04/29/2020
Rev. Patti Napier encourages you to thank the heroes in your life during this time.
Rev. Patti Napier encourages you to thank the heroes in your life during this time.
Weekly Video Message with Rev. Patti Napier. Take a moment to recognize Earth Day! This is the 50th Year to celebrate Earth Day. Look around and see the beauty in God's creation.
Many people set a goal for the New Year for positive change in their lives. Christians, on Ash Wednesday, set a goal to change our lives. Not to randomly change our lives, but to transform our lives so that we may become more like Christ and so we may glorify God. From Ash Wednesday we march into the season of Lent, focusing 40 days on a practice which will then become a positive discipline in our lives.
This Ash Wednesday I am thinking about the Scripture from Genesis 3: 19..”.for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” This reminds me that without the breath or Spirit of God moving in us, we are just like ashes--lifeless and worthless. Without the Spirit of God, we are not what the Army slogan in the 1980’s suggested for us, “Be all you can be”. Without the Spirit of God, we will not receive the fruits of the spirit...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Oh, we may think that we can manufacture those or discipline those into our lives of our own strength, but the Holy Spirit can do so much more than we can of our own accord.
Archived Posts
The Lost Benediction
Depending on the length of the sermon, I try to add a little something extra in my benedictions. This week I wrote up a benediction but then realized we’d be singing and waving our umbrellas to some New Orleans jazz.
Change of Focus This Week
Instead of sharing with you about yesterday’s sermon I’d like to invite you to do some background reading for next Sunday’s “Only Murders in the Bible.” Seeing that it is All Saints Day this Sunday, we are going to look at the very first Christian martyr, Stephen.
You Might Be Thinking It’s All About You If…
In working on Sunday’s sermon I asked my computer’s AI if she/he could come up with a few suggestions in answer to the above: "You Might be thinking it’s all about you, if…."
Prayer Changes Things
Here is a transcript of the prayer I prayed at the end of yesterday’s sermon.
Optimism, Faith, and Hope:
Practical Steps For Increasing All Three
Here are some practical, spiritual, and relational ways to grow faith, hope and optimism: