Preacher of Habit

August 25, 2019 This Is Us: A People Who Love  Scripture: Matthew 17: 34-30  Last week we began a sermon series called This Is Us, and during this series we’re exploring three core words that define the type of people God has called us to be at Lakeside. We wrestled last Sunday with the idea of knowing God, setting aside some time to be present with God and to learning how to trust Him. But knowing God is only half the story, because if we know God, our lives should begin to take a new shape, the shape of love. If you have your Bibles… I smiled a few night’s back when our youngest daughter, Carmyn, pulled up beside me and asked if we could read a story. I love those moments. And so I quickly said yes and thought that this would be like any other night- I would do the reading and she would do the listening, because that’s how we’d always done it. But my assumption was wrong. Before I could grab the book, Carmyn turned to a page and began to read…at least that’s what she

Aug. 18, 2019 This is Us: A People Who Know  2 Peter 1: 2-13 Well friends, as we head into our message this morning, I wanted to take a moment to briefly reflect on Pastor Tim’s impact. Just last week, Pastor Tim was standing to read our first Scripture at the 10:30 service, full of the same joy and energy we had come to expect of him. But on Tuesday, God called him home. As I talked with people throughout the day, they all said the same thing about Pastor Tim—he was an encourager, a blesser, someone who lived his life in purposeful and meaningful ways. And most importantly, he lived his life with one goal in mind: to help people know Jesus. When news of Tim’s passing reached our ears, I called the staff into the office and shared that moment with them, and interestingly, Cindy had just started working on Pastor Tim’s review of a book called, “Knowing God.” And Pastor’s Tim’s final sentence pointed us to Philippians 3: 10, which paraphrased, says this: “I want to know Chr

Message Coming Home: Finding More Than Enough  Scripture: John 6: 1-13 Today we are concluding our “Coming Home” sermon series, where we’ve been asking the question, “What do we find when we come home to life with Jesus?” I hope you’ve been able to pick up on some of the themes that drive my heart, themes like love, life and purpose. And I hope these themes will come to define our season of ministry together. But before we put a bow on this series, we have one more gift to discover: what God gives us is more than enough. I invite you to read with me… I was about 10 years old when I was asked to think about going on my first mission trip.  My parents had been on previous trips, but this time they thought it would be good for the entire family to travel and serve together. Now, I had a profound list of interests as a 10 year old, but suffice to say, helping others wasn’t one of them. I was a backyard kickball star and could outrun anyone in a good game of Capture the Fl

Coming Home: Finding Joy  John 16: 16-33 Today we’re continuing our Coming Home series, where we’ve been asking the question what do we find when we come home to life with Jesus? So far we’ve looked at the gifts of love, purpose and life. Today we turn our attention to joy. Would you read with me?  On Wednesday, several posts popped up on my Facebook feed encouraging me to pray for a group of youth attending ZimCamp, which is a small part of a partnership our Conference has with the Zimbabwe Methodists. Praying for these young travelers has brought back wonderful memories of my own time in Zimbabwe. Three summers ago, I had the opportunity to spend several weeks in Zimbabwe, and it was unforgettable. I’ve probably forgotten more than I remember about Zimbabwe, but one moment I’ll never forget is a conversation I had with my new friend Amos. Amos and his wife, Margaret, were our first hosts in a tiny village known as Mutepfe. Their home was in a remote area with no electr

Message Coming Home: Finding Life Scripture: John 3:1-21 Today we are continuing our sermon series called Coming Home. Along the way, we’ve been asking the question: What do we find when we come home to life with Jesus? Two weeks ago we looked at the story of the Prodigal Son, which is the story of a young man who wasted his father’s gift in wild living and found himself beaten down and alone in the world. Eventually he made the decision to go home, where he found his father waiting with open arms and extravagant love. Last week we looked at the calling of the first disciples and how they dropped their nets and found new purpose in Christ. Today we turn to a different book- the Gospel of John- to explore what is undoubtedly the most famous conversation in the Bible. I invite you to turn with me to the John 3.  Now, before we get too far ahead, I think it’s important for you to some background information about this book. John is one of four “Gospels” in the Bible; one o