10.30.08
Posted in Gene Cornett at 8:12 am by Gene Cornett
What a church is to be about is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. The N.T. talks about that a lot. It doesn’t talk much at all about the kinds of things that occupy our time: decisions about meeting times, worship styles, business meetings and the like. If we doing that first part well, a lot of those details will fall into place. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added to you as well.
I have two recommendations for the body that I believe will help us to keep the main thing the main thing and not get so bogged down in the details, the machinery of church life.
One, we need to follow the leaders that the church has put in place to lead their various ministries: pastors, committees and deacons. When it comes to business meetings we need to follow those groups in this manner: Motions for action need to come primarily from these established leadership groups. I cannot enforce what I’m saying according to the constitution. Nor am I claiming that these leadership groups have always gotten things right. However, an individual member bringing an item of new business before the body on their own, is in greater danger of not being able to see the big picture and of bringing a motion that is a distraction away from what God is calling us to do. A leadership group has a greater chance of thinking through the larger ramifications of a motion and when they bring a motion it comes with greater credibility. So I’m asking, as your pastor at this moment, that members who feel that God is leading them to bring a motion to the body to first take it to the church appointed leadership group to which that issue would fall. A financial issue would go to the stewardship committee, personnel to the personnel, or a general church health issue either to the pastors or to the deacons. If that group hears your concern and believe that it needs to be brought before the body then that will be healthy. If they do not agree, and you still feel before God that such a motion still needs to be brought to the body, then by all means bring your motion, but in doing so let it be known that you have made an attempt to go through established leaders. It is my sense that the bringing of motions from individual members is often misunderstood and requires a lot of time on the business meeting floor to clarify. It is the sense of your pastors that it is these business meetings that are continuously getting us off track from the real business of the church and some are in fact leaving because of that reality. I would also encourage the body, that when you sense a motion being brought to the floor that should be handled at the committee level, that you promptly move to have it tabled to that group for study. The power remains with the congregation as a whole. But in general, this would be a far healthier way for the church to make decisions.
Second, there is a motion to be voted on next week (11/5/08) regarding a revote on the budget. I need to say a couple of things on that to put it in perspective.
The budget process led by the stewardship committee was in place for months, to include a church family forum. The stewardship committee was available for comment, and some members took the initiative to express their concerns to them. The budget was put out two weeks in advance of the business meeting. The personnel committee provided an unprecedented amount of information, far more than had ever been given. Beyond that, it actually took us two meetings to process the budget. The spreadsheet with all the salary information was out on the first business meeting. 8/20/08. That meeting ended with the personnel chair on the floor discussing that very issue. Some correction were made to the salary spreadsheet for the second meeting. We came back in the next meeting and discussed it further. That meeting was on 8/27/08 In that same meeting, a voting irregularity was noted and the body given an opportunity to revisit the issue. The body elected not to go back and revisit that. I have been reluctant to address this because of the appearance of being self serving. But the time for being concerned about appearances and perception has passed.
The church did its best to prayerfully adopt a budget. To try to undo that budget will be a distraction from the real work of the church creating confusion that could bog us down for months. Furthermore, it will un-fund two positions that have already been filled. It will ask a new stewardship committee who has other important work to do in this season, to redo last years budget close to the time when they need to be working on the budget for the new year.
Please pray that we can keep these conversations about the logistics of church business to a minimum so that all of us can give our full energy to the pursuit of our primary business, making disciples of Jesus Christ.
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10.27.08
Posted in Bible Study, Bryan Dunn at 5:42 am by Bryan Dunn
In the relationship triangle of the Pharisees, the nation of Israel, and Christ now comes to a critical point. In Mark’s account we see the multitude crowding around Jesus, and the demands were so great and pressing that there was not even time to eat. The family of Jesus (read that, His friends) realized the need for rest and sustenance while not underestimating Jesus’ zeal for what He was doing. So, their plan was to whisk Him away and their reason for this was that He had taken leave of His senses. Basically, He had gone mad.
This was an occasion that a demon possessed man who had other physical issues was brought to Him. Jesus healed every problem! This was a clear validation (again) that Jesus was who He claimed to be – the Messiah. The astonished question in verse 23 (in Matthew’s account) could easily be reworded in the negative – ‘This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?’ You see, the Pharisees had rejected Christ. They had no problem telling others that Jesus was a false messiah, a false prophet, one that their religious leaders had found fault with. It wasn’t a lack of evidence provided by Jesus that was in question, it was the fact that the religious leaders had not given their stamp of approval that led to the question to start with. Keep in mind that the teaching for many, many years to the people was one of being sheep that were led by the shepherds, and they needed to follow the shepherds still. So the conflict was there in their minds, and was now brought out of their mouths. Look what Jesus did! Are you guys sure….
And the answer from the leaders came swiftly. Look at verse 24. It is interesting that the Pharisees did not deny the miracle, the healing and casting out of demons that had just taken place and everyone witnessed. But there was a different explanation – the devil made Him do it! The question of was this a miracle was not a question at all – but in who’s name the miracle was performed is now the main issue. And here is where the destiny of the nation, and of those watching this unfold while weighing the evidence, depends on the interpretation of the person of Christ.
Jesus offered three ‘proofs’ to who that the explanation offered by the Pharisees was false. The first was that division leads to destruction. His point was that unity was needed for preservation. Look at verses 25 and 26. Satan would not let his authority be used by anyone to assist in his own fall or destruction. It was a twist of logic that Jesus wouldn’t let pass without being challenged.
The next proof recognized the existence of exorcists in the nation of Israel. It was known that some could cast out demons – and the nation accepted these individuals as God’s gift to them. The Pharisees even thanked God for these folks. So…by what power, by what name did the acknowledged folks do their work by? Look at verses 27 and 28. The person observing and thinking this through must arrive at the conclusion that Jesus could actually drive out demons and cure the ill (they just saw it!) so either His claims to do this by the power of God were right as well, or … perhaps the Pharisees were not looking at the facts.
The last proof was looking at the need to have the power to subdue the guard of the place they wish to rob before the robbery can take place (verse 29). The inference was that if Christ can enter Satan’s stronghold and deliver people from his control as He had just done, then it is evident that He is stronger than Satan. The devil couldn’t give Christ a power greater than what he himself possessed. And with these three proofs Christ tried to show those gathered that the Pharisees were grasping for straws.
In verse 30 Jesus calls for their decision. What will be done with the information provided? Jesus expected a response to His words.
Now to the verses you may have wanted to tackle. What about this blasphemy deal? What is this blasphemy against the Spirit for which there is no forgiveness? Let’s see what Pentecost says.
If the nation rejected His own testimony concerning Himself, they might come to faith in His word through His Father’s word…If one rejected the word of Christ and the word of the Father, he might still be brought to faith in the person of Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit. The miracles were the Spirit’s witness to Christ. The Spirit bore the final witness to both the person and word of Christ. If one rejected this final witness, there was no further witness God had to offer. While to reject the word of Christ was sin, a person could be led to a confession of that sin and to acknowledge the truth by the witness of the Father. To reject the witness of the Father was a sin; yet one could be led to faith in Christ by the witness of the Sprit. If one rejected the final witness, there was no further witness to bring him to Christ.
It is evident that this sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit could only be committed while Christ was personally present on earth. The sin could only be committed when the nation was being given evidences as to the person of Christ through the miracles which He performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The necessary circumstances do not exist today and, consequently, this same sin cannot be committed today.
So, taking this in context of Jesus, addressing the nation or the whole generation that He was there in the midst of (and not as an individual sin, but viewed as a collective sin), could not be done today. If the explanation of the Pharisees was the one that was chosen, the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit had indeed been played out by the nation, and there was no further witness that could be given for them to accept. The response to Christ had implications for a future destiny.
It is noteworthy here that – from this point on – the nation of Israel is viewed in the Gospels as having rejected Christ as Messiah. The unofficial rejection by the religious leaders would become official when finalized at the cross.
You will have noticed that I try to personalize this at the end of each lesson, and this one is no different. The words and works of Christ have spoken to all throughout history. And today, perhaps they speak to you. What will you do with the claims of Jesus Christ?
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10.21.08
Posted in Bryan Dunn at 7:07 am by Bryan Dunn
It’s heady stuff - I was asked to discuss some ideas I had on communication with the church staff. When you love your staff, that’s like being called before God’s royalty (although having been ’staff’, I’m positive there are many times when the staff feels as if they are much less than God’s royalty). The more I looked forward to it, the more I became mired in what exactly to say. Strange. I believe we wanted to talk of many things web related, but communications is so much more. So I started to do my homework. And this post is part of that process!
Communication - The activity of communicating; the activity of conveying information; Something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups; A connection allowing access between persons or places.
Some of us like our communications as they have always been - the church newsletter and the church bulletin. That’s the way God intended it! But there is so much more, and so many avenues that the church has not chosen to explore or benefit from. Let’s just look at some of the communication vehicles.
Newsletter - this is a very good way to get out tons of information. Everyone and their cousin can ask for inclusion in this medium. There are set deadlines to adhere to (this is published monthly) so items can be included. This is mailed to all members of the church. It is also posted to the web site.
Bulletin - another excellent way to get information out to individuals. This is also deadline driven (this is published weekly) and less information can be contained in this publication. It is available to folks who attend on any given Sunday and is also posted to the web site.
Fliers - these are mainly for special events or offerings being done within areas of the church. Many are posted to the church web site if ministry contributors are updating their areas of responsibility. Others are included as a matter of course (concerts, outreach events, etc.).
Web site - this was retooled a couple of years ago with a decidedly ‘outreach’ design. If you venture in past the initial pages, ministry contributors take care of updating the communications for those that are ‘on the inside’ of the body and are looking for information. Lots of potential here with current offerings being this blog, audio of sermons and publications of events taking place.
That pretty much sums up the vast majority of what many think of when we discuss communications. But I think there is more…much more that can and should be recognized. And if we’re brave / bold, perhaps we could even act on them!
Sermons, Sunday School, Awana, Upward, Vacation Bible School, Christmas Production - I’m going to lump these all in as things we are currently doing. With each one there comes a level of communication. While these are ‘things’ we do, how do we communicate them to the body and our community?
One of the better sites I’ve seen on this in recent days may catch you a bit off guard. It’s called Church Marketing Sucks. It’s a blog community of folks interested in spreading the Good News in a powerful and effective way. I would encourage you to read some of their articles, such as The Illusion of Community, Communicating To/With the Next Generation, or Stop Using Media. This is just a sampling of the food for thought in this area, and it certainly gets me thinking about not only what we are doing, but how effective (or ineffective) we are in our communications around this area.
E-mail - this is something that is effective. Personally, I believe we can do this better. Imagine that we could receive e-mails from a single source. Why is that important? If communications were not being received, the question would not be where did it originate from (that would be from a single e-mail address used for all church-wide communications), it would be what hindered it from reaching an individual (spam filter, black-listing, etc.). A single source for all communications! That would allow even those that didn’t want to hear from us from setting up a rule for those ’special delivery’ mails without having to unsubscribe or ask us to stop sending them communications. Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Social Networking Sites - we already have a pretty good contingency of folks on MySpace and Facebook. Again, we may want to look at articles such as The Illusion of Community to see if we’re just huddling together or impacting others for Christ. Do we have members who publicize and write about what is going on in our fellowship? Can we be more effective using these tools?
Central Materials / Themes - bear with me here. I’m not advocating we all run back to Lifeway to get age appropriate materials so we’re all on the same verses or lessons. But I do want us to understand what we do when we’re all doing our separate things. We’re not connected. We don’t mesh. There is no central ‘theme’ or point for discussion. It’s like a family all living under the same roof but never getting together in the same room or at the same table to share a meal. It’s disconnected. And, just for argument’s sake - remember the 40 Days of Purpose study and how that sparked a connectedness, growth, and common ground among the entire body? I’d guarantee you we won’t see that again if we don’t ever revisit common threads of central materials / themes.
There is so much more to discuss about church communications. I realize I have only scratched the surface and given you food for thought at this point. On my quest I also found a fantastic post titled The Five Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing by Yvon Prehn. I will be sharing a portion of this with our wonderful staff today as we discuss communication.
Let me leave you with this. What if…
- …we had a communications team?
- …we committed to better communications to our community?
- …we committed to better communications within our church body?
These are things we can do. But would it make a difference? Would it impact our community if we strove for excellence in this area? Would it impact us internally if we made it a point to communicate early, often, and excellently?
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10.20.08
Posted in Gene Cornett at 2:11 pm by Gene Cornett
Believers have the responsibility to daily present themselves to God to be used in loving people to faith in him. However, there are events coming up at Seaford where we can work together to do this. Primarily, our weekly worship service is the most consistent opportunity. You can be involved in helping someone to Christ simply by consistently inviting friends to worship. Churches that grow tend to have very high percentages of their church body that do this weekly. Second, upward basketball season is fast approaching and there are many ways to be involved in that ministry. Third, our Christmas musical is always a great opportunity to invite guests.
In October, the personnel committee filled two positions based on the decisions of the church body in the August business meetings. They hired Kathi Hodge as the interim worship director and Lloyd Wiggins as the facility maintenance coordinator. Kathi is new to Seaford; Lloyd is an active member having joined Seaford in 2004. In addition to this action, the committee has completed work on a new personnel manual and will be introducing that to the full church staff in mid November.
The church health team has launched a church health survey, as requested by the pastor search committee. This survey will provide critical information to the search committee as well as provide important data to the current pastoral staff and other church leaders as we seek to follow God’s direction for our church. You can find out more information about this by reading the lead article in the October newsletter. You can also find that at There is a link to the survey on the main page of the church’s web site. www.sbc-va.org
The pastors are beginning a message series on the book of Nehemiah on Sunday, October 26th that will run through the end of November. There are fascinating themes in this book that parallel much of what is transpiring during this season at Seaford: specifically prayer, leadership, facing challenges proactively, engaging everyone in ministry, and worship.
The pastor search committee will be leading a church family forum during the mid week service on Nov. 12th. They are planning a highly interactive event with a combination of guided small discussion as well as large group collaboration. The purpose of this forum will be to discuss the new pastor profile.
We have had many first and second time guests over the course of the fall. It is everyone’s responsibility to help create a welcoming and nurturing environment for these guests whom God has entrusted to us. No one visits a church by accident, least of all Seaford. Aaron recently offered new training for greeters and is actively seeking to expand that ministry. We need greeters at every entrance and in the parking lot to assist in caring for those God is bringing to us. Please contact Aaron at the church office (898-5384) or by email awest@sbc-va.org if you would be interested in serving in this ministry.
Finally, after a three and half year wait, Kat and I leave for China on November 4th, to bring home our adopted daughter, Noelle Meiyuan. Thanks to so many of you who have prayed for us and encouraged us through this time.
Gene
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10.15.08
Posted in Church Health Team, Tom Gilson at 5:06 pm by Tom Gilson
The Church Health Team is nearly ready to present a church-wide survey to all members and regular attenders of Seaford Baptist Church. It has been tested with a pilot group of church members, and it’s now in final editing. The official roll-out will be on Sunday, October 19.
What is the survey for? It’s a combination of many things. It covers our involvement, our satisfaction with various aspects of the church, our understanding of basic church teachings, our ideas for outreach, our opinions on what is strong and what is lacking, and more.
How do you do the survey? Starting Sunday morning, you will have two options: Fill out the survey online, at http://www.seafordsurvey.org, or fill it out on paper forms that will be provided at the church. For the online survey you will need a username and password, which will be made known when the survey is rolled out this weekend.
You will have three weeks to complete the survey. Further instructions will be provided on the survey web page.
What will happen with the survey results? We have three purposes in mind for them:
- Inform our current church leaders on the needs, opportunities, and opinions of our church members and regular attenders.
- Provide information to the Pastor Search Team that will help them with their search task.
- Give feedback to you on what the church is saying and thinking. A report will be made available to the entire church body.
Is there more feedback being sought from the church? Definitely yes! We are arranging for Don Cockes, our area SBCV missionary, to come with a team of objective outsiders and spend focused time speaking with every person who has something to share. They will take notes and report back to us on what the church has told them. We don’t know the exact times and dates yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
What else is the Church Health Team working on? We’re studying what it means to be a healthy church, for one thing. And we’re conducting community studies so we can have a better idea how to bring the truth and love of Christ to the church. Later on we’ll be working with staff and lay leaders of the church to try to bring clearer definition to the church’s mission and direction.
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10.13.08
Posted in Bible Study, Bryan Dunn at 5:01 am by Bryan Dunn
Witness to the King (Luke 8:1-3)
Jesus now leaves to begin another tour of the area of Galilee. Notice that the twelve are with him. Also of note are some women who apparently had some means to assist in supporting Him and His ministry. These ladies – as is noted in verse 2, had been cured from various issues. I believe we can make the leap of faith that these ladies accepted the message of salvation from Jesus, and were therefore following Him and assisting Him on the journey.
Perhaps more importantly, these women could be called on as witnesses. What I mean by that is they could give testimony not only of the healing that took place, but also of the taking on of His burden and experiencing their own burden of sin being lifted from them. You see, they had been delivered from the chains of bondage and delivered to liberty – the freedom found only in Jesus Christ!
This is as good a place as any to look at the subject of women! Here is some information from the Life Application Bible.
Luke gives more attention to women than any other Gospel. Women played a special role in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus’ acceptance of women as disciples and as participants in his ministry and teaching gave women a positive place in the New Testament church (Acts 1:14). Women traveling with Jesus and his disciples would have been completely uncharacteristic of rabbis in ancient times. Rabbis refused to teach women because they were generally considered to be inferior. Jesus, however, lifted women up from degradation and servitude to the joy of fellowship and service. By allowing these women to travel with him, Jesus was showing that all people are equal under God. These women supported Jesus’ ministry with their own money. They owed a great debt to him because he had healed some of them and had cast out evil spirits from others.
The Gospel names three of the women. First, Mary Magdalene (from a town called Magdala or Magadan, see Matt 15:39) from whom he had cast out seven demons. Apparently Mary Magdalene had lived a very sorry existence because demons were usually associated with mental or physical disorders. The number of demons indicates the severity of the possession from which Jesus freed her. Although some have suggested that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, there is no biblical evidence to support this. Mary stayed at the cross, went to the tomb, and was the first person to see the resurrected Christ (24:10; Mark 15:40,47; 16:1,9; John 19:25; 20:1,18). Because she is always first in any list of women indicates that she probably had a special leadership role.
The second woman named is Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who was Herod’s business manager (or steward). He may have been in charge of one of Herod Antipas’s estates. Joanna is also mentioned in 24:10 as one of the women, along with Mary Magdalene, who told the disciples the news of Jesus’ resurrection. Otherwise, nothing else is known of her; Joanna’s husband is mentioned only here. Perhaps Luke’s Gentile readers knew of this man and the exact nature of the office that he held. Some have conjectured that this may have been the man whose son was healed in Capernaum, recorded in John 4:46-53, after which he allowed his wife to be a part of Jesus’ supporters. But this is uncertain.
Finally, Luke mentioned a woman named Susanna who is found nowhere else in Scripture and about whom nothing is known. Perhaps Luke highlighted these three women because they would have been known to his readers.
Besides these women there were many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. This provides an insight into how Jesus and his disciples met their basic needs. John 13:29 reveals that Jesus and the disciples had a common pool of money from which they bought food and gave to the poor and that Judas Iscariot acted as treasurer. This passage tells the origin of that pool of money. People, like the women listed here, gave money to Jesus and the disciples out of gratefulness for what Jesus had done for them. Note that, in the Gospels, no women ever reject Christ or become his enemies, only men. These women are models of the faith response that Christ desires.
These same women also would witness Jesus’ crucifixion (23:49) and see the empty tomb (24:10,22,24). Luke revealed that they had been with Jesus from the time of his ministry in Galilee. He also wrote that women stayed close to Jesus and would have influential roles in the church (Acts 1:14; 8:12; 16:13-15; 17:4,12; 18:24-26).
(from The Life Application Commentary Series copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 by the Livingstone Corporation. Produced with permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)
These women were pretty amazing. They joined in with ‘the guys’ and worked in support of the ministry. They were faithful to the message and ministry of Christ. And, as far as we can tell, in this unusual situation. Let’s think of us…today…how are we doing? We may not be actually working during the first century with the Lord, His disciples, and serving with these ladies. But in a very real way, we travel daily with the Lord. We are His hands, His feet, and – very often – His mouth (with our choice of words). What kind of traveling companions are we? Do we wait for Him to whip up something to keep us fed, warm, amused? Or are we up to the task of working for Him, in the sense that all we do (the money or stuff we earn) goes to support the cause? Are we willing to make His priorities our own? These ladies were….
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Posted in Media, Tech Notes at 4:46 am by Bryan Dunn
Removing 968Mb of 2007 audio files to make room for the ones we need to post for 2009. This will allow all to get the sermons they want and still not gobble up precious server space.
Note - these are not being deleted, just removed from the web server. Any links to these will be lost on the site and internet…so if you want them, come and get them! This will be complete by the end of this month.
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10.05.08
Posted in Bible Study, Bryan Dunn at 2:57 pm by Bryan Dunn
Many Pharisees had listened to Jesus teach. Not many Pharisees invited Jesus to their home for a meal, so this is an interesting opportunity. Eating with publicans and sinners (Matt. 9:10) we know about, but a meal with a Pharisee – one who was separate from sinners – here’s news!
Shepard writes of this scene – On this occasion came a woman, known by reputation and appearance to be a sinner, wearing her hair unbound, a sign of her sinful profession. Doubtless she had heard of the wonderful prophet who was reputed to be the friend of tax-gatherers and sinners. She may well have heard Him preach in the streets the sweet message whose burden was: ‘Come unto me all ye that are toiling and heavy laden.’ Was she not in a terrible struggle in her own conscience and was not the burden of her sinful past crushing her life out? She resolved to brave ridicule and come to Jesus. Knowing that He was reclining at the banquet table in the house of the Pharisee, and bringing and alabaster cruse of ointment – a very costly perfume – she slipped in through the curtained entrance and coming stood behind Jesus, near His feet, weeping. It was not customary for any woman to appear under any circumstances on such an occasion, much less unveiled as she. Her actions betokened a woman of generous, affectionate, and impulsive disposition, who was the victim of others depravity.
She stood weeping because of her wicked life, brought home to her the more by hearing the gracious words of Jesus. She also met with the icy scowl of Simon. ‘What was she doing there?’ Ashamed, repentant and grieved, she bent over to hide her confusion, and as she did a shower of tears fell upon Jesus’ feet. As if in apology and having no cloth, she began to wipe the tears from His feet with the long tresses of her hair. Among the Jews it was a shameful thing for a woman to let down her hair in public, but she made this sacrifice as did Mary of Bethany on the eve of His death (John 12:3). Next taking the flask of fragrant perfume she anointed His feet and kept on showering kisses upon them in deep repentance and reverence.
Notice the response from the Pharisee (Simon) in verse 39 – don’t miss it! Simon did not address the woman because of her lack of etiquette, instead he use the occasion as a basis for his own rejection of the person of Jesus Christ. Here’s his logic – this man claims to be the revealer of truth from God, but if He was a prophet, He would know this woman’s character and reputation. Because of this knowledge, He would spurn these evidences of her affection, these were not something that those who had been removed from sin would tolerate.
At this point Jesus indicates He has a lesson to teach, and then tells the story of two men who were in debt to a money lender. The story had only one right answer, and Simon gave it. And the point was easily noted – if there was much benefit, there would be much love; if little benefit, little love. And looking around at the greeting Jesus had been given told the back story. To wash the feet of a guest, to give him the kiss of welcome, and especially to anoint him, were not the normal things done at a feast. But they certainly told the story that cried out for all to see.
Simon had not acknowledged that he was a sinner nor in need of a Savior because of his sin. The woman, in stark contrast, demonstrated the reality of her faith by pouring out her love gifts on Him. And these were gifts that Christ received because they were rooted in the woman’s faith! So, Jesus declared that her sins were forgiven.
Put yourself in the midst of this feast. The home of a Pharisee, with other Pharisees in attendance no doubt. It’s the same response seen in Luke 5:21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Those words were uttered after the healing of a paralytic who had his sins forgiven by Jesus. Jesus Christ here had not only spoken the words of God and done the miracles of God, but now He even claimed the power of God to forgive sin. Now the Pharisees had to weigh this evidence about His person.
What would you have done? All your life you would have been taught as a ‘good Jew’ that only God could forgive sins. Was this blasphemy? Or … was this God? Peer pressure would have mounted, there would have been deacon meetings, business meetings, family forums to address the excitement (or disruption, depending on your take of the matter). Simon went away from this, as far as we can tell, with proof that Jesus was no prophet, much less the Messiah. A woman went away with the gracious gift of eternal life. What would you have left with?
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Posted in Audio & Podcasts (Sermons) 2008, Media at 2:45 pm by Bryan Dunn
October 29, 2008 - Wednesday PM Sermon - Begins with Gene’s message concerning business meetings, continues with Aaron West’s message on Spiritual Disciplines
October 26, 2008 - Sermon Title: Engage, from the series Eating the Elephant: A study of the book of Nehemiah - Gene Cornett
October 22, 2008 - Wednesday PM Sermon - Aaron West
October 19, 2008 - Sermon Title: Broken: Divorce & Remarriage from the series More Than Just Friends - Gene Cornett
October 15, 2008 - Wednesday PM Sermon - Aaron West
October 12, 2008 - Sermon - Jack Duffer
October 8, 2008 - Wednesday PM Sermon - Aaron West
October 5, 2008 - Sermon Title: More Than Just Friends (part 5) - Gene Cornett
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