Shiloh Road Church of Christ

Imagine

Series: New Thru 30

Message: Imagine

Many times we look at scripture and narrow in on very specific passages.  What happens when you step back and look at the bigger picture? It is fascinating John begins numbering the miraculous signs performed by Jesus (John 2:11 & 4:54).  But then he stops, almost as if he is urging the reader to keep counting.  Healing at the pool (3), Feeding the 5,000 (4), Walking on water (5), healing a blind man (6) and raising Lazarus from the dead (7).  Then the signs stop.  So what is John trying to convey?  If each sign represented a day, the last day, the 7th day, would be the most significant sign, raising someone from the dead.  Then suddenly the signs stop and the story dramatically slows down, focusing in on the last week of Jesus life.  Then chapter after chapter with no more signs, then in chapter 20 we see another sign, a bigger sign, the tomb is empty and Jesus has been raised to life.  Jesus raising from the dead is the 8th sign and the 8th day would actually be the first day of a new week.  Today new life begins.  Today is a new day, it is a day when the miraculous intersects with the ordinary.  It is a new day where heaven and earth intersect, it is a new day we are invited to be a part of…  Today is a day to dream, a day to imagine!

Risk Everything

Series: New Thru 30

Message: Risk Everything

Ephesians 3:14-21

Most of the time our prayers are simple.  God take care of me.  God take care of my friends.  God be with those less fortunate.  Honestly, a lot of times it looks like a to-do-list.  But at the heart of Paul’s ministry was the prominence of prayer and the centrality of the gospel was so evident in his prayer life.  Specifically, in this section, Paul in prison is praying for others.  He is praying for unity in the church, that the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers would be one.  His prayer is for the young believers to not only know the gospel but to experience it’s life changing power.  What if for the next week, we prayed this prayer every day for ourselves and those close to us?  For Paul, it was not simply magic words, in which God would work.  Many times we ask God to do the work we are unwilling to do.  What if this week we simply accepted God’s invitation to be a part of His story and to join him where he was already at work. 

Outrageous Generosity

Series: New Thru 30

Message: Outrageous Generosity

2 Corinthians 8:1-9

As Paul writes his second letter we have to the church in Corinth he references a request he made in an earlier letter regarding a collection for the church in Jerusalem.  Trying to encourage the church who points to the outrageous generosity of the Macedonian churches who gave not out of great wealth but out of great poverty.  So much so that these churches gave far beyond what he felt they should, but the gifts came from an understanding of what Christ has done.  So Paul encourages these church excel in the gift of giving.  As followers of Jesus we should excel at giving, we should excel at generosity, not to put to how great we are, but to point to how great God’s grace has been in our life.

It Is Written

Series: New Thru 30

Message: It Is Written

Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus is in the desert for 40 days, fasting.  No food for 40 days and then Satan comes to tempt him.  What would have happened if Jesus made his decisions the way we do?  He is offered food, a chance to prove God is God, offered power and control.  At one point Satan even quotes scripture to Jesus.  But to each temptation Jesus response is, “it is written.”  In other words, this is what God’s word says. How different would your life be, if you made decisions based, not by how you felt but by what God’s word said.  The problem for many, is we don’t know God word well enough to know.  This is where “New Thru 30” comes in.  

Holy Mountain, Bright Lights & A Book

Series: New Thru 30

Message: Holy Mountain, Bright Lights & A Book

2 Peter 1:16-21

Synopsis:

The transfiguration of Jesus seems to me like it would be the most amazing and memorable memory one could possible imagine.  Think about this, you are there on the mountain with Jesus and Moses and Elijah.  Go back and read the story in Matthew 17 sometime.  But as Peter is writing this letter he mentions we have something greater than that single moment in history.  God’s word.  But with all the questions today swirling around about the Bible how do we know we can trust it?