I preached the following message on Sunday, January 15, 2023. It was inspired in part by the book I mention below. It is based on the story found in Isaiah 36-37. My main text was King Hezekiah's prayer found in Isaiah 37:15-20. In her wonderful and challenging book, The Deepest Belonging: A Story About Discovering …
Tag: church
Something Old, Something New
This is my message from Sunday, January 1, 2023. Here's the link to Luke 2:21-40. Introduction Consider for a moment our church. It has a long history. It was founded roughly a century and a half ago or so. It has traditions or way of doing things that were formed in the past. Many people …
Politics and Idolatry
Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21 With those words the apostle John ends his first letter. And this makes sense given that in the culture of the time there were plenty of false idols available, plenty of religions from which to choose. John, therefore, is applying the first and second commandments (from …
A House Divided?
Not very long ago, something occurred to me while reading one of Paul’s epistles in the New Testament. As was the custom in his day, he always includes a greeting to the letter’s recipient at the outset. Here are a few examples: To the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, …
Christ First
This week's Scripture of the week is Colossians 1:15-20. Here it is again: He is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn over all creation.For everything was created by him,in heaven and on earth,the visible and the invisible,whether thrones or dominionsor rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him.He is before …
grace notes 