An enlightening Sunday

Worship was great on Sunday. We continued our series of sermons on the Sermon on the Mount that I am calling "Walking with Jesus, Growing in Faith. Our choir sang another upbeat anthem and we came together in prayer for each other and our world. Here is a clip of our choir singing thjis week. You will notice that Shawn Rucker is missing. She is away for the next two weeks. So once again I am calling all singers to join us next Tuesday. Oliver Bray and I are lonely in the men's section. We have fun and as you can see from this anthem, we sound pretty good too. Come join us if you like to sing and want to use that gift for God.




My message focused on the reality that all of us have problems in our lives. Just because we are Christians we shouldn't think we will be exempt. I pointed out the truth that god never promised us a "problem free" life. As a matter of fact he talked about walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

What God did promise though, was that he would be with us to comfort and strengthen us. I pointed out three ways that God does that. First he hears our sighs and our cries. He gave us the gift of prayer to remind us that he is always there. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in the srermon on the mount and we forget that this was a new idea. Prayer was always something you did as a community but Jesus personalized it and said we can call on God anytime.

Second he shines a light into our darkness with words of promise and hope from the scriptures. When God shines his light into our lives the problem never seem as big or imposing. Finally I noted that god always comforts us with a human face. He sends people with us to encourage us and help us get through. I noted how my step mother was there for me as a 13 year boy when my natural mother died. She was a gift from god. The truth is that God does this all the time. Even more amazing is the fact that after we have been comforted God often sends us out to comfort others.

If you are going through a tough time and think this sermon might be helpful for you, check it out here on youtube.



As I said, it was a good day of worship and the fun continues next week with a message titled Is that God's Yardstick?" as we look at how God defines success.

Be blessed.

Cal