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

  Jonah, and other Prodigals Jonah 1:1-3 Introduction: Today we start a new series on the little book of Jonah. Dr. Paul Tripp suggests that this short book, just 48 verses, tells us “… everything we need to know about a biblical worldview in a podcast …” He points to four major themes…        1. A God of awesome glory who is at the center of the universe (He is, not you!). He is King of the Universe! Sin is the desire to put ourselves in that place that is God’s alone.    2. This world in which we live is terribly broken by sin. It is evident in big cities, and in small towns… in human lives… Society might tolerate sin, but sin is not ok. Nineveh was corrupt, exceedingly evil, so is Philadelphia. What is true of cities begins in human hearts. When we would rather have our way, our control, our pleasure, that is sin, we too, like Jonah, are turning away from God, we’re trying to flee to Tarshish…    3. Human beings were created...

  GLORY IN THE CROSS! Galatians 6:11-18 Introduction : Our series in Galatians began the second Sunday in January, and today we’ll conclude this urgent letter from Paul. This last paragraph is not simply a series of disconnected thoughts as Paul is ending the epistle. It is packed with truth. And here Paul draws together some of the major themes of the letter, a final reminder of the message they had heard and believed, the Good News through which we can have a relationship with God and by which we can live as His people in a fallen world.      This is a final, personal appeal from the Apostle to the Gentiles: " See with what large letters I have written to you ..." We know that Paul routinely used a scribe to put in writing what he dictated for his letters. Often he would add a closing word written in his own hand, as in 2 Thessalonians 3:17, “ I Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, this is the sign of genuineness in every letter I write .” Here in...

  Sowing to the Spirit Galatians 6:6-10 Introduction : Reaping what you sow . If you planted a bag of corn in your garden, you probably wouldn’t expect to harvest bushels of tomatoes… Paul is using another metaphor from agriculture that would have been crystal clear to his readers. They lived in an agrarian society. They saw the sowers and reapers doing their work at the appropriate time. A much higher percentage of the population was in fact directly involved in farming at some level. They knew about sowing and reaping, seedtime and harvest . There is a basic law of nature that we can observe, and that all must agree is truth: You will reap what you sow . In our passage today Paul is teaching that what is true about string beans and radishes is also true in the spiritual realm. If you sow to the Spirit you will reap the blessings of the abundant life that God intends for His people. If you sow to the flesh, the fallen, sinful human nature, you will reap the consequences. As cl...

  Mother: our First and Greatest Teacher Proverbs 1:7-9; 31:30; 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14,15 Introduction : Happy Mother’s Day! Mother’s Day is a secular holiday, but it is appropriate for us to honor a relationship created and blessed by God. In fact, we are commanded to “honor” our father and our mother. So today we honor mothers . The struggle I have as a pastor, is that this day evokes such a wide variety of emotions. Some of you were blessed by the example of a godly mother, and it is a joy to focus on those wonderful memories that impacted you so deeply. For others, those memories may be more difficult. As best as we are able, we are told by God to honor our father and our mother . That’s a command!        My own mother wasn’t a believer in my youth (she came to faith later in life), but her faithful care of our family, including 7 children, was evidence of God’s common grace working through her. Others may have more difficult, or even painful m...