In light of the Christmas season

Immanuel: The Real Meaning of Christmas
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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Sermon prep and maybe a video...

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Probably the last snowshoe hike for the season.  I will have to deal with mud, ice and snow here and there if I venture up the trails.  I think I have snowshoed more this season than last even though we didn't have the snow depth of last year.  As I put away the snowshoes I will start dreaming of next year! We finished up chapter 22 this Sunday.  The testing is done!  4 different groups get into the ring with Jesus.  They are testing Him but soon they realize that He is testing them.  Jesus never really goes into the defensive mode that is normal if you are being questioned or tested but stays in the offensive mode to bring about a bigger issue than the one raised. Group #1:  Chief priests and elders They questioned Jesus' authority.  Jesus turns it back upon them to question their discerning authority regarding the baptism of John the Baptist.  They gave a non-answer. Group #2:  Pharisees and Herodians They questioned Jesus' loyalt...
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  The Never Summer Mountain Range is behind me.  It is always amazing to me how people will respond more quickly to a picture than to the text.  I updated our Facebook cover photo and profile picture and people are responded left and right to it.  I do not get as much response when I print text to the same group of people.  I think this bears true with the response to video presentations of the Bible over just the written text of the Bible.  But since we don't have actual video footage of Jesus (sorry Chosen) I feel it is important to not just rely on someone's artistic presentation of the text but to read it for ourselves.  The question would be, "Am I reading more than I am watching when it comes to God's words?" I have purposely not used much video in my preaching opportunities because video will steal the show, no pun intended, to the actual passage we are looking at.  I think we need to train ourselves again to rely on what we are reading rat...
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