Month: November 2024

Thankful Tuesday

On November 26, 2024

In Motivational Monday, News and Announcements

Hey Friends! I thought in honor of Thanksgiving this week, I would turn Motivational Monday into Thankful Tuesday (Thankful Monday just doesn’t have the same ring 🙂). Clearly, today, I want to focus on Thanksgiving. Is it a Christian holiday? What should our focus be? So…let’s talk about it.

I LOVE Thanksgiving. When I was a kid, it was just an ok holiday. I saw my cousins. We played. We ate. We played again. As an adult, I feel like Thanksgiving is overshadowed by Christmas. A lot of us LOVE Christmas decorations and we have already decorated (and that’s ok!). Personally I choose not to decorate early because I want to focus on Thanksgiving and if I decorate, it’s hard to keep my focus (again, this is JUST me!). I love that this holiday is not centered around gifts. In fact, the gift is fellowship. We literally sit around, talk, watch some football, go outside and take naps. It’s relaxing. And don’t get me started on the food! Man!

But is Thanksgiving a Christian holiday?

Well, yes and no. It’s a civic holiday with religious roots. I’ll explain. Thanksgiving is a civic holiday that came about from a custom by European Christians. These European Christians were Puritans and Pilgrims. When they came to North America, it was pretty traumatic in a lot of ways but they clearly triumphed. They wanted to give thanks as a community for God’s great provision and blessings. This tradition has been practiced heavily in North America since 1621. So, in 1863 during the Civil War, President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

So, let’s peel the layers away and look at Thanksgiving a little deeper. When the Puritans and Pilgrims migrated hare, it was bleak. Out of 102 colonists, 44 died the first winter. At one point, their food ration was down to five kernels of corn. Y’all. That’s pretty bad. But then, a ship came and swapped grain for beaver pelts. This brought hope. Do you believe they were saved by happenstance? Of course not! God saved them! It was all in His plan for them to go through hard times and to be saved. For them to give thanks to Him. For a movement to make it a national holiday. For all of us to stop and thank Him for our blessings every year. That was all planned.

Even though the Thanksgiving holiday is not in the Bible, there are a ton of references of thanksgiving. Individuals offered up sacrifices out of gratitude in the book of Genesis. The Mosaic Law set aside three times each year when the Israelites were to gather together. All three of these times the Feast of the Passover, (Exodus 12:15-20), Harvest or Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15-21), and the Feast of Ingathering or Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-36) involved remembering God’s provision and grace. Harvest and Tabernacles took place specifically in relation to God’s provision in the harvest of various fruit trees and crops. And if you are wondering, yes the New Testament is chocked full of verses to give thanks to God in your prayers.

So while you are sitting at the table with your family and friends, please remember Him. He gave the greatest gift and that is His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus paid our debts so we can peacefully sit at the table with our loved ones this season and for all seasons to come. Please take time at the table to talk about what God has done for you and what blessings He has provided for you. Remember what this day is really about. Make sure it’s not overlooked.

Happy Thanksgiving and love you all,

Jennifer

Motivational Monday

By Jennifer Robbins

On November 18, 2024

In Motivational Monday, News and Announcements

Hey friends! I am so glad you are here! Y’all. I love Thanksgiving. I used to be the person that felt like it was a “eh” holiday but as I have gotten older, I really appreciate it. I am super excited about it this year and I hope you are too!

This week I want to talk about the Bible. I know, I know! I talk about it every week. But THIS week, I want to talk about what’s NOT in the Bible. Am I crazy? Of course I am! Let’s talk about it!

I believe most people in this world are good, well meaning people. Look, I know there is evil in this world. I am not naive. However I believe, as Christians, we say (and believe!) things we have heard that’s in the Bible and we repeat them. We repeat them out of love and support because these things sound really nice. But these things are…unbiblical. So I want to talk about some unbiblical statements that we hear the most often.

“God wants me to be happy.” I appreciate that you relate God to happiness. But God wants you to be obedient. He wants you to trust Him. He wants us to believe that everything He does for us is for our own good. And sometimes, what is good for us will not make us happy. And we need to realize that is ok! It’s ok to be unhappy. I know that’s a VERY unpopular opinion. But listen, you can’t justify sinful behavior with, “God wants me to be happy.” It just doesn’t work that way. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

“We are all God’s children.” Hopefully the person who said it originally meant God created everyone. And that is true. But unfortunately, we are NOT all God’s children. Only those who have repented of sin, placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and possess the Holy Spirit of God inside of them can claim Him as their Father: “But you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15–16).

“Cleanliness is next to godliness.” Such a good southern saying! I know as a child when I came in sweaty and stinky my parents wanted to just bathe. And, as a parent, I can appreciate that! I mean, we have all been around some stinky people. It happens. But nowhere in the Bible does that statement occur. Can you imagine the smell of the lepers? Or heck! What about people in general at that time? There was no deodorant! You didn’t see Jesus saying, “You stink. I can’t help you because you are dirty.” It was quite the opposite.

“God won’t give you more than you can handle.” My personal favorite. This is always said when you are overwhelmed with life. And, I know the person telling you this is well meaning. But friends..this statement is just not true. Life is more than we handle because we live in a fallen world. It is more than WE can handle which is why God wants us to surrender to Him! God has a way of getting you on your knees…so give it to Him.

“Bad things happen to good people.” I know you’re thinking, “well I don’t see how that statement is inaccurate.” But in order to believe this statement, you would have to believe we are all inherently good. And as Romans 3:10 states, “As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one’”. We, human Christians, are the ones judging what is good and bad. This is human nature but inaccurate. When we say this (or believe this), I think our heart hurts for someone else because we see them hurting. We need something to help us make sense of what’s happened and that statement is sort of a bandaid. When we just need God.

I can name more but these are just a few. And I do want to say, I truly believe when people use these sayings they want what is best for you. And I believe they believe it’s in the Bible. I don’t believe Christians purposely spread false information. I believe their heart is in the right place. One thing I’ve had to learn (and I’m still learning) is your words can’t fix their problem and vice versa. So I think it is best to listen to state facts. Even if all you can say is, “I am so sorry you are going through that! What can I do to help you? I will pray for you.”

This week, I would like to assign you a little bit of homework. Reflect on a statement you have said or one you have heard. Then, I would like you to look up scripture in the Bible to see if it’s there OR supports what you have heard. I think you will be surprised at what you learn.

See you next Sunday,

Jennifer

Motivational Monday

By Jennifer Robbins

On November 11, 2024

In Motivational Monday, News and Announcements

Hey friends! How was your week? Before we get started, I wanted to throw something out there. We have a Men’s and Women’s Bible Study that meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month (due to the holidays this month, we are only meeting this Wednesday). Listen, I can only speak for the women, but this is a really good Bible Study. This study flows in a way that you can join anytime and you won’t be lost. And even if you do get lost, that’s ok. Sit by me where we can be lost together. The men seem to have a good time because we can hear them laughing next door. So, please come. We would love to have new people to add spice.

How many of you are planners? If something doesn’t go “right”, how do you react? Well, let’s talk about it.

Years ago, Jon and I wanted a bigger house/yard for us but mainly for Logan. We lived in a little townhome and it was a great starter home but Lo had nowhere to really run. So, when the time was right, we put it on the market. It had a contract in a week. So, we were in crunch time to find a house. We looked at several and put an offer on a house. This house had everything I wanted BUT…I’ll be honest, I really didn’t like it. In fact, we called that house the “Pizza Hut House” because it was shaped like an old Pizza Hut! But I settled. We negotiated back and forth and we could never agree on a price. So, we walked away. And then, we went on vacation!! Talk about stress.

While on vacation, I was searching the internet for a house and NOTHING. Finally, I just prayed and asked the Lord for help. I ended the prayer with, “I’ll figure it out when I get home but I want to enjoy this vacation.” The next morning, I got an email of a new listing. I loved this house. It was cheaper than the first one and it had a bigger yard. It had everything we wanted. We sent our real estate agent over to check it out and she loved it for us. We put a contract on it and we had never actually seen it in person! I felt like it was meant to be. Well, 11 years have passed and we are still in that house and we don’t have any plans to move.

You know, some people believe that when you are Christian, everything in life is easy and things just naturally go your way. I have been a Christian for a long time and I can assure you, that is NOT the case. In fact, some of my biggest challenges in life have been when I chose to follow God’s way instead of the world’s. It is so easy to choose the path where you will be socially accepted versus stares, eye rolls, or huffs and puffs (you might get all three!).

Over the last several years, when my emotions get high, I do seek the Lord in prayer. But this was a learned behavior that literally took decades for me to do. So, if this is not your first response, know you are not alone. When my heart is pounding out of my chest with emotion, I will quickly say, “Lord, help me.” That’s my whole prayer. Why? Well, at that single moment, I have something going on and I can’t have a long, drawn out prayer! 😂 But He knows what I need. He knows what I need when I DON’T KNOW what I need! Luke 5:15-16, “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Sinless Jesus used the same tools we have today! If it was good enough for Jesus, surely you will benefit too, right?

Lastly, let it go. Yep, like the song! Matthew 10:13-15, “If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town”. Jesus tells us to keep preaching. Keep pointing people towards Him. It’s ok to want to explain your side or clarify. But if you keep going and pushing, who are you helping? Is it for your own ego? You have to trust God will work out what He has planned for that person you tried to change. So, preach, point to Him and then, let it go!

So, if things had gone my way, would we still be living in the Pizza Hut house? Who knows. But what I can tell you from that experience, is that I had to turn it over to Him. Once I did, He was right there and handed me what I asked for on a silver platter. And no, my house isn’t perfect but it’s perfect for us. And I am so thankful for His blessings for allowing us to have what He picked for us.

So if things haven’t gone your way lately, don’t get down. Really. I know it’s hard and stressful! But you HAVE TO trust in Him that He has your best interest at heart. Just talk to Him about it. I mean really, what is the downside to praying? And then, once you get it all out…let it go. If you need a visual to help you through it, I have a suggestion. Pick out a beautiful leaf. Take great care in picking this leaf. Then, find a stream and let it go. Watch it drift down the stream. Notice how that leaf gets caught on branches, or get caught in a current where it drifts quickly OR it gets sucked underwater. That leaf that you picked with great care is your problem(s) that you are so stressed about and God is the stream. No matter how hard the situation or where it goes, He will deal with it.

Love you all,

Jennifer

Motivational Monday

By Jennifer Robbins

On November 4, 2024

In Motivational Monday, News and Announcements

As always, it is so good to see you here whatever day it is for you! Tomorrow is a pretty big day so I would be amiss if we didn’t talk about it. The election. So, without further ado, let’s talk about it.

This Motivational Monday is posted later tonight because I have rewritten it several times. Tomorrow, I know who I am going to vote for and I back them quite a bit. Am I 100% happy with them as a person? Or am I 100% happy with all of their policies? The answer to both of those questions is no…for me. I try to approach all things from a christian perspective. In fact, this is probably the first time I have ever prayed for the best candidate to win (and I really meant it!). There have been times I have prayed that prayer but obviously wanted MY candidate to win.

By praying for the best candidate to win, am I voting for the least bad option?

I am, personally, extremely happy that I am not running for political office because Lord knows, I am not perfect. And I have lived a little in my 44 years on this Earth. 🙂 I am a Christian and I am not perfect. Just like your candidate you will be voting for tomorrow (Romans 3:10). So to answer the question…yes. You are voting for the least bad option because you live in a fallen world! But that’s where discernment comes into play.

The Bible teaches us about leadership. Exodus is an excellent source. Exodus 18:21 reveals that one of the most important qualities of leadership is competency. We need a leader who will uphold justice with written policies that align with our christian morals and values. In fact, Exodus tells us this leader should have good character and support godly policies.

This is where I struggled. No one is perfect. Everyone sins. Yet, I need to vote for someone with good character and support godly policies. That sounds like they need to be as close to sinless as humanly possible. Friends, this is where you weigh competency and morals. Political support and moral approval are two very different things. A question that helps me weigh the candidates is will your candidate reflect biblical values in their political decisions?

Life is not black and white. In fact, I think we live in a constant state of gray. That’s why it’s hard. Because we live in gray, most cannot back a candidate 100% and we struggle. But when weighing the candidates, they are vastly different (I know we are talking about the presidential election tomorrow but in all elections, they are ALWAYS vastly different).

I would bet 99.9% of you know who are, will or would be voting for tomorrow. I personally believe it is our worldly and godly civic duty to vote. Yes, I said godly. Here are some verses to help understand the significance of voting from the Bible: Deuteronomy 1:13, Proverbs 14:34, Proverbs 21:1, Proverbs 29:2 and 1 Timothy 2:1-2. I am going to encourage you all to reflect on what is most important to you in your next worldly leader. Pray about it and read His word and then vote.

I hope to see you at the poll.

Love you all,

Jennifer