September - 2017

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Rev. Nathan R. Epling

Sunday School: 9:30 am

Sunday Worship: 10:00 & 10:50 am

From the desk of Pastor Rick Swearengin...............

Recent Posts

DRY BONES? NO PROBLEM!

Today we will conclude our look at the prophet Ezekiel. Like all the other books we have covered we will leave so much more to be discussed. We have looked at the judgement against Israel and Judah and discovered the reasons for the judgement. One of the main points in most, if not all of these books of the prophets is that God is very angry. But, along with the judgement comes a promise of hope. Chapters 25-48 deal with Judah's hope and restoration. There are several speeche

THE BUCK STOPS HERE!

Yesterday we discovered that Ezekiel preached some interesting sermons; yet not with words. Yes, he acted out the messages that God wanted delivered. He shaved his beard, then shaved himself bald in an attempt to get God's point across. That wasn't all, he lay on his right side for many days before turning over to his left to do the same thing. Then, his wife died and he was forbidden to mourn. What a calling! The first part I mentioned would be hard enough for me. Every once

YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?

Yesterday we began a look into the Book of Ezekiel. We read about the vision of God coming to the people while they were in exile. God was coming to the people on a set of wheels, therefore indicating that he is not restricted to the holy of holies, nor the territory of Judah. God could actually be with the exiled people. Today, we will begin looking at the message of Ezekiel. "Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. T

HOW DO YOU LIKE MY WHEELS?

Today we will begin a look at the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah. While Jeremiah did most of his work in Jerusalem, Ezekiel did his work while with the exiles in Babylon. Ezekiel was a priest from Jerusalem. However, after he was taken into captivity he was unable to perform his priestly duties. Ezekiel, still, worked to bring encouragement to the exiles, often in unconventional ways as we will discover. "In the nineteenth year, in the fou

DON'T CRY FOR ME, JEREMIAH

Yes, the title of today's message is a play on the old song "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" which is a very beautiful song from the movie/play "Evita." I only saw the movie version staring Madonna and Antonia Banderas. I loved the music. So, anyhow, today we are going to take a brief look at the Book of Lamentations. Lamentations is a book credited to Jeremiah, "The Weeping Prophet." It is for this reason that the Christian Bible, or canon has placed Lamentations immediately af

THE STING OF THE TRUTH

Good morning, today we will conclude our look at Jeremiah. Like all the other books we have covered there is so much that we will not look into. Again, this gives us more to talk about some other time. When I get to the New Testament I will take a more slower approach. My intention with the rest of the Old Testament is to simply give more of an overview, while focusing on a few highlights. Over the past couple of days or so we have focused on Jeremiah's message to the people

SO, DO YOU WANT TO SEE A SERMON?

The Book of Jeremiah is certainly an interesting book. There is so much happening in it. As I said earlier the prophet Jeremiah is a prophet with a personality. Jeremiah has been handed the task of delivering God's message. But, Jeremiah has a question or two for God along the way. "You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?" (Je

YOUR SIN IS WORSE THAN MY SIN! NO, IT'S NOT! YES IT IS!

Today we will continue looking at the Book of Jeremiah. We have spent some time looking at the calling of the prophet, now we will get into what his calling involved. Keep in mind that the Bible was not written in chronological order. This book, just like Isaiah, deals with the time period around the exile. God calls Jeremiah to go to Jerusalem: "The word of the Lord came to me: 'Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: 'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bri

THAT'S MY BOY!

I hope you had a great weekend. It was certainly a beautiful two days here in Madison. Today, we will continue looking at the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is one of the more interesting prophets due to his personality. He has been called "The Weeping Prophet," but I think we can also call him the "Prophet With A Personality." We will see this more as we get further into the book. "The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you w

THE WEEPING PROPHET

It's Friday! I hope you are having a great day so far. Today we begin a new book of the Bible and I can promise you we are in for an interesting study. We will be spending some time with the Book of Jeremiah. Today, I want to give you an introduction and then begin "digging" into the book on Monday. "The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests of Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

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