Sermon Notes No Sign Will Be Given Matthew 12:38-45 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Some eight hundred years before Jesus was born, the wicked, cruel, and altogether perverse people of Nineveh heard the preaching of the prophet Jonah, “turned from their evil ways” and “cried out mightily to God” (Jonah 3:8-10). Conversely, after watching Jesus cast… Continue Reading
3.30.2017 Good Friday and Easter Pastor Brent Whitefield was recently at a one-day conference in Portland for Life Explored, the video series from the creators of Christianity Explored. One of the takeaways of that experience was a challenge to embrace an updated philosophy of evangelism, more specifically, to recognize that non-Christians need to be persuaded… Continue Reading
Sermon Notes What Words Reveal Matthew 12:33-37 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Should I listen to my heart or my mind? We often ask ourselves this question before making a decision, assuming that from the heart come our emotions while sound reasoning comes from the mind. But in the culture in which Jesus lived, the heart… Continue Reading
This week, Pastor John hands over the TAGD keyboard to Pastor Brent Whitefield, Northpoint’s Pastor of Missions and Outreach. I am pleased to announce that our good friend Tamene Menna has completed his doctoral studies at Talbot and this week successfully defended his thesis. As of graduation in May, he will have his PhD… Continue Reading
Sermon Notes Slander Against the Savior Matthew 12:22-32 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Can one thoughtless word or irreverent deed secure for us God’s eternal damnation even if we repent? Is there a sin that God refuses to forgive? These are questions of paramount importance. Bracketed by a miraculous healing and a revealing exchange with the… Continue Reading
Sermon Notes Mercy > Sacrifice Matthew 12:1-14 Pastor Brent Whitefield Introduction: In this passage, Jesus not only asserts his Lordship over the Sabbath, but demonstrates it by challenging the Pharisees’ merciless interpretation of the Law. Given our tendency to choose rigid legal observance to the harder work of compassion for our neighbor, we should place… Continue Reading
3.9.2017 You Pick Three Hello Family, Recently, the famed Barna Group (the research firm behind such studies as The Exploration of Faith in New York Since 9-11) published The State of the Church 2016. While I’m not a devoted student of statistics, nor do I defer to analytics to make my decisions (frankly, 91.4% of… Continue Reading
Sermon Notes The Mystery of the Easy Yoke Matthew 11:25-30 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: As he is sending out his disciples, Jesus warns them about the suffering they will certainly experience: they will be hated, disowned, and persecuted because of him. Not long before that, Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, wherein he called… Continue Reading
Sermon Notes The Destructive Nature of Ungrace Matthew 11:12-24 Pastor John Sloan Introduction: Generally speaking, Christians can be hard to please. We want what we want and we want it our way. Jesus warns against such a querulous mindset, namely, rejecting his salvation, and himself, in favor of a formula that leaves us more in… Continue Reading
God is Devoted to You Hello Family, As I sat across from a man during a recent lunch, he said to me (as he reflected on a terrible trial that he is currently going through): “If you’ve told us once, you’ve told us a thousand times, ‘God never gives up on his children; he loves… Continue Reading