Emphasis Preaching Journal

Literature is full of stories of mistaken identity. Sometimes the results are comic and other times tragic. But failing to recognize with whom you are dealing with is never without consequence. 

The pages of Scripture are filled with highest-order instances of mistaken identity. The residents of Sodom, for example, don’t know whom they are threatening. The Pharaoh of Egypt does not recognize the hand of Israel’s God at work. And the Jewish leaders who thought that Jesus was an agent of Beelzebul had it all wrong. 

“And ought not this woman….be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” (v. 16)

Good morning children,

I have a sports question. What is your favorite sport? (children answer)

Contents
“The Gift of Grace” by Keith Wagner
“What If the Caller ID says G.O.D.?” by Keith Wagner


The Gift of Grace
by Keith Wagner
Psalm 103:1-8

Perhaps what most people crave in today's world, is to love and to be loved. But it may also be true that not many people outside the church would use quite that terminology. Some people might say that they're looking for happiness, others might settle for contentment, especially the contentment of knowing that their family is happy and secure. Yet others might express their desires in different ways , such as the longing for good health or the desire for wealth, but probably at the root of all these wishes is the search for happiness.

Today, and for the next several weeks, the Revised Common Lectionary devotes attention to one of the most intriguing figures in all of the Old Testament -- the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah began his work as the bearer of God's word to the nation of Judah during the time of King Josiah's reign in 627 BC. His prophesying continued even as Judah's brightest and best were forced to leave their homeland for exile in Babylon in approximately 586 BC.