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Make Believe

April 1, 2018

Mark 16:9-20

9 Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. 12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. 14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

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The Stubborn Idealist

March 25, 2018

1 Samuel 8:19-22

19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

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Our Sunday Roundtable- Week 4

Should parents childproof their house or houseproof their child? What do speedbumps say about a city’s opinion of its citizens and their integrity? Do chastity belts produce good Christian girls?

Too often modern man is caught trying to pick the lock on Eden’s gate as he works to make a world with “no alarms and no surprises”. Our anthropology today has man’s nature being something altogether good. Any evil actions must be the result of poor nurturing and nothing else. Man doesn’t need to change; his world does. In The Terror of a Toy, G.K. Chesterton gives us an antidote to this error in essay form. We’ve all been bit by the viper and its venom is in our bloodstream, but this Sunday’s discussion should be good and timely medicine!

Click Here to read The Terror of a Toy for Week 4

 

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Our Sunday Roundtable- Week 3

Somewhere in the Sonoran Desert in Scottsdale, Arizona you’ll find the frozen remains of Ted Williams. Somewhere in San Juan, Puerto Rico you’ll find the old bones of Ponce de Leon. And somewhere in the foothills above the Dead Sea you’ll find the sodium chloride reduction of Lot’s wife. Death is difficult to live with. It doesn’t do to run from it. It’s not living to dance with it. And it’s not right to spit at it. The Bible thinks it best to be prepared for it by beating the old stinger to the punch. While the world conspires to have us either embrace death or think nothing of it at all, the church is called to dispel the power of death by welcoming it into our consideration and calculation. As we look this week at an old tale and a couple of famous poems, let’s look to sit with the enemy – uncloaked and without his scythe.

 

Click Here to read the selected readings for this week

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It’s Not All Tempest and Timpani

March 11, 2018

 2 Timothy 4:9-18

9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia,[a] Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.               15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.     16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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