Pastor Percipia

  Scroll down for full message The two scripture readings this morning focus our attention on two answers to the question, “Who Are We?” The passage in Isaiah 51 points our attention to the idea that we are so much more than just individuals, so much more than just ourselves. We'll come back to that in a few minutes. We're going to start with Psalm 139 that reminds us that we are unique, individual, human beings. King David, who lived thousands of years ago and who we believe wrote Psalm 139 wrote: “You have searched me, Lord, you know me. You know when I sit, when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You lay your hand on me.” David was writing from a deeply personal place: writing as someone who knows God, and who knows that God knows him. David wrote these words years after having become the King—having been picked out of a crowd to become king, literally having spent his life as the youngest son in his family, having grown up overshadowed by his bigger, older, sm...

Scroll down for full message There are three things that we're going to look at: This is a God Who Speaks This is a God Who Moves This is a God Who Never Fails First, this is a God Who Speaks. In Isaiah 51:1 God says through Isaiah, “ Listen to me.... ” Right from the beginning of our story with God in the Book of Genesis, God speaks. “ In the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless. And void darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water. And God said. Let there be light .” (Genesis 1:1) And what God said... happened. He said let there be light and the universe listened. With that act of speech, God created something that had not been before. God speaks. Stuff happens. When God speaks the world changes, and here is God—through Isaiah--telling his people, “Listen. To. Me. Something is about to happen.” God speaks in four different ways in those few verses. 1. In 51:2, God says, “ I calle...

Scroll down for full message There are two things I would like to look at, arising out of these few verses of Paul's writing. The first is his use of the word ‘boast.’ Now, I was always told growing up that boasting was bad. “You're not supposed to boast.” “Don't be boastful.” “Boasting is an expression of pride and pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins." Is boasting bad? Well, yes and no. When we look at the original language, Paul uses this same word ‘boast’ in verses twelve and fourteen, once as a noun, and once as a verb. The way he uses them gives us slightly different nuances, slightly different emphases.   In verse twelve he says, “ This is our boast; our conscience testifies... ” The commentaries I used in preparing for message point out that that this is a noun: “This is our boast .” It’s a thing, something that Paul has . The definition that I found most helpful is that a boast is a “legitimate confidence rooted in what God has enabled one to do.”...

Scroll down for full message Paul did love a good metaphor. He loved to paint pictures with words, images that people could draw from their own lives to help them to understand the point he was trying to make. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul is using imagery that his people can understand—something that they might have actually seen happening in their world: the imagery of a gladiator. The language that Paul uses here tells a story of combat. The first time I read about this, I thought, “Wow, that's amazing!” because I had completely missed it. It's not in my world. Gladiators are outside my wheelhouse, but in Paul’s world, this image would have made sense to people as being gladiatorial. Let me explain.   In the first half of verse 8, Paul says we are “ hard pressed on every side .” Our gladiator is in the arena. At his back is a wall several times taller than he is. Up behind him and filling his entire horizon—everything that he can see—are people. People who are watching ...