Author: FUMCWP Admin

In honor of our upcoming Pumpkin Patch at Trinity Christian Academy, let me offer this devotion for us to consider this morning. As all of us are getting decorated for Fall, maybe we place things from our fireplaces or hang wreaths on our doors. Maybe we are helping our children and grandchildren pick out their costumes and we have our fingers crossed hoping for cooler Fall weather. It is a season of change, both in weather and within us.

In the DeLaune household, we have a beautiful home to decorate. We have baby pumpkins on our fireplace mantel, fall-themed stickers on the windows and an Autumn themed dining room table waiting to be used. The rest of our house may be a mess, but we are learning to love oranges, browns, and greens in this new season as a family. Both of the kid’s schools are doing science experiments and parties that are all Fall themed and I find my schedule way more packed this time of year.

So, the question becomes, can we slow down together for just a minute and look at how the images, decorations, and overall ambiance of this busy season can point us back to Jesus?

In all my years of Children’s Chapel, Camp Counseling, and disciplining my own children, I have always loved what can be learned from the Pumpkin and what it can symbolize in our walk of faith. In many ways, we are like a Pumpkin. As members of Christ’s Holy Church, we are picked, even chosen by God to be the bearers of light in this world. This Saturday we will have a chance to serve at the Pumpkin Patch at our Church’s off sight preschool, TCA and we will get to meet the community that has all come out with their families to pick out a pumpkin. Remember that we too have been “picked” to be a part of God’s Family and that comes with some beautiful responsibilities.

Part of those beautiful responsibilities is first allowing Jesus to clean out all of our gooey insides to help us look more like him. The dirt of sin and shame is washed off of us and we are cleaned out by the Holy Spirit from the inside out. In much the same way, we clean our pumpkins on the outside and then do the slimy work of cleaning out the inside. Let’s just say that it isn’t my favorite part of this season. But it is necessary. Because before light can shine through, the inside must be cleaned out.

Then Jesus gives us a new identity. We are a “Happy” Jack-o-lantern kind of family, but no judgment if you like the scary kind. The point is that the pumpkin is transformed and given a new identity, sometimes we even name our Jack-o-lanterns, and it is the same way with Christ. Through coming to know Christ, growing in your faith, worshipping, serving and discipling that is done through the faith community, we develop a new identity.

Last we celebrate that the light of Christ now has a place and a purpose within us. It is a light that shines best in the darkness and illuminates the night. The light of Christ is attractive and inviting and draws people in. But it also helps point the way in the darkness. Are we people that are helping point the way back to Jesus in the midst of darkness?

Over these next few weeks, I invite you to see this time as a season of healthy change and illuminating grace as you unpack the analogy of the Pumpkin in your own faith journey. And I invite you if you haven’t already been asked to come out this Saturday, at 12:30PM to our Reeves Campus to unload pumpkins or to encourage our Team that will be there. Sign up to volunteer at the Pumpkin Patch, come and invite your neighbors to the Awesome Autumn Festival or come and participate at the MSEE Fall Festival. There isn’t a shortage of ways that you can serve or deepen your relationship with the people and ministries of this church. I hope you will join us!

“What has come into being ⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”  John 1:3-9

AMEN

https://youtu.be/NCiHOF28lbM

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Interested in reading “The Shadow of the Galilean”? You can purchase this book at the link below!

Growing up in a beach town most of my life, I spent countless hours in the sand and near the ocean. Like most kids, I enjoyed building sandcastles or pools near the water and then watching what happened when all of my fruitless energy got washed away by a strong wave. As a kid, it was fun; as an adult, it’s just annoying. Why work so hard to build something only to watch it destroyed or washed away?

Jesus asks the same question, posed as a statement in using this metaphor. Hearers are those that only hear the words and build their house on the sand. But doers are those that hear and do whereby building their house on the rock. After three chapters of deep and convicting teaching, Jesus finishes his “lecture series” at the end of Matthew chapter 7 with these words.

 ²⁴ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”

²⁸ Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, ²⁹ for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” Matthew 7:24-28

Jesus has just finished a long three chapter teaching to an outdoor crowd of hundreds, maybe thousands of people. If you go back to chapter 5, commonly called The Beatitudes, you see that Jesus has grown popular after calling his first disciples and he now has a following of people from

“Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” (4:25).

Whether or not your faith is built on sand or rock, I invite you to consider taking one part mentioned in these three chapters and moving from a sand foundation to a rock foundation and see what God might do through that transformation in you.

In the name of God the Father, God the Son, And God the Holy Spirit. AMEN. 

The Wise Man Built His House

The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
And the rains came tumbling down

The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
And the house on the rock stood firm

The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rains came tumbling down

The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
And the house on the sand went crash

https://youtu.be/YhXNHkjGKUw

A goal for our Reset sermon series is to read through the entire book of Galatians as a church family. We invite you to participate in the scripture devotional below.

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Doing Good to All

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³ If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. ⁴ Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, ⁵ for each one should carry their own load. ⁶ Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Not Circumcision but the New Creation

¹¹ See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

¹² Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³ Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. ¹⁴ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which^[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵ Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. ¹⁶ Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to^[b] the Israel of God.

¹⁷ From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

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You can find out a lot through someone’s handwriting. I learned that first-hand as a kid. I was a naïve kid, and I loved Christmas. I still do, but I am less naïve. I have always noticed the distinction of my father’s handwriting. Since I was old enough to notice words and how letters are written, I knew that my Dad had a distinctive style of handwriting. My Dad is a brilliant architect, creative and economical. He was taught to write like an architect at the University of Florida and again at Boston Architectural College. My dad writes in all caps; always has, always will. One Christmas season, in 5^th grade (I am embarrassed to admit) I was sneaking a look at the presents under the tree. I noticed that my dad had addressed a few of the presents for us from him and my mom. Fast forward to Christmas morning and the big gift that was brought all the way from the North Pole, on a Sleigh by a jolly guy in a red suit was addressed to RACHEL, SAMANTHA & AMY FROM SANTA. I knew immediately that Santa couldn’t coincidentally have the same handwriting as my brilliant Dad, but that Santa was in fact my Father and was therefore not real, simply a figment of my childish imagination. No, I did not need therapy, but I did learn to be more perceptive from that day forward.

The Galatians learn too that you can find out a lot through someone’s handwriting. At the end of Galatians, chapter 6, Paul makes his final attempt to let the new believers in the churches of Galatia know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is by his own hand that he writes these words.

Our final week of this church-wide study invites us to look once again at Galatians 6:1-18. Now since I preached last week on Galatians 6:1-10, I won’t repeat myself. Instead, let us focus together on the last eight verses. This is Paul’s last attempt to convince those listening to the false doctrine and counterfeit teachings to turn away and turn back to the truth of the Gospel. The Apostle Paul’s final admonitions and benediction begin with verse 11 which says:

“¹¹ See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand!”

This is Paul’s final attempt to help them see reason. In those days he had scribes or disciples himself that would help write down what he was dictating. He didn’t have a computer, or typewriter, or even a pen and paper; no, it was most likely written on clay tablets or animal skins. And so, Paul felt it imperative enough to write in his own handwriting these final verses. He did this so the readers would know that it is in fact him writing these final and most important words and not a false teacher. These last few verses were about how the Gospel of Jesus the Christ invites all people and all things to become new creations and how that is what really matters in the end. The arguing over circumcision and purity laws is but a waste of time if we are not becoming new creations. If that is not the Gospel that we are living into; then what is the earthly point?

I invite you to read slowly the final chapter of Galatians. I invite you to imagine Jesus writing these words to you; words that are meant to set you free. Words that are given to bring new life and transformation for all. Just as I learned as an 11-year old that my Dad’s handwriting proved what is make-believe, it can also prove what a real, freeing, and transformative. And so, in your own handwriting, sometime this week I invite you to write out who you were before you started following Jesus, who you are now and how you have seen the Holy Spirit at work in your own transformation. And then I invite you to share it. Send it to me, or another church member or pastor or friend because we want to hear your story, your testimony, your transformation. Because God is in the business of doing a new thing in each of us through the process of sanctification and I look forward to hearing, in your own words what new life looks like for you. Go in Peace