Ephesians 2:11-22 New International Version (NIV) Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ 11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15

1 Chronicles 16: 8 - 12 We can forecast our future faithfulness based upon whether we gravitate toward grumbling or we’re growing in gratitude for God’s amazing grace. We’re faced with a dilemma in this regard because most of us are natural born grumblers. Many of us whine more than we worship and we gripe more than we express gratitude. The purpose of Chronicles is to explain the events of history and to set the record for families as they re-entered the land of promise. The Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence and power of God, was brought back into the centre of life. For a long time, God had not been front and centre in the life of Israel. I suspect that some of us have dr

STAYING ON THE GLORIOUS PATH Good evening brothers and sisters. Tonight we’ll be taking a look at Psalm 50. Please turn with me to Psalm 50 and read along. In this psalm we’re going to see that the Bible shows us four things: It shows us the POWER of GOD (vs. 1-6) It shows us the PROBLEM of RITUALISM (vs. 7-15) It shows us the PROBLEM of HYPOCRISY (vs. 16-21) It shows us the PROMISES of GOD (vs. 22-23) We’re going to see that God is glorious, and getting closer and closer to Him, and more and more like Him, is our glorious goal, and the path to that goal is also glorious – it’s beautiful and full of life! But staying on that path is sometimes difficult, and easy to wander away from. We can s

Genesis 11: 10 - 32 In bringing this series to a close, I feel as if I should congratulate the congregation for your patience and your perseverance. There are few sections of Scripture more crucial for us to understand than the first 11 chapters of Genesis. This is where the story of the Bible begins. This is where we first come to understand who God is, who we are, where we come from, how we were created, what it means to be made in God’s image, how sin entered the world, and how the earliest civilization spread across the earth. From these chapters come the foundational doctrines of the Bible—God, man, sin, judgment, grace, salvation, forgiveness and the first promise of the coming of t

Acts 17:16-21 (NIV) In Athens 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teach

Genesis 11: 1 - 9 v. 4 - Think of it! A tower that reaches to the heavens. We thought that we had big ambitions. This one takes the cake. “Great idea. Let’s use bricks instead of stones. That way it will last forever.” “I’ll call the bank and set up the financing. We’ll borrow most of the money at prime plus one. We’ll rent out the lower floor for retail, put families in the middle, and reserve the top floors for multi-national corporations that need a prime location.” “I love it. This tower will stand forever. We’ll be the envy of every city in Mesopotamia. They don’t have anything like this in Nineveh.” “It’s a great idea. People will come from everywhere to see the tower. We can make mon

Ephesians 3:14-21 A Prayer for the Ephesians 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all w

Genesis 10 This chapter reads like an OT phone book with the numbers mysteriously left out. If you read it casually, you will pass through the 70 quickly so you can pick up the story again in Genesis 11. Some say that it would be a mistake to preach on this chapter because it is impossible to interest modern congregations in this very ancient list of names. I will leave to you to judge. “What’s going on here?” Who are these people? Where did they come from? v. 1 - “This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.” This is the key to everything else. There were only 8 people living on the earth after the flood: Noah and his wife, Japheth a