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June 18, 2015

Responding to the difficult love of God

But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace […]

June 17, 2015

Sermon Prep | It will happen

Sermon Prep | It will happen

Matthew 24.3-14 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 24.13-14 False prophets, some even claiming to be the Savior, international conflict, violent persecution of Christians, natural and economic disasters will constantly […]

June 11, 2015

The way of life

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. […]

June 10, 2015

Sermon Prep | God’s plan unfolding

Sermon Prep | God's plan unfolding

23.37-24.2 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 23.27 In contrast to the woes earlier in the chapter, Jesus laments over Jerusalem—the […]

June 3, 2015

Don’t just talk about grace, Be gracious

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. | 1 Peter 4.8 There are a lot of people talking about grace: how to show grace to people struggling with this or that, victims of some sort of suffering. Often these conversations start to educate people, but turn into an […]

May 28, 2015

Friend with Benefits

On Sunday we looked at the ‘Woes’ from Jesus to the religious leaders of the first century and we saw that His frustration stemmed from their lack of true reverence for God. They treated God as nothing more than someone to be kept in their lives based on what they could get from Him. They […]

May 27, 2015

Sermon Prep | The Law of love

Sermon Prep | The Law of love

Matthew 22.34-46 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  22.37-39 The verbal challenges seeking trap Jesus in controversy […]

May 20, 2015

Sermon Prep | The problem of Pharisees

Sermon Prep | The problem of Pharisees

Matthew 23.13-36 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.  23.27 Jesus’ woes are the angry laments of wounded love, incited by compassion for those whom religious leaders have led astray (see 23:37). Second-century rabbis, […]

May 14, 2015

Finding God

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For […]

May 13, 2015

Sermon Prep | Practice what you preach

Sermon Prep | Practice what you preach

Matthew 23.1-12 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 23.12 Chapter 23 amounts to an unrestrained tongue lashing against the Scribes and Pharisees.  Even though Jesus speaks directly to the crowds and his disciples, He is indirectly condemning the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.  They do not practice what […]

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