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Some People Think This Shouldn’t Be In The Bible

Talbot Davis September 18, 2009 at 8:23 am 4

Martin Luther's influence on Christianity is profound. And complex.

As a German pastor and theologian of the 16th Century, he re-discovered St. Paul's doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, based on passages like Ephesians 2:8-9.

He courageously stood up against the corruption of the state church.

He is regarded as the father of the Protestant reformation. Without Luther, for all practical purposes, there would be no Lutherans (obviously), Presbyterians, Baptist, or even Methodists.

Yet he also held highly objectionable and deeply offensive views of the Jews.

And he most definitely did not like the book of James, the subject of our series, Rubber, Meet Road.

I guess you could say that Luther liked Jesus, just not everyone in his family.

Luther's work has served to cast James and Paul as enemies and faith and works as contrasts. His influence has assured that James' theology is regarded as inferior to Paul's.

So Sunday's message will deal with the objections people raise to James. And then it will reach a highly practical and somewhat unexpected conclusion.

To prepare, read James 2:14-26.

Sunday. 8:30. 10:00. 11:30.

Good Shepherd

Rubber Meets Road Launch

Talbot Davis September 11, 2009 at 10:54 am 2

Some of my favorite series are those in which we drill down on one book of the bible for several weeks at a time, mining that book for all the treasures it contains.

In the past, we've done that with Philippians, Ecclesiastes, and Jeremiah, among others.

This time it's the New Testament book of James.

Along with Proverbs, James is among the most practical books in all of Scripture. It doesn't deal at length with theology, christology, soteriology, psychology or any other ology you can think of.

Instead, it looks at what happens at the intersection of faith and life.

In other words, where the rubber meets the road.

So that's the series: Rubber, Meet Road.

To get ready for the first message, a sermon called "Frenemies," read James 3:13 - 4:10.

Why would I start a series on a book in the middle of a book?

Come Sunday and you'll see.

You'll also see what we have in the lobby. I can't tell you that yet.

Good Shepherd

Feed Your Head

Talbot Davis September 9, 2009 at 6:42 am 0

We are so proud of our Passage School Of Theology at Good Shepherd.

It is our attempt to make sure that the church is not only large but deep. We want to give the people of the congregation all the resources they need to stretch their minds, deepen their commitment, and grow their faith. We work hard to make sure the semester-based classes in Passage have quality content so that the people of Good Shepherd become strong in their knowledge of Scripture and of historic Christian teaching.

Here are the classes we're offering this semester, starting next Sunday, September 13:

Sunday Classes at 10 am:

New Testament Study - 1 Peter
Old Testament Study - Exodus
Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Wednesday Classes at 6:30 pm:

Financial Peace University
GriefShare
DivorceCare
Bible for the Rest of Us
Love & Respect - Women’s Bible Study
First Step

Thursday Class at 10:00 am:

Invitation to the Psalms

You can sign up for the Passage class that best suits you here.

Good Shepherd

Pain Revealing Beauty

Talbot Davis September 3, 2009 at 8:41 am 1

This past Sunday during the Piece Of Work series, we talked about how God brings pain to reveal beauty.

I have a friend who had beauty revealed by the pain she endured. Here's her story, which we showed at the conclusion of my sermon:

I like how the video turned testimony into art.

I also like how Melissa was courageous enough to bring blessing to the church.

Good Shepherd

Refined Like Silver

Talbot Davis August 28, 2009 at 8:56 am 1

Over the last couple of weeks at Good Shepherd, we've seen what it means to be clay (play-dough, actually!) in the hands of an artist God and what it's like to be a balloon in the hands of a stretching God.

We've seen how it is that we are pieces of work.

So this Sunday, we'll discover how it is and what it means to be silver in the hands of a refining God.

We'll plunge deep into the words of Psalm 66:10: For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver.

I have to warn you: the message those words contain is frightening and imposing; in fact, everything that is within me wants to buck up against it. The process of refining silver, as pictured above, is hot, tedious, and difficult. Much like life.

But the message of Psalm 66, in spite of its difficulty, is ultimately liberating. It is a pathway from pain to beauty.

That's what we'll see and what we'll experience with a message called "No Pain, No . . . "

Sunday. 8:30. 10:00. 11:30.

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As Piece Of Work continues, remember to come to our Training Event for church volunteers this Sunday night from 5-7 p.m. To find out more about it, look here.

Good Shepherd

Talbot Davis

The Heart of the Matter

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