Escalate Sermon Blog & Connection Point Questions

When we have a need it is of no help to us to go to a person (or thing) that is either unwilling or unable (or both) to help us. For example, if I need some help with my taxes I'm not going to go to Starbucks and ask one of the baristas if he can help me with my taxes. There are two reasons for this: First, he is probably going to be busy making drinks for other customer...

Chapter 2 of Ruth seemed to end on a very positive note - Boaz had graciously provided for Ruth and Naomi and it seemed that the time of barley and wheat harvest was going to be very productive time for these widowed women. So what more could this story have for us? That's a good observation, but it's also an incomplete one. The problem at the end of chapter 1 wasn't th...

How do you identify someone you don't know? That's a weird question! In our world the most popular answer would probably be, "Goggle them!" But there was a time not so long ago when you couldn't just "google" someone. And so if you needed to identify someone that you didn't know, you needed clues. "Blind dates" were a great example. Two individuals might have been se...

This week we start a new sermon series through the Old Testament book of Ruth. It is story that is highly regarded by many as one of the best in the Bible. The story begins the way that many stories often do - by defining the problem and the need of the main characters. And that will be the emphasis our our study this week - because unless we rightly understand the prob...

While Christianity is supposed to be a faith centered on a relationship with the Person of Jesus and built upon the story of the Bible (which from start to finish is a story about God's redemptive work in human history through the substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus), there has developed in America a "cultural Christianity." Christianity has become mo...

How do you end an examination of a NT letter? What do you do when you see bold faced headings in a final chapter that read things like "Plans for Travel," or "Greetings." Do you mentally check out and just go through the motions of reading the words? Do you make the assumption that there won't be anything of great significance which God can use in your own life to challen...

"Powerless" means that one is without any power. It doesn't mean that some of his power is removed or that most of his power is removed, it means that all of his power is removed. Paul had earlier written that death would be the last enemy put under Jesus' feet. But what will that look like? What will it look like when death is rendered completely powerless? Paul answ...

Have you ever gotten really excited about a new version of something? Most of us have probably heard of individuals lining up outside of stores to get a newer version of some product which they have enjoyed in the past. For some it's the latest version of the iPhone or the iPad; for some it's the latest version of a gaming system like the XBox or Playstation; and for som...

In the first eleven verses of chapter 15 we were challenged to remember and reflect on the gospel each day. We made the case that we can't allow the good news of the gospel to only become one bullet on a list of spiritual things to believe which we check off and move on from. The gospel is something that we should be reflecting on each day and allowing to shape our lives...

We titled this series through the NT letter of 1 Corinthians "Confused?" The reason for this title is because the church at Corinth seemed to be confused about the ways in which God, Jesus, and the gospel were to impact their everyday lives. One of the reasons this may have been the case was because the believers in Corinth were not remembering and reflecting on the gosp...