How Art Happens

I:  (After sitting for excruciatingly long minutes working across the table from her.) There. I finished the picture for the Christmas greeting.

She: Looks like the work of a six-year old.

I: That hurts my feelings.  (Not kidding.)  Look at it again.  What do you see?

She: A palm tree and a guy on a camel.

I: (Feeling validated.) Exactly!

She:  Okay; eight-year old, then.  So if that is a wise man, where are the other two?

I:  Read the bubble. (Holding it closer to her.)

She:  Hey.  Wait up!

I: It was easier than trying to draw three wise men.

Mrs. Warr, talking about a grandson:  "Twelve is such a wonderful age for boys.  They are still in touch with their feminine side; so sweet.  Then they turn into butt heads until they're fifty.

Facebook screenshot

Hello?

Hi.  Hey, Rick I am appointing you Secretary of Energy.  Maybe that will help you remember the name of the Department.

ASAP

Someone needs to take someone's smart phone away from him.  And put him in timeout.

Please!

Heart Healthy for the Holidays

Today's message continued the series "Christmas at the Movies" and featured clips from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

The shriveled heart condition exists not only in the world at large but within the church as well.

What causes a heart to be so small?

The causes of a shriveled heart are often our hurts, our habits, and our hangups.

1.  Words have the power to hurt and the hurt is magnified when those words come from someone we love.
2.  Habits can be destructive both to the self and to others.  Are we going to fix the bad habits or allow them to continue the destruction?  We may think too highly or too lowly of ourselves.
3.  Hangups are those external forces that play a role in who we are but over which we have no control.  Good behaviors build, bad behaviors tear down.  What has been modeled for us determine our hangups.

THE GOOD NEWS
     The good news is that no matter the hurts, the habits, or the hangups 
God can redeem our hearts. 

Freedom from hurts, habits, and hangups = redemption.

Life in Christ should be joyful.  God provides joy.

In the scripture lesson from Acts chapter nine we see the conversion of Saul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee on his way to Damascus to rout out the followers of Christ.  Saul, or Paul as we now know him, was shaped by the teachings in which he was trained (hangups) and in his lights he was doing what was right.  But God intervened, Paul was converted and became the greatest planter of Christian churches the world has known.

(A footnote:  Ananias when directed by God to go to Paul was reluctant to go because of the past hurts in his life.)

If you claim your heart has been changed but your actions have not changed, it is time to reassess your claim.  Even for the Grinch, the change in his heart changed his actions.

Through Jesus God turned our
     hurts into hope
     habits into health and healing
    hangups into joy! 

Only God can change our hearts, but we have a part in the process, too.  We must open the door and tear down the walls we have built up.  God does the cleanup.

Notes on the message  of

Pastor Josh Delph

Sunday morning

Redeem the Holiday

 

This is the first Sunday of Advent.  This is the first in the sermon series "Christmas at the Movies."

The harried and hurried lives we live is illustrated by a clip from the movie, "Christmas with the Kranks."

A lot of what we do at Christmas time leaves Jesus out of the picture.

REDEEM THE HOLIDAYS.

     The real reason for celebrating Advent is lost in the wrappings all the wrong things.

Boycott the spirit of Christmas and exchange it for the Spirit of Christ.

     The Spirit of Christ says ":Less is more."  Less stuff, less hurry, more joy!

The simplest things bring the most joy, the most peace, the most satisfaction.

What it means to cultivate the Spirit of Christ

     Less spending, more giving.  In Acts 29 we read "It is more blessed to give than to receive."  

Buying is often more about how it makes us feel.  True giving is not about the amount of money but about the thought behind the gift.

  

The spirit of Christmas is about spending; the Spirit of Christ is about giving.

LESS HURRY, MORE PEACE

     " See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."  --Ephesians 5:15,16

REDEEM THE TIME
   The temptation to hurry is one of the greatest evils of our time.

     MEMORIES ARE NEVER MADE IN A HURRY.
     SLOW DOWN.
 Hurry robs us of time with those in need; hurry robs us of time for prayer.

GOD CAN GIVE YOU PEACE
     Hurry is the spirit of Christmas; Peace is the Spirit of Christ.
What would it look like for you to redeem the time?

THERE NEEDS TO BE LESS ME AND MORE JESUS.
    Let Christ be the center of your life all year-round.  Let your life revolve around Him.

John the Baptist said, He must increase; I must decrease.
     And so it must be with us.

FOCUS ON THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHO WRAPPED HIMSELF IN HUMAN FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US FOR OUR SAKE.
     In His heart of giving He gave everything He had.

>Advent is not just about looking back on His coming as a baby, it is about looking forward to His coming again!<

IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE ARE NOT WRAPPED UP IN THE WRONG THINGS WHEN HE DOES.

     

Notes on the message by

Pastor Johnnie Blair

Sunday morning
 

     

 

Thanksgiving dinner

I avoid most of the click bait when scrolling down a facebook page but occasionally one is just too tempting and I bite, usually to my regret or at least to my dismay.

Yesterday the bait was something on the order of "ten things that should never appear on the Thanksgiving dinner table."

Just about every traditional item served on Thanksgiving was listed along with snide commentary on each.  What an ingrate.  It is Thanksgiving and some spoiled "Me-only" is whining because his cheeseburger and lollipop is not on the table?

Such an attitude of ingratitude is a direct result of people believing that nothing and no one beyond the self matters.

At the least, be grateful for the air you breathe.  I'm trying real hard to be thankful that I can share it with you.

The Prayer of "Send Me"

The scripture lesson is Isaiah 6:1-9 in which is revealed to Isaiah the holiness of the Lord.  He
recognizes his own unworthiness, is cleansed and then accepts the mission God has for him.


The prayer of "send me" is a dangerous prayer; it is more scary than it is glamorous.  The prayer implies that the "I" no longer cares about its wants, but about what God wants.

1. One response to the message of service is "Here am I, I'm not going."  Jonah is a scriptural example of this response.  His response was rejection of the assignment by way of going in the opposite direction from God's purpose.  The Book of Jonah details the story and the travails of the man and how he finally turned to God's purpose.

2. A second response to God's calling is "Here am I, send someone else."  Moses gives us an example of this response.  In Exodus 4:13 we hear Moses literally tell the Lord to "send someone else."  Seeking something that suits us better than what God wants is a sign that we prefer being served to providing service.  If you are more concerned about being served  than being sent, go to a restaurant.

Everyone has a call of God on his life. There is something special that He wants you to do.

3.  The third response to God's call is "Here am I, send me."  (Isaiah 6:8) This happens out of true conviction.  Like Isaiah, we must experience the presence of God in all his glory and holiness. (Rev.4)

To pray this dangerously
We must experience the presence of God in all his holiness.

The magnificence of God determines the magnitude of your mission.

We must realize the depth of our own sinfulness. (6:5)  We are unclean; God is holy and we are not.

We must have a real experience with the grace of God. (6:7) The coals represent cleansing, sins atoned for.

Something should happen that we must cry out, "Send me!"

Come to the end of self, learn to live in the shadow of Grace.

Grace:  When your sinfulness and God's holiness come together

 Terrifyingly beautiful

 Pastor Johnnie Blair

Sunday morning

Is there hope?

It seems we have become an unruly mob of riff-raff who will assemble and shout down the President as he attempts to express a valid idea.  I mean, he is the President.  What is the matter with us?

Too many years of "If you want it you should have it; if you don't have it someone should give it to you." ?
Too much self-absorption, undisciplined living?
 Or just plain disrespectful of self and everyone else?