Guest Speakers

Guest Speakers

Through Artist Eyes

Jeremiah 18:1-12 ESV During the days of Jeremiah the prophet, God’s people had turned away from the Lord. Their gaze had fallen on worthless idols, forsaking living water for broken cisterns that could hold no water. And yet God kept reaching out, urging his people to return to him. On several occasions God used visible illustrations to get his people’s attention. One such illustration was the potter and the clay. This week we will reflect on what Jeremiah saw when one day God told him to go down to the potter’s house.

Temple of Doom or Glory?

Ephesians 2:13-22 Despite the challenges that the church has faced over the centuries, it has survived since its inception on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on all those who became followers of Jesus. Today there are many challenges that face churches and church leaders. Even though people still seek a spiritual life, they are becoming disillusioned with the church and organized religion. So how can the church overcome these difficulties and continue to be what God intended?

A Good Meal Gone Bad

Luke 10:38-42 How Jesus calls us to allow him to minister to us, to be in a position of replenishing our souls.  Mary and Martha.  Will close as helping people to see this as an invitation from the Lord, not a slap on the hand.

How A Church Functions

Ephesians 4:11-13 This week we conclude our 2-sermon series on how God intends for His church to function, as expressed in Paul’s letter to Ephesian church. Ephesians chapter 4 describes some foundational building blocks which contribute to a healthy and vibrant church, and we will focus on a few of these: “Devotion to God’s Word”, “Participating in God’s Work”, “Ministry of the Saints”. While many of us are familiar with these PBCC Core Values, it is good to review them in the context of Ephesians 4. We hope to see you this Sunday.

Unity of Spirit

Ephesians 4:1-6 In the fractured and polarized world of the last three years, one would think that the church ought to be a stabilizing and unifying force for society. However, we’ve seen that the church itself was just as divided and polarized as the rest of society, if not more so. We know that disunity is not God’s plan for His family; He desires His children to live in harmony in the bond of love. One of the strongest exhortations for unity in the church comes from Ephesians chapter 4, a familiar passage from which PBCC derives several of our core family values. In a short 2-sermon series, we’ll retrace the lessons Apostle Paul taught to the believers in Ephesus and learn how God intends for the church to live in unity and to function as a living body.

The Priority of Prayer

James 5:13-20 The longing to be known and loved is universal, going back to the banishment of our first parents from Eden. But surely we live in an especially lonely time. Social media offers us innumerable opportunities for connection which have mostly resulted in deformed ‘communities’, and ‘friendships’ without content. The church, God’s plan for human belonging, is seen by many (too often with good reason) as unwelcoming and self-important. We turn to scripture for a better word. The final verses of James contain practical instruction on healthy church life – describing believers who pray with and for one another, are honest about sin and suffering, and sing praises from the heart.

Jeremiah: The Prophet and His Message

Jeremiah is not a book we usually turn to for our Bible reading even though one of the verses we quote and hear quoted often is Jer. 29.11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” However, not only is Jeremiah filled with beautiful verse and amazing metaphors, but there is also much that we can learn from Jeremiah’s painful life and his hard message to the people of Judah. We will explore these two themes on Sunday.

Jesus the Great Ophthalmologist

Mark 8:22-26 When do people start looking like trees? When Jesus isn’t finished working on you. This Sunday, we will be taking a look at one of the most unusual miracles Jesus ever performed during His earthly ministry — a miracle that reminds us that He isn’t finished with us, that there is more to see, and that He can open our eyes in ways no one else can. “Jesus, the Great…Ophthalmologist?” (or “Is Your Vision 2020?”)

A Blueprint for Revival

John 17:20-26 In John 13-16 we have Jesus teaching and training his disciples to go out in the world and represent him. But in John 17, Jesus starts to pray aloud, so his disciples hear him. This is one of the most astonishing passages in the Bible. At one level it’s astonishing because it is an extended conversation inside the triune God, an actual conversation between the Son and the Father. It’s also true that Jesus is, so to speak, on his deathbed, and having been at the bedside of many people right before they have died, I can tell you that people who are dying are not really interested in small talk. They go right to what is most important to them. And that is true here as well. And when we look at this prayer in its entirety, we see the main thing that he has on his mind and heart as he is about to die is us, the church. He prays for a number of things for us in this chapter. This Sunday we will focus on one of those things as we look at the final 7 verses of that prayer.