Father God, Adonai, Our Lord and Master, Looking at the Sermon Title “Devoted”, the first thing that came to mind was the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and I thought that we should all be hopelessly devoted to you. You quickly pointed out that we truly are “hopelessly” devoted to any human or anything, because we cannot truly trust and depend on them. We are to be “hopefully” devoted to You, because You are the God of Hope, and Jesus is our Living Hope. Your Word is true a

May was an especially busy month with the celebration of Mother’s Day, a baby blessing, our 1st certified Lay Minister (Susan Monroe), and Pentecost. As we transition from Spring to Summer and Holy Times to Ordinary Times, we endeavor into a new sermon series based off of JD Walt’s devotional on the Book of Ephesians, “Unpuzzled.” There are countless people in the world missing pieces in the big picture of God’s Story. As Christians and as the Church, we need to make sure we

Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all His benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Praise the Lord! Psalm 103: 1-5 And now a prayer by- J. Veltri, S.J. Gracious God, on this Memorial Day weekend, we remember and

Father, we freely bring our tithes, offerings and gifts to honor and glorify You. Thank You for sending Jesus that we might have eternal life. We dedicate these to You and release them to multiply and fulfill Your kingdom purpose. Lord, You remind us in Philippians 4:19 You supply all of our needs according to Your riches in glory in Christ Jesus, so empower us with Your Holy Spirit to equip us to Go and Tell others about Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen

Lord Jesus, the risen Christ, today we celebrate your ascension into heaven where you sit at the right hand of God, victorious over sin, death, fear and the grave, and reigning eternally in majesty, authority, and glory. As we meditate on the significance, help us to “keep our eyes on things above” rather than temporary things of this world. Shine Your light into the darkness, shine on us and through us to others. Be the lamp unto our feet. * Remind us that our true citizensh

Come let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come to Him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to Him for the Lord is a great God, a great king above all gods! He holds in His hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to Him for He made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker for He is our God. We are the people He wa

Happy Mother’s Day to all the godly women out there with “sticky” faith. Today, we had a wonderful brunch, organized by the valiant men of our church for our ladies. We learned about the importance of having a “sticky” faith like Jochebed, Hannah, Elizabeth, Mary, Lois, and Eunice from the Bible. Like glitter, we want a faith that sticks around, shows up when we least expect it, and is hard to get rid of. Who are the women of faith in your life? If you can, give them a call t

Almighty Father, It is good to give thanks to You, Adonai, Master, Ruler, Savior, It is good to sing praises to Your Name Elyon, Most High God, to tell in the morning about Your grace and at night Your faithfulness. Yahweh, You make us happy and fill us with joy in what Your hands have made. We proclaim: How great are Your deeds, Adonai! How very deep are Your thoughts! Some people don’t know or understand who You are. The powers of darkness and the things of this world have

Dearest Heavenly Father, Master, King, Creator, We will rejoice in this day that You have made. We celebrate this day because of Your great love for us, which is pure and holy. We celebrate because Your love endures forever. And we celebrate because nothing can separate us from Your love that is ours in Jesus Christ. Almighty Father, thank You, for giving us Your Son and thank You for revealing to us the truth of Jesus Christ, the truth of His sacrifice, and the truth of His

Today I was blessed to preach one of my favorite sermons. I’ve preached it at every church I’ve ever served. It’s a sermon called “The Chair- Salvation by Faith”. Using my great-grandfather’s priceless, beautiful, strong and antique Arts and Craft rocking chair, I like to demonstrate a practical way to teach about salvation by faith from Ephesians 2:8-9. Salvation is like a wonderful chair. You didn’t make it or purchase it (grace). You need it to hold you (salvation). You ha

Father God, We come this morning, waving our palm branches, celebrating, rejoicing, singing songs of praise! Your triumphant entry gives us hope and joy, and we shout “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!!” What a glorious day! Heavenly Father, we give You thanks for the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who came not as a conquering king, but as a humble servant. He came to save us from sin and death. He is the way, the truth and the life, and the only way

Heavenly Father, We give you thanks and praise for Your Son, Jesus--The Way, The Truth, and the Life--who came to earth to save us! Jesus did all that was required of him, fulfilling all of the prophecy, and paying the ultimate cost of His life for our salvation. And today, on Resurrection Sunday, we declare and celebrate His victory over death as the Risen Christ. You offer us life that overcomes death, light that overcomes darkness, and hope that overcomes our deepest despa

Father God, Holy God, God Almighty, All glory, honor and praise is yours. And we say “Here we are Lord! We are bound for the Promised Land!” We thank you that through the death and resurrection of your son Jesus Christ, You have given to all who believe in Him, new birth into a Living Hope, an eternal inheritance, and the Holy Spirit. We are in awe of your goodness and your mercy. We know that all of your promises are Yes and Amen! Your promises are true, and they do not chan

Lord Jesus Christ, we come before you today with gratitude and thanksgiving for your sacrifice on our behalf. Jesus, you are a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek; you are not a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but you were tempted in every way just as we are, but you did not sin. For this reason, we can approach your throne with confidence that we may receive mercy and grace in our time of need. Father Almighty, you have established a new

I, Pastor Lauren, would like to state for the record that Austin Global Methodist Church was spared from a 12 hour sermon on the Book of Hebrews this Sunday, though I was very tempted. We concluded our Lenten/Resurrection Season sermon series in Hebrews with a summary sermon, “Jesus- the Better Man.” Every law, sacrifice, tabernacle article, priestly duty, and biblical holiday was a shadow or sign pointing to the coming Messiah. In Jesus, the Old Covenant finds it complete fu

The Better Man- Bound for the Promised Land For the Lenten Season and Eastertide, we have been in a sermon series called, “The Better Man”. We’ve been comparing Jesus to Moses through his life, death, and resurrection. Today, we ventured into new territory with Jesus and Joshua. Joshua was a mighty man of faith, chosen to lead the Hebrew People into the Promised Land of Israel. Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave as the One chosen to lead all people into the Eternal Pr

The Better Man- The Glorious Risen Lord He is risen! He is risen indeed! May the Church be reminded that Resurrection Sunday is not just one day out of the year. It is a lifestyle for the people of God. When we believe in the Glorious Risen Lord, He takes us on from glory to glory (II Corinthians 3:18). What does this mean? Don’t stop with believing in the Empty Tomb. Yes, the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive. But we do not just wish for eternal life. There is so much more t

Heavenly Father, We give you thanks and praise for Your Son, Jesus--The Way, The Truth, and the Life--who came to earth to save us! Jesus did all that was required of him, fulfilling all of the prophecy, and paying the ultimate cost of His life for our salvation. And today, on Resurrection Sunday, we declare and celebrate His victory over death as the Risen Christ. You offer us life that overcomes death, light that overcomes darkness, and hope that overcomes our deepest despa

The Better Man- The Finisher He is risen! He is risen indeed! Today, we celebrated the Better Man and the Resurrected Lord. Moses was given the task in the desert to lead the people out of slavery and into the Promised Land but because of his sin, he could not go all the way. He could only look at the Promised Land from a distance. But Jesus, the Better Man, finished the task that he was given by the Father. Jesus, our Savior and Resurrected Lord, takes us all the way to the

Father God, as it is written, we enter Your gates with Thanksgiving and come into Your courts with praise! Today we honor You with these tithes, offerings and gifts and we ask that You multiply them for Your kingdom purposes. We worship You with our hearts and lives that we may become more like Your son, King Jesus! In His name we pray, Amen