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John Message 5
New Life for an Insider
John 3:1-21
Often times, we think of what I will call “fandom” as primarily a matter of heritage and location. So if you grew up in say Ashwaubenon, WI (next door to Lambeau field), I’d anticipate that you would be a Packer fan. If you grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, I’d understand you being a Viking fan. If you grew up in Ypsilante, Michigan, I’d both understand and sympathize in your being a Lion fan. Now if you grew up in Ashwaubenon and you were rooting for Bret Favre last Sunday, then I’d consider you … despicable … (just kidding, sort of).
The Unpredictable, Uncontrollable Spirit
One intriguing tidbit in John 3 that won’t make this weekend’s message are these words from Jesus: “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” [John 3:7-8 (NIV)]
John Message 4
John 2:13-25
Crashing the Party (with Passion)
Conservative, Liberal, or Radical?
John Message 3
The Life of the Party (with Abundance)
John 2:1-11
I have never been to an archeological dig although I have seen paleontologists at work at a site with lots of dinosaur bones and I suspect the work is similar … pain-staking labor as the excavators go so carefully layer by layer seeking to discover and not in the process destroy artifacts and evidence. I don’t think that I have the patience to do that kind of work … but I can appreciate the sense of excitement as researchers begin uncovering the next layer of history, not quite sure of what they will find. Since ancient cities usually kept building on top of the previous eras ruins (forming what in the Middle East are called tels … hills or mound), to go deeper to go backwards in time. An example in Israel of such a tel is the site of Megiddo, 26 layers of the ruins of an ancient city in a strategic location. Archeologists have discovered there the remains of a Christian church dating from Roman times. They have uncovered a 54 square meter large mosaic with a Greek inscription stating that the church is consecrated to “the God Jesus Christ.” How cool is that!
John Message 2
A Dream Come True
John 1:17-51
