Sunday sermon
SUNDAY SERMON
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Stats- https://ccoutreach87.com/stats-4-21/
Links- https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/
Site- https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/
Site- https://ccoutreachministries.wordpress.com/
Site- https://ccoutreach87.blogspot.com/
Site- https://www.ccoutreach87.org/
New https://ccoutreach87.com/ig-fb-vids-8-24-24/
Sunday sermon videos-
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhiG2KPuFMcCbzdLj
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cahvsj1qiunmfgg/5-7-17%20Sunday%20sermon.mp4?dl=0
https://youtu.be/Uzzg9W4wJTQ
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/5-7-17-sunday-sermon.zip
https://ccoutreach87.com/5-7-17-sunday-sermon/
ON VIDEO-
.Good shepherd
.Liturgy
.Sheep door
.Dallas shooting
.Soren Kierkegaard
.R.C. Sproul
.Alexander the Great
.The 2 ‘Gadflies’
.Socrates and Kierkegaard
.Philosophy
.Apologetics
.Greek city state of Athens
.Sparta
.Pantheon
.Objective truth
.Relativism
.My encounter with the Berkeley professor
TEACHING- [Past posts below- On some of these posts you will see old news comments- these were events that took place when I first made the videos/Posts. Because they fit into the teaching I did at that time- I need to leave them in- John]
I thought I would write on a strange thing that happened after I posted [wrote] last weeks post. But instead I mentioned it on a video https://youtu.be/x32nDfblDpQ and for those who are interested you can watch the video.
I just saw some of my homeless friends [As I write this] and it was interesting to see how they were having a fellowship- talking about some bible passages they covered in a bible study the day before- and for the most part- were a good example of the ‘Church in the Wilderness’.
The last few weeks I talked about the ongoing problem of the hit and run deaths- particularly of the homeless- that have happened in Corpus Christi the last few months.
How many of the homeless- who have died- been hit by vehicles- or were killed outright- were veterans.
Most of these [all?] I knew- some more than others- but they are indeed a part of a community- people who know one another- and when one of the homeless dies- the others on the street see it as the loss of a family member.
I write on these issues- to bring attention to them.
The last few weeks many in the media- the political spectrum- have had a fierce debate over who is at fault for the sending of mail bombs- or the outright murder of 11 Jewish people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
All of these acts are senseless- and need to be condemned outright.
On the above video- as well as others- I have tried to challenge our mindsets- when it comes to killing- in a broader way.
Meaning- we can easily condemn the act of a sick individual who might have indeed been incited by the political speech of our nation- or even of our media.
And when the act happens- a killing- a mail bomb- or whatever- then all sides are quick to condemn the act.
But when nations justify killing- war- actions that do the same things- have the same results- on a much larger scale-
We too often do not denounce that type of killing- the same way we denounce it on the smaller scale.
So I tried to challenge our mindsets somewhat on this as well.
John
PAST POSTS- [Parts of my past teaching and links that relate to today’s post- SUNDAY SERMON- Verses below]
http://www.ancient.eu/Battle_of_Issus/ This was the battle I referred to on the video- Alexander’s stunning defeat of Darius the 3rd- the Persian king. Alexander was the son of the Macedonian king- who after the death of his father ascended to the throne at a very young age. I was quoting from memory on the video- and that’s why I confused Macedonia with Persia- but I got the battle right.
The other battle I mentioned was the defeat of Athens by the Spartans- I actually wrote on this before and will add that section below.
https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/
https://ccoutreach87.com/overview-of-philosophy/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/26/acts-2/
https://ccoutreach87.com/qm/
https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/genesis/
ACTS 2- The Apostles are gathered together in the upper room. As they continue in unity and prayer the Spirit of God comes upon them like a rushing wind. There appear ‘cloven tongues’ like fire above each of them. Why this image? Why not ‘ears’ or some other sanctified body part? God is going to give supernatural power to the words that they will speak. In a few chapters we will read how an angel will supernaturally deliver Peter from prison and say ‘go, speak the words of this life’. These tongues are a precursor to the tremendous fire that will be loosed from their lips. James says the tongue is a little member but boasteth great things, it has the ability to start fires. Jesus said he came to earth to ‘start a fire’ and how he wished it were already burning. Here he gets his wish! Now the Apostles and early believers experience the gift of tongues. They begin speaking and prophesying in the unknown languages of all those who are gathered together to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. God ordained this event to be strategically done at this time. All the surrounding regions heard the believers speak the ‘wondrous works of God’ in their native tongue. Peter stands up and delivers a scathing message! He basically tells Israel ‘this is that which the prophet Joel spoke about’ he goes on and says this outpouring is part of Gods predetermined plan to pour out his Spirit on all flesh in the last days. He speaks of divine manifestations [dreams, visions] and carries the prophecy right to the end of the age. He then speaks the gospel of Christ and tells Israel ‘this is the Jesus you killed’. Wow, these guys are bold. Peter leads them to faith in Christ, their public baptism is the immediate sign of their willingness to be identified with Jesus and 3 thousand Jews become believers this day. Now, what is the church? This corporate group of first time followers do 4 basic things. They ‘continue in the Apostles doctrine and breaking of bread and prayers and share their goods with all in need’[true fellowship]. This early community was a brotherhood who actually gave priority to the teachings of Jesus passed on to them from the Apostles. Don’t miss this! Many will develop all sorts of practices and beliefs that ‘make up church’. Some will justify extra biblical beliefs under the guise of ‘the Apostles doctrine’ as in if it were something totally contrary or not known thru the gospels or the writing of scripture. Paul will tell Timothy to stay true to the traditions he passed on to him. But I want to focus on the fact that the Apostles doctrine was not something different then the basic instructions Jesus left us in the gospels. Paul will add to this basic body of Christian doctrine thru his letters to the churches, as well as the whole New Testament. But we do not see a bunch of strange or unknown doctrines that come from this time period. The basics are mentioned above. I do want to stress the fact that this early expression of church life had no ‘Pastor’ in the sense of their gatherings being a time where a singular authority figure had oversight of the entire community. They had strong leaders to be sure, but would avoid the Protestant idea of Pastor. They had no church building or belief in a strong liturgy. The ‘breaking of bread’ was a common meal where they all shared together in a real life setting. And of course their giving was radical, it was not ‘a tithe’ and it was done to meet the real needs of the community around them. All these elements are basic to what the New Testament church is. A functioning society of people in whom Christ Spirit dwells and who see themselves as a real spiritual community of people. As we progress thru out the history of the church as seen in Acts we will never lose this basic mindset. It will be carried into the epistles of the New Testament and remain the best idea of ‘local church’ as found in the first century. There is a trend going on right now in Evangelicalism that says ‘lets return to the ancient practices of the church and see what we can find’. As an avid reader of church history I am not totally against this movement, but I do see a danger in thinking ‘the ancient practices’ are the 2nd or 3rd century development of liturgy and Eucharist and other early ideas, and by passing the ‘real ancient’ story in the book of Acts. To put it simply, some of the Protestant and Evangelical ‘practices and beliefs’ that have developed since the reformation are ‘ancient’. I believe we all have a long way to go, but the ‘low view’ of the Lords Table [low as opposed to ‘high church view’. Though I personally believe in the Lords table as a memorial, not as the actual Body and Blood of Jesus. Yet I personally don’t like referring to such an important practice as low!] seems to be the true ancient practice as seen in Acts. The absence of the Priest officiating over the altar is no where to be seen in the actual ‘church’ setting. This ancient church is really a simple brotherhood of believers having all things common and having the resurrection of the Son of God as the central organizing principle of their lives. [Some sites see here https://ccoutreach87.blogspot.com/2024/08/sunday-sermon-text_25.html
