June 25, 2011

This sermon is for June 25, 2011
Jazz Service

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So, what do you do?

(June 25th was the date of our first Jazz Service.  Hopefully soon we will have our photos up at our Photo Page and maybe even have the video of it on YouTube)

In every instance of small talk with strangers sooner or later you get to the "do-be-do" question ("So...what do you do?")  We aren't asking what you do for a living, we are actually asking who you are.  Beware, sometimes the answer to that question can surprise you...

Romans 6:12-23
6:12 Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
6:13 No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 6:15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 6:17 But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, 6:18 and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.  6:20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 6:21 So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death.  6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.  6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

June 19, 2011

This sermon is for June 19, 2011
Holy Trinity Sunday

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Can You Define That?


Happy Father's Day.

The miracle of the the trinity is a mystery to even the most well educated theologian, but what we do know is that mysteries require belief.   But, what do we mean by "believe"?

Matthew 28:16-20
28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,28:20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

June 12, 2011

This sermon is for June 12, 2011

Pentecost Sunday

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Public Speaking...and Other Foreign Languages. 


The miracle of Pentecost had far less to do with the disciples speaking foreign languages and far more to do with them speaking period.  Up till this point they were huddled and afraid to show their faces in public.  The Holy Spirit comes and suddenly they are out in the middle of town proclaiming Jesus to anyone and everyone.  What changed?  How did the Holy Spirit change them?  Can it do the same to us?  And how did they get over their fear of public speaking....

Acts 2:1-21
2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

June 6, 2011

This is the sermon for June 6, 2011 
Ascension Sunday (observed)

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Why Pastors are not Stuntmen


(Ascension Day is technically the 40th day of Easter, which is to say Thursday of last week.  But since it is not commonly celebrated in America it is usually observed on the Sunday that follows)


Luke 24
24:44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."
24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 24:46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,  24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 24:48 You are witnesses of these things. 24:49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." 24:50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 24:51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 24:52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 24:53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

May 29th 2011

This is the sermon for May 29th 2011

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It is good to be back in Ohio!  Here is our sermon from Sunday:

Never Orphans
John 14:15-21
14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.14:17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.14:18 "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.14:19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.14:20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.14:21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."