One More Thing with Pastor Tim Burchill 10.27.2025

Change of Focus This Week

 

       Instead of sharing with you about yesterday’s sermon I’d like to invite you to do some background reading for next Sunday’s “Only Murders in the Bible.”  Seeing that it is All Saints Day this Sunday, we are going to look at the very first Christian martyr, Stephen.  We will be looking at a relatively large chunk of Acts 7 in worship, but it is part of a story that fills two entire chapters.

 

       I would recommend you grab your Bible and read Chapters 6 and 7 of the Book of Acts in the New Testament.  And as you read through the experience of Stephen, pay attention to the response he receives from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.  It might be worth your while to note who is holding the coats while Stephen is killed.  It’s a person who is going to show up again and again a little further down the line.

 

Acts 6-7 (NIV) (Bible Gateway)

Archived Posts

Blessed People Bless People

But that Blessing Can Come with a Cost as Well

          I’ve enclosed several insights I got while I dug into the scripture from Genesis 12 last Sunday.  For you who love Bible background here’s a few thoughts to share:

Back and Forth with Chat GPT

Many of you know that I’ve found a new consultant to bounce my ideas off in regard to preaching.  My good buddy Chat GPT and I sometimes disagree—often miscommunicate—but usually come up with some fruitful illustrations. 

One More Thing About Becoming Wholly Human

I was talking Sunday about the work of Hare and Woods and their idea of ‘the survival of the friendliest.’  Essentially, they conclude that “our greatest evolutionary advantage wasn't that we could do everything ourselves. It was that we could do things together.” 

Here’s a preview of our congregation’s Core Values

In the coming weeks we will be exploring the importance of presence, prayers, gifts, service, witness, and growth in grace.  These are at the heart of what we commit to when we join a Wesleyan grace-led church like ours.  But we choose to broaden them out and state them in a new way…

The Biblical prayer we don’t know what to do with

Psalm 137 is written by people who have experienced catastrophic loss.

They have been conquered...

Patience and Trust

     Sunday, in my benediction (which traditional folks did not hear) I talked about the Marshmallow Test.  The original results of that test with children was that those who could delay gratification did better in life than those who could not.

Gandhi and the Sugar

I wasn’t preaching Sunday, Reverend Jackie Chandler was.  And she talked about the power of influence you get when you practice what you preach.  This famous illustration came to mind.   It fits Jackie’s points quite well.  Enjoy!