When we are traveling on a road trip, we need all sorts of help to reach our destination: GPS navigation, maps, signs on the road, maybe others in the car shouting out instructions, etc. And even with all of that sometimes we STILL make a wrong turn or arrive at the wrong place! How much more do we need guidance in reaching our eternal destination? Deuteronomy chapter 6 talks about the importance of being constantly surrounded and impacted by God’s Word. Unless we are meditating upon His Word throughout the day, every day of our lives, we are prone to make wrong turns, miss exits, and arrive at the wrong location. This sermon will serve to kick off the new school year and another year of growing in our faith in worship and Sunday school. Let us rededicate ourselves to hearing regularly from God’s Word so that we will know the way we should go to follow our Lord all the way into the eternal life He has won for us.
In Matthew 15, a Canaanite woman comes boldly to Jesus asking for him to heal her demon possessed daughter. After Jesus remains silent, and even tells her no, she boldly continues to bring her request to him, acknowledging he owes her nothing. Pastor Josh explores this bold, yet humble faith this woman shows, and how it applies to our lives.
The Old Testament “Great Commission” is from Isaiah: “Make known among the nations what He has done and proclaim His name” Yes, we need to not only believe in our heart that Jesus rose from the dead, but we need to confess with our mouth that “Jesus is Lord”.
In this well-known miracle story about how Jesus feeds a crowd of over five thousand people, we see a powerful demonstration of the compassion of God. In this story, Jesus has compassion on the crowds because of all the sick people He sees, so He heals them. But throughout His ministry, multiple times Matthew tells us that Jesus had compassion on others. His compassion extends to the whole person–physically and spiritually. God is concerned about ALL the needs that people have. Sometimes we (just like the disciples in this story) do not look to Jesus for help with our needs, or we figure that He won’t be able to or won’t be willing to help. But Jesus shows that He has come precisely to compassionately provide for all of our needs in body and soul.
Faithful saints have gone before us and serve as examples of faith. While marred by sin just like us, through the Gospel, they were redeemed and accomplished great things in Christ. Better, Christ in the saints has done great things! Pastor Pastor Buegler takes us on a study of Acts 6:1-6 and John 10:27-30 as we see the faithfulness of those who have gone before us in Christ.
