Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 30th, 2009 No Comments »
Pastor Barbara Moyer Leaman spoke on “Back-to-school Sunday” about the importance of guarding our tongues. Our words can praise God, or they can criticize and harm others. James 3 addresses the need for us to guard our tonges, as this small member of our body can is so hard to control. Barbara encouraged us to seek the wisdom of God, to enable us to control what we say and send via email, to build up rather than to tear down.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 23rd, 2009 No Comments »
Using the armor of God found in Ephesians 6:10-20 Myron Augsburger challenged the congregation to behave our beliefs. One of the most important things we can do in our society is to maintain integrity. The armor that we put on is to enable us to move out into society. We move out open to meet others, not in self-defense but openness. Our armor keeps us from being influenced by the powers and influences of society. We belong to the kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of this world, so we can reach out across all societal lines while standing firm in God. We are called not to be admirers of Jesus Christ, but to be his disciples, moving out clad in the armor of God.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 16th, 2009 No Comments »
Pastor Phil Kniss cautioned the congregation about asking to be filled with the Spirit of God. Many in history - Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul - were filled with the Holy Spirit and suffered greatly as a result. We need to be prepared for the risk involved, but this risk of living beyond our own self-interest and comfort is worth living in the fullness of the Spirit. Ephesians 5:15-20 encourages us to live in the Spirit, with no room for other things in our lives.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 9th, 2009 No Comments »
We live with a gap in our lives between what we believe and how we act. This gap is sin, and we all have this. Yet in all of us the image of God is present. We have come to accept the fragmentation of our selves as normal, expecting a lack of integrity. Using Ephesians 4:25-5:2 as his text, Pastor Phil Kniss calls us to live lives of integrity.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 2nd, 2009 No Comments »
For this sermon, Pastor Phil Kniss shared six recorded excerpts of sermons given at the Mennonite Church USA convention in Columbus, Ohio, June 28 to July 4, 2009. He introduced the overall theme of the convention, and then introduced each speaker, before sharing the 2-3 minute excerpt. Speakers (in the order presented) were Jim Schrag, Juanita Nunez, Shane Claiborne, Jim Wallis, June Alliman Yoder with Mandy Yoder Schrock, and Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg. All the speakers challenged the church to be more bold and confident in drawing on the resources of the Holy Spirit to live and proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, as lived and proclaimed in Jesus Christ.
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