Jesus' coming on a donkey symbolized humility and peace. It's not necessarily what the people expected but it is what they needed! How can we follow His example?

The entire letter to the Galatians has been a reminder, again and again, that there is only one way to build toward an eternal future, and that is to place your investment into eternal hands. Those are the hands of Jesus. We cannot live a life of sin, which is by default an investment into sin, and pay lip service to Christ and expect to live in the blessing of God today and for eternity.

I cannot tell you how many times I have known pastors, elders, and other well-meaning people in their churches brought down by the very thing they are trying to step in and prevent in the life of another person. I have known people to get into affairs with the people they were trying to council out of having an affair. I have known people sucked into crippling gambling addictions who were introduced to the world of gambling when they reached out to help someone caught up in gambling. The same goes for pornography, financial schemes, and other places where the person was never tempted to sin in that particular area until they got involved to help someone struggling. Why does this happen? How can we prevent this from happening.

In order to do God's will, we cannot rely on ourselves. Thus, Paul tells us to walk by the Spirit! But what does he mean with that? How can we walk by the Spirit?

Today we are looking at some things which can cut in on you and keep you from obeying the truth as you run the race of faith. And, like yeast that works its way through the whole of the dough, these things are all related to one another to make up the impossibly inedible loaf of salvation through our own works and self-righteousness.

A lot of what it means to be happy, to be content – not complacent – but content, to have joy take place within our hearts and minds. To be sure, our physical situation affects how we feel about love, faith, hope and joy, which is why the Bible says if you are a slave and can gain physical freedom you should do so – but the physical is also temporary and that which is temporary is not a place to put eternal hope.

So, in the sermon today I’d like to explain some of the understandings I have and most of our leadership has around the functions of the church and the involvement of the people which make up the church. The reason I’m doing this is many folks here do not come from a “Baptistic” background and also churches vary from place to place as to how they function and why. In addition, I think many of you are where I was before this time in my life where you appreciate the church, even love the church, but might not be entirely clear as to your role in the church.

Discipleship is a core aspect of discipleship. A common danger in that journey is that believers start turning back to the earthly principles. How does the fact that God knows them save them from that danger?