January 2012
One of Jesus’ first miracles involved casting a demon out of a possessed man in Capernaum. Pastor Frankie looks into the First Century views of demons, and explores what the Biblical story means to us today.
In a special message, Pastor Frankie leads the Cokesbury congregation in a Wesley Covenant Service. The service is a 250-year-old tradition in the Methodist Church that John Wesley intended for congregations to undertake once a year in order to open ourselves to the will of the Lord.
In part 3 of the "How is Our Vision" series, guest preacher and lay leader Bruce Riley looks at the story in Acts when the Holy Spirit came down from heaven as tongues of fire to give the disciples the ability to speak in tongues. A diverse crowd was able to understand the Word in their own languages, but the apparent babbling caused Peter to feel the need to explain that "these men are not drunk." In this sermon, Bruce asks how we can become similarly "drunk," filled with the Holy Spirit and taking the Word to our world.
Anytime a congregation charts a new course, they'll look at a map with the blank spots of which old sailors used to say, "There be dragons." While this church's traditions seem safest, in fact, this church like most others was facing frightening challenges and uncertainties all through its 226-year history. Then as now, faith helps show the way.
When Isiah was called by God, it shook him up and he had to view everything differently after that. Isiah's experience challenges us to see things from a new perspective as well.
