Salem First Friends Church

Jesus warns his tablemates about the possible excuses that can distract us from having a central focus on the Kingdom of God.

Continuing the scene of Jesus dining at the home of a prominent Pharisee in Luke 14, Jesus now describes how someone might determine a "guest list" in the ancient world. His calling is for his followers to live at a "blessing deficit" with the people in their community. 

Jesus follows up his healing—at a Sabbath meal, while dining at the home of a prominent religious leader—with an observation (and critique) of the seat-choosing behavior of the guests and what it reveals about their hearts.

Jesus is at it once again! He's healing on the Sabbath (for the third time in Luke) while welcoming an "unclean" man near the table of a shared meal. His opponents (who likely contrived this entire experience as a test) are left silent. What can we learn about their loss of words?

In a scene near the end of chapter 13 in the gospel of Luke, Jesus calls Herod a "fox" who wants to kill... and then refers to himself as a "hen" who wants to gather God's people. What can we learn from these contrasting labels? 

What does Jesus mean when he talks about entering the "narrow door" while telling a parable in response to a question regarding how many people will be "saved?"

We're back in our Open Invitation series, a verse-by-verse, scene-by-scene tour through the gospel of Luke. This scene in Luke's gospel reveals Jesus teaching, and then offering an unexpected healing, in the midst of Sabbath worship.

We're back in our Open Invitation series, a verse-by-verse, scene-by-scene tour through the gospel of Luke. In this message, we see Jesus using a parable to talk about fruitfulness in our lives. 

We're back in our Open Invitation series, a verse-by-verse, scene-by-scene tour through the gospel of Luke. We pick up at the beginning of chapter 13 with Jesus calling into question some assumptions about "worse sinners" among us. 

As we look toward Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, we are taking a couple Sundays to focus on the "foolishness" of the Cross of Jesus. What does Paul mean by this in 1 Corinthians 1? How does the Cross of Jesus simultaneously lift some people up while lowering others down in humility? Why, or how, should be "boast" in the Cross?

As we look toward Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, we are taking a couple Sundays to focus on the "foolishness" of the Cross of Jesus. What does Paul mean by this in 1 Corinthians 1? Is the wisdom of the world, or the "foolish" wisdom of the Cross winning in our lives?

Join us as we approach another sermon in the All God's Creatures series. Let's unpack the scene where Peter is encouraged by Jesus to push out into deeper waters, and then experiences overwhelming abundance as a result. 

We're wrapping up our series on the Ten Commandments! We hope the Getting a Fresh Start series has been valuable and meaningful for you! In this "bonus episode" we're looking at the rest of the verses in Exodus 20 that immediately follow the commandments. One of the features of this section is our choice to live with a "safe" distance from God, or to walk deeper into the mystery of knowing Him. 

In this episode, we explore the final commandment of the ten: coveting. What does it mean to covet something or someone? How do we handle the desires we've been designed with? 

Our series on the Ten Commandments, Getting a Fresh Start, moves on!

Our series on the Ten Commandments, Getting a Fresh Start, moves on!

Our series on the Ten Commandments, Getting a Fresh Start, moves on!

Our series on the Ten Commandments, Getting a Fresh Start, moves on!

We now move along in our Getting a Fresh Start series on the Ten Commandments and arrive at the command involving parents. What does it look like to honor your mother and father?