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The Greatest Miracle

8/29/2021

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          John Chapter 6 begins innocuously enough.  Jesus leaves where he is and is followed by a great multitude.  The suspense builds a little.  The multitude follows him because they have seen him perform miracles on the diseased.  Jesus doesn’t appear to take any special notice of them.  He goes up a mountain and sits down with his disciples. 
          Jesus looks up and sees all these people.  We learn two things.  One, Passover is near and two, Jesus asks Philip where they’ll get enough food to feed all these folks.  Philip, being practical, sums up the situation and says that eight months’ worth of wages wouldn’t be enough to feed everyone.
          Another disciple, Andrew, offers a suggestion.  He says he has a lad that has five loaves of bread and two fishes but how would that do any good.  So, there it is, too many people and too little food to divide.  But it says in verse six that Jesus already knew what he was going to do.
          Next thing, Jesus tells the disciples to go out and make the men sit down, all five thousand of them.  That’s a lot of people to feed.  Jesus gives thanks and sends the disciples out to feed the multitude.  After they finished eating, the leftovers were gathered up which was twelve baskets’ worth.
          It’s quite a miracle.  But like Pastor Josh pointed out, “Which is the bigger miracle—that Jesus can heal the sick and feel the multitude or that he can save a soul?  Think about that, saved by grace through faith.  The miracle he does in our hearts and souls really is greater when he forgives us of our sin.  As the Hinson song goes He ‘takes that black heart washes it in red blood and makes it whiter than snow’.”  The song is Two Winning Hands and the only two winning hands were nailed to a tree.  It’s a beautiful song and brings tears to the eyes. 

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No More Apostles

8/22/2021

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          Sermon text was from Mark 3:13-19.  It begins simply enough.  Jesus goes up a mountain and calls certain ones to go with him.  Verse fourteen says that he ordained twelve to be with him that he might send them to preach.  He also gives them power to heal and cast out demons and then he names the twelve he ordained including Judas which betrayed him.  The text is something familiar to anyone who has been in church any length of time, studied the Bible, or attended a Bible study group.  Everyone knows who the apostles were.
          This is the description of the apostles.  The Bible backs it up with accounts of them following Jesus, going out and preaching both before and after the crucifixion and resurrection, and healing and casting out demons.  After Judas betrays Christ and hangs himself, the eleven get together and vote to choose one to take his place.  They are very careful to choose from the ones who have been with them the whole time they were with the Lord.  They pray and then vote.  Matthias is chosen.  This is in Acts 1:21-26.
          Another event soon presents itself.  Christ has chosen someone to go to the Gentiles.  He meets Saul on the road to Damascus.  Saul becomes Paul the apostle, one whom Christ sent.  First Corinthians 9:1 bears this out.  And these are the known apostles according to the Bible.   The canonization of the Bible, which includes the New Testament, was completed by the fourth century (397 A.D.).  Since it is complete, it is finished and all that is needed.  All that God planned has been done.  Everything needed for salvation of mankind is now available.
          The sermon was one of clarification.  There are those who think that there are still apostles in the world today.  In order to be an apostle, one has to have been ordained by Jesus himself.  And, he would have been given powers to heal and cast out demons.  The apostles were the ones that brought the legacy of Jesus Christ to the world through preaching and writings made possible through the inspiration of God.  God warns us not to add to his words.  It’s in Proverbs 30:5-6.

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They Sought to Destroy Him

8/15/2021

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         “Sometimes we do things and maybe our motives are good.  But, you can do the wrong thing even with good intentions.” said Pastor Josh.  He relates the story of a man who went up to the city on business.  While there he noticed a man and woman fighting and the man got pretty rough with her.  It was more than the businessman could take.  Determined not to just stand by, he jumped in and hit the old boy and got him away from the woman.  He had him down on the ground and was talking hard to him when, all of a sudden, something hit him in the back of the head.  He got up and turned around and the woman was hitting him.
          “The moral is: If you don’t know what’s going on, it’s better to find out first before taking action.  It might be you that takes the beating.” continued the pastor.  The text of the sermon was Mark 3:1-6, the story of Jesus healing a man’s withered hand.  Our pastor was making the point about the Pharisees who were spying on Jesus to catch him healing on the sabbath (verse 2).  It’s clear that Jesus was carrying out God’s will—healing the man’s hand.  However, the Pharisees didn’t see it that way.  They saw it as bad.  Why else would they report it to the Herodians?  They reported it so they might “destroy him.”
          “This is where the Pharisees would have been better off if they would have stayed back and to themselves.  Sometimes we do things and maybe our motives are good.  But you can do the wrong thing even with good intentions.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions. You can be sincere, but you can be sincerely wrong.” noted our pastor.
          Jesus went to the synagogue the same as he always did on the sabbath.  The Pharisees knew he would be there.  Jesus is not surprised.  He turned straight to them and spoke, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill?”  But they held their peace.  Their hearts were hardened to the point that they no longer gave weight to his questions.  Rather, their only cause was to find fault and seek a way to destroy him.

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Believe

8/11/2021

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         “Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39)  What a verse!  Jesus is saying that you believe reading the scriptures will lead you to eternal life yet, you don’t believe in the very one they are talking about.  Some would have you think that only people of ancient times could make that mistake.  Or, rather, we would like to think that.
          It’s like getting the cart before the horse.  It would make more sense to believe in the One the scriptures are about and then read the scriptures.  What’s really disheartening is they believed that studying the scriptures led to eternal life.  Just how many of today’s church-goers immerse themselves in Bible study and have no real encounter with Jesus?  Going through the motions and hoping this this will be enough.
          Sad to say but somehow, they believe the same as these earlier folks did.  Reading further in the same text, verse 45, Jesus states that even Moses will accuse them of not believing.  There’s a reference for that, Deuteronomy 18:18,19.  Moses himself spoke of a Prophet (Jesus) being raised up to speak God’s Word.  It goes on to say that those who will not hearken (listen) to his words will be called to account.
          Really.  Think about it.  It’s easier to just study the Bible and live in this world.  No real commitment there.  Live like a good person and congratulate each other for being such a good guy, a good neighbor.  Give each other all the accolades and just skip the praise God part.  The only thing is eternal life goes with believing.  John 3:16 says that “…whosoever believeth in him (Jesus, his only begotten Son) should not perish but have everlasting life.”
          People are missing the boat.  Just like in Noah’s day.  People go about their daily lives thinking that they have everything covered.  Pay the bills, check, go to work, check, take care of the family, check, go to church, check, read the Bible, check.  Reach out to God, pray for salvation, implore God to make you a member of his family.  Like John 5:47 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
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Trusting in Christ

8/3/2021

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          In this world accomplishments count.  Go for an interview and the question is, “What have you done that makes you stand out from the other applicants?”  It’s a mindset.  So much so that people are judged by what they have done.  Education, medals, trophies, income, personal achievements such as house and property, who you know and the list goes on.  The world hasn’t changed much over the ages.  It was so even in the first century of Christianity.
          Paul, in II Corinthians 3:1, was asked to show his credentials at the church in Corinth.  What a surprise especially since he had founded the church there and built it up.  A little studying reveals that there were false apostles preaching who carried letters of introduction and recommendation from several churches.  Interesting.  If Paul were ever called to match his credentials with others, he was heads above the rest of them.  His credentials are found in Philippians 3:4-6.
          A quick look at verse 4 he says, “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more.”  He calls this confidence of the flesh.  He also says that these things are counted as loss for Christ.  You might wonder why he would say this.
          After all, we work years to get established in this world and make a place for ourselves.  Pastor Josh answered this.  “The thing that we are counting on, the thing that we need most of all; more than the letter of recommendation, more than the references, more than the resume, more than human buildup or accolades, more than that: we need God. God is sufficient.  Christ is sufficient.”
          “We need Christians today who stand up and say we are trusting in what God says.  Not trusting in what Facebook says, not trusting in likes and comments and shares.  Not trusting in retweets and quotes, not trusting in thumbs up and smiley faces on Instagram.  We need Christians who are truly dependent on God.”
          Paul turns around, squares his shoulders and looks straight at them, the Corinthians and says, “Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”  He was saying, “You are our recommendation.”  Paul’s presence as a minister to them with his confidence in the sufficiency of Christ was able to lead them to the Holy Spirit.  And that Spirit of the living God wrote on their hearts.
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    Linda Johnson

    Linda Johnson moved to Douglas County with her husband Tom 12 years ago after retiring from teaching. Following Tom's death in 2016, Linda began facilitating a grief support group called GriefShare through Sweden Church.​ She serves as the Sunday School teacher for our High School class. Her "Layman's Pen" articles are also published in the local paper, The Douglas County Herald. 

    Andrea Strong

    Andrea is Pastor Joshua Strong's wife. She also serves Sweden Church as Church Secretary, website administrator, and Sunday School teacher to the Intermediate Class.

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