Gathering Church Sermon Podcast | Mark Acuff | Psalm 56
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In God, whose word I praise, In the LORD, whose word I praise— In God I trust. Psalm 56:10-11b
In.
A powerful preposition. It can describe a lot.
In love.
In trouble.
In heaven.
In debt.
At the beginning of a New Year how can a person locate their life in the one reality that transcends and explains all others?
Even an agnostic may suspect that if there is a God, more of that God would be better for their life. The other day I was praying with and for a friend who describes herself as an agnostic. I was thanking God for her. When I finished she wanted to keep praying, so she stammered, “To whom it may concern.”
This Sunday at the Gathering Church, New Year’s Day we will meet with God and learn how we locate our hopes, our worries, our ambitions, our dreams in God.
It will be a great way to begin the New Year together. Gathering Church Sermon Podcast | Mark Acuff
Invite family and friends to join you at the special Candlelight Christmas Eve Service..
December 24 5:30 pm
Creekside Elementary School 5321 Ephesus Church Road Durham, NC 27707
Sunday Morning: There will be no service Sunday morning.
Gathering Church Sermon Podcast | Mark Acuff | Matthew 2:13-23
The editor blew it.
He must not have been paying attention. Didn’t read the copy to the end.
How else could he have let Matthew tell the story of the birth of Christ the way he did?
It should have ended with the Wise Men presenting their gifts and adoring the Christ Child, the Star brightly shining above. That’s the way Christmas Pageants end, along with an angelic choir singing Handel’s Glory to God.
But Matthew’s story doesn’t end that way.
It ends with Bethlehem wailing over the murder of their new born sons.
The Christ Child?
He’s now a fugitive.
Prince of Peace – welcome.
Why in the world would Matthew tell us the tragic story found in Matthew 2:13-23? Why is that story essential to understanding the coming of Christ?
What about this story can shape in us a real faith that connects us to what God was doing in sending Jesus, that connects us to what God is doing now?
A make-believe faith that reflects the tone of Andy Williams would be fine with me.
So, what are you saying to us God?
This Sunday.
Gathering Church Sermon Podcast | Mark Acuff | Matthew 2:1-12
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