There's one place in the New Testament where we see a really scary warning (1 Corinthians 11:27). Suprisingly the warning centers on how we approach God through the Lord's Supper. What does it mean to take communion in an "unworthy manner"? How does the Lord's Supper connect to radical mercy?
What does "radical mercy" look like? It's a lot more ordinary than you might at first think.
We wrap up our series on prayer by examining what all prayer is meant to drive us towards: PRAISE! Does that word describe your prayers?
The Psalter was the original Prayer Book for the people of God. But few of us know how to use them in our praying. This sermon will help you utilize the Psalms in your prayers.
Every great religious teacher has taught his disciples about prayer. When Jesus' disciples asked him how to engage this paramount practice, he gave them "the Lord's Prayer," (Our Father, who art in heaven...). "REALLY! That's what we should pray?" How do we actually pray through this and what is Jesus trying to communicate in this prayer?
As we jump into 2011, we also jump back into the sermon series that we began in the fall. We have been asking the question “how do I draw near to God?” This week we continue to examine one of the four pillars of Christian spirituality: prayer.
This fall we’ve been digging into the first of the “4 pillars of Christians Spirituality” – Scripture (based on Acts 2:42). This week we wrap up this important first pillar by seeing how Scripture is essential for those who want to experience intimacy with God.
Scripture itself claims that Christ somehow connects all of Scripture into one overarching story (see Luke 24:25-48). But what about the story of Abraham when he was asked to sacrifice his only son Isaac? What was God thinking on that one? And how are we supposed to relate to a God that would ask someone to sacrifice his own child? That’s the focus of our sermon this past Sunday.
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42) is the classic text highlighting the 4 pillars of Christian Spirituality. This week we wrestle with why Scripture is so “damned” authoritative? Why does it always seem to tell us what to do? Why does our culture struggle with it?
For Christians, the "Apostle's Teaching" is one of the primary ways we draw near to God. And that actually presents a huge problem for most of us: Where do we find their teaching? Scripture. And what do those pesky apostles claim? That THEIR words = God's Word. That's a tough pill for most of us to swallow. So that's what we'll be tackling today...
So what does Christian spirituality look like? And how do Christians actually draw near to God? The answer might surprise you! This message will lay out the roadmap for where we are headed as a church this Fall...
