Emotional Eating
All of us do it. We balance out the hard things with something nice. In Philippians, Paul talks about "enemies of the cross of Christ" whose god is their stomachs. They've taken emotional eating to its extreme, living a life of consumption in an effort to avoid the reality of death and the cross.
Setting our minds on the life of Christ, we can avoid this error, and realiz that the end is not as dreadful as it might appear.
The authoritative parent...
This is a baptism Sunday. In today's message, Deacon Lyn reflects on Philippians 2. This incredible passsage shows us not only about the incarnate Christ, but also about the love of the Father.
Is God fair?
Today, we look at one of Jesus' parables, in which a vineyard owner hires day laborers to work. He promises to pay them whatever is "fair". As the laborers worked different amounts, the parable insists that we consider what "fair" looks like, and we learn something important about God, and something important about ourselves.
Texts: Jonah 3:10-4:11, Philippians 1:21-27, Matthew 20:1-16
How do we forgive? After Jesus teaches about forgiveness in Mt. 18, Peter asks a very understandable question - how far does this really go?
Jesus' response is a parable about forgiveness, and it teaches us what to do with some of the pain we carry when we've been sinned against.
My brother's keeper -
How responsible am I for those around me? It's a common concern, if we're honest. In Matthew 18, Jesus picks up some threads of Old Testament thought and changes his disciples viewpoint. They were concerned about who was the greatest. He is concerned about protecting one another, even from ourselves.
How does Jesus build his church?
Romans 12 is an amazingly memorable passage. In it, we learn how we grow as indivduals in Jesus, and how God uses us to help one another grow. Our faith response to God's grace is a beautiful back and forth that builds us up in Jesus.
Matthew 16:13-20
In today's gospel passage, Jesus asks his disciples some hard questions. They answer with divine insight, and Jesus makes some promises that have given rise to a lot of confusing belief and practices in the modern church. We look at some context, some grammar, and some theology to find the solid ground in a passage that many of us just skip over.
Jesus and the Outsider
Deacon David Morris stepped in as a last minute guest preacher, and shared a wonderful meditation on the gospel lesson.
What do we do with outsiders? When a woman approached Jesus for help, the disciples wanted Jesus to offer help and send the woman away. They wanted to find the easiest path to escape the situation.
Jesus, however, used the opportunity to foreshadow the beutiful expanse of His Kingdom, in which the walls that divide us come down through His death and resurrection.
Thanks for joining us today!
We are concluding our Proverbs summer series today, though there are many topics we couldn't get to. It is really a wonderful book!
Proverbs 3:5-6 is a wonderful summary verse. Our creation and salvation rightly claim every part of our lives - heart, soul, mind, and strength. The grace of Christ, likewise, is available for every part of our lives.
Our Summer of Mission continues with a great testimony from Ben Courtemanche - the Northeast Regional Director for the Navigators.
We then continue our discussion from Proverbs, looking at the common theme of strife and peace. We all find ourselves in conflict, but how can we avoid unecessary and unproductive conflict?