After my Aunt Martha and I tried to convince the other why each of us should be allowed to cover the cost for a family meal out, she pulled the bill out of my hand, looked at me and said with her winning smile, “Dean, sometimes it’s good to just say, ‘Thank you.'” Her gift to me was more than a meal. She taught me the importance of expressing gratitude in the presence of generous people. Hope, you are a generous family! Please join as at 9 a.m. this Sunday as we worship God, learn how Paul thanked God for the Philippian Christians who gave financially so others could live with God in Christ and thank God for all of you (here in Denver and around the world) who do the same! I look forward to bringing the message titled Imagine a Church With Financial Peace from Philippians 1:1-11. If you are unable to join us in person, please visit the 9 a.m. livestream or view the recording here.
Looking forward to worshiping together! -Dean
"gratitude" Tagged Sermons
On sunny and rainy days, it is good, necessary and right to consider the goodness of God. Please join us this Sunday as we unite in song, prayer and God’s Word to meditate on several blessings which God has given to all who love Jesus. This week’s message will be the first in a new series through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Paul makes it clear in this text that the condition of our heart is what’s most important when we give financially. Our community has landed on the Biblical vineyard metaphor in regard to our 3 key priorities for this new ministry year, and our vision is that we all bear abundant spiritual fruit for the Lord’s glory and for our joy. This is an appeal to cheerfully respond to the opportunity to significantly invest in bringing the church’s vision to fruition, as we seek to be a community on mission together.
Cars run best over the long haul when all 4 tires are aligned. In this 4-week series we will align our finances in 4 key ways to God’s vision. In this first message we are challenged by the declaration in God’s Word that He owns it all. When this reality is embraced, the unexpected gift of gratitude returns to our life and relationship with God!
Often we cry to God in distress and either glance His way or neglect Him altogether when life is good. In Psalm 107 we are summoned to always consider the steadfast love of the Lord and to give Him thanks both privately and in the congregation of the people. On this 4th Sunday of Lent we unite to recall our God’s love and to give Him thanks.
Why are some people so generous? What moves a woman, man or child to cheerfully share their food, home, clothing and money? Jesus observed that a woman who had been forgiven much loved much by generously anointing Him with her expensive perfume (Luke 7). While there are many motives for giving, in this message we consider gratitude to God for His grace as divine fuel for generous, sustained and joyful giving.
In 1897 Johnson Oatman wrote, “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.” These opening words in the hymn Count Your Blessings align with God’s heart for us. In today’s message we count some of God’s greatest blessings because living blessed is key to living faithfully with Christ throughout our city and beyond.
Our cultural default and the tradition of America is to be completely in control and to live out our dreams. The culture in Jesus’ day was to live “in-control” in a religious sense – full of prim-and-proper religiosity. When Jesus is asked a question about fasting, He replies with a veiled correction followed by 2 mini-parables that almost seem out of place, but after examination, highlight how humanity’s need for control and the familiar has to be given up if one is to have real, deep, intimate relationship with God. Jesus Himself perfectly demonstrated this, maybe no more tangibly and beautifully than in the Garden of Gethsemane.
As we begin our fall series entitled ‘A Life of Love: Marks of a Disciple of Jesus’, we look directly to Jesus who demonstrates astounding love toward a notoriously sinful woman and toward all of us. Our capacity to love God and others is fueled by our understanding of God’s love for us. When we grasp our true identity as forgiven, beloved children of God, a whole new life is given to us. So in this opening message we celebrate the unconditional love of God available to you and me because of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.