Epiphany (23)
  1. Saint Paul recognizes the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus is how the Spirit of God translates people from death and darkness to life and light.
  2. This Spirit of love permits no Christian to exercise their freedom at the expense of another Christian still troubled by old associations.
  3. Because this life is transient and we already live in the new and eternal age restored in Christ (at least in part), our preoccupations are different to those bound to this world and life.
  4. What does being free from sin, which is obviously a good thing, have to do with being free from the Law, which sounds dangerous?
  5. In Scripture, to be "in Christ" is nothing but living in the light and reality of one’s baptism.
  6. It is time to move on from the basics, says the Apostle. It is time to sink your teeth into some theological meat and understand He is working in those baptized into Christ.
  7. Paul says Christian faith means confessing Jesus is Lord, beginning at the Cross, and owning the historical fact that God raised Him from the dead.
  8. This passage, above all others, speaks most fully about Jesus as the elder brother, the firstborn, of a large family; the family of God the Father, Creator of humankind.
  9. The Church becomes anti-church when the new world order Christ inaugurated by eliminating demographic division through the commonality of Baptism is exploded by allegiance to cults of personality.
  10. One name repeatedly emerges from the heart and mind of Paul: Jesus. Jesus is Messiah, Jesus is Savior, Jesus is the world’s rightful and reigning King.
  11. Themes of Biblical, prophetic fulfillment, historical factuality, and personal experiential revelation coalesce in the texts and message of Epiphany and should, therefore, take pride of place in preaching.