A PRAYER FOR RENOVATION IDENITY THEFT Ephesians 3:14-15 // Craig Smith November 20, CRAIG: Good morning. AUDIENCE: Good morning.

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "A PRAYER FOR RENOVATION IDENITY THEFT Ephesians 3:14-15 // Craig Smith November 20, CRAIG: Good morning. AUDIENCE: Good morning."

Transcription

1 A PRAYER FOR RENOVATION IDENITY THEFT Ephesians 3:14-15 // Craig Smith November 20, 2016 CRAIG: Good morning. AUDIENCE: Good morning. CRAIG: So I had a little bit of a tense day on Friday and I don t wanna explain why. We moved in a new house last October and had this giant unfinished basement. So we re like, We gonna finish that thing in, we ll use it when the in-laws come. Missionaries can live there. All that s already happened by the way. Families that are in need of a place. And so far all that I ve missed to get done was two bedrooms and like a game room kind of an area and then people started using it. And so I ve been like, I can t do anything else because this is coming. We could live at Home Depot recently. You know it s on the way, right? We got all kinds of family coming so like, I gotta get a bathroom finished. I don t know what it is, it may be me. I made it for my whole family but we always go big. And so I decided to build a 10-foot shower. It s gonna be way cool. It s like a walk-in kind of a shower. But it turns out you can t buy a shower pan that s 10 feet long and 4 feet wide. It doesn t exist. So you have to do a custom shower pan. Now I ve never done a custom shower pan but I ve like, I ve got You- Tube. How hard can this thing be? And I m doing according to code, which means that you had to lay down a concrete. It s called a pre slope area. And then you put in this liner. And then you do the next layer. Well, Friday I was putting in the second layer. And as I was working on putting in the second layer of concrete I kinda looked behind me and I saw all the used bags of mortar that I d already used. And several other bags of mortar that I thought I was about to use. And I suddenly had this thought which was, This is a lot of concrete. I really hope my floor was built to code because if it s not my shower floor is going through my basement floor. And I just realized I don t know. All I could do at that point was a hope that they had built this thing in such a way that it could handle the weight that was being put onto it. Now, just so you know it s still on top of the floor. So far so good but I went in yesterday and then I looked out and I thought, Well, I m gonna step on it. And then I had this moment where I was like, Do I really want to do that? If there s a lot of weight sitting on this thing, can it really handle anymore? And so I did like a Karate Kid move. I was, Do I really? And I touched it. Well nothing s creaking, Do I really? And I just really slowly transferred my weight to it and nothing happened. So this is like a five-minute process. And so far so good. It s all hanging out just fine although there s still a part of that goes, Okay, but what about when they turn the water on? What if my weight is like right there at the limit, but as soon as we had water this thing is definitely going through? It s a nerve racking thing to realize that I don t know if it s been built in such a way that it can handle all this additional weight. And the reason I tell you that this morning is because really this entire passage that we re looking at this morning is really this larger section of Ephesians. It s kind of revolving around that same idea, is the church built together in such a way that it can handle the weight of something that God wants to put in us?

2 If you have your bible, I would love to have you turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3. We re picking up our study of Ephesians this morning in chapter 3 verse 14. And Paul begins verse 14 in Ephesians with these words. He says, For this reason I kneel before the Father. And if you were here last week, you might remember me saying that Paul really began to say something last week. And then he kinda went off on a tangent. It was really important but he sort of interrupted himself and now he s coming back to his original thought. So he begins verse 14 exactly the same way he began verse 1. He says, For this reason. And what he means by that is what I said back in chapter 2, which was that God is bringing us together so that He can show up through us in power. And so he says, For this reason I kneel before my father. And of course kneel before my father is a euphemism for prayer. He says, For this reason, because God is bringing us together so He can show up through some power. I pray. Why? Because he understands that our natural trajectory, our natural tendency is not to come together. That apart from Christ, our identity is to fragment and to separate. And even in Christ we can have that identity stolen so easily that we find ourselves dividing rather than coming together. And so he says, I know. I need to ask God to do what we would not do on our own. But it s kind of interesting. He says, I kneel, which is his way of saying pray. But literally what he says is, I bow my knees. Or literally, I bend my knee. And if you were here last week you remember me saying that part of the reason that we don t come together is because we re not willing to bend. But when we bend, we come together in a powerful way. And so it s interesting to me that Paul now says, For God to work in us so that we come together, I start by bending. Because I bend my knee. I submit myself. I come before the Father and I ask him to do what I know we can t do on our own. And then everything that follows after this is his prayer. And he provides for us what I think is a very powerful model for prayer. It s not the only model for prayer in the scripture. There are a lot of different models for how to pray in the scripture. But this one I think is worth knowing and having sort of in your prayer toolbox. It s one I use a lot. Paul follows a model that I would describe this way. He begins by remembering, then he moves to requesting, and then he moves to rejoicing. Remember, request and rejoice. He begins by remembering who God is and what God is like. And that gives him confidence that his prayer is in line with the God that he s praying to. And then because he knows that his prayers is in line with what God is like, he can move on to rejoicing knowing that God is going to answer the prayer. He might answer a little bit differently than he expected. God might choose to do it in different ways and by different means at different times. But he can go ahead and begin rejoicing because he knows that his request is tied to the character of God. That s where he begins with this remembering, and so he begins this way. He says, For this reason I bend my knee before my father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. What he s doing is he s remembering who God is and what He s like. And there s a little bit of a play on words going on here. And it doesn t come across in English very well. In the Greek he s making a play on words between the word father and family. Because in Greek the word for father is patera and the Greek word for family is pateria. They re very, very close. And in fact you can t spell the word family in Greek without having the word father already in it. And it doesn t come across in English. The closest I could come in English would be to say something like you can t spell unity without you and I. You understand what I m saying? Like the letters that you need to make this word are already part of what you re trying to say. And in the same way he goes, You can t spell family in Greek without spelling father. And his point is just this, that God is the ultimate and the most important source of our identity. Because there would be no families without God.

3 God is the great capital of Father. Every other family that people look to exists only because He created us in the first place. And his point is just this. He says, Basically, what happens as we look to a lot of different families for our identity. We have a lot of different groups that we call ourselves a part of. And we go, That s my people. That s who I am. And what Paul says is, No, no, no. God is the ultimate and most important source of your identity. Don t look to those little f families look to the capital F Father. We have a lot of families that we point to. We, I m a Republican. I m a Democrat. I m an independent. I m Baptist. I m Catholic. I m Methodist. I m black. I m white. I m Hispanic. I m American. I m Germany. Is what I m saying. We have all these little families and we point to make, That s who I am. That s my people. That s my source of identity. And Paul says, No, no. Remember that none of those families was exist without the Father. God is your most important source of identity. Don t look to the little f families when you can look directly to the capital F Father. Your most important identity is as sons and daughters of God. That s where you ve got to start. And so he remembers that this is true. That this was something that God wants us to know. And from there he begins to move on to his request because he knows it s in line with who God is. He says, verse 16, I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established and loved may have power, together with all the Lord s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. There s a lot going on there. Let s just break it down into its basic building blocks. There s really just one request. There s one thing that he is asking from Him. What he s asking for is that God would strengthen the church. That s the core prayer. Paul is asking that God would strengthen the church. And then he goes on to explain how he hopes for God to strengthen the church and where. How and where. He says, How is by the Holy Spirit. And where he says, On the inside. It s a structural thing. He s not asking God to strengthen the church by giving us more financial clout. He s not asking God to strengthen His church by giving us more political power. No, no, no he says this is an inside thing. He wants God to strengthen the church on the inside, to shore up the foundations. We re rooted in God s love, he says a little bit later. But he says, Now I want you to strengthen us on the inside. And then there s a reason for that. He wants God to strengthen us on the inside so that we can bear weight of something heavy that s coming. And specifically what he wants us to be able to bear is the presence of Jesus. He says in verse 17, So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Christ may dwell in your heart. He wants us to be strengthened so that Christ can dwell in our hearts. And really I would say it this way, what Paul is asking is, he s asking for God to strengthen the church so that we will become a place where Jesus can be at home. The word dwell doesn t mean show up occasionally. He s not asking for God to make the church a place where Jesus can show up every now and then. He s not asking God to strengthen the church so that the church become a place where Jesus can have a FaceTime every now and then. No, no. Dwell means settle in. Dwell means be at home, that s why I say it the way that I did. Paul is asking God to strengthen the church so that Christ can be at home here. That Christ could kick off His shoes and go, This is my place. These are my people. This is my family. Which raises the question, what does it take for Christ to feel at home in the church? Ask yourself the question, what does it take for me to feel at home someplace? And we know the difference between when we feel at home in a place and when we don t, right? What makes us feel comfortable, feel at home in a place? I think there are several things, one of which is you

4 kinda have to be welcomed, don t you? Hard to feel at home in a place where you re not welcomed. Which is one of the reasons that we always begin our times as together as a body here on Saturdays and Sundays with worship. Because what we re doing in worship is we re saying to Jesus, You re welcome here. We love you and we want you to be here in power. We re told that God inhabits the praises of his people. So we give him praise as a way of saying, Please, come be here. We welcome them. And again another thing that s required for somebody to feel at home is they need to be known. It s hard to feel at home in a place when you re not known. If I went into somebody s house and they welcomed me, that s a good start. And if they welcomed me and then they just said, We want you to be at home here so we baked you a banana cream pie. Problem, I hate bananas. I hate bananas. Goes back to an incident in my childhood, one ended up at nose. And is there for a long...it s a whole different story. We don t need to go there. But I have a strong visceral reaction against bananas and if you know me you ll know that. But if you don t know me you might go, Here s a banana cream pie to feel at home. And I ll be, I have to leave. So you ve got to be known in order to feel at home. And that s one of the reasons that what we do here so commonly, is we teach from God s word. It s not common. It s bedrock for what we do. We teach God s word so that we know who Jesus is. Because Jesus can t feel at home if we don t know him. And we re not gonna know him if we don t know His Word. I think another thing that s helpful when we think about being at home in a place is it s important to not have things that make you uncomfortable, right? If you go into a place and there s stuff going that makes you uncomfortable, it s impossible to be at home there. How many of you have ever been in a home where the family was fighting? It s uncomfortable, right? It s like all kinds of tense and just like, I gonna get out of here. When there s hostility and division and coldness and anger and suspicion, all those kinds of things, it s impossible to feel at home. And I believe the same is absolutely true in the church. If there are divisions among God s people Jesus doesn t feel at home here. Now, I m gonna get real practical for a second and I m gonna tell you one of the reasons that I think there are so many divisions in it. I think it s true in our marriages. I think it s true in our families. I really absolutely believe that it s true in our church. And the reason is that we re not very good at minding the gap. And if that doesn t mean anything to you that means you haven t spent any time in England. Okay, I spent some time in England working on my last degree. And every time in England that you re on a train station, you spend a lot of time in train stations and you re on the platform. And there s a train coming and there are signs all over. And what the sign say is, Mind the gap. And what they mean is that train is gonna pull in, the doors are gonna open, and there s a new place you re gonna step onto. But between the platform and the train there s usually a bit of a gap. And so they say, Mind the Gap. Be careful about that gap because if you re not careful about it you re gonna put the wrong thing in it, like your foot. And that s bad. And I realize at some point while I was over there that that s a pretty powerful image. Because we all have gaps in our lives. We all have gaps in our relationships but we re not very good at paying attention to those gaps. And here s what I mean by gaps. We have expectations, right? We expect things in our marriage. We expect things of our husbands and our wives. We expect things of our kids. We expect things of our bosses or our employees. We expect things, right? We have expectations, some of them are good some of them are bad. Some of them are fair. Some of them unfair but they re there. We have expectations and then we have experiences, what actually happens. And the reality is that there is very often a gap between what we expect and what we experience. What we experience didn t quite turn out how we

5 expected it to. There s nothing you can do about that. No matter what you do, there s always going to be at least the occasional gap between your expectation and your experience. The question is, what are you gonna put in the gap? What you gonna fill it with? Because you have two options. When you experience a gap between your expectations and your experience, you can put into that hostility. You can put into it suspicion. You can put into it the belief that they were out to get you. That they re just a bad kind of person. That they have a terrible agenda. You can put that in. In fact, we do that a lot, don t we? I heard somebody say several months ago that we always judge other people on the basis of their character. But we judge ourselves on the basis of our circumstances. For instance, if you re late getting somewhere, whose fault is it? It was the traffic, that the lights were bad. I had idiot drivers in front of me. Somebody stopped me before I got out the door. It s out of my control. It was always my circumstances. Somebody else is late they just don t care. That s just who they are. They just don t have any respect for me or your team, have any respect. I mean husbands, if we end up having to spend more than we planned in a month, we don t really have a choice, right? We had to have that thing whatever it was. But if our wives spend more than we are thinking, she s just frivolous. You see what I m saying? We judge ourselves based on circumstances. We judge others on the basis... But you see what we re doing is in that gap between our expectation or experience, we re putting suspicion. We re putting hostility and the problem is that when we put hostility and suspicion in that gap, what we do is we widen the gap. On the other hand Jesus calls us to fill those gaps between expectation and experience. To fill them with trust. To fill them with good will. To fill them with peace. And what happens is when we choose to fill those gaps with those God honoring things, what happens is the gaps close. The floorboards come together. They can bear more and more weight. Jesus doesn t wanna show up among us occasionally. He wants to be at home here. And I genuinely believe that what happens every single week, every single time that we gather as God s people, is that Jesus is going, Can you really handle my weight among you? Let s see. And Jesus tests the weight. And what Jesus wants to do is to put His fullness in there. He wants to step into our midst and be present with us entirely. Are we working to cooperate with the strengthening work that God s doing so that He can do that? Or are we resisting it? There s an advantage that comes, not only do we come together in such a way that Christ can be at home, that He can dwell in our hearts with faith, but he says that we get a benefit as God s people too. He says, And I pray that you being rooted in establishing love having started there, you now may have power together with all the Lord s holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. So we get this added benefit. That when we truly come together, when we allow God to bring us together, what happens is not only does Christ show up in power but when we begin to experience God s presence among us we begin to understand how profound God s love is. When Christ is at home in His church we begin to understand how profound God s love is for us, in a way that we couldn t otherwise. I mean, if I ask the question how many of you know that God loves you? How many of you know that God really, really loves you? I mean that God really, really, really, really, really, really loves you, right? Yet but at some point you start adding too many really and like, Yeah, I don t know what that means. We know it in our heads. We know that God s love is big, that it s vast. But in practice it s difficult to get a hold of that. And Paul actually isn t saying that he wants us to understand with our heads, what Paul is saying is that he wants us to feel it. He wants us to experience it, not just know about it intellectually, but to feel it experientially. And

6 he says that that s one of the added benefits of Christ being able to be truly at home, is that we begin to understand exactly how profound God s love is for us. And it s interesting to me that that he says that you may be able to understand with all the Lord s holy people. He says this isn t going to happen as an individual. It s only gonna happen together with God s people. And the reality is this, as an individual you can never fully grasp how much God loves you. It s not possible. You can understand that God loves you as an individual that s true. You can understand that God loves you greatly as an individual. But to really begin to feel the height and the width and the breadth and the depth of God s love, you cannot do that as an individual. You can only do it in community as God s people come together. It s not possible alone. And I think the reason is that when we come together we begin to treat each other in the way that God treats us. We begin to love one another in the way that God loves us. And it begins to move out of our heads into our hearts. We begin to sense, Oh, this is what it s like. Another way is what Paul is saying is that we will all gain a far deeper understanding of God s love for us as we love one another. That s why he says, Together with all God s holy people. When you are part of the church that truly loves one another, you begin to go, Oh, this is what God s talking about. It s not just in my head, I ve experienced it. I felt it. And we begin to go, Huh, this is that love they re talking about. So it has to be done together and in the midst of all of that and all these working that God is doing, we come to the final conclusion, the final result which is that you may be a little filled to the measure of all of the fullness of God. The end result is the church will be filled up with all of the fullness of God. That s kind of an exciting possibility, isn t it? I mean here s the thing like my family and I, we go home every single week and we just rejoice. We were like, It s awesome. Mission Hills is a place where God is moving. And we go home every single week talking about how God showed up. And clearly God is present here. But I also know that we re just barely scratching the surface, that Christ is not here filling this place with all of his fullness. It s great as it is, there is so much more that we had. This could be a place where God dwells so fully that his power just absolutely transforms not only our relations with one another but it spills out of this place. And it begins to transform the community around us, the world around us. It s a compelling vision, this idea that we could be a place where God shows up in fullness. And the best experience you ve ever had with God is only a fraction of what could be possible if God was here in His fullness. It s a compelling vision, isn t it? And you can actually see Paul kinda gets caught up in the vision and he kinda goes off as he begins to rejoice. Now, he says, Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. God I know I m asking for a lot. I know that our natural tendency is to divide but I believe because you re the Great Father you re going to bring us all together. And we re gonna get together and you re gonna show up in power. And you re gonna be here in your fullness. That s gonna be awesome. And I can kind of imagine but I know you got even more than that. You re gonna do more than I can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, through all generations forever and ever, Amen. He kinda get carried away, doesn t he? You know he get carried away because he said Amen in the middle of the book. Amen is supposed to mean I m done, right? But he s like, Its gonna be...i know I can t...it s gonna be... yay, yay, Amen. Whoa! All right. Where was I? We got another whole half of this thing to do still. But Paul gets

7 caught up in the vision because it s so compelling. The idea of a people of God that are so knitted together. So woven together that Jesus doesn t have to gingerly step. He goes, Now, this is my place and I m here. And in a fullness in a way that transforms. See Paul rejoices knowing that God will do even more than we can imagine, even more than they can imagine. It s who God is and it s what He s in process of and He s going to do it. Make no mistake about it, this is going to happen. The people of God are going to be a people in which God dwells in all of His fullness, where He s at home with all of His weight and He s comfortable. He s not just going, Yeah, this thing can hold me. He s going, Yeah, now we re going to get some stuff done. That s gonna happen but it s not where we are right now. Right now, we re heading towards that. Right now, we re moving in that direction. You may have heard this but do you understand that the church is the hope of the world? The church, the people that is the hope of the world, not because the church is anything special, not because the church as an organization has any real ability. The church is the hope of the world, because the church is God s chosen instrument for transformation because it s the place where he wants to dwell. The church is God s chosen dwelling and therefore instrument of transformation. God wants to be at home among us. I don t think God can put His full weight in our presence yet but that s where He s moving us to. That s what He s working us towards. Do you understand that really? What Paul is saying here boils down to just this. He s saying God is at work. God is renovating us. God is strengthening us. God is drawing us towards Him. God is renovating us so that He can reside in us and He can transform through us. He can transform not just this place. He can transform the community outside of us. He can transform our marriages. He can transform our relations with our neighbors. He can transform the world. Now, I believe I might just be upfront, I believe that we re not gonna see everything be the way it s supposed to be until Jesus comes back. The Church isn t going to fix the world. It s Jesus return, it s his presence that will ultimately transform all things. But you understand, Jesus isn t gone. He will come back physically someday but Jesus is present here through his people. He is dwelling in His people right now with greater and greater weight. And that means Jesus is at work transforming right here, right now. God is renovating us so that He can reside in us and transform through us. So we just have to wrestle with a couple questions. If that s true as God clearly says it is, the first question we have to wrestle with is, Am I assisting or resisting his renovations? Am I assisting? Am I cooperating with His work of bringing together and breaking down barriers? Or am I resisting it? Closely related question is, Have I created division? Have I contributed division, hostility, suspicion to God s church? When I look at fellow believers, do I fill the gaps between my expectations? Do I fill them with trust and goodwill or do I fill them with suspicion and hostility? And if as you ask yourself that question God reveal some way that you ve contributed division, hostility. That you filled the gaps with something in. And what you ve been filling the gaps with has actually turned into a barrier. The good news is you can just be forgiven of it. All you need to do right now is to say to God, God, I m sorry. I have not been assisting you. I ve been resisting you. I know exactly what I ve done. Please would you forgive me? And you re forgiven. God might also call you to go to somebody that you know you created that division with and beg for their forgiveness. Own it so you can disown it. But understand the moment you say to God, I m sorry for that. You re forgiven and He begins to work to knock those barriers down. And if we re gonna get really practical, I may give

8 you a piece of homework for this next week. What is one area in my life where I m experiencing a gap between my expectations and my experience? Maybe it s here in the church? Maybe it s your marriage? Maybe it s with a family member you re gonna see this week that you don t normally get to see? Maybe it s for somebody you have to see this week. And the reason you say you have to see is because there s been a gap. There s been a lot of gaps between expectation and experience. Whatever it is, where is an area of your life that there is a gap between what you expected and what you ve experienced? How is God calling you to deal with it.? How am I going to fill that gap this week with something that honors God? And let s go to Him. Would you pray with me? Jesus, the vision is compelling. That we could be a people so woven together, so knit together, so strengthened that we can bear the full weight of your full presence. We know we re not there yet and so we ask you along with your apostle Paul, would you come and would you strengthen us? Would you renovate us so that you can reside in us? So that you can transform through us. Lord, we confess to you that we have not always assisted in your renovations and we ask for your forgiveness as you speak to each of us right now. And you reveal to us ways that we have contributed to division, ways that we ve filled gaps with hostility and suspicion. We ask for your forgiveness and we rejoice knowing that we are forgiven. Give us the courage to make it right with one another as you lead us. Lord, we all have these gaps between what we expected and we experience. And you know if our expectation is wrong, would you move on us and show us that? But Lord regardless of what the reason is, we have these gaps between what we expected and what we experience. So Lord, would you speak to us about where we re struggling with one of those gaps? And would you speak to us clearly right now about what you re calling us to do to put something that honors you into that gap? In Jesus name. Amen.

2. Pray this prayer for other people. Put their names in the blank in vs 16 and ask God to grant them strength, depth, comprehension, and fullness.

2. Pray this prayer for other people. Put their names in the blank in vs 16 and ask God to grant them strength, depth, comprehension, and fullness. God s Instructs Us How To Pray With Power Ephesians 3:14-21 Praying is so important as a child of God. Parents, what if the only time your children spoke to you were only when they needed something from

More information

C: Cloe Madanes T: Tony Robbins D: Dana G: Greg

C: Cloe Madanes T: Tony Robbins D: Dana G: Greg C: Cloe Madanes T: Tony Robbins D: Dana G: Greg C: Do you or someone you know have challenges with sexual intimacy? Would you like to be more comfortable expressing yourself emotionally and sexually? Do

More information

ROMANS: A FIRM FOUNDATION. The REAL New Deal Romans 5:1-11

ROMANS: A FIRM FOUNDATION. The REAL New Deal Romans 5:1-11 ROMANS: A FIRM FOUNDATION The REAL New Deal Romans 5:1-11 ROMANS 5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained

More information

Faith Bumps 2: Obstacles to Growth January 24, 2014

Faith Bumps 2: Obstacles to Growth January 24, 2014 Faith Bumps 2: Obstacles to Growth January 24, 2014 Let's play a little game. If you could, would you choose TV #1, TV #2, or TV#3? Now unless you are weird, you picked TV #3. Why would you settle for

More information

Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. Psalms 119:35. A Delightful Path. Didier Baertschiger

Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. Psalms 119:35. A Delightful Path. Didier Baertschiger Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. Psalms 119:35 A Delightful Path Didier Baertschiger i s s u e 781 r e f l e c t i o n s by the pond o c to b e r 10, 2016 Is it any wonder

More information

What is Union with Christ

What is Union with Christ What is Union with Christ a sermon in the series Saved by His Life: Union with Christ A sermon delivered Sunday Morning, November 24, 2013 at Oak Grove Baptist Church, Paducah, Ky. by S. Michael Durham

More information

AUDIENCE OF ONE. Praying With Fire Matthew 6:5-6 // Craig Smith August 5, 2018

AUDIENCE OF ONE. Praying With Fire Matthew 6:5-6 // Craig Smith August 5, 2018 AUDIENCE OF ONE Praying With Fire Matthew 6:5-6 // Craig Smith August 5, 2018 Craig // Welcome to all of our campuses including those of you who are joining us on church online. So glad you are here for

More information

Key Verse: Each week you will find a key verse from the chapter you are studying. You may want to memorize this verse together as a group.

Key Verse: Each week you will find a key verse from the chapter you are studying. You may want to memorize this verse together as a group. Welcome to a study of the book of Ephesians! This study is designed to complement the Drivetime devotions audio study; with the idea that you ll listen to the studies during the week and then gather together

More information

Robert Scheinfeld. Friday Q&As. The Big Elephant In The Room You Must See And Get Rid Of

Robert Scheinfeld. Friday Q&As. The Big Elephant In The Room You Must See And Get Rid Of The Big Elephant In The Room You Must See And Get Rid Of Welcome to another episode of the Illusions and Truth Show with. Welcome to another opportunity to exchange limiting and restricting lies, illusions

More information

August 26, 2018pm Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN 37080

August 26, 2018pm Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN 37080 1 Peter 3:7 Heirs Together August 26, 2018pm www.newhopefwbc.com 1285 Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN 37080 6 1 5. 7 4 6. 6 4 0 3 READ 1 Peter 3:1-7 The last few verses that Peter has dealt with in 1 Peter

More information

SUNDAY MORNINGS January 28, 2018, Week 4 Grade: 3-4

SUNDAY MORNINGS January 28, 2018, Week 4 Grade: 3-4 Pennies from Heaven Bible: Pennies from Heaven (The Widow s Offering) Mark 12:41-44 Bottom Line: Practice living for God. Memory Verse: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for

More information

A Prayer for the Fullness of God

A Prayer for the Fullness of God A Prayer for the Fullness of God Ephesians 3:14-20 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his

More information

Ephesians 1:2. Acts 23:26 (cf. Acts 15:23; Mat. 26:49; 27:29; James 1:1) Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.

Ephesians 1:2. Acts 23:26 (cf. Acts 15:23; Mat. 26:49; 27:29; James 1:1) Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. Ephesians 1:2 Introduction In Paul s day, the opening of a letter included three ingredients. A letter writer started out by identifying himself (giving his own name). Then he said who he was writing to.

More information

TIME UNSELFIE Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 // Craig Smith August 13, 2017

TIME UNSELFIE Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 // Craig Smith August 13, 2017 TIME UNSELFIE Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 // Craig Smith August 13, 2017 CRAIG: Good morning. Hey, welcome to Mission Hills. So glad you re here and joining us for this week, number two of our Unselfie series.

More information

Our prayers are often too small Our prayers are often too general general prayers do not move God to specific actions

Our prayers are often too small Our prayers are often too general general prayers do not move God to specific actions Today we re starting a four part series on the word pray. We re going to learn how we can pray with passion and power, so that we can deepen our intimacy with God. First I have a question: How many of

More information

AMAZING GRACE FOR THE HUMAN RACE

AMAZING GRACE FOR THE HUMAN RACE AMAZING GRACE FOR THE HUMAN RACE DRAMATIC PERSONAE (CAST OF CHARACTERS) DEDICATED DAVE (OR DEDICATED DEBBIE): Super competitive and obnoxious always tries to make it to the finish line before anyone else

More information

Sabbath Listening Isaiah 60:1-5 & Luke 5:33-39 Pastor James York January 3, 2016

Sabbath Listening Isaiah 60:1-5 & Luke 5:33-39 Pastor James York January 3, 2016 Sabbath Listening Isaiah 60:1-5 & Luke 5:33-39 Pastor James York January 3, 2016 A typical bike ride for me is a spiritual experience. I talk and listen to God. I give thanks. I perceive God through all

More information

Words and Deeds: Waiting on the Lord By Jason Huff April 15, 2018 Psalm 130:5-8; James 5:7-8; Acts 1:13-26

Words and Deeds: Waiting on the Lord By Jason Huff April 15, 2018 Psalm 130:5-8; James 5:7-8; Acts 1:13-26 Words and Deeds: Waiting on the Lord By Jason Huff April 15, 2018 Psalm 130:5-8; James 5:7-8; Acts 1:13-26 Our final Scripture reading today comes from Acts 1:13-26. May God add His richest blessing on

More information

The Grand Theater in Ephesus (ephesusbreeze.com) Powerful Prayer Ephesians 3:14-21

The Grand Theater in Ephesus (ephesusbreeze.com) Powerful Prayer Ephesians 3:14-21 The Grand Theater in Ephesus (ephesusbreeze.com) Powerful Prayer Ephesians 3:14-21 Powerful Prayer Introduction Powerful Prayer Introduction Previously in Ephesians: Powerful Prayer Introduction Previously

More information

Harvest Children s Ministry Presents Rock The World. Blessed Are The Meek

Harvest Children s Ministry Presents Rock The World. Blessed Are The Meek Harvest Children s Ministry Presents Rock The World Blessed Are The Meek 03/02/08 Character List: Sunday Morning First Service Sunday Morning Second Service Sunday Morning Third Service Sunday Evening

More information

PRAYER FOR THE EPHESIANS

PRAYER FOR THE EPHESIANS PRAYER FOR THE EPHESIANS One day a young man found a genie-in-a-bottle. This young adult is walking down the beach and comes across an old bottle. He picks it up, pulls out the cork and out pops a genie.

More information

WRETCHED! (Romans 7:14-25a)

WRETCHED! (Romans 7:14-25a) WRETCHED! Romans 7:14-25a Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Series A) July 9, 2017 Trinity Free Lutheran Church, Grand Forks, ND The epistle lesson for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost comes from Paul s Letter

More information

Walls. By Annika Murrell. reaches his arm out and pauses the television with the remote.

Walls. By Annika Murrell. reaches his arm out and pauses the television with the remote. Walls! By Annika Murrell Scene opens on Meta and Shawn sitting on the couch. Meta is playing a game on her phone, and Shawn is watching TV. Also Dirk is there, sprawled out on the floor writing in a notebook.

More information

On an even more personal note, I love this church because you were my family in the darkest time of my life.

On an even more personal note, I love this church because you were my family in the darkest time of my life. Hello Summit church. Its great to be back. Next to having the Sovereign God of the universe behind us as we planted City Church, having the Summit Church behind us was the best thing that ever happened

More information

Night at The Hardrock Hotel PASTOR NEIL HOFFMAN Foothills Christian Church June 3, 2018

Night at The Hardrock Hotel PASTOR NEIL HOFFMAN Foothills Christian Church June 3, 2018 Night at The Hardrock Hotel PASTOR NEIL HOFFMAN Foothills Christian Church June 3, 2018 Good morning everybody. You guys, I love saying this, and maybe I say it every time I preach, but Sunday needs to

More information

The Compelling Love of God

The Compelling Love of God Series: That You May Know God s Love The Compelling Love of God Ephesians 3:14-19 Ephesians 3:14-19 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth

More information

Forgiveness September 14, 2014

Forgiveness September 14, 2014 Forgiveness September 14, 2014 Sarah Raymond Matthew 18:21-35 Then Peter came and said to (Jesus), Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?

More information

Today will be the final message in our series on the trinitarian nature of God.

Today will be the final message in our series on the trinitarian nature of God. Experiencing the Trinity Praying the Boldest Prayer Ephesians 3:14-21 (Grace September 3, 2017) I. Introduction In 1998, the Los Angeles Times had a front-page article with the headline: Missing Pieces

More information

Nehemiah 4 Discouraged, but moving forward with hope

Nehemiah 4 Discouraged, but moving forward with hope Nehemiah 4 Discouraged, but moving forward with hope Still broken, but its time Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of

More information

EASTER HARE WE COME Written by Joe Rieger

EASTER HARE WE COME Written by Joe Rieger EASTER HARE WE COME Written by Joe Rieger CAST Kathy: Jimmy: Middle School aged girl Kathy's younger brother The Easter Bunny SETTING: Kathy is doing homework in her room. Her studying is interrupted when

More information

Calvary United Methodist Church April 13, Children s Sermon Matthew 7 & Revelation 3

Calvary United Methodist Church April 13, Children s Sermon Matthew 7 & Revelation 3 Calvary United Methodist Church April 13, 2014 SERVICE OF ANOINTING FOR HEALING AND WHOLENESS Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks Children s Sermon Matthew 7 & Revelation 3 Good morning! Happy Palm Sunday to everybody!

More information

For I ne er saw true beauty till this night.

For I ne er saw true beauty till this night. For I ne er saw true beauty till this night. Romeo Sunday, March 9, 10:49 p.m. Last night of spring break I m not a Shakepeare fan, but I love this quote because it s so romantic. When Romeo saw Juliet,

More information

25 minutes 10 minutes

25 minutes 10 minutes 25 minutes 10 minutes 15 SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction. 25 : Communicating God s truth in engaging ways. Opener Game Worship Story Closer 10 WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God. Fully

More information

Jesus Met a Samaritan Woman

Jesus Met a Samaritan Woman UNIT 21 Session 3 Use Week of: Jesus Met a Samaritan Woman BIBLE PASSAGE: John 4:1-42 MAIN POINT: Jesus told the Samaritan woman He is the Messiah. KEY PASSAGE: John 14:6 BIG PICTURE QUESTION: Who did

More information

Be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19

Be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 Nature abhors a vacuum. Be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 Ephesians 3 (NIV) A Prayer for the Ephesians. 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven

More information

Sermon by Bob Bradley

Sermon by Bob Bradley Sermon by Bob Bradley COPYRIGHT 2018 CAMPBELL CHAPEL FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH 1709 Campbell Drive * Ironton, OH 45638 Thermometer or Thermostat? Wednesday, January 24, 2018 Bob Bradley Philippians 4:10

More information

Preaching has its hazards. One of them is talking too much. about yourself. I m afraid I ll be walking pretty close to that line

Preaching has its hazards. One of them is talking too much. about yourself. I m afraid I ll be walking pretty close to that line Thanksgiving Sunday, 11/23/2014, Greeneville, Tennessee 1 Preaching has its hazards. One of them is talking too much about yourself. I m afraid I ll be walking pretty close to that line today. So please

More information

The Gospel According to Peter Jack Carmody, Director of Youth Ministries Sunday, April 22, Sermon Text: John 21:1-19

The Gospel According to Peter Jack Carmody, Director of Youth Ministries Sunday, April 22, Sermon Text: John 21:1-19 1 Sermon Text: John 21:1-19 Each week after Easter, we ve been focusing on different accounts of people that who have come into contact with the risen Christ. Each week, we ve seen that when someone comes

More information

* * * And I m actually not active at all. I mean, I ll flirt with people and I ll be, like, kissing people, but having sex is a whole different level.

* * * And I m actually not active at all. I mean, I ll flirt with people and I ll be, like, kissing people, but having sex is a whole different level. Briseida My eighth-grade year I noticed that I was seeing girls differently. You know, I didn t see girls as in, Oh, they re pretty. I saw them as, Oh, my god, they re really pretty and I really want to

More information

Real Justification Brings Peace. Romans 5:1. Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O'Neill

Real Justification Brings Peace. Romans 5:1. Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O'Neill Real Justification Brings Peace Romans 5:1 Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O'Neill What will you do after the service is over? That's in about half-an-hour. I think a lot of us tend to feel -- what would

More information

DELIGHTING in the LORD

DELIGHTING in the LORD The one thing I ask of the Lord - the thing I seek most - is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord s perfections and meditating in his temple. Psalm 27:4 DAY

More information

[BG

[BG 1. [BG Set] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has

More information

ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT 268B MAMMOTH ROAD LONDONDERRY, NH 03053

ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT 268B MAMMOTH ROAD LONDONDERRY, NH 03053 DATE: AUGUST 18, 2010 CASE NO.: 8/18/2010-3 ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT 268B MAMMOTH ROAD LONDONDERRY, NH 03053 APPLICANT: LOCATION: BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: ALSO PRESENT: REQUEST: FORTIER ENTERPRISES, INC.

More information

anyone left awake in the house. I unlatch the door as quietly as possible, tiptoe in

anyone left awake in the house. I unlatch the door as quietly as possible, tiptoe in The First Sip When I let myself into the house at 4:00 am, I normally do not expect to find anyone left awake in the house. I unlatch the door as quietly as possible, tiptoe in dragging my bags behind

More information

DAY 17: HOW IS HEALING ACCOMPLISHED? Wendi Johnson s Letter (posted on Facebook)

DAY 17: HOW IS HEALING ACCOMPLISHED? Wendi Johnson s Letter (posted on Facebook) DAY 17: HOW IS HEALING ACCOMPLISHED? Wendi Johnson s Letter (posted on Facebook) Good day everyone! Thank you Lisa Natoli for this 40-Day Program! I want to say how much I appreciate this awesome group

More information

Exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Eph 3: 14-21

Exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Eph 3: 14-21 Exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think Eph 3: 14-21 Ephesians 3 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth

More information

Christ Presbyterian Church Edina, Minnesota September 29 & 30, 2012 John Crosby Jesus in His Own Words: I AM the Light of the World John 8:12

Christ Presbyterian Church Edina, Minnesota September 29 & 30, 2012 John Crosby Jesus in His Own Words: I AM the Light of the World John 8:12 Christ Presbyterian Church Edina, Minnesota September 29 & 30, 2012 John Crosby Jesus in His Own Words: I AM the Light of the World John 8:12 I feel as though parts of me are still recovering from last

More information

A Walk In The Woods. An Incest Survivor s Guide To Resolving The Past And Creating A Great Future. Nan O Connor, MCC

A Walk In The Woods. An Incest Survivor s Guide To Resolving The Past And Creating A Great Future. Nan O Connor, MCC A Walk In The Woods An Incest Survivor s Guide To Resolving The Past And Creating A Great Future Nan O Connor, MCC Copyright 2006 Journey Publishing LLC ISBN 0-9773950-0-6 All rights reserved. No part

More information

A universal longing for transcendence One provision - His glory

A universal longing for transcendence One provision - His glory The Church A universal longing for transcendence One provision - His glory Psalms 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. God s glory is

More information

You Are Loved. Beth Jones

You Are Loved. Beth Jones You Are Loved Beth Jones real l-o-v-e This is real love not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:10, NLT This verse can change your entire

More information

Week #1 Large Group June 8, 2014

Week #1 Large Group June 8, 2014 Week #1 Large Group June 8, 2014 Need To Know: I Don t Deserve God s Love But He Still Loves Me Bible Story: 2 Sons (Luke 15:11-32) GAME PREPARATION Tootsie Toss Up Materials needed: (*Duplicate for additional

More information

Homily. 7 th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Fr Danny

Homily. 7 th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Fr Danny Homily 7 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Fr Danny The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. That s one of the most natural tongue twisters in Scripture. What is Jesus trying to say here?

More information

FREEWAY Part Five: Forgiveness By F. Remy Diederich Cedarbrook Church Outline:

FREEWAY Part Five: Forgiveness By F. Remy Diederich Cedarbrook Church Outline: FREEWAY Part Five: Forgiveness By F. Remy Diederich Cedarbrook Church 11.1.15 Outline: 1. The natural response to theft is a demand for justice. 2. If justice is not obtained we may retaliate, complain

More information

LOVE CAME DOWN Text: Ephesians 3:14-21 July 26, 2009 Faith J. Conklin

LOVE CAME DOWN Text: Ephesians 3:14-21 July 26, 2009 Faith J. Conklin LOVE CAME DOWN Text: Ephesians 3:14-21 July 26, 2009 Faith J. Conklin As part of worship each week, a pastor had a children s sermon. One Sunday he called the children forward and gathered them around

More information

Genesis 1:27 Slide At the end the Storyteller should pray for the group and dismiss kids to Small Group 7. Small Group (20-30 Minutes)

Genesis 1:27 Slide At the end the Storyteller should pray for the group and dismiss kids to Small Group 7. Small Group (20-30 Minutes) Art in Me Bible Story: Art in Me (Image of God) Genesis 1:26-28 Bottom Line: God made me in His image. Memory Verse: How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praise you for that. What you have done

More information

SUNDAY MORNINGS 9:00 & 11:30 January 14, 2018, Week 2 Grade: Kinder

SUNDAY MORNINGS 9:00 & 11:30 January 14, 2018, Week 2 Grade: Kinder Living on a Prayer Bible: Living on a Prayer (Model prayer) Luke 11:1-14 Bottom Line: Practice praying to God. Memory Verse: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things,

More information

Does the Spirit of Christ Dwell in You?

Does the Spirit of Christ Dwell in You? Does the Spirit of Christ Dwell in You? Romans 8:9-11 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does

More information

Wooly Bully Part 2 A Puppet Script by Tom Smith

Wooly Bully Part 2 A Puppet Script by Tom Smith Wooly Bully Part 2 A Puppet Script by Tom Smith What Who When Wear (Props) Willie and the gang find out why Robert the Bully is such a bully and that Robert is ready for a big change of heart. (This is

More information

PRIORITY REBOOT CHRISTMAS AS IS Matthew 2:1-12 // Craig Smith December 11, CRAIG: Good morning. CONGREGATION: Good morning.

PRIORITY REBOOT CHRISTMAS AS IS Matthew 2:1-12 // Craig Smith December 11, CRAIG: Good morning. CONGREGATION: Good morning. PRIORITY REBOOT CHRISTMAS AS IS Matthew 2:1-12 // Craig Smith December 11, 2016 CRAIG: Good morning. CONGREGATION: Good morning. CRAIG: So I m gonna have to start this morning by confessing a certain amount

More information

[music] DENNIS: Yes. SID: What was it like? What did He teach you?

[music] DENNIS: Yes. SID: What was it like? What did He teach you? 1 Is there a supernatural dimension, a world beyond the one we know? Is there life after death? Do angels exist? Can our dreams contain messages from Heaven? Can we tap into ancient secrets of the supernatural?

More information

1 Mac Brunson, "The Purpose of the Passion," Preaching Today Audio, No. 282

1 Mac Brunson, The Purpose of the Passion, Preaching Today Audio, No. 282 08-23-2009 The Wonderful Grace of Jesus Acts 9:1 22 Kevin Saxton, Brewster Baptist Church A man who lived in England came over to the United States to go to a resort for several months. He wanted to bring

More information

Living on a Prayer. 10:45 Both Campuses. SFX: Let s Go! 8:57/10:57/4:27/6:27. SFX: PandaDrums SFX: Turn It Up 9:12/10:57 9:00/11:00/4:30/6:30

Living on a Prayer. 10:45 Both Campuses. SFX: Let s Go! 8:57/10:57/4:27/6:27. SFX: PandaDrums SFX: Turn It Up 9:12/10:57 9:00/11:00/4:30/6:30 January 14, 2018 Living on a Prayer Bible Story: Living on a Prayer (Model Prayer) Luke 11:1-4 Key Question: How do you pray to God? Bottom Line: Practice praying to God. Memory Verse: Training the body

More information

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down,

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against

More information

Praying Like Paul Pastor Jason Van Bemmel Ephesians 3:14-19

Praying Like Paul Pastor Jason Van Bemmel Ephesians 3:14-19 1 Praying Like Paul Pastor Jason Van Bemmel Ephesians 3:14-19 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his

More information

WHAT S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? Velcro Love March 9, 2014 Ed Young. Transcript

WHAT S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? Velcro Love March 9, 2014 Ed Young. Transcript WHAT S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? Velcro Love March 9, 2014 Ed Young The Old Testament book of Ruth is a powerful reminder and picture of what true love is all about. Throughout its pages, we are shown examples

More information

People Suffer from Their Thinking

People Suffer from Their Thinking People Suffer from Their Thinking July 4, 2006 A passage in the teachings of Ajaan Dun describes an incident when a woman came to him and just poured out her soul about the problems in her family worried

More information

Progression from Church to Bride Part One

Progression from Church to Bride Part One Progression from Church to Bride Part One The Most Beautiful Woman This year I want to talk about by the far the most beautiful woman in the Bible. She is that to Jesus. And the Lord has just really shown

More information

FAITH GROWING IN YOUR FAITH Matthew 14:22-33

FAITH GROWING IN YOUR FAITH Matthew 14:22-33 FAITH GROWING IN YOUR FAITH Matthew 14:22-33 Jesus chastises Peter for his little faith. He says, Why did you doubt? After I pray, we are going to be looking deeper into verses 22-32, but the context of

More information

Encountering God in Prayer. Vernon. Prayer Guide For

Encountering God in Prayer. Vernon. Prayer Guide For Prayer Guide For Encountering God in Prayer According to Tim Keller, prayer is a conversation that leads to encounter with God. The objective of this prayer guide is to guide you in genuinely encountering

More information

God earnestly desires to be Gracious to you

God earnestly desires to be Gracious to you God earnestly desires to be Gracious to you Brendan Mc Crossan God earnestly desires to be gracious to you. Brendan Mc Crossan copyright@4-10-2011 One God wants to be gracious to you, yes that s you who

More information

from the desk of... Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div. FOLLOWING JESUS

from the desk of... Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div. FOLLOWING JESUS from the desk of... Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div. #802 22 April 2018 FOLLOWING JESUS Sharing The Gospel 1 Luke 19:1-10 How many of you use Twitter? (X) Now, I realize that I m in the minority,

More information

Developing Healthy Relationships

Developing Healthy Relationships Developing Healthy Relationships Two Types of Relationships 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect

More information

SpirituallyHungry.com 1

SpirituallyHungry.com 1 SpirituallyHungry.com 1 Welcome to Spiritually Hungry s Summer Challenge: Grow Closer To God Month 2 - God s Love For You God s love for us - for you - is life changing. When one realizes they are immensely

More information

Sermon November 11, 2018 Chris Osborne. Verses Covered Ephesians 1:19 & 20 2 Corinthians 12:8 John 1:5

Sermon November 11, 2018 Chris Osborne. Verses Covered Ephesians 1:19 & 20 2 Corinthians 12:8 John 1:5 Sermon November 11, 2018 Chris Osborne Verses Covered Ephesians 1:19 & 20 2 Corinthians 12:8 John 1:5 So while you were praying, there was no pulpit here. And it suddenly appeared. Well you know. The power

More information

things in Humboldt County in Northern California They are the giant redwood trees. They commonly grow feet tall. The largest known redwood is

things in Humboldt County in Northern California They are the giant redwood trees. They commonly grow feet tall. The largest known redwood is 1 File: Believe Ch. 16 Biblical Community Dear Friends in Christ, Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen! Some of the largest and most majestic trees in the

More information

It s a hard question because how do we adequately describe in language, the Son of God.

It s a hard question because how do we adequately describe in language, the Son of God. Page 1 of 8 One of the most important questions we will ever answer is the question, who is Jesus? Our answer is important because what we say and believe about Jesus along with the intensity of our belief

More information

Doing Big Things with Big Faith By Bobby Schuller

Doing Big Things with Big Faith By Bobby Schuller Doing Big Things with Big Faith By Bobby Schuller Today we re going to talk about faith. Faith trusts the word of God that it is true, that God is for you, that God loves you that God will bless you and

More information

SID: But at night when no one was there and you were in your room you actually could see things happening in the invisible world.

SID: But at night when no one was there and you were in your room you actually could see things happening in the invisible world. 1 SID: My guest prayed for a man with no eyeballs. I know this is stretching you, but the eyeballs were formed instantly. Can ancient secrets of the supernatural be rediscovered? Do angels exist? Is there

More information

Philemon: When Sin Happens Bro. Kory Cunningham

Philemon: When Sin Happens Bro. Kory Cunningham Philemon: When Sin Happens Bro. Kory Cunningham A few years ago, my wife and I, along with a few of our friends, got to have lunch with one of my heroes in the faith, Dr. Bruce Ware. He is a professor

More information

ESTHER 4 Esther Series

ESTHER 4 Esther Series Scott Turansky, Senior Pastor October 20, 2013 ESTHER 4 Esther Series Let s take a moment and come before the Lord. [PRAYER] Father, we do want to contribute to your expanding kingdom around the world.

More information

Community United (Ephesians 4:1-6)

Community United (Ephesians 4:1-6) Community United (Ephesians 4:1-6) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another

More information

Dee-Cy-Paul Story Worship or Sing? Dee-Cy-Paul Bookends

Dee-Cy-Paul Story Worship or Sing? Dee-Cy-Paul Bookends 1C Lesson 1 Dee-Cy-Paul Story Worship or Sing? Teacher These special Dee-Cy-Paul application stories reinforce the Bible lesson. Choose the Bookends, or the Story, or the Puppet Script based on your time

More information

More Than You Can Imagine Ephesians 3: A Sermon Preached by Ernie Thompson. Westminster Presbyterian Church Greensboro NC.

More Than You Can Imagine Ephesians 3: A Sermon Preached by Ernie Thompson. Westminster Presbyterian Church Greensboro NC. More Than You Can Imagine Ephesians 3:14-21 A Sermon Preached by Ernie Thompson Westminster Presbyterian Church Greensboro NC May 6, 2017 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom

More information

JOHN 5:1-9, 14 John Series: Get a Life in Jesus

JOHN 5:1-9, 14 John Series: Get a Life in Jesus Scott Turansky, Senior Pastor October 28, 2018 JOHN 5:1-9, 14 John Series: Get a Life in Jesus [PRAYER] Lord, it s been an exciting morning for me as I ve been part of the set-up team here and hearing

More information

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down,

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against

More information

DISPENSER OF GOD S GRACE Ephesians: Recognizing Who You Are in Christ Ephesians 3:1-13

DISPENSER OF GOD S GRACE Ephesians: Recognizing Who You Are in Christ Ephesians 3:1-13 Scott Turansky, Senior Pastor May 5, 2013 DISPENSER OF GOD S GRACE Ephesians: Recognizing Who You Are in Christ Ephesians 3:1-13 I am grateful for what God s doing at Calvary and new things happening and

More information

Gateways Events: Turning Tense Moments into Productive Conversations

Gateways Events: Turning Tense Moments into Productive Conversations Gateways Events: Turning Tense Moments into Productive Conversations (Based on the training video of the same name - http://thiederman.com/product/gateways-to-inclusion) Sondra Thiederman, Ph.D. The people

More information

God s Love Can Move Mountains. This is taken from, The Treasures of Darkness.

God s Love Can Move Mountains. This is taken from, The Treasures of Darkness. God s Love Can Move Mountains This is taken from, The Treasures of Darkness. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and shall

More information

Excerpts from Getting to Yes with Yourself

Excerpts from Getting to Yes with Yourself Excerpts from Getting to Yes with Yourself By William Yury I came to realize that, however difficult others can sometimes be, the biggest obstacle of all lies on this side of the table. It is not easy

More information

Connecting Through The Church & Serving The Purpose and State of the Church Colossians 1:9-14, 27-29; Ephesians 4:11-16

Connecting Through The Church & Serving The Purpose and State of the Church Colossians 1:9-14, 27-29; Ephesians 4:11-16 Connecting Through The Church & Serving The Purpose and State of the Church Colossians 1:9-14, 27-29; Ephesians 4:11-16 Colossians 1:9-14, 24-29 (NLT) 9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we

More information

SID: Now you had a vision recently and Jesus himself said that everyone has to hear this vision. Well I'm everyone. Tell me.

SID: Now you had a vision recently and Jesus himself said that everyone has to hear this vision. Well I'm everyone. Tell me. 1 Is there a supernatural dimension, a world beyond the one we know? Is there life after death? Do angels exist? Can our dreams contain messages from Heaven? Can we tap into ancient secrets of the supernatural?

More information

MESSY MIRACLES CHRISTMAS AS IS Luke 1:26-38 // Craig Smith December 04, 2016

MESSY MIRACLES CHRISTMAS AS IS Luke 1:26-38 // Craig Smith December 04, 2016 MESSY MIRACLES CHRISTMAS AS IS Luke 1:26-38 // Craig Smith December 04, 2016 CRAIG: Hey, I invite you to grab your Bible and if you don t have one feel free to grab one from one of the seats in front of

More information

I BELIEVE I THINK. Mark 9: In spite of our doubts, Christ can heal us through faith and prayer.

I BELIEVE I THINK. Mark 9: In spite of our doubts, Christ can heal us through faith and prayer. I BELIEVE I THINK Mark 9:14-29 In spite of our doubts, Christ can heal us through faith and prayer. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. William O. (Bud) Reeves First United Methodist Church Fort Smith, Arkansas

More information

He is Lord! Francis A. Hubbard. Scene 1

He is Lord! Francis A. Hubbard. Scene 1 He is Lord! By Francis A. Hubbard Scene 1 (House lights are out except for those shining on the Stations of the Cross. Congregation softly sings the first verse of Were you there when they crucified my

More information

By seeking God for unanswered questions, we are actually seeking truth for solid answers!

By seeking God for unanswered questions, we are actually seeking truth for solid answers! Let me begin by inviting you on a challenging, radical journey that over time, is certain to penetrate the depths of your belief system. Let me also remind you that truth sets us free. The opposite of

More information

Jesse needs to learn to set Firm Boundaries 2000 by Debbie Dunn

Jesse needs to learn to set Firm Boundaries 2000 by Debbie Dunn 1 3 Male Actors: Jesse Jimmy Wade 1 Female Actor: Teacher 2 or more Narrators: Guys or Girls Narrator : Just like Hyena in the story called Hyena s dilemma at a fork in the path, people have many fork-in-the-road

More information

Sermon 02 Finding your way back to God Awakening to regret

Sermon 02 Finding your way back to God Awakening to regret 1 INTRODUCTION How many of you have ever heard the word Rumspringa? SPELL. Rumspringa literally means running around, and it is a word used to describe the Amish practice of allowing youth to sow their

More information

Msg #169 of Scripture Beneath The Surface Am I Lukewarm? With Randy Smith (269)

Msg #169 of Scripture Beneath The Surface Am I Lukewarm? With Randy Smith (269) Msg #169 of Scripture Beneath The Surface Am I Lukewarm? With Randy Smith (269) 763-2114 Preparation Ministries, Inc PO BOX 475 OLIVET, MI 49076 preparationministries@gmail.com (Please feel free to call,

More information

Making amends to those I ve hurt

Making amends to those I ve hurt Making amends to those I ve hurt How many of you have ever been hurt by another person? Have you forgiven them? How many of you have ever hurt another person? Did you ask for forgiveness? Did they forgive

More information

Dear God: Who did you make smarter? Boys or girls? My sister and I want to know. (Jimmy, aged 6)

Dear God: Who did you make smarter? Boys or girls? My sister and I want to know. (Jimmy, aged 6) Rooted in Love (Ephesians 3:14-21 & Job 11:7-12) 12-Nov-2017 Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 to 21 is our passage this morning There s the usual outline to jot down some notes But let me pray for God s help

More information