Digging Deep: Sacrificing Peace for Peace (Matthew 10:34-39)

Psalm 1 describes the blessed person as one who has dug deep into God’s Word, making it the source of his daily meditation. In pursuit of this kind of blessed life, we briefly review the sermon from the previous Sunday. May you be like a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in its season (Psalm 1:3). This week we look back at Pastor Kim’s sermon on Matthew 10:34-39.
An excerpt from this week’s sermon:

“We often say, “preach the gospel to yourself everyday” and Christmas provides so many opportunities to be reminded of that gospel – to look at the lights and remember that the Light of the world entered into our darkness; to sing songs like, O Come Emmanuel, and think through what it means that Jesus is “God with us”; to give and receive gifts and be reminded of the gift of salvation given to us through Jesus.”

Question: How might you allow Christmas to be a reminder of the gospel? Spend some time thinking through the gospel and allowing it to encourage your worship.

In the sermon we talked about the importance of being bold but letting your love be known, “If your life is the backdrop against which people hear the gospel – what kind of landscape is your life painting? What do people think about the gospel because of how you speak and act?”

Question: What do you think people think of the gospel judging by your life? Is there a way this Christmas season you can strive to be more loving to be a better witness for Christ. Is there someone who is difficult to get along with, that you need to demonstrate love to? Spend some time praying for them and for opportunities to share the gospel with them.

“Remember Christmas, like everything, is a stewardship to be used for God… Christmas has been given to you, but is not ultimately for you; it is still first about Christ and his glory. So it is a meant to increase your joy and encourage your worship and your love; but it has also been given to you as a an opportunity to love others and a means to make the gospel known. So Christmas isn’t simply a gift, but more a joyful responsibility – a responsibility to worship and love well, and a responsibility to share about the peace of Christ that only comes through the gospel.”

Encouragement: Think this week about how might you see Christmas as a stewardship and how might you live that stewardship out in your life .