June 24, 2018 Mark 4:35-41 “Why Are You Afraid (No, really, why?)? Imagine a wind so strong that it makes waves big enough to scare commercial fishermen. Mark says that they thought they were dying. To make matters worse, Jesus seems unaware or unconcerned. How about our lives? Have you ever been in a situation […]
June 17, 2018 2 Corinthians 5:6-17 “See, Everything Has Become New!” Somehow things are all upside down. I don’t know exactly when, how, or even why it happened, but we’ve commodified God’s grace, and we’ve spiritualized our materialism. Paul and Timothy’s statement here in second Corinthians illustrates this. To hear them tell it, you’d think […]
June 10, 2018 1 Samuel 8:4-17 “The Dangers of Rejecting God as Sovereign” This text is part of an overarching argument in the Samuel literature that seems to say, “Be careful what you wish for.” The Elders of Israel ask Samuel for a king so they can be like other nations. Samuel took this as […]
“We Believe and So We Speak” (Jeff Moore, preaching) 2 Corinthians 4:5-15 The writer of 2 Corinthians suggests that Paul and Timothy seemed to be mightily aware of their “clay jars.” As Paul mentions in other places, his apostolic ministry was no cakewalk. According to this text, Paul and Timothy were “afflicted,” “perplexed,” […]
Isaiah 6:1-8 “How Can Our Lips Proclaim What Our Eyes Have Seen?” The prophet Isaiah records his call as a visual encounter in God’s throne room. What he sees is so holy, so pure, so true, that it can only be described using fantastical language: The hem of God’s robe fills the entire temple. Seraphs […]
Acts 2:1-21; Joel 2:28-32 (Jeff Moore, preaching) “Who You Gonna Call?” Times of crisis are often overwhelming. Many things are happening. There are important questions and seemingly unclear answers. Tempers run hot, fears abound, and truth is hard to find. It’s often hard to know how to decide, what to believe, what to […]
“IN the World, But Not OF the World.” (Pat Jackson, preaching) John 17:6-19 6 “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for […]
April 29 1 John 4:7-21 “Loving God Means Loving You” These verses from 1 John 4 contain a full telling of the nature of God, the Son of God, and the Spirit of God – pretty heady, spiritual sounding stuff, I suppose. These verses also connect God’s nature and being specifically and necessarily to consequences […]
1 John 3:1-7 “Revealing Christ to the World” “When he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” John looks forward to a future in which Christ is fully manifest to the community to which he writes. I suppose it was in part because he was pretty sure […]
John 20:19-31 “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jeff Moore, preaching) On my best health days, it seems, I think about food as fuel. Something my body needs to do the things I must do – the growing, working, resting, relating – all the stuff of life. On my worst health days, it seems, food is […]