Fr. Larry Richards is the founder and president of The Reason for our Hope Foundation, a non- profit organization dedicated to ”spreading the Good News” by educating others about Jesus Christ. His new homilies are posted each week.
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Innhold levert av Appleton Gospel Church - David Parks. Alt podcastinnhold, inkludert episoder, grafikk og podcastbeskrivelser, lastes opp og leveres direkte av Appleton Gospel Church - David Parks eller deres podcastplattformpartner. Hvis du tror at noen bruker det opphavsrettsbeskyttede verket ditt uten din tillatelse, kan du følge prosessen skissert her https://no.player.fm/legal.
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Making Room for People
MP3•Episoder hjem
Manage episode 439039800 series 1027541
Innhold levert av Appleton Gospel Church - David Parks. Alt podcastinnhold, inkludert episoder, grafikk og podcastbeskrivelser, lastes opp og leveres direkte av Appleton Gospel Church - David Parks eller deres podcastplattformpartner. Hvis du tror at noen bruker det opphavsrettsbeskyttede verket ditt uten din tillatelse, kan du følge prosessen skissert her https://no.player.fm/legal.
Making Room for People: We were made to enjoy deep, healthy, long-term relationships. But this world is broken, and relationships can be just as much a source of pain as anything. What can we do? We should take a risk and make room for more people in our hearts, homes, and lives. Why? The unexpected answer is found...at the end of the world. Recorded on Sep 8, 2024, on 1 Peter 4:7-11 by Pastor David Parks. Make Room is a three-part sermon series considering the need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Why? Because more people need good news! More people need the life and love, the freedom and forgiveness, and so much more that is only found in Christ. Our prayer is that in the coming years, many more people will experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sermon Transcript Well, today, we’re on part two of a quick, three-week sermon series called Make Room to talk about some of the Biblical foundations of our 2030 Vision. If you missed the start of this series last week, you can always go back and watch or listen to the podcast online or on the Church Center app. But as we said, the elder board spent months listening, learning, praying, and talking together about who we are as a church, where God is bearing fruit, and where we believe God is leading us in the next 5-7 years (leading up to 2030). Now, I don’t know about you, but it really feels like the start of a new chapter of life as a church, so this was a very timely process. But, one of the things that became clear is that we do not believe that God is leading us in a dramatically new direction. We don’t need to reinvent our mission, vision, or values. Instead, the phrase that kept coming up in this process was “make room.” We need to make room. We need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Making room is what our 2030 Vision is all about. Last week, we were warned against the trap of becoming lukewarm in our faith from Revelation 3 and were encouraged to let Jesus in. He’s standing at the door and is knocking because he wants to be let into every aspect of our lives. Today, we’re going to consider the need to make room for more people in our lives. Now, here’s something I’ve noticed over the years — it was especially obvious during the isolation/loneliness of Covid: People, in general (maybe this isn’t you!), are really bad at maintaining deep, healthy, long-term relationships. This is a huge struggle. One of my responsibilities as a pastor is to meet with people and offer Biblical counsel and spiritual direction as they navigate the difficult terrain of life. There are many different reasons why someone might want to meet. But far and away, the most common reason is because there’s some sort of conflict in a close, usually family-type of relationship. Maybe you can relate? Many can. But this kind of situation/conflict can be so painful and frustrating. And I get it: when you’ve experienced that kind of relational pain, I’m sure it is hard to put yourself out there again and invest in other close relationships, hoping they’ll be different. However, the solution is not to disappear into the woods, become a hermit, and never deal with people again. That would be disobedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, which is to make disciples of all nations. And last time I checked, you can’t make disciples unless other people are involved. But neither is the solution to call Shoji Morimoto. I read about Mr. Morimoto a few years ago in an article from The Washington Post titled, Rent-a-stranger: This Japanese man makes a living showing up and doing nothing, (By Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Julia Mio Inuma, March 19, 2022). The article describes a man named Shoji Morimoto who makes a living by renting himself out to people who want a companion.
…
continue reading
31 episoder
MP3•Episoder hjem
Manage episode 439039800 series 1027541
Innhold levert av Appleton Gospel Church - David Parks. Alt podcastinnhold, inkludert episoder, grafikk og podcastbeskrivelser, lastes opp og leveres direkte av Appleton Gospel Church - David Parks eller deres podcastplattformpartner. Hvis du tror at noen bruker det opphavsrettsbeskyttede verket ditt uten din tillatelse, kan du følge prosessen skissert her https://no.player.fm/legal.
Making Room for People: We were made to enjoy deep, healthy, long-term relationships. But this world is broken, and relationships can be just as much a source of pain as anything. What can we do? We should take a risk and make room for more people in our hearts, homes, and lives. Why? The unexpected answer is found...at the end of the world. Recorded on Sep 8, 2024, on 1 Peter 4:7-11 by Pastor David Parks. Make Room is a three-part sermon series considering the need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Why? Because more people need good news! More people need the life and love, the freedom and forgiveness, and so much more that is only found in Christ. Our prayer is that in the coming years, many more people will experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sermon Transcript Well, today, we’re on part two of a quick, three-week sermon series called Make Room to talk about some of the Biblical foundations of our 2030 Vision. If you missed the start of this series last week, you can always go back and watch or listen to the podcast online or on the Church Center app. But as we said, the elder board spent months listening, learning, praying, and talking together about who we are as a church, where God is bearing fruit, and where we believe God is leading us in the next 5-7 years (leading up to 2030). Now, I don’t know about you, but it really feels like the start of a new chapter of life as a church, so this was a very timely process. But, one of the things that became clear is that we do not believe that God is leading us in a dramatically new direction. We don’t need to reinvent our mission, vision, or values. Instead, the phrase that kept coming up in this process was “make room.” We need to make room. We need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Making room is what our 2030 Vision is all about. Last week, we were warned against the trap of becoming lukewarm in our faith from Revelation 3 and were encouraged to let Jesus in. He’s standing at the door and is knocking because he wants to be let into every aspect of our lives. Today, we’re going to consider the need to make room for more people in our lives. Now, here’s something I’ve noticed over the years — it was especially obvious during the isolation/loneliness of Covid: People, in general (maybe this isn’t you!), are really bad at maintaining deep, healthy, long-term relationships. This is a huge struggle. One of my responsibilities as a pastor is to meet with people and offer Biblical counsel and spiritual direction as they navigate the difficult terrain of life. There are many different reasons why someone might want to meet. But far and away, the most common reason is because there’s some sort of conflict in a close, usually family-type of relationship. Maybe you can relate? Many can. But this kind of situation/conflict can be so painful and frustrating. And I get it: when you’ve experienced that kind of relational pain, I’m sure it is hard to put yourself out there again and invest in other close relationships, hoping they’ll be different. However, the solution is not to disappear into the woods, become a hermit, and never deal with people again. That would be disobedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, which is to make disciples of all nations. And last time I checked, you can’t make disciples unless other people are involved. But neither is the solution to call Shoji Morimoto. I read about Mr. Morimoto a few years ago in an article from The Washington Post titled, Rent-a-stranger: This Japanese man makes a living showing up and doing nothing, (By Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Julia Mio Inuma, March 19, 2022). The article describes a man named Shoji Morimoto who makes a living by renting himself out to people who want a companion.
…
continue reading
31 episoder
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