He Has Come

26 December 2010

Rev Abraham Cho

Luke 2:22-35

22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Presenting the child compares to Moses and Passover.

Simeon embodies the longing of the human condition-What are we searching for?

Christmas threatens our status quo by bringing is true peace.

Jesus is the intrusion of God in our lives.

God Incarnate: 1

12 December 2010 - Dr. Timothy Keller

5th Sermon in the Series: To Know the Living God

Matthew 1:18-25

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Jesus is God, human (or one of us), and with us

Christianity is God coming to find us

Crisis

Christianity is all or nothing.

Jesus is everything and we can't be moderate about Him.

Grace - His beauty is all we are looking for.

Hope - Ideal has penetrated reality

Being Christian is like taking the world's disdain by accepting a pregnant woman and that he wasn't allowed to name his son which is something the man typically does.

The God Who Can Be Known

05 December 2010 - Dr. Timothy Keller

4th Sermon in the Series : To Know the Living God

2 Peter 1:1-9

1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Spiritual Growth

Our lives can be as revolutionary as the original disciples.

Organic growth through complexity and Divine nature.

Transformation from the inside out as opposed to compiling a list of good works.

Character Change

Sense of God's presence; Love for all the saints

Perseverance - accepting God's appointed tasks

Mental Awareness-consciousness that leads to action of God

Being forgotten or ignored is hurtful.

The God Who Is

14 November 2010 Rev Scott Sauls

1st Sermon in the Series To Know the Living God

^{Romans 1:16-25}

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. ¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

• Wrath of God-Anger is an expression of Love because we are outraged by bad things that happen to those we love.
• Spiritual Sickness - a suppression of truth, so we don't have to deal with the realities of our problems.
• Dan Merchant - Save us from our followers
• Where do we revise the Bible instead of allowing to revise us?
• Idolatry is the misuse of superficial things.
• Those who are forgiven the most are more thankful for the absolution--Luke 7 : 36-39

³⁶ When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

• Dostoyeski--Notes from the Underground--"we exchange our lives for the truth"
• Jesus heals our history, our past, with his history.

A New Church for the City

07 November 2010 - Rev. Leo Schuster

7th Sermon in the Series - The Gospel and the World

Acts 16:13-33

¹³ On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶ Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

¹⁹ When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹ by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

• Racially, socially, and psychologically disparate people are all welcome by the Gospels.
• Women, gentiles, and slaves formed the first Church.
• Christianity is a divine romance with God.
• Release, renew, reorient, revive us.
• Bono--In New York, freedom looks like too many choices
• Baptism-Identification with Jesus and Jesus returns the identification.
• God's generosity bleeds into us and reorients our behavior.
• We all need to be jolted out of complacency.

Our Work and Our Character

17 October 2010 - Dr. Timothy Keller

^{Ephesians 5:21, 6:5-9}

²¹Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

⁵Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. ⁶Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, ⁸because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

⁹And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

• All work is a calling from God, so all work and all people have dignity.
• Don't call anyone a master or boss except for Jesus.
• Don't let anything define you other than Jesus.
• Jesus served us by dying for us, now, he becomes our master.
• Show reverence for Christ--show fear, respect, awe, and wonder towards Jesus.

His Wonderful Light

19 September 2010 - Dr. Timothy Keller

1 Peter 2:9-12

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹²Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

God saves you and then obey him---not vice versa.

1. Promise - Experience of grace and form a community and God will dwell in your midst.
2. Purpose - the church is the declaration of God's glory.
3. Method of declaring God's glory--we are all prophets, priests, and kings so we should all hold each other accountable.
4. Power to do these things comes from recognizing a new identity that God has chosen us.

We're not arguing the existence of God, but rather sharing in the wonder of God.

Understanding that we came from darkness into the light is a sign of a converted Christian as we e

xperience a sense of wonder.

The Cosmic Spirit

11th Sermon in the Series: The Holy Spirit

12 September 2010 - Dr. Timothy Keller

Romans 8 15:27

¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.²⁴For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

• When we lose our relationship to God, we experience bondage to other things and are not free to be what God originally had in mind for us.
• Transformation of our Body as described in Phillipians 3:21

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

• Things are always falling apart in this world except for the Holy Spirit
• First Fruit - Taste of what's to come.
• What we know about the future determines how we process the present.

Praying in The Spirit

10th Sermon in the Series : The Holy Spirit.

05 September 2010 Reverend David Bisgrove

Romans 8:12-16, 26-27

¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, ¹⁴because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba,Father." ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

• It is beyond our natural ability to truly understand Jesus.
• We are all in debt to God otherwise we choose to worship superficial accomplishments.
• Putting to death the misdeeds of the body is rejection those things that we know is wrong.
• Our Father prayer makes Jesus our brother.
• Fear of God's law doesn't change us, it's the knowledge of his love for us that changes us.
• Prayer is a deeper dialogue with God--it is mostly listening, not speaking. It is about intimacy.

The Gifts of the Spirit

9th Sermon in the Series - The Holy Spirit

29 August 2010 - Dr Timothy Keller.

Ephesians 4:7-16

⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men." ⁹(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

1. Spiritual Gifts - abilities to meet people's needs through teaching, showing mercy, encouraging, etc.
2. Differing gifts of being able to offer wisdom, leadership.
3. Kingly gifts of building up the body of Christ to the level of Jesus.

Christ's likeness is being reproduced in the people.

No passive Christians - Ephesian 2:8-10

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Expect Contention
Get Rid of jealousy and pride.
Remember the spiritual fruits of behavior from Galatians 5.

That is our character and it takes precedence over gifts.

The fruit is staying happy when circumstances are bad.

Galatians 5:22-23

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The Gifts of the Spirit

9th Sermon in the Series - The Holy Spirit

29 August 2010 - Dr Timothy Keller.

Ephesians 4:7-16

⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men." ⁹(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

1. Spiritual Gifts - abilities to meet people's needs through teaching, showing mercy, encouraging, etc.
2. Differing gifts of being able to offer wisdom, leadership.
3. Kingly gifts of building up the body of Christ to the level of Jesus.

Christ's likeness is being reproduced in the people.

No passive Christians - Ephesian 2:8-10

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

1. Expect Contention
2. Get Rid of jealousy and pride.

Remember the spiritual fruits of behavior from Galatians 5; that is our character and it takes precedence over gifts; the fruit is staying happy when circumstances are bad. Galatians 5:22-23

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Life in the Spirit

8th Sermon in the Series : The Holy Spirit

22 August 2010 - Dr. Timothy Keller

Ephesians 5: 15-21

¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

• Being drunk diminishes brain functions so we are less aware of reality and more happy; you have more courage because inhibitions are lowered.
• Being filled with the spirit gives you joy and courage by heightening our senses and our understanding of reality.
• It is an intensified understanding of the truth.
• Being filled with the spirit is a humble realism and surging joy.
• We have to study the Gospels as Jesus did.
• People don't find God, but God finds them. He finds the spiritual weak...the children - Luke 10:21

²¹At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

The Spirit of Sonship

5th Sermon in the Series: The Holy Spirit

01 August 2010 - Rev Scott Sauls

Galatians 3:26-4:7

²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

¹What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. ²He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. ⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. ⁶Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

• New awareness of a new identity when we accept our role as a son of God.
• Don't base your identity on ritual or moral laws.
• Associating ourselves with anything outside of God leads to a bunch of pathologies.
• We can't disassociate with other Christians if we follow Jesus.
• Christianity includes everyone, even those we disagree with.
• Future reality is our salvation; embrace the future person in front of us...look to their future.
• Jesus associated with everyone, not just the good people.
• Jesus doesn't quit on us.

Born of the Spirit

4th Sermon in Series: The Holy Spirit

25 July 2010 - Rev. David Bisgrove

Prayer of Confession (Based on 1Corinthians 13)

Love is patient

Am I willing to endure trying people?

Love is kind

Am I thinking or acting unkindly toward anyone?

Love is not possessive

Am I manipulative? Do I use people?

Love is not boastful or proud

Do I love to be the center of attention

Love is courteous

Am I considerate, thoughtful, warm?

Love is not selfish

Am I always insistent on my needs and rights?

Love is not irritable or bitter

Am I forgiving? Do I keep a record of wrongs?

Love delights in truth and righteousness.

Do I put obedience to God first in my life?

Titus 3:1-7

¹Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ²to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

³At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Spiritual Rebirth - Being born again

• Is a human community possible? The Holy Spirit should come in and transform us one spirit at a time.
• The power is external; it is greater than any other patron; Redemption of the world is found in your own soul, but we need humility to admit that we can't achieve it alone.
• The power is cosmic. Nothing in our lives is so bad that its immune from a cleansing by the Holy Spirit
• The power is gracious because it is given by Jesus's sacrifice.
• The power is vocational as we should be ambassadors of Christ no matter what we do for a living.

KINDNESS MATTERS

The Spirit of Truth

2nd Sermon in the Series: The Holy Spirit

11 July 2010 - Reverend Scott Sauls

John 15: 17-27

¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.

¹⁸"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. ²³He who hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'

²⁶"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. ²⁷And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

Absolute Spirit

An outside truth that commands and masters us.

In conflict with authority of rabbis and the autonomy of self.

Embrace our true family--those that are marginalized.

Reach across the aisles.

Strength comes from our weakness and our dependence on God

^{Galatians 3:38 - We're all the same.}

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.