Saint Matthew United Methodist Church

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  • When Joy is Hard to Find

    Jason Hardy
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    Watch the full service online by clicking here.

    Life has seasons when joy comes easily—and seasons when it feels almost impossible to find. This week, Rev. Mary Teague reminded us that Christian joy isn’t dependent on our circumstances. It is rooted in God’s presence with us.

    Looking to Nehemiah’s encouragement that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” and Peter’s words to believers enduring hardship, we were reminded that God never promises an easy life. Instead, God promises to walk with us through every season, offering hope, strength, and a joy that cannot be taken away by life’s challenges.

    When we feel overwhelmed, discouraged, or weary, we are invited to turn back to God, who renews our hearts and reminds us that our hope is found not in what is happening around us, but in the One who is always with us.

    Take Time to Reflect

    Where have you been looking for joy lately? Has it depended on your circumstances, or have you allowed God’s presence to be your source of strength? This week, take a few quiet moments each day to thank God for one blessing and ask God to renew your joy, even in the middle of life’s difficult seasons.

  • Serve Joyfully: Living In The Ways of the Spirit

    Jason Hardy
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    YouTube player

    Watch the full service online by clicking here.

    How do we serve joyfully when life feels anything but joyful?

    This Sunday, Rev. Mary Teague reminded us that joy is not pretending everything is okay. Grief, worry, pain, and life’s distractions are real. There are seasons when healing requires us to be still before God. Yet even in those moments, God has given us practices that gently draw our hearts back to Him.

    Drawing from Psalm 100:1-5, we explored how worship, gratitude, praise, and joyful service are more than spiritual disciplines. They are gifts God has woven into our lives for our healing. These practices do not remove the chaos around us, but they help keep that chaos from defining us by reminding us that we are God’s beloved children.

    In Colossians 3:23-24, we were encouraged to approach every task with wholehearted devotion, remembering that whatever we do, we ultimately serve Christ. Whether in worship, at work, or in caring for others, even ordinary moments can become acts of joyful service.

    The good news is that God has already created us to Love Boldly and Serve Joyfully. As we choose gratitude, praise, and faithful service, we rediscover the joy that has been there all along, waiting to draw us closer to God.

    Scripture: Psalm 100:1–5; Colossians 3:23–24

    Psalm 100 (English Standard Version)

    His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
    A Psalm for giving thanks.

    100 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
    2     Serve the Lord with gladness!
        Come into his presence with singing!

    3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
        It is he who made us, and we are his;[a]
        we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

    4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
        and his courts with praise!
        Give thanks to him; bless his name!

    5 For the Lord is good;
        his steadfast love endures forever,
        and his faithfulness to all generations.

    Colossians 3:23-24 (English Standard Version)

    23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

  • Love Boldly: The Ways of the Spirit

    Jason Hardy
    Categories:
    YouTube player

    Watch the full service online by clicking here.

    Romans 8:26-39

    What do we do when life leaves us without the words to pray?

    In this week’s message, Rev. Mary Teague explores one of the most comforting passages in Scripture, reminding us that God’s Spirit never leaves us to face life’s struggles alone. Even in moments of weakness, grief, uncertainty, or exhaustion, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, praying for us when we cannot find the words ourselves.

    Drawing from Romans 8, Mary reflects on the many ways the Spirit is at work in our lives: guiding us, strengthening us, praying with us, and assuring us that we belong to God. Because of the Spirit’s presence, we can face life’s challenges with confidence, knowing that God’s love is constant and unshakable.

    The sermon concludes with Paul’s powerful promise that nothing, neither hardship, fear, loss, nor any power in heaven or on earth, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. As we seek to love boldly, we do so not through our own strength, but through the Spirit who lives within us.

    Where is the Holy Spirit inviting you to trust God’s presence a little more today?

    Romans 8:26-39 NIV
    26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

    28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

    More Than Conquerors
    31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

    “For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

    37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  • Love Boldly: Growing with God

    Jason Hardy
    Categories:
    YouTube player

    Watch the full service online by clicking here.

    Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

    Can people really change? Can hearts that have been hardened, distracted, or overwhelmed become fertile ground for God’s work?

    As the Love Boldly series came to a close, Rev. Mary Teague returned to Jesus’ Parable of the Sower with a hopeful reminder: none of us is just one kind of soil. Throughout our lives, we experience seasons when God’s Word struggles to take root, but we also experience seasons of remarkable growth. The condition of our hearts is not fixed, and our past does not determine our future.

    Rather than dwelling on failures or missed opportunities, we are invited to recognize God’s grace at work in every season. God never stops planting seeds of hope, forgiveness, and new life. As we learn to receive that love for ourselves, we become people who can share it more freely with others.

    Where might God be preparing your heart for new growth today?

    Matthew 13:1-9 NIV
    The Parable of the Sower
    13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

    Matthew 13:18-23 NIV
    18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

  • Love Boldly: Seeds

    Jason Hardy
    Categories:
    YouTube player

    Watch the full service online by clicking here.

    As we continue our journey through Love Boldly, Jesus reminds us that a fruitful life begins with a prepared heart. In the Parable of the Sower, the seed remains the same, but the condition of the soil determines whether it takes root and bears fruit. The invitation is not simply to hear God’s Word, but to receive it in ways that shape our lives.

    Rev. Mary Teague encouraged us to think about the “soil” of our own hearts. Distractions, worry, and shallow faith can keep God’s Word from growing, but intentional spiritual practices help us become good soil. Spending time in Scripture, praying with openness, and seeking to understand God’s voice are not tasks to complete. They are ways we deepen our relationship with Christ and prepare ourselves to love God and others more fully.

    As a church family, we are called to love boldly through lives that are rooted in God’s grace. When we make space for God to work within us, our faith naturally bears fruit through compassion, generosity, service, and love. Preparing our hearts today allows God to grow something lasting for tomorrow.

    Take Time to Reflect

    • What distractions might be keeping God’s Word from taking deeper root in your life?
    • What spiritual habit could help you become more attentive to God’s voice this week?
    • How is God preparing you to bear fruit through love, service, and faith?

    Matthew 13:1-9 NIV
    The Parable of the Sower
    13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

    Matthew 13:18-23 NIV
    18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”