Preacher of Habit

Dec. 24 th          The Advent Conspiracy- Love All Scripture: Luke 2: 1-16 Today we’re wrapping up our Advent sermon series entitle “The Advent Conspiracy.” And I hope you’ve found it to be a worthwhile way to spend your time leading up to Christmas. Along the way we’ve been asking an important question: Can Christmas still change the world? And if we believe the answer is yes, which I think we do, then somehow we are called to celebrate in meaningful ways that reflect the hope of that first Christmas that changed everything. We’ve suggested three ways we can do that: Worship fully, spend less, and give more. Today we add one more game-changer: Love All. The first pastors to lead their churches through the Advent Conspiracy once shared a powerful moment with a tribal chief in an African village. I wanted to share their story with you: “We stopped at a village that, like many others, welcomed us with beautiful smiles and open arms. ...

Dec. 16/17      The Advent Conspiracy: Give More Matthew 1: 18-25 We’ve been spending our weeks leading up to Christmas in a series called The Advent Conspiracy, where we’ve been asking the question, “Can Christmas still change the world? And our answer is “Yes!” You see, if we trade in our consumption for compassion and learn some new habits, I believe we can experience Christmas like never before. So far in this series we’ve explored how we can worship fully and spend less. Today, we learn how we can give more. Have you ever tried to explain the meaning of Christmas to a child? It’s a tall task. Our kids have to be awfully confused in today’s culture, what with all the Ho, Ho, Ho’s and snowmen. And even if we want to shield our little ones from wrong impressions, we’re facing an uphill battle. When Reagan was born, Joanna and I made the decision that we weren’t going to focus on Santa. Santa just wasn’t going to be a frequent conversation piece in ou...

Dec. 9/10        The Advent Conspiracy- Spend Less Scripture: Matthew 2: 1-12             We’re ready to kick off week 2 of our Advent sermon series entitled The Advent Conspiracy , and if you weren’t able to join us last week, or if you simply need a reminder, last week challenged us to worship fully. If we do anything different this Christmas, we should worship fully…because Christmas isn’t about us; it’s about Jesus. Christmas begins and ends with Jesus. And if we forget to worship fully (or neglect to worship at all), we can be sure that our Christmas celebrations won’t be nearly as meaningful as they are meant to be. Because the closer you are drawn to this Savior, the more you’ll begin to see your life change in ways you did not think were possible.             Change begins to take place the moment Mary is told she’s having a b...