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Week Eleven  November 20, 2016 READ: Isaiah 49:7-16a   Why Pursue Justice and Peace?                                                       Jesus challenged the powerful and lifted up the lowly.  He did not come to establish a new system of power and control.  In a time when women were clearly under the rule of men, Jesus shook the system by standing up for justice for...

READ: Isaiah 49:1-6   Why Be Baptized and Commune?                                        Baptism is the activity of God to receive a person into God’s family, the church, by the washing of new birth as commanded by Scripture (Titus 3:5).  This regenerative work is tied to the action of Jesus through his death and resurrection.  While the amount of water used...

READ: Isaiah 44:24 - 45:7   Why Repent?                                                                           Humility remembers that we are people who were formed from the earth (humus) and will someday return to the earth (Genesis 3:19).  Humility affirms that God is God and not you and me.  God creates and you and I are part of God’s creation.  Our creativity emerges from the Creator. ...

Week Six        October 16, 2016 READ: Isaiah 43:18-25 Why Serve? Followers of Jesus and frankly many other simply secular people serve others because we care about other people.  One sign of the movement to maturity is our growth in caring for other people who are not our family.  Serving allows us to pass on what we have or...