Entries Tagged 'Sermons (Randy)' ↓

A couple months ago, I (Randy) did a 3-week sermon series called, Who’s in Charge?

Sermon 1.0 made the point, We grow when we face our storms with faith in God! The reality is, we all face things that cause us fear. When we face them head on, in spite of our deepest fears, it leads to our growth.

Some things that tend to keep us from growing include lack of faith and/or lack of an awareness that God is with us. But we can learn from the experiences of those who’ve gone before us, people like Jesus’ disciples, who encountered many things that scared them. One incident is their experience on their boat that caught in the middle of a fierce storm. You can read it in Mark 4.35-41.

You’ve gotta face your storms with faith! In the middle of the storms I face, I (try to) pray, “God, I know you are in charge. Grow my faith through this storm!”

With God in charge, we can face our storms with faith, stay alert for opportunities, and have a persistent faith! In sermon 2.0, I talked about seizing opportunities. When we miss opportunities, it often leads to regret, sometimes characterized by the sad phrase, If only! To protect us from this kind of regret, I challenged listeners, To seize opportunities, stay alert!

One thing that causes us to miss opportunities is simply not paying attention, not being alert. Sometimes we just fear taking a risk. But it seems that everywhere Jesus went, he was faced with opportunities. One lesson is found in Mark 5.1-20 where Jesus climbs out of the boat, only to quickly meet a man possessed by an evil spirit. This was an opportunity!

What do you do when faced with an opportunity? Seize it! Turn your if onlys into next times. Stay alert. Keep your eyes open. To seize opportunities, stay alert!

In the final message (3.0), I talked about the dangers of the crowd, those people (or things) that get in our way. If we’re not careful, the crowd can keep us from experiencing God’s fulness; however, persistent faith that pushes through the crowds experiences God’s restoration!

Scripture includes some great examples of persistent faith. Read Mark 5.21-43. As Jesus was going about his business, a woman in the crowd who had suffered for many years with constant bleeding, demonstrated persistent faith to get in touch with Jesus.

Basically, we all have a choice to make regarding the things we deal with, to surrender or persist. Yes, there are things we need to surrender to (I think of Paul surrendering to God on the issue of the “thorn in the flesh”). But in other areas, we simply need to persist. Persistent faith that pushes through crowds experiences God’s restoration!

How awesome would it be if all Christ-followers face their storms with faith, stay alert to seize opportunities, and have a persistent faith!

Two-part sermon series by Randy on the mission of the Church.

On Pentecost Sunday (05.27.2007), I began a 2-part series called “The Mission.” We talked about the power God gives for the mission (that’s what Pentecost is all about). We also talked about our need to have passion for God’s mission.

1. Power for the Mission

There are good things and bad things about growing older. The good news is we gain wisdom (hopefully), but the worst thing about getting older is that we have a tendency to become self-sufficient (”Can’t teach an old dog new tricks!”).

Perhaps at the start of your journey of following Jesus, you were fully reliant on God. Then as you grew older and began to develop your gifts, you became less reliant/desperate for God and you began relying on your own gifts/strengths to get you through life.

I once read an article called “Teaching Smart People How to Learn.” The point was, “smart people” (people who’ve become self-sufficient) are hard to teach because they think they already know it all.

Jesus said something very similar, actually. Jesus talked about how hard it is to make “healthy people” well. People who think they’re well aren’t interested in a doctor. People who think they’re okay spiritually aren’t aware of their need for a savior.

Truth is, though, it would be possible to do life and/or ministry without God! But we do ministry alone when we take God for granted, when we become less dependent on God, and when rely on our own ability to get the job done.

Most of us live by the adage, “God helps those who help themselves!” A lot of people think that comes from the Bible. But, not only is it not in the Scriptures, it isn’t scriptural!

The Holy Spirit empowers people for God’s mission!

Read Acts 2.1-13; Acts 1.8; John 20.21-22; Isaiah 61.1-3; Matthew 28.16-20

Enlist!
Let’s make ourselves available to God. Let’s gain a sense of urgency for God’s mission. Let’s relinquish and repent of our self-sufficiency, and realize how desperate we are for God. Fact is, there are two kinds of people on earth: 1) those who need God, and 2) those who are in denial!

Jesus assured his followers, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (acts 1.8). Imagine if all of us would relinquish our self-sufficiency, make ourselves available to God, and become urgent about God’s mission. What would happen in our community?

2. Passion for the Mission

Apathy is being without passion. No one who has ever done anything great for God could be described as apathetic or passionless! Let’s look at one guy who had great passion: Read Acts 26.19-32.

God impassions people for the mission!

God told Saul (later Paul) that he was sending him, essentially, to change the world. I love Paul’s response: “I obeyed that vision from heaven” (Acts 26.19). As Paul was telling his story to a couple of important political leaders, one of them shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!”

Paul wasn’t insane. He was passionate, passionate about God and the mission God had given him!

This story in Acts 26, the story of Paul’s dramatic experience of becoming a Christ-follower was the third time the story was told in the book of Acts. That’s pretty important when you’re writing by hand on parchment that’s not too easy to come by.

Questions to help you define your story:
What are you passionate about? What jazzes you? What’s not as it should be? What’s the story that comes to mind when you think about that problem? And, what are you going to do about it?

God calls and equips us to do his work on this planet. God gives us the power to do it. We just need the passion to go with it. I love the passion that John Wesley had, a passion he knew others needed as well. He once said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or lay, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the Kingdom of God upon earth.”

Empowered and passionate people will change the world for God!

Randy’s sermon series on 1 Corinthians 13.

I recently did a 4-week series on 1 Corinthians 13. Each week we read the chapter in a different translation: NKJV, NASB, NLT, and The Message.

Interestingly, the end of 1 Corinthians 12 says this: “But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.” And after chapter 13, Paul transitions to other areas. But here’s his transition: “Let love be your highest goal!” Love is foundational. We must never forget that!

Here’s a brief recap of the four messages …

1. Love Matters (if we’re not loving others, we’re just making noise!)
Love is important. Jesus gave us the Great Commandment, love God and love people. But it’s hard work, isn’t it? But it’s also important. Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13.35).

This message came primarily from the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul says that even if I can do all kinds of amazing things, but don’t love others, it doesn’t matter! Love matters.

Choose to love your “loved ones,” the “difficult ones,” and the “strangers” (least/lost/lonely). We, as followers of Jesus, will be known by our love (or lack thereof). The impact we have on our community depends on how we love others! Love matters.

2. Love Impacts (it impacts you and everyone around you!)

This message came primarily from the second section of 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul attempts to describe love. “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

That kind of love impacts you, and everyone around you! God’s love shaped God’s actions (seen in the sending of his son), and it certainly has impacted us!

Exercise your heart. Let love guide your actions. Pray for God’s help. Choose to love people every day.

3. Love Lasts (so keep everything in perspective!)

It’s easy to be so task-driven that we neglect people. We must value relationships. Again, love matters. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples,” Jesus said.

“Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.” (See also Romans 8.35-39.)

Take time now for a check-up. Check your vitals. Got a pulse? What makes your heart beat? Who are the most important people in your life? Where does God rank? Family? Friends? People who don’t know Christ’s love? What are the next actions that you need to work on to restore good health?

4. Love Grows (so do everything you can to cultivate it!)

The closing words of 1 Corinthians 13 (in The Message) say this: “When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”

I want to change the world! I want to make an impact. To impact the world, I believe I must become a gardener. Jesus said his Father is the gardener. Jesus instructed his disciples to pray for more workers (i.e. farmers) for the harvest. Jesus talked a lot about planting seeds.

To cultivate means “to foster the growth of,” and even “to make friends with.” Who’s cultivating you? And, who are you cultivating? A Chinese proverb says, “If you’re planting for a year, plant grain; if you’re planting for a decade, plant trees; if you’re planting for a century, plant people.”

Let’s love God and people, and see what amazing garden will grow in our part of the world!

A great life requires great character!

Earlier this year (during the season of Lent), I preached a 6-week sermon series was on “Building Blocks,” the building blocks of great character. In this series I talked about humility, trustability, courage, obedience, endurance, and passion.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the series’ main points …

Humility: Your view of God will determine how humble you are!

Read John 1.19-27

Ask God to expand your view: “God, help me to see how big you are!” Read Scripture. Look for glimpses of God in the world. Your view of God will determine how humble you are!

Trustability: God entrusts his work to trustable people!

Read Matthew 25.14-30

How trustable are you? What are you doing with what God has entrusted to you? Are you digging a hole and hiding it in the ground, waiting for your Master to return? Or are you going out, taking risks, putting God’s resources to work?

Courage is doing the right thing, even when it’s hard!

Read Mark 11.15-19

God is serious about courage. The word “courage” and/or “courageous” appears about 50 times in the Bible. The phrase “Be strong and courageous” appears 12 times, and one more time as, “Be strong and very courageous.”

Jesus certainly modeled courage for his followers. Andy Stanley says, “Leaders instill courage in the hearts of those who follow. This rarely happens through words alone. It generally requires action.”

What have you been avoiding? Why not do the right thing this week?

Obedience to God allows us to live the best life possible!

In this message, we looked at several passages of Scripture that addressed obedience, including Philippians 2.1-11; Luke 2.51-52; John 8.26; John 12.49; John 5.19-20; John 8.55; John 7.24-27; John 3.36; John 8.51; John 14.15-24; John 15.10-14; Matthew 28.18-20.

Endurance is pushing forward when every fiber in your being wants to quit!

Jesus said, People “will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10.22).

Read Hebrews 12.1-13

Some early Christ-followers were sometimes called “athletes of God.” Paul wrote to the Corinthians Christ-followers, “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. … I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that … I myself might be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9.24-27)

Passion is the driving force that allows you to keep moving forward!

Read Matthew 26.36-46. Luke adds, “Jesus was in great pain and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood.” I understand that it’s a medical experience called, Hematidrosis; that is, blood-tinged sweat associated with a high degree of psychological stress. Jesus was so passionate about humanity, that he was willing to endure anything, including taking on the sin of the world, to make us right with God.

In the movie, Serendipity, a movie about how Jonathan and Sara get together. Toward the end of the movie, Jonathan’s friend, Dean, who writes obits for the New York Times, said, “You know the Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: ‘Did he have passion?’”

What about you? Do you have passion? Passion for God, passion to do God’s will, passion to finish the race set before you?

God turns setbacks into comebacks!

I started a sermon series on Easter Sunday called “A Resilient Life.” God turns setbacks into comebacks. T greatest example of that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

I began the series with a message called, “Bouncebackability,” a word I read in a book by Dr. Robert H. Schuller called, If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me.

I remember hearing John Maxwell once say there are two kinds of people: Splatters and Bouncers. Splatters are people who hit rock bottom and splat; Bouncers are people who hit rock bottom and bounce back up. It reminds me of Abraham Lincoln who reportedly said, “Success is moving from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” Rick Warren says that adversity will either make you bitter or better.

What do you do when you get knocked down? When you get knocked down, bounce back up! Ask God, “What are you teaching me?” and “What do I need to pick up while I’m down?” God helps us turn setbacks into comebacks! So, when you get knocked down, bounce back up!

My second message focused on Adversity Quotient, or AQ. The idea came from a book by Paul Stoltz, by the same title: Adversity Quotient.

I’ve always said, since reading the book, that Christ-followers should have the high AQs. In talking about AQ, I looked at the story of Joseph in Genesis. Stoltz says there are three kinds of people: Quitters (people who quit), Campers (people who quit after a while), and Climbers (people who keep climbing). I shared that People with high AQs keep climbing!

A series on handling adversity was certainly timely with the Virginia Tech tragedy. On the Sunday after the tragedy, I concluded the 3-week series with a fun message of “Filling Your Tank.” I read the story of Paul and Silas in prison found in Acts 16.16-28.

The image I had for this message was a cup that is overflowing, an image that comes from Psalm 23.5, “My cup overflows.” Truth is, we all get depleted from time to time, especially in the midst of adversity. “Keep your tank full so that you will always be ready to give!”

Jesus modeled such a life for us. Luke notes, “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer” (Luke 5.16). And going all the way back to the story of creation, God set everything in motion with a pattern — engage and disengage (work and rest).

Take a moment and list the things that drain you. Then list things that fill your tank, the things that give you energy, the things you get jazzed about. Then begin to build some of these things that fill your tank into your daily routine.

What would it look like if all of our “tanks” were overflowing, and we were always ready to give? May God help us to have high AQs so that we can handle adversity well, to continually bounce back when life knocks us down. May God help each of us begin each day with a full tank! And may God always us turn setbacks into comebacks!

I wrote a "breaking news" report for 12th Street’s Easter Sunrise service. If there would have been a cable news network 2,000 years ago, the morning Jesus rose from the dead might have looked a little like this …

[News Anchor]: We interrupt your regular Sunday morning routine to bring you some breaking news related to the recent trial and execution of Jesus of Nazareth. Let’s go to our correspondent at the scene for the latest developments. Randy, I understand you have some breaking news to report.

[Randy]: That’s right, Jennifer. I’m here just outside Jerusalem, near the tomb where Jesus of Nazareth, a young up and coming rabbi, was buried recently.

As we’ve been covering this year’s Passover, the big story has been Jesus. It all started last week when he arrived in Jerusalem. He received red-carpet treatment with thousands of people waving palm branches and throwing their coats on the roadway in front of him and shouting "Save us!"

During the week, Jesus spent much of his time teaching the crowds that gathered to listen to him. But early in the week, Jesus caused quite a stir in the Temple by driving out the people selling animals for religious sacrifices. In fact, after this incident, religious leaders put out a warrant for Jesus’ arrest.

Late Thursday evening, after Jesus and his disciples, celebrated the Passover meal together, law enforcement picked up Jesus and brought him in for questioning. Inside sources tell 12th Street News that it was one of Jesus’ own disciples who betrayed him.

The court conducted a speedy trial overnight and handed down a sentence of death by crucifixion, and Jesus was crucified at noon on Friday. Bloodied and badly beaten, the medical examiner placed his time of death around 3:00 pm.

The body of Jesus was placed in the tomb just behind me. Due to the high profile of this case, officials placed Roman soldiers at the tomb where Jesus was buried.

And that brings us to the breaking news this morning. We’ve just received word that a group of women arrived here at Jesus’ tomb earlier this morning. When they arrived, they claim that Jesus’ body was missing.

And their story gets pretty bizarre from there. They claim they had a conversation with an angel who told them Jesus came back to life and he will be appearing to his disciples shortly.

You can imagine the stir this is causing officials here. The CSI Jerusalem team is still conducting their investigation in the tomb and won’t let our cameras in.

An APB has been placed for Jesus’ disciples. Investigators want to talk to them to find out what they know about the disappearance of Jesus’ body.

We’re also waiting for a press conference later this morning by the Centurion’s Department for the latest updates on this breaking news. We’ll bring that to you live.

But for now, everyone is asking, was Jesus body taken from the tomb to make it look like he rose from the dead, or did he really rise from the dead?

Well, that’s the latest news from here. Now back to you!

Today is Good Friday. And this morning I participated in my first Good Friday service in Huntingdon. From 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, we rotated from church to church meeting in seven historic downtown churches. We spent about 20 minutes in each church, then walked to the next church. The host pastor of each church led worship and a guest speaker spoke on one of the "seven last words of Jesus."

I spoke at the first service and talked about Jesus’ statement, "Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing" (Luke 23.34).

Speakers had to keep it to 5-7 minutes so it had to be very focused. Here’s what I shared …

+++++

It’s hard for me to forgive: I’d rather hold a grudge! I’d rather get revenge!

But, it’s probably just me, right?

Jesus had some pretty challenging things to say about forgiveness:

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! (Matthew 5.43-44).

“Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you" (Luke 6.27-28).

The point is, Forgiveness is the hallmark of what it means to follow Jesus!

Here’s why this is important: If you forgive others, you will be forgiven. If you don’t forgive others, you won’t be forgiven. That sounds pretty important to me!

And remember the prayer Jesus used to teach his disciples how to pray? It included the phrase, "and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." After the prayer, Jesus added some commentary about forgiveness: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6.14-15).

For Jesus, it went beyond words, beyond teaching. He knew that the road ahead would include responding to his "enemies." Jesus said, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed …" (Matthew 17.22b-23).

How did Jesus respond to his enemies? After being tortured, and while nailed to a cross — and worse, being crushed underneath the weight of our sin — he prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing" (Luke 23.34).

It’s hard enough to forgive under fairly normal circumstances, isn’t it? It’s much easier to hold a grunge. It’s much more natural to get revenge. But Jesus taught us by his words and his example that forgiveness is the best response. In fact, it’s the hallmark of what it means to follow Jesus!

Who do you need to forgive?
Who do you need to forgive today? What do you need to let go of? What issues do you need to work through in order to be able to forgive someone who’s hurt you?

What would it look like if the Church practiced forgiveness? What if forgiveness became the hallmark of all of Jesus’ followers?

Prayer
O God, thank you for the gift of forgiveness. Thank you for sending your Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sin so that we wouldn’t have to. Help us, Lord, to forgive others when we are hurt. Help us not to hold onto hurts, or worse, to try to get even with those who hurt us. May we be like Jesus who forgave, and prayed for, his enemies! Amen.

Each year, the Juniata Valley Ministerium conducts weekly Community Lenten services from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday. Each week, we gather in a different church so that most pastors get to host one service and speak in one service (outside their own church).

Tonight, I spoke at the Water Street Evangelical Church. This year we developed a series focusing on several prominent Old Testament stories. I had the opportunity to talk about Abraham, specifically his call.

I had looked forward to this message for several weeks; it was a fun message to share!

When I start out on a journey, I like to know where I’m headed! Normally, I’ll go to mapquest.com, input my starting and ending points, click submit, and get detailed, turn-by-turn directions to where I’m going.

But I’m not sure what Joleen and I were thinking when we moved to
PA! We had been married for a year-and-a-half and had just finished
seminary when we loaded up a Ryder truck and headed for North East, PA.
We were going there to pastor a church, but we didn’t yet have a place
to live! It turned out okay but it was a scary few days. I can’t
imagine doing that again; the things you do when you’re young!

We like to know where we’re headed, don’t we? Whether it’s a road
trip or in life! But, in life anyway, we don’t always know!
Fortunately, we can learn a lot from people in the Bible because they
didn’t always know where the journey was taking them, either. One such
traveler was Abraham.

Read Genesis 12.1-9. God told Abraham to “Leave your native country, your
relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will
show you." And at 75 years old, here’s what Abraham did: he "departed
as the Lord had instructed."

God-followers are mobile followers!

Abraham, up in years, was mobile enough to follow God wherever he
led. Fast forward 24 years, Abraham is still waiting. In Genesis 17,
God renews his covenant with Abraham, who’s now 99 years old: “I am  ..
God Almighty. Serve me faithfully and live a
blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will
guarantee to give you countless descendants” (Genesis 17.1-2).

Abraham is still waiting, but he’s still mobile, he’s still
traveling! Fast forward another, I don’t know, 10-15 years. By this
time, Isaac has been born, and you’d think Abraham is ready to settle
down. But in Genesis 22, Abraham, 110-115 years old, and "God tested
Abraham’s faith." Hasn’t the guy been through enough already? Hasn’t
his faith been tested enough, hasn’t his character been developed
enough? Apparently not. God tests him once again.

Notice Abraham’s response, though. After God asks Abraham to
sacrifice his son, Isaac. The writer of Genesis reports, "The next
morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took
two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac."

What a great response. Abraham was mobile at 75; he’s still a mobile follower 35-40 years later!

How mobile are you?

Got your traveling bag packed? Here are several essentials I think I’d want to include:

• Bible - we need God’s Word
• Compass - Jesus is our true north!
• Hiking Boots - the terrain isn’t always easy
• Climbing Rope - God has a thing for mountains!
• Trail Mix and a water bottle - Jesus is the bread of life and the living water - God knows we’d need nourishment!
• Dramamine - Jesus liked to take his followers out on the open seas which weren’t always so accommodating!
• Mobile phone - appropriately named, to stay in contact with others!

What would it look like if we had faith like Abraham?

A writer in the New Testament writes, "It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home
and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He
went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the
land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a
foreigner, living in tents" (Hebrews 11.8-9a).

What would it look like if our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces,
schools, churches were filled with God-followers who were mobile
followers?

I want my legacy, our legacy, to be like Abraham’s legacy: "He was
fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises." (Romans
4.21)

O God, thank you for Abraham. He certainly wasn’t perfect; he did
a lot of dumb things along the trip. But he hung in there and endured
till the end. And through it all, he was mobile. Whenever you called
him to do something or to go somewhere, he packed his traveling bag and
went without delay! Help us to be mobile followers, too, God, so that
we will always go where you send us, whether it’s around the world or
across the room! May we go without delay! Amen.

Today, we concluded our series on “Navigating Life: Doing Life God’s Way!” We believe it was an important series; we certainly hope that it was helpful for the hrist followers in our congregations!

We don’t always collaborate on our sermon series, but this series grew out of a conversation we had while traveling to Tennessee on Christmas morning to visit my family. We think this series was important because we believe that we will either do life God’s way (intentionally) or we will simply drift through life. And there are few things more sad than someone who drifts through life, lost at sea!

Using sailing imagery, we began the series with “Setting the Course.” Asking “Where are you headed?” we looked at John 14.1-6.

Joleen said, “Let’s journey with Jesus,” and Randy focused on trust saying, “It takes trust to do life with God!” Randy challenged listeners to think about the areas of their lives where they need totrust God, and then to release those areas to God.

Our second message was a lot of fun. We talked about “GPS” and asked, “How will you get to where you’re going?” But instead of talking about a Global Positioning System, but God’s Positioning System. Taking our cue from Deuteronomy 6.4-9, Joleen said, “Let’s journey with Scripture, a prayerful approach wherethe Holy Spirit speaks through the Words.” She challenged listeners to consider places where they could put Scripture so that it would be afrequent reminder of God. Randy’s message was, “When we make God thecenter of our lives we are more equipped to do life God’s way!” Randy encouraged listeners to develop their own, unique navigational system incorporating the spiritual disciplines, particularly prayer and Scripture.We divided the next two messages in the series.

Joleen took “Expect Delays,” asking, “What will you do when you encounter obstacles?” Randy took “The Crew” which asked the question, “Who are you traveling with?”After preaching those messages in our respective congregations, we traded places and shared the same messages with each other’s congregations the following week.

Joleen, after reading Matthew 8.23-27 noted that, “Storms will come, but Jesus is in the boat, so you’llweather the storm with a little faith.” Randy’s message, coming from Romans 12.1-8, stated that, “It takes a crew to complete a mission!” Randy challenged listeners to begin asking God what their function in the church might be, and to also begin asking others who know them to help them discover their role and gifting in the church.

We wrapped up the series today with a message on “Course Corrections.” We looked at James 1.1-18 and asked, “What do you do when you get off course?” Joleen suggested that listeners “Admit, ask forgiveness, and adjustonce again to Jesus’ path.” She stated that up until we make a commitment, we should ask, “Is this God’s will?” but that once we makethe commitment, we should affirm, “This is God’s will! Life is a discernment process where we are always open to hear God’s voice.

In Randy’s final message, he said, “When you get off course, return!” The inherent meaning behind the word “repent” is “return.” We must return to God and to what God has called us to be. “Ask God to search your heart for areas where you have gone off course,” Randy challenged listeners, “and ask God for wisdom and help to get back oncourse.”We hope that, by God’s grace, you will be able to follow Jesus more effectively from now on as you seek to navigate life and do life God’sway!

Feel free to ask questions or post comments at the end of this post!

Read Luke 1.26-38

Mary’s response is arguably the most amazing response of any human being in the Scriptures. God asked her to throw away her reputation (through an "illegitimate" pregnancy). Add to this that Mary is very young, and she simply says, "I am the Lord’s servant. Let it happen as you have said." What an incredible response!

When God calls, just say yes!

When God calls you, how receptive are you to saying yes? Throughout this Advent season, I have been praying, "God, give me a healthy heart so that I will always say yes to you!"

Say yes!
Is there something God has been calling you to do and you’ve been stalling, responding more like Zechariah than Mary? Today/this week, say yes to God!

Be ready!
Maybe you haven’t sensed God’s call yet. I encourage to make yourself available to God so that when God calls, you’ll say yes!

God is creating a culture of yes men/women! We usually use those terms in a negative way, but God is looking for people who say yes to him. I can only imagine the things God will do through us when we make ourselves fully available to God!

O God, thank you for Mary’s example of someone who said yes even though the costs were extremely high! Help us to say yes whenever you call us to do something, whether big or small. Give us healthy hearts so that we will always say yes to you! Amen.