Balancing Ministry N' Work

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 7:14 “ 14  Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.” Isaiah 9:6-7 “ 6  For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7  The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.” 100’s of years before the birth of the King of Kings, Isaiah prophesied about the coming of the little baby Jesus and how He was going to accomplish so much more than anyone could ever imagine. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, Our Messiah, the Savior of all human kind was going to be born as a simple child. Hymn #76 – O Come, O Come

When someone asks us if we are ready for Christmas, most of us start thinking about the food we are going to make, the cards that need to be mailed, gifts that need to be bought, and that list that needs to be checked so that no one is forgot. Can’t forget about those Christmas programs at school or your secret Santa at work. While all those things are part of what we do to celebrate Christmas, they are only a small part of what it means to be ready for Christmas. When we talk about being ready for Christmas in the context of being a Bible believing child of God, what does it mean? Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.” A child will be born, and He will be named Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’ The first part of knowing if we are ready for Christmas, would be to answer the question, ‘is God with us?’ My hope is everyone here knows that God is with them without a shadow of doubt. I

This is the last message of the series we started on December 9, 2018. We have spent most of the Sundays since then talking about the birth, life, ministry, and teachings of our Lord Jesus. As we head into Christmas we will continue to keep that focus. Over the last two months or so we have been looking at Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 24 and 25 about His second coming. While these teachings are directed to those living in the Tribulation, the messages should have a direct impact on our lives today. The Parable of the Ten Virgins reminded us that we need to be prepared. We cannot depend on book knowledge about Jesus or half-hearted attempts at repentance. We need to be all in and cultivate a relationship with Jesus. The Parable of the Talents reminded us to be Faithful. Jesus is not measuring us by the actions we complete or how many people come to Him through our words, He is looking for us to be faithful. That will look different for each one of us, but it starts by talking to Him, r

When we last looked at Matthew 25 and the Parable of the Ten Virgins we were reminded that we need to be prepared. Knowing about Jesus, who He is, will not be enough. If we are going to be prepared, we need to KNOW Jesus. We know we need to be prepared, as we continue in Matthew 25 we will see what else Jesus is trying to teach us and those who will be living through the Tribulation. Matthew 25:14-18 “ 14  “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey. He called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them. 15  To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, depending on each one’s ability. Then he went on a journey. Immediately 16  the man who had received five talents went, put them to work, and earned five more. 17  In the same way the man with two earned two more. 18  But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.” Jesus is using a Parable once again to teach

I was ready for us to continue our series in Matthew 25 this morning but felt like we should take a break. We will come back to it next week and wrap it up in two weeks as we head into the Christmas season. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. There is no agenda, no stress, it is time to be with family, friends, and good food. Before I forget, our door is always open on Thanksgiving. If you are out and about or have no where to go, you are welcome to join us. With Thanksgiving upon us, it seemed fitting to pause and talk about being thankful. We are going to look at two examples this morning starting in Exodus. Exodus 15:1-18 “ 15  Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said: I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. 2  The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3  The Lord is a w

Last week we wrapped up Matthew 24 and as we move into chapter 25, we find that Jesus is still talking about His second coming. Over the next couple of weeks, we will see that He emphasize key behaviors expected of those who follow Him. Matthew 25:1-13 “ 25  “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. 2  Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3  When the foolish took their lamps, they didn’t take oil with them; 4  but the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps. 5  When the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.  6  “In the middle of the night there was a shout: ‘Here’s the groom! Come out to meet him.’  7  “Then all the virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. 8  The foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’  9  “The wise ones answered, ‘No, there won’t be enough for us and for you. Go instead to those who sell

We ended last week with these verses. Matthew 24:42-44 “ 42  Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43  But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into. 44  This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” The Lord is coming, and we need to be prepared for it. We will not know the day or the hour, we do not know when our days will be up, we do not know who is watching, and we do not know what in our lives will try to knock Jesus off of the throne of our hearts. We need to remain faithful! We need to stay alert! We need to make our hearts, minds, and every part of our lives His. Psalm 25:4 “Make your ways know to me, Lord; teach me your paths.” If we are following Jesus, if we are living for Him, being missionaries in our personal mission fields, being who He created us to be, we wil