The promise:  "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."

The unintended consequences:  The doctors by the squad folded their practices and went on to do something else with their lives.

Mine did.  And here I sit, sick as a dog and have no physician.  I have insurance, though!

The Year of the Lord's Favor

Pastor prefaced his sermon with a review of 2016.  We laughed.  Then he gave this advice to the Millennials:  The Builders and the Boomers already think you sit around and do nothing.  Stop making and posting videos that prove their point.

In the Book of Leviticus we read that every fiftieth year was the Year of Jubilee.  Jubilee was a reset in which debts were cancelled, servants were released and the land went back to its original owners.

In Isaiah 61 we read the promise of the coming Christ in which as in years past we had Jubilee, upon His coming we will see The Year of the Lord's Favor.  Then turning to the scripture lesson we find Jesus in the assembly in his home town being handed the scriptures from which he reads the passage from Isaiah and reveals that the Year of the Lord's Favor has come.  The King of Israel is also the Head of the Human Race!  We are living in the Year of the Lord's Favor.


We are called to join in on Christ's mission by living out the Year of the Lord's Favor.
-----Face 2017 knowing the favor of God is on your life.  (This is not a prosperity gospel proclaiming that you will be rich in material things and free from problems.)
-----Start thinking about His mission more than our own.  In this we will attain His favor.

Pastor proclaimed that. . .

-----This will be a year of divine Acceptance.  Acts 10:34,35 asserts that God does not show favoritism, but accepts those who do right.

-----This will be a year of divine Anointing.  God wants you to be a presence in 2017.
 The anointing:  God places his hand upon you to a purpose.

-----This will be a year of divine Authority.  In Acts chapter one we are told that we shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.
The power enables us to live a victorious life; to live above the things that used to keep us down.

Living on our own is a restricted life; with God we have unlimited possibilities.

*Jesus is right for whatever is wrong.*

When the Holy Spirit dwells within you, people will see and want to see Jesus.

Pastor Johnnie Blair

Sunday morning

Father often said, "There's nobody funnier than people.

I finally realized that he meant "funny strange," not "funny haha."

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