Escalate Sermon Blog & Connection Point Questions

Do you ever get the feeling that everyone around you is trying to be the exception, or that people in our culture have presumed that the rules are for everyone else and that they can do as they would like to? That mindset is rampant in America today. But this isn't just a modern day problem. In fact there is evidence that people were struggling with this mindset long be...

The title "Confused?" really is an appropriate one for this sermon series. The believers who made up the church at Corinth were really working hard to understand exactly how God, Jesus, and the Gospel impacted different aspects of our everyday lives. Throw into the confusion a culture that emphasized things like worldly wisdom and people's proneness to wander into sin an...

Worldly wisdom wasn't the only thing that confused the believers who made up the Corinthian church. Many of these individuals also wrestled with issues regarding personal freedom and authority. Their limited scope of what Jesus accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection combined with popular slogans of the time had led many believers to pursue what they consider...

Have you ever heard someone say, "Just live for the moment?" My guess is that you probably have. In fact some of you may actually try to live your lives by that motto. But have you ever given any consideration to the mindset behind that way of thinking and living? One who thinks that way and lives that way has placed an incredibly high value on the present. And it's a...

On October 1st, 1932 one of the greatest predictions in sports history was made and came true. It is still to this day, perhaps the single greatest moment in the history of baseball. It is a moment well known by many who don't even consider themselves fans of sports. But why is it so well known? Is it because the prediction itself, at the time it was made, was rather u...

In a Nike commercial several years ago, then star NBA player, Charles Barkley responded to criticism that he had started receiving from NBA front office executives and other concerned citizens. In the commercial Charles stated that he was not a role model and that he was not paid to be a role model. He stated that he was a basketball player paid to play basketball. Char...

Can you remember the last test that you took? (For some it hasn't been very long. For other's we have to think back quite a ways.) Do you remember how you felt before the test? Perhaps you experienced an anxiousness that made you wonder if you were really ready for the test. But while most of us probably didn't like taking tests, they were good ways of measuring how mu...

I think that there is evidence to suggest that our perspective towards building things changes over time. When we are young we find enjoyment and satisfaction in the building process. We are eager to build and have little to no care for titles and positions. But as we become adults our perspective towards building changes. Titles and positions are significant; we have ...

In the last passage we noted that Paul de-emphasized worldly wisdom because it isn't something that helps us to understand the Gospel better. Instead it actual hinders us from accepting and believing the good news of salvation that comes through faith in Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. As we continue in our examination of Paul's letter to the church at Corinth thi...

Last week we noted that those who had heard the good news of Jesus and believed in Him as Savior and Lord had been "sanctified" (i.e. their identity had changed - they went from evil, sinful individuals living for their own purposes to cleansed and forgiven individuals set apart for God's purposes). But in a culture that placed great value on 'wisdom' some began to be con...