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

The parable of the sower (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8) explains five faith-killers:

• Affliction
• Persecution
• Worry
• Greed and money issues
• Things and the desire for them

The first two attack your persistence; the remaining three attack your focus. All five of them are intended to prevent the promise you’re standing on from being effective.

At the beginning of the message, I noted that I was returning to the previous week’s reading (Mark’s version) rather than today’s reading. I felt this message was important enough to go off-schedule.

Five Faith-Killers (Mark 4), 7/23/2017

Doug

My message on Fear and Faith that I gave at Jesus People Church of Asheville on 7/9/2017.

(For All Saints people – this is a slightly expanded version of the message I gave at All Saints on 6/25).

My notes are posted in the comments.

Fear and Faith (Matt 10), 7/9/2017

Doug

Through the course of Holy Week, I addressed some “reasons behind the sacrifice” – reasons for Jesus’ shed blood and reasons for his beaten body. I summarized those then focused in today’s message on the reasons for Jesus’ resurrection.

Reasons for the Resurrection (John 20), 4/16/2017

Doug

The Transfiguration shows us glory, presence, and love – and that each of these are a gift to us.

Glory, Presence, and Love (Matt 17), 3/12/2017

Doug