Everett John McWhorter Baptism
Watch Everett John McWhorter Baptism
Everett John McWhorter Baptism
November 26th 2021; 11am
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An Ever Widening Future
The many lives of the ancient Israel — and you.
The many lives of the ancient Israel — and you.
This morning’s devotion comes from Daily Grace, the latest 365-day devotional from Mockingbird.
Sing, O barren one who did not bear; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.
Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns. (Isaiah 54:1-3)
You’ve known those people who, like cats, seem to have at least nine lives. They’ve survived illnesses and accidents and really toxic relationships, and they are, miraculously, still standing. The Israel that Isaiah addresses here is like that cat — possessing, at the very least, four lives.
• She is the barren woman of the exile in Babylon, fearing that Israel’s family tree is in danger of being uprooted (v. 1).
• She is the widowed woman of that same exile, feeling at times like God, her husband, has died (v. 4).
• She is the momentarily deserted wife (vv. 6-7), whom God walked out on in anger over her flagrant unfaithfulness.
Yet somehow, in God’s plan, Isaiah prophesies that all those past and tragic lives will be swallowed up in a new “covenant of peace” (v. 10). And her new identity will be that of the reunited wife of God and beloved mother of God’s growing brood. In fact, verse 2 suggests that she will need to keep patching that tent, keep widening those stakes in all directions, in order to hold all the children God will bring into her home.
I don’t know you, so I don’t know how many lives you’ve had nor which life you are currently living. I do pray, however, that God’s presence in your life will enlarge your tent to shelter an ever-widening future.
Await: Daily Gifts From a Loving Father
Remember being little and excitedly waiting for Christmas to come. As we await the coming messiah, its like we are moving on a grand advent calendar moving closer to the coming Christ. But waiting is hard and can feel like there is nothing good for us. In that struggle of waiting God leaves us daily gifts, a foretaste of what is to come.
Remember being little and excitedly waiting for Christmas to come. As we await the coming messiah, its like we are moving on a grand advent calendar moving closer to the coming Christ. But waiting is hard and can feel like there is nothing good for us. In that struggle of waiting God leaves us daily gifts, a foretaste of what is to come.
![[Sunday] Await Holy Night](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1640274898409-HRS2H9CH8NZA5G7B0FT0/Await+5a.jpg)
![[Sunday] Await the Empty Tomb](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1639758127214-0JWS87ILEHZ44BP3W3Z5/Await+4a.jpg)
![[Sunday] Await the Christmas Ham](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1639149545618-L5PE1GGD1ICPLYK0PY6K/Await+3a.jpg)
![[Sunday] Await the Nativity](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1638495832421-GE6I616E0YQQ1RHNDQH4/Await+2a.jpg)
![[Sunday] Await the Ornament](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1637891860017-5349YN5DBWRW8JE8NPYS/Await+1a.jpg)
![[Sunday] Christ the King Sunday 2021](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1637337391706-RFGQNEMC1L5ACOOKG6N8/CTK+21a.jpg)
[Sunday] Christ the King Sunday 2021
Just as Christ is “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,” at the close of every liturgical year, we look forward with a renewed hope in Christ’s coming again in glory to reign as Lord forever. In the same way, we look forward to our own resurrection and the time of a new earth — an earth that is no longer broken by sin and groaning. Christ will come again in glory just as surely as He came the first time — when He was born. So we have “transition” at the end of the “long green season” into the Advent Season, the new beginning of the liturgical year.
Questions for the week
What does it mean to be a king?
Read John 10:22-30. What did it mean for the disciples to ask if Jesus was the Christ?
Read John 18:33-40. How does Jesus define his kingdom?
How is Jesus different from the kings, political leaders, and rulers of our world? How does Jesus rule in a different way?
When you see problems in the world, what comfort do you get, knowing that Jesus is king?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Pointing to Greatness Stave 4](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766107074577-MKU6U8LW1N5S1EATE1RW/Christmas+light+4a.jpg)
![Christmas Dinner at Mission BBQ [photos]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766111458710-ULPCKS16DAZCMUN7LI93/PXL_20251218_000243197.jpg)
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Know Me Better Man Stave 3](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1765482111687-AQYCM4FZQV9BO7JIPL02/Christmas+light+3a.jpg)
Photos of Operation Christmas Child and LWML Rally 21
See this LWML and Christmas Child Photos
Stressed Out About Thanksgiving
The Anxiety of Wanting a Perfect Holiday Feast
Read the Rest at Stressed Out About Thanksgiving - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
I‘m already stressed out about Thanksgiving. I should amend that previous statement. I’ve been stressed about Thanksgiving for months now. As the holiday approaches, my anxiety level is going sky high.
It’s going to be my first experience cooking and hosting the gobble gobble day. Two years ago, I cooked most of the meal and then carted it to someone else’s home. This year, though, I’ll be cooking and hosting. It’s a marathon only made somewhat easier by the fact that I don’t have to worry about roasting (or frying?) a turkey; no one particularly likes it in our family.
If all else fails …
But I’m already stressing … How am I going to cook and bake everything with only one oven? When are we going to eat because the daughter usually is napping when I like to have Thanksgiving Din…………………
Read the Rest at Stressed Out About Thanksgiving - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
![[Sunday] Strong Weakness - Forgive & Give](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1636732880933-BW95MBE2L3G410IF4JYJ/F%26G+4a.jpg)
[Sunday] Strong Weakness - Forgive & Give
So much of our capital time and money is spent trying to make ourselves look strong, to give us something to boast about. This makes it where we spend all that capital on ourselves. But when we look through the cross of Christ, it softens our hearts, and we can boast in our weakness.
Sermon!
Questions for the week
What is the biggest mountain top experience you’ve had in your faith walk?
What is the darkest valley you’ve experienced in your faith walk?
Paul talks about his mountain top experience and his darkest valley.
Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. What does Jesus say about our weaknesses?How could you reassure someone this week that God works through the cross, even in their weaknesses?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
I Hate Presents
Nothing wrecks a gift faster than making a law of out of it.
Read whole article at I Hate Presents - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
I hate presents.
I swear, though, that I have not always been such a Grinch. It hasn’t always been this way. I can distinctly remember a time when I was still Cindy-Lou Who. There was that glorious Christmas when all my presents had to do with the Nutcracker, marking my brain so indelibly that ambulance alarms in France sound to me like the opening notes of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. When I was a kid, I counted down the days each May till my birthday, and when the big day finally arrived, I was astoundingly grateful for everything. (Well, that’s how I remember it, anyway.)…………………..Read the rest at I Hate Presents - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
![[Bible Study] Chapter 5 | 2Corinthians](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1636732523030-4ARWKNTJGIIOVDJ1R3ZA/2+cor+bs5.jpg)
![[Sunday] Cheerfully Generous - Forgive & Give](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1636067585682-7YXYU5NL2GEHOB7KF6XH/F%26G+3a.jpg)
[Sunday] Cheerfully Generous - Forgive & Give
We are reminded to look at the Macedonians, how they had nothing and yet were generous. We’re to look to Paul and see how he had nothing yet lived a generous life. Most of all, look to Jesus, who gave it all up for you so that you might be rich. May we have the same spirit of generosity.
^^^^^^^^^^^ Sermon ^^^^^^^^^
Sunday Worship is up now! Click above.
Questions for the week
Describe the most generous person you know and how they live their life. What do you most admire about their generosity?
Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-9. What examples does Paul use to encourage the Corinthians to be generous?
Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-15. What advice does Paul give you about living a generous life?
How has Jesus been generous to you? How does that shape how you live your life?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Eugene Cho: ‘Christians, Stop Being Political Jerks’
One of the biggest temptations in our world today is to dehumanize those we disagree with and in that process, we actually don’t know that we’ve done it.
read the rest of the article Eugene Cho: ‘Christians, Stop Being Political Jerks Click Here’
very November, the online political discourse ramps up as elections across the country take place. Politics have become increasingly divisive in recent years, leading to people fighting with family, loved ones and strangers online and in-person. And no group is exempt from this. Christians can often be found in the comments of Facebook posts exchanging harsh words with one another.
Rev. Eugene Cho, pastor and the president/CEO of Bread for the World, the huge Christian anti-hunger and poverty organization, sees the ways the Church is handling politics. He wants …………………
![[Bible Study] Chapter 4-5 | 2Corinthians](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1635518810426-E56TC4S8W33MTGL7KGDS/2+cor+bs3.jpg)
The Tragedy of an Incidental Christ
The tragedy of the incidental Christ I was raised with is that he was really no Savior at all.
Read the article at The Tragedy of an Incidental Christ | 1517
As obvious as it may sound, Christianity is all about Jesus Christ. In the person and work of Jesus, God is revealed to us. The entirety of the Old Testament, in ways both subtle and bold, tells us about the need for and promise of a Savior. In the Gospel accounts, it is revealed to us that Jesus is the Savior the Old Testament promised us. He is fully man, obeying all the commands of God, all the while being fully God himself. At just the right time, he laid down his life to make a blood sacrifice that paid for the sins of all mankind for all time. Jesus is the Savior of the world. Jesus for us is the subject of Chrsitianity. He is the beginning, the end, and everything in between………
The Prophet Isaiah is getting us ready for the king’s coming, not just a Jewish king but a wonderful counselor, almighty God, and Prince of Peace.