Sanctuary @ MPPC

Scott Scruggs on 2010-05-16 : Parables / The Prodigal, Part 1 The word 'prodigal' refers to extravagant or reckless spending. In this parable, Jesus tells the story of reckless son who demands his inheritance, dishonors his father, runs away from home, squanders everything, and hits rock bottom. But when all seems lost, he returns home and discovers that the real prodigal in this story in his loving father.

Scott Scruggs on 2010-05-09 : Parables / The Party Crashers Two thousand years ago, Jesus was dining at the house of a prominent religious leader when someone made a comment about salvation tantamount to saying, "Isn't it great that we made it in!" Many Christians today are still quick to assume salvation is a kind of exclusive club reserved for the pious and pure. This parable is what Jesus thinks of that.

Scott Scruggs on 2010-05-02 : Parables / The Friend at Midnight Trust is an essential part of any relationship. Yet many people find it difficult to trust God. Perhaps it seems too risky, too far-fetched, too much potential for disappointment. So what makes God trustworthy? Is it his love? His power? His promises? Or is it something else, something even better? Hear this parable and find out.

Scott Scruggs on 2010-04-18 : Life After Death / Vital Signs All too often Christians seek to grow spiritually by adding more rules and regulations to their lives. But Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would empower people to live the way God intended. So what does this 'life in the Spirit' look like and what are the vital signs that can help us know how we are doing?

Scott Scruggs on 2010-04-11 : Life After Death / Father, Son and the Holy What? Before he was arrested and eventually crucified, Jesus told his disciples, "It is for your good that I am going away." And after his resurrection, Jesus did just that. But he did not see his leaving as troublesome - he saw it as the best thing that could happen. Want to know why?

Scott Scruggs on 2010-04-04 : Life After Death / Life 2.0 What happened on the first Easter morning, almost 2000 years ago, was far more than a heroic rescue or magical resuscitation. The resurrection of Jesus was a sign that kingdom of God had broken into human history, leading to a whole new kind of life, where death, fear, guilt, and shame no longer have the last word.

Chris Sturgeon on 2010-03-21 : Just Start / Loving the Forsaken "Forsake" - to renounce or turn away from entirely. The disabled, orphaned and incarcerated certainly know what it means to be forsaken, but it is not limited to just them. Each one of us has the capacity to feel abandoned, alone and without worth. In the final week of the "Just Start" series we take a look at what it means for us to love the forsaken, as well as what it means to accept that love ourselves.

Kyle Van Houtan and Scott Scruggs on 2010-03-14 : Just Start / Caring for Creation Psalm 24 begins with the phrase, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." That's a pretty direct way of saying that the natural world does not belong to you or me -it belongs to God. And God made human beings in his image so that we would reflect his generosity, hospitality, and justice in how we care for creation. Scott Scruggs hosts ecologist and extinction expert Kyle Van Houtan in a dialogue about the biblical basis for environmental stewardship and the ecological concerns we can't afford to ignore.

Todd Johnson on 2010-03-07 : Just Start / Honoring the Poor Scripture speaks in one voice that God's people are to care for the poor and needy as an essential part of our devotion to Jesus - and to do otherwise is a sign that we may not be following Jesus at all. But how do we do this? Where should we start? And isn't the problem too big for any one person or community to tackle? Join guest speaker Todd Johnson as he helps us re-think these questions and re-imagine our answers.

Scott Scruggs on 2010-02-28 : Just Start / Seeking Justice and Reconciliation It's easy to recognize that our world is not as it should be. It's more difficult to know what to do about it. Here is an in-depth look at God's heart for justice and a practical discussion about the role of the church in seeking justice and reconciliation.

Lindsay James on 2010-02-21 : Just Start / Caring for the Sick Our face-paced lives are not poised for interruption, particularly when it comes to caring for those who are battling illness or disease. And yet our world faces overwhelming challenges when it comes to caring for the sick, whether it's AIDS or cancer, malaria or malnutrition. But Jesus' ministry was not being interrupted by the needs of the sick and dying - for him, these interruptions where his ministry.

John Ortberg on 2010-02-14 : Just Start / Becoming a Good Samaritan Ever noticed how good it feels to love someone else or show compassion to someone in need? That's because God is perfectly loving and radically compassionate. And God has set things up so that the compassionate life is also the blessed life. But we don't love in order to get the blessing. We love because He first loved us.

Scott Scruggs on 2010-01-31 : Finding Jonah / The Moral of the Story Jonah preached. Nineveh repented. God saved. One might expect the story to now conclude with a joyful celebration of God's mercy and love. Only that's not what happens. What happens next is not only the biggest surprise in the book of Jonah, but it's also the most important lesson about what really matters to God and how the church needs to change.

Scott Scruggs on 2010-01-24 : Finding Jonah / Mission Impossible Jonah is finally on his way to Nineveh where the odds of failure seem stacked against him. An Israelite prophet preaching a six word sermon to a Gentile culture that seems beyond saving--Jonah must have been thinking there is simply no way I can make a difference. We all have a 'no way' list, that list of sins and struggles where change seems impossible. But, as Jonah is about to discover, God does his best work in 'no way' situations.

Russell Mowry on 2010-01-17 : Finding Jonah / Never Beyond Redemption From inside the fish, Jonah gives us a personal account of God's saving action in his life. We all run from God in our own ways. No matter how far from God we may be at this very moment, we are never beyond God's redemption. If we cry out and rely upon God fully, God can redeem our lives and we can be transformed into the people God designed us to be.