Luke 5:12-16 An evangelist or faith healer is coming to town and the billboards proclaim, COME SEE A MIRACLE! As the music blasts from large speakers people are encouraged to seek their miracle. Testimonies are given from people who say they have been healed. One of my favorites is the claim that an unborn child,…
Matthew 16:13-16 Jesus is always more than he seems to be. When Mary went to see Elizabeth after her encounter with the angel Gabriel, Mary was just another pregnant Palestinian. If someone had seen her as she walked toward Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house they would not even have noticed that she was pregnant. But Elizabeth…
Philippians 4:10-20 When I was 11 or 12, I went to Boy Scout camp and in order to get into the mess hall for lunch one day, we had to bring a postcard to send to our parents. My parents saved the postcard I handed in and I have it somewhere. It says, “Dear Mom…
Philippians 4:8-9 We come to the second of Paul’s concluding remarks in his Philippians letter this morning. All that is left after this is Paul’s thanks to the Philippian church for their financial support of him which I will talk about next Sunday. In verses 8-9 Paul presents a list of virtues that are not…
Philippians 4:4-7 What do you think of when I say the word “piety”? If I tell you someone is a pious person, is this good or bad? Do you want to be more pious? To be pious is to be a devoutly religious person – which is a good thing to be, right? But the…