A Tale of Two Gardens

TEXT: Genesis 3:1-24, Mark 16:1-8

MAIN POINT: It was in a garden that humanity fell and it was in a garden that humanity was redeemed!

TALKING POINTS:

A mother was teaching her young son to use the phone. She showed him which numbers to push and [...]

Not For Sale

TEXT: Acts 8:9-24, Romans 5:1

MAIN POINT: How do we make ourselves acceptable to God? We can’t! We can only make ourselves available to Him and accept His forgiveness.

TALKING POINTS:

Last week as I introduced our current series, Living in Light of Easter, I asked you a question, “Who Are [...]

The Confidence of God

TEXT: And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

MAIN POINT: One of the ways that we live in the light of Easter is by living in the confidence [...]

What Do You Do With The Resurrection?

I Corinthians 15:12-20
Matthew 28:11-15

Main point – We respond to the resurrection in one of three ways – denial, disbelief, or belief.
A new form of TV program has taken both the airways and us by storm – reality TV. Shows such as Survivor, The Batchelor, The Batchelorette, Married By America, The Mole, and Fear Factor, [...]

Seeing Jesus

Luke 24:13-14
Description – 2005 Easter Sermon
(Opening of the sermon is the dramatic reading script “The News” by Elaine Aadland for the Lenten/Easter Series, “Watchers on the Hill,” produced by Creative Communications for the Parish © 2003)
Whatever life road you are currently on, Jesus is on that road as well. He is not far away. The [...]

What is Jesus Guilty Of?

2 Corinthians 59:26-26:59

Well, what is Jesus guilty of? In the five weeks of testimony we have heard that He has been accused of being (among other things) blasphemous or irreverent by claiming to be the Messiah, of breaking the rule of not working on the Sabbath because He healed someone who had been sick for quite [...]

Why Easter is Important To Me

Fellow blogger and Twitterer, Joan Ball, recently wrote a wonderful post titled, “I’m Glad I Didn’t Go to Church as Kid,” at her blog, ‘Flirting With Faith’ at beliefnet.com

http://blog.beliefnet.com/flirtingwithfaith/2009/04/i-didnt-go-to-church.html

Now, at first glance, the title might cause one to shy away from reading it, but it contains a very important statement about [...]

Easter Worship in Kendallville

Today Easter Worship at the First Church of God in Kendallville was led by the 25 or so kids and teens as they did 3 One Act plays under the title of ‘It’s Friday But Sunday’s Coming.’
My wife has been our ‘unpaid’ childrens’ pastor for most our eight and one-half years here. It is her [...]

Holy Saturday Thoughts

Holy Saturday thoughts…
According to the website churchyear.net this day is known as Holy Saturday and is a day of “waiting at the Tomb of Jesus [and] meditating on His Death.” It is also known, as the site indicates as “Sabbatum Sanctum, [or] Black Saturday.”
I have always wondered what went on that day. It was the [...]

Holy Week Thoughts

Being Holy Week, I am more focused and aware of spiritual issues and dynamics that perhaps at any time except Advent and Christmas.
As such, a couple of thoughts from others have prompted my thinking and writing today about the God I believe loves us and cares for us dearly and deeply and, because of [...]