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

  Inside Out: The “Heart” of the Matter Mark 7:14-23 Introduction: There is the story of a father who told his son to sit down at the table for dinner. The boy was having too much fun playing and ignored his dad. Patiently the father again told him to sit down, and again the child stubbornly refused. Finally, the father said, “If you don’t sit down I’m going to give you a spanking!” The boy sat down, crossed his arms and said, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m still standing up on the inside!”   It is (relatively) easy to do what is expected outwardly, but how are our hearts ? When the prophet Nathan confronted King David with his sin, David was convicted, and in his brokenness, as he saw his need for divine intervention and he prayed, “ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me …” (Ps 51:10; cf. Ps 139:23,24). The God of mercy and grace heard his prayer. There were consequences yes, but David was restored to a right relationship wit...

  Tradition… Tradition! -  Mark 7:1-13 Introduction: In “Fiddler on the Roof” Tevye says, “A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous? We stay because Anatevka is our home... And how do we keep our balance?  That I can tell you in one word... Tradition." Chorus: “Tradition…!” (Tevye continues…) “Because of our traditions, we've kept our balance for many, many years.  Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything... how to eat, how to sleep, even, how to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered and always wear a little prayer shawl... This shows our constant devotion to God. You may ask, how did this tradition start? I'll tell you - I don't know. But it's a traditio...

  Popular Religion  or  Authentic Discipleship? Mark 6:53-56 Introduction : Frank Abagnale Jr. was a brilliant young man, who got off to a rather dubious start (Remember the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks,  Catch Me if You Can ). He learned from his father the art of the “con” and began as a teenager to put it into practice. Once, on the first day he was in a new school, he pretended to be the substitute French teacher, and got away with it for a while. He pretended to be an off-duty pilot and got free rides in the jump seat of airlines, reportedly traveling over a million miles before he was caught. He also became an expert at falsifying checks and was eventually caught by the FBI, and sent to prison. Later he got an early parole from prison and was recruited to help the FBI in detecting false checks and catching those who were forging them. He knew what to look for. In order to discern what is “false” we need to carefully study what is authentic...