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Matthew 10- Help me break it down!

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:58:33 GMT

I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew, but I have large text of scripture here in front of me, due to working through the Book of Matthew. Here's the deal. I have four weeks to work through this text. November 18^th is around Thanksgiving, and I'm doing a season appropriate sermon there. After Thanksgiving, I'm jumping into the Christmas season.

I'm skipping verse 1-4. The reason for this is that I'm doing a Sunday Evening Study on the Apostles starting in January sometime. Discussing 12 people in a little over 20 minutes is impossible.

Here's what I'm thinking so far

Matthew 10:5-16- Go Out!

Matthew 10:17-31- Watch Out!

Matthew 10:32-37- A Family Feud?

Matthew 10:38-42- Strange Sayings of Jesus

I don't have to go through the whole chapter of course, and I could drop Matthew 10:38-42, and spread 10:5-37 over four weeks...lol

Whatcha think? Lol

Matthew 10

1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil

spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,

drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24"A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub,

how much more the members of his household!

26"So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny

? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

34"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn
" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw—
36a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'

37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

40"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

Sermon Text Oct. 14, 2007

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:21:57 GMT

Matthew 9:35-38

35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (NIV)

Any thoughts?

When you think of prayer....

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:18:38 GMT

Besides the Lord's Prayer, what are some scriptures that pop into your mind when you think of prayer?

Sermon Text Sept. 2

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 02:51:24 GMT

Matthew 8

The Man With Leprosy

1When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2A man with leprosy

came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured

of his leprosy. 4Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

On this date in 1963, a man spoke

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:37:31 GMT

On this date in 1963, a man gave a speech .

Hebrews 12:1-13; Sermon text 8-26-07

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:19:10 GMT

This is the sermon text I'm using this coming Sunday. I don't want to use all of it though- so where do you think I should cut it off? What do YOU think it means? I've about halfway done with it, but I'd love to hear peoples opinions- and I mean ANYONE.
And o yea, got any cool sermon illustrations? haha

Hebrews 12
God Disciplines His Sons
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

New Cell Number

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 22:32:19 GMT

My New cell number is 1-740-804-3870.

I got free nights and weekends, so yea, give me a call....

New Position

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:02:18 GMT

Ok, so I guess I'll make this public now-
I have been called to be the full-time Minister at Adena Road Church of Christ, in Chillocothe, OH.
Scary hu?

I'll make updates on the whole event as things progress. Presently, I need prayers (du) and well...I guess that's basically it. It's pretty scary, and I at times feel in over my head. So pray also that I do not fear, as weird as that sounds.
Presently, it seem that I'm primarily preaching, but they really want me to become involved with young adults- not those in the church since there really ISN'T young adults attending, but those outside the church- in hopes to bring younger people to presently a more complete expression of the Body of Christ (ok, if you couldn't tell that last line is my understanding of what I'm doing).
It also seems that I'm going to get a chance to work with the youth in the church- which are really children, so I it looks like I'll be doing a little children, na little youth, and a good bit adult ministry.
I'd call the congregation conservative in nature. The church also seems to have a better understanding than many about the concept of the Stone-Campbell movment. I say this not because we preach Stone-Campbell, but because I think you really need to know where ya been, to understand how you got where you are.
There was NO theological questions asked of me at the meetings with the eldership. I'm not liberal by any stretch of the imagination, but more and more, if someone accused me of being moderate- especially in areas of textual critcism- I dont' think I'd really argue the point. So I ask that you pray that truely devisive, but yet unimportant questions are not enaged, and that on issues that might be brought up, that I can answer in truth, love, and in a way that is understandable.
I'm most excited right now about the chance to develop and environment that is friendly and condusive to college students. Ohio University has a rather good size branch of it's school here in Chillocothe, and while that consists of commuters students, I still an interested about finding ways to get involved in that social circle.

Finally, this is sort of a shot in the dark, but if any of you know anyone living in Chillocothe, I'd love to get some contacts. One extremely interesting thing told to me in the meetings is that they church "encouraged" me to be involved in the areas ministerial socity, and also that they "wanted" me to be involved with other churches- particuarly other Christians Churches/ Churches of Christ. So if you know anyone one who is attending church is that area- doesn't matter to me the denomination of affiliation- I'd love to know.

Ok, well this was a little long and boring, but I thought I thought I should make an update on things- since it seemed like I fell off the face of the planet.

Well, hope things are going well for all you guys too...

In all things, may God be glorified-

till next time....

Busted Laptop....

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:38:17 GMT

Ok, well I have a busted laptop, so I am borrowing my parents computer, which does not have AIM or Yahoo messenger, only MSN. I'm not going to mess around with downloading them, so if you need to reach me, which is doubtful, just leave me a message on xanga, myspace, of facebook (any one of them will do). I'll be checking all these daily basically, so ya...message me as much as ya want I guess.

I'm making a trip up to Indiana on Thursday morning, so if you ya'll pray, it would be greatly appricated if you would. O yea, this deals with a job, or at least, a primilinary meeting to see what I think of the place, and to see what they think of me. I got a dinner/ meeting with the minister, elders and deacon, and thier spouses on Friday also....so it looks like I'm going to have to be more social than usual., which is NOT that easy as some of you guys may think.

And o yea, if you're not the praying type, it's all good and I understand, since I don't pray like I should, but I would appricated it.

Basically, well, pray what you think it best, but I'd ask just for the ability to be positive, and to be myself while I'm up there. I want them to be able to see who I really am, and I don't want any misconceptions about myself and my skills, passions, experiences, ect.. Basically, I don't want to get in a situation where expectations are put on me that I have no clue how to do. anywho.....

Well I see I haven't posted in a long time, so I guess I'll do that, since I'm already making announcements. Ok, well first off, yea, Christmas and New Years has come and gone. I've spent most of the break I've had thus far, pretending to look for a job (which I've gotten a lil' farther on), watching the tv series Adventures of Superman from the 1950's.(there were six series in all, and in my opionion, they got worse as the years went by...and I'm a huge Superman fan, as many of you know), and in the past week, starting a sort of kung fu movie marathon of sorts....yea, I'm a big dork. I would have started a Star Trek marathon, but I left the films in Tennesee. I guess some other time.

If you didn't know, I'm NOT coming back to Emmanuel next semester for classes, and I'm starting to look for a full time ministry position, and seek to complete my graduate work sometime in the future...*sigh*

I haven't done as much thinking as I thought I would get done, (honestly, I've been wasting time doing latenight internet surfing), and only resently have gotten to do anything of that sort of all, and I tell ya, I feel rusty. My creativity feels shot, and any "new" ideas I have are really only old ones that I've rehashed..(alot like how Star Trck takes old ideas and applies them to a "Next" generation, or how superman will ALWAYS face people using Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen as bait, or how criminals think they are the king of the world for coming up with lead mask..I mean, it's on

ly been done a thousand times before...not) ANYWHO...,man, I have seen too much Superman resently...BUT, I have found out a number of extrmely interesting trivia questions. For instance, the Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen of the 1950's series appears in Superman Returns. Also, the fella who did the voice of Winnie the Pooh, appears in the series as a crazy professor. It freaked me out the first time I heard his voice.

I have a stinking suspicion that any thinking that I get done will be very.....tained by Superman, Bruce Lee, and the music of Willie Nelson and Cross Canadian Ragweed (both I've listened too constantly over the break). This isn't nessesarily bad, but honestly, I wish I had done more...constructive things. Reading of any kind.(hardly touched the ol' Bible) would have been nice. I've tried to journal some, and some poetic like stuff came out, but it was more the product of frustration and not of creativity. I know that if I don't get back to writing sometime, I'm not going to be able to do it, especially in the area of sermons...which wasn't exactly a strength to begin with.

I DID come up with at least a couple ideas, or maybe four, that I would like to give more flesh too, and I guess that's alot in comparison to the amount of time I've actually spent thinking and the like, but they are SOO rudimentary, that they are hardly a skeleton, maybe a shadow of an idea is the better way to describe them.

But I will say that one deals with evangelism and how I fit into it, one deals with a way to let me think and express my frustrations about faith and God (right now, this one is sortta crazy), and one deals with how I see myself fitting in the Body of Christ.........and as for the other ideas...well, maybe it's best to call them a shadow of a shadow...o well...

Well, that's enough for now, since I know no one is actually going to read this whole thing...I guess I did it for myself..again....

I'll keep any who wants it posted.

till next time....

"Shall the Fundamentalists win?"

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:17:26 GMT

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/decemberweb-only/149-22.0.html

The above article is extremely interesting. I would recommend it to anyone who is involved in/ is considering missionary work, anyone contemplating divisions between conservative (and even fundamentalists) and liberals in teh church, people interested in what "normative" Christianity is, anyone who takes the Bible interpretation seriously...well, anyone really.

Basically the article discusses the universal nature of the church, and VAST division that is in it.....anyways, you should read it...

till next time...