Today, we continued our sermon series, “The Better Man”. It’s a parallel journey between the life of Moses and the life of Jesus. Today, we talked about how Moses gave the Law of God to the people from Mt. Sinai but Jesus explained the Law perfectly on the Sermon on the Mount. The Law of God is still important for God’s people to study, know, and live inwardly and outwardly. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can. We are almost halfway through the Lenten season. It’s importa

I did not grow up celebrating Lent. In fact, I had never heard of this practice and tradition until I was about 26 years old. It wasn’t until I became a member of the Methodist Church that I begin to grasp the rich meaning within the Lenten season: the crosses of ash on Ash Wednesday, the choice to give up something sacrificial during the 40 days of Lent, the joyous waving of branches on Palm Sunday, the Lord’s Supper and washing of feet on Maundy Thursday, the somber Tenebra

His Name is Wonderful- Yeshua The Better Man- Out of the Water Last week was a busy week with the MidTexas Annual Awakening. We hosted Pastor Krasimir from Burgas Methodist Church, our sister church in Bulgaria. Then we celebrated Ash Wednesday. I was so busy I forgot to write a blog for the wonderful name of Yeshua (YAHWEH is Salvation)! We finished up the sermon series, “His Name is Wonderful” with the name that one day every knee will bow to and every tongue will confess i

Do you know God’s name? This was the question for today’s sermon. God revealed his special name to Moses as YAHWEH in Genesis 3. His name means “I AM”. God always has been, always is, and always will be. This is his special, personal name. It is the name he is to be known by from generation to generation. This name is special and set apart. It is holy and yet it is personal. God revealed his name to his people. He told the priests to put this name over the people. This wonder

It was great to worship together in person in better weather and celebrate the Lord’s Table. Today, we learned about the wonderful name El Roi. This name was only used once in scripture (Genesis 16:13). It’s the only name given to God by a human. It was even given to God by an “invisible” person. Hagar was pagan, female, enslaved, and the lowest of society. But God saw her so she gave him the name “El Roi”- the God who sees me. Many people in this world feel unseen. From the

For the first time in Austin GMC history, we had a “snow” day. My family and I had to get creative to offer a worship service that would try to offer some normalcy in this bizarre weather. Thank God for technology. We joined from home with thousands of other believers around the world worshipping our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. If you missed service this morning, you can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/austinglobalmethodist   Today, we learned about the wonderful na

We continue our sermon series on the Names of God with a strange one: Melchizedek. Not much is known about this mysterious figure that shows up in Genesis and Psalms and is explained in Hebrews. It is not a commonly called upon name of God which is exactly why we should take time to understand it. Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness” in Hebrew. He shows up as both a King and a Priest. Melchizedek is a Christophany, a pre-incarnation appearance of the Messiah. He is witho

Names are so important. I go by a few. Lauren Green Yates is my legal name. Babydoll is the name that my husband has decided to call me. Mom is the name my boys call me. My dad calls me “Jo” (reasons unknown). In the past I have been called Officer Green and Detective Yates. Now, I answer to Pastor Lauren. The way someone calls my name tells me what they think about me and how they hope I will answer. I can’t help but think it is the same way with God. There are 72 names in t

I’ve always enjoyed celebrating the new year and setting goals. I would love to see Austin Global Methodist Church invite the lost to our church and see them come into saving faith of Jesus Christ. I would love to see baptisms, discipleship opportunities, and missions. Of course, I would love to see us in our own location where we can be most useful for the Kingdom of God. But I also have this lofty goal for our church for 2026: that we might know the Lord more deeply. For th

Advent season is coming to a close but don’t take your decorations down just yet. Next Sunday will be Epiphany! Soon the Wise Men will worship the Christ Child and give him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were gifts fit for the King of kings, our Great High Priests, and the Savior of the world. What will you give Jesus? Let’s start with worship. Worship has been the theme of this Advent Season. We’ve been meditating on and memorizing Matthew 2:2, “Where is

We Have Come to Worship Him Advent 2025 Devotional by Rev. Lauren Green Yates Austin Global Methodist Church Advent Memory Verse- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 NLT) Advent Week Four- Love December 21- Matthew 1:18-25 This week, we will light the candle of love. There is so much love within the Christmas story. Love from God to us. Love from us to God. Love to one another. Today, I want to foc

We Have Come to Worship Him Advent 2025 Devotional by Rev. Lauren Green Yates Austin Global Methodist Church Advent Memory Verse- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 NLT) Advent Week Three- Joy December 14- Luke 2:29-32 This week, we will light the candle of joy. You may have noticed the joy candle is different than the others. Traditionally the other candles of advent are purple, but this one is p

We Have Come to Worship Him Advent 2025 Devotional by Rev. Lauren Green Yates Austin Global Methodist Church Advent Memory Verse- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 NLT) Advent Week Two- Peace December 7- Luke 2:8-20 This week, we will light the candle of peace. Peace may feel like an oxymoron at Christmas time. The biblical Christmas story reads anything BUT peaceful: angelic messages, an unwed t

We Have Come to Worship Him Advent 2025 Devotional by Rev. Lauren Green Yates Austin Global Methodist Church Advent Memory Verse- “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2 NLT) Advent Week One- Hope November 30- Luke 1:26-56 Advent has begun. This is the time of year when children see gifts under the tree but have to wait to open them. ‘Tis the season to decorate for the arrival of future guests. Grocery

We just completed a two month long sermon series on becoming the Ekklesia (the Church on the move) and becoming a House of Prayer. Prayer is the foundation of a healthy, impactful church and nothing can be done apart from it. During these past two months, we have learned more about praying for miracles, praying the Armor of God over ourselves and our families, binding and loosing in Jesus’ name, praying for the lost, praying for the persecuted church, praying for our next loc

From August to the end of October, we will be prayerfully considering our next chapter at Austin Global Methodist Church. We know that we are called to be a House of Prayer (Matthew 21:13) and we are called to be the church/ekklesia (Matthew 16:18). We know we cannot be the church/ekklesia without the power of prayer. We’ve taken two weeks to talk about the importance of prayer, both personal and corporate, through studying the Lord’s Prayer and the Aaronic Benediction. We se

Galatians 3 What is faith? We sit in chairs we didn’t make. We ride on planes and do not know the pilot. We get in cars with strangers… Uber rides. We operate in faith more than we realize and yet many of us struggle to put our full faith in Jesus for our eternal salvation and the daily struggles of life. The people of God must learn to operate in faith and share that faith with others. So many people in our own neighborhood need to know that Jesus’ work on the cross can be t

Acts 19:1-7 Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? That was the question asked today. In Acts 19, Paul found people who had accepted the message of repentance from John the Baptist but not yet heard about salvation through Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We must live in the fullness of the Gospel, believing in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Like a flashlight without batteries, we will be without spiritual power apart from the Holy Spirit. We

There is a lot of uncertainty going on in the world. Many of us are going through stressful situations with health, work, and family. Who we are on our worst day is our witness to the world. Like Paul and Silas in Acts 16, will we still be able to praise the Lord on our darkest days? I pray no matter the circumstances our bold witness and our passionate praise will be a testimony to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us. Praise Report: we had 18 awesome kids at our first Va

This week was Pentecost Sunday, the day we celebrate the “birthday” of the Church and remember when God gave his people the Law and then later his Holy Spirit. I encourage all of you to remember that every day is Pentecost when you are filled with the Spirit.   I witnessed the Spirit moving during our mission trip to Bulgaria. The churches there are devoted to the Word, prayer, giving, fellowship, and Holy Communion. It is evident revival is coming out of Bulgaria. Will we pr