Evangelical Community Church (ecc)

Our guest speaker this Sunday was Liam Atchison from Global Scholars, an organization that places Christian professors in universities around the world. His message challenged us to think outside the box as it relates to foreign missions. His message, "Living Missions: Come Sail the Blue Ocean," focuses on Acts 19:8-10. In this passage we see Paul presenting the Gospel at Ephesus, but in doing so he took the path less traveled and it made all the difference. Yet, this was not the first time Paul had an apparently risky strategy. Could this have implications for how we spread the Good News today?

A focus on the authority of Jesus.

After feeding the 5,000, Jesus again turns to solitude and instructs his disciples to do the same. He sends them on ahead in a boat, and they are sailing across the lake when a storm forms and threatens the boat. The picture that the writer gives us is this: that all this time Jesus is walking in the hills around the lake, praying. When the disciples run into trouble in the boat, he appears out of the storm, walking on the water. In this message, Pastor Bob helps us to consider how Jesus is always present in our lives.

Bob looks at Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well and discusses how he leads her with questions to faith.

In Mark 6:30-44, Jesus feeds the crowd of 5,000. The root of this story is that Jesus is the Bread of Life, but perhaps it also concerns our calling to partner in ministry with Jesus. Noting the difficulty of the situation, the disciples turn to Jesus for the answer. His response? "You feed them." They, of course, cannot. Only after they acknowledge their inadequacies does Jesus step in. Let us look at this story, noting aspects of service, solitude, and sacrament.

It wasn’t John the Baptist's finest hour. He had bravely called Herod into account for his immorality and was languishing in prison. In his cell he begins to doubt. This man who had pointed his finger to Jesus and said, "There he is; he’s the one," now sends messengers to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one?" He has [reasonable] doubts. How Jesus handles these doubts is helpful for us as we minister to people with doubts and wrestle with our own doubts.

Josiah looks at the healing of the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda and helps us see the true nature of grace.

Peter, a simple fisherman, probably had no idea what he was getting into when Jesus got into his boat to speak to a crowd. After he had finished Jesus decided to perform an unexpected miracle, nearly turning the boat over by bringing in a miraculous catch of fish at an unexpected time of the day. Then he called Peter to leave everything behind (nets, boats, fish, and livelihood) and follow him. Peter didn’t see that coming and it changed his life forever. Jesus is a selfless, loving redeemer, a good shepherd, a friend of sinners, and a radically dangerous individual. If you invite him into your boat he will turn it upside down – are you ready for that?

Dan looks at Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus and what it means to be 'born again'.

Jesus stood up in the synagogue and declared he was the one who was anointed to proclaim good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:16-30). How will he back up this claim? Teaching. And casting out demons. That's how. This is a story that shapes our understanding of the world and of Jesus. What does it means to participate with him in the mission of God?

Have you ever asked yourself, “Are other people struggling with the same things that I am facing? Does anyone (including God) understand the difficulties that I encounter on a daily basis? Since he is God and I am a sinful human being, how could he truly understand?" These are questions that are answered in the real-life circumstances of Jesus.

Josiah helps us think about what it means not only to head Jesus' call to come and follow, but to ask other to 'come and see' Jesus and follow him with us.

What did Jesus mean when he said, "The kingdom of God is among you"? When you look around at our world does it seem to you that the kingdom of God is really present among us? Is God’s kingdom actually here, right now, or is it coming in the future? The answer to that question is one word: both. When embracing that paradoxical reality, how should we live today?

Listen as Dan Waugh explains the beauty, the relevance, and the importance of the infleshedness (incarnation) of Jesus from John 1:14.

A look at the incarnation--both the divinity and humanity of Christ. If we want to know what God is like, we cannot find a better example than Jesus Christ...yet he was much more than an example. The perfect image of God is reflected in him because he was God in the flesh. He is embedded in time and space but he also transcends time and space. This mysterious reality is the very thing which makes Jesus more significant than any other teacher in the history of humanity.

Bob starts our new Connexion series with a look at why we believe and the lack of compelling evidence to disbelieve the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and work.

"There Is Hope." This word of God came through the prophets and is for every nation of people throughout history. Those who follow God can depend upon him to keep his promises. Join us as we look at the "already, but not yet" in Isaiah 11: the promised restoration to the exiled of Israel, the promises fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and the promises to be fulfilled when Christ returns and establishes his eternal kingdom.

The theme of redemption is not only central to the life of God’s people in the Old Testament, it continues like a scarlet thread of truth throughout the New Testament. The final and continuous theme of the Bible is that the ultimate redemption is accomplished through the work of Jesus Christ. When the theme of redemption is understood and accepted it is inevitably expressed in rejoicing.

God disciplines those he loves through punishment, but his purpose is restoration and he will not allow the punishment to last forever. God loved Israel enough to restore them. God loves us enough to draw us back when we wander into sin. The ultimate expression of God's love for us is the person of Jesus Christ, who took our deserved punishment upon himself.

A look at Ezra and his faith in the word of the Lord over the protection of kings. His study of God's word, application of that word to his life, and teaching it to others prepared him to be someone who stepped to the front and led well at a time when Israel had choices to make--to follow God or not.