Pastor Percipia

   The third in a series that unpacks our church's mission statement: Helping people walk with Jesus in faith, hope, and love to the glory of God. To see the full message, scroll to the bottom. A theological understanding of faith:  First , faith is the work of the Holy Spirit.   ...but we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and [salvation through] faith in the truth.  (2 Thessalonians 4:13)  ...The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23)  Faith is the work of the Spirit in us.   Second , faith is holistic . Not just something in your brain: “Yes, that's true. I accept that as fact.” Rather, faith is part of our whole being:  So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. But someone will say, “you have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith wi

  The second in a series that unpacks our church's mission statement: Helping people walk with Jesus in faith, hope, and love to the glory of God. To see the full message, scroll to the bottom. [Jesus, having] offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God. - Hebrews 10:12  But before he sat down at the right hand of God, Jesus walked. He walked and walked and walked.   He walked from town to town, from house to house.   He walked on paved roads, dirt roads, through wheat fields, along the lakeshore, and then hooked left and out onto the water. He walked on the stone floors of the great Temple of Jerusalem. He walked into synagogue every Saturday. He walked every day toward the appointments that God had set for Him, whether they were with religious rulers, the wealthy and powerful; with widows, with frightened or grieving parents.   Jesus walked toward outsiders. He walked toward people who were oppressed. He walked toward women and foreigners and ch

The first in a series that unpacks our church's mission statement: Helping people walk with Jesus in faith, hope, and love to the glory of God. To see the full message, scroll to the bottom. Our mission statement begins, “Helping people...”  Helping people (and being a helping people) is in our DNA. Genesis 2:18 provides the starting point for understanding who we are as a helping people.   “It's not good for the human to be alone. I'm going to make the human a helper”  That Hebrew word “helper” is the word is transliterated to English letters as ezer . That exact same word, used to describe Eve, is also used to describe Yahweh God.  God is our ezer .   Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our ezer and our shield. Psalm 33:20-22  There is none like the God of [Israel], who rides the heavens to your ezer , ...  the eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.  Deut 33:26-27  ______  God created humanity in His own image;  in the image of God He

(August 4, 2024 was the first Sunday in my tenure as permanent pastor (although I know there’s not really any such thing!) of my church. This is part of that sermon.)  For full message, see link at bottom: So. Now what?   It is very common in Evangelical circles on the first Sunday of a new Pastor’s tenure for them to begin by preaching a “vision casting” message.   The idea is that the Pastor has gained a perspective on the life of the church, and has plans for their next season.   As I was thinking about that over the last two or three weeks, i've struggled with that a little bit because I wasn't sure how to tell you... I don't have one. I don't have “a vision” for this church. I do not have a five year plan for quadrupling Sunday morning attendance every six months. I do not have a library filled with books with titles like “How to Pack the Pews in Five Simple Steps” or “How to Rule at Sunday School” or even “How to Get Back to Normal.” I don't have that kind of