Month: August 2019
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Starting at Home
Psalm 2, Colossians 3:1–17, Acts 11:19–26 One of the blessings and one of the curses of being American is the freedom to decide who we are. One of the biggest struggles between immigrants and their children is the change of identity. As much as most immigrants truly seek to join their new country, there are…
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The Church Walls
Matthew 5:1–12, Matthew 13:1–9, Luke 4:16–21, Acts 16:11–15, Acts 16:23–34, Acts 17:22–29 Mountain, boat, synagogue, riverside, prison, Areopagus (formal public forum) What do all of these have in common? Nothing. What happened at each of these, according to the Scriptures? Messages were delivered regarding the Kingdom of God. Only one of those places was a…
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Kingdom Come
Psalm 102, Matthew 6:9–13, Matthew 13:24–33, John 13:1–17 “Kingdom work” and “Work of the Kingdom” Often these two phrases are used when people are (rightly) trying to teach people that they can bring people to God and can be people of God at work. This is a good thing. However, there is usually a problem…
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Power to Divide or Unite
Matthew 5:3–12, Romans 13:1–10 Authority is an issue. Authority is not the same as power. Plenty of people have power. In fact, most of us have power. We may not be aware of it, but we have it. One of the greatest powers we have on earth is our vote. It often doesn’t seem like…
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Failing In Grace and Faith
2 August 2019 Genesis 6:5–8, Romans 7:15–20, Galatians 5:16-26 Human depravity is nothing new. The cleansing of the Earth by the flood made that abundantly clear. Yet, to this day, one of the common questions of humanity is why is there so much bad? We’re not talking about evil. We’re just talking about the basic…
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Seeking Reliably
Psalm 24, Isaiah 55:1–13, Romans 11:33–36 Many folks are obsessed with picking apart the Scriptures to find any issues or incongruities. Some do this out honest inquiry, some do it in an attempt to discredit the Scriptures. The reality is that we have to look at the Scriptures as the writers intended (which can be…