Fairfield Presbyterian Church
Connect with us
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Programs
  • Contact

BY WHAT AUTHORITY? - from Sunday, August 27, 2017

8/29/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Whose voice and view matters? The one with authority. But do we recognize authority in sacred and spiritual affairs, and how? Hebrew midwives and Peter show us how it's done. 

Authority may come with the position. Okay, Barney Fife may not be the complete picture of authority, but he thought he had it. 

Pharaoh definitely had authority, and he even believed he had divine authority. However, Pharaoh's paranoid anxiety over the increasing Hebrew population made him rather nutty. He decided that concentration camps weren't enough; the new-born Hebrew baby boys needed to be killed. He summoned the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah (only two?), and ordered them to kill the male babies upon birth. 

To his face, they obeyed. Afterward, they mocked him by disobeying. When the male babies kept appearing, Pharaoh challenged Shiphrah and Puah. The midwives gave him a goofy answer that they knew he was nutty enough to believe. They knew God had highest authority. How did they know that?

In Matthew, Jesus comes to a point where he thinks it's a good idea to quiz his disciples and see how things are going. (Spoiler: disappointment awaits.)

First, he ask about what other people are saying about him. The disciples stumble around with different answers. Then he tries to get them to focus and asks, Who do you say that I am? While the others are looking at each other, the sky, and their feet, Peter jumps in and gets it right for once.

These are great stories about the faithful recognizing the sacred. Frankly, that isn't so easy, even with Jesus standing right in front of you. Check out the full story with the sermon video below and note the downloads below the video panel.

08-27-17-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 29 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

08-27-17-by_what_authority.pdf
File Size: 201 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly