Hays Christian Church

Pastor Cana introduces Psalm 81, which sees the author reflecting honestly on the challenges of sin, submitting to God, consequences, and God’s readiness to welcome us. Though our sin always brings consequences, submission allows us to be ready to receive God’s welcome.

Romans 6:1-11 lays out for the new Christians why continuing in sin is not the way to prove God’s power. Pastor Cana Moore elaborates that Jesus’ death offers us freedom from sin and raises us into new life. With this promise of new life, we are tasked with abandoning our old ways for the better freedom in Christ.

Pastor Cana takes us to Deuteronomy 28:1-6, which sees Moses, having taught the Israelites God’s law, address them with a blessing and promise of what their obedience to God would lead to. God’ blessings for obedience expect and accommodate human frailty. We receive God’s blessing without perfect obedience because of God’s intentional provision.

Pastor Cana shares Psalm 116, where the Psalmist suffers from an illness and calls of God for help and when they are saved from their suffering, they find themselves at peace and reflects on God’s truths. Even when we are suffering, God is our current salvation. In our suffering, we have comfort in confidently knowing that God is saving us.

In Numbers 22:7-14, and 23:4-8, Balaam is hired by King Balak to curse Israel but acts as God guides him to instead bless them. Balaam, not understanding God, followed Him over economic and personal safety. Pastor Cana implores us to also trust God’s prompting to follow Him, even when we don’t understand.

For the Epiphany, Pastor Cana speaks from Psalm 72, which serves as a statement of hope and aspiration for a new king and their nation. Jesus, the impossible King made known, is our example of how to bring God’s righteousness into the world. We are encouraged to bring about this impossible reign of God’s righteousness in the world with His power.

Meeting on Zoom, Pastor Cana delivers a homily starting from Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13, in which events have been going poorly, but the psalmist expresses confidence of a better world. Now is a time we know God has dwelled in the land through Jesus Christ and the reconciliation of all things is yet to come. We are encouraged to revel in the joy and assurance of the Psalm, of the promise of what is and what is to be, to let it foster peace in our lives.

The conclusion of Pastor Cana’s 2024 Advent series comes to us from Luke 2:8-15, where shepherds are visited by hosts of angels delivering the Good News of the Christ’s birth so that they could become the first to welcome Him. Through Christ’s coming, we are invited into the open spaces of a wider world of love, community, joy, and love.

The third of Pastor Cana’s 2024 Advent series, comes to us from Luke 2:1-5, where Mary travels with Joseph to his ancestral city of Bethlehem for government registration, just in time for Jesus’ birth on a not-so-silent night. God draws close to us amidst the noisy, busy journey of our human lives. Can you feel His presence?

The second of Pastor Cana’s 2024 Advent series, comes to us from Luke 1:39-45, where Mary in her early pregnancy with Jesus visits her cousin Elizabeth, whose own unborn child leaps for joy. God creates a welcoming home for Mary and for all of us. Do you feel God’s welcome? Let us also create a welcoming home for others.

The first of Pastor Cana’s 2024 Advent series, presented by Jennie Straight, comes to us from Luke 1:5-23, where the angel Gabriel appears to Zachariah in the sanctuary of God to tell him that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son, despite her advanced age. God offers us sanctuary in His presence, where we can focus on Him and be attended to by Him. Take time to notice your place of sanctuary and seek to focus on God.

Pastor Cana reads into Luke 17:11-19, where He meets ten lepers that He sends to the priests, but they are healed along the way. However, only the Samaritan returns to praise God’s glory and thanked Jesus. For us, Christ restores us from our uncleanliness, separation, and exile, so our response should emulate the Samaritan’s: praise amidst our gratitude.

In 1 Samuel 15:10-11 and 24-28, Saul, the king that God anointed to lead the Israelites, loses the Spirit of God for ignoring God’s commands. Saul was the perfect king by every nation’s standard, doing what kings should do, but as Pastor Cana explains, God’s favor isn’t measured by expectations, declarations, or previous presence, but by obedience to God’s Spirit. We are free from being “good Christians”! Instead, attentiveness to God’s Spirit will guide us to live our faith.

The final fruit of the Spirit that Pastor Cana presents is the fruit of self-control, as described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, where his athletic metaphors apply to spiritual discipline. Prioritizing the Good News of God over ourselves teaches us self-control for our Christian witness.

We look at Revelation 7:9-17 with Pastor Cana to find that the author describes the saints that gather in God’s throne room outside of time to worship Him. God draws, unites, and shepherds all the saints together, so we rejoice by remembering the saints of past, present, and future.

John 1:1-14 gives us a poem/song reflecting on Jesus’ significance of His coming. Pastor Cana shows us in the scripture that Jesus, not the Bible, is the Word of God. With this information, we can look at all scripture texts through the interpretive lens of the Word of God.

When we look into Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 with Pastor Cana, we are left with the wisdom that God’s good gifts, the simple things, help us be freed to enjoy our lives without worrying about their impact and weight. We can give our lives less weight and make them instead more meaningful.

The author of Revelations 5 shares a vision for the Seven Churches of Asia. As Pastor Cana explains, for Revelation, God’s conquering and victory are about sacrifice, not slaughter. We are urged to worship a sacrificed Lamb as sacrificed people.

The author of Revelations 2:1-11 writes to the churches of Ephesus and Smyrna. As Pastor Cana explains, Revelation’s specific context and message to specific people can offer us similar comfort t and hope. Let us appreciate the struggles the ancient and modern churches share in common.

For this sermon, Pastor Cana takes to Proverbs 27:5-6, which advises the distinction between the harsh truths from our loved ones and the sweet lies our enemies tell us. Because God calls us to be righteous, we should be friends who receive and offer truth, even when it is painful.

The next Fruit of the Spirit in Pastor Cana’s sermon series is reflected in Proverbs 15:1, 4, and 16:24, which speaks of the consequences of righteousness and wickedness. Preparing for the fruit of gentleness in our hearts means mindfully considering our lives.

Isaiah 55:8-13 is a rebuttal to the idea of overwork and offers a balance to value rest when needed. Pastor Cana presents us with the idea that the purposes of God are God’s to bring about. We are encouraged to rest and rejoice in God’s ability to accomplish His purpose.

Matthew 26:47-53 describes Jesus Christ’s arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and His response. Pastor Cana makes the case that Christ is firstly a peacemaker, living in a non-violent way and mindset, and it should shape our language and actions. We are encouraged to resist the violent language and conquering outlook of the world and choose to follow Christ the Peacemaker.

Matthew 7:13-14 describes the narrow gate and hard road to eternal life. Pastor Cana explains that the gate to God is narrow not to test us, but because living like Jesus is a challenging road. Our place is on the way because we have chosen it, living with compassion in a hardened world.

Returning to the Fruit of the Spirit, Pastor Cana opens to Genesis 15:6-18, where God makes a promise to Abram/Abraham that his descendants will suffer, but ultimately be rewarded. The fruit of faithfulness in Abraham is only possible because of God’s faithfulness. In us, God’s faithfulness will form our faithfulness during the long life of faith.

Pastor Cana opens to Psalm 84, which comes from the family of Korah, who well understand of the house and place of God. They knew that to be in the presence of God was better than being anywhere else. Our joy comes from the fact that God’s presence provides us a best place to be.