The Presentation of the Lord or Candlemas is meant to be a time for us to present ourselves to the Lord. As the month of January has ended I am sure many of your New Year’s resolutions may have ended as well. Perhaps that is okay and perhaps God has a different plan for you this year.
What would it look like for you to present yourself as you are right now to the Lord?
Matthew
Jesus Baptized for Us
When Jesus comes to be baptized by John, John is confused (Matthew 3:14). Perhaps this passage confuses you as well. John’s job was to prepare the way for Jesus, the Messiah, and now Jesus was standing right there in front of him. Shouldn’t Jesus have baptized John? Also, John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance (Matthew 3:11-12). Jesus was without sin, so why would Jesus need to be Baptized? Listen to hear more about what Jesus’ Baptism was all about.
View SermonA Special Star for a Special Birth
It is possible that the Magi may have heard of a Jewish prophesy about a king whose birth was to be marked by a star (see Numbers 24:17). But how would a normal sign in the sky come to rest over the place where the child was. Jerusalem is only about 5 miles from Bethlehem. They could have walked there in about an hour and 45 minutes. It would be hard to tell the difference from an astronomer’s POV. I like to think that this sign was something that God specifically created to celebrate the birth of his Son! Kind of like the “it’s a boy” signs you sometimes see in a front yard! A special sign for a special birth.
View SermonRisk, Sacrifice, and Trust
Joseph and Mary’s story at first is messy, difficult, and oh so similar to life as we know it. How many people have gotten married under difficult circumstances? How many people continue to live in difficult marriages and circumstances? How many people remain in difficult relationships in general? Both Mary and Joseph give us a deeper understanding of what it means to be a godly woman or a godly man in this world. They give us a pathway to the Father and a way to follow in this life. Today I want to look at how their lives, choices, and attitudes can shape our lives.
View SermonExpectations
In business, it is important to underpromise and overdeliver. Sometimes this is referred to as “managing expectations.” It is important to be mindful of expectations in all of our relationships, whether business or personal. Especially in marriage. Unspoken expectations lead to lots of conflict and resentment.
In the Gospel passage today, John the Baptist is in prison for speaking truth to power. John’s role was to prepare the way for the Lord. The Messiah was coming, the time was imminent. John was sure that Jesus was the Messiah, he knew it even while he was still in his mother’s womb, and this truth was confirmed at Jesus’ Baptism. But now John was not so sure. His expectations were not lining up with what he was seeing. Why?
View SermonThe Place Where God Dwells
For the sons of Korah, the authors of Psalm 84, there was no better place to be than the Temple. The temple was intended by God to be an earthly representation of God’s heavenly courts. A place where heaven and earth met. Even today, when we worship it gives us a foretaste of heaven. Today, we give God thanks for this house of worship as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the consecration of this building. Since that day there have been approximately 520 Sundays and probably at least 2000 opportunities for corporate worship! At the same time, we remember that the church is not a building, it is people!
View SermonWake Up!
Your car may not have an autopilot mode, but I bet you have had the experience of intending to go to a particular destination, getting lost in a conversation, and taking wrong turns because of it! Similarly, sometimes we move through life as if we have an autopilot for our lives. We can pick up sin in our lives without even realizing it. This is what happens when we are in autopilot mode. It is as if we are sleeping. We move passively through life, uncritically accepting patterns of speech, behaviors, and concepts from our culture. In Romans 13:11 Saint Paul tells us that it is time to wake up!
View SermonCount Your Blessings
Our contemporary celebration of Thanksgiving arises from a European tradition with deep Christian roots, recognizing the blessings and provision of Almighty God either at harvest time or after deliverance from significant trouble. And yet, we forget this sometimes. We forget that God is the one who provides, and we take that burden upon ourselves. We strive after the things of this world, searching for happiness, searching for meaning, searching for peace. Jesus’ words remind us to set our anxieties aside. He tells us that when we focus on the things of this world, we will find anxiety. But, when we focus on God and his Kingdom instead, everything else falls into its own right place.
View SermonProve It
Where we place our earthly treasure reveals something about what we value in our hearts. How we handle our money has a remarkably formative effect on our hearts, much more powerful than anything we say. For good or for ill. Think for a moment about your annual expenses. Where does your money go? What does it say about what you value? It is easy to make an idol out of money, or out of the things money can buy. Jesus provides us with a different way. Instead of seeking after more and more, Jesus seeks to give more and more.
View SermonThe Reset Button
If you know anything about computers, you will know that they break. Often the fix is simply to push the reset button. Our lives are similar in that they quickly become corrupted by sin. Thankfully we have a God who is loving and merciful. When we come to him in repentance, he pushes the reset button and restores us.
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