Escape urself Podcast

I first want to apologize for the delay in getting this posted.   It has been a challenging couple of weeks!   This week's message was a blessing to share and it was followed by the baptism of our son Korey!    I could not be more excited and proud as a father and servant of Jesus.   Then on Monday afternoon I just was not feeling right.   I had a heart attack and an emergency procedure to have a stent put in.   It came out of nowhere.   I felt just fine but then I didn't.    So thankful for my family, my staff at work, the ambulance crew, the doctors and nurses who God used to send me into double overtime.  

I could not be more excited about life and what God is doing here at Berea and in my life!  I pray that if you do not have a church family home and you are in the area that you will join us!  If you are not in the area then please tune in online each week at 10 a.m.   

We are thankful for all who listen to this through this platform and we pray that you will share it with others as we continue to grow.  I cannot wait to see how God uses this moving forward!

Here are the details about the final message in this series!

This week is our final week to take a look at a few of the questions Jesus asked.  Most of these questions come directly from stories that many of us know.  Famous teachings of Jesus, famous miracles of Jesus, famous parables of Jesus.  Jesus asks these questions but they often get overlooked because we focus on the healing or the parable.  That’s not a bad thing at all!  But when we study deeper and we look at the whole text.  When we dig in and pull out a specific question, we realize that Jesus asked that question for a very specific reason.  He might have been trying to draw someone closer to Himself.  He might have been trying to reveal a specific truth by engaging the person He was questioning to think deeply.

These final two questions are ones that we must answer.  We must then take our answers and share them with all that will listen.

I was talking with someone this week and realized that we usually spend our time together on Sundays sharing the miracles of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus and the writings of the early church.  And we should!  These are all incredible accounts that God has given us to learn more about Him and to share with others.  But how often have we just focused on the questions that Jesus asked?  There are more than 300 of them in the New Testament.  When you pull out the questions and you see them in the light of the situation, or through the eyes of the person that Jesus was talking to then what is revealed can become even more impactful in our lives.

Jesus did not randomly ask questions.  He knew the hearts of those that he inquired of.  He had a purpose in trying to reveal their answers or trying to lead them to the truth.  My prayer throughout this series continues to be that we will take each question to heart as if Jesus is looking us in the eye and asking us.  Do you believe?  Why do you doubt?  Do you want to get well?  Do you still not see or understand?  What does Scripture say?

Those are the questions that we have covered so far.  This week’s questions get very personal.  They come from Matthew 8 and John 6.  

Do you enjoy asking questions? Jesus does.  There are more than 300 questions that Jesus asked recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  But we know that there had to have been even more since not everything that Jesus said and did was recorded.  Our challenge is to imagine that Jesus is looking each of us in the eye and asking us the question.  Now you are correct when you think that, “pastor, Jesus was not talking to me.  That question was for the religious leaders, or the person being healed or the disciples, not me.”  But you are only partially correct.  The Holy Spirit inspired the authors to record these very specific questions and events from the life of Jesus for us.  It is not inappropriate at all for us to look at these questions and imagine that Jesus is inquiring about our answers.  I believe this is an incredible way to look at His words.  There are so many situations in life that we might go through that almost make it seem as if a scene from God’s Word is a foreshadowing of a scene from our lives.  And God uses that moment in scripture that seems to speak directly to us!  If you have experienced that then you know exactly what I am talking about.  If you have not, then I want to challenge you to dig deeper, to ask more questions, and to seek a spiritual mentor that might be able to help relate the truths found in the Word of God to the events in your life.

We pray that you will consider what your answer would be to the questions in this message.  Thanks for listening and please share this with others that are seeking to know Jesus better.

We have just begun a series where we are looking at a few of the questions that Jesus asked.  Great teachers ask great questions.  Many of us have figured out that asking questions is a great way to learn.  Asking the right questions can open up opportunities, solve mysteries, even begin new relationships.

This week we are looking at two questions that both involve miracles being performed.  Questions that were asked of the people who were healed.  We are looking at the context in which He asked them.  Who was He talking to?  Why did He ask?  What answer might He have been hoping to receive?  Did He get the answer He was looking for?

Our prayer is that each of us will listen to the questions and imagine that Jesus is talking to us.  To close our eyes and envision Jesus asking us the question.  How amazing would that be?  As if we are literally talking to Jesus and His words reach through space and time.  As if He is talking directly to us through the Bible.  As if the Bible is the Word of God spoken to us…because it is.

After being gone for a couple of weeks, I cannot wait to begin this new series.   So many times we look at the miracles that Jesus performed and we study the teachings of Jesus, which are both incredible things to study and we should!   But how often do we simply take a look at the questions that Jesus asked? Did you know that Jesus asked more than 300 questions throughout the Gospels? And those are only the ones that are recorded!  Our prayer is that each of us will listen carefully to the questions that Jesus asked and contemplate our responses carefully.  His questions are usually deep probing questions.  One’s which many might be quick to give a simple, superficial answer to.  But upon a further look might lead us to a deeper place with Him.

This week we will look at a 2 questions.  What if Jesus asked you these two?  Do you believe?  Why do you doubt?  

This week we finish up our brief look at Jonah in the series titled "Love Forward".

God could have chosen anyone.  He certainly could have replaced Jonah.  But He did not.   He gave Jonah another chance.  Anyone could have taken this message to Nineveh.  But God waited for Jonah to come around.  What is God waiting on you to do right now?

God has a purpose for each and every one of us.   God asks us the same question He asked Jonah, “And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh?”  For the great community in which we live in, the incredible country we are blessed to be a part of, for the world during these trying times in which we live.  God is more than concerned!  Since He gave these words to Jonah, He took it a step further and gave us His Son Jesus to PROVE His concern for the lost and dying world. Who is He calling you to reach out to today?

This is the 3rd week of our series in Jonah.  This week is yet another strange title but it just might be what you and I need to do.  Have you heard of Jonah?  If you have not, we would welcome you to join us for this series so you can hear this incredible example of God’s love for all of humanity and even a disobedient prophet.  If you have heard of or ever studied the trials of the prophet Jonah then do you see any of yourself in him?

Just as Jonah was willing to take his own life to avoid the call of God, God provided salvation.  This week we will look at the prayer that Jonah prayed, crying out to God and acknowledging what God had done for Him.  This prayer represents the powerful work of God that has taken place in the lives of all who follow Him.  If you have not yet made that choice to accept the love of Jesus into your life, then this prayer found in Jonah 2 maybe be just the thing to move your heart in that direction.

It is an odd title for sure.  Have you heard of Jonah?  If you have not, we would welcome you to join us so you can hear this incredible example of God’s love for all of humanity and even a disobedient prophet.  If you have heard of or even studied the trials of the prophet Jonah then do you see any of yourself in him?

Have you ever ran away from God?  Have you ever tried to escape what you know He is calling you to do?  Thankfully God has not placed you inside of a great fish but there are still consequences for not following God’s desires for our lives.  If you are already a believer, God, though He has saved you, will leave us to exist in a sort of spiritual apathy if we are not pursuing Him.  If we are not following Him.  If we continually ignore His call to repent, to forgive, to love, to share Him with others then we might find ourselves in a spiritual rut.  One that can even cause people to walk away from their faith.  It is a sad choice that people make.  It is the example of Jonah.  My prayer for this series is that God will take the story of Jonah that so many of us know and make it a story about us.  How we can avoid the trap that Jonah fell into, or even the path that he intentionally chose.  God’s Word is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.  Without changing the meaning or the content of the text in any way God can use this to challenge us in incredible ways!

Love Forward…

Have you heard the story of Jonah?  Here is the challenge that we always have on a Sunday morning, it is actually one that I enjoy!  Each time we gather we must find a way to share as if we are sharing with someone who has never heard the Word of God before.  As if today is the first time they have been exposed to the truth it contains.  We have to be sure that everyone knows at least the basics.  But there is more.  For those of us that might have grown up in Sunday school, we remember the whale on the flannel graph!  Many of you can probably sum up all 4 chapters in a few sentences.  But I believe there is so much more!  How God can use this example to help us grow today?  How can He use this event from His Word to challenge us in our faith to Love Forward.

Mom’s, it’s been a long year.  We are so excited to celebrate all the women that God has brought into our lives!  This week we looked at the power of a praying mom.  Is there anything more powerful than a praying mother?  Praying mothers have been known to heal the sick, resolve conflict, protect those in trouble, persuade judges, bring husbands to Christ, bring home wayward children, and more!  Yes, a praying mother is a powerful spiritual weapon!  Their power is found in the strength of God.  Their power is found in the faith to believe that God will hear them and answer their prayers!  

This message certainly applies to mothers but in reality it is for all parents, grandparents, and extended family.  It is for those that care for kids that are not their own.  Words for you pray over the neighbor kids or the students in your classes.  There is power in prayer and our kids need us to pray for them.  They need to see and hear us praying for them.