AnotherJohn.Com

  John 8:12-19 When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," the Pharisees questioned him. If you're going to say something like that, you're going to need proof. Where are your witnesses to what you're saying, Jesus? Who can confirm this? How do we know you're speaking truth? I laugh when I read this passage. Jesus' response is, essentially, God is my witness. Can you imagine how you would respond if someone told you that today? Apparently, God says a lot of things to a lot of people. Am I a Pharisee if my first response is to question what God said to them? If your Father is your witness, "Where is your Father?" the Pharisees wanted to know. Well, you don't know him. Again, if anyone other Jesus said this, it'd be a little suspect. Of course, it was more than suspect for the Pharisees and other teachers. So, many of them rejected Jesus. Many people today, too, reject Jesus. Where is his father, they might wonder. Jesus isn't even ...

  1 Chronicles 2:7-13 Our possessions, wealth, honor or success are blessings from God. If we have a lot of stuff, it must be because God's been good to us. If we're wealthy, of course, God blessed us. But not necessarily, right? Are all wealthy people blessed by God? Are God's blessings stuff? Some of the people I've met who have felt most blessed by God have had less of what we call blessings. No second or third cars. No new home. No raise. Not even three meals a day. Just a full assurance of God's presence and power. While I'm sure God can and does bless us with comforts and prosperity, I always want to be careful with that notion. It's too easy to keep going in that direction. It doesn't take much effort to find that kind of faith teaching that says the more we have, the more blessed we are. The more God favors us. That prosperity is God's ultimate desire for us. How convenient for us. It's helpful to consider what blessings are. Are they rew...

 I'm not sure if I've ever preached wearing a Christmas sweater before. The week before, I told the church to watch the weather. Depending on how hot it would be, we'd make it either ugly Christmas sweater or ugly Christmas t-shirt Sunday.  I'm always cold now. So, I went with a sweater. These churches keep the sanctuaries so cold these days--do I sound old enough to say that? Oh, and we should just go with Christmas sweater. Some people's ugly is another person's pretty. I don't always talk about Mary, but when I do it's probably around Christmas. But why don't we think about her more. She's around for more than the birth narratives. You scared, Protestant? Huh, you scared you might get some Catholic on you? (Snark complete) Listen to "Growing with Jesus" on Spotify Watch on YouTube Day 1: A New Image of the Nativity Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:15-20 Reflection: Consider the traditional nativity scene and the image described ...

  Titus 3:4-7 Friends, it's Christmas. The goodness and loving kindness of God has appeared and has a name, Jesus. His is the ultimate one-size-fits-all gift. Christ came and brought salvation to all. What other gift could stir in us such joy and hope? What other treasure could we expect to find? And yet scripture reminds us that with salvation comes another gift. I have a hope for you today. Today and always, really. That within your celebrations and moments of worship, you sense the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit guide you to God's peace when circumstances feel tense. If anxiousness and animosity show their faces, may the Holy Spirit propel your joy, God's joy, to take over. When pride and indifference fill your thoughts, may God's Spirit bring you back to earth and love. God's gift is not a season. Not even a celebration. But a constant renewal and transformation. According to the hope of eternal life, may the Spirit of God draw you ever close...

Watch on YouTube This sermon wrapped up our 2024 Advent sermon series, Incarnation. Each week, I encouraged the church to look for how God's hope, peace, joy and love show up incarnationally, in the flesh, around them. And to commit to being God's hope, peace, joy and love in the flesh themselves to the people they come to know.   Stay blessed...john Day 1: Embodying the Hope of Christ Scripture Reading:  Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Reflection: Reflect on the hope that Christ’s incarnation brings to the world. What are the areas of your life and community where you see disappointment and fear? How can you embody Christ’s hope in these situations? Questions: What does hope in the flesh look like in your daily life? How can you actively spread hope to those around you this week? Additional Scripture:  Matthew 12:21 Day 2: Embodying the Peace ...

  Isaiah 9:2-7 It happens to us preachers. Sunday afternoon or Monday morning we'll kick ourselves because we forgot to say something in the sermon we thought was important. That happened to me this week. As it often is for me, there was one sentence I wanted to say. One thing that would tie everything together. We read from Luke about Mary visiting Elizabeth. The women rejoiced together because they had a strong sense of what God was about to do through Mary's child. We remembered Mary's song of praise and the upside down kingdom she saw coming. The sermon was about us being love in the flesh in that kingdom. The night before, our church had just hosted a fun, big community event. It was a love-in-the-flesh kind of gathering. But it cost us thousands of dollars to pull off. We weren't going to be able to do that again right away. So, I also mentioned another incarnational example. It was a simple Christmas card someone gave to another person. The one who received the c...

  Genesis 25:19-28 Waiting is a major theme of Advent. We remember that God's people waited for the promise of Messiah. They prayed and waited and waited and prayed until Christ came into the world. Jesus' birth was the fulfillment of God's promise and the waiting came to an end. But after Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven, a new waiting began. Now, God's people wait for the return of Christ. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Have you ever been so saddened and burdened by what's happening in the world that you've prayed for Christ to come back soon? If so, you've had a taste of how God's people waited and prayed before. That's our faith's big-picture waiting. But we also have everyday life prayers we wait for. And learning to wait for Christ's return teaches us how to wait for those more personal promises. There's a particular detail about Isaac you might miss in Genesis 25. The text says Isaac married Reb...

Our Kelsey Kids came to the front so we could pray with them. That's what we do right before they go to a children's time designed for them. I asked Pam what they were learning today. She said they would hear about God's love. Then she said something about making a gingerbread house. Well, they did. And they made it for Gloria and me! It was a nice gift. I joked about eating it one the way home. But I took the advice of the adults who witnessed how it was made. Let's just say too many hands and winter germs went into the gingerbread construction. By the time the kids read this and find out I didn't eat it, they'll understand. Stay blessed...john

  Hebrews 10:32-39 I've been thinking a lot about what church would be without church. That is to say, most of us can't imagine being a part of a church without a building to house us. It almost seems impossible to have a church without a church facility. And yet many Christians pull it off. Christians have long, long fulfilled the commission to make disciples without buildings. Many still do today. In my recent meandering, I've recognized I'm grateful every congregation I've served had an address. There were many meaningful and holy moments there. At the same time, there was always a struggle to extend our mission away from church. It's as if  real  ministry can only happen a that holy address. When I visited other congregations, I began to notice something. A lot of churches love their church buildings. Guess what many of us put on the cover of our weekly bulletins, monthly newsletters and letterhead. Buildings. We even put them on our website and t-shirts. Oh...

  Hebrews 10:10-18 From time to time, a conversation I had with a 90-year-old saint comes to mind. We had been at a church event one morning. It was one of those kind where everyone shows up. In the midst of the hurry of the event, I sat down to visit for a moment with my friend. We said how good is was to see everyone and that things were looking well. Then he said something I wasn't expecting. He said, "I hope we're actually teaching them about Jesus." At first, I thought he might be talking about me and my preaching. But, no, he meant us. Me, him and the church. His tone seesawed. He was happy the event was a success. He worried we were merely filling calendars. People seemed to love being a part of their church. But was this a place they actually learned to experience the gospel? To be sure, my friend wasn't just looking at other people. The last part of our conversation is what stands out to me most. He went on to talk about how he was still changing. There w...

  Luke 7:31-34 There's a difference between child-like faith and childish faith. Child-like faith is Jesus centered. This faith forms out of humility, wonder and trust. Childish faith is self centered. It's the image of a child pouting for what they want or because of what they didn't get. No matter our age, either faith is a choice we make. The years you accumulate in church do not automatically equate to holiness and discipleship. You decide what faith you will pursue and nurture. Jesus once addressed a crowd about the message they heard from John the Baptist. Parenthetically, Luke tells us even tax collectors "acknowledged the justice of God" (7:29). But the Pharisees and other religious teachers "rejected God's purpose for themselves"(7:30). Jesus responded by offering an illustration. What were the "people of this generation" like? They were like children playing in the marketplace. Now, they weren't having fun. Instead, they compl...

My kids make fun of me because I'll quote the Applebee's song from time to time. Actually, the cringe. But I think they'll love this. It came out last year, but somehow I missed it. It's pretty good. I laughed several times.  Fancy Like Christmas Somebody make me this creative! Stay blessed...john

  Acts 28:23-31 Reflection is looking back to live forward. You learn to look back on life experiences, good or bad, to appreciate what they meant to you. To understand their impact on who you were then and who you are now. But you don't have to only think of big experiences. John Wesley's Holy Club had a list of 22 questions they reflected on at the end of each day. We also reflect on what we hear and read in scripture or about God's word. You could spend money on Bible study curriculum. But what if people in our churches took more time to reflect on each week's sermon instead? Looking back, reflecting, on scripture teaches us to notice more of the Spirit's voice. The more we reflect, the more Bible reading becomes more than Bible reading. Reflection helps us find the intersection between scripture's message and our walk with God. That is, as much as the Bible speaks to us, it has spoken to many generations before us. We have lessons to learn and truth to disco...

  Hebrews 13:7-17 Discipleship is central to everything we are and all we do as God's church. With as much as there can be to say about discipleship, the idea is pretty simple. I'm grateful people have asked me, What is a disciple? For a while, I've gone with what I consider an easy definition of discipleship. A disciple is anyone who is learning about Jesus, in order to live like Jesus because they love Jesus. Again, we can explore much more about each of the three parts to that definition. But I also appreciate an even more concise answer. Simply said, discipleship is imitation. Those three words also allow us to clarify at least two important things. First, you can be anyone's disciple. We might have a hard time answering what Jesus would do or say. But we can easily answer what our go-to political pundits think. We may even repeat what we hear from them. In a sense, that's imitation. Parents often worry about the kinds of friends their children have. Why? Imitat...

 There's an entire history to "goodbye." That is, "goodbye" and "bye-bye" didn't develop out of thin air. Over centuries, we've contracted a blessing and promise people often gave each other. God be with you is where we began. How we use and change language over time got us to bubye. No matter how we say it, though, we're expressing a reiterated promise of God found in scripture. God is with us. God promised the people they would not walk alone (Leviticus 26:12). Through the prophet Ezekiel, God said, "My dwelling place shall be with them" (Ezekiel 37:27). Isaiah quotes God, "Don't be afraid, for I am with you" (Isaiah 41:10). The Lord even makes the promise to individuals like Joshua and Gideon. Of course, many of us know and hold onto the promise Jesus gave: I am with you always (Matthew 28:20). There's no defining God and speaking of God without mentioning God's presence. Yes, we could only talk about God...

  1 Corinthians 8:1-5 Some of us have the spiritual gift of generosity. Giving is easy for those people. And it's not only about having the finances to be generous. It's an attitude that looks first to the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. The gift of generosity compels those people to give in ways that might make the rest of us uncomfortable or reluctant. I'm grateful we recognize generosity as a gift of God's spirit. It gives us a chance to reflect on how meaningful giving is to our faith. There are, at least, three ways generosity builds the church. First, generosity is a blessing. When generosity meets a need, we help take care of a part of someone's life. This weekend, our church gave an impromptu gift to a neighbor who lost his home in a fire Sunday morning. The neighbor's tears showed me they knew it was a blessing. Second, ministry happens because of generosity. I need to remind you kingdom ministry comes in many forms. But generosity also takes on...

  Luke 7:18-20 In Luke's gospel, other than Jesus' baptism, there is no direct interaction between John and Jesus. Now, we know John baptized Jesus. For one, that's what John was doing. Secondly, there are other gospel accounts of Jesus' baptism that tell us so. Notice, though, Luke's text doesn't say specifically John baptized the Lord. Again, there's no direct interaction between the two cousins. Maybe that helps account for John's worry. John was in jail and sent his disciples to ask Jesus a question. "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else" (Luke 7:21)? In other words, have I wasted my time with you? Am I in jail for someone who isn't who I thought he was? Have you ever wondered the same or struggled with a similar question? Jesus inaugurated his ministry by quoting from the prophet Isaiah. One of the signs of the Spirit's anointing Isaiah saw was that Messiah would "proclaim release to the captives...

  Isaiah 19:18-25 Especially around the Christmas season, people will say, "Don't be a Scrooge," or "Don't be a Grinch." Of course, I know what we mean when we say that. Don't be greedy or cold-heart like Ebenezer Scrooge was. The world doesn't need another Who-hating person. So, don't be mean to others. Yes, those are all worthy encouragements. But we'd actually do better by being more Scrooge and Grinch like. When we tell each other to not be Scrooge or Grinch, we're remembering one part of each character's story. How would you like it if everyone only remembered you for your shortcomings? Both Scrooge and Grinch are different  people  by the time we finish their stories. Didn't Tiny Tim want people to remember the change God brought to people? That people would see him, sickly as he was, and on Christmas remember the one "who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see." Both Scrooge and Grinch had their heart's eye...

 Listen on Spotify In case you're wondering, the drum cleaning is taking longer than I anticipated. But it's going to be nice when I'm done. I'll make that a sermon illustration when I'm done.  Watch on YouTube Stay blessed...john  Day 1: The Messenger of Peace Scripture:  Malachi 3:1 – “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.” Devotional:  Reflect on the role of messengers in your life. Who has God used to prepare you to receive God’s peace? Think about how these messengers have guided you through difficult and chaotic situations, acting as God’s instrument to reveal God’s presence, even when things seemed overwhelmingly unjust or wrong. Reflection Questions: Who are the messengers of peace in your life? How have they helped prepare you to meet God’s peace? In what ways can you become a messenger of peace for others? Additional Scripture:  Isaiah 40:3-5 Day 2: The Hard W...