Archive | December, 2009

Mondays Sermon

Don’t let Monday’s crush you… see them as big opportunities for the gospel. On Monday morning when everyone else is talking about how they wish they were somewhere else, or reflecting on the goodness of their weekend, why not talk a little bit about the sermon you heard on Sunday. Mention how the preacher made a really good point about a specific topic.

Casually share something you thought was interesting… it might be as simple as:

Maybe there was a sermon at church on forgiveness and on Monday morning a colleague mentions he can’t get over what another colleague has done to her:

I’ve been learning lots about that myself lately… even last night at church we had a sermon on this sort of thing. I find it so hard to get over things and forgive… Its so hard, hey, to get over the frustration with someone that has wronged you… I’m trying to work out why that is.

Maybe after the sermon on creation and rest you bump into a mother on the playground at your kids school who is finding it really challenging juggling the family and work and me time:

yeah it’s a tough one to balance… at church yesterday I was given food for thought that us humans need to rest and we there is something really good about taking time out, to remember the world won’t stop if you do, and just to slow down and enjoy the good things. But our crazy busy worlds seem to keep telling us we need to be doing more… and we keep choosing to do more… I wonder if its cause we feel like we are missing out or our kids will miss out??….

Share whats going on in your life and how church is helping you think about the way you live. It’s an easy way to drop things you are learning in conversation. Its real, it’s practical and personal. It’s about you and how you are going about responding to things that others are going through.

This not only will open up opportunity to talk about your faith, but will also paint church in a good light. Many people have preconceived ideas about church and if you are talking about it being relevant, helpful, friendly and worthwhile – perhaps that might want to one day check it out.

Preach Sunday’s sermon on Monday :)

An Arabic Christmas

HT @JohnPiper
A Christmas sound you thought you would never hear. What if 10 million Muslims sang this? Glory. http://ow.ly/P4Zp

Impressive Christmas…

“I felt very special when I looked down at my footprints on the moon. The scientists said that they would be there for a million years. Looking up I could see the earth the size of a marble. It was so beautiful and so far away, and yet, I felt strangely at home on the moon….The days I spent on the moon were very exciting. Not because I was there but because God was there. I could feel His presence….When I was on the moon, I was inspired to quote from Psalm 121, ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help?’ I knew my help was coming from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. He made the moon and made it possible for Jim Irwin to place his footprints there….I believe Jesus Christ walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon. Just as surely as He walked 2000 years ago, He wants to walk today in your life. All you have to do is call upon Him….invite Him into your life by faith. Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.’ John 14:6….yield your life to the Master and let Him guide your footprints.”

James B. Irwin, Apollo 15 astronaut

King Solomons Evangelism Class 101

Proverbs 17:4
Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

Prov. 17:19
He who loves a quarrel loves sin;
he who builds a high gate invites destruction.

Prov. 18:19
An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city,
and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.

Don’t argue to win a fight… argue in love and truth.

Keeping Christmas Carols about Christ…

We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin
Good tidings of Christmas
And a happy new year

We sing this because of Jesus
We sing this because of Jesus
We sing this because of Jesus
And the hope that He brings
Not presents or trees or carving turkeys
We sing this because of Jesus
And the hope that He brings

Public Domain
Additional verse © 2009 Cedric Tang

(Broken) Home for the Holidays…

If you Google “divorce, Christmas,” you’ll find a slew of self-help articles—mostly geared toward parents. They generally boil down to something like “Five Things You Can Do to Make Christmas Easier on Your Children.” One article varies in its (very specific) angle: Five Things You Can Do to Make Christmas Less Painful for Yourself When You’re Kept Away from Your Kids for all but Four Hours on Christmas Morning.

Click Here to read the rest of this article… from Relevant Magazine

Winter Snow…

Audrey Assad has a beautiful voice. This song evokes in your heart a tone of reflection of our Christmas exceptions… Jesus came as a humble little baby, dependent, fleshly, weak and vulnerable… yet was God, clothed with all righteousness and power.

Could’ve come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane

….You came like the winter snow
You were quiet

Community Christmas

There’s a reason that Christmas peels back the layers of life and shows community in a unique way. We celebrate Christmas in honor of Jesus Christ being born a baby in a manger, of God being made flesh. One of the many beautifully painful things the incarnated Christ did was to knit together a patchwork of people from very different cultures into His church. Just look at the motley crew of apostles—a tax collector, a couple hardheaded brothers, fishermen, a former Pharisee. Even within the “homogeneous” land of Israel, this ragtag group became the builders of the early Church.


Click Here
to read the rest of this article…. from Relevant Magazine


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