Tag: Following Jesus

Digging in Deeper: Luke 1:34-38

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“Mary asked the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?’ The angel replied to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. And consider your relative Elizabeth – even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ ‘See, I am the Lord’s servant,’ said Mary. ‘May it happen to me as you have said.’ Then the angel left her.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been asked to do something that seemed impossible? How about this: Have you ever been asked to do something that was going to cause serious disruption to your life? The first you can’t do. The second you perhaps can, but you don’t want to. It is not impossible for you to accomplish, but rather is impossible for you to consider. Mary was asked to do both. What the angel asked of her on God’s behalf was both impossible as far as she knew, and the furthest thing from what she would have wanted to do given the plans she no doubt had for her life. How she responded has something powerful to say when God calls us to do hard things in our own lives. Let’s continue our Advent journey this morning by looking at what Mary was called to do, and what she did about it.

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Morning Musing: Ephesians 5:20

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“…giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

This is a day for giving thanks. It is Thanksgiving, after all. At least it is in the United States. If you are one of the many folks reading somewhere else in the world today is probably just Thursday where you are. A few other nations around the world have some sort of national day set aside for giving thanks, but not very many. There is a reason for this. As you pause for a moment in your busy preparations for food and family (and probably football) later today, let’s talk for just a moment about why we give thanks.

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Morning Musing: Isaiah 30:18-21

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“Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy. For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favor to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you. The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher, and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: ‘This is the way. Walk in it.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The most common characterization of God people have from the prophets is that He is angry. He is filled with wrath and is waiting up in heaven to catch us in some wrongdoing so He can smite us. He’s like a kid with a magnifying glass on a sunny day perched over an ant hill. The first time we show our head out of the pile, He’s going to smoke it off with a blast of lightning. And, there are some passages scattered throughout the prophets that would seem to justify such an image. But what you perhaps don’t realize is those are the exceptions, not the rule. The rule throughout the prophets is something very different and entirely more New Testament-y in their flavor than you might expect. This morning as we finish up our short look at Isaiah 30, I want to set before a passage that is much more in line with the major picture of God we get from the prophets. Let’s talk about it.

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The Sweet Life

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We’ve been talking about the heavy loads we carry when we try to do life without Jesus for a month now. This past Sunday morning we flipped the script and talked about why life with Him is so much better than life without. Don’t miss this powerful conclusion to our series. Then, make sure to tune in starting next week as we see together through the story of Jesus’ birth how God turned the world upside down. Thanks for reading and sharing.

The Sweet Life

Alright, as we get started this morning, I have a confession to make. This may come as a surprise to some of you, so I want to make sure you’re all sitting down. I’ll wait. Okay, good. Here goes nothing. Try not to act shocked if this catches you completely off guard. I have a bit of a sweet tooth. No, seriously, I do. I love sweets. There aren’t too many I don’t like. I’m not all that thrilled with dark chocolate. Nougat isn’t really one I’ll rescue from the post-Halloween garbage dump either. The same goes with Milk Duds. I’m not really sure what the point of those are anyway. But other than that, I’m a pretty open book. I actually have a whole desk drawer dedicated to it. Okay, so really it’s more than one, but there’s one primarily committed to candy…and extra file folders because I don’t have anywhere else to put those. You have to dig through a lot of Skittles and Pretzel M&M’s to get to them, though. And I don’t limit myself to candy either. Pastries, cookies, brownies, cakes, most pies (I’m not really a custard guy), donuts (I’d probably knock you out of the way for a donut if I was hungry), and Dot Alsobrooks cinnamon rolls. 

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Morning Musing: Psalm 119:11

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“I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Do you struggle with sin? From some of our recent conversations, I hope you understand better what I mean by that question. I’m not talking about your giving in to sin. What I’m asking is this: Do you genuinely endeavor to not sin? If you are a committed follower of Jesus, I suspect you do. How’s that battle going? Where are you finding success and what are the circumstances under which you fail the most frequently? What kind of tools are you using to aid you in your efforts? This morning, I’d like to tell you about one of the most important tools to have in your toolbox. Let’s talk this morning about how God’s word can keep us from sin.

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