Azle Christian Church

Rev. Russell Reflection -

A spiritual discipline is a habit or practice used in the bible by persons such as Jesus, the disciples, apostles, or prophets. Prayer and reading scripture are two of the most emphasized spiritual disciplines. Keeping a Sabbath day is the only spiritual discipline mentioned in the Ten Commandments, though. In our church and culture today, a 24-hour period set aside once every 7 days for rest and worship is practically non-existent.

Time-management is a term used often today to maximize how we use each day. While not a biblical term, time-management is a habit that we see Jesus using often. He was very intentional about how he used his time. He would retreat to be alone when he needed to, he would protect his time for Sabbath, but he was also known to break Sabbath law rules if it meant helping people in need.

How is time-management a spiritual discipline you practice today? If you don’t currently make a Sabbath day a priority, what steps could you take to prioritize this spiritual discipline? How could you make spiritual disciplines more of a priority to achieve a more restful and grounded life?

Series: Stop Running on Empty: Time-Management as a Spiritual Discipline
Sermon: “How Do You Sabbath?” – Rev. Russell Clark
Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30, Mark 2:27, Exodus 20:8
Sunday, August 16, 2026 at 11am
Azle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Celebrating Every Person’s Sacred Worth

The Ultimate Gift
The Gift of Love
Rev. Russell Clark
8/2/26

I need to admit something to you all. In talking about all of these gifts this summer, I realized how BAD I can be at living out these gifts. Anyone else want to confess this?

(raise hand)

The gift of work? I need the gift of a break from the chaos.

The gift of problems? I think I’ve had enough.

The gift of gratitude? I selfishly forget to express gratitude.

The gift of a day? Nope. A perfect day feels impossible most days.

The gift of love? There are so many people – including people in this room – who I haven’t loved as I should have.

Relationships are the most important part of our lives because that’s how we give and receive love. And yet relationships are the toughest sometimes.

People suck. We get angry and cranky and stressed and anxious and depressed and overworked and underpaid. And then we take it out on the people we have to see every day.

Or we take it out on the people closest to us.

Or we bottle it up until we explode.

Can we admit this to ourselves today?

We are not the perfect, little church who has it all together and knows exactly what all these gifts are and promise to use them every day and make every day perfect with perfect children and perfect health and perfect theology and perfect teeth.

We are the we-don’t-have-it-all-together and we’re-not-afraid-to-show-it-church. We’re the church of the broken misfits and we’re still trying to figure out this thing called life.

Let’s stop pretending like we have it all together on Sunday morning when we’re going to curse at someone who cuts us off 30 seconds into the parking lot.

//

It’s like the prayer that goes:

Lord, I haven’t sinned today. I haven’t yelled at anyone. I haven’t envied or lusted after anyone. I haven’t hurt anyone. I’ve done pretty good today, Lord. But I’m about to get out of bed so if you could just stick with me, Lord. Amen.

“Love is patient.”

I was patient the first 15 times but patience can only last so long Lord.

“Love is kind.”

You weren’t there, Lord. You don’t know how hard it was to be kind to that person.

“Love does not envy.”

I can’t even pump gas without ads in my face telling me everything I’m not.

“Love does not boast.”

I have to say good things about myself so I don’t feel like a complete and utter failure some days.

“Love is not proud or rude or self-seeking or easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs.”

I am angry, Lord. I’m angry all the time. If self-seeking, is taking 5 seconds for myself before bed, then so be it.

And I’m sorry, but I have a list of all the wrongs that have been done to me.

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”

But when that guy speeds past me and then gets pulled over down the street. I can rejoice at that, right?

“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Always?

I only have so much in my tank.

“Love never fails.”

Love has failed me. I’ve watched love destroy a lot of people.
We want to love like this but we’re human. We have experienced failure more times than we can count.

We haven’t been the best examples of love and we haven’t had the best examples of love.

//

There was a point in my life when I didn’t want to share my voice anymore.

I had been mocked on social media by a bunch of strangers who misinterpreted something I said. My intention was good but it was received the wrong way.

You may have seen how cruel social media can be to celebrities or politicians. It’s hard to imagine these are real people with real feelings.

But when that happens to you?

When you see this vile, crude, horrible stuff said about YOU?

It changes you. It changed me.

I wanted to be silent for the rest of my life at that point.

So, I had an opportunity to watch my neighbor’s baby. I would make a little extra income and I felt privileged that my neighbors trusted me to watch their baby.

The dad worked from home most days and the mom worked from home when she could so I had a lot of interaction with them and we grew to be friends.

I told them I wasn’t sure about being called a “manny,” that we would need to come up with a cooler word or something.

But then I looked up “manny” and it said manny can be short for Emmanuel, or God with us.

I told the parents what I found and they said, “We like that!”

I do too. I guess being called a manny is ok.

There was something about being responsible for someone else’s child, especially as a man, a manny.

The baby’s name is Grayson. We call her Gray. She was 9 months old when I started watching her, and I did this for 9 months.

This was right before we moved back to Texas, and when I had to say goodbye to all our friends we had made in Florida, everyone knew that the hardest for me was going to be Gray.

The love I felt for Gray was real. It was important work I was doing. Of course my girls loved playing with her and we all loved watching her grow.

I would take Gray over to my house and Shannon would play with her while she was working in her office. Shannon called Gray her “emotional support baby.”

Both of our families grew close in these 9 months and we still talk to them occasionally on birthdays and when we are sharing big life changes or achievements.

Manny. God with us.

The time with this baby gave me a little hope in humanity at a time I was feeling rather sick of the world.

Gray showed me God is with us. With me.

You could say that this sweet baby helped me heal a little to be ready to return to Texas and become a pastor again. And find my voice again.

//

Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “We were chosen before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, we were predestined to be adopted through Jesus Christ.”

In love, we were adopted.

In love, we were chosen before the creation of the world.

This love has always been there for us before we knew it.

This love was there knowing we were going to screw up.

We were going to destroy the name of love. And love still loved us.

You can’t live up to expectations? Of course you can’t. Love always knew we would screw up and loved us anyway.

You aren’t perfect? Of course you’re not. We weren’t made to be perfect. We were made to be perfected in love. God’s love.

We can’t be patient or kind on our own, but God can teach us how to be.
God is with us loving us until we’re ready to be molded by this love.

Yes, we are easily angered. But God is not. Love is not. And we can be like God’s love when we’re incapable of doing it on our own.

Love is what we can be when we feel like we can’t.

Love is sacrifice. But it’s not always our sacrifice. It’s Jesus’ sacrifice.

That’s who God is. That’s Emmanuel.

God came to the earth in Jesus to show us what love looks like.

To show us something different than the world was teaching then and what the world teaches now.

Jesus died to be sacrifice for us so now we love not to make amends, but because love first loved us.

Isaiah 43:2 says,

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

And in verse 5 “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”

//

Bob Goff tells a story about when he was in high school in California. He met a guy named Randy who was a little older than high school age. He wondered why he hung out at the high school.

Turned out he helped with an organization called Young Life.

Bob thought Randy was the coolest because he had a motorcycle, a beard, and a girlfriend.

Randy talked to Bob about Jesus and God’s love, and Bob grew to be friends with Randy.

Bob was determined that he was going to ditch high school and go live in Yosemite National Park.

He went to Randy’s house to tell him what his plan was and tell him goodbye.

Instead of trying to talk Bob out of his plan, Randy said, “Hold on…let me check on a few things.”

He went away for a few minutes and came back and said, “Ok, Bob, I’ve got my stuff and I’m going to tag along. I’ll go with you until you get settled in and then I’ll find a way to get back home. I’m with you.”

Bob was kind of surprised and excited that Randy was going to join him.

They illegally found a campsite to pitch a tent once they got to Yosemite and the next morning Bob went searching for a job.

He applied at one place and the manager looked at his resume and sternly said, “No.” Why wouldn’t they hire him with his lack of experience and lack of education at his young age?

Every place Bob went to he was turned down and Randy stuck by his side for every disappointment.

Bob was feeling really discouraged and Randy said, “If this is something you really want to do, you’ll find a place that appreciates what you have to offer. Don’t give up. I’m with you.”

They illegally pitched a tent again that night.

The next morning they got up early to climb a mountain together.

Then, Bob went to search for a job at the few places he had left. Again, he was turned down at every one.

Bob told Randy, “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. Let’s just go home. I’ll go back to school.”

Randy, without any judgment said, “If that’s what you want to do, I’m with you whatever you decide.”

Randy gave Bob some space to process what had happened silently and they didn’t say much on the way back to Randy’s house.

They walked in Randy’s house together and inside his home his girlfriend popped out and said, “Surprise!”

It turns out that Randy and his girlfriend had just gotten married. They were newlyweds and Randy had left his new wife because Bob needed someone to support him on his journey.

Bob thought, “I’m not sure if all Christians are like Randy, but he certainly showed me what love does.”
He stayed with Bob in his time of need without any judgment of what Bob would learn on his own was a poor judgment call. Randy was God’s love in the flesh simply by sticking by Bob’s side.

//

1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Love sticks with us when we’re not so loving.

Love sticks with us when we don’t know what love is.

Love sticks with us when we feel unlovable.

Love sticks with us when we’re making poor choices.

Love is with us when we need healing.

Love adopts us like we’re their child.

Love will make sacrifices so we don’t have to.

Love is the greatest because God will show up in mysterious ways and say:

“I’m with you. Always.”

//

Then, we’ll find that we do know how to love after all.

We’re not perfect, but we’re learning how to share this gift of love more every day.

I’m with you.

Amen.

The Gift of Love Podcast Episode · Azle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) · August 2 · 13m

Rev. Russell Reflection -

It’s been fun this summer focusing on The Ultimate Gift. Even if none of you read the book or watched the movie, it’s not difficult to appreciate the gifts we’ve been talking about all summer. The gifts of friends and family, laughing and learning, giving and gratitude, problems and work and money and dreams and a day. There are so many gifts granting us a different perspective on life if we are open to see it.

This Sunday we will be concluding our series talking about the gift of love, the ultimate gift that is the culmination of all these gifts. How we think about love can equal how we think about life. Love has been distorted often in our culture. True love is a 1 Corinthians 13 type of love. It’s focused outward; it isn’t self-seeking. It changes how we use our gifts. It changes why we use our gifts. The greatest gift we give and receive is love.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” John Mark Comer says, “We often think of the treasure Jesus is talking about as time or money, but what if we thought of treasure as where our focus and attention is.” In that regard, where our focus and attention are, there we will find our heart — our love.

Picture of one of our life group gatherings this summer, The Journey Life Group.

The Ultimate Gift
The Gift of Love
8/2/26
Azle Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Celebrating Every Person’s Sacred Worth

We have a POWERFUL month of August coming up at ACC!

AUGUST
5 Elder Meeting (6:30pm)
8 Journey Life Group @ Russell & Shannon’s House (5-7pm)
9 Youth Sunday (11am)
9 Blessing of the Backpacks (11am)
9 Youth Water Park Day (12-3pm)
19 Leadership Team Meeting (6:30pm)
22 Food Hub (8am)
23 DWM Meeting (12pm)
29 The Disciples Journey: A Retreat With Purpose (10-2)
29 Fellowship After-Party @ The Patio (2:15pm)
30 Baptisms & Lunch at the Lake (12-2pm)