Happy Father’s Day from Pastor Mark! Today’s question: For those with difficult earthly fathers, or who have lived without a father in the home, how can I best see God as a good Heavenly Father? How can I forgive my earthly father? How do we best honor our Fathers, Spiritual Fathers, and the Heavenly Father?
Prayer is simply communicating with God. Jesus is the perfect prayer, so he teaches his followers how to pray. First, Jesus teaches that God is our Father. If you want to grow in prayer, don’t focus on prayer. Get to know the Father. If you want to learn how to pray, don’t look at religious people. Look at children with a father who adores them. Through Jesus’ prayer we also learn that our Father is holy, our Father is a king, our Father is generous, our Father forgives sins, and our Father leads well. Our Father hears and answers every prayer.
Jesus transforms the lives of an older woman, whom he cleanses, and a young girl, whom he raises from death. Reach out to Jesus in faith, as the woman did, so that the power of God might be unleashed in your life. Jesus will make you clean; you won’t make Jesus unclean. Follow the example of Jairus, the girl’s father: run to Jesus, cast yourself upon him, and invite him into your home and your life. Respond with faith, not fear. If our faith is in Jesus, then we are the children of God, and one day we will resurrect from death; sin, suffering, and sickness will be no more. We’ll be forgiven and cleansed. We will see Jesus’ face, hear Jesus’ voice, feel Jesus’ touch, and we’ll sit down to feast with him.
Paul’s sadness is revealed as his people had little regard for his teaching and little respect for his authority. Like most problems, the root of all the trouble in Corinth was simply arrogant pride.
Once Paul founded the church at Corinth he left to pursue other ministry opportunities in Ephesus. Although the church was likely small, perhaps only fifty people, it quickly turned into a crisis as supposed Christians sprinted into heresy and moral sin. Some church members were so distressed that they visited Paul to notify him of the mess and seek his counsel.
Being young is like living in spring. Everything is alive and vibrant. Being old is like living in winter. Things grow dark and dim, and death is foreboding and on its way one day.
What if church functioned like a sporting event—which service you attended and where you sat depended on the price you paid? In James’ day, a similar situation forced him to challenge the church’s preference for the rich, who were oppressing the poor. The underlying issue was partiality. Through James, God commands us to treat everyone the same because that’s what he says we are.
Christianity is the Christian following in the footsteps of Christ: knowing the word of God and doing it. It’s not that knowing the word is bad and doing the word of God is good; rather, knowing the word without doing the word is bad, and so is doing the word without knowing it. Like pedals on a bike, they require the other in order to work.
Christianity is the Christian following in the footsteps of Christ: knowing the word of God and doing it. It’s not that knowing the word is bad and doing the word of God is good; rather, knowing the word without doing the word is bad, and so is doing the word without knowing it. Like pedals on a bike, they require the other in order to work.
Should Christians be rich or poor? The right answer is, Christians should be godly. This sermon examines where we tend to get our identity and how remembering God’s unchanging love for us changes how we see things.
Should Christians be rich or poor? The right answer is, Christians should be godly. This sermon examines where we tend to get our identity and how remembering God’s unchanging love for us changes how we see things.
Believers often tell unbelievers, “Give your life to Jesus. Go to heaven.” They often leave out the middle, the hard part called “life.” But James is more forthright, saying it’ll get harder before it gets easier, and sometimes the closer you are to Jesus, the more difficult it’ll be.