Greg reminded us of the importance of worship, praise and celebration. We sometimes tend to collapse all three of these words together and associate it with the singing portion of a church service, but there's much more to it that that.

Jesus was frustrating to most people who asked him theological questions. When the Sadducees challenged him, Jesus set them straight on the resurrection, the role of women, and gave a few hints about heaven, none of which they wanted to hear.

Jesus was being set up by some schemers who were trying to trap Jesus. They asked him whether or not Jews should pay taxes to Caesar or not. His answer undermined the game the schemers were playing and will challenge the way we relate to our own government.

By telling a parable Jesus prophesied that he would be rejected and killed. Nevertheless, he also claimed he would be the cornerstone for the coming Kingdom of God. This was shocking to his followers and enraged the religious leaders of the time.

Rob spoke about forgiveness and one common challenge to it—revenge. When someone hurts us and we turn to revenge, we are essentially saying that we don’t like the way God is running the universe.

Our guest speaker could only speak on Sunday, so Greg used the Saturday night service to host a Q&A centered around the recently debated concept that God might be behind the natural disasters in the world...as well as other questions from the congregation.

Kevin Johnson shared some experiences he’s had with “strategies” for personal transformation. None of these strategies by themselves are good enough if we don’t have a basic openness to God’s leading.

At one point in Jesus’ ministry, priests and teachers of the law questioned Jesus about his authority. They asked him by whose authority he taught the gospel and did the miracles. Rather than answering their question, Jesus returned a question.

It might surprise you to know that Jesus got angry enough to turn over tables! There are times when it is appropriate to boldly confront others in our community.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem he wept as he foretold its destruction. This is important because we gain an profound awareness of how it pains God when we resist him.