Thursday, January 30, 2014

January 30 E-News

Announcements

Fruit of the Spirit-- It's not to late to join us! Due to the Super Bowl, we'll meet early this coming Sunday @ 4:00.


Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.
Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons
Dinner Napkins
Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates
Dessert Plates


New Hope News

Sunday SchoolWe finish up Matthew 10 this coming Sunday.

Wednesday SuppersWill resume next Wednesday, February 5.


Pray For:
Norma Capone

Christine Dyer

For those without a warm place to go in the winter


Links







Keith's Random Thoughts

Despite leaving my car at the bottom of our subdivision on Tuesday morning, I made it home. I had a warm house, food in the refrigerator, a roof over my head and my family at home.
For all the inconveniences experienced, I was extraordinarily grateful for the blessings that did come my way. A 20 minute walk home in the snow without a thick coat is the worst I had to deal with.
Often, when things turn against us, we forget to count our blessings. We forget to be grateful for the things we have, and the worry or angst about our stress threatens to consume us. It's not that we're ungrateful... we just forget to be grateful and spend our energy worrying.
I do this all the time. If I could get back the time I've spent worrying, I'd suddenly find myself with a lot of free time on my hands. Right now, I might use that to drive south, where it's warmer.
Gratitude is a mighty challenger to the things that threaten us, to the things that worry us, to the things that try and occupy our minds. When I remember to be grateful, I relax, and recognize that all is secure in Christ. All is well, even when it appears that the walls are closing in, because I am in God's hands, and though the storms may rage, though the ice my threaten... in him, all is well.

Text for this Tuesday, December 24

Acts 3-4:22 (ESV)


3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter Speaks in Solomon's Portico

11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Peter and John Before the Council

4 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.


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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Sermon on Acts 2 for 1/26/2014

Acts 2:37-47

   37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
  40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. The Fellowship of the Believers 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
  45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.


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How many of you have ever adopted a pet from the pound? 
It’s tough, because you can’t know much about the dog or cat.  You have a few minutes with the animal, and then you have to decide whether or not it will be a good fit in your home.  You’re guessing, really, based on how it responds to you and the other noises around it.  If it responds lovingly to affection, you can guess that it grew up in a nice place.  If it cowers in the corner, that gives you an entirely different idea about what its home was like before it came to the pound.  If it’s clean and well-groomed, you can guess what kind of owner it had, and if it looks like it has never seen a brush, then you can imagine that it probably was outside a lot. 
It’s only later on, weeks and months and years into owning the pet, that you begin to understand more fully what the animal’s environment was like.  If it cowers when it hears a loud noise or when someone yells, you recognize how pieces of its environment have shaped it.  If it longs for human affection, you see how the environment has shaped its personality.  In so many ways, you recognize the fingerprints of the previous owners.
We’re all shaped by our environments.  You and I both are products of our environments.  Spend a day with me, and you’ll probably be able to guess a few things about my family of origin.  Watch me try and soothe conflict, and you’ll guess that we didn’t all get along perfectly.  See what I react to, and you can begin to imagine what it was like growing up with me.  I was shaped by the family in which I was raised.  We all were.  We all have things we are proud of, parts of our personality we celebrate, and these are often due to our family’s influence.  In the same way, we all have things we are somewhat ashamed of, things we cower from, things we wish would go away… and these are often due to our family, too. 
Our environment powerfully shapes how we live.  Our past environment shaped us then, and it shapes us now, and our current environment is also shaping us, whether we like it or not.  Our personalities are shaped.
Now, listen again to the type of community that was going on in Acts 2:  42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.
That sounds amazing, right?  Of course people wanted to join this community!  Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a community that was witnessing signs of power, that was supporting and encouraging one another, meeting in joy and being a force for good in the community?  This sounds great, right?  We’d all sign up, wouldn’t we?
Often, we’re pretty busy trying to imitate this type of community.  We do a pretty good job with parts of it, but we want our life together and our common life to be like this.  It sounds like a dynamic place, filled with love and grace and the Holy Spirit at work in the hearts and minds of the people.  We’d love for our life to be described like this.
Frankly, this text is awash in sermons I could preach on steps to take on how to improve your life.  I could go verse by verse and tell you what you need to do today, tomorrow and next week in order to improve your life.  And we all need to improve our life, to rededicate ourselves to being converted anew every morning.  We all need to be sure that we’re allowing space for the depths of our souls to fall in love with Christ anew each and every day.  We need to change.
But more than that, I think the one thing that was defining about the Acts 2 community is the environment in which they found themselves.  It was this environment that was shaping the believers in the community, encouraging them and helping them turn into a joyous and generous people, the type of people who were going out into the world and being used by God to bring other people into the community.  The environment was shaping them and forming the type of people they were.
And what type of environment was it?
It was an environment that was shaped and guided by an awareness of how total and consuming the love of God is. 
Think about it—the sermon Peter preached was one that focused on how the Jews had put Jesus to the death, but that God had used that violent act to make it possible for these same Jews to be redeemed.  The love of God didn’t seek vengeance, but rather made a way for forgiveness.  It doesn’t make sense… but that love was swallowing up the believers.  They couldn’t get enough of God’s love—they were constantly devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, eager to hear more about this amazing love of God, and then they were going out into the world putting this love into action, loving one another.  They listened to stories of the love of God, and then they enacted it.  The community, the environment, was one in which the people were amazed at how much God loved them, and how willing God was to do anything to redeem them.
So I think the question we need to sit with is this:  is our community, is our environment, one in which we have made space in which to be reminded consistently about the awesome and amazing love of God?  Does your life have room in it for a constant theme of God’s life to run through it?  Do you let your environment be primarily informed by the fact that God loves you?
If so, this will shape the type of person that you are becoming.  If you are swallowed up by an awareness of the love of God, you will become a more loving person, and God will use you to bring others into the light of his love.  Your environment will define the type of life you lead.
In the same way, if you’re so busy, so caught up in everything else that you haven’t made room or time to be reminded of God’s love, then that, too, will shape the type of person you become.
If there’s an image I want you to leave with, it’s this:  when I was a kid and we kept an aquarium, my dad would sometimes buy cave fish.  These were fish who had lived in caves and, as a result, had lost the use of their eyes.  They were white, empty and haunting.  Because there was no light in the cave, there was no use for eyes.
In the same way, if you don’t ever make room in your days to be reminded of God’s love, to open Scripture and read the stories about God’s love and kindness and grace, then you, too, will lose your sense of love.  If you don’t hear it, you’ll forget what it’s like, and when you most need it, you might have forgotten what it looks like.
But if you continually use the eyes of your heart to peer into the wonder of God, if you let yourself be in awe of God, your environment will shape you into a person who loves other and lets yourself be loved by them, and you will be the type of person who shares that love with others.
So how will you shape your environment so that you are constantly reminded of God’s amazing and redeeming love for you?

Let us pray 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

January 16 E-News

Announcements

$.02/meal-- Please bring your money this Sunday!

Potluck-- Sunday, January 26th. Plan to stay for lunch!

Fruit of the Spirit-- Plan to join our study on the Fruit of the Spirit beginning Sunday, January 26th. Please speak with Andy Sanislo if you have questions.


Community Kitchen Spot

There are a lot of hungry and homeless children of God and the community needs some help feeding them. If you would like to help out, please bring the following items to church this Sunday & put them on the bookshelf.
Plastic Forks, Knives, Spoons
Dinner Napkins
Heavy Duty Sectional Dinner Plates
Dessert Plates


New Hope News

Sunday SchoolWe push forward in Matthew 10 this coming Sunday.

Wednesday SuppersWill resume February 5.


Pray For:
Norma Capone

Christine Dyer

For Jessica and so many others wrestling with cancer

For the families who suffer due to random violence. There seems to be an epidemic of random shootings in this country... and the ones left behind are devastated. So pray for peace.


Links









Keith's Random Thoughts

The doctor asked me a good question yesterday: How can epinephrine, sealed in a tube, expire?

It's a good question. To give you a little context, our son is allergic to nuts, and his epi-pen expired, so the doctor was renewing the prescription. Two of his sons have allergies, and we were both wondering if the 1 year expiration on epi-pens means that it has truly expired, or if someone just devised that to get you to pony up more money.
Then again, you don't want to find out the hard way that an epi-pen isn't good any more. No one wants to be out in a forest discovering that the expiration date was actually valid, because you don't know if an epi-pen works unless you inject it.

This got me thinking about faith. Now, I don't think faith expires, but we do need to renew our faith, right? A life in Christ isn't simply about a momentary decision that we store away for the moment of death, in which case we pull it out, dust it off, and use it to ward off the devil. It's not just a one-time prescription in case the worst should occur.
So we renew it. We renew ourselves daily, and we demonstrate our faith to the world—our selfless love, our service to others, our worship of Christ in all things shows that our faith has taken hold of our hearts, that our commitment to Christ is not just lip service designed to flatter God enough to save us from hell.

Our faith is a constant decision, made anew each day, to serve Christ in all things. May we renew ourselves constantly, bathing in the awesome grace of God.

Text for this Tuesday, December 24

Acts 2:1-13 (ESV)

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”


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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

"Not Good"

  One of my favorite passages in Scripture is in Nehemiah 5.  In it, Nehemiah confronts the nobles and officials.  Basically, they are charging high interest rates to the people of the land.  These are bankrupting the people who are trying to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, and they are struggling to eat during a time of famine.  When Nehemiah realizes what is going on, he summons the lenders and says, bluntly:
"The thing that you are doing is not good"
  I love it.  I love the simplicity of it.  He doesn't beat around the bush and make sure that they know how special they are.  Also, he doesn't attack them personally--he doesn't say that they are not good, but it is the thing they are doing is not good.
  It works.  The people hear Nehemiah's explanation, and they agree.  They restore everything to the people and demand no more from them.

  There is a time and a place when we need to echo these words of Nehemiah.  There are things in our society that are not good, and we need to not be afraid to name them.  May we do so boldly and wisely.
  Also, our lives need to be an example.  Nehemiah is upfront about his own generosity--he leads out of his integrity.  He doesn't ask the people to do anything he's not doing himself.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Rough reactions

  Imagine, for a moment, that you're with Paul and Barnabas in Lystra.  (Acts 14)  One moment, you're letting the power of God course through you and healing the feet of a man who has never walked.  The crowd is so amazed that they think you're a god, and pretty soon the head priest of Zeus is ready to slaughter a bull as worship to you.  There has been a pretty big misunderstanding, but either way, the city is amazed at you.
  Then, just a few moments later, the Jews show up and somehow convince the people that you're not good, but evil, and the same people who were ready to bow down and worship you are now throwing stones at you, and then, once they think you're dead, they drag you out of the city.  They don't even want your dead corpse to stay within the city.
  That's a bit of a rocky transition, right?

  There's a lesson in here--the world is a fickle place.  People can change in a moment.  Don't base your sense of self-worth on the feedback the world is giving you.  Don't depend solely on others for affirmation.  Don't believe, for a moment, that the reaction of others toward you is indicative of how God feels about you.  If you base your identity in the adoration of others, there will be a rough patch.  I promise.

  Instead, root yourself in the eternal and gracious love of God.  He loves you and will always love you.  His grace is sufficient, and he is ready to forgive.  The Bible is littered with stories of people who turned from God and yet were welcomed back when they repented.  God loves you, and that will never change.  Let that reality shape you, today and always.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Epiphany Sermon for 1/5/2014

Matthew 2:1-12 

 2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
  3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.   5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
 6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 
  7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
  9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
  12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.


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Now that we’ve reached the end of the Christmas season, Americans have settled in from their travels.  Over the past 6 weeks, countless Americans have raced from one part of the country to another, visiting family and friends near and far.  We barely settle in from Thanksgiving when Christmas calls us out once more, and we go bravely out into the chaos via car and plane. 
So what makes for a successful journey?
It’s an easy question at first—reaching one’s destination safely.  But does it matter how long it takes, or how varied the actual journey is versus the one that was planned?  Rachel’s cousin recently returned to California from Kentucky.  What was supposed to be a boring journey turned into a trip a fiasco because the airline kinda forgot about him, sending him first to Chicago for a 6 hour layover before eventually getting him to Phoenix.  Last we heard, he was still there.  If he arrives two days later at his final destination, it still counts as successful, right? 
So we want to arrive at our final destination within a reasonable amount of time.  Well, yesterday Rachel and I spent just under five hours in the car driving from Cincinnati to home.  We didn’t end up stopping, because somehow Danielle slept through the entire trip.  We were thrilled.  Of course, we were even more amazed that she slept through the entire trip because Caleb fussed the entire way.  For almost five hours, he complained that he didn’t have enough food or the right food or more toys.  Often, he complained at high volume.  About thirty minutes into the trip, I immediately regretted not leaving enough room in the trunk for a whiny toddler.  Four hours later, I could no longer think straight, but I had to focus because I was shielding my eyes from the sun with a Christmas DVD because the sunshade is broken and I don’t feel like paying the dealer $150 for it.  So we made the trip safely and in a reasonable amount of time… but was it successful?
You get the idea.  We could all recount travel adventures, and we can look back on them and laugh, grateful that we eventually made it to our destinations, often a little worse for the wear but grateful to arrive. 
Travel is difficult.  It takes a lot out of us.  It takes a commitment to travel—you don’t just do it on a whim.  You have to plan for it, to prepare yourself, and you have to be ready for the unexpected, to deal with whatever you might encounter.
It is all these things today, and it was even more so in the 1st century.  It was expensive to travel, because you didn’t just set out by yourself on the freeway.  It was risky, because there were roving gangs of bandits that might hijack and rob your entire party.  It was lengthy, because there were no cars or superhighways or airplanes.  The best guess is that these magi hailed from present-day Iran, meaning they traveled almost 1,000 miles.  That’s like the distance from here to Boston.
So it’s a pretty amazing thing that these magi, who see the star of a king of another religion in the sky, set out to pay homage to him.  They travel 1,000 miles to worship at the foot of Jesus Christ, then still an infant, a toddler, at most two years old, unable to string a sentence together.  They do so because God appeared to them in the stars, gave them a sign of a king and they came to worship.
I think it’s fairly amazing that this story unfolds as it does.  Realize that these magi are gentiles.  They aren’t Jewish.  They are Persian astrologers, and rather than wait for them to figure out who the true God is, God reveals himself to them in the language they are already speaking—the language of the stars.  God makes himself known to them, makes himself accessible—but doesn’t make it easy on them.  God challenges them to make this journey, to invest their time and energy and money in a long journey to worship a child.  God asks a lot, and it doesn’t seem like the magi get a lot out of this, do they?
Friends, I don’t believe this passage is all about results.  There are a lot of individual lessons we can draw out of this, but there is a larger framework here, and I want us to focus on this.  God reveals himself to the Magi and begins in them a journey, one that challenges them and changes them.  We don’t know what took place on that journey, but I guarantee that it didn’t go exactly as expected.  Journeys never do, especially ones that take this long.  They obviously didn’t know everything at the start, because they had to detour in to Jerusalem to ask Herod for a few details.  They were working it out as they went.
But go they did.  They saw the star and they went, embarking on a journey.
We do the same. 
Friends, Christ calls us into a life of discipleship.  It’s a long, arduous journey, but it begins with a call.  It begins when God translates himself into a language we already speak—God comes to us.  On Christmas, we celebrated that God took on human flesh to reveal himself, and his grace, to us.  God continues to reveal himself to us, speaking to us in ways we understand, reaching out to us in acts of love to open our eyes and our hearts up to his incredible grace and peace.  God wants us to see him and respond.
God challenges us to take up the journey of discipleship.  Here’s what I hope you hear—it’s a lifelong journey, and it’s not going to go exactly as you have planned.  It’s not all going to be easy, smooth sailing, and it might not fit anyone’s depiction of an easy journey.  But it’s not about us—it’s not about whether or not we end up rich or successful in the eyes of the world.  It’s not about how it makes us feel or the kind of emotions it solicits.  It’s not about what it looks like from the outside.
What matters is whether we are journeying, each and every day, closer to Christ.  What matters is whether or not God is leading us in everything we are doing.  Are we pursuing Christ?  Or has the challenge of the journey become so much that we have set it aside to pursue something easier?  Have the sands of the deserts of life become too much, bogged us down and overwhelmed our defenses, causing us to seek smoother sailing?  Do we endure the heat because we trust the one who has led us here?  Are we willing to persevere, to risk everything because we trust that the initial call is faithful?  Are we going to go back to the wellspring of hope, to remind ourselves of God’s call to us, or are we just going to drift and hope we end up near where God wants us to be?
Friends, God has called us on a journey.  It’s a challenging journey, just as challenging today as it was 2,000 years ago.  It’s the journey of a lifetime, and I will not promise for a moment that it will be easy.  There will be segments far harder than any of us can endure on our own.  We will face monumental questions.  There will be plenty of people promising plenty of easier paths.
But it’s worth it, and not just because there are plenty of celebrations along the way.  It’s worth it because of where it leads—to the Christ, to the King, to the One who reigns forever.  This is where the journey leads—to eternal worship.  From the outside, it looks like the magi risked everything to give gifts to a child who wasn’t old enough to appreciate them.
But in the eyes of the Kingdom, the magi were changed.  They left by another way, not going the same as they came.  Their eternal destinies were altered because they came to worship the king, and that is my hope for each and every one of us—that we are forever changed by our lifelong journey of faith, and that we find ourselves in worship of the King, both now and forever. 

Let us pray