Savoring the Savior

1.        Why is the Holy Spirit so vital to the life of a believer? 2.        What does it mean to “walk” by the Spirit? (correlates to what word in v18) a.        Exodus 31:3 b.        Ephesians 5:18 3.        How do these verses relate to what is said regarding the work of the flesh? a.        Flesh Defined – Galatians 2:20 b.        Practice – How can missing this one word change how we read this passage? c.        Works Evident – Romans 1:18-22, 1 John 3:10 d.        Results – Galatians 5:21, Galatians 6:8, Romans 6:23 4.        Examine the Negative List a.        Are there words that need to be defined or clarified? b.  ...

Anytime someone asks me how God speaks to us today, my first response is through the Bible. God's primary means of communicating to us about who he is and who we are is found in his own revelation to us in Scripture. In the Old Testament, he speaks to us throughout history, through poetry, through his law, and by the mouths of his prophets. In the New Testament, he speaks through his Son - Jesus, as we read the eye-witness accounts of the gospels, see the creation and confession of the early church, and are encouraged by the writings of the apostles. God primarily  speaks through his word... but he can also speak through our circumstances, through situations and other people. This morning, I was reminded of the latter. In our Sunday School class, we have decided to devote one Sunday each month to focus on prayer. Rather than have prayer be the two shorter bookends to a longer lesson or lengthy discussion, one Sunday each month we have decided to invert our "order of se...

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go into my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. Genesis 16:1-3 Doubt and Impatience It had been 10 long years. Abram and his wife Sarai had been obedient to God and were following him into the unknown with the anticipation that they would soon have a son and that their family would be expanding, but month after month they had been met with disappointment. In this time and culture, the greatest honor for a woman was to have a child, and infertility was her greatest curse. Children were considered a woman's worth, validating her as human. To be without...

 Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (1) The following notes and resources are from a sermon surveying the Trinity. Basic Definition 1. There is one God 2. God is three persons 3. Each person is fully God There is One God At its core, Christianity is Monotheistic, we believe that there is one true, eternal, and sovereign creator based on the following passages found in Scripture: Ex 8:10, 20:3-5 Deut 4:35, 6:4, 32:39 Neh 9:6 Psalm 83:18, 86:10 Isaiah 43:10, 44:6 Eph 4:6 1 Tim 2:5 1 Cor 8:4 Acts 14:15 God is Three Persons While those who practice Judaism and Islam are also monotheistic, they adhere to unitarian monotheism  while Christians hold to  trinitarian monotheism . Even though the word "Trinity" is absent from Scripture, this plurality of God is progressively revealed within it. We see hints of the Father, Son, and Holy S...

Advancements in the fields of science and medicine have led to an increased awareness of what occurs at the various stages of pregnancy. It has been discovered that many significant developmental milestones occur long before birth. The first eight weeks following conception are when most body parts and all body systems appear and begin functioning. Five weeks after conception, the spinal cord, brain, and heart have already started formation. On the sixth week, the heart (with all four chambers) is pumping blood to the brain and throughout the body. By the eighth week, brainwaves have can be recorded as well as a response to light and touch. At 12 weeks, yawning has been observed, fingerprints have begun formation, and some bones begin to harden. Technological advancements have provided profound discoveries in the immense development that occurs during even the first trimester of pregnancy. And yet, as the abortion debate continues, new questions have started to su...

When we have people in our lives that are close to us, those individuals that really "get us", we treasure those relationships and consider ourselves to be very fortunate. In my own life, I think about my wife, someone who is familiar with not only my ambitions and motivations but also my fears and struggles. I think about my oldest son, who shares a common interest in music, enjoys watching constant reruns of "The Office", and has a similar sense of humor. When we say that someone "gets us",  we are saying that this person is more than just an acquaintance. This is someone who knows more than a few basics facts about us. This is someone who is dear to us because they know us on a deeper, personal level. Today, as I was reading a verse that I have read so many times before, I found myself coming to a complete stop. So many times I had read this verse or heard someone teaching this passage with my eyes looking towards the future that I had missed ...

  McJesus, by Jani Leinonen, “Sacred Goods," Haifa, Israel  This week, as I sat at my computer browsing through some of the art featured in the "Sacred Goods" exhibit in Haifa, Israel, I was drawn to the sculpture created by Jani Leinonen entitled, "McJesus". Recently, this sculpture has been the cause of protests by the Catholic church in Israel, as they seek a court order to have this sculpture removed from the exhibit. As my mind began to process the image of Ronald McDonald hanging on a cross, reminiscent of Jesus' sacrifice for sin, I recalled some of the discussions of Francis Schaeffer regarding art. In "How Should We Then Live", he spoke of how art is often a window that provides a view of how society around us interprets the world. For Christians, this means that as we examine art, listen to the radio, or watch television we should be aware that we are hearing another person's commentary on life. This exhibit was about how con...