Much of what we do is instinctive and routine. The idea of being led by the Spirit sounds nice, but it meets a significant challenge in getting us out of our rut.
In John's gospel, the story of the "invalid" at the pool at Bethesda for 38 years, trying and failing to complete the routine to gain a chance at healing unfolds in a manner typical for John's writing.
The pathetic and rather foolish man has plenty of excuses and rationales for his predicament, but not enough sense to recognize futility. Jesus is clearly frustrated with him, and heals him in an act of pure grace.
We get to see how disruptive the good news can be, and the bondage of God's people to useless practices gets revealed.
In Acts 16, Paul's well-planned journey has fallen apart, thanks to unspecified blocks attributed to the Holy Spirit. However, these obstacles put Paul at the end of his road in Troas on the west coast of modern Turkey. Here Paul gets a vision for a new direction for his ministry, across the Aegean Sea and into Macedonia, into Europe. That was NOT the plan.
There Paul meets Lydia (image above by 20th century artist Edward Irvine Halliday), leading Paul and his missionary group into yet another new area of ministry, clearly by the Spirit's lead and Paul's cooperative response.
There is a lot to understand in these stories, so check out the sermon video below which includes the pastor demonstrating a karate kick. Yup! It's right there a few minutes into the sermon. I did the kick twice in fact and did not hurt myself! Talk about muscle memory! Check out the video below (nice face, huh?) and note the downloads available below the video panel.
In John's gospel, the story of the "invalid" at the pool at Bethesda for 38 years, trying and failing to complete the routine to gain a chance at healing unfolds in a manner typical for John's writing.
The pathetic and rather foolish man has plenty of excuses and rationales for his predicament, but not enough sense to recognize futility. Jesus is clearly frustrated with him, and heals him in an act of pure grace.
We get to see how disruptive the good news can be, and the bondage of God's people to useless practices gets revealed.
In Acts 16, Paul's well-planned journey has fallen apart, thanks to unspecified blocks attributed to the Holy Spirit. However, these obstacles put Paul at the end of his road in Troas on the west coast of modern Turkey. Here Paul gets a vision for a new direction for his ministry, across the Aegean Sea and into Macedonia, into Europe. That was NOT the plan.
There Paul meets Lydia (image above by 20th century artist Edward Irvine Halliday), leading Paul and his missionary group into yet another new area of ministry, clearly by the Spirit's lead and Paul's cooperative response.
There is a lot to understand in these stories, so check out the sermon video below which includes the pastor demonstrating a karate kick. Yup! It's right there a few minutes into the sermon. I did the kick twice in fact and did not hurt myself! Talk about muscle memory! Check out the video below (nice face, huh?) and note the downloads available below the video panel.
| 05-01-16-ff-answers.pdf |
| 05-01-16-resurrection_witness-movingwiththespirit.pdf |