Peace Seymour Weekly Messages

All of us are outsiders to God. We do not follow him as well as we should. We do not live as he calls us to. We are outsiders in many ways, to God's love and his calling to live as his people. We walk in the darkness of sin, do what we please, but we also crave something more. Jesus loves even the outsider. He loves the Samaritan woman, though she is undeserving of his love. He takes time to talk with her, to care for her, to love ...

Some things are difficult to believe. What Jesus offers, can often sound too good to be true. How can water and word in baptism do everything that we claim? The Holy Spirit really works and acts in us? I believe in Jesus, but it's easy to doubt and get confused with some of these teachings. They sound like a fairy tale. Too good to be true. God's power and work is not capped at our earthly, human understanding. We truly cannot full...

Often in life, we feel like nobodies. We feel as if we are simply another face in a world that does not really care. Most of us are not famous, or well-known, or important. We even feel as if no one cares for us. We feel alone. We feel unimportant. What could God really even want with us? Jesus sees you. He cares about you. He loves you. He calls you to come and follow him. In his calling, Jesus does more than just make you feel lo...

We are sinners. We are born, live, and die, in sin. As enfleshed humans living in the aftermath of the fall of humanity into sin, we are in a condition of sin. This means death. Our flesh will one day break down, fall apart, and we will die. This is the reality of the world. This world is in sin. We are in sin. We will die because of our sin. Jesus came to take away our sin. As John the Baptist said he is "the Lamb of God who takes...

We allow all kinds of things to shape and change us. We are formed and conformed by and to the world. Our sinful hearts look for something to worship, and we end up worshipping all kinds of things around us. This is evident in how we live apart from how God has called us to. We are slaves to our hearts, and we live according to what we love, which is often, not God. By the Holy Spirit, God gives us a new heart. A heart that trusts ...

We are to put to death the sin that lives inside of our hearts. Yet, we constantly give into the sins of the world when we allow our phones, or the entertainment industry, or the music we listen to, or the shows we watch, shape and form who we are and what's important. What we hear and listen to influences us. While it's not bad to engage with media and the world around us (as long as we do not give in to sin), we should not allow ...

We easily get swept up into playing political games. We follow the news and listen to it every day. We only vote for this party. We argue with each other and make snap judgments about others because of their political leanings. We hate and even fight with others, and slander our leaders that God has appointed. We even look to these political figures as messiahs who will save our country. In other words, we allow politics to become ...

We love our traditions, in church and at home. These traditions are good. Yet at times, they can obscure the good news of Jesus. We fail to teach our traditions well to our children and others. We refuse to change our old ways when they no longer convey the same message. We hold on to the things that we like or that we prefer, and we fail to pick up new practices that are more helpful. We do not honor our traditions or the importan...

We think of glory from a human perspective. We want to have glory and power and control in our lives and in the eyes of others. We want to be lifted up, talked up, and looked up to. We want earthly glory. The problem is, earthly glory is not the same as heavenly glory, and we are seeking that which is not life. We don't want to suffer or be 'weak' or experience difficulty for the sake of the Gospel. The glory that Jesus was thinkin...

We are blessed to own many good things. We have many possessions that we love and cherish and that bring us comfort and joy. Many of these things actually can help us benefit others. Yet, we often value these things more than we should. We are drawn into a consumerism mindset, where we overvalue the stuff we have, we are consumed by it, and we want the next best thing. As a result, our lives revolve around our stuff and how to get ...

Often the people we associate with shape and change how we live. Good company can point us together towards a good life and behavior that is God pleasing. Yet at the same time, our friends, family, and those closest to us can point us in the wrong direction. They don't have the same values, the same beliefs, or the same priorities. This is significant, because it means we can be shaped by those that we love and care for, and can be...

There are bad things that happen in this world. There are frightening things. We don't feel secure or safe in this world, because bad things happen not only to bad people, but to all people. There's wars, violence, storms, disasters, and all kinds of bad things in this world. What we need is safety and security. Our God gives us that safety and security in Jesus. We are his people, and he is our all-powerful all caring God who prot...

Home can be a tough place to be. It can be filled with tension, conflict, arguments, and strife. When you're there, you can be tempted to avoid people, keep to yourself, or even leave altogether. Home is supposed to be a happy, peaceful place. Yet it often is not. Jesus came and died and rose again, that we may have peace. We have peace with God, but also with each other, in Jesus. By coming into our conflict of sin and suffering, ...

Coming to church can be hard sometimes. We often wonder, am I good enough? Have I been away for too long? Have I gone too far? Have I done too much? Have I done not enough? Do I belong here? Will God accept me? We often can think we are too far gone. We can't come home to God, maybe like we can't come to our earthly homes and earthly families. You are always welcome at God's table. No matter what you've done or not done, where you'...

We feel like this world is not the way it should be. That's because it isn't. Our world is broken, messed up, and it feels, not quite right. Sin has entered into our world through us, just as it did through the first two people, and because of sin making a home in our hearts, we were exiled from our home with God, and left on our own in this broken world. God gives us a home in Jesus. He gives us a new home with his son, who left h...