Will Vaus

In preparing this message from Ephesians 6:1-4 for this congregation, I suddenly realized something... Most of us don’t have children in our house anymore. Duh! So, what might this passage have to say to our congregation where we are at today? Do we even need to read a passage of Scripture like this in a congregation like ours? Yes, I believe we do. If nothing else, reading Ephesians 6 helps us to see how Paul applies his theology. It is a reminder to us that Christian theology   is   applicable, it is relevant to the everyday situations we face. So, let’s read together from Ephesians 6 and see what God might be saying to each of us where we are today…   Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers,  do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and inst...

We are continuing our series entitled: “General Electric Power Company”. You might well wonder: what does General Electric Power Company have to do with the Bible? It is an acronym and mnemonic device to help Bible readers remember the order of four of Paul’s letters: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, G.E.P.C. At the beginning of the year, we looked at Galatians and talked about “Plugging into the Power of Grace”. Now we are going to investigate Ephesians and how to “Plug into the Power of Love”. So, listen for God’s word to you from Ephesians 1 as we begin to explore this wonderful letter together…   Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.   Author   Who is the author of this letter?  The author identifies himself as Paul and the early church universally recognized this letter as an aut...

Rathvinden House, County Carlow, Ireland The Gospel lectionary reading for today is from Matthew 10:7–15 .... As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town. Can you imagine missionaries functioning this way toda...

Want an update on the next movie in The Chronicles of Narnia series? Listen as Douglas Gresham talks about the The Silver Chair production.Sign up for more news at https://www.narnia.com/us Posted by The Chronicles of Narnia on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 Here is an update from Douglas Gresham on the progress being made on a film version of The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis. I get a kick out of the fact that the chair Doug is sitting on in this brief video is one that was in "The Narnia Cottage" when we lived with Doug and Merrie in Ireland.

When we lived in Ireland with Douglas and Merrie Gresham, they had growing on their property a kind of tree I had not seen before; it was a horse chestnut tree. One autumn day after many of the horse chestnuts had fallen from the tree, Doug picked one of them up off the ground and told us how he used to play a game in school called conkers. English school boys would take the green outer shell off and inside would be the dark brown chestnut. Then they would pierce a hole in the middle of the chestnut, thread a piece of string through, and knot it on the end. Next, the game of conkers would actually begin, where a boy would swing his horse chestnut in the air until it hit another boy’s horse chestnut and smash it to pieces. Of course, that is not what a horse chestnut was created by God to do. It was created by God to be planted in the ground so another horse chestnut tree would grow from that seed. In our passage for today, we will hear Jesus talking about a seed going into the ground...