a church in the World

"Alakazam! or Presto Chango! or Abracadabra!" For those of you who are watching us live or on-demand, we are showing you a picture that looks like people going up to see Mickey and Minnie at supposedly the most magical place on the earth, Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Well, it’s not that, but a place that has shown over the years to be even more powerful. The reason we are talking about this place today is that in our chronological following of Jesus, we see the scribes and Pharisees demanding a miracle from Him to prove to them that He is who He says He is. Their hearts and Jesus’s response are one of the areas we will focus on today. Are we like those Pharisees and scribes from 2000 years ago? "Where We Demand a Miracle”

"Which Tree is It?" I will never be mistaken for an outdoorsy person. Well, unless you equate being on a golf course with hunting, fishing, or hiking. Well, maybe it can kind of be hiking. And on a golf course I do see some of the pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms that Jesus will be discussing today. For those of you who don't know, those are different classifications of trees. The pictures above show two trees that, to the untrained eye—and my eye is definitely untrained—look very similar. But they are actually quite different. One produces fruit that people love to make into jams and jellies, while the other is a big favorite for silkworms to eat. Not quite the same. That is why Jesus shows us today that we cannot just look at what a tree (or a person) looks like. We must also analyze and note the fruit they actually produce.

"You Have to Pick a Side" We are following Jesus chronologically through the Bible, and if you have been with us for the last month or so, you know that there is a war going on between Jesus and Satan. Now, when we think of war, there are not only two sides but there are often three. There is a country or countries on one side battling against a country or countries on the other side. However, there is a country in Europe that is always neutral. Do you know the name of that country? It is Switzerland. Switzerland isn't the only country in the world that chooses not to take a side in times of war, but they are the oldest and best known. Here is a brief history of how the Swiss became neutral (from the History Channel): The Napoleonic Wars were a turning point in Switzerland’s history, sealing its place as a neutral nation. Despite being invaded by France in 1798 and later made a satellite of Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire, Switzerland's determination to remain neutral was unwavering. After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, the major European powers recognized the value of a neutral Switzerland as a buffer zone between France and Austria, contributing to stability in the region. This was affirmed during the 1815 Congress of Vienna, where a declaration was signed, affirming Switzerland’s “perpetual neutrality” within the international community. Switzerland and other countries like Austria, Ireland, and Costa Rica are often praised for their commitment to neutrality. However, in our journey of following Jesus, we must understand that there are no neutral territories, for there are no 'Switzerlands' in Christianity.

It's NOT a Competition When I used to watch sports a lot. I would watch almost anything. One of the sports that I didn't watch often, but I did watch was the world's strongest man. These men are amazing. Lifting weights that are the size of two American Football players who play on the line (for those of you not familiar with American football, each of those type of players weighs over 300 pounds). Crazy stuff like pulling a bus with their teeth. Strength beyond my understanding. Now today we are going to be talking about a very strong being where many people act as if this strong being is in competition with this man that we know. But folks we need to know, that despite what the current circumstances may look like "This is NEVER a Competition."

"No! A Square Peg fits a Round Hole" Have you ever been in a discussion with someone, that no matter what you say to them, they will not believe you? You use logic. You bring them verified documentation. You show them videos of the event. You bring witnesses to corroborate what you are stating. The witnesses you bring are even members of their own family and they still will not believe you. And their reasons for not believing you are as ludicrous as them saying a square peg fits in a round hole. As we follow Jesus today, we will see Jesus perform another miracle, and we will see the Pharisees using "Square Peg" logic to refute what Jesus has done and is doing. We need to remember that we are going to experience what we see Jesus experiencing today; many people will just "Refuse to Believe."

"Not for the Feint of Heart" Last week, Dr. John MacArthur discussed two of the three categories of demons: those in permanent chains and those temporarily chained until they are released to battle against Jesus. However, there was the third category of demons we didn't get to discuss last week. That is the category of demons that Dr. MacArthur is going to talk about today. These are the demons that are here right now on the earth, and we, as Christians, must be Prepared to Battle them!

"The Five Letter Word" A couple of weeks ago, at the end of a sermon, it hit me that I believe many of us don't appreciate what Jesus did for us enough because we really don't understand what He saved us from. That is why the next week, I did a message on that four-letter word—hell. Similarly, I believe the developed world, which sees itself as more sophisticated and advanced, has deemed this five-letter word passe and for the uneducated, but we will see today that Jesus didn't think so. Jesus Knows that Demons are Real, Too

The Great Exodus: The United Methodist Church Loses More than 1 Million Members in One Day as African Conference Rejects Liberal LGBTQ Stance

More Than They Think A couple of weeks ago, we were introduced to a woman who had many sins, but she knew that because of Jesus, she was changed. She was changed in such a way that her gratitude had no bounds. This led her to crash a fancy party where Jesus was. She washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with expensive oils. The important people there believed that Jesus couldn’t be a prophet. If he were a prophet he would know that the woman was one of the worst sinners. And a true prophet would never let “that sort of person” touch him. But as we shall find out today, that Jesus is much “More than a Prophet.”

"It Can't Be That Bad" Last week, we discussed how we must know our sins to truly show our love. At the end of last week’s message, I believe the Lord put on my heart that one way we can help ourselves really know the depth and breadth of how awful our sins are is to understand the place where we will go if we are not in Christ. That place is Hell. Regretfully, multitudes of churches in the post-Christian era in the United States and many developed countries skip over the clear doctrine of Hell. Pastors and teachers act as if no one in the Bible ever mentioned Hell. The unbelievable truth is that the person in the Bible who talked about Hell the most was Jesus! So today, we will make it clear to anyone who has ears to hear that Jesus Knows that Hell is Real, Do You?

"I'm Not That Bad" Angelique and I just finished watching “Schindler’s List” again. It is hard for me to believe that the movie is over 30 years old now. If you have not seen it, it is a great movie. I don’t want to give too much away if you haven’t seen it, so this is a little of a spoiler alert. Oskar Schindler was more of a playboy than a businessman. He wanted to make a lot of money so he could have a good time. On his way to making a lot of money during World War II, he did an amazing thing in Kraków, Poland. He saved over eleven hundred Jews from the gas chambers. In 1933, there were almost 3 million Jews living in Poland. There are currently around 4,500 Jews living in Poland. The number of Schindler Jews currently living, these are the survivors Oskar Schindler saved, and their descendants is over 6,000 people. Think about those numbers. Can you imagine the love those Jews have for Oskar Schindler? Even though they know he is a playboy, and he has many faults, can you imagine what they would be willing to do for him? Their love for him to this day is great. Because they understand what they were saved from. When you truly understand the depth of the awfulness you have been saved from, your love for the person grows astronomically. Do we understand the depth of the awfulness all of us put ourselves into? I don’t think we do. I know I don’t act like I should in this area. Furthermore, I know it in my head, but not my heart. Today, as we continue following Jesus, our Lord gives us a picture of someone, who because she truly sees her sin for what it is, she is able to abundantly show her love to the Lord. ===================================== Worship Music for the Week: https://tinyurl.com/20220724aciw

"Farming" A city boy like me does not know a lot about farming. I know you need rain, sunshine, and good dirt and that is the extent of my knowledge. So, if I saw the picture that you are seeing now back when I was growing up, and for those of you who are on audio, we are showing a picture of two oxen and there is some wooden thing on top of the necks of both of the oxen. And that is what I would have called it, a wooden thing. However, it has a name. It is called a yoke. In our following of Jesus (Matthew 11:28 – 30), our Lord talks about a yoke today. It is the difference between His yoke and the yoke of men. And there is a huge difference. For with men, the yoke is a burden but with Jesus, it will become our joy. =================================================== Worship Music for Today: https://tinyurl.com/20240512aciw

"No Tryouts?" All of us have at one time or another, tried out for a team, auditioned to be a part of a performing arts group, or applied for a job. In all of these situations and others similar to them, we had to show that we could perform at a level for us to be accepted into the team, group, or organization. This is what we are used to. We bring this sort of thinking to the idea of becoming a Christian. We have to meet certain performance requirements to become a Christian. However, as we journey with Jesus, we discover that his acceptance criteria are unlike anything we've encountered in the world. He is the one who decides who joins Their team, and His standards are unique. For there are "No Tryouts for Team Jesus." ======================================================= Worship Music for the Week: https://tinyurl.com/20220717aciw

The golden anniversary of a married couple is their 50-year anniversary. Have you ever been to a 50th anniversary of a couple that is obviously still in love? And not just in love; there is something special about their relationship. They finish each other's sentences when you listen to them talk inside a group. They anticipate the topic the other person wants to talk about. How they talk is similar. Their voices may differ, but the tone and the cadence seem similar. I'm telling you that if you look at the photos that will be there from when they got married and follow the photos over their lives, you would swear that they now look more alike. It is a special and beautiful bond that points us to the supernatural and beyond-understanding bond that God the Father and God the Son have. As we follow Jesus, we stay in Matthew 11:27 for another week as we explore this bond that has been from eternity past and will continue forever into an eternity future. It is a relationship and a bond where "They Know Each Other Like Themselves." ================================================================= Worship Music of the Week: https://tinyurl.com/20240428aciw

"The Master of Sound" What you see here is a soundboard. A really big soundboard. The soundboard is the supreme lord of all sound. When music is being created by artists or for a soundtrack of a movie or for anything sound related the soundboard is king and in full control of all sound. The singer can sing as loud as they want or the trumpeter can blow as hard on her trumpet as she wishes, but if the person in control of the soundboard turns the knob that controls their sound off, what they do will not be heard, no matter how hard they try. The master of the soundboard is the master of sound. Today as we follow Jesus, He makes a claim of not just being the master of sound, but the master of all. Is that true? And if so what difference does that make in the lives of His followers? Well, we hope you can join us today as we dig in to see if Jesus is the Master of All.

Husbands can really relate to this. Actually, if you have ever been a child with parents or guardians you can relate to this too, but especially husbands. So, husbands, have you ever tried to do something for your wife? I mean you were really trying your best to please her with something. You thought you had done everything. You went through your checklist and double-checked your memory banks of what you remembered her telling you in the past. So you know you are good; however, when she returns, your whole world is turned upside down. You were wrong. This same scenario works for children thinking they have done what their parents wanted them to do, but they missed it somehow. It may be something they have told us about many times, but somehow, our brains process it differently. I know you husbands definitely know what I mean. We are going back a little bit and looking at Joseph. He was a husband, and we are going to see that he was wrong about something, but what he did was actually correct. I know that sounds weird or counter-intuitive, but I hope you join us today as we talk about “We Were Wrong, but Also Correct.” ================================================================= Worship Music for the Week: bit.ly/240414wotw

"Too Smart to See" ‬This is a photo of Richard Dawkins signing one of his books. In preparing for this sermon, Richard Dawkins came to my mind because he was in the news this week for a comment he made about Islam and Christianity. I don’t want to get sidetracked, but Richard Dawkins is one of the most famous atheists in the world. His book “The God Delusion” has sold over three million copies since its release in 2006. In the book, Dawkins argues that belief in God or gods is a delusion akin to other mistaken beliefs. He presents scientific evidence and philosophical arguments to support his case. This week also got me thinking about the statistics on high school students who, when they graduate from high school, say they are Christian, but after they finish college, they have moved away from Christianity. The data from Lifeway Research from 2017 indicates that 66% of high schoolers stopped attending church regularly for at least a year after turning 18. Actually, this number is better than the 70% number from 2007. What about higher education leads people to turn their back on God? We know that the Bible says knowledge is actually good: Psalm 18:15 An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. So, what is happening here? Well, guess what? Jesus has a little bit to say about that today as we continue following Him in His earthly ministry chronologically. Where He will make the point this week that we can have “Knowledge With No Understanding.”

"Day of Hope" ‬ We want to be able to share the Hope of Christ with everyone the Lord puts in our path who is open to at least asking a question or listening, but many times we are not prepared to be able to provide answers besides saying “It’s in the Bible, so it’s true.” That is a very unsatisfactory answer for people who do not hold the Bible as credible. My heart is to help Christians be prepared to answer questions from the skeptical world and with today being the celebration of the resurrection there is no event greater that we need to be able to give answers to the world on. So today is an attempt to give you a tool to help on this topic. Please send us any questions that you may havewhile you are watching. We will do our best to answer them. When you engage with material you retain so much more of what you are hearing. He is Risen!

"Sulfur From the Sky is Better?" ‬ As many of you know, I am a high school teacher, and one of the challenges we now must deal with is our students having earbuds in their ears all of the time listening to music or watching their latest TikTok fave. They are doing it while we teach, and then they get an attitude when you tell them to stop. They listen to them in the hallway, so they are oblivious to anything you say or do when you are trying to get their attention. This is a challenge because if they cannot hear you, something bad could be happening in the hallway where we are trying to protect them from it, and they will never hear us, and they could get hurt. As we continue following Jesus, he is talking to a large group of people who are like my students. They all have in their earbuds, listening to music so loud that they cannot hear anything else. They cannot even hear Jesus imploring them to listen to Him so they can save their own lives from destruction. I pray that the Lord uses me today so you do hear him because you don’t want to be one of those with earbuds in their ears who do not hear the Lord and will have it “Worse than those from Capernaum.” =============================== Sermon Notes: https://tinyurl.com/240324aciw

Did you know the Bible can be confusing sometimes? That’s where we are today, following Jesus step by step through His ministry. We have a verse, just one verse where it is not clear as to what is the correct meaning. Matthew 11:12 "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force." Sometimes, what Jesus is saying is not as clear as we would like and will require additional prayer, work, and study. I hope you can join us today as we “Breaking Through the Opposition.” ======================================================= Worship Music: http://tinyurl.com/aciw-240204 ---------------------------------------------------------------- I Here are the FREE resources for Bible study discussed in the message: * Bibles: https://www.biblegateway.com/ * Parallel Translations: https://www.biblestudytools.com/parallel-bible/ * Interlinear Bibles: https://www.biblehub.com/interlinear/ * Concordances: https://www.biblestudytools.com/concordances/ * Lexicons: https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/ * Dictionaries: https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionaries/ * Commentaries: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/

Who are some of the superstars of the Old Testament: * Abraham * David * Moses * Elijah If you had a Mount Rushmore (the mountain in the United States where the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt are carved in stone) for the Old Testament, those gentlemen might be on that mountain. So, what I will share with you today might be a little shocking to you. A follower of Christ who is as unknown as any person could possibly be is greater than Abraham, David, Moses, Elijah, Esther, Joshua, Miriam, Hezekiah, etc. Greater than anyone you can name from the Old Testament. I know. Sounds crazy. And the reason is so simple and so profound at the same time. “The Kingdom is Better” ============================================ Worship Music: http://tinyurl.com/aciw-wmotw

‬Have you ever been in the midst of a lot of people, and all of them are talking at the same time? However, there is one voice that stands out. There is one voice that is clear, that is distinct, that has something special about it. You can't put your finger on it exactly, you just know that what that person is saying resonates with you in a way that no other voice in the room does. Today, as we continue following Jesus, we focus on the voice in the midst of everything going on at this time in Israel. This is the special voice that millions of people have been waiting to hear for a very long time. That voice was there in their time, but not everyone who heard the voice believed what he was saying. In a sense, that voice is still speaking to us today. Do you hear it? Do you believe it? Today, we hope to share with you and show you that “The Voice is Here.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes -- Matthew‬ ‭11:7-9‬ What do you go out to see? What do I go out to see? Do we think about it? Does it make a difference? Let's talk about that today. I hope you will be able to join us. -- Coach

Are You Really the One? Have you heard the term, "It looks darkest before the dawn?" Well, right now, it's looking pretty dark for John the Baptist. We see that John has been put in jail, so he is starting to question if Jesus really is who John said He was. Have you ever been there? You were sure about something, but then it didn't happen or worse, not only it didn't happen, but your life started going downhill and sometimes fast. Did you start wondering, did I hear correctly? Did I read that correctly in God's word? It sure does not look like that is happening for me. This is where John is right now, and we are going to talk about how if God actually said it, then He will Do it.

One of the challenges I definitely have is thinking that I am in control. I am the one who makes things happen. I am the one who has the knowledge. Staying with the Christmas theme, we look at someone from Bethlehem (and not who you think) with the correct perspective knowing it was never them. ===================================== Worship Music: http://tinyurl.com/aciw231231