Pastor Steven G Lightfoot's Podcast

If you missed the Magnolia Community Thanksgiving Service last night (Tuesday, November 22) hosted by Magnolia United Methodist Church, you missed a great time of worship. Here is Pastor Steven G. Lightfoot's Thanksgiving message:Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

What have I to be thankful for? Depending on our circumstances, the tone in which we ask ourselves that question may vary. Our circumstances tend to dictate our tone... until we understand just exactly what it is for which we should be truly thankful.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Are we marching toward freedom or are we marching toward captivity? Luke's gospel says we are in for a rocky road. Isaiah's prophesy says that we are due a new heaven and a new earth soon. Interestingly enough, both are true.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

The people were discouraged because they could not envision their rebuilt temple having anywhere near the glory of the original. But God had plans to make the rebuilt temple more glorious, more majestic more wonderful then the people could ever hope for or imagine. It's not hard to see the message of their experience applied to our current circumstances.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Me? A Pharisee? After reading Luke 18, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, if we are honest, we'd have to admit that most of us have one foot in the Pharisee camp and one foot in the humble Tax Collector camp. We all have Pharisee tendencies, especially when it comes to how we do church.The thing is, churches and church goers who operate out of the Pharisee camp tend not to have as great an impact in the world as those who come from a place of humility, and mercy and grace. The question then becomes, what kind of church / church goer are you? How big an impact are you making in your community? Let's discuss. Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

The prophet Jeremiah reminds us that, as believers, the Word of God is written on our hearts. This separates us, in a holy way, from the rest of humanity, who perceives God's law only from the perspective of conscience. In Psalm 119, we see that the Word is the source of understanding, wisdom and guidance, and Paul tells us that the Word is useful for sound teaching, reproof and correction.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

When we suffer hardship for the sake of the Gospel, even to the point of being chained like a criminal, the Word of God is not, cannot be, chained.The promise is this: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. (2 Ti 2:11–13).Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

We have been given authority over both the natural and the supernatural realms. Not only that, we have been given a spirit of power, love and discipline to stand up in righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. With all of the power of the Trinity for us, who can possibly come against us.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

In his letters to Timothy, Paul gives us some good, practical theology that we can apply in our lives as we fight the good fight of faith.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

As is often God's timing, my message, written prior to the recent bombings in NYC and NJ, and the mall attacks in MN, became all the more relevant as we awoke Sunday morning to the news while we got ready for church. As in the days of the prophet Jeremiah, our world is spiritually bankrupt. The people are worshipping the false gods of self-centeredness and secular humanist culture. Violence in the name of a false god and his false prophet is unbridled. The world is in need of the same healing balm of repentance for which Jeremiah lamented. Like the shrewd manager in Jesus' parable in Luke's Gospel message, we must be streetwise, creative and get our books in order, and then help others to do the same. Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

On this 15th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America, Pastor Steven explores three basic questions in the context of Luke 15: What is the nature of God? What is the nature of humankind? What is the nature of the relationship between God and humankind, and between human beings, one to another?Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

What is the cost of discipleship in today's culture? What does it take to really follow Jesus these days? Pastor Steven takes a closer look at what Jesus has to say in the Gospel according to Luke 14:25-33 and several other passages on the subject. Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Luke 16 teaches us that we can either seek the favor of man or the favor of God. Seeking the favor of man is temporal. Seeking the favor of God has eternal impact. Matthew 6 teaches us that we cannot serve two masters. We can choose to serve God or we can choose to serve mammon, we cannot serve both. When we choose God and His righteousness, we have His assurance that He will never abandon us.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

The world has been shaken before. The writer of Hebrews tells us that the world will be shaken again, and not just the world but heaven too. But while all of creation is shaken, those covered by the blood of the covenant will remain - we won't be shaken! Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Arthur Raymond Johnson went home to be with our Lord on July 20, 2016 after a prolonged illness. A native Houstonian, Arthur was born December 10, 1952 to Bettie Louise and Robert Sidney Johnson, who precede him in death along with his daughter, Donise. Arthur is survived by his wife, Kathy, and his sister Sidney Hill, her husband, Joe and their daughter, Amanda; his children, Justin and Jeff Johnson; grandchildren, Layne, Gabby, Joe and Maddie.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Many Christians are troubled by Jesus' words, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." The gospel message is one of hope, and of love; yet for those in our culture who have resolved in their hearts that they will not hear, that they will not see, it is a message that often brings hostility. Pastor Steven preaches on this and other related scripture from Matthew and Luke.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Good Church, Bad Church. In our Christian walk, we've all probably experienced plenty of both. The thing is, the one common denominator in all of those experiences, good and bad, is...well...us.Jesus experienced both good and bad in the temples and synagogues he visited. And he turned over a few tables when the experience was less than he had hoped. His desire was that his house should be a house of prayer. How do we get there - that house of prayer? It takes faith. The kind of faith of our ancestors - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses and Aaron... Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because you were outside the law, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross.Your debt is PAID and all of its legal ramifications are wiped clean. Pastor Steven preaches on Colossians 2:6-14Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Pastor Steven preaches Colossians 1.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!

Our friend and brother in Christ, Walter Larry Carruthers, 73, went home to be with Jesus on July 7, 2016. He was the husband of Ruth Beebout Carruthers. They shared 54 years of marriage together.Born in Chariton, Iowa, he was the son of Quentin and Theo Carruthers. He graduated from Knoxville High School in 1960. He has been retired and living in the Houston area since 2008.He is survived by wife Ruth Beebout Carruthers, 3 daughters and their families: Laura Carruthers Cheung, Lawrence, Sierra, and Gabrielle Cheung; Jo Carruthers Lim, David, Madilyn, and Chase Lim; Ellen Carruthers Flores, Thomas, Logan, Evangeline Flores; sister Margaret Carruthers, and brother Frank Carruthers. He was predeceased by parents Quentin and Theo Carruthers and brother Gary Carruthers.Let us know you heard the message. Send us a text!