Category: Church
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Sermon: Heaven and the temple – Revelation 21:9-27
So many things that happen in life are underwhelming and don’t live up to the hype. And perhaps the disappointment of the world influence our expectations of heaven. Heaven is not an internal church service, nor is it spending the rest of time on a cloud in a robe, playing the harp. Heaven is a…
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An empty tomb in a graveyard of false prophets
An empty tomb in a graveyard of false prophets and gurus. In Saudi Arabia, 270 miles from Mecca is the Tomb of Mohammed where the founder of Islam is buried. It’s viewed as a sacred landmark in the Muslim world. It’s customary for Muslims to visit this tomb when they take their pilgrimage to Mecca. …
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Jesus and the new garden. The Lord arrested
Creation is one of the themes of the Gospel of John. Consider the opening chapters of the Bible in the Book of Genesis and its many parallels in the Gospel of John. Genesis 1 begins with: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John 1:1 begins with: In the beginning was the…
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Sermon: Life in the Spirit – Galatians 5:16-25
We often reduce the Christian life to a list of rules. Do’s and don’ts. But in Galatians 5, Paul calls upon Christians to walk and live by the Spirit and talks of the fruits of that Spiritual life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are not commands here. They’re the byproduct…
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The hardest commandment: love your neighbor
Throughout the Bible, there are lots of commands to love people. Why? Obviously because it’s important. But it’s also interesting that the command keeps coming up. The fact that it has to be told to us over and over again points to the fact that it’s actually hard for us to do. The Bible doesn’t…
Josh Benner 