Awake Us Now

Using the Bible and Roman sources, Pastor teaches us about Centurions.

In Sunday's message we met the Centurion, Cornelius. (See teaching here https://youtu.be/yjK_CB20Fk0) Acts 10:1-2 Cornelius was a centurion in the Italian Regiment.

What we know about Centurions

• Backbone of the Roman Army
• Tested and dependable leaders
• Commanded 80-100 soldiers - 6 Centurions to a Cohort (600) and 10 Cohorts to a Legion (6000)
• Mentioned mo...

Unlike happiness, joy is not an emotion, dependent on particular circumstances. Joy is anchored in God, and through Jesus it is triumphant even over the sufferings of this world!

Growing Gracefully In Joy - We are living in a time of chaos and uncertainty, a time of unbridled anger on all ends of the spectrum and if ever there was at time that the people of God needed to remember and reflect the joy of the Lord, THIS IS THE TIME!

T...

Day 1 of our story

Today's story takes place in Caesarea - Acts 10:1-8. Cornelius, a Roman soldier, a Centurion, lives there. (Pastor shares pictures of this city, still visible today!) Cornelius was one who worshiped the God of Israel but was not a full convert. He and his family were devout and God-fearing. Then he receives a vision of an angel. The angel tells him to bring a man from Joppa named Simon known as Peter. We see Corn...

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus states that He has been given "all authority on Heaven and on Earth," and with that authority gives us our marching orders - make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit, and teach them to obey everything He has commanded. But this isn't just about His command, this is about God's faithfulness and His desire for us to experience that faithfulness.

Let...

We dig into Acts 9:15-16: "But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

This isn't about Saul being punished for who he used to be, but rather there is a cost to following Christ, but we see Saul understanding it is worth every penny of the cost. We see persecution taking pla...

This is a question Pastor has received over and again throughout the years, "Will our bodies be resurrected?" The answer is "yes!" Even through there is biblical teaching and a recognition of the resurrection by believers throughout the centuries, there are still many questions from believers and non-believers when it comes to the future resurrection.

Resurrection:

• Doubt and Denial existed among the educated elite (Acts 17:32...

This is a controversial topic. The Shroud of Turin is the most studied, most scientifically tested artifact in history. It has been subjected to literally hundreds of thousands of hours of intensive study by people of multiple disciplines.

What do we know for certain…. The Foundation:

1 Corinthians 15:1-5 "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you h...

Today's class is about how God Himself moves things, moves people, moves history, moves events to accomplish everything He desires, to fulfill His plan of winning the world into the knowledge of Living God and today we will see an amazing part of that plan coming to fruition.

Today's story is truly a story of how God ACTS - how He acts in the heart of Saul, a persecutor of followers of Jesus, working to imprison believers.

As Sau...

The Shroud of Turin is a relic housed in the cathedral in Turin Italy and claimed to be the burial cloth of Christ.

The Gospels give us some details:

• Matthew 27:59-60 ESV "And Joseph (of Arimathea) took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away."
• Mark 15:46 ESV "And Joseph bought a linen s...

This message focuses on the question: "How are minds opened today?", which is part of our ongoing series: "What's the answer?"

Pastor explores how people's lives are changed and what changes their attitudes about God, about Jesus, the resurrection, and about the power of God's Word.

Pastor takes us through Luke 24:36-47, an encounter with Jesus that His disciples have with Him after His resurrection. Jesus tells them: "This is wh...

Pastor gives us a look at the story, "On the Road to Emmaus," found in Luke 24:13-27.

We don't know the actual location of Emmaus, nor do we know the names of those walking with Jesus in this story.

The story takes place later in the day on the day of Jesus' resurrection. Those Jesus walks with do not recognize Him. They are trying to figure out everything that had happened with Jesus and thinking about what the women had said abou...

We delve into Acts 8:9-12 about a man named Simon who boasted that he was someone great and so people paid attention to him thinking he had the power of God because he amazed people with his sorcery.

However....

When people believed what Philip was saying as he proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, people were baptized.

THEN…

Acts 8:13 tells us that Simon himself believed and was bap...

Happy Resurrection Sunday - Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Today's question is "Why do you believe He is risen?"

Pastor starts today's class with a personal testimony in which the Bible changed the direction of his life at the age of 15.

Christianity stands or falls on the resurrection of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

Pastor shares the Evidence...

Today's question is one that Pastor has heard most often from young people.  The questioning of the Gospels seems to center around miracles, especially the resurrection.

Atheistic Materialism Worldview
    ⁃    No God - universe is by chance 
    ⁃    Matter only - Life came from non-life
    ⁃    No Miracles - Life is meaningless

Bible's Worldview