As part of our Lenten self-denial, in the spirit of Lent, today’s message will be a little longer than usual, and I do know that I can already run, um,…
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What’s Your Answer?

January 19, 2025
It’s no accident, no coincidence, that temptation follows baptism.  John offered a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  Jews were familiar with the forgiveness of sins: they gloried…
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The Unwanted Gift

April 28, 2024
Scottish pastor and biblical scholar of the previous century W. Graham Scroggie points here to one of the key, constant questions about Jesus: from where is he getting this authority? …
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The Problem of Listening

February 14, 2024
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Those are funeral words, graveside words, goodbye words.  I’ve baptized many, marking them with water.  Today, I mark you with ashes.  Nothing in Scripture…
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More Than Anything

January 14, 2024
Not purification but preparation.  Jesus didn’t need any purification.  His baptism wasn’t for his purification; rather, it was a sign of his dedication, his official consecration, if you will.  His…
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Holy Help

September 10, 2023
Poor Jimmy Carter.  You just know there’ll be trouble when you get interviewed for Playboy magazine.  Why would anyone agree to that interview?  Back in 1976, Carter mentioned—confessed—to the reporters…
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Not Our Power

September 18, 2022
It doesn’t exactly feel as if my demons have submitted yet, but maybe they just want me to think they haven’t.  The truth is they’re done.  They’ve lost.  They aren’t…
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As the Heart Goes

September 26, 2021
About a century ago, a man named Henry H. Halley brought out his Bible Handbook: An Abbreviated Bible Commentary.  In his comments about what I just read from Mark, Halley…
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The Rock in the Wilderness

February 21, 2021
          Jesus emerges.  He emerges from the bright, cool waters of the Jordan; he emerges from the hard, dark tomb.  He reaches through the twilight of our confusion, our sorrow,…
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Bible Text: Matthew 4:1-11 | Preacher: Paul Kucera | Sometimes, to go forward, we have to go back.  The first steps on the long journey to the cross, the tomb,…
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