1.  If you read biographies or watch the television program “Biography” you notice a pattern that is frequent in the lives of many great leaders. Early success and then years of obscurity and hardship – even rejection and exile. Two good examples are Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln. Child stars and prodigies often experience the same. Writers and artists may show promise – even brilliance – and then languish for decades before creating anything again. One hit wonders are common in music as are novelists who cannot produce a second best seller. Sometimes circumstances change beyond their control. Silent movie star Rudolph Valentino’s voice was not suitable for movies with…

1.  There are few topics that occupy our mind as much as work.  It’s where many of us spend most of our lives.  Some of us spend more of our lives working than we should.  Some of us have found work that doesn’t seem like work at all.  My Dad had a phrase that described it for him.  “Work is the glue that holds life together” and that seems to be true.  What would life be without work? There are literally tens of thousands of job titles in this country.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics has divided work into 840 different job categories and within each category there are hundreds…

Let’s look at the story of creation this morning – but perhaps in a different way than usual. How does it all begin?  It begins with a light and then over the course of six days He speaks the world into existence – sometimes forming creatures out of the ground and sometimes simply speaking them into existence.  But however He does it, the world is almost complete – but not quite. Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the…

1.  Some of the first words in the Bible are God’s speaking creation into existence. “God said, “Let there be light.” From that moment on Scripture is filled with God’s words to creation. And it is not a single voice in creation, is it? Creation is more the result of a conversation – especially in the account of the creation of mankind. What does it say? “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…So God created him; male and female he created them.” In some ways you could say from the very beginning we have been wired for conversations – not a solo life. We need words. We…

“Augustine said that anyone who denies the Trinity is in danger of losing his salvation, and anyone who tries to understand it is in danger of losing his mind.” The Kingdom of God is like There are none of the metaphors and similes about the Trinity that we see in the teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom. There are just statements that are to be taken as both facts and mysteries. He never takes the disciples aside to explain, “I and the Father are one” or “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” It is a Fact with a capital F. It is a Truth that cannot…

1.  Last week we looked at Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We looked at the ten days between the Ascension and Pentecost and saw the nature of the church without the power of the Holy Spirit. What was it like? It was a praying church. All of them prayed. There was not Wednesday night prayer meeting. There were no prayer warriors. The whole meeting was prayer and the prayer room was the only room. They were all together all the time and in prayer. The church was of one mind. They were first-rate examples of Paul’s command to the Corinthians, “Be of one mind.” They were held…

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 1. The Lord makes and takes us through hard times. Not just as punishment – although hard times are sometimes His way of getting our attention – but often times as preparation. It is easy to forget that there is a life after this one for which we are being prepared. It is easy to…

1.  Colossians 1:15-20: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile…

Psalm 99 1 The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. 2 Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. 3 Let them praise your great and awesome name— he is holy. 4 The King is mighty, he loves justice— you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right. 5 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. 6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the Lord and he answered them. 7 He…

“‘Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…’Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver; ‘don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’” 1.  That’s the issue this morning. What is the nature of God’s goodness? What do we mean when we say – sometimes glibly – God is good all the time and all the time God is good? Do we mean He is safe or do we mean a kind of terrible goodness as well? Do we mean something we define and control as “good” or is the…