Posts Tagged ‘Scripture’
Lectionary Scriptures for 2-23-14
February 17, 2014Lectionary Scriptures for 2-16-14
February 10, 2014Lectionary Scriptures for 2-9-14
February 3, 2014Upperroom Daily Devotional 1-31-14
January 31, 2014Upperroom Daily Devotional 1-30-14
January 30, 2014Lectionary Scriptures for 2-2-14
January 27, 2014Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
November 30, 2012Pastor John Jewell tells about a young boy a few years ago who at one of their Christmas Eve candlelight services expressed his excitement. Immediately after the benediction, this four year old broke out at the top of his lungs with, “Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Jesus is born! Jesus is born! Let’s get going!”
It seems the boy’s parents had told the lad that he could not open his gifts until after the church service. Waiting was difficult for him, so just as soon as the service was over, he was thrilled that he could get on to the things that mattered most to him. (2) That lad didn’t understand the true meaning of Christmas, but he certainly caught its excitement. “Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Jesus is born! Jesus is born! Let’s get going!”
So what do we do to generate excitement in our own lives around Christmas. You know that some of us will get depressed this Christmas because there might not be enough money to buy the presents we want to give to those we love. There will be some in our community who will go out and steal so that they can give others presents. There will be some who will be angry or depressed over lost loved ones during this time of year. There will be some who will go out and spend more than they have (plastic money) so that they can give to those they love or want to impress or perhaps are afraid of someone else being loved more. I have listed just a few of the many negative circumstances/emotions people will experience during this time of year and I am sure that this is not what Jesus would be encouraging us to do. So how do we deal with our own good or bad, negative or positive attitudes toward Christmas and how we build expectations and excitement during Advent.
First of all we need to think about what Christmas is all about. It is meant to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus and Advent (derived from the Latin word Adventus which means “coming”) is about building excitement towards the day we celebrate His birth. First of all keeping our God and Jesus involved in our Advent is important. How about as we are thinking about what we will give we include God in our thoughts. We could pray for the person we want to give a gift to. We could pray about the gift we should give. We could pray over the gift God helps us choose. We could pray each day that our excitement would grow because we are truly thankful that whatever our gifts to others may be, we know that God really does bless those gifts and the person they are given to when we include Him in the process. So much effort is going to remove Christ from our celebration that it is very important to let everyone know the reason we celebrate the season and that our celebration gives all glory and honor to our God and His Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen
Pastor Randy
Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
May 2, 2012
The sun might be setting in this picture but heaven is alight with God’s presence.
Our Bible Study for the past couple of weeks is over Randy Alcorn’s book “Heaven”. There are five sessions left so if the topic is of interest to you come on by on Wednesday nights. We have a covered dish fellowship meal at 5:30, prayer at 6:15 and we start watching the video about 6:30. You are welcome at all or part of the evening. So many of us have heard so much about Heaven, about what it is like and what we will be doing. So many different ideas and many of them have nothing to do with scripture. The Rev. Dr. Randy Alcorn bases all of his ideas and statements on scripture throughout the Bible. Here is an excerpt from his book.
“A fundamental article of the Christian faith is that the resurrected Christ now dwells in Heaven. We are told that his resurrected body on Earth was physical, and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from which he will one day return to Earth (Acts 1:11). It seems indisputable, then, to say that there is at least one physical body in the present Heaven.
If Christ’s body in the present Heaven has physical properties, it stands to reason that others in Heaven might have physical forms as well, even if only temporary ones. It also makes sense that other aspects of the present Heaven would have physical properties-so that, for example, when Christ is seen standing at the right hand of God(Acts 7:56), he is actually standing on something. Otherwise we would have to conclude that the resurrected (and thus, embodied) Christ has been floating for two thousand years in a realm without material substance. (He could, of course, but does he?) If we know there is physical substance in Heaven (namely, Christ’s body), can we not also assume that other references to physical objects in Heaven, including physical forms and clothing, are literal rather than figurative?”
We hope to find many scriptural answers to the many questions we have. At least we will hear scripture quoted to support Randy Alcorn’s opinions and we can make educated, spirit-led decisions about our future life eternal.
With a first name like Randy, I just have to listen to him.
Have a blessed week,
Pastor Randy Branch
Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings
April 17, 2012Jane and I attended a funeral Sunday afternoon and the funeral began with this song, Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky.” The video was taken from youtube and I thought it was well done. It was uploaded by “utuber423.” It has been a while since I heard this song but it sure brought back some memories. The song while not used in many funeral services is really pretty appropriate and relevant to the Christian message that you will hear when you go to most United Methodist funerals.
The funeral was ended with the Pastor singing “How Great Thou Art” and he sang it beautifully. What I received from the funeral was a picture of how the person who passed lived his life. I heard it described this way before, “with both feet on the gas wide open and when the end comes slide sideways into the grave.” This person lived his life as a friend to all and as a friend of Jesus Christ. That pretty much captures the Christian message doesn’t it. I have a friend in Jesus and He is going to recommend me to the Spirit in the Sky. I like that….
Randy
Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 