Does Jesus Live in Folsom?

Galatians 5:19-26

What if Jesus came to Folsom, Sacramento? What would he do? What would he say?

Today’s young people by the millions have asked the question through those cloth bracelets with four capital letters: WWJD. What would Jesus do? “Jesus Walks on This Place. Will you meet him this week?” Does he still walk the earth today? Do we think it impossible that Jesus would come to S?

Our passage is a backdoor to the question I am asking.

In Galatians 5:19-26 we are invited to consider two different ways of life. One is called the “acts of the sinful nature” or the “works of the flesh.” It describes what life looks like without God. Or to say it another way, what happens when you decide to go your own way all the time.

The Priestly Blessing

Numbers 6:22-27

22 Then the Lord said to Moses,

23 “Tell Aaron to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

24 ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you.

25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’

27 Whenever Aaron bless the people of Israel  in my name, I myself will bless them.”

The context: Before this blessing is given, the children of Israel are assembled, getting ready to leave on a dangerous journey across the desert.  

What will the people of God doubt in the wilderness?

Many of them were going to die in the wilderness.

assaulted by enemies. face thirst and starvation.

 to face division and dissension.

What are you going to be doing in ETERNITY?

Luke 12:13-21     

What will you be doing 100 years from now ?

             

Everyone of us is going to being doing one of two things 100 years from now.       

Serving the Lord Jesus in all of eternal glory – or

                 Suffering in the tormenting flames of hell.

        For that reason alone – the question I ask is a serious question.

We would rather leave it light & uncertain because that keeps us from the responsibility of having to change & get serious about the here & now.

 But Jesus would say the opposite: We must think about and be concerned with and focus on ETERNITY.

13 someone called, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?”

Jesus has a way of getting to the root of problems/the heart of the matter.

100 years from now where would you be?

John 3: 11-17         

-How would you answer that question?

-Obviously we’ll say we’ll be 6 feet under,

-but are we really be dead…if we have a spirit? Where will our spirit go?

-Some people believe they’ll be reincarnated…into a colorful butterfly, a  magnificent eagle soaring up in the air or … a  crawling snake, or cockroaches w/c people dislike …depending on their karma or what they have done in this world….

-Some don’t believe in the afterlife…this life is all there is…and after that they’re gone, nil, nada, that’s it so they eat, drink, & get merry for tomorrow they die.

100 years from now where would you be?

Staying Confident Through Problematic Times

Encouragement in our Life’s Journey

INTRO: Sometimes we need a booster in Life’s Journey

Ex. Of Paul-  Here is a man who has been rejected, ridiculed, beaten down, battered, & criticized. 

2 Cor.11: 23 … I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.

24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.

26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.

27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.

Love God, Love Others

Deuteronomy 5:1-21

The reason most folks struggle with the Ten Commandments is that they have never established a personal relationship with the Author.

It was these commandments that would draw God's people

into conformity with his pure character and

draw other nations around them into his perfect plan of salvation.

1^st  v.7 You shall have no other gods before me.

 In light of that relationship of loyalty to God, we should not worship any created person or being, for that would come between his love for you and your love for him.

If you want to live a life, one that is filled with peace, joy, and wholesomeness, then worship the true Author of life, the one and only living God. Don't give your life over to nongods such as position, power, and possessions. Don't turn to family, friends, networking, psychics, self-help philosophies, new-age philosophies, health and wealth religions, etc.

Fear God not Man

This sermon was preached on July 21, 2013.

(Luke 12:1-12)

The pressure of the Pharisees' example, along with the rise of persecution,

prompts Jesus to warn his disciples about whose opinion they value.

Peer pressure is a given in any culture. The power of those who seek conformity is very strong.

Persecution methods can be strong, controlling and painful.

Economic pressure was also sometimes applied, along with social ostracism.

1. Fear God not man so you won’t live a double life.

Jesus had a very large following. Evidently its size kept increasing.

v.1  ..crowds grew until thousands …“Beware of the yeast…their hypocrisy.

Popularity can breed a desire to remain popular and thus to soften the hard truth of our sinfulness before God.

The Gospel and Human wisdom

This sermon was preached on July 14, 2013

The Bible does not turn away from this reality: that the gospel may not make sense to everyone. 
But neither does it turn away from another truth...

Intro. To Corinthians     

"All of this evidence together suggests that Paul's Corinth was at once the New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas of the ancient world."

The Gospel as a contradiction to human wisdom (1:18-25)

He pointed out that the gospel is not a form of Sophia (human wisdom).

Its message of a crucified Messiah does not appeal to human wisdom

18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction!

But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.

Caleb: A Man Who Rose Above His Limitations

June 30,2013

Joshua 14:6-15  New Living Translation (NLT)

6 A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb…, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea.

7 I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report,

8 but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.

9 So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’

10 “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old.

11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then.

12 So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.”

13 So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land.

14 Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.

15 (Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.)

Jam Zone - Easter Celebration

Date: March 31, 2013

Easter Activities