As I was putting this message together I started to get excited because I love researching things that I am currently interested in, rather than just putting together a sermon because I have to preach. So this message slowly came together out of a passion for understanding people and the never ending predicament we all […]
Sermons
The songs we sang this Sunday morning were a crucial part of how the morning was shaped. We sang these three songs to start. I’ll fly away Chariot by Page France But for you who fear my name by Welcome Wagon Does anyone know what day it is today? Today is Palm Sunday. For whatever
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends! In a lot of ways I do look at theStory as my joy and crown. I believe that in this room exists a community that has the potential to
We’ve spent this entire year in Philippians and it’s been a pretty fun ride. We have a better understanding of the kind of letter that Paul is writing, who he writing to, what kind of world it was when this letter was written and we are only half way through the letter. We’ll just jump
Let’s give ourselves a little bit of perspective before we jump into our part of Philippians today. The church in Philippi started with a group of women who because there was no Jewish Synnagogue, would go down to a river and pray together. They met at a women’s house named Lydia. Lydia also had housed
All right, so here we go again, and its Christmas. Joe last week talked about the announcement of Christ and what it means for an announcement to come like it did in its form and shape to that kind of audience and what that means for us today. This announcement was made to be timeless
We have now spent a month and a half inside of Colossians and we’ve pretty much been going in the same direction all along. Paul was writing to a church in Colossi and helping them see the lies of the empire and see the truths of the kingdom. Paul is writing a letter to a
Above is my presentation, and below is the transcript from my message this week. Last week Joe convinced us that our culture is much like that of Rome’s. The first part of chapter one in Colossians helped us evaluate what was going on and set us up to see how Paul was facing directly into
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Many Christians demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. … I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. “Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers”
As we go through the beatitudes we have heard all sorts of different theories and perspectives on what they are. They are values of what people should hold in being part of the Kingdom. They are statements about the fate of the people they describe. They are evolving and natural characteristics of all Christians. We’ve
We’ve spent two weeks now in the Book of Job. We’ve spent some time with Job’s friends in the first week and took apart their accusations and why they would jump to such extravagant conclusions about Job’s life. Then last week we spent some time with Job and asked questions like what does it mean
This month is called Neighbours. The imagery we are playing with this month is the idea of different people living together, in different and unique looking homes but still being on the same street. This will lend itself for us understanding how God interacts with us and also how we should interact with each other.
Last week Joe shaped his message dissecting the phrase “there is probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.” He dissected the quote a little bit and helped us see what was wrong with this statement, and what was right with it. Now here is why I think teaching in team is one
We are spending a month in Jeremiah 29. Joe gave some background information on the chapter and helped us understand what exile was, where Israel found itself and how they were oppressed by the Babylonians. Israel was taken into exile in 587 BC. They were pulled away from the land where they were born and
This year, while Joe was off enjoying some much needed and deserved vacation time I led the Christmas Eve service. After reworking our liturgy from last year, here is what I ended up doing. Each of the readings were done from someone in the congregation and I tried to get a lot of kids to
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined…. The people will rejoice…. For the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulder and the rod of their oppressor thou hast broken as on the day of
This is the sermon I spoke on Sunday, the first analogy in italics is what I did at the beginning of the message to illustrate the point. This month we are talking about rhythms in our lives. Violent rhythms, healthy ones, God-ordained ones like the sabbath. This is an interesting topic, because these rhythms determine
Joe and I tag teamed this message. Basically I tried to summarize the entire story of what God has been up to through the biblical narrative and how all along he has been bringing heaven to earth. Joe used different themes in the story about heaven and helped bring them a little closer to home.
Joe talked about Genesis 1 and 3. The fact that for so long the church has allowed their story to start at Genesis 3, when sin comes into the picture. The problem is, when you do that, the entire gospel becomes about getting rid of the problem that is presented at the beginning of the
When you view the Bible as a book that fell out of heaven, then the Psalms become nothing more than abstract theological, scientific and historical statements. It is crucial that when we read different parts of the Bible we read them in the context and style that they were written in. Let me give you