Balancing Ministry N' Work

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 7:14; 9:2-7 “ 14  Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.” “ 2  The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 3  You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. 4  For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 5  For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. 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. ...

John 1:14 “ 14  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ Jesus Christ came down to earth as a little child so that He could dwell among us. Plato once said, “some day there will come forth from God a logos, a Word, who will reveal all mysteries and make everything plain.” 300-400 years after Plato said that John wrote these words. John 1:1-3 “ 1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  He was with God in the beginning. 3  All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.” Jesus existed from the very beginning of time. He existed before His birth in Bethlehem. While the birth we are celebrating is the beginning of His ministry on earth. It is a vital step that eventually led to Jesus being the ultimate ...

Kicking off the first of our Christmas themed messages this morning. Which is also the beginning of a series of messages that will carry us past Easter. For roughly the next 6 months we will focus on Jesus. Here in December we will focus on His birth and the things leading up to it, then we will move onto His life and ministry, followed by His death and the meaning of the empty tomb. Then we will wrap up with a look at His second coming.   This morning we are going to look at things leading up to Jesus’ birth. From the end of the Old Testament until we see God at work before Jesus’ birth in the Gospels is roughly 400 years and knows as the years of silence in which there are no documented cases of God speaking through prophets. Then, without anyone knowing, God began to work behind the scenes. Luke 1:8-17 “ 8  When his division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9  it happened that he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priest...

Last week we looked at 3 different relationships and saw how they all pointed to our relationship with Jesus. Wives submit to their husbands as we all are to submit to Jesus. Husbands are to give of themselves to their wives as Christ gave to us. Children are to obey their parents as we are to obey our Lord. Fathers are to point their children to Jesus as we are to disciple the next generation of believers. Slaves demonstrate for us what it means to serve Christ without questions. Masters treating their servants well shows us that we are all equal in the eyes of our Lord and we need to do the same. All of it points to Loving People. The world should see Jesus in how we treat others. This brings us to our final message in Ephesians. Ephesians 6:10-13 “ 10  Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11  Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but...

Paul understood what it meant to live life to its fullest. He focused on the people around him, valuing them, taking joy in them, and by being a witness at every opportunity. If we are going to make the most of our time on earth, we need to be doing the same. Pouring ourselves into our family and friends and being a witness to the world. Living life to the fullest also means we need to be submitting to the Holy Spirit. Letting Him dwell in us, guide us, mold us, shape us, and help us to life a life worthy of the calling placed on us. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control become evident as we submit to the Holy Spirit. Live your life to the fullest, loving those around you, living worthy of your calling, and letting the Holy Spirit guide you every step of the way. As we move to this week’s verses, we need to remember two things. First, we are to be filled with and depend on the Holy spirit and second that as believ...

This is the tenth message in our walk-through Ephesians and Paul has had a lot to say so far. He spent the first half of the letter talking to us about who God is and what He did. Emphasizing things like forgiveness, cleansing of sins, redemption, unity in all believers, and that He believes that we are so important that He has marked us as His own. While we cannot earn our way into heaven, as followers of Christ we have been called to live our lives worthy of the calling that God has placed on us. Living with humility, love, gentleness, patience, and unity. We are to turn away from our old sinful ways and live the life that we were truly created to live. If our thoughts and actions are based on what Jesus has done for us, it should show. People should see His love as we are kind, compassionate, and forgiving. As we saw last week that we need to imitate God as a child imitates their older siblings, parents, grandparents, and teachers. If Jesus loves, we need to love. If He gave ...

Last week we ended with: Ephesians 4:32 “And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” A great encouragement on how we should strive to live as we Follow Jesus. Keeping Christ rooted in our hearts as we turn from our old ways. A life long journey where we learn what Jesus has in store for us and others can see God at work in us. As we continue to learn to Love God and Love Others, our choices change from earthly things to Godly things. As usual we will pick up where we left off. Ephesians 5:1-2 “ 5  Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2  and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.” Children have a tendency to watch people around them to learn how they are supposed to act. You can sometimes see those learned behaviors and recognize which parent they get that from. Comes up in our house now and again about w...

Last week we started the second half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This part of the letter is where Paul takes all the theology of the first half and guides us on how to apply it to our lives. Paul’s first point in the second half of the letter is for us to live our lives worthy of the calling God has placed on us. Living our lives with humility, gentleness, and patience. He went on to remind us that we are united in Love as one body of believers and serving one amazing God. Paul also pointed out that we ourselves are gifts that have been given to the Church for a reason. We are all uniquely equipped to meet a need as we Love God here at Littleby and Love Others throughout the world. A united church, here at Littleby and in the ‘C’ church, all with different jobs to blanket the world with God’s Love. As we continue in chapter 4, we will see Paul giving us more direction on how to and how not to live our lives. Ephesians 4:17-19 “ 17  Therefore, I say this and testi...