What human heart doesn’t rise with hopeful longing to the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Those are wonderful words, and they are made even more hope-inspiring by the knowledge of who spoke them. These w…
Last message we introduced the paradoxical truth that the Bible calls Christians both to judge one another within the church and to judge not. We studied 1 Corinthians 5 which describes how Paul responded to a difficult scenario that was playing out within the Corinthian church by calling that church to confront a man’s unrepentant embrace of sin in order, “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” The question we were trying to answer last week was when is it appropriate for Christi…
This Sunday, we’ll be blessed to have Greg Moody return to State Road’s pulpit. If you’ve only recently begun attending State Road then you may not have met Greg yet, but for longtime attenders he is obviously a very familiar figure. Greg served on staff at State Road from 1993 until 2017, first as associate pastor of student ministries and then as lead pastor. He continues to serve on State Road’s Deacon Team, the worship team and in other ways as he has opportunity.
As we continue our study through some of the paradoxical teachings of the Bible, we’ll be taking up the Biblical doctrine of the trinity, which teaches that there is one God who exists eternally in three persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Down through the years people have employed a number of analogies to try and explain the mystery of God’s three-in-oneness. Although perhaps apocryphal, the legend goes that Saint Patrick explained this mystery using the three-leafed shamrock. Other…
Have you ever noticed that the word “down” is rarely associated with anything good in the English language. We’ve all heard of things in decline described as “going downhill,” and we’ve also heard of the “down and out” and the “downtrodden.” We’re familiar with words like “downfall,” “downscale” and expressions like “feeling down in the dumps.” Of course, on the other side of the coin is that word “up,” which is contained in such expressions as “upwar…
The Bible often confronts us with paradoxical truths that require us to hold two seemingly contradictory ideas in tension. The trinity is a famous example of this. The statement that there is one God who exists eternally in three persons is inherently paradoxical. We might ask, “Is God one or is He three?” The answer, however, at least according to the Word of God, is not an either/or sort of proposition. He is one in three, not one or three. That’s hard to wrap our mind around. That’s para…
In Acts 2 we read the following about the early church:
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the t…
One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
Psalm 145:4
C.S. Lewis once wrote this about God, “For He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.” That is one of the mysterious things about our God. It must please Him more and is somehow more glorifying to Him to use broken human means to accomplish all kinds …
We’ll be spending time in the twentieth chapter of John where we find the account of Thomas’ post-resurrection encounter with Jesus. This account is interesting to read in conjunction with Hebrews 11:1, which famously defines faith as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” If you have time between now and Sunday, give Thomas’ story a read. When Jesus had originally appeared to His disciples (John 20:19-23) Thomas wasn’t there for some reason, but the disciples s…
Jere Vincent of Family Builders Ministry will be bringing a message on Deuteronomy 6:4-9. He writes, “What has your heart? Is it your family, friends, your hobbies, or your career? Maybe it’s a passion for travel, music, entertainment, or food. It’s easy to find ourselves living with half-hearted devotion to God. Jesus is inviting us to live a life of total devotion to him. To do this, we must submit every part of our lives to his kingdom’s purposes. We must learn to filter our decisions and desires through his value system, not ours.”
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