Christmas is more than a Feeling

20 December, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

It doesn’t feel like…

…Christmas, since Grandpa died, mum moved into care or the kids aren’t going to be here…

…we’re really married since she’s been on deployment since the honeymoon …

…it’s our house since we’re still have boxes everywhere…

…it’s my job since I’m still learning the ropes/cleaning up after my predecessor …

…I’ve graduated since I’m not sure what I’ll do next…

…I’m retired since I have the grandkids 3 times a week…

It doesn't feel like… We all live with a sort of internal image of how life should and ought to be. We all have some sense of what an ideal Christmas, family gathering, job, church experience, family, life…is. When the reality doesn’t line up with that image, that ideal…when it doesn't feel quite right or make sense, it's easy for us to dismiss it and move on. Joseph knows that feeling. His fiancée is pregnant and the child is not his and it doesn't make sense and the easiest thing to do is dismiss it. But in dismissing what doesn't make sense or feel right, we might just miss out on something new; the life and opportunities that God wants to birth in us and through us. So join us today as we explore and experience that Christmas is more than a feeling.

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THEME VERSE:

:Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

Christmas is more than a feeling. It’s a call to enter into the mystery of what we don't understand, to embrace the messy situations that don't feel right and an invitation to walk with obedience and courage into the unexpected, unexplainable life and possibilities that God offers in Jesus.

FAITH TALK

1 How do you deal with the unexplainable or unexpected in your life?

2 What things in your life have you dismissed because you struggled to make sense of them?

3 What are you most looking forward to this Christmas?

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Christmas is more than a Family

13 December, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

From coast to coast, the pictures said it all. Flowing tears, screams of joy and lingering hugs filled our airports as families were reunited and generations connected after months of Covid border bans and lockouts. It was an early Christmas gift for so many. For more than any other time, Christmas is when we want family around, to extend traditions, create new memories, share experiences, anchor together in unity and give a sense of belonging. It was no different for Mary when she was chosen to bear God's gift to the world. The first people she wanted to share the news with was family. But what she discovered in the process was that Christmas is so much more than a family. It's a movement of love that changes and revolutionises everything. That's what we will also explore and experience today.

#3 in series: 'Christmas is more than a...'

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THEME VERSE:

… the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. Luke 1:49-50

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

Christmas is more than a family, it's a movement of eternal love that extends from generation to generation, embracing all nations, connecting all people, and creating new moments that bring joy, life and a future that are unimaginable.

FAITH TALK

1 When you have good news, who do you want to share it with first?

2 What does family mean for you at Christmas?

3 How have the events of this year changed the way you view family?

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Christmas is more than a Promise

6 December, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

Promises. We all make them and mostly with the best intentions. But then life happens. Circumstances change, the schedule gets busy. We give assurances and we don't always follow through. We say we will, and we don't. Pressures, deadlines and fatigue sets in. "I'm too tired to read tonight, tomorrow I'll read you two books instead." Promises turn to "we'll see" or "Tomorrow" or "Maybe later." We can find a myriad of reasons why following through with our promise is too inconvenient or impossible. Is it any wonder then that people have trouble believing God's promises today? For when life is hard and results are long in coming, it's easy to think that somehow God has forgotten or even abandoned his promises despite the best of intentions. But behind every promise God makes is his eternal character and the foundation of a relationship that guarantees that Christmas is more than a promise. We'll explore and experience that today.

#2 in series: "Christmas is more than a..."

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THEME VERSE:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. Luke 1:68

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

Christmas is more than a promise. It is a living into the certainty of a new reality - that God is here and on the move to stake his life on our eternity.

FAITH TALK

1. When it comes to promises, are you a person of your word or do you tend to have good intentions but don’t follow through? Explain.

2. What’s the longest you have had to wait for a promise made to you to be fulfilled?

3. How easy/difficult do you find it to believe God’s promises?

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Christmas is more than a Story

27 November, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

Stop the Spread. Santise! It's a message we have heard ad nauseum over 2020. Clean and disinfect surfaces you use often such as benchtops, desks and doorknobs, sanitise yours mobile phones, keys, wallets and work passes. Sanitise, sanitise, sanitise. While it may be a message we have heard anew this year, the truth is that we have been sanitising the message of Christmas for years and perhaps that's the reason that the real message of Christmas is obscured. We have sanitised so well, that perhaps we have unknowingly stopped the spread of the greatest message of all. Our carefully manicured nativities are so squeaky clean and beautifully arranged. Our Christmas trees and twinkling lights and beautifully wrapped presents underneath are picture perfect. The smells of Christmas baking fill our senses and ignite our memories with happiness. But the first Christmas was not a storybook rendition that ends with "happily ever after. It was immersed in darkness, surrounded by uncertainty and contaminated with the stench of sin. Christmas is more than a story...far more and that what we will explore and experience today.

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THEME VERSE:

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”... Mark 1:1-2

REMEMBER THIS WEEK:

Christmas is more than a story. It is a divinely inspired, purposely designed and radically executed rescue plan to save the world God loves; a world that includes you.

FAITH TALK:

1. What do you hope most for in this Advent/Christmas season?

2. How is Christmas more than a story for you?

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Our Life

22 November, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

What do you say? "Thank you". Say "Ta! From an early age we teach children gratitude. For it doesn't come naturally. We even teach them to be grateful for the things they don't like, like the Brussel sprouts that have been served up for tea. "Just be grateful you've got food on your plate for there's lots of starving kids around the world who are going to bed tonight without anything to eat." But the more independent we become, the easier it is for the muscle of gratitude to weaken. When you can buy the things you had to ask for, or go to the places that you weren't allowed to go and get the things you want with ease, it's easy to forget how good we actually have it, But gratitude is a gift that puts your present moment in perspective and transforms the way you approach tomorrow. So today as we come to the final week of the Church year, and the final week of our series, His Story, my Life, we are going to take the time to stop, reflect, and give thanks to God for his abundant blessings to us as LifeWay, a family of Churches in multiple locations over the past year. It's His Story, our life - a story for which we are truly thankful.

#7 and final in series: His Story...My Life

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THEME VERSE:

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:15-16

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

Gratitude requires not just feeling thankful but acting on it. Living it. The only authentic response to God’s saving grace is faith shown in action, and gratitude that erupts in praise, giving glory to God.

FAITH TALK

1. What three things are you most grateful to God for over the past year?

2. What three things are you most grateful for in the life of your Church over the past year?

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His Purpose

15 November, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

Connect the dots. We've all done one. It's a form of puzzle that contains a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. Our life and our stories are like a dot to dot puzzle. Each dot is a circumstance, an encounter, a memory, a decision made, a value held, a moment celebrated, a failure experienced, a dream crushed. Unconnected, they are random dots. Disconnected, they make no sense. But connected with the lines of our life, they tell a story. The only problem is they are not numbered. Today the risen Jesus comes to connect the dots, to craft his story of love in our life as he reveals his purpose. That's what we'll explore and experience today.

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THEME VERSE:

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. John 21:17

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

Jesus believes in you more than you believe in yourself. He comes to transform your emptiness into abundance, your darkness into light, your failure into blessing, your rejection into acceptance, your weakness into strength, your endings into new beginnings, so you can live every day in his presence for his purposes.

FAITH TALK

1. What's your best fishing story?

2. What do you consider your biggest failure in life?

3. What's your purpose in life?

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His Presence

8 November, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

Have you ever just needed to clear your head? To go for a walk to process things? Ever jumped into the car and driven, not sure where you were going, but just needing to escape from life? Has your life ever been turned upside down, leaving you dazed, confused, shattered or wrestling with questions like what’s next? Where do I go? What do I do? Have you ever felt fatigued or frustrated, and can’t see Jesus and can only think of everything wrong with your life. Instead of sensing God you feel like he’s gone or like he’ll talk to anyone but you. When you can’t see God or sense Christ’s presence it can be a dark place. Our vision becomes blurred and our memories become selective. If you are at that intersection in your life, right now, Jesus comes to reveal his presence to you in three life-giving ways that re-awaken passion, renew life and transform the story of your life. We will explore and discover again His presence in your life today.

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THEME VERSE:

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 31-32

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

Regardless of how it seems or how you feel, you are not alone in your journey. Christ will catch up with you and is present with you. Invite him to stay and let him transform the transit into a dwelling!

FAITH TALK

1. Where do you go when you're trying to esape from life?

2. What are running from today whether physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually?

3. When has it felt like your heart was burning within you? Share.

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His Forgiveness

1 November, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

“I forgive you”. These words might be three of the hardest words we ever speak or hear. The truth is we’ve all been on both sides of that sentence. We’ve been the forgiver - hurt, disappointed, betrayed. We’ve been the forgiven - embarrassed, guilty, ashamed. What happens in us when Christ forgives and then offers us our very existence as a gift? What does it mean to cancel the debt someone owes you in your relationship because all your debts have been cancelled by Jesus’ death & resurrection? The words “I forgive you’ are incredibly powerful words, capable of re-writing the narrative of a life or the story of a relationship. They are words which bring freedom, restoration, and release, transforming hearts, minds and attitudes. We’ll explore and experience that together today as we celebrate the Reformation truth that Jesus has already written you into his story of life, love and joy with his forgiveness.Read the Weekly News here

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THEME VERSE:

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:47-48

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

Forgiveness gives you a blank page on which to write the next chapter of your life. When you have been forgiven, all that is left is gratitude. When you forgive others, all that's left is freedom and possibility. Forgiveness is the ultimate miracle of God's grace alone.

FAITH TALK

1 Are you a person who forgives easily or do you tend to hold a grudge and struggle to let go of past hurts? Why?

2. How has forgiveness rewritten a story in your life or of your life?

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His Healing

25 October, 2020 Pastor Mark Schultz

The Healing power of Touch. We know it. We crave it. We were made for it. The tender touch of compassion, the embracive hug of comfort or welcome, the caring touch of support and healing. For many isolated in this time of COVID -19, whether in quarantine or stuck overseas, touch has become the rarest quarantine provision. Without it, we don't feel so human. It drains us of life, it robs us of hope, it diminishes our joy and isolates us from community. Jesus came to save, heal and restore; his entire life on earth was characterised by touch. To those who feel isolated, vulnerable and alone, know there is power in touching Jesus. It's a touch that cares, heals, embraces, lifts up and restores. Come and receive the power of his healing touch again today.

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THEME VERSE:

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. Matthew 9:22

REMEMBER THIS WEEK

When you feel drained of life, let the touch of Jesus restore and heal you.

FAITH TALK

1 When has someone's touch brought healing to your life?

2. Where do you long for the healing touch of Jesus in your life today?

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