In December 2009 – my first year as pastor – I gave a message on Lessons from Mary. That’s a good message and is worth going back to.

I used the main points of that message to give a very different message on Christmas Eve day this year. I hope you like it.

Lessons from Mary, Revisited (Luke 1), 12/24/2017

Doug

John the Baptist is, after Jesus, probably the person we know most about from the Gospels.

• Isaiah 40 prophesied about him, as did Malachi 4
• Luke 1 speaks of his birth
• John 1 (along with Matthew 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3) speak of his ministry to baptize and preach
• John 3 – the last reference to John before he was imprisoned.
• Matthew 11 – John’s disciples seek out Jesus, and Jesus speaks of John.
• Matthew 14 – The reason for John’s imprisonment, and his execution.

What lessons do we learn from John?

• Doing the right thing may be costly
• Even people great in the Kingdom have doubts – and how he overcame them
• He must increase, I must decrease

Three Lessons from John the Baptist (John 1), 12/10/2017

Three lessons from Mary
Three Lessons from Gabriel

Doug

Paul opened his letters to the churches with a blessing of grace and peace.

In the beginning of 1 Thessalonians, Paul also speaks of “work of faith”, “labor of love”, and “endurance in hope”. In this message, I spoke of grace, peace, faith, love, and hope.

Five Words (1 Thess 1), 10/22/2017

Doug

Jesus compared two sons asked to help in the vineyard:

• One son said he would go, but never did.
• One son that refused, but later changed his mind.

That was background for where I eventually went: Salt and Pepper. I heard this explained in detail when I went to a ministry school in Kansas in 2016.

• God created us pure – like salt.
• Sin tainted mankind – like pepper.
• The blood of Jesus cleanses us and makes us pure – like salt again.
• But we grew up with “pepper” habits, “pepper” thinking, and surrounded by people that are likewise.
• We get to renew our minds to think like Jesus and live like Jesus – like salt.

If believers have a sin nature, or a dual nature, it means the work of the Cross and Resurrection were less than what happened in the garden.

This is “Salt and Pepper 1” because I will be coming back to this again.

Salt and Pepper 1 (Matt 21), 10/1/2017

Doug