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

  Pilgrim Living: Good News for Exiles! I Peter 2:24,25 Introduction : We left off in our series on I Peter, “Pilgrim living in a fallen world,” back in November. Peter had just begun to talk about how Christians, living as exiles and pilgrims in the world, should respond to authority, speaking about respect for government. Today I am going to read the next passage, 2:18-25, but for the message today we are going to focus on the last two verses, which are really our motivation for us to submit to authority in this entire context, that is, the example of Christ himself. It is similar to Paul’s argument in Philippians 2:5-8,    5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus ,   6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,   7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.   8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became o...

  The Wise and the Foolish: Matthew 2:1-12 Introduction : This week, we return to Matthew’s Gospel, and come to the story of the Magi in chapter 2.   So far, we’ve looked at one side of the genealogy of Jesus, which does not hide the human failures in his legal family tree through Joseph. Especially the mention of Rahab, Tamar, and the wife of Uriah [Bathsheba] remind us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God . In fact, if the kings of Israel teach us anything, they show us that no merely human king would be able to give the deliverance that we so desperately need. The inclusion of Ruth and Rahab in the genealogy shows grace extends to the gentiles.        Then we saw the story of the virgin birth, from the perspective of Joseph, who received a revelation from God and believed it, nothing is impossible for God!   In this passage we see two contrasting responses to the message that Messiah had come in the story of the Mag...

  Immanuel, JESUS, Savior Matthew 1:18-25 Introduction : In speaking about the incarnation of Christ, Martin Luther said, “ When I am told that God became man, I can follow the idea, but I just don’t understand what it means. For what man, if left to his natural promptings, if he were God, would humble himself to lie in the feedbox of a donkey or to hang on a cross? God laid upon Christ the iniquities of us all. This is the ineffable and infinite mercy of God which the slender capacity of man’s heart cannot comprehend, much less utter—the unfathomable depth and burning zeal of God’s love toward us... Who can sufficiently declare this exceeding great goodness of God ?” Why did He do it ? We can easily be overwhelmed when we consider the pervasive presence of evil and suffering in the world. We live in a fallen world, the evidence is all around us. And believers are by no means exempt from suffering. Whether it is wide-spread events like the tornado sweeping through Kentucky, smash...