Spiritually Speaking

I have to admit, I enjoy preaching from the letters of the New Testament. I’m always learning something new from Peter, Paul, James and Jude. However, after several months of preaching in which we discussed great passages from Acts, Romans and 1st Corinthians, I am really ready to get back to the story of Jesus.

When we read Acts through Revelation, we are reading about how the people living within the first century Roman Empire responded to the message of the cross. We need these passages to help us understand how things “work” in the church. As a “restorationist” I believe the best way to “do church” is to restore the church of the first century. Before synods and denominations, before worldwide conferences, there was the local church. These folks were united with other parallel groups, in other places, by their mutual faith and similar practice. We try to imitate those practices. If God was pleased with those people of faith, we believe He will also be pleased with us if we respond to the message as they did. We reject man-made creeds and doctrines and look only to scripture for our authority in faith and practice.

But the MESSAGE of Christ must remain the most important thing. That’s why I am pleased to begin a new journey through the Gospel of Luke this Sunday at College Hill. Before we can respond in similar fashion to the message of the Gospel, we must first truly encounter and interact with that message. Otherwise, we are merely mimicking those who answered the call of God in the early days of the church. God has never been pleased with a religion of the hand without the heart.

Of course, with this Sunday being Mother’s Day, it’s nice that Luke begins his historical narrative of Jesus with the story of John the Baptist. We will launch our series of studies by talking about his mother, Elizabeth. Happy Mother’s Day Weekend! See you Sunday!