Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of standing outside a door and constantly ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door - all to no effect? Nobody is answering. Did you know that there is just such a situation in the Bible? We will be reading this story from Acts 12, the first 19 verses. If you are where you can get your Bible, follow along as we explore this story today!

The title of today’s message is one which may be confusing to some people: “Half-Way Christians.” One might say that a person is a Christian or not, but you can’t be just “half-way.” Actually this title is what is called an “oxymoron.” This is a figure of speech in which two or more words are put together which are actually opposites; they contradict each other. Some examples are: “minor surgery” – “new used car” – or “good grief.” Let’s look at this subject together this morning to try to get some answers.

If you look at the title of today’s message, you may get the wrong impression that we’re thinking today about some musical subject - “Blowing the Trumpet.” Actually, Jesus was talking about some people of His day who did good deeds, but wanted everybody to take notice. It is a very interesting analogy that Jesus used, and there is a real important lesson for us all in His words from Matthew, chapter 6, verse 2. What did Jesus have in mind in these words from the Sermon on the Mount? Let’s find out together.