Intersections

We are getting into this new series - Making Change - at a time when people are thinking about   not only our church budget, but looking ahead to the next year of our personal budgets. But you know, this series may be the easiest or the hardest to impact your life! You might say… yeah Pastor Dan - I’ve got this down… and then start zoning out and wondering what’s for lunch or your fantasy football team or something. Hopefully I’ll keep it engaging for ya’ll too. But on the other end, I hope that this series of Making Change will hit you so that it inspires you to take the next step in your financial journey.   Now, these lessons seem simple on their surface - Less is More, Stress Is Bad, Giving is Good, and Tomorrow Matters - but taking what we will be discussing and implementing it is where the message may get jumbled.  We start this morning with the message of Less is More. Now - as much of a paradox as this seems, it’s been a proverb that has been around for centur...

  Last week, I talked about how our itchy ears can get in the way of the truth of salvation and how we can be distracted in our pursuit of holiness. Paul still encourages Timothy & even us now to “carry out your ministry fully”, in verse 5. But at the start of our excerpt today, the mood has changed. Paul seems weak and very convinced that death is coming soon.   This part of the letter has become amazingly personal, almost like it’s a little awkward for us to be reading it. Should we close the door to the hospital room that they’re conversing in, to give them a bit of privacy?  Although, we’d miss the lesson Paul has for us. He is continuing where he left off last week to his final words for Timothy. As we’ve gone through this letter, we’ve talked about rekindling the gift God has presented to us, showing up in service for God, staying encouraged and faithful when it’s difficult. But now, at least for Paul, it’s the end of the journey and we are the benefactors of ...

  "Remember Jesus Christ!" are the first words of our passage today, as Paul continues to talk to his protege, Timothy, about what he wants to pass on to him. If nothing else, remember Jesus Christ. Last week, I spoke about how Paul was in his last days, in a Roman jail. Things are bleak for him, and through the passage this week, we find out a little more about that. Paul has suffered, and is sharing with Timothy his experience. Know that I suffered for my faith, Timothy, and yet I was faithful! Know that God sees our suffering for him and is faithful! Know that you will also suffer, and you need to learn to be faithful!  Passing down wisdom is a hard thing. It's more than, as the days are getting colder, reminding my children to grab a coat because the summer days are behind and far in front of us. It's more than just telling stories, because it's not guaranteed that the wisdom will be passed alongside the story.  I was listening to a speaker this week who w...

  Have you ever seen evangelism done poorly? Like… you witnessed maybe a street preacher on the corner with a bullhorn, or … less and less now, but the people with the sandwich board signs with the big letters “THE END IS NIGH”? Well - evangelism may not be one of my gifts but I do have a story for you of it going horribly bad. There  So I was in my later teens (you know, back in the late 1900s), and I had been talking to a friend online for a while and I wanted to share my faith. My friend didn’t have much of a background, and having grown up in a different area, it wasn’t really culturally relevant either. She knew I came from a Christian influence, but I hadn’t been really forthcoming about it. I knew it was something that I should do, because - you know, it’s exciting and I want more people to know about Jesus and the faith that helps sustain me.  Let me tell you: it did not go well. I don’t remember the specifics of it, but all I remember is that I thought it was goi...

  What a wonderful September it was, and here we are in October! How fast was that - those festivals really make the month fly by.  October is kind of this weird space in the church calendar, we could focus on stewardship, but typically that’s saved for November, it’s not Advent yet, and our time within summer is slowly fading away. I’d like to fill this space then with a series I’m calling “Not Ashamed”, based on the Second Letter to Timothy. The New Testament letter, written by Paul, is a short one yet very powerful. Let’s walk further into our faith and our discipleship by proclaiming that we are not afraid of the power the Gospel has over us, and how that makes us unique.  This act of boldness and enthusiasm can be mistaken for arrogance and false teaching, though, so we may need to be careful of how we share the power of the Gospel. It is about looking inward and outward at the same time, that we may grow upward to be closer to the divine, and also outward to be clos...