Sunday Homily

A half-truth is a statement that includes some element of truth; the statement might be partly true, but in leaving out the rest of the truth, it brings about a deception. The half-truth often leads us to embrace a whole lie.  In this series, we will confront popular misconceptions and errors in thinking that our culture believes. This series deals with basics of our faith: the Ascension, Pentecost, the Trinity and Corpus Christi. We will explore each of these truths of our faith and show the popular misconceptions they refute, including: there are many ways to God, all religions are the same, you don’t need a Church to connect with God, The Holy Eucharist is just a symbol.

At the Council of Jerusalem, it was decided with the Holy Spirit not to make it difficult for the Gentiles to come to God. They were going to put rungs on the ladder so that Gentiles could easily come to Christ. Basically, what they said is: We ought not make it difficult for the Gentiles to turn to God. We ought not make it difficult for people to come to church. There’s a groundbreaking idea: we ought not make it difficult for people to come to church! Let’s make it easy—as easy as possible for people who are interested in turning to God and learning more about Him to get started. 

In this message, we will look at the truth that the natural inclination of Churches is to become insular, but to fulfill the mission given to us we must make it easy for people to come to Christ as a community. We will look at how we are partnering together to make it easy for people to come to Christ at every age level.

A place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world!

The early Church broke new ground because they were able to bring the Gospel into places that had never heard it. They didn’t fear failure but persevered and kept sharing the Gospel. As followers of Christ, it is our job to share the good news with people who don’t know the good news. We have an opportunity to break ground with people who don’t know Jesus. Like Paul and Barnabas we must persevere and not fear that not all our efforts will be successful.

One of the most appealing things about the early church was the clear and direct communication of what was

required of a follower of Jesus. One of Jesus’ new requirements for us after the new covenant is that we should

not be afraid. In Acts 5, the Sanhedrin arrested the apostles and ordered them to stop speaking in the name of

Jesus. They replied that they “must obey God rather than men.” The apostles left that meeting “rejoicing that

they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” Imagine how different our world

might be if we fearlessly obeyed God rather than man. Let’s make it appealing for others to turn to God by

living lives confident in the resurrection.

 Easter celebrates the most groundbreaking event in history.  And it’s impact is still being felt. Over a billion people all around the world this morning are gathering to celebrate a Jewish carpenter from an obscure village who lived 2,000 years ago.

What we want you to know: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

What do we want you to do: Ponder this passage above about God’s love for you, in the depths of your heart, and with this in mind, come to our Holy Week services Thursday and Friday.

As we wrap up our series today, we want to look at how helpful the attitude of humility can be when it comes to recognizing and eliminating sin in our life. 

Today, we focus on the message of humility that comes in the form of repentance. Admitting our sins and our failures is the key to growing in humility. We are all prodigals who need to admit to God our need for his mercy and forgiveness. We need to practice the humility of saying we are sorry and that we have done wrong.  

What we want you to know: Humility has the incredible ability to change and transform us into the person thatwe want to be, the person that is more attractive to the people around us and the person God wants us to be.

What we want you to do: Cultivate a habit of admitting your faults and failures. Be humble; admit your faultsand own your mistakes, honestly and regularly say you’re sorry.