Pastor's Corner: WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

  ALL HAIL THE PASSOVER KING:  Palm Sunday 2021 John 12:12-16 Introduction: A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and had to stay home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, dad?" He answered, "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we all got palm branches today."   The little boy replied, "Oh boy! The one time I miss church is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!"        The Good News is that Jesus shows up every week when we gather together in His name! People have a lot of different ideas about who Jesus is, and why He came. We shouldn’t be surprised, it is nothing new. The Jews in Jesus’ day also had a lot of different ideas about the Messiah, about who he would be and what he would do. What is the truth about Jesus? Where can we find truth? The God who is has spoken! We teach the Bible in thi

  “The Wounds of a Friend” Galatians 4:12-20 Introduction. : Theology is always practical, or at least it should be! Galatians addresses right doctrine, it also speaks to Christian living. Tim Keller affirmed the practical relevance of this section of Galatians: These verses set before us two contrasts. One is between gospel faith and worldly religion (v 8-11), and is one of the most important and remarkable insights of the whole book. The other is between gospel ministry and worldly ministry (v 12-20), and gives us insights into how the gospel practically affects our relationships with others …   (Keller, Galatians For You ). Last week we looked at 4:1-11, and this week we turn to verses 12-20, and consider the practical outworking of the Gospel in our lives. I remember someone giving advice on ministry: “Your people won’t remember everything you tell them… but they will remember if you loved them.” If you’ve been reading Galatians with us this year as we have been going throu

  It’s Time to Grow Up! ( or, “From Slavery to Sonship” ) Galatians 4:1-11 Introduction : A well-known story that Jesus told was of a son who made a selfish choice. He chose to despise the father who loved him and walked away from the blessings of sonship. Going the way of the world he eventually became enslaved by his poor choices. That story had a happy ending as the prodigal son repented, and went back in brokenness, and was received by his gracious father. The OT story of Esau shows another case of despising the blessings of sonship, when, in a moment of hunger, Esau, the eldest son of Isaac, exchanged his birthright for a bowl of stew. In our text today Paul is asking, “Why would a child of the king reject his position, and choose to become a slave?”   He is urging the Galatians, and us, to live in the light of who we are in Christ!        One of my favorite movies, the first in the Matrix series, tells a story where humans are in bondage to a system they don’t even know ex