Sermon Notes

“FOCUS” to get what YOU want!
How poorly “GOOD” people can treat others.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the s

The Bible’s Position on Human Behavior: Have we changed in 6,000 years of biblical history?

Though Luke does not say (the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles is, or should be considered, as one work), it is possible that the persecution is directed specifically against Hellenistic Jewish Christians, and those who share Stephen’s views, those who downplay the importance of the temple. At least, the Hellenistic believers are the ones whose work Luke now begins to describe.

Ecclesiastes, which is the Greek name, more properly known to the Jew as Kohelet, was written by a variety of authors between the years 450 and 200 BCE. That means, when it comes to the Old Testament, this, rather than Malachi, is the last words recorded in our Protestant Bibles. But because this book is strongly associated with wisdom literature, it is put with Psalms and Proverbs, which is ironic because much is what is taught in Kohelet is the antithesis of Psalms and Proverbs.

The Power of a Touch — Mark 1:40-45

Misery loves company but company hates being miserable!

Matthew 10:32–33 (NIV): 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

Acts 7:51–53 (NIV): 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Romans 8:28–39 (NIV): 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.