Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Christian and Failure

Good morning! Today we will have a shorter message followed by a time remembering the Lord with the bread and cup, and then we will have a sharing time. Our sharing time will focus on lessons the Lord has taught you in 2010 as well as things you desire to see the Lord do in your life in 2011. I realize we have just gone through Christmas, and it may be hard to even think about 2011 so soon, but this will be what we try to do.

First though, I want to talk a bit about failure. My message at Faithwalkers this year is entitled The Christian and Failure, and what I share now is a portion of what I will share in that message. So if you are going to Faithwalkers, when you are there, don’t listen to me, but go to one of the other sessions when I am speaking.

Have you ever struggled with feelings of failure? Most, if not all of us have. Some of us know what it is to be paralyzed by a fear of failure, to be “bitten once,” so to speak, and then to be afraid to act in such a way so as to be hurt in the same way again. This too is pretty common.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The World Needs A Savior

As I was preparing for this message, I kept coming back to the simplicity of the title. It pretty well covers the subject for today. I think most everyone would agree that the world needs a savior.

In the message today, I want to try and answer a few questions. Obviously, we'll talk about why the world needs a savior. Then, since it is pretty evident that the world needs a savior, what kind of savior is needed. Finally, we'll talk about how the savior will “save the world.” In conclusion, we'll go to the Bible and talk about the Savior of the world.

Let's begin with why the world needs a savior. Wherever we turn, we see conflict and the ravages of sin. By sin, I mean an offense carried out one person against another. For example, we see natural disasters turn into even worse tragedies because of the sinfulness of man.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Overcoming Stumbles

Nehemiah 13
Good morning! Today we finish our series on Ezra and Nehemiah. To remind you of the big picture: The book of Ezra begins with the Israelites in Babylon, a humbled and captured people, living under their captors far from the home God had promised them. But those promises God made were conditional on their continuing to serve and live for God, and the Israelites, over a period of centuries, had continually rebelled against God, not following His commandments, worshiping other Gods, and ultimately becoming just as wicked as the heathen nations around them. 

Although our God is a patient God, there is a limit to His patience, and at long last, the nation of Israel fell, its people killed or taken captive, and its capital city, Jerusalem, sacked and destroyed. The wall surrounding the city was destroyed, the residences and government and public buildings in Jerusalem were destroyed, and even the Temple itself was destroyed; God’s Spirit left the Temple, symbolic of how God had at last left the people to reap the consequences of their sin, and symbolic also of how the people had for generations left God.