Do you like your name? And if you do now did you always like your name? As a teenager how did you feel about it? I heard two Jr. High girls talking in a mall once and one asked “Do you like your name?” To which the other replied, “No I hate my name” and…
Discover Purity
Things were beginning to escalate. Up to this point Jesus had been criticized locally for some of his teaching but now they were bringing out the big guns. The news of Jesus and his preaching was spreading throughout Palestine; remember last week I mentioned that the news had reached Herod in his palace and Herod…
Discover Injustice
This wasn’t the way it was supposed to end. He was the product of a good family, he had been raised worshipping God, he had followed God’s calling, had done God’s work and had preached God’s message and this wasn’t the way it was supposed to end.In a million years he would never have predicted…
Discover the 12
Discover the 12What a group. In another time and another place they would have killed one another or at least inflicted grave injury on each other. We know some of their stories and others we only know by name. But we do know who they were and even if we can’t name them all we…
Discover Baptism
John the BaptiserThis is how it all began! For thirty years Jesus had lived a life of obscurity as the son of Joseph the carpenter. He had been like all the other boys, had grown into a man and took over his father’s business. And now his ministry was about to begin in earnest. But…
The Body and the Head
Interesting word “instead”! It is a transition word that cannot stand by itself because the question is begged to be asked “Instead of what?” The past couple of weeks we have been parked here in Ephesians 4 and today our focus begins with Ephesians 4:15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in…
The Purpose of the Net
This is week two in this particular scripture. We started last week looking at verses 11 and 12, how Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers had been given as a gift to the church for a purpose. Ephesians 4:12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church,…
Mending our Brokenness
Ephesians 4: The GiftDo you like to get a gift? Sure you do, everyone loves to get gifts. Well most people, remember this from our series last Christmas. (Clip from Big Bang Theory)Often when we think of gifts in a church setting we think of the gift of grace, or the gift of salvation or…
Hanging with Who?
He was a little confused. There were some people who loved him and others who hated him. He thought he was doing a good thing, a necessary thing, even a God thing, but obviously there were those who disagreed. Nehemiah was one of the Jews living in exile and was in the service of the…
Measure of Success
When I was in High School I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up, sometimes even today I’m not sure what I want to be when I grow up. However I had plenty of dreams and aspiration, and whenever I visualized myself doing any of those particular things that I dreamed…