A Retraction

Sometimes newspapers or televised news programs issue a retraction when they publish facts that are wrong. Sometimes they catch their own mistake and other times people write or call in to complain. I just listened to my Sunday morning sermon and as soon as I heard a particular line I couldn’t believe I had said that.

In Sunday’s sermon “Go and Do Likewise” I outlined the history of the Samaritans. The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell in 721 B.C. and those Jews not carried off by Assyria were separated from the Southern Kingdom, or Juah, where Jerusalem and the Temple were located. In the discussion of The Good Samaritan and the account of the Samaritan woman at the well, I said that animal sacrifice did take place at the temple during the first century. As soon as I heard that this morning I thought “Why would I say that?”

Go and Do Likewise

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is probably well known. Like other titles we tend to give biblical narratives, that was added later and may work against our understanding. Hear this parable again with a mission emphasis as we wrap up the month of September and our focus on Mission Georgia.

*When I listened to this sermon a few days later I realized that I had made a mistake. It’s not a small detail and I wrote a retraction. Click here to read that.

“Only Jesus Can Judge Me”

Much like “You only live once” that should be a warning to make good choices and not an excuse to disregard all caution. This is #3 of 4 in a mission’s focused series. We will wrap up next week.

The Mission Effect

Week 2 of Mission Georgia focus. When God’s people worked together, with one heart and one soul in a community of believers, they will have an impact on the world around them.

Doers of the Word

Mission Georgia sermon from James chapter 1.

For prayer guides, videos and other further information click this link to the Mission Georgia website.

Mission Georgia 2021

We will focus on state missions throughout the month of September. The areas of ministry Mission Georgia is involved in are foster care, adoption, human trafficking, childhood literacy, refugees and pre/post natal care. When we talk about the needs we often use a lot of numbers. The theme for 2021 reminds us those numbers represent real people. Those numbers are our neighbors.

Our Hope

Born again to a living hope; that’s important because if we had hope in this life only we’d be above all others most miserable. We may suffer trials for a little while but do not get distracted or discouraged. Our salvation will appear at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Parable of Tenants

The Parable of Wicked Tenants/Vinedressers from Mark 12 is read, analyzed and applied in this sermon. This is also a lesson about expository preaching and we use that model in our worship.

Why is There a Jonah Chp 4?

If Jonah ended at chp 3 v. 10 it would be a happy ending. Jonah finally preached, all of Nineveh repented, God relented of his planned destruction, everybody wins. Chapter 4 reveals that Jonah is the only one left not right with God. And that’s the reason it’s in there. Characters with fatal flaws are the ones we can relate to. There are no superheroes in the Bible.

Jonah Complains

Wrapping up the Jonah series. There are some things we can learn from Jonah; there’s more to this book than big fish story. The question that lingers though is did Jonah learn anything?