Paul tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. Paul is not saying we need give thanks to our circumstances. Paul is saying though despite our circumstances that we are to continue to praise God and give thanks for His faithfulness in all circumstances. Even in the times where we feel like the world is falling down around us we need to praise God that He is still guiding us, with us, and is our comfort.

Paul tells us to pray continually, or you might have heard it translated pray without ceasing. It seems like a big ask from Paul. Can we honestly pray continually? We can. We need to have our heart in the posture of prayer, to be open to conversation. That is not to say we shouldn’t have moments through the day where we stop and take a posture of prayer. We need those moments but to pray continually is to focus our heart on a constant communication with our Creator.

Rejoice always. Seems like a huge request from Paul if we think of it in terms of always being happy. But rejoice always means to delight in God’s grace. To remember what God has done, trust what He is doing, and will do in the future. Seems a little easier in that sense. But I still argue that we get distracted and tend to forget we have the ball. If we equate it to football we tend to take a defensive position instead of an offensive one.

We need to remember we have the ball, not in a smug way. But we need to remember that we are playing offense, we are not playing defense. We don’t have to be offended because we rejoice always knowing God has been faithful in the past and will continue to be in the future.

Today we are studying the story of the prodigal son. There are two brothers within the story and we figure out that both sin against the father, just in different ways. Both brothers had a relationship simply for what the father could give. Do we have a relationship with our Father simply because of the benefits offered to us by that relationship? Or do we have a relationship with Jesus because we actually truly love Him?

The parables of the lost reminds us of a few things. If it is one of one hundred, God is still going to go after the one. If it is one of ten God is still going to use his resources to find the one lost. The one lost still has value, still holds an image it was created in, and is still loved by the Creator. We tend to think as Christians we are better but we have the same value, same image and same love. We should remember that as we interact with those considered lost.

In the parable of the lost sheep we see the role of the lost, God’s role, and our role. At one point in time, we were all part of the lost sheep in need of being found. The Shepard goes out and searches for the lost, and when they are found, our roll is to celebrate. In our interactions with others, may we remember, that we were once lost in need of being found

The author of Psalm 46 tells us even when the stable seems unstable that God is still God. There are times in our lives where the mountains may feel like they are being thrown into the heart of the sea. We were told to not fear at those times that God is still God. We were never told not to grieve, but not to fear. We can grieve what is happening to us, and those around us and still have hope that ultimately God will make all things new. We can grieve and still have faith that one day there will be no more pain, or tears, or sea. Emotions are not our enemy, but we must allow God to help us through and to heal what hurts.

It is estimated that it takes the combined efforts of 85 Christians working a year to bring one person to Christ. Knowing this makes me realize Christianity is a team sport, a group effort. The attitudes of those in the church are important. In Ephesians Paul urges us to live a life worthy of our calling. How do we show we have this calling into a new life? By being humble and gentle. Or as Beverly Christensen stated to me get along with each other. Bev offered wisdom to all who encountered her. In this sermon I share some she wanted to share with her church family.

Today we held a Freedom Sunday service where we learned of organizations that Nazarene Compassion Ministries team with to help being about an end of human trafficking. We ask ourselves what we can do to bring about freedom for the captives? I feel the first step is to remember that all are created in the image of God so we need to treat all like that. It seems simple but I feel that is our first huge step is that commitment to treat all around us as image bearers.

In this upside down Kingdom that God creates for us those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who are humble will be exalted. Today we talked about how Paul and Silas humbled themselves and stayed in prison for the sake of the jailer. Paul later wrote to the church in Philippi in humility value others above yourselves (Philippians 2:3). He could give this direction because he had done so himself. If we are jockeying for a better position in the kingdom we don’t understand the kingdom very well.

Today we had a guest speaker Kim Crawford speak about Circle of Freedom. Circle of Freedom is a ministry here in Southern Iowa that is helping women find freedom from the chains of addiction. We also spoke about the story of the woman at the well. Jesus helped her to see who she really was through the eyes of the creator. If we are looking at ourselves through any other lenses than through God’s lenses then we are seeing ourselves wrong.

We are co-workers with Christ, meaning His mission becomes our mission as the Body of Christ. Our mission is to spread the good news of the gospel and to love God and love others. How can we do that? Jesus layer it out in Luke 4 where he quoted Isaiah 61. In Isaiah 58 God lays it out for us, that we think we know what to do but he calls us to loose the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, provide for those in need. Are we as the Body of Christ partaking in any of that? Are we as Christ followers, co-laborers partaking in that?

It was a question asked of God near the beginning of mankind, and it's a question many wrestle with still today, but the truth is that we are our brother's keeper. We do bear some burden to help guide those around us to God's saving Grace.

We see, in the story of Esther, God's hand at work even though God Himself is never mentioned. God called Esther for that very time to fulfill a purpose. God was being faithful to His people by bringing someone up who would help save His people from annihilation. God raises us up for a purpose at this time to show His Glory and Faithfulness to His people. We need to listen to God's call on our life and agree to fulfill His purpose for us.

We see in the story of Moses that God will be faithful in taking care of His people. Pharaoh served a purpose in the story and although it didn’t end well for him, God showed that He was God and took a seat over Pharaoh. Pharaoh chose to harden his own heart at first and then God gave Pharaoh over to his own devices and started hardening Pharaoh’s heart. We need to be careful we haven’t ignored God’s direction and hardened our heart. We don’t want to be in the same position Pharaoh was in.

The first church were of one heart and mind, they all came together and moved the church forward by focusing on their mission, loving others. As a church we can move the Body of Christ forward by remaining focused on the mission, spreading the good news and loving others. Our focus should be on the great commission and the greatest commandment not on ourselves.

Prayer is essential to the church. Prayer is a heart attitude more than an action we take. As a church we should pray with one passion. The apostles prayed for boldness in preaching the word. God lead them to boldly love others. If we as a church pray for boldness in preaching the word, God will lead us to what we need to do as a church as well. We just have to be obedient to what God calls us towards.

While God is unchanging He calls us towards change by much as he called the first church to accept into the fold the Gentiles. While I know many of us see the word change as a dreaded “c” word, we need to be open to it when God calls us towards it. The church will only move forward if we move the ways God asks us to.

If we look at the example of the first church as the way church is supposed to be we see a very different church than what we have today. Today we see how the church goes out and fulfills the great commission by loving the way we are asked to love in the great commandment. To be the living Body of Christ that is described in the New Testament we are asked to be in unity moving forward towards what God asks of us.

Annual church business meeting for the 2020-2021 church year.