From the desk of Pastor Edd

  Scripture: Acts 26:29 “I would hope that everyone listening to me today, including you, would have the faith that I have."   Title: The Helper is With Us   1 King Agrippa addressed Paul, "Tell me your side of this story." So, Paul started his defense:   If we desire to have another person hear what we have to say, it helps to have them ask us a question. A person once shared with me three questions that Linda and I could ask each other every day if we wanted to improve our communication. The three questions were, “What was good about your day? “What was bad about your day?” and “What are you looking forward to?” Using these three questions we find out from another person what they like, dislike, and what their hopes and dreams are.   Asking one of these questions of another person redirects their thinking towards us and gives us a chance to hear some important information. These moments are called “teachable moments.” When a child asks a parent...

  Scripture: Acts 25:22 Agrippa said, "Could I hear what this man has to say for himself?" Title: Becoming an Agent of Change   Entering into chapter 25 it might be well for us to remember this is Luke's version of the story. More than likely, he was writing this history from firsthand knowledge. I am guessing that he had the opportunity to talk to many believers during his years of traveling with Paul. Some of these people would have been the original followers and judging from his accounts of the birth of Jesus in his gospel, he might have even met Mary, the mother of Jesus. Any story is going to have a slant based upon the position of the author. A few years ago, I read a story of an ancient Egyptian writing that talked of a group of slaves trying to escape Egypt and they were drowned in the Red Sea while the army of Egypt looked on. It makes sense that the Pharaoh of the Exodus would not put in writing a story that says the army of Egypt drowned in the Red Sea w...

  Scripture: Acts 24: 2 5 Paul spent some time talking about faith, living according to the ways of Jesus' teachings, and even about the judgment that was coming.   Title: Trust that God is working through you.   The person leading the charge against Paul was Ananias, the chief priest at the Sanhedrin that Paul had an interchange with during his recent "trial" in Jerusalem. I am thinking that their interchange meant they had been friends or maybe even rivals in their younger years. They might have both studied under Gamaliel or they might have been competing for the same status at the time that Saul gained the approval of the Sanhedrin to bring the followers of Jesus back from Damascus. It just appears to me there was some history between the two.   Ananias brings a contingent to see if they can't get Paul convicted. He was the one who accepted the plot of the 40 men who planned to kill Paul on the way to the second "hearing."     24:1 Anani...