St. John's

Our Providing God

God is a saving God, chasing after Jonah for his repentance.  Where you might see the great fish provided by God as a way for Jonah to be forced into obedience, maybe the fish is one more chance for Jonah to repent before the Lord.  Take a listen...

For next time, read Jonah 2:1-10 and ask yourself:

1. How do times of distress affect my prayer life?
2. How fervant am I in prayer when life is going well?
3. How does distress re-orient my thinking toward God?
4. Is the power of prayer found in my sincerity, my persistance, or God's grace?

Saved in the Storm

God pursues Jonah for his repentance.  God pursues him through a storm, through a ship captain, through sailors.  God pursues you also.  Take a listen to continue the story of Jonah, the story of all Christians.

For next week, re-read Jonah 1 and ask yourself:

God is Calling...

Join in as we begin with Jonah 1:1-3. 

For next time, read Jonah 1:4-16, then ask yourself:

1. Even when God, in his grace, has sought me, how have I dug in my heels, refusing to hearken to him?
2. How has my acting in such a fashion caused trouble for others?
3. How as Jonah's sacrifice similar to, as well as different from, that of Christ's sacrifice on the cross?

Help!

Finding Focus...

Choosing Whats Best...

Song of Simeon

The first Sunday after Christmas provides time to look at Jesus' presentation at the temple.  Walk along through Exodus and Luke to see the context of Simeon's response to Jesus.  God saves as our Redemption Draws Near.

Faithful Promises

Faithful Perseverance

This week, we look at the Parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew 25.  A reading of the parable portrays the division that will occur between those who are ready and those who are not.  According to the parable, the difference is those with oil and those without oil.  So, what is the oil?  This is the real question.  Listen in as we work to perservere in faith.

We are ... God's hands, feet, and mouth

Let's get practical.  For those in faith, your life does not belong to you but belongs to God.  Does that sound practical?  Probably not, but it is.  Recognizing and then living a life that belongs to God will directly impact your decisions and values.  We are God's hands, feet, and mouth in this world.

We are ... Clingers (we cling to God's Gifts)

Do you see yourself as needy?  Those believing they need to cling to the gifts of God are needy and that is just the right place to be.  Let's talk about the gifts of God through His Word and Sacraments.

We are ... God's Mess

We are a Mess, struggling daily against our sinful self and constantly trying to save ourselves. But our hope is that God saves us despite ourselves. He saves us not only from the mess we are born into, the mess that we wallow in but also from the mess we make of life as his Children. God Saves!!! It is who he is, it is what he does and the Good news of the Gospel isn't that we are cleaning up our messes, but that God has claimed us as His Mess. He has dealt with Sin completely through His Son Jesus Christ and he claims us by the killing of Sin and the resurrection through Baptism.