Peace Seymour Weekly Messages

What the Bible Doesn't Say : “God Only Gives You What You Can Handle” - Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18

We often hear it said that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. Yet, life often dumps much more than we feel like we can handle in our laps. The issue becomes that we are forced to look inwardly to bear our burdens, and yet we cannot do it. There are some things for us that are too much to bear. Jesus has borne all our sins and sorrows. We are freed from our burdens of sin by Jesus. In the same way, we are to alleviate the burdens of others. As Jesus has carried our burdens, we are to trust others to help us in our need, especially those in our family of faith, and we are to bear their burdens as well. Knowing that one day, Jesus will take away all burdens from us, and free us to live with him for eternity in the new creation.

What the Bible Doesn't Say : “When God Closes a Door, He Opens a Window” - Jeremiah 20:7-13

Often in life, we think God will work good in our lives no matter what. If you look at the life of Jeremiah, you can see that that's really not the case. Yes, we have hope in Jesus after this life, but that doesn't mean life is going to be good. We will experience hardship and difficulty and we may even have horrible and senseless things happen to us. We can be tempted to think that God will eventually give us something good, but that's not his promise. God's promise is this, that he has saved us in Jesus, and that he will return soon to fulfill his plans for you, me, and everyone. We can rejoice in the truth that God will work his ultimate good (and so ours), even if we have a life full of suffering and pain. Our current or future situation, good or bad, does not reflect God's love for us, we see that in Jesus, who will fulfill his ultimate purpose for all things when he returns.

What the Bible Doesn't Say : “Let Go and Let God” - 2 Timothy 1:8-14

Many of us feel as though we can be in control over our lives. We handle most of our lives, but every so often, something is too big for us, so we allow God to come in and handle it. The truth is, everything is too big for us, and we need God constantly in our lives. On the flip side, we can use dependance as an excuse for dismissing God's calling to us, because he's going to do his will anyways, and so we fail to live into the roles and responsibilities he's given us. God is completely in control, and so we must be completely dependent on him for even the littlest of things. That's good news, because in Christ Jesus, God has made us his own and saved us! At the same time, he gives us his Holy Spirit that we may go out and do his good work in the unique way he has called us to in our lives. Rather than 'let go and let God', we ought to depend on God, while doing the work he's given us.

Trinity Sunday - [Pastor Nick Fuller] Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Acts 2:14, 22-36 John 8:48-59

Trinity Sunday is the day in the calendar of the church that we celebrate, remember, and engage with the truth that God is one God in three distinct persons. We especially remember that Jesus is God from eternity, and that he as God the Son, became man, that we may have eternal life with him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit in the new creation that Jesus will return to gather us and the whole church into. We do not fully comprehend this mystery, yet we rejoice in the truth, that Jesus is God the Son, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Fractured : Love - 1 Cor. 13:1-13

Broken relationships are constantly a part of life. There's no escaping them. There are conflicts, fractures, divisions, in all aspects of life. They're unavoidable on this side of eternity, because of our sinful condition. Jesus shows us what true love looks like, by loving us even though we are unlovable. We then, with the love we have been given, are called to love others. It's through this love that relationships are able to happen and function. Without love, we would never get along. Even now, we wait for Jesus' perfect love in his return, to restore, mend, and fix all relationships.

Fractured : Stay Close - Acts 15:36-41

When we disagree with someone or are in conflict with them, we tend to distance ourselves from them. We tend to try to get away from the situation, ignore it, and move on to something else. We don't want to engage in the situation because it's difficult, hard, and we may get hurt. We keep more distance than necessary between those we are in conflict with. While in some relationships we do need to keep some distance, we ought to try to be as close as we appropriately can without putting ourselves in danger or harms way. We should look for more connection rather than less. Just as Jesus did not give up on us, we ought not give up on our relationships with others.

Fractured : Forgive - Luke 17:1-4

Forgiveness is a dying art. We don't often want to forgive others. We make up excuses why we shouldn't have to forgive, or why we are justified in our withholding forgiveness. We wait for our emotions to be in the right place. We withhold forgiveness so that we can have leverage over another person. We are still too angry with them and cannot forgive them. Forgiveness is a choice. It's actually a command from Jesus. We are called to forgive, as hard as that may be. Yet, we make that choice, even if our emotions do not quite follow, because Jesus forgave us. Forgiveness in our relationships does not come from our own experiences, readiness to forgive, or our emotions. It comes from the forgiveness that Jesus has given to us!

Fractured: Confess - 1 John 1:5-2:2

As broken, fractured people, accountability is something we often try to shirk. We don't want to be held accountable for our sin and for our actions. We want to simply move on, remember that we have forgiveness in Jesus, and go on to the next thing. We need to confess our sin, but often we do not do it, because we don't like to admit our faults, face our mistakes, and bear the consequences. When we confess our sins, we do not make ourselves liars, but we see the truth for what it is: we are broken people who make mistakes, and God forgives us because of Jesus. We can't receive the forgiveness that Jesus has won for us, unless we confess that we have sinned, and that we need forgiveness. Yet when we do that, we see God's faithfulness, justice, and love for us in Jesus' words of forgiveness.

The Gospel Truth - Fairy Tale - Luke 24:13-35

Fairy tales are just that, they are make believe stories. We may say that they aren't real, they typically have a lesson to be learned, and they are supposed to change or inform us about how we live in the real world. The magic only goes as far as the last page of the story. Wistful child-like wishes for dragons, knights, evil villains being defeated, and happily ever afters don't really exist. That's often how we think about fairy tales. They are escapist fantasies that distract us from real life. The truth is, the Gospel is a fairy tale that has come true! It is the too good to be true, yet very true news that Jesus has risen from the dead! He has broke into our world, slayed the evil dragon that is death and has made the fantastical come to life! We know that even though we may die, we will live! This world and our lives have been infused with whimsical magic, not from a wizard or an enchanted sword, but from the too good to be true news, that Jesus is alive, death is defeated, and you and I will have our happy ending.

The Gospel Truth - Comedy - Genesis 21:1-7

We all carry difficulties of many kinds. All of us have pains that we simply have to learn to deal with. We have misfortunes, sufferings, and all kinds of problems in this world. Even when we have roses in our lives, we always remember our thorns. As good as life is, there are bad things that happen to us. When all we see is our problems in front of us, we can't ever foresee the end of those problems, and that is when God removes those problems from our lives! In unforeseeable ways, God acts to reverse our misfortune, to lift up the lowly, and to bless those that you and I least expect to be blessed! In the face of this unexpected reversal that God gives us in Jesus, we can only laugh with the joy of the good gifts God has given us!