November 18, 2017 DAILY READING Romans 14:1-4 This week’s sermon text: Romans 15:14-29 FIELD NOTESThese four short verses remind us of the importance of Christian community. As Christians, we are called to welcome all, to live in community with people who might think differently than us, and not to judge someone because they believe or…

November 17, 2017 DAILY READING James 5:1-12 This week’s sermon text: Romans 15:14-29 FIELD NOTES The book of James is filled with advice for believers. When we think about what it means to be a disciple, someone who lives intentionally in the name of Jesus, several lessons arise from chapter 5. Disciples do not lift…

November 16, 2017 DAILY READING 1 Corinthians 8 This week’s sermon text: Romans 15:14-29 FIELD NOTESIn chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians, Paul takes up the question of whether or not Christians should eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols. Such meat was commonly sold in the marketplace and might be the main course of…

November 15, 2017 DAILY READING Luke 17:1-4 This week’s sermon text: Romans 15:14-29 FIELD NOTESMany of the passages this week talk about stumbling blocks and living in such a manner that you do not cause someone else to stumble. Today’s verses also talk about accountability. Disciples are called to hold each other accountable in love.…

November 14, 2017 DAILY READING Mark 10:42-45 This week’s sermon text: Romans 15:14-29 FIELD NOTESWe want to be great, right? We seek approval, applause, power, and position. These things are what our culture often values, and so they become the things that we chase after, that we pursue single-mindedly. James and John – a few…

November 13, 2017 DAILY READING Romans 14:13-23 This week’s sermon text: Romans 15:14-29 FIELD NOTESIn this passage of Romans, Paul is encouraging the believers not to cause one another to stumble. Paul reminds us that our actions have an impact on our neighbors. What I do can be a hindrance to faith for someone else.…

November 11, 2017 DAILY READING Hebrews 12:1-3 Hebrews 13:7 Psalm 23 This week’s sermon text: Romans 14:13-23 FIELD NOTESIn the 1984 movie Places in the Heart Sally Fields won an Oscar playing a depression-era widow in Texas, trying to hold on to the family farm; the bank is waiting to foreclose. The movie details her…

November 10, 2017 DAILY READING Proverbs 27:17 Luke 10:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10 This week’s sermon text: Romans 14:13-23 FIELD NOTESDo you remember the song that goes “The church is not a building . . . the church is a people”? Through God’s grace we are a people: “Once we were not a people, now we are…

November 9, 2017 DAILY READING Acts 16:16-40 Psalm 85:4-13 This week’s sermon text: Romans 14:13-23 FIELD NOTESActs 16 reminds us that relationships when one person has power over another are not healthy. Community cannot happen when one person uses another for monetary enrichment. Paul encounters a slave girl being exploited by her owners because she…