Are you feeling down about yourself lately? Join us for a special sermon on Psalm 139:1-16 where we’ll explore how with God’s help, we can learn to love and appreciate ourselves as the unique and wonderful individuals we were created to be.
Jesus himself forgave those who hurt him, setting an example for us to follow. Forgiving can be difficult, but it is important for our own well-being and spiritual growth. Rev. Steinberg will explore the common misconceptions about forgiveness. Is there someone you need to forgive? Come and discover the power of forgiveness in your life.
In Mark 2:1-12, Jesus heals a paralytic man, demonstrating his divine power and inspiring faith in his disciples and others. This healing never would have happened if some dedicated friends hadn’t practiced some holy vandalism.
Christ came to make us into a new creation. We ceased to resemble what we once were. The essence of Christianity is that each person is given a new script, a new reality, and a new identity. There is a moment when people change. A thief on a cross becomes a guest in paradise. A prostitute becomes an example of divine love. A murderer of Christians becomes the most significant Christian missionary of all time. This week we focus on how the old has passed away and everything has become new!
Jesus asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Just as Peter denied any knowledge of Jesus three times on that hideous night, Peter is now allowed to announce his love for Jesus the same number of times. In this interaction, Peter has a chance to realize how deep and genuine his love for Jesus is. It’s easy to imagine Jesus asking us, “Do you love me?” As Christians, we know our answer would be, “yes!” Then how do we show it? This message will look at how our answer changes our actions toward others.
Have you ever suffered a betrayal? Typically, we experience betrayal by someone close to us. Maybe it’s a business partner. Perhaps it’s a friend, or it might even be a family member. It is somebody who knows us well, so it hurts deeply. Judas betrayed Jesus. Later Judas agonized over his betrayal. The agony was so great he took his own life. What might’ve happened to Judas if he had waited two days? What might’ve happened if he saw Jesus raised from the dead? We will explore this thought and others in this message.
There are more nut-cake families and fruit-cake families than angel-food-cake families in the Bible. Do you think you have a dysfunctional family? Imagine being a member of the Adam-Eve family or the Isaac-Rebekah family. Then there is Joseph, who received special treatment from his dad Jacob. The anger and hatred grew among his siblings until they decided to murder him. Fortunately, they settled on selling him into slavery instead. The day of reckoning came when the brothers needed Joseph’s help to survive.
When someone hurts us, we want to get even. But that can turn into an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The remedy is forgiveness. Forgiveness is not easy. It is difficult and painful. We wonder if there are limits on who we must forgive and how many times we forgive them. The apostle Peter thought he was bighearted when he said we must forgive seven times, but he found out that Jesus had different expectations about forgiveness.
Somebody hurt you, maybe yesterday, maybe a lifetime ago, and you can’t forget it. You didn’t deserve the hurt, but it went deep, and even today, that hurt is bothering you. So how do we follow Paul’s words in Colossians 3 that say, “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
One of the most powerful concepts of the Christian faith is forgiveness. Yet many of us struggle with it. Maybe we feel guilty over something we have done, and the feelings of shame hound us over the years. Or, possibly our relationships with others have been fractured, and people have been cut off from one another. So how do we work towards forgiveness with God, our neighbors, and our family and friends? In a four-week sermon series, we will explore the many dimensions of forgiveness.