Month: September 2015
Andy Stoddard ~ The Healer: Healing the Spirit and Flesh in the Gospel of Mark
September 30, 2015
This man needed physical healing: he was cutting himself, harming himself, and in great pain, but his physical needs came from a spiritual place.
Omar Rikabi ~ He Had a Name
September 28, 2015
The first name given in creation was Adam. It means humanity.
The Scripture story tells us that God, through Jesus Christ, created all of humanity in his image and breathed into us the breath of life.
I thought of Adam when I saw the first hashtag given to Aylan’s story: Humanity Washed Ashore.
Jennifer Bell Moxley ~ The Salt of the Earth
September 26, 2015
In the context of National Suicide Prevention Month, consider these words on being the salt of the earth.
Aaron Perry ~ Metaphor and Love
September 24, 2015
Love is the summary of the law. Love contains all components of the law. If you want to love, put all these things together. If you want to love, it means not having gods ahead of the true God and honoring your father and mother and not bearing false testimony and not coveting, etc. These commands do not boil down to love; they add up to love.
Cole Bodkin ~ A Life Worth Questioning
September 23, 2015
there’s a flipside to this questionable living. Questionable living can be both a centripetal and centrifugal force. Many were excited about this Great Healer, but when he began talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, almost everyone ditched him. Not many of his followers followed him to his crucifixion. Many will take offense at the Light. Some will gravitate towards it; others will be dispelled by it.
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ At Your Table: New Room Deconstructed
September 21, 2015
All of this makes for a great conference, but people weren’t hungry for a great conference, refreshing as one is. They were hungry for what only God can give.
And God showed up.
How can you tell?
Well, tools and models and statistics and great public speaking skills are methods, and they’re methods the Holy Spirit can use, but they’re not identical with the methods of the Holy Spirit.
And Wesleyan Methodists from varying backgrounds experienced the methods of the Holy Spirit last week.
James Petticrew ~ There Are No Write Off’s with God
September 17, 2015
He says that “in Christ,” through what Christ has done for us in his life, death and resurrection, through his empowering Spirit and inspiring example and our relationship with Christ, God is recreating, restoring us to what he originally intended us to be. The Greek word that Paul uses literally means a “masterpiece.”
Kelcy Steele ~ Preaching to Young Adults in the Midst of a Paradigm Shift
September 16, 2015
Sociologist, historians, and theologians suggest that we are living in the midst of a paradigm shift. Young adults inhabit a different world than that of their parents.
Otis McMillan ~ There Is a Place the Lord Must Bring You
September 14, 2015
The Lord took Peter, James, and John to a high mountain apart. It was essential, for their effectiveness, that He reveal facts about Him they did not yet know. It is important to note that they were separated from the others and it is not by accident that they journeyed to a high mountain apart. He had something to show them and needed their total attention.
Aaron Perry ~ Do We Create Ourselves? What It Means to Be Human
September 11, 2015
On this island, no one else bears responsibility for another’s self-fulfillment. Where there is power for one’s own self-action, there is also absolution for any sin. I am not responsible to another if they have the power of self-creation. Any failure to thrive is the other’s burden. After all, they have the power to create their own context and I bear no responsibility to them.