Guest Speaker: Dr. Glenn Kreider

“The Church’s One Foundation – II” – Ephesians 5:22-33

The church’s organization is seen in this comparison of marriage to the relationship Christ has with the church.

Guest speaker: Dr. Glenn Kreider

“The Church’s One Foundation – I” – 1 Corinthians 3:1-17

The lyrics of the hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation,” were written by Rev. Samuel Stone, in 1866. The music was written by a grandson of Charles Wesley, Samuel Sebastian Wesley. It was one of 12 hymns written by Stone to counteract a doctrinal drift occurring in the Anglican Church at the time, particularly in South Africa.

Ephesians 4:1-7

Guest speaker: Kevin Dodge

“Unity in the Church” – Acts 15:2-21

According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, there are about 34,000 Christian denominations in the United States.

Kevin suggests that the Jews who were insisting on circumcision of gentile Christians in Antioch weren’t quite the bad guys they seemed to be but were acting according to the only scriptures they had at the time – the Hebrew scriptures.

Genesis 17:9-14

Salvation in the Old Testament was the same as in the New Testament – by grace through faith.
But the Jews understood that the covenant relationship had to be maintained by certain actions in the flesh.

Peter makes an experiential argument in favor of not requiring the gentiles to be circumcised or keep the rest of the law.

Series in Mark

“How to recognize a Good Man” – Mark 3:13-30

Exodus 24:9-18
Moses was called up on a mountain to receive the law.

Mark 3:13-15 evokes the imagery in Exodus 24:9-18. Jesus is acting as God; He is the Lord God of Israel; He is the One Moses met on the mountain.
(Some translations have “hills” in verse 13, but the correct word is “the mountain.”)

Mark 3:20-21
Jesus’ family has failed to recognize His identity.

Mark 3:22-
The Pharisees say Jesus is possessed by the devil.
But Satan cannot cast himself out.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a very specific sin, that is, declaring that Jesus is casting out demons by means of Satan.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejecting that Jesus performs His miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mark 1:8-10
Here we see the role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ life and ministry.

Isaiah 42:1
The Holy Spirit is promised to the Son of God.

To receive salvation through Jesus Christ, you must be Trinitarian.

Series in Mark

“Heresy begins with Bible-Toters” – Mark 3:1-12

Sacred texts are the most dangerous things in the world when in the wrong hands. You can make the Bible say anything you want it to say.

Mark 3:1-6 focuses on the compassion of Christ in contrast to the Pharisees who only have concern for the letter of the law.

Mark 3:7-12 shows Jesus backing away from the multitude of those with bodily disorders in order to indicate that now is not the time when all disorders will be healed but it remains for His future return. For now, we should not be focused on healing for our bodies but on how we can show compassion to others around us, as Jesus did.

Series in Mark

“What should set us apart” – Mark 2:23-28

“The best definition of holiness is that you are not the same flavor as everybody else.”

Exodus 31:13-15
To be recognized as belonging to the creator of the universe, the Israelites are to work for six days and rest on the seventh because this is what God did.

Isaiah 1:11-17
The Israelites’ observance of the law and the Sabbath became meaningless.
The Sabbath and the sacrifices were all about doing them the way God said to do them because this made them stand out distinctively as a follower of the Creator of heaven and earth. Start looking like God by acting like God.

Mark 2:23-28
The Pharisees are like the people of Isaiah’s day. They were not observing the Sabbath in the way it was intended. The Pharisees forgot the mercy behind the law.

Matthew 12:11-12
To stand out as a follower of Christ, exercise justice, compassion, and mercy; love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and your neighbor as yourself.

Guest speaker: Kevin Dodge

“How do we live in Freedom as Christians?” – Haggai 1:1-14

16 years after Cyrus issued an edict allowing the Jews to return to Judea, in the second year of Darius, some Jews return to rebuild the temple. The returnees were met by a remnant still living in the land. Zerubbabel was the governor of Judea.

Jeremiah 31:3-9; 33:10-13
Hope for Israel after captivity yet this passage has not yet been fulfilled.

1 Corinthians 6:19
Our bodies are the temple of God.

In our freedom, we should not neglect doing the work of God.

Series in Mark

“In Forgiving Sin, Jesus shows us that we are Sinners” – Mark 2:13-20

Mark 2:1-12
Jesus introduces Himself as the One who can forgive sins and the healer of the sick. So, who are we?

Mark 2:13-17

The “righteousness of God” to Martin Luther’s generation meant God’s wrath; but, when he read in Romans 1:17 that the righteousness of God was revealed in the Gospel, he knew that the consensus of his day was not correct. Luther remained puzzled by the phrase until a man by the name of Johann von Staupitz, Doctor of Divinity and Vicar-General of the Augustinian convents in Germany, sat down with him and told him that “the righteousness of God” is not the righteousness God does but the righteousness that God gives to those who have no righteousness of their own.

So Jesus shows us that we are sinners.

Mark 2:18-20
Some ask Jesus why His disciples don’t fast.
While Jesus was present with His disciples, it was a time of celebration, not of mourning, as signified by fasting.

Begin the Series on the Central Beliefs of Christianity

“The Trinity – God in Three Persons” – Matthew 28:19-20

The Jesus Only Movement, or Oneness Pentecostals,
believes that Jesus is all three persons of God.

Matthew 3:13-17
However, at Jesus’ baptism, there are two other persons of God present and acting separately.

Matthew 28:19-20
“Name” in these verses should be understood to mean the name of God, who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Praxeas was the author of a heresy known as Modalism, which states that God is one who manifests Himself at different times as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Romans 1:1-4
In this passage, Paul shows the interaction of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as separate persons.

Series in Mark

“Healing and Forgiveness mark the Coming of God” – Mark 2:1-12

Psalm 103:1-3; 25:18, 25:1-2; Isaiah 33:24, 22;
Jeremiah 33:6-8; 1 John 1:8-10