by Neil Ellis | Oct 22, 2023 | Sermons
To Give Back To Give Back Scripture: Matthew 22: 15-22 In the famous words of Admiral Akbar, “It’s a trap!” The question we might ask is a trap for who? Welcome to our passage from Matthew this morning. As sure a trap as I’ve ever seen. It isn’t Jesus who is trying to...
by Neil Ellis | Oct 15, 2023 | Sermons
Garments of Grace Garments of Grace Scripture: Matthew 22: 1-14 I know why this parable gives me a hard time and I wonder if perhaps you have same difficulty. It’s that individual who actually comes to the wedding, but doesn’t have the proper clothes. The one who gets...
by Neil Ellis | Oct 1, 2023 | Sermons
Authority Authority Scripture: Matthew 21: 23-32 There is an old Jewish witticism in which someone asks his rabbi, “Why do rabbis always answer a question with another question?” to which the rabbi replied, “Why shouldn’t a rabbi answer a question with another...
by Neil Ellis | Sep 24, 2023 | Sermons
Share the Blanket Share the Blanket Scripture: Jonah 3:10 – 4:11 and Matthew 20: 1-16 If you read the gospels, you will discover that people ask Jesus a lot of questions. If you read a little deeper and do a little bit of math you will discover that of all the...
by Neil Ellis | Sep 17, 2023 | Sermons
Forgiveness Forgiveness Scripture: Genesis 50: 15-21 and Matthew 18: 21-35 Is there a harder commandment in all of scripture? Chelsey Harmon tells a story or paints a picture about forgiveness. She writes, “One of the complaints that student loan borrowers made about...
by Neil Ellis | Sep 11, 2023 | Sermons
A Community of Faith A Community of Faith Today’s gospel lesson from Matthew talks about fogiveness and why that matters. This passage from Matthew forms the model for discipline that many churches use. However, it is less about discipline and more about how we...
