Intersections

  "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...

Normally, you think of having words with someone, there is generally a conflict. Those words may not be the most uplifting, but sometimes we need to authentically communicate our feelings. If there’s someone who can handle it, it’s Jesus. Our scripture for this series is out of the Gospel of Luke, bits of chapters 14, 15, & 16.  Sometimes we find the words of Jesus to be more difficult to hear than things that are more common. This can be confusing, discouraging, or even seemingly contradictory. We really need to work hard to see what Jesus is actually saying. We need to take those hard verses and really digest them better. Maybe sit with the verses and meditate on it, letting the Holy Spirit work through you to gain perspective. We want to understand, we want to soak up the wisdom and live as close to Jesus as we can.  So maybe we need to have words with Jesus - through the difficulty, through the uncomfortable. In that tension is where we can find a deeper faith. The wor...

  The last few weeks since Easter, we've been considering what it's like to be a witness to Jesus' resurrection, and what the early church did as written in the book of Acts. We are shifting away from the well-known stories of Peter and Paul to this lesser known story of Tabitha this morning. Now, this is kind of a strange story, and one that almost doesn't seem appropriate for Mother's Day. Even though there's a resurrection in our story today, there's no mention of Jesus. The witnesses were even sent out of the room, so what's he trying to pull... There's really no explanation for this other than Peter trying to toot his own horn.  But here's the spoiler - this story isn't about Peter. This story is about the impact that Tabitha has made on her community. She saw the others among her, especially the poor, the first says in the Living Bible translation. She was a seamstress and so she did what she could with what she had.  When she die...

     Last week, we were with Peter while he and some other disciples are in court for preaching and teaching the Gospel. The Sanhedrin wanted to quash this new movement that has started with Jesus, so they are trying to root them out and silence them.       We come this week to a familiar passage, the conversion of Saul. The whole story continues from our passage today until verse 20, and I encourage for you to read the rest of it some time this week. It’s only another… fifteen verses or so, pretty easy.       Now, our main character this week is Saul. He’s what some may call a pretty bad hombre. He was a Pharisee, and was introduced in chapter 8 as the one who approved of the apostle Stephen’s killing, which he also witnessed. That’s kind of his background right now at the beginning when it says “STILL threatening and plotting against the disciples”, like a bull in a china shop, or a rabid animal after its prey. His story continues...

       Good morning again, We are only three weeks into our new year here, and it's dark and cold out. I thank each and every one of you for coming out this morning.  Today we will be continuing our series on “Love Never Ends: Being the Body of Christ.” Over the next few weeks, we will be taking a deep dive into the book of First Corinthians, chapters 12-15. Let’s take a step back, though, and talk about this book in the larger scheme of the Bible.  This book was written by the apostle Paul, writing many New Testament letters. Paul’s story is also written in Acts, chapter 18; Paul has traveled to a city in south-central Greece called Corinth. It was established before 3000 BC, and amazingly, it still exists today - although it’s not quite the same city it once was.  Ancient Corinth was a major city in Greece - with a population of 90,000 some four hundred years before the time of Christ. Unfortunately, in 1858, a major earthquake destroyed the ruin...