For the remainder of the Advent season I will be sharing messages based on the experiences of the different people involved in the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. Each one of them had a fear or obstacle to overcome. In the advent of Christ they found not only deliverance from thier fear, but with it they found a deep and lasting joy. This Sunday we begin in Luke 1:5-17, with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. When we meet Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth in they are elderly, have no children and no prospects of having a family. In that society being without children was considered a punishment from God for some unknown sin. Words like reproach, shame and disgrace are used to characterize them in their community. In the Advent of Christ, the disgrace is countered by the Grace of God that comes at Christmas. Have you experienced those painful words in your life? Reproach – Shame – Disgrace? I think we all have at some point. The Advent message given to Zechariah, as well as to us is that God hears our prayers and remembers our needs. Join us this Sunday as we discover how Christmas Overcomes Our Shame.

Sunday I will wrap up my sermon series on essential doctrines, “Relevant Orthodoxy,” with a message on the Church. There are 34,000 different Christian denominations in the world, highlighting what we already know; there are many different opinions of what the church is. This Sunday it is not my intention to solely promote the “Baptist” conviction of church, although I would be insincere if I didn’t recognize my bias in that direction. As with all the areas of doctrine we have considered in this series,  I want to look at this from the most basic, foundational concepts of what the church is. But I also want to show us the Church in the context of our relationship with God and His high calling for us in the church.  While the Church in America is facing some decline and with the decline some opposition, I believe the greatest days of the church in America are before us. Ephesians 1:15-23 speaks to us of the hope and the calling we have in the church as well as the great power God desires to unleash through His Church. Join me this Sunday as we discover the amazing, the powerful and beautiful Church!

Have you ever been in a situation where another person actually saved your life? I have one older brother and when we were kids we loved to swim during the summer months. We lived within walking distance of the Tobique River and often would go swimming with our friends. One time I got caught in the current of the river and found myself in water over my head. I was too small to stand up and not strong enough to swim out of the current. I went under the water and took my first gulp of water. And then a second time. I was going to drown if someone didn’t save me. My older brother Larry, who was much bigger than me swam over to me, grabbed my arm and pulled me to safety. There is no telling for sure what could have happened that day but I believe my brother saved me from drowning. As the one who was saved that day, I knew I needed help beyond what I could do if I was going to live. This Sunday we continue our series titled Relevant Orthodoxy by looking at the doctrine of Salvation. It is from this doctrine we have developed the christian term “saved” to describe the work of God’s Salvation in our lives. As with my need to be saved from drowning that day in the river, so the doctrine of salvation and being saved points to the fact that we need to be saved from something that only God can do the saving. We are all sinners in need of a Savior.  Join me this Sunday as we consider Salvation and the Depravity of Man.

We are in the middle of a sermon series titled Relevant Orthodoxy, touching on five essential doctrines of the church and how they are relevant to life in 2022. Last week we looked at Theology Proper and the Trinity; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. While all three are equally God, the Doctrine of Jesus is one that faces continued scrutiny and confusion because He is the focal point of our faith. Like the Trinity, the nature of Jesus is difficult to understand in the human context. Jesus is eternally God, but at the incarnation He became both God and man at the same time. How can this be and what are the implications for us because of this unique union of the God – man in Jesus Christ. Our text for Sunday, Philippians 2:5-11 is thought of as an early church hymn? When you read it in your Bible you will notice it is styled to set it apart from the rest of the chapter which usually means those verses are some form of oral tradition that was memorized in the church. That makes our text on Sunday a very important passage to know and understand. Join us this Sunday as we look at Jesus, The Focus of our Faith.

Last week we started a 5 week sermon series titled “Relevant Orthodoxy” where we will look at five key doctrines of the Church and how they are relevant to life today. The first message was on the authority of Scripture.  I preached that message first because what we believe about Scripture is foundational to all other doctrines. However, the most important doctrine is Theology Proper; the study of God. The God of the Bible is unlike the so-called gods of any other religions because our God is a Triune God: that is one God in three distinct persons. The doctrine of the Trinity is not spelled out for us in any one place in the Bible, BUT the doctrine of the Trinity is throughout the entire Bible from the beginning to the end and everywhere in between.  In over 30 years of ministry, I have received more questions about the Trinity than any other area of doctrine so I know this is a difficult concept to grasp. This Sunday we will look at the Trinity from the relational perspective between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and how that impacts the relationships we have in life. The more you understand the relationships within the Trinity, the better your relationships will be with others. I hope you will join me this Sunday as we explore the Trinity.