Dear Family,

I pray a LOT. . . in front of people. But my private prayer life could use some serious work. Honestly, I get bored easy and distracted. And sometimes I wonder if it really accomplishes anything. Sometimes I am pretty sure God isn’t even listening. . . and I know He isn’t acting.

We all know God calls us to pray and my guess is that most of you struggle with it. I am praying that God speaks to us from Matthew 6:5-6 as we close out this series on hypocrisy.

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Pastor Jace.

I am just going to go ahead and admit this: I like it when people see the good things I do. If I do the dishes, I want people to know it. If I visit someone in the hospital, I want someone to know. If I give extra to the church, I hope someone will tell me “good job.”

I struggle with pride and with hypocrisy. I think a lot of us do. That’s why social media is so great. We can talk about ourselves in positive ways and it’s perfectly acceptable We can toot our own horn.

Jesus has some things to say about tooting our own horn. Maybe we can wrestle with this together this Sunday from Matthew 6:2-4. Take a look if you have the time and let’s ask God to show us what we need to follow him better.

Dear Family,

Bill Hybels.

Mark Driscoll.

Tony Evans.

Steve Lawson.

James McDonald

Carl Lentz.

Bruxy Cavey.

Brian Houston.

Ravi Zacharias.

Maybe you know their names.

Famous pastors, speakers, apologists who did not live what they preached.

And every time one of them falls, the internet goes wild.

“Christian hypocrites!”

We all remember Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert. We remember Robert Tilton. Christians have been giving Jesus a bad name for as long as any of us can remember.

But it’s not just them.

It’s us. We have been invited into a new life and far too often we refuse it. We are hypocrites. We are treasonous.

But there is hope once we admit it. We can take a step closer to the abundant life we are offered. Read Matthew 6:1 and try to prepare yourself to hear what God might want to say to you.

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Pastor Jace

Dear St. Andrews Family,

I have a job for you. I want you to find someone to tell you the 3-minute version of the Christmas story. Get them to throw in all the details they know. What was the king's name, what did they wrap the baby in, how many animals in the stable? If you have children in the home, ask them together and let them work on the story together. If you can’t find anyone to ask, then try the experiment yourself. Then read the actual story in Luke 2. Maybe read some from Matthew 1 and 2. Notice how far off the story you have in your mind is from the story in the Bible.

Now ignore your mistakes and realize that your story is really good, too. The question is, why is this story told? What is our takeaway? What should we do? I think the answer might surprise you.

Dear St Andrews Family,

You know that moment when everything seems hopeless? Of course you do.

• The medicine isn’t doing its job.

• Your marriage has no meaning.

• Your job is in jeopardy.

• Your children are suffering.

Maybe you are feeling this now.

Israel felt this. Their world had been crushed. The temple didn’t have the power it once did. God felt more than a little distant.

And then . . .

Suddenly!

Let’s talk about “suddenly” this week from Malachi 3:1. Suddenly, he whom you desire, will come. It’s a story we all remember—when HE came. And it’s a story that empowers us through all the hopelessness of our circumstances and points us to his perhaps “sudden” coming to rescue us again.

Pastor Jace

We are excited to have Rev. David Deming with us a guest preacher sharing a Thanksgiving message. What does it look like to have gratitude in ALL times?

Dear St Andrews Family,

“I swear on the grave of my father Domingo Montoya thatyou will make the top alive.”

We swear, we promise, we vow…because people areuntrustworthy, because dishonesty is rampant.

· Sixty-five percent of students say that theywould be willing to cheat on an important exam.

· One noted physician says that Lying is animportant part of social life, and children who are unable to do it are children who may have developmental problems.

· Fletcher Reed says, “You won’t survive in anadult world without lying.”

Jesus calls us to do away with all oaths. That seemspretty crazy in the world in which we live. What about in the courtroom, on the wedding day, or pinky swears in the clubhouse? What then?

Let’s talk about this from Matthew 5:33-37. Andlet me paint a picture of a new world that Jesus is inaugurating. A new, more robust, more beautiful, more abundant world than you could have imagined.

Pastor Jace

Dear St. Andrews Family,

Marriages are dying. Covenants mean little and commitments are things of the past. Divorce is rampant and we treat as casual that which God calls sacred. We look for ways tojustify our affairs and our divorces and we suffer because of it. Our children suffer. Our world suffers. We are kind of a mess.

This week in Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus gives us a way out of our marriage. Kind of. But it also seems he says we shouldn’t get remarried. That is kind of concerning to me since I have been dating a divorced woman for many months. In fact, it lookslike he says that if I do marry her then she becomes an adulteress. That’s pretty heavy. But what does he mean and what does this mean for us today? Let’s visit this text together.

Pastor Jace