Sermon Video: The Angels and the Shepherds, Luke 2:8-20

With the culmination of God's divine plan taking place in Bethlehem, all that remains is to announce the arrival of the Messiah to the world.  For God, contrary to our own instincts, the beginning of his Son's ministry on earth will be announced to lowly shepherds out in the fields.  The "good news of great joy" that a "savior" has been born who is both "Christ" and "Lord" begins as only the mission of a suffering servant could; with humility.  As the shepherds visit in awe, Mary ponders the implications of all she has seen, who will this child be?

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Sermon Video

Sermon Video: The Birth of Jesus - Luke 2:1-7

The culmination of the Divine plan for the redemption of humanity begins with an almost unnoticed birth of a child in the small town of Bethlehem.  The couple to whom he was born were not even important enough to secure a room to stay in, and his witnesses were not kings but shepherds, but this Messiah would soon prove himself to be an unexpected savior, a servant of all.

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Sermon Video

Mustard Seed Missions - moving forward

I've been spending a lot of time working on Mustard Seed Missions related things of late (henceforth it will be MSM to save time), the committee meets every month and the phone calls, e-mails, and visits take place on a daily basis in the process of helping get this new effort off the ground.  I'm happy to report that thus far we've helped several families with situations that range from "easy enough" to "holy cow".  God has been gracious to us, the spirit of cooperation among churches and within the Human Services agencies has been heart-warming, as has been the generosity of volunteers and donors.  We've yet to find ourselves without funds, materials, or people to complete a project at hand once we get ourselves organized.  It has been an incredible journey thus far, one I found myself upon almost by accident (not as if God didn't know exactly what he was doing), but one in which I have been able to use my talents, passions, and position for the service of the kingdom.

The logo for MSM has been created, thanks to my talented wife Nicole, as has our pamphlet and bulletin insert for churches to use in getting the word out and recruiting volunteers.  The days and months ahead will certainly help us sort of the growing pains of any new organization, but I'm confident we'll be fine when I look at the quality of the people whom God has recruited for this effort.
MSM bulletin insert (Word)

Sermon Video: The Birth of John the Baptist - Luke 1:39-66

The Christmas story continues with Mary hurrying to visit her relative Elizabeth, a woman to with whom she can share the story of Gabriel's visit as even now Elizabeth is in the 6th month of her miracle pregnancy.  The unborn John "leaps" in the womb of Elizabeth, prompting her to remark on the blessing that Mary has been given as the one who will bring the Lord into the world.  Following Mary's song of praise, the son of Elizabeth is born to much fanfare as word of the birth spreads far and wide.  At this point, the words of Gabriel are fulfilled and the boy is named John, but not until Elizabeth speaks up (and is disregarded) and then Zechariah confirms it in writing.  Zechariah's speech returns to him (after 9 months of silence) and he begins to praise God, adding to the general amazement and wonder as to what John will one day become.
As the birth of Jesus approaches, all eyes are on John, the one who will a few short years from now travel into the desert to prepare the way of the Lord.

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Sermon Video

The Light of Christ vs. the Darkness of Man's Heart

Here I was spending my day doing Mustard Seed Missions work, trying to help those in need; polishing up my sermon for Sunday on the birth of John the Baptist; real salt and light kind of things; looking forward to the Hobbit tonight...in other words, a good day...then I see that yet another school shooting has happened; the numbers, horrific even when 1 are much higher than you could imagine...is it any wonder that I spend my life trying to help people find there way out of the darkness that envelops our world and into the light of Christ?  Can anybody really say that this world is fine without God, mankind's hopeless situation on his own, sadly on display again today.