Midtown Fellowship Church Downtown Podcast

[Recording failed] Phil 2:2-3 -- ...then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. When Randy was little, he and a friend dared each other one Halloween to knock on the door of a dark and creepy house down the street. While walking to the house they were cocky and talking about what they'd do if the other lost. They had courage to face the formidable dark force--the creepy neighbor that might just eat them for soup and no one would know. They made it to the door, knocked, freaked out and ran away—not waiting to see if it were answered. Although funny, the illustration relates to us as a church. How many times have you sacrificed the heart of someone else for your own? What about times when you're too sensitive and get upset about the smallest things people say? Or how about for some of us when our whole lives are set on pleasing others to t

Anger is an emotion that we are all familiar with, but what we don't always realize is that it is a secondary emotion. Once we realize our anger is a warning sign that something bigger is going on inside the quesion is, "what do we do with our anger?"

Why is it that we struggle to offer true, whole hearted second chances to others? This sermon dives into, through the story of Jonah, the issues that surround our struggle to forgive fully, as God does for us. We look at differences between God and humanity as it relates to our sense of value, and it's consequent impact upon what we often find ourselves "clinging" to as a result (worthless idols). We look also at the connection of "dying to self" and "suffering" and their importance in proceeding and enabling the capacity to extend or receive a second chance (full forgiveness). Our time confronted the deep inconsistencies in our own lives, our self righteousness that cripples our understanding of the reality that we stand in the same need of the same measure of grace that we are called to extend to others.