growing up spiritually. We can acknowledging that God gives us comfort and hope today!
Normal Looking but Powerful! Growth might not look all that spectacular, but don't overlook what God is doing!
Are you dealing with this God's way? In a world that doesn't know how to disagree well, God has a different design.
1) Today's norm for how people who disagree interact is not very Godly
a. People are offended easily
b. People are quick to be outraged and angry
c. People often avoid difficult conversations while silently allowing negative feelings and self-righteousness to grow
2) Love is growing cold among so many because faith is fading
3) God would have us keep looking to Him to bring justice and to trust Him to make things right.
4) God has a design for how to interact with others. Let's follow it and trust God!
5) We interact with others based on how God interacts with us. He acts towards us in love!
Your Enemy Is Going Down!
When the enemy is fighting hard against you, "What Are You Waiting For?"
Jesus finished the task.
The work is complete.
You're invited to join Him "Resting & Ready." Our final Lenten text from Mark's mini-series is chapter 15:42-47.
Dirty birds. Growing up I [Pastor Krause] was taught that sparrows were "dirty birds". They got that nickname because they don't seem to have any redeeming value and when they finally fly away they leave a mess behind. But God sees the sparrows differently. In fact, this weekend's lesson teaches us they are a measuring device for our own worth. Together we discover our value to God as we plow through Luke 12:4-7 with the theme: "Do I really matter?"
The universe is so big and we are so small. What makes us special? Even though we are so small the truth is that we really do matter to God!
1) We tend to spend so much time worrying about what other people think but what really matters is what God thinks!
2) Every part of God's Creation is valuable because everything plays a part in His design.
3) If there were to be 1 thought that always crosses your mind before bed let it be this, "I matter to God!"
4) Every one of us and every person we encounter matters to God!
5) Maybe it's time to start believing that I am everything God says I am!
Blindspot
The other day I [Pastor Krause] pulled the last can of soda out of the fridge. I went to the pantry to find some more to restock the fridge, but couldn't find any. I mentioned this to my wife who immediately found three six packs in the very place I had just looked. What's that about? Sometimes we can be looking right at something and still not see it. Not a big deal when it comes to soda, but very dangerous when it comes to our faith. This week we study our final Epiphany lesson and it is part of the Transfiguration account. We take a deep dive into Luke 9:29 and ask one thing of God - "Lord, Open My Eyes!"
Do you feel like something is missing in your Christmas celebrations? What so we really need this year?
What Is Controlling You? You're free to leave it behind! What if you're giving over control to something that has no business having power over you? This weekend step forward into the 2nd week of our "I Quit! (spiritual warfare on a personal level)" series with a study of Luke 22:3-4. It's time to recognize that you are "Not A Hostage."
NO END GAME?
Imagine this: I ask you to help out here at church but give you no information about how long the job will last or even how to know if you are meeting expectations. My goal here is not to describe how some churches recruit volunteers. It is about defining details. This week we begin the Trinity season and our new sermon series "I Quit" (spiritual warfare on a personal level). There is no better place to begin than with the details of what spiritual victory actually looks like as we study Luke 10:17-20. Our theme is one, glorious word: "Victory!"
Sometimes we can get so caught up in the details that we can miss the beautiful big picture. Our "A Strange Kind of Victory" midweek lenten series continued with Pastor Krause taking us through a study of Luke 23:47.
Our Lenten series, "A Strange Kind of Victory", continues with a message from Pastor Abrahamson reminding us that Paradise awaits us, and the prison we sometimes feel here on this earth will come to an end.
What does the face of love look like? Our midweek Lenten series "A Strange Kind of Victory" continued as Pastor Krause took us through a study of Luke 22:61-62. In this lesson we learned about Peter's denial of Jesus and considered the loving look of Jesus as He went about the work of winning back His sheep.
Christmas Eve sermon, a look at the birth of Christ through the eyes of the shepherds.
Do we every find ourselves heartbroken over the bad things that we do and that happen in this world? We can be sure that God weeps even more over sin than we do because God loves us and knows the heart that our sin brings. Thankfully His love is so deep that He sent His Son to the cross to defeat sin and every tear that has ever been shed as a result of it. Consider our Savior's incredible love through the sound of "Weeping Women" as part of our "Sounds of the Passion" Lenten series.
The 3 hardest words to say... No, it's not what you think. People say "I love you" all the time - some mean it, some don't. The three hardest words for us sinners to say is "I need help", whether we are speaking to others or speaking to God. We hate the taste of those words in our mouth, so we say them too seldom as we try to fix our own lives. What if God puts you in a place where you CAN'T help yourself? What if you can't survive without someone coming to your rescue? And what if just anyone won't do? This weekend we enter into the final phase of our "Look Into It" series as we study the first of two examples of Jesus as the Son of David. Our lesson is from Luke 18:35-43.
Our mid-week Lenten series "Sounds of the Passion" continues with the sounds of Hateful Hollers.