We Must Come Down From the Mountain
Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
-Matthew 12:1-4, NLT
This Sunday, we will be starting a new sermon series called We Can’t Stay Here. I’m so excited about this series because it's a topic that's near to my heart. When I decided to go into ordained ministry, I chose that path of ministry because I wanted to inspire congregations to change the world around them. I wanted to help develop leaders and help people grow in their faith. That is what this series is all about.
This week, we will be looking at Matthew 12:1-4. Peter, in his usual, bold style, gets all excited when Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah. He’s on a "spiritual high," you might say, as he watches his teacher have a conversation with the heroes of his people. For me, it would be like watching Jesus, John Wesley, and Martin Luther having a theological discussion over dinner. I would have pulled up a seat and listened forever. Peter felt the same way.
The problem with that? Peter just didn’t understand though what his purpose was. Peter was going to be the foundation of the Church. We are all Christians today because of the work that Peter did. Just think of where we would be if Peter never left the Mountaintop. What would have happened to him if Jesus allowed him to build his shelters, or tabernacles, as he wanted? He could have stayed on that mountain and worshiped God for the rest of his life. But what would have happened to all of the people that he touched during his ministry?
I've written a prayer for our congregation to use during this series. You can find it at the bottom of the page. It's my hope that you can use this prayer during your personal quiet time this month, to help you focus in on your role in the future of our church. Hope to see you Sunday!
Blessings!
-Faith
Prayer for the Series
God, reignite my heart to have a passion for you. Give me eyes to see other people as you see them so that I can love them with my whole heart. Teach me how to be a living example of the hope of Jesus Christ. Give me the courage to shine for Jesus Christ in everything that I do so that I can help bring others into relationship with Christ. Give me a heart for my community. Through your strength, make me into a Great Commission Christian so we can become a Great Commission church.
Click Here for This Week's Faith Notes.
Faith Parry serves as our Associate Pastor, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not preaching and teaching, she enjoys documentaries and TV. Read more about Faith here.
Baby Steps: Beginning Family Devotions
Having a regular family devotional time is important. Finding and/or making time for it? That's not so easy. Everybody’s schedule screams for priority, and when you add in life events, cleaning, repairs, work, sleep, school, extended family and friends, church, hobbies....Well, it's exhausting just writing about it!
To make matters worse there are a ton of wonderful resources on the market for devotions. Which one is right for you?
Here are a few ideas to help you get started:
Keep It Short
Gauge your devotional time to the ages and stages of your family. Keeping your time brief will help you to fit it in your schedule.
Keep it Simple (at least at first)
The simplicity can help your family remember the point. Start with stories or ideas that you and/or your family already know.
Repeat
Messages and lessons about God are not heard much in our media hyped world. Repeat them often, or they will get lost in the chaos of the other messages that life sends us.
Make it Personal
There are several ways to do this. You can invite other family members to share Bible stories, and or lessons that have impacted them. You can ask other members to share comments, ideas or questions that relate to your devotional message. Help members of your family invest in the process, the lesson, and in the application of that lesson. How does what you have heard impact or help you in your life today? Tomorrow? In the future?
Be Committed
Make regular time for your family, and don’t give up. If you miss a time or two, don’t get discouraged! Just begin again. This will look different for every family - experiment until you find what works for you!
Pray
Always stop to invite God into this time with your family and help you understand what God wants you to learn.
Next month I will review some devotional tools that you can use as a family. Enjoy your time together this week!
Blessings!
- Lori
Lori Ferguson serves as Children's Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not planning or teaching, she enjoys spending time with her grandkids. Read more about Lori here.
New Music: Jesus We Love You
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)
One of my favorite parts of being a Worship Leader is the never-ending quest for new songs to use while we worship God. We live in a time where there are so many churches producing quality, singable, theologically sound worship music; it's actually very difficult to narrow down what to introduce because of that.
That being said, "Jesus We Love You," by Bethel Music, has quickly become one of my favorite songs to use in worship. The first time I heard it used in a live setting was at the SALT Conference in Nashville last year, and I remember being blown away by the second verse in particular:
The hopeless have found their hope
The orphans now have a home
All that was lost has found its place in You
You lift our weary head
You make us strong instead
You took these rags and made us beautiful
Such a powerful representation of the love that God has given to us, followed by a challenge to do something about it. "For all that you've done, we will pour out our love." We get to love because he first loved us.
I've embedded the song story, lyric video, and a few playlists and links below. I hope that you find encouragement in the truths of this new song. Sing it loud!
Blessings!
-Matt
Read more about the story behind the song at New Release Today.
Matt Dailey serves as Worship Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2013. When he's not leading worship and designing graphics, he enjoys baseball, comic books and team trivia. Read more about Matt here.
Blog: Day One.
Last July, our church staff took a retreat to Orlando, to attend the Renegade Pastors Conference. That was our first chance to “feel each other out,” so to speak, as a staff, with most of us coming on in the previous three months. We came out of that retreat with momentum to spare and a drive to make things accessible to first time guests. One of the things that we noted in our time there was the ineffectiveness of our church website. The old website had become bulky, bloated, and ineffective; in fact, it may have even been driving people away! According to a 2015 study from Stanford University, 46% of people say a website’s design and functionality is their number one criterion for determining the credibility of an organization. We saw that statistic and realized we needed to make a change.
I was put in charge of redesigning the website, and over three months we rebuilt it from the ground up with a first-time guest in mind. Now, the interface is sleek and easy to use, and the content relevant to a guest is front-and-center. We launched in October, and have averaged 872 unique viewers per month since then. At the time of this publication, we are in the midst of the second phase of our website upgrades – Web 2.0. In Web 2.0, we’re expanding to include a Central Hub from which you can easily find information about the goings on at Navarre, as well as updated pages for worship, growth, service, kids, and youth.
Of all the features we’re launching this summer, the feature I’m perhaps most excited about is our new blog. For many years we've published a monthly newsletter, but we found the format to be largely ineffective - we're excited to move to a format where we can see our content reach more people. Today marks "Day One" of this new endeavor.
So what can you expect?
- Original content from our ministry staff every week
- A preview of Sunday's sermon every week
- Other articles and websites that we find interesting
- An active celebration of the life of Navarre UMC.
Our hope is that you not only find this space informative, but that you might come to know us as people in the process. Above all, I hope that this space gives you a way to actively see and serve Christ in every area of your life.
Blessings!
-Matt
Matt Dailey serves as Worship Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2013. When he's not leading worship and designing graphics, he enjoys baseball, comic books and team trivia. Read more about Matt here.