1786 results for tag: Greg Albrecht

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

December 14, 2023 - Quote for the Day:   “How did this incredible and astounding story about God’s love incarnated for us become an orgy of eating, drinking, getting and grasping?  How did God’s love being born into our story become so devalued that many primarily understand its celebration as a time when they shop until they drop, spending money they do not have in a vain pursuit of buying love and proving their love to those they hold near and dear?... Sadly, a headlong pursuit of purchasing love for ourselves blurs and obscures the miracle, majesty and mystery of God’s love coming to this earth.  Here-today-and-go...

A Love That Really Does Conquer All

God, in the person of Jesus, didn't just lecture us from on high, instructing us to love other people. He came down here and provided a demonstration of his love. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR200.mp3  

Hope – Even in Desperate Times

The real Christmas story is not a Pollyanna escape from the real world. The birth of Jesus takes place against the backdrop of politics and intrigue, pride, hatred, violence, taxes and poverty. It all sounds like the evening news or the morning paper! https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR199.mp3

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

December 12, 2023 - Quote for the Day:   “The Son of God was born into the world, not as a prince, but as a pauper.  So, to deck up the legendary scene of his nativity with precious hangings, pictures, glittering lamps and other ornamentation, is to destroy whatever valid symbolism it might otherwise have had.  Truly, we human beings have a wonderful facility for thus snatching fantasy from the jaws of truth. – Malcom Muggeridge Let us not think of Jesus as spiritual Prozac, designed to cure our depression by masking the symptoms but never offering a cure for the true problem.  May we not be seduced by the silly and ...

From the Pasture to the Palace

Our career and avocation, as Christians, involves being humble, even as our Chief Shepherd exemplified humility in all aspects of his birth, life, death and resurrection. This week's sermon leads us to consider the humble beginnings of the earthly life of our Lord and the relevance it has for our lives. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR044.mp3

Peace Arrives!

Our Savior, who rescues us from danger, disaster and destruction has arrived! The peace of God is a new kind of peace, not a relative calm between storms, but an abiding, eternal, internal peace give to those who can never deserve it nor ever do anything to merit it. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR043.mp3

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

December 10, 2023 - Quote for the Day:  “Christmas is about God who, in the person of Jesus, came to us willing to confront the very worst of what it means to be human, and love us anyway.”  Originally published in: Letters to My Friends ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

The Long Wait

The sermon speaks to our long wait, waiting for “the blessed hope.” Greg encourages us to "live and experience December" - to fix our eyes and our spiritual compass on Jesus, and recommit to receiving God's grace. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR042.mp3

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

December 7, 2023 - Quote for the Day:  “She had never been with a man – not even the man she was going to marry.  As a bride-to-be, the teenage girl named Mary lived each day making plans, dreaming of the future and looking forward to her marriage.   Everything was ‘normal’ and her future seemed promising until an angel of the Lord appeared to her saying, she was ‘highly favored.’ … Having a child before she was married was not high on the list of things to which Mary aspired – giving birth to a child before marriage whose father was anyone other than Joseph, her fiancé, would be a disaster!” Originally published ...

The Comfort of Christ

As we begin a season of anticipating the coming of Jesus, Greg's sermon is based on Isaiah's prophecy of Christ as comforter. https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR041.mp3

God in the Manger

Many of us are more willing to accept Jesus Christ as the helpless, dependent baby in the manger than as Lord of our lives. We don’t want to hear how he challenges our beliefs and our way of life, but the central truth of Christmas is that the baby in the manger is God!

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

December 5, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “… this season of the year reminds us that the future is not our enemy.  For Christians, the future is not a time to fear, it is not the place of death and defeat.  For as certainly as Jesus was born, he will come again.  Christ the Lord has come.  He has come to be one of us, born of the virgin Mary, born in humility and poverty.  He died on his Cross.  He rose from his tomb.  He is coming again!”  Originally published in: Spiritual Soup for the Hungry Soul, Volume 1 ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Coming to Jesus

Travel is very much a part of Christmas. We join bumper to bumper traffic as we shop, we fly many hundreds of miles and travel our freeways to be with family and friends. Travel was a part of Christmas from the beginning, but at the first Christmas travel was for a different reason.

The Cradle and the Cross

Christmas upsets many people because at least once a year they can’t run away from Jesus. When Jesus shows up, things change, the status quo is threatened. It is a time of challenge and confrontation to religion and politics.

The King Who Became a Man – by Greg Albrecht

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood (John 1:14, The Message). During his reign (1910-1936) King George V of the United Kingdom and the British Empire visited Leeds, a city in the north of England. When he was informed that a school was situated next to the railway line, King George agreed to have the train slow down so that he could appear on a platform and wave to the children as the royal entourage passed. When the king came outside the train he wore no outward signs of royalty, but was dressed in a suit, like any other male subject of his kingdom. After the train glided by and the cheers of the children ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

December 3, 2023 - Quote for the Day:  “That was God in that crib amidst the animal sounds and smells in Bethlehem, and that was God on that cross on the garbage dump just outside of Jerusalem.  God in a crib – God in human flesh – God in diapers – defenseless, crying and fighting for breath.  God on the cross, his flesh pierced and just as he was in his crib – defenseless and fighting for breath.  The crib and the cross, carved from the same wood – only God can make a tree.”  Originally published in: Letters to My Friends ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Is God Crazy, or What?

We don’t give him anything he needs. Yet God is madly in love with us… is he crazy, or what? https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR460.mp3

The Beginning of the End – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter from December 2023: Every year we celebrate Christmas in the last week of the last month of the year.  Is December 25 the end or the beginning? Are we celebrating the end of a passing year or the beginning of a New Year… or are we celebrating the beginning of the end?   For the past three years we have battled deadly foes, unseen like COVID and visible like the tyrannical Putin of Russia and the unspeakable brutality of war, most particularly in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Dare we hope that December 2023 is the end of some really difficult years, and that relative peace and prosperity is on the way for ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

November 30, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “It is my contention – and you may choose to disagree – that legalistic religion has fabricated and invented eternal conscious torment as the way God will punish those who don’t measure up.  But in the next breath, after condemning people to eternal conscious torment, Christ-less religion will assure them, ‘But don’t forget, God loves you.’  Think about it:  Why is it so important for religion to believe that God loves its followers but wants those who are not members of their church to suffer? Why are so many churches within Christendom willing to extend one hand to ...

How To Be a Successful Failure

The Apollo 13 mission was appropriately dubbed, "a successful failure." Many defining moments in life emerge when we are on the edge of fulfillment, yet denied the thing we most want. Greg shares a biblical example and its lessons for how to be a successful failure.