Sermons from September 2022
Healer
Healer
Mark 1:40-45
God’s healing comes kindly, patiently, and graciously. He heals enemies and outsiders. At the same time, the sick don’t prescribe their own treatment. The Lord doesn’t let us tell Him how to meet our deepest needs. Instead, the Lord demonstrates kindness to those He is in conflict with while not affirming attitudes & behaviors He defines as bad & wrong.
Challenge and Grace
Even though, based on our appearances, we might seem different from one another, we all experience very similar internal lives. For example, we all struggle with feelings of inadequacy, fear, and shame. We all experience frustration, anger, and uncertainty. We might do a good job hiding those feelings from one another, but we all encounter them. Our shared experiences with those emotions prompt our consideration of Peter in this lesson. The New Testament’s account of Peter draws attention to his struggles to highlight Jesus’ response. Therefore, we will consider some of Peter’s struggles to see what insights they may offer us into our relationship with Jesus.
In Him – the Blessings God gives through Jesus
IN HIM The blessings God gives us through Jesus, Ephesians 1:3-14 The in-crowd offers a standard narrative and cinematic motif. Even though it usually finds employment in predictable ways, the idea of insiders and outsiders remains compelling because it resonates with everyone’s experiences. Paul opened his letter to the Christians in Ephesus by describing an in-crowd and the privileges that attend belonging to that group. But the in-crowd he wrote about avoids the usual, negative things we tend to associate…