Catacomb Praise

Music:

• “What a Glorious Night”   
• “Christmas Day”   
• “Trading My Sorrows (Yes Lord)” 
• “Here I Am to Worship”   
• ~~~ (devotion) ~~~
• “This Is Christmas”   (written by Pastor Mike) 
• “Here’s My Heart”   

Scripture:    Matthew 1:18-25  

Joseph was in a big mess- it took faith for him to go ahead and marry Mary even though she was pregnant.  Joseph trusted God and His angel.  This baby was not due to unfaithfulness, it was from God’s almighty power.  

Joseph could have lashed out in anger and looked for vengeance. Yes, Joseph thought that Mary was unfaithful (who wouldn’t?) but he was going to handle it quietly.  Instead of a big deal, public divorce, he sought to love and to divorce her quietly.  He wasn’t about vengeance.  He was about living out like God.

Do we have a thought of vengeance?  Are we driven by love?   Don’t seek vengeance.  Show compassion.  God says “vengeance is mine.” (see Romans 12:19).

Music:

• “Rescuer”  
• “Christmas Day” 
• “Holy Water”  
• “The Blessing”  
• ~~~ (devotion) ~~~
• “Adore”   
• “Holy Forever” 

Scripture:     Philippians 4:6  

The peace of God will guard your minds….  Anxiety.  We all have it, we can’t deal with it on our own but God gives us some tools for replacing anxiety with peace.

The biggest one, as Paul instructed in this passage, is to Pray!  Not just pray, but pray with thanksgiving! It’s ok to be angry about situations, but within all that anger we need to find a way to be thankful:  Jesus went to the cross…  The Holy Spirit is with us every day…. I woke up today….  The sun rose…..  God’s goodness and grace abounds, but we need to “be still”; take our minds off of our worldly concerns, and listen for God.  Let His grace pour over you.  

This video is a combination of two episodes.  The first half was recorded on 11/10/25, when Pastor Mike traveled to Cape May to share some of his own songs during an outdoor concert….

• “What About Jesus? (I know It’s Friday but Sunday’s on the Way)”
• “Flow River Flow (I’m Diving in)”
• “Relentless”
• “Priceless”
• “Over, and Over, and Over Again”
• “Jesus You Are the Way”
• “We Win!”

Things to think about…

No matter what we’re going through, we always have reasons to praise.  God is always so, so, good to us…    Our value doesn’t come from our own efforts.  Our value comes from Jesus… There are moments in our lives where we feel that all is against us.  But- God IS with us.  He’s right there with us fighting for us.  Do not loose hope.

~   ~   ~   

The video’s second half shows the November 3, 2025 edition of Catacomb Praise, which was presented Live in the PUMC sanctuary.  This part of the video starts at the 28:20 mark. (If you’re familiar with the PUMC sanctuary and feel a bit disoriented- yes, the video is a mirror image, recorded by an iPad)…

• “Undignified“
• “You Never Let Go“
• “The Goodness of God“
• “Awesome God“

Music:

• “House of the Lord“
• “Indescribable”
• “Mighty to Save“
• “Run to the Father“
• ~~~ (devotion) ~~~
• “I Speak Jesus“
• “As the Deer“

Scripture:       

Galatians 5:13-15  

We should have convictions, but above that we should live our convictions out in love.  It doesn’t matter where you’re at theologically or politically, we need to live it out in love to eachother.  Satan feeds us lies which cause us to hate one another.  Lies that cause division.  Just because we don’t agree, it’s a lie that we need to hate one another.  “Fight back” with truth and love.  

Music: 

• “Power in the Blood“
• “Run to the Father“
• “Jesus is Alive- We Win!” (Written by Pastor Mike) 
• “By Your Side”  
• ~~~ (devotion) ~~~
• “Goodness of God“
• “Build My Life“

Scripture:       Romans 12:1-2

Renew your mind-  what’s that mean?  If the enemy can’t have your soul (which he can’t!), he can do things with your priorities and desires… the things in your mind.  Satin messes with us in a lot of ways (even giving Samson Delilah), but his most powerful tool is to “mess with our minds”.  We can be messed up with struggles with things like fear, anxiety, doubt, and diseases.  We’ll always struggle, but scripture tells us over and over again that Jesus will be with us and He’ll bring healing.  He has overcome the world.  He will give you a new focus and new hope, and a new way of looking at things… a new mind.  We will win!

Music: 

• “Blessed Be Your Name”  
• “What an Awesome God” 
• “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” 
• “Run to the Father“
• “God Where Did You Go?”  (written by Pastor Mike)
• ~~~(devotion) ~~~
• “Holy Water”
• “Run to the Father“

Message:       

AJ Brown is a Wide Receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles.  Recently he has posted some inspiring posts on social media.  This football player talks about his faith and how he’s trying to walk with Jesus.  He’s a pro football player, a star player for the Eagles- but he’s like us.  He’s seeking Jesus and trying to walk with Him.  He said something to the effect of  “… if people aren’t interested in my input, then just walk away nicely.”  This created drama for the Talk Radio World.  But Sports Radio was preaching without knowing they were preaching!  On Monday morning, Seth Joyner, a former Eagle player, said “Instead of AJ Brown being frustrated and taking his frustration out on social media, maybe he should just find peace in his newfound faith in Jesus.”  Why are we unloading our frustration in so many ways instead of turning to God?  Our faith is that Jesus is with us at all times; good or bad.  We can find our peace in Jesus.  Nothing in this world will last, but Jesus is always there.  Open up your heart and place your trust in Jesus.  Jesus is our peace; let’s live it out.

• “Let Everything that Has Breath Praise The Lord- Psalm 150”  (Written by Pastor Mike) 
• “Rattle”  
• “Priceless” (Written by Pastor Mike) 
• “Hymn of Heaven”  
• ~~~ (devotion) ~~~
• “I Can Only Imagine”  
• “In Christ Alone“

Scripture:     Romans 5:1-5   

 Rejoice in our sufferings?!?- why does God allow bad things?  God doesn’t allow bad things to happen- WE allow them.  God gave us free will.  He hasn’t brought these sufferings, but they happen.  Because of sin, the world is not “fair.”  Hard working good people struggle to make ends meet.  God doesn’t want suffering, but our free will brings consequences.

But…. there is a glory to be seen on the other side of this suffering.  God cares about our hurt, so He sent a cure.  There’s a way to life us out of the “bad” things of life to bring us to God.  That cure is Jesus.  We have a savior who has conquered the world.  He is a way to bring us to a place where there is no pain, no suffering, but peace.  We preach Jesus, because we don’t want anyone to miss out.  The way to peace is simply by opening your heart to Jesus; “come into my life”.  

This outdoor concert was recorded during our participation in the Philadelphia project.  During the day, youth  volunteers from the region helped to repair and rebuild homes in Philadelphia.  In the evenings , Pastor Mike a PUMC’ers led worship services for the workers.  Most of the songs in this concert were written by Pastor Mike.

Music:

• “I Know It’s Friday, but Sunday’s on the Way” .
• ” On Fire”     
• “Shout It Loud (I need You)” 
• “Peace”    
• “Relentless”
• “The Victory”
• “Puddles”
• “God’s Not Done with You Yet”
• “Say the Name”
• “Priceless”
• “Over and Over Again”
• “Jesus You Are the Way”
• “We Win  (Amen, amen, amen we win…)”

• “Praise the Lord, O My Soul”   
• “There is Power in the Blood”  
• “Goodness of God”   
• “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)”   
• ~~~ (devotion) ~~~
• “Hymn of Heaven”     
• “Great is Thy Faithfulness”      

Scripture:   Matthew 13:44-50

This passage has some difficult statements in it- weeping and gnashing of teeth?!?   But there’s hope, and good news here too. Here’s how that plays out:

1. If anything drastic happened in life, those who would do the best are those who are holding on to the truths of Jesus.  We see God’s kingdom in the lives of others.  We are living for the Kingdom where everything is perfect and God reigns.
2. The kingdom of God is valuable; it gives us hope.  We have something greater than this temporary life.
3. Hard truth:  There is heaven, but there is also eternal separation from God (hell).  But we can avoid that by clinging to Jesus and having a relationship with Him. God will ask:  “What did you do with the knowledge of My Son?”