Last Sunday we continued our new series at MCC, “Good Words,” by talking about faith. If you missed the teaching you can find it here.
This Sunday, we are continuing the “Good Words” series with a look at hope.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. How do you define hope?
As many of you may know, my wife Carla and I are foster parents. We have been blessed to have our first foster daughter since early January. She is a beautiful, brilliant little girl…with a great big- little personality [and a wee bit of a temper!]. She was a great fit for our family, and we have been hoping a praying for the opportunity to keep her. However, we found out recently that she will be leaving us this week to go live with a family member.
Needless to say, it has been a little gloomy around our house this past few weeks and days leading up to her leaving us. But, she did something the other night that had us in stitches…I told you she had a big personality for a little girl.
So, here’s the story: We were watching TV on the couch…all three of us. Our little one was putting her finger near my mouth, wanting me to pretend to eat it. She gets a kick out of that. All of the sudden, I felt something weird in my mouth…it had the strangest texture. I quickly spit it out. It was a booger. Fresh picked. She thought it was hilarious. Strangely enough…so did I!
She has provided us with memories for a life-time. We love her so much, and it is breaking our hearts to see her go.
So, pardon my booger breath…but I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
This past Sunday we began a new teaching series at MCC, called “Good Words.” Our world is saturated in the negative and the bad. We began our search for something better by looking at the new vocabulary Paul challenges us to embrace in Philippians 4v8.
When Paul says we should think about the true, good, pure, right, excellent, and praiseworthy he is not telling us to ignore reality. He is inviting us to embrace how things really are now…because Christ is risen!!! The tomb is empty!!! All the rules have changed.
Are you looking for the good?
If you would like to listen to/download this teaching…click here.
It seems that everywhere you look there is bad news. Relationally. Economically. Nationally. Globally. We hear lots of bad words.
So, the next 5 weeks at Morgantown Community Church, we are going to spend time looking at some words that inspire us…Good Words.
This coming Sunday, we will spend time being challenged by Paul’s words in Philippians 4:
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
What “good word” do you need to think about today?
Tim Keller says in his book The Reason for God:
“In the most radical way, God has adjusted to us–in his incarnation and atonement. In Jesus Christ he became a limited human being, vulnerable to suffering and death. On the cross, he submitted to our condition–as sinners–and died in our place to forgive us. In the most profound way, God has said to us, in Christ, “I will adjust to you. I will change for you. I’ll serve you though it means a sacrifice for me.” If he has done this for us, we can and should say the same to God and others.” [p.49]
As I read these words, and re-read them a couple times, I began wrestling with this question: How often to I simply accept Christ’s sacrifice as something done for me…but not something that I have been called and invited to participate in. As a follower of Jesus, I am invited to take Jesus’ example of self-giving love to all those I encounter.
The cross is more than an invitation to trust Christ for me. It is an invitation to model that same kind of love and sacrifice to others.
What are your thoughts?
I have a busy morning, so I will not be posting until this afternoon.
But, as I promised, here is a link to Steve Taylor’s story that he shared this past Sunday. As a bonus, there is also a recording of the song my wife sang at the end of the service.
Enjoy!
Yes, the title of this post was taken from the song “I will survive.”
This is my first blog post in over 40 days [I gave it up for Lent]. A lot has happened in 40 days. So, instead of regurgitating it all in this one post, I will share a bit of what has been going on over the next several days.
But today…I want to talk about Resurrection Sunday.
We had an awesome weekend at MCC! We began our Easter weekend with a Good Friday service. We spent time singing, reflecting on the cross, and we observed communion.
Then came Sunday. Wow. Our worship team and band did a great job leading us. And I can’t say enough about my friend Steve Taylor.
Steve is an elder here at MCC…and he has a powerful story, which he shared yesterday. [I hope to update this post later today or tomorrow with a link to Steve's story from yesterday.]
I am so thankful that we can say with confidence to one another…he is risen indeed!
How did you spend Resurrection Sunday?
