Pastor Terry Tatum Did you know that this year Americans spent somewhere between 8.5 to 10.5 percent more on Christmas gifts than they did in 2020? It was roughly $859 billion on holiday purchases, to be exact. I don’t know about you, but I have to think this isn’t what God planned for us to…
Pastor Craig Carter During this Advent season, the Sundays leading up to Christmas, we have been listening to the Songs of Christmas. Not the ones we normally associate with the holiday, like Jingle Bells or Joy to the World. Instead, we’ve focused on the ones contained in Luke’s gospel. In his account of the birth…
Pastor Terry Tatum This Advent we are looking at the Songs of Christmas as shared in Luke’s account of the birth of Christ. Four different sections in Luke are the inspiration for four classic Christmas songs that we have all heard many times. The songs are traditionally known by their latin names, but they also…
Pastor Craig Carter Last week we observed that music plays a big role in our Christmas celebrations. The reason we’re putting so much emphasis on the Songs of Christmas during this Advent season (the four Sundays prior to Christmas), is because they’ve been front and center since the Nativity itself. Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth…
Pastor Craig Carter Today marks the beginning of Advent – the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Our English word, Advent, comes from the Latin word meaning “coming.” So this is a time of the year in which we remember when God, through His Son Jesus, came into the world as a baby in a…
In our current sermon series we have explored the language of our faith that communicates what we believe as Christians. Today’s post will discuss one final big word, glorification, which is the end result of all the other words. We’ve quoted the founder of our denomination, John Wesley, a good bit during this series. For…
Pastor Craig Carter Throughout our current sermon series, we’ve pointed out that, as Methodists, most of our theological views are similar to other denominations, but in some areas we differ. Pastor Terry ended his recent message on ecclesiology by discussing how we, in the church, hold to one baptism. But he pointed out that as…
Pastor Terry Tatum This post is a continuation of our “Big Words” series, in which we are digging deep into the meaning of some of the big words that comprise the language of our faith. Usually, I have a funny story about how Pastor Craig assigned me the least fun topic in the series, but…
Pastor Craig Carter Earlier in our current series we identified a term that is somewhat distinctive to us as Methodists – prevenient grace. Today we’re going to explore another term that has traditionally caused our denomination to stand out from the crowd – sanctification. Whether we’re Methodists by upbringing or by choice, we hold tightly…
In our current sermon series, we’re looking at some Big Words that aren’t necessarily part of our common vocabulary and so they are sometimes difficult to understand. But these “big words” are the language of our faith that communicate what we believe as Christians. They form the doctrine, or teaching, of the Church. Throughout the…