Grace Outpost

James 1: Joy in Suffering Hello again and welcome back to Grace Outpost!   Today I wanted to look at James 1:1-18.   I would like to take a closer look at what James shares with us about suffering and hard times.   James letter is addressed to the Jews in Diaspora, or dispersion.   Though not identified as anything more than James, it is likely that the author was James, one of Jesus’ half-brothers.   He became the leader of the Jerusalem church and he is writing to Jewish Christians who had been displaced likely by first the persecution under Saul (Acts 7-8) and under Herod (Acts 12).   We do not know for sure, but there is little doubt that the group he wrote to was composed of the poor and they were oppressed.   So what is our natural response to adversity?   When bad things happen what is our natural response?   The typical response for most people is that we complain , whine and all around allow ourselves to be driven to misery ...

Matthew 14: Jesus Feeds 5,000 Many of you have read this account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 before, indeed I have read it many times before, but something in it caught hold of me this week.   Many of us have been part of a team and I am sure at one point or another we have all been a follower on that team.   As a team member you allow the burden of problem solving to fall on the shoulders of the leader.   That is what is happening here with the disciples.   We see that Jesus expects us to take action, he challenges the expectations of the disciples, and then compassionately cares for the people. Our excerpt today begins in Matthew 14:13, but just prior to this the death of John the Baptist is recorded.   John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin and in verse 12 we read that John’s disciples told Jesus of his death.   In verse 13 we begin, Jesus after hearing of the death of John withdraws to a place of solitude in a boat.   So Jesus jumps in a boat and...

Authentic Faith Preached at Maranatha Community Church 

Today I wanted to look at the call of Gideon and Gideon’s response.   More specifically we will consider Gideon’s obedience in light of his underlying personality.   Gideon’s story is the largest section of the book of Judges, just edging out the story of Samson by roughly 30 verses.   Being the largest portion there is much to learn within the narrative, but today we are going to focus in on Chapter 6, which details Gideon’s initial call and his response to the call.   A little background as we delve into Judges 6, during this time Israel is being oppressed by the Midianites and the Amalekites.   Judges 6:2-6 tells how they would come and steal the crops that they had planted and take their livestock leaving nothing behind in their path.   For the people in this narrative it was desperate times.   In fact verse 2 tells us that things were so bad that they were hiding what they could salvage in the mountains and possibly themselves...