Jesus teaching the parable of the prodigal son

Jesus teaching the parable of the prodigal son, who wasted his inheritance on loose living and then repented and returned to the Father. Beautifully dove tailed cinematic piece combining the sometimes reckless zeal of Simon Peter with the son resentful of the prodigal child's welcome home in the story.

This scene is set in Matthew the tax collectors house. He invites Jesus to his home where there are prostitutes and they are having a banquet and party. Jesus goes against the will of his followers who think it would disgrace him to meet with such sinners. Jesus uses this event to teach about God's kingdom, He is willing to come where he is welcome

Two teachings in this parable:

Firstly of Gods patience, love and acceptance of his children. God is waiting for his children to repent of their sin and return to Him and follow his ways and attain fellowship with him. If we choose to ignore God and pursue sin then we cut our self off from the Father. The Father loves us and wants our love and attention and it is best for us when we are with the Father who is the source of all life, comfort and goodness. The things of this world are temporal and fleeting, they are vain and are idols. The source of all life is Gods Spirit.

Secondly is the warning of those who are in Gods kingdom and who believe and follow Him not to be resentful of sinners and of iniquity when they repent and are also accepted into the kingdom. We have all been sinners and we should all rejoice when anyone repents and comes to God.

What if we became a praying church?

What if we became a praying church?  Here is a moving video from Senior Pastor Dave Stone and Teaching Pastor Kyle Idleman.   Let us consider these words for our local church.





Join us this evening at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene as we gather for prayer at 6:30pm.

The last 10 words of a dying church

The 10 Last Words Of Dying Churches – “We’ve never done it that way before.  We’re not changing.”

Those 10 powerful words subsequently have a ripple effect that lasts generations.  As a result, the following are additional comments those attending these churches are bound to say and/or hear shortly thereafter:

1. “Isn’t it great that our music is never too loud?”
2. “Isn’t it nice seeing people in coats and ties and not disrespecting God by wearing blue jeans?”
3. “We’re more spiritual and doctrinally pure than that fast-growing, watered-down gospel, baptizing-hundreds-every-year church down the street.”
4. “Can you believe that church is stealing all our people?”
5. “I hear we’re having to cut the budget because giving is not what it used to be.”
6. “Isn’t it great having all this room on the pew to spread out.”
7. “I love singing all four verses.”
8. “Don’t worry about our attendance.  Let me tell you how large our membership is.”
9. “Are you coming to Monday night visitation?”
10. “Remember the good ‘ole days.”
11. “Visitors, please stand.”
12. “I hear it’s just a show over there.”
13. “We just formed a Committee on Committees.”
14. “We don’t talk about money.  We preach the Bible.”
15. “Isn’t it great getting out of the parking lot quickly?”
16. “The poor will always be with us.”
17. “I’m really tired about having to hear about lost people all the time.”
18. “Pastor, I think we need to start praying for revival.”

Do these phrases hit close to home for you?  Are there any more comments you want to add that you’ve heard.

The True Measure of our Love for God

Father Frederic Baraga left a comfortable, aristocratic existence behind when he left Slovenia, arriving in the New World on December 31, 1830. His first mission was built along the shores of upper Lake Michigan. Established from 1833-1835 it was called Arbre Croche and extended from present day Harbor Springs to Cross Village. The good man’s talent for learning languages was put to good use as he become skilled quite quickly on how to speak and eventually write Native languages —thus he is credited for spreading the Gospel among the local Ottawa and Ojibwe tribes.

For the next 37 years Father Baraga travelled throughout the Great Lakes area ministering to both the new settlers and Native American peoples. During the summer months, he traveled on foot and by canoe. During the winter months, he traveled on snowshoes thus giving him the titles of "Apostle of the Lakelands" and, maybe somewhat more famously, "Snowshoe Priest." He wrote long and frequent accounts of his missionary activities including a three-volume diary. He also wrote seven Slovenian prayer books and authored 20 Native American books that includes his monumental Grammar and Dictionary of the Chippewa Language , that still in use today. He was the first bishop to write a pastoral letter in both the English and Chippewa languages.

 

From the Diary of Father Frederic Baraga, the snowshoe priest:

There is no doubt that the love of God consists neither of sweet tears nor inner comfort and sensibility, but rather in that we serve Him with righteousness, fortitude, and true humility.

A truly loving soul finds its greatest peace by expending everything that it is, has and is capable of for the Beloved, and the more dear and admirable something may be, the more readily it is given.

The highest and truest perfection of the spiritual life consists not of inner charm or comfortable sentiment, nor of raptures, appearances and offerings of prophecy, but rather of the uniformity of our will with the will of God.


Whoever adheres to that which is mortal, everything that he does under those circumstances will be for him incomplete. Whoever follows that which is lost, also will be lost.

Whoever owns such mortal things to the extent that his whole will is possessed by them, he has and owns nothing. Rather those things will imprison, own and torment him.

Reflection from my message today at NRN - Sardis: The Church of the Living Dead

This morning we continued in the teaching series:

Part 5    Sardis:  The Church of the Living Dead

 Ephesus: The insensitive church

Smyrna: The faithful church

Pergamum: The compromising church

Thyatira: The tolerant church

Sardis: The dead Church

I closed with this illustration:

There is a legendary story of an event that is said to have taken place near the end of World War I. You may have used this illustration in a sermon. I read an account of this story in Christianity Today. It had to do with a famous warrior we commonly known of as Lawrence of Arabia.

During the war, Lawrence formed close friendships with many of the sheiks of Arabia. After the war, he brought some of these sheiks back to England to show his appreciation for their support against the Turkish domination. They had a wonderful visit. They appeared before the Joint House of Commons and Parliament, and had an audience with the Queen.

On the last night of their visit, Lawrence offered them anything they wanted to take back with them to their desert homes. They led him up to the hotel room, into the bathroom, and pointed to the faucets in the bathtub and said that they wanted to take faucets with them that would provide them with running water in the deserts. To them, this was water on demand. They didn’t realize that the faucets were superficial. That behind them was plumbing, a hot water heater, an energy source that heated the water, a city main that supplied the water, and from the city main went a line to an outside source of water!

He had to explain to them that the magic is not in the faucet! It is what is behind the faucet that produces the water! Things that are not visible to the human eye but are there nonetheless! The faucet can be 24 carat gold, but if it’s not attached to a water supply, it’s useless! If the supply were to ever diminish, the faucet would be useless! It’s what’s behind the faucet that gives it its power!

At Home Depot there is a whole aisle where a wall is covered with faucets. All shapes and sizes can be found there. But if you were to go and turn the knobs to the “on” position you would get no water because the faucets are not connected to a source. An individual, a preacher, a church that is not connected to the source is like the faucets at Home Depot. They look good but they accomplish nothing. In order to be effective they must be attached to a flow so that they can dispense the blessing of the source. The source of water can be a well, a lake, a reservoir. The source of revival is the church today is going to the Lord in prayer.

The church is the only enterprise that exists for those who are not yet a part of it.

Preparing for worship at NRN on Nov 3 2013

Tomorrow at NRN we will have a wonderful time of worship including lifting our praise to the Lord in song; coming together for communion; presenting our gifts to the Lord in remembrance of His sacrifice for our salvation.  We will turn in the Word of God for a powerful message to the church today!  Here are is the planned worship set:

We begin with songs of praise and adoration to our great God!



Now we begin to draw near the table of the Lord for communion ...





Now, we draw near to the table as we fellowship with God and one another....

 

 

 

 

 

Sardis: Church of the Living Dead

 

Revelation 3:1-6

 

 

The church at Sardis was pronounced as being "dead" (3:1). It appeared to be alive – had "a reputation of being alive" – looked spiritually vibrant on the outside – but was spiritually lifeless. The church was Christian in name only. This recalls Christ’s scathing rebuke of the Pharisees who "look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean" (Matthew 23:27).

This is NOT my message for tomorrow - but a simple overview of the passage:

 

 

Remember:

 

 

Hope to see you at church - on time...

Happy Birthday to Danielle and Stephanie

 

Today, Sharron and I wish a very special birthday to our daughters

 

 - Danielle and Stephanie.

 

 

 



We love you so much. You have brought such joy to us as you have grown into beautiful women.

We are so glad to live in North Carolina and be close to each of you and your family.

Words cannot express the joy of holding of children's children.