Topic: Relationships
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April 13, 2025
Series: Confirmation, Dead and Buried, Palm Sunday
Speaker: Confirmation Class, Pastor James Enderle
Topic: Arrive, Buried, Confirmation, Cross, Daily, Dead, Exalted, Focused, forgiveness, Go, Here, hope, Humble, Identity, Jesus, Love, Other, Peace, Perfect, Prideful, Purpose, Redeem, Relationships, Seizure, Self-Centered, Servant, Serving, sin, Sin-Bearer, Sky, Struggle, Substitute, Surrender, Truth, Why
As we begin Holy Week, we see Jesus bury humanity’s endless attempts at seizing power. In our world, power dynamics are almost always in play. Those who don’t have power want it, often more than anything else. Those who have power are willing to do anything to keep it. In contrast, Jesus–who possesses all power as the Son of God–willingly surrendered His power and placed Himself in the hands of His enemies. Why? What He wanted more than anything else was not power, but you.
So, Jesus begins this Holy Week riding into Jerusalem on a donkey colt, knowing full well that He was riding to the cross. He would surrender Himself to the punishment that our sins deserved, so that through Spirit-wrought faith we might seize the glory and heaven that only He deserves.
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April 13, 2025
Series: Dead and Buried, Palm Sunday
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
As we begin Holy Week, we see Jesus bury humanity’s endless attempts at seizing power. In our world, power dynamics are almost always in play. Those who don’t have power want it, often more than anything else. Those who have power are willing to do anything to keep it. In contrast, Jesus–who possesses all power as the Son of God–willingly surrendered His power and placed Himself in the hands of His enemies. Why? What He wanted more than anything else was not power, but you.
So, Jesus begins this Holy Week riding into Jerusalem on a donkey colt, knowing full well that He was riding to the cross. He would surrender Himself to the punishment that our sins deserved, so that through Spirit-wrought faith we might seize the glory and heaven that only He deserves.
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April 2, 2025
Series: Lenten Midweek, Lord, Have Mercy
Speaker: Pastor David Ruddat
Topic: Adultery, Authority, Commandments, Delight, Father, Fifth Commandment, Fourth Commandment, God, Hate, Holy Spirit, Honor, Jesus, Love, mercy, Murder, Neighbor, Others, People, Protect, Relationships, Respect, sin, Sixth Commandment, Son, Trash, Treasure, Treating, Triune, Unselfish
“Let us make mankind in our image” (Gensis 1:26). God’s intent was that being made in his image, mankind would not only live in close communion with him, but that we would reflect God’s love and care in our dealings with each other. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Commandments are all about different aspects of healthy human relationships: respect and obedience for those God places in a position of authority; valuing and defending the life and well-being of others; expressing relational bonds, particularly marriage, in appropriate ways. God wants us to treasure our fellow man. Yet, in virtually every type of relationship that can exist—parent and child, husband and wife, employer and employee, neighbor and neighbor—we invent new ways to hurt one other.
Breaking these Commandments shows how we feel about our fellow man. More, that disobedience speaks volumes about how we really feel about our God. Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. . . Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not due for me” (Matthew 25:40,45). This week we see that Jesus is the only one who lives up to God’s expectations of how we should treat each other. So, in Lenten faith, we cry out to him, “Lord, have mercy for treating others like trash, not treasure!”
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Improbable Not Impossible
September 2, 2025 -
Is Faith All You Need?
August 29, 2025