Christ UMC Howell, NJ

05/31/2026

Praise the Lord with joy!

05/26/2026

Sermon “We Need a Pentecost Day”
by Pastor Onay Lopez

Friends, on this Sunday, May 24, in the United Methodist Church and in all Christian churches around the world, we celebrate Pentecost Day.
Pentecost is originally a Jewish celebration, and the Jews called it “Shavuot”. The Jews also call it “The Festival of Weeks”, and it is also known as the Feast of Harvest because in this celebration, they celebrate the collection of the first fruits of the harvest. The Jews celebrated “Shavuot” on the fiftieth day after Passover. In 2026, Shavuot begins at sundown on Thursday, May 21, and continues through nightfall on Saturday, May 23. Right now, the Jews in Lakewood and around the world are celebrating “Shavuot”, and it means that there is no traffic in Lakewood during those days because of that celebration.
Jesus told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem because there they would receive power by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel, the message of salvation, around the world.
On the Day of Pentecost, about 120 disciples from different parts of the world were gathered in a house when suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. After that, a miracle of communication occurred when the disciples in that house began to speak to one another in a common tongue, and they understood each other. But, most importantly, that day they were all filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Day of Pentecost is also considered the day that gave birth to the Christian church, because after that day, the disciples went from place to place around the world proclaiming the message of the gospel. As I mentioned in my last sermon, today Christianity is the biggest religion in the world with about 2.6 billion Christians.
My sermon title for today is “We Need a New Pentecost Day”. Why do I think we need a new Pentecost Day?
On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were united around one main and very important mission: to proclaim the Gospel around the world.
Today, the Christian church is divided for different reasons. A divided church is not a good testimony for unchurched people, but it doesn’t help the church to fulfill its mission either.
Today, the church is focused on doing many good things, but in many cases has neglected its main mission of proclaiming the Gospel, and for that reason, the church is declining in a secularized world like the one we live in today. The church needs unity and to be focused on its main mission, which is to proclaim the message of the Gospel. The church needs unity and to be focused on its main mission, which is to proclaim the message of the Gospel.
On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples who were full of fear after the arrest and death of Jesus received the courage to step out into the streets. A new Pentecost is necessary to give us, modern Christians, the boldness to live out our faith publicly. We need church members to become active "missionary disciples" ready to share the Gospel.
Also, we need a spiritual revival in the church. We need the power of the Holy Spirit in the church. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, seek God with passion, and make miracles again. We need to pray for spiritual renewal to unleash the charismatic and transformative gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The prayer in my heart is: Come, Holy Spirit, come again and give us, your disciples, a New Pentecost.
Amen!! God bless you all!!

05/22/2026

Sermon “Jesus’s witnesses by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
by Pastor Onay Lopez
Friends, today in the United Methodist Church is Ascension Sunday, and on this Sunday, we remember and reflect on how, after Jesus’s resurrection, He ascended to Heaven and went to reign at the right hand of God the Father.
The Bible passage for Ascension Sunday is Acts 1:1-11, and there are many topics for a sermon there, but for my sermon today I want to talk specifically about Acts 1:8, where it says: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
In the context of the Gospels, being a witness to Jesus means that, as a Christian, you are willing to share with others that God so loved the world that send his only son to save humanity, and all who believe in him will not perish but will have eternal life. To explain this in a simple way, it means to share with others what Jesus has done with you. The Love, the joy, the blessing, and the salvation that you have found in Jesus.
Before Jesus ascended, he gave his disciples the mission of going around the world and being his witnesses. They certainly fulfill that mission, especially the Apostle Paul, who is believed to have traveled over 10,000 miles across the Mediterranean to spread Christianity through three major missionary journeys and a final trip to Rome as a prisoner.
As a result of the work of Jesus’s followers as his witnesses, Christianity is the world's largest religion, with approximately 2.6 billion followers. Christians account for about 32% of the global population and form the majority in over 120 countries.
Today, most churches in the United States are declining. Just 20 % of the people who live in the United States attend church weekly. There are many reasons why people do not attend churches, but one of them, a very important one, is that we do not share our faith, and we need to change that.
If every month, every one of us decides to share about Jesus with one person, it will make a big difference in church attendance, but more importantly, it will save a soul and will change the life of that person for good.
There are also many reasons why we do not share our faith, like we may be afraid of what someone is going to say when we talk to them about Jesus. Or maybe you can think, well, I have never done that. But today, I invite you to dare to do it, dare to share your faith with someone, and then, as I said before, you are going to change the life of that person for good.
Recently, we had a church leadership meeting, and we realized that we need to have a visioning meeting to ask ourselves what our vision is for our church. We need to know what our visions and dreams are for the church. But I am sure that we all want to see our church growing and thriving, and to me, one important step for us to see that happening is to start sharing our faith with our family and friends.
We need to reach out to the 80 % of people in our country who do not attend church. On the other hand, surveys made by organizations like Lifeway Research and the Barna Group consistently show that around 70% to 82% of unchurched individuals said that they would attend a church service if they were invited by a friend or family member.
We can change the lives of our friends and family if they come to Jesus. We can change our current reality as a church if we start sharing our faith. We just need to make the decision to start sharing our faith with others.
We may have people or things to blame because our church is not growing, but if we start sharing our faith with others, we are going to see new faces as we all want to see.
We already have the power of the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit will be our helper and will go before us.
We just need to let God use us, and you will be amaze of what God can do with you and through you. You just need to dare to do it.
Amen!! God bless you all!

05/17/2026

“Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” — John 17:11

Christ’s prayer reminds us that we are called into a deeper kind of community—one rooted in love, grace, and shared belonging in God.

💭 What practices help you nurture unity and connection in your relationships or community?

05/10/2026