Andover Christian Church & Dr. Jim Conner

When Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, He watches people giving their money at the Temple. He makes some interesting observations when He's done. God may not be as impressed with some of our gifts as we think! But it's also true that some gifts we think are small - God really might like them!

We may not like the IRS, but tax collectors in Jesus' day were HATED! Which is why everyone was so shocked when He invited Himself to the home of one for a meal. Jesus challenges us all to see behind people's behavior - and not write them off. They may be more open than we think to coming to God!

As Jesus begins His final journey, He quickly encounters an unruly beggar clamoring to be healed. How Jesus handles this man - and what Jesus asks of him - are both important lessons we need to see.

In seven weeks it will be Easter. We know that it was about now when Jesus "turned His face towards Jerusalem" and began His journey to the cross and His death. We're going to walk with Jesus this year. The question for each of us is will we learn from Him?

Huge crowds followed Jesus for some great teaching, a miracle or even a free meal. Yet Jesus wanted them to see that there was something better than a meal or a miracle and He didn't want them to miss His greatest gift. We'll see what that gift was in today's sermon.

Why do we come to church? What are we seeking? For some it is about Tradition - Faith is a Religion. For some it is about Rules - Faith is a certain Lifestyle. Those attitudes are the perspective of FANS. Jesus wants people who would be FOLLOWERS. For such people Faith is all about a Relationship!

One big difference between a Fan and a Follower is weakness. A Fan seeks God's help to remove our weaknesses and make us strong - so we can rely on ourselves. A Follower realizes that our weaknesses make us stronger, because we are forced to rely on God's power. A Follower welcomes weakness so God can show Himself.

We don't like it when people invade our personal space - they get so close they make us uncomfortable. Jesus can do that too! In this sermon we look at a young man who walked away when Jesus got too close. But staying safe, holding back, limiting Jesus' impact on our lives - these are the ways of a FAN, not a FOLLOWER. FOLLOWERS want to get close to Jesus, even if He challenges us.

Jesus invited all kinds of people to be His followers. Some of the people He included were pretty far from God, night the normal kind of folks we think of at church. Yet Jesus loved them and invited them to follow Him. Today we look at one: Matthew - a hated tax collector!

We're all fans of some team or entertainer or movie franchise. We can even be fans of Jesus! While that may feel good to us, Jesus doesn't want it to be that way. He wants us to more than Fans, He wants us to be Followers. In this sermon we'll look at the difference - and why it matters.

We'll look at the reasons prayer is so important. All the reasons we might want to pray.

Prayer is the best way to begin a new year. We'll look at all the reasons prayer makes such a difference in our lives.

How have you felt about 2018? Do you hope 2019 is a better year? What will determine that? Is it all up to us? Or, is it out of our hands? What role does God play in the new year? We'll look at all this today.

Games, Christmas, and life move all over; we go forwards and backwards, we get stuck AND we can jump ahead. Sometimes there are such things as miracles. Christmas has several. Today we look at one of the biggest. The question is: does God still work miracles for us? We'll answer that in this sermon.

Every life has ups and downs - but every once in a while our life takes a huge step backwards. What do we do? What did Mary and Joseph do? More importantly, what did God do?

No one wins a table game by staying in one place. You have to move forward, despite the occasional setback. The Christmas Story unfolded in just that way. And so do our lives! There's principles we can learn from Bethlehem for today.

To play the game, you must choose your player. Christmas had a variety of players. The choice we have to make: which player will we be? How will we play this game of life we're in? Will we be a Mary or a Joseph or a Herod or an Innkeeper?

Life is seldom predictable - and often takes us forward or backward when we least expect it. Sort of like a board game, maybe Candy Land. Christmas is the same. We may know the story, but it sure wasn't predictable. In this story there are important lessons for us about our lives. And about how God can help us when life surprises us.

This is not so much a sermon as it is an entire worship service of Thanksgiving. The sermon is broken into several parts as we focus on all God has given us. Please join us in this expression of our thanks, worship, and praise to God.

We can have lots of success (last week) and even have lots of money, but that doesn't guarantee a fulfilling life! In fact all of that can distract us from what truly gives us a full and fulfilling life. In this sermon we look at money - and how it CAN make us happy. But not in the way you would think!