Advent Series 2017: Longing

I remember as a child thinking that Christmas could never get here fast enough. Thanksgiving was merely a place holder telling me that it was time to start counting the days until Christmas. There was so much longing. Each day I would tear off the paper loop on the countdown chain and I would open the little doors on the Advent calendar with one thought… “How soon can Christmas get here?” Sadly, as an adult those days have passed. Now it seems that it’s coming so fast and I’m filled with thoughts like, “I can’t wait for the madness of Christmas to be over.” Sad isn’t it? What once was a serious longing has now become something to simply get through. This year I want us to go back to our longing – to a time when we anxiously awaited Christmas Day. And not just for the presents, but for what we actually celebrate – the day when Christ stepped into humanity and fulfilled God’s promise to redeem his people. Over the next 4 weeks we will spend time looking at this idea of “Longing” in scripture and we’ll look at it through the eyes of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph and finally You and Me. We’ll look at our Longing through the lens of the Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love; and when we’re done we will hopefully be reminded of that childlike faith that waits with anticipation for the gift of Jesus’ birth on Christmas day. I hope you’ll join us each week as we prepare our hearts for the Lord to do an amazing work in all of us.

Blessings,

Matt

12/3/2017     Longing: Hope                       Isaiah 9:1-7 

12/17/2017   Longing: Joy                          Luke 2:8-15

12/24/2017   Longing: Love  

12/31/2017   Another Year in the Vineyard   Luke 13:6-9     

Stewardship Series

10/01/2017      Generous                                     Romans 5:6-8

10/29/2017      Generous: Keys to Generosity                      

Dr. Larry Wood, Guest Preacher

06/25/2017         Light at the End of the Tunnel          Isaiah 42:1-3,  John 8:12

Paul's Prayer for the Church

      February 26, 2017         Paul's Prayer for the Church          Philippians 1:1-11

Finding Freedom Series

Have you ever been hurt?
Do you ever feel lost?
Are you ever confused?
Have you felt helpless to change the circumstances in your life?
Do you ever feel like no one understands your problems?
Are you ever anxious, worried or afraid?

If you answered, “YES!” to any of those questions then I think the next several weeks will be of great benefit to your life. Over the coming weeks we are going to be talking about a new ministry to our church called Celebrate Recovery. CR is a nationwide Recovery Ministry that helps people deal with their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. The problem that many Christians face is that we’ve been taught that to admit that we have hurts, habits or hang-ups is bad and means that we lack faith or that we don’t trust God. In fact the exact opposite is true! Acting like nothing is wrong with us while our own health and the relationships around us suffer is the true sign in our lack of trust in God. You can’t fix it yourself – you need the Lord, and you need others. You need the Lord to change your heart and to offer forgiveness and you need others to help you heal. That’s what we will be talking about throughout our “Finding Freedom” sermon series. We will tackle issues such as, Admitting Our Need For Help, Coming Clean, Making Changes, and Repairing Relationships. But I want you to know this – this series is not just based on feel good, pop psychology. It will be grounded in the word of God and his promises for you as a follower of Him. My hope is that you will join us each week, whether it’s at church or online, and that you will Find the Freedom that God so desperately desires you to have.

Blessings,
Pastor Matt


1/08/2017      Realizing My Need              Isaiah 57:18

1/15/2017      Admitting My Need             1 John 1:5-9

1/22/2017      Getting Help                      Romans 12:9-18

1/29/2017      Letting Go                         Matthew 11:28-30

2/05/2017      Making Changes                Romans 12:1-2

2/12/2017      Maintaining Momentum      Colossians 1:9-10; Hebrews 6:1-4

2/19/2017      Using Your Story                2 Timothy 1:3-14