Authentic Faith

Authentic Faith
Preached at Maranatha Community Church 



Popular posts from this blog

When Later is not Good Enough

Hello and welcome to Grace Outpost!   I am delighted to have you join me today.   This past week has been a tough and discouraging week.   I honestly thought about skipping today's message altogether and just have a stress free day.   However, I ran across the passage that we will look at today.   I kept running into this message throughout the week from more than one angle and place, it became obvious to me this morning that God was speaking to me and my discouragement today.   Before we can jump into Haggai we have to understand the scene upon which Haggai chapter 1 begins.   For this background we need to look in the book of Ezra, chapters 3 & 4, which give us the backstory of what Haggai will speak into.   These books cover a return to Jerusalem after the 70-year exile in Babylon.   King Cyrus who was king of the Persians sent out a decree allowing those from Jerusalem to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.   Zerruba...
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Acts 3: Thanksgiving

Welcome again once again to Grace Outpost.   This past week I cut my finger bad enough to warrant a trip to the Emergency Room, where they promptly Derma bonded my finger back together.   Needless to say this has made for a tough week of getting anything done, as I have not been able to use my index finger for much.   This past week was Thanksgiving and I hope that all of you had a great holiday.   At my house it didn’t feel much like a holiday as my wife had to work and we decided not to cook the traditional Thanksgiving meal.   Normally I have a swell of feelings of thankfulness for family and provision.   This year that didn’t happen, perhaps it is because we chose not to partake in the normal festivities.   However, in the midst of this I came across Acts 3, which reminded me that all I need is Jesus and he is at the center of everything I give thanks for.   So we are going to put the Romans study on hold for this week. As we turn to chap...
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Jeremiah 3: Wonderful Forgiveness

Happy Sabbath and welcome once again to Grace Outpost.  This week I have been reading in the book of Jeremiah and God impressed upon me his unchanging nature.  What do I mean by this you might ask?  Often it is argued that in the Old Testament God is a God of wrath and judgment and in the New Testament he is all about love and forgiveness.  At a cursory glance one could certainly make that assumption without taking the time to understand that the Bible is one story that records the unfolding story of redemption of man to God by God.  In chapter 3 of Jeremiah I found a wonderful picture of God's forgiveness and mercy.   Keep in mind that Jeremiah is speaking to Judah (the southern kingdom), Israel has already fallen, and Jeremiah is the last prophet to Judah prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity.   God through the prophet paints the picture of Judah and Israel (the southern and northern kingdoms) as a harlot who has ran out on her h...
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