Clever Free Methodist

“Merry Christmas!” We say it often this time of year in preparation for December 25 th and recognizing the birth of Jesus Christ. As many times as we greet each other with this phrase, have we ever wondered it’s origin? After all, what is a “Christmas?”   The word “Christmas” comes from an old English phrase “Christes maesse” that means “Christ’s Mass.” We know that “Mass” means “sending forth” which is what God chose to do with His son…send Him forth into the world. John 1:14 , “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”   The word “Mass” was a common term (and still used in some Churches today) for the weekly gathering of worship. In most cases, the Protestant churches today simply call this gathering “Church” or “Worship” in reference to the main, weekly Sunday service.   So, when we say, “Christmas,” we are actually saying “The Mass of Christ” or “The Chu

  God the Father has never stopped His passion of revealing Himself to us so that we can have a loving relationship with Him. We read in Jeremiah 31:3 , “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself.” This reminds me of James 4:8 , “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” Our Heavenly Father has no intentions of hiding or making it difficult to draw near to Him for a loving, personal and intimate relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. Our only requirement is that we want this relationship desperately enough to pursue it. We must make the decision as well as the effort for such a personal relationship. Jeremiah 29:13 , “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” It isn’t a matter of whether or not you have never heard of Him, lost touch through neglect, allowed life’s circumstances to affect your beliefs negatively, or have had your faith awakened to this opportunity. The fact remains, God wants

                                                    “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing.   “Joy to the world” is perhaps one of the more popular Christmas hymns that is probably sung more than once each season. Were you aware of its unique heritage? Written by Isaac Watts in 1719 , it was based off of Psalm 98:4-9, Psalm 96:11-12, and Genesis 3:17-18. The song celebrates and highlights Christ’s second coming (Advent) as the Prince of Peace much more than the first (birth/Messiah).   It speaks as an expression of joy over the marvelous works of God to bring salvation to the world through the babe of Bethlehem who is Christ the Lord. As Psalm 96:11-12 , tells us, “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.”   In fact, if you want to get

  There is a very interesting exchange during the conversation between Jesus and Pilate on whether Jesus is really a King. Jesus answers in John 18:36 , “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” When we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and receive Him as Lord and Savior, we too, become a part of that Kingdom that is “not of this world.” Philippians 3:10 , “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.” If we are Christians and we now know that we are citizens of Heaven, then it is a logical conclusion to not only say that we are citizens, but to live and show proof that we are such citizens. We should not only talk and act like heavenly citizens, but promote the Good News of this “coming Kingdom” so that others may become aware so that they can give their lives to

The Thanksgiving holiday is once again upon us. I’m sure we’ve already written out our dinner menu and have the turkey in the deep freezer. Now that we’re ready, we may have already turned some of our attention to coming up with some ideas for the Christmas season. The end of every year is filled with exciting holidays and it is a joyous season indeed.   However, can we just pause for now? Stop. Think. Let’s not get too far ahead to Christmas just yet. Let’s focus on Thanksgiving for now. Although Thanksgiving is a nationally recognized holiday that comes just one day a year, we know that it is a state of being every single day of our lives. We should be thankful all the time and grateful for everything.   1 Thessalonians 5:18 , “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” You can give thanks every day and in all things because thanksgiving is a response to the goodness and grace of God. God’s nature does not change just because a

  The New Testament Gospels are filled with stories of Jesus interacting with the public. I find it fascinating that some of His most unique encounters were literal interruptions to what he was planning to do. Yet, despite the “interruption,” he stopped, engaged, helped, but most importantly, loved . One powerful example was the story of Jairus in Mark 5:21-43 . Here we find Jesus coming ashore and no sooner is He off the boat, but quickly found mobbed by a crowd. As the crowd pushed and pressed around Jesus, the man Jairus lands at his feet. Jairus begs Jesus to heal his daughter who was dying. Jesus agrees and they soon start heading for his house. Yet, it is still a struggle to walk as the crowd continues to press in and follow along with Him. THAT is when it happened. As Jesus was walking, he suddenly stops and asks, “who touched me?” Jesus had felt “that power had gone out of him” (Mark 5:30). Jesus interrupts his journey to the home of Jairus to have a most powerful momen

  During our most recent Sunday worship services at Church, our Pastor made reference to Luke 12:31 , “But seek his kingdom….” Our faith and our God should be involved in every aspect of our life. Being a Christian affects everything we do, think, and say. Simply put, there isn’t an “off switch.” We don’t stop…well, we shouldn’t at least. We don’t hide our faith just because we are hanging out with friends. We don’t stop being a Christian because we are at work, on vacation, or attending to chores on our own. Instead, Christ is with us all the time, in all we do and wherever we are. We never cease being a Christian. The strength of our faith and the ability to emanate the love and light of Christ in every situation we are in comes from that passage in Luke 12:31. The key word is seek . The word is a verb. A verb speaks of an action. We must pursue. It is a choice. We must make the choice to be the light and love of Jesus Christ. Free will. Intentional. What makes “seeking” so pow

Life obviously has it challenges, setbacks, trials and even joys and celebrations. Regardless how long one lives, it is apparent that life is not easy or worry free. Even Jesus foretold of life’s journey on this Earth in John 16:33 , “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”   As a Christian, I am beyond grateful that I have Jesus Christ as Savior and a Heavenly Father who is my strong tower…a fortress and refuge in this world (Psalm 61:2-4). I am thankful for such comforting promises such as Hebrews 13:5 , “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”   It is comforting to know that God is always with us in the good, bad and the ugly. His indwelling Holy Spirit will never abandon us and leave us fending for ourselves. Jesus Christ, dwells with us as our Savior and Lord, has afforded us eternal life, friendship with God (John 15:14-15), and joy unspeakable.   We are assured that, no matter what, we are never alone, abandoned

  This article runs in partnership with the last article I wrote on the man named Tobit (“Tobit’s Praise”). The Deuterocanonical book bearing his name “Tobit” has a song of praise with yet another lesson for us in strengthening our faith.   Beyond the words of praise comes the call for accountability in our relationship with God as our Father. Tobit uses calls to faith such as “turn to him with all your heart and soul” and “acknowledge him at the top of your voice.” These statements speak of passion and admiration. Here are those words again:   Tobit 13:1, 6-7 Then Tobit said: “Blessed be God who lives forever,     because his kingdom lasts throughout all ages…. If you turn to him with all your heart and with all your soul,     to do what is true before him, then he will turn to you     and will no longer hide his face from you. So now see what he has done for you;     acknowledge him at the top of your voice. Bless the Lord of righteousness,     and exalt the King of the ages.

I recently taught a lesson during our children’s “AWANA” program the other day. It was really fun teaching them how uniquely the Bible was put together over 1,500 years by over 40 different authors in three languages, and across three different continents. The unique thing about the Bible is that most Protestant Churches have sixty-six books in their Bible. However, our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters have seventy-three books which is seven more. They have a special name for those: Deuterocanonical! The seven Deuterocanonical books are: Baruch, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Sirach, Tobit and Wisdom. I want to focus on the book of Tobit . There is a beautiful song of praise that we can learn and, perhaps, include in our devotional time with God. It is eighteen verses long, so we’ll just look at a particular few. Here it is: Tobit 13:1, 6-7 Then Tobit said: “Blessed be God who lives forever,     because his kingdom lasts throughout all ages…. If you turn to him with all your

  The Apostle Paul wrote a very powerful statement from of all places, prison . His final word to the Church is Ephesus states in Ephesians 6:19 , “Pray for me also. Pray that I might open my mouth without fear. Pray that I will use the right words to preach that which is hard to understand in the Good News.” Wouldn’t that be a tremendous prayer for all of us to include daily? Perhaps it could be added as a doxology to our devotional time? It seems that today is begging more and more for Christians to tell them about the Good News of Jesus Christ. The more often we speak up and speak out, we’ll soon find it isn’t quite as scary as the first time. Each opportunity presented to us will become easier to “say something” and it will grow more natural and stronger the more often we respond.  If we stay prepared, continually study, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, it will be as Paul said that we will always be in a position to “use the right words.” Matthew 10:19 also testifies

I find Luke 5:3 very interesting as it describes the boat that Jesus “got into.” It wasn’t a rental. It wasn’t “just docked there” for anyone to use. It was “the one belonging to Simon.” I think this is where Matthew 6:21 also shows up to challenge us. “ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. That was Simon’s boat! Yet, it wasn’t just any boat. It was his livelihood and source of income because he used it to go fishing. The boat was meaningful to him and he placed great value in it. Yet, Simon, was willing to welcome Jesus in to be a part of his passion, profession and area of expertise. Jesus had touched Simon by His ministry in Simon’s home and workplace. However, what converted Simon was when Jesus showed His absolute and miraculous lordship over what was most important and the greatest love of Simon’s work. Simon was a professional fisherman and Jesus, a Carpenter (Mark 6:3), was not. When Jesus convinced Simon by the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:6

  St. Anthony the Great is attributed as saying ““A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying: ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’” It is obvious that the truth is offensive to those who abhor its existence and noise to the ears who don’t want to hear it in their presence. This is nothing new. It shouldn’t be surprising. Since the dawn of humanity, those who choose evil and darkness have made it there passion to silence truth. History tells of many stories of people who wish to rid the world of those who sought to do good …name combinations such as Lincoln/Booth, Kennedy/Oswald, and King/Ray. Besides the obvious crucifixion of Jesus, resistance to the truth was no different for those written about in the Bible. Stephen who was the first martyr of the Church who was stoned for refusing to deny his faith (Acts 7:54-60). John the Baptist was beheaded for his message (Matthew 14:1-12). James was killed with a sword (