I like to read sermon titles. Some are catchy, some are just plain weird. Sometimes one can tell what the sermon is about, some keep the sermon content a mystery. This sermon title caught my eye: “Too Conservative.” The text was Ecclesiastes 11:4. “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will …
Category Archives: Sermons
It’s Sunday Again: “To Whom Am I a Neighbor?”
Another Sunday, the opportunity to worship with another part of the wonderful, great, extended family of God. Today Jan and I are representing Baxter Institute at the Missions Fair at the Park Plaza church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after which I will preach in the Spanish-speaking assembly. My sermon text is the parable of the Good …
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No bad sermons allowed!
I was tempted during my years of full-time preaching to post a small sign on the pulpit–visible to me but not to the congregation. The sign would have read: NO BAD SERMONS ALLOWED! Let me begin with a disclaimer. I have preached my share of bad sermons. In my early preaching efforts, there were possibly …
It’s Sunday Again: Wisdom
Fourteen months ago, I “retired” from full-time local pulpit ministry. Over the last year, I have spent a lot of time reflecting about the nature of life. Jan and I have entered a new phase of life–a time when we have the privilege (luxury) of picking and choosing our activities, applying our hearts to wisdom, …
Philippians 2: Hanging on to “Stuff”
I was recently reading Philippians 2. The text says that Jesus did not consider his position of equality with God as something to be grasped. He had to let go of it to accomplish his purpose. He emptied himself. As I read the passage afresh, I noted that Jesus let go of a number of …
It’s Sunday Again: Celebrating the Church
The song says “Celebrate Christ”. Because Christ values the church as his body, because he died for the church, because he claims the church and it wears his name, we can also “celebrate church.” The church for which Christ died is described in Acts 2 where we read of its beginning as the first to …
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It’s Sunday Again: Gushing From Within Us
I was recently asked to preach from the text in John 7:37-39, to say something about the living water that is promised to believers. I am pleased to be asked to say something about the Holy Spirit. It has been an overlooked, ignored theme in my fellowship. It is a topic I have not preached …
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It’s Sunday Again: Living Water–Agua Viva
I have the privilege of joining the Park Plaza Iglesia de Cristo again today. I will preach on John 7:37-39. We have overlooked and ignored the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is misunderstood by many. John’s view of the Spirit is interesting. In John’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit is less a miracle worker and more …
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It’s Sunday Again: People Matter
God’s plan is people-focused. God’s plan is for re-creation of a marred humanity–a humanity twisted and torqued by sin. Simply put, God’s plan is to save people and keep them saved. An oversimplification might suggest that Christ’s mission was to provide salvation and the Spirit’s mission is to secure and preserve. Jesus taught the value …
It’s Sunday Again: Called to Faithfulness
Some days the ways one can describe God’s calling seem endless. Multiplied descriptions and almost endless word lists can make Christianity seem complicated. The Hebrew writer calls us back to the center–keep your eyes on Jesus, as the example and source of perseverance and faithfulness. God calls us to faithfulness. We can water it down …
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