You know, there’s always a story before the story, right? There’s the story that you know and then there is the full story. I remember when I was a kid, Paul Harvey made a career out telling, join me if you’re old, “The rest of the story!” And if you don’t know who Paul Harvey is, now you have your discussion starter question for when you are hanging out with your elders.
Read MoreI ran into a comment recently from the writer, Jennifer Donnelly: “Right now I want a word that describes the feeling that you get--a cold sick feeling, deep down inside--when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again quite be the same person you were.”
Read MoreIn my opinion, life pretty much boils down to who what you do while you waiting to arrive.
Read MoreSo, here’s a really fundamental question for you: do you think Jesus is coming back? In the earliest days of Christianity, one of the core beliefs was that there was more to come after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. There was going to be a day of judgment. There was going to be a point in which all of those who prospered in this world by doing what was wrong would pay a price. There was going to be a day when the trumpets blared and the skies parted and the risen Jesus returned. The faithful would be carried away. The rest of the world would suffer.
Read MoreWhen Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians, he faced a huge challenge: he did not start this church; he’d never met these people; and he had never even been to this town. As an outsider and a stranger, he had heard that the Colossians’ faith foundation was solid. However, Paul had also heard that the community might be losing its focus, both in how they thought about their faith and in how they lived their faith.
Read MoreLet’s begin by locating ourselves first. Philippi was a city in northern Greece, what was then called Macedonia. The city was named after King Phillip II, who, among other things, was the father of Alexander the Great. The city was another of the major trade routes in the ancient world and, as such, was a place of racial, religious and ethnic diversity. Again, we should remind ourselves, these diverse places were the soil in which the early Christian churches thrived, the kind of places that many modern Christians seem to fear.
Read MoreThis week, we move our attention to the letter to the Ephesians. In our text, you heard the suggestion that we need to “speak the truth to our neighbors.” This morning, we will do that several times.
Read MoreSometime early in Paul’s ministry, he spent time planting a number of churches in what is now known as Turkey.
Read MoreHere’s what you need to know from the start this morning. The name of the town, “Corinth,” because of Corinth’s reputation, was the slang term for…fornication. (Yup…we’ll go with that word.) The worst insult that you could sling at a woman was to call her a “Corinthian.” To “Corinthianize" someone was to push them or tempt them past their moral limits. You get my drift here, right? Think of it this way… “Vegas, baby!” Do I have your attention?
Read MoreSo, we’ve spent some time watching Saul, the Christian hunter, turn into Paul, the founder of the church. Paul, more than any other single person, was responsible for the spread of Christianity into the world beyond Jerusalem.
Read MoreSo, do you believe that people can change? Let’s put some flesh and bone on this question. Walk with me…
Read MoreLast week, we watched as Paul got stopped, dead in his tracks, on the way to Damascus. He knew he was right. He knew exactly what he was going to do. The man marched down the road, surrounded by people who hurried to keep up. All of this was true until the instant it wasn’t.
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