Churches in Pepper Pike

“When our lord steps in and says there is something different, it is a wake up call. It is an encouragement. This is not to feel bad, but rather for us to be encouraged to do the hard work. We must be sober, live as people of the light, be awake when everybody else wants to sleep. We do the hard work so that all may receive the goodness of Jesus Christ. We make a commitment, and we do that as a church to hear each other's stories, to walk the path with each other, and to have each other's backs when our world won't. But we don't give up. We don't lose heart. We encourage one another. You know why? Because Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Let us pray.”

“When Paul says, we belong to the day. Let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of hope of of salvation. Paul is not just speaking philosophically. He bears on his body the same marks he understood. And when I talked about the civil rights movement and the religious fervor of the folks, it's not just that they happened to mostly be Christians. Some Jews, some Muslims, some no faith at all, but mostly Christians. It started in churches. You know that. Right? Like, they gathered, they prayed, they prepared. I've seen pictures of people in church having smoke blown in their face, hair pulled, people saying things at them. Why? So they would learn to not respond violently to the violence given.”

“Oh my goodness. Do we fight it? It is the ultimate pull the blanket over your head thing. And when he returns and says that picture is what is going to be reality, it isn't gonna feel great because we just spent a lifetime fighting it. Why am I bringing this up? So this is what this is what we just read. God destined us not for wrath, but for obtaining salvation. Wrath? What? In other words, what Paul is saying here is, you know, this isn't what God wants, but God's not very happy. Because God is looking at our world like, are you kidding me?”

“What about my grandma? What about my grandpa? And Paul's like, don't lose heart. Encourage one another. You will see them, and they will receive new bodies. We will all enjoy that day together. That's the first part. The second part, encourage one another, is about the other implication of Jesus' return. That is not just that the dead will rise, but that we are supposed to live a particular way. Therefore, encourage one another, build one another up because the world isn't necessarily on board with what God is doing. And so here's the encouragement. Now listen.”