"Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way." (2 Timothy 3:16 The Message)
This week as I spoke with Pastor Dan about the upcoming sermon, he said that we'd be moving along in Romans to Chapter 10, verses 14-17, which tells us how essential preaching is to spread the gospel. And that set me to thinking about the eternal rhythms still pulsing through the body of Christ — seven days, seven days, seven days…
For me, it brought to mind an image of God using a seven-day breathing cycle whereby he breathes life into his people once every seven days, through the Holy Spirit, via the preached Word. We cannot hear the word unless someone in that pulpit uses the very breath God gave them to physically speak it to us in the congregation. And that, at least for me this week, is where this verse from the sermon text in Romans connects:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the (God-breathed) word of Christ. (Romans 10:17 ESV)
My task then, for the balance of the week is to take that particular breath of God and breathe it out to the world around me which deperately needs to receive it. It may be in a conversation at Walmart, or over the back fence to a neighbor, or even in an encouraging email to a sick friend on the prayer list.
I'm planning to take a deep, deep breath this Sunday!
Who are we in Christ? Is he our Savior? Yes, but who are we? What is our role in this life of salvation? After all, we bring nothing to the party. Paul knew this. With all his Pharisaical education, his Roman citizenship and his fanatical...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"It is the heart of Jesus that becomes real in his people. The heart of Paul was there. It was the heart of Jesus in his heart." This quote from today's Christ Church sermon explains why Jesus becomes the LORD of our lives as believers. With...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Naked before God / arrogant in his privilege / breathing in, breathing out threats / he acted for God against God; / didn’t realize that what he lived would come back to him. On a dark noonday canvas / he discovered the quiet / there is in...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Detailed instructions from the lips of Jesus mark this short sermon series where Pastor Dan Schiel exposits the first outreach of the disciples to the Jews. The first sermon in the series, Like Sheep Without a Shepherd, makes strong application...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"The Psalms are not provided for us to learn about God! they are provided to train us in our response to God, or to train us in prayer. And, this is where we get to know HIM!" An outstanding treatise on how the Psalms can become our lifelong...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
The Sermon on Mission, Sermon 2 Prayer, as part of our mission task is the subject of this continued exposition on Matthew 9:35-10:4.We are instructed to pray for workers in the harvest and then, we are to go out into the harvest, in our case the...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Mission for us is, first of all, living where we are. It's not going to a foreign place. It's living in the present place as a witness for Jesus Christ, as salt and light as one with a message to share with the people who are hassled by...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
What a blessing it is to share the prayer requests we hear in this Christ Church body! Of course many of them tear at your heart with the accounts of life threatening medical issues like cancer, heart failure, strokes and severe injuries. We also...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Today Pastor Dan took a short break from his sermon series on Romans to preach on Psalms 4 & 5. He emphasized the importance of reading the Psalms as prayers on a regular basis to instruct us in the language of prayer. He also reminded us...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
