Ever feel like your family is a tad on the dysfunctional side? People just not get along the way they should? Have that one strange uncle who is way out in left field somewhere? Well there’s a story in the Bible about a family who is exactly like that.
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Now many of you know that I’m a pastor of a church in central Ohio and many of you know that means I’m a pretty big fan of Jesus and the Bible. But lately I’ve realized that while I’m a big follower of Jesus there’s just something about the cross that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m not alone either. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest names in the New Testament didn’t like the cross either.
Continue readingWhen I was younger I used to watch WWF wrestling. Now if you watch it you probably know it better by WWE wrestling but it’s all the same. The idea behind the whole thing was intriguing to me. Grown men and women running around in a boxing ring. Throwing stuff at each other. Trying to look like they were hurting each other without ever really doing any harm. It was pretty interesting to say the least.
But WWF isn’t the only kind of wrestling out there. We wrestle in a lot of other ways as well. We wrestle with our thoughts and our relationships. We wrestle with things don’t quite go our way. We wrestle with loved ones and even with friends. And honestly right now, we’re living in a world that’s wrestling with just about everything!
Politics is nothing more than a verbal WWF match anymore. We try to hurt one another and do as much harm as possible. It’s so disheartening to see where we’ve fallen as a society. We’d rather wrestle with one another and struggle than take the high road and love one another.
Hate is easy. Love is work. We’ve become so lazy we’d rather take the easy road and just hate one another.
This week we talked about a man in the Bible who wrestled with everyone he could only to realize that it wasn’t helping. Take a few minutes and listen as we unpack not only the damages of being a wrestler but also the way to change your behavior and make a positive impact.
One of the most powerful passages in the book of Matthew comes in chapter 16. It’s the passage where Jesus asks the disciples who the people said he was. Their opinions varied from John the Baptist to Elijah to even Jeremiah. But the opinions of the world weren’t the ones Jesus was really after. He wanted their opinion, which is why he reworded the question the second time to ask who they thought he was.
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The Bible is full of pretty uplifting and cool stories. There are things about good morals and great ethical behavior. There are stories about how we should love one another and how God cares for us in our times of weakness. But if you dig just a little below the surface of the fun stories, you’ll find the ones that really don’t sound all that right.
Continue readingOk so I’m just going to throw this out there. We’re pretty wishy washy at times. I mean come on. We throw in the towel when life gets rough. Someone disagrees with us and we think the world is over. Friendships are thrown away because someone has a different opinion than we do. It’s pretty annoying how pathetic we are sometimes. And by we, I do mean me too!
But there’s a story in the bible about a woman who was anything but wishy washy. She was anything but weak. She had conviction in her heart and knew full well where she needed to be and with whom she needed to spend time.
Her daughter was sick and no one else could help her. She tried everything she could to help her daughter but nothing was working. So in a last ditch effort she finds Jesus. He for sure will help. Right?
Not at first! Jesus ignores her. Keeps walking away. Tells her he didn’t come to help her. Then pretty much calls her a dog! What in the world is happening here?!
If you have about 25 mins, give the following a listen. It’s an explanation of this story then an application to our lives. I hope it proves helpful and meaningful to you.
Some times the greatest lessons are learned from those who do things wrong. I am a firm believer in the power of truthfulness and honesty. I also believe wholeheartedly that you can learn from both successes and failures. In this week’s message we take a few minutes to learn some pretty powerful messages from life’s failing moments.
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The story in the Bible of Jesus walking on water is definitely one of those fun stories. I mean what kid doesn’t want to have some sort of super power like flying or even walking on water? This week we took time to dissect this account and show there several lessons embedded in this familiar narrative.
Continue readingWe talk about making sacrifices for other people. We give up a little something in an effort to make someone else’s life a little better but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that’s not a sacrifice at all. We are willing to inconvenience ourselves but rarely are we willing or able to sacrifice something of great value.
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Last night was the first time our new worship service met. It was a service allowing an additional group of people to attend worship who feel more comfortable in a more intimate setting. The goal is to podcast the messages but we had some technology issues so here’s a quick synopsis.
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