Sermons 2011
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S - Spiritual Gifts
We are beginning a month-long series to discover how God has SHAPEd His people for service in His Kingdom. Through His Son, Jesus, God has reconciled the world to Himself not counting men's sins against them. This is Good News! It is also Good News that, as part of God's Kingdom through faith in Jesus, you have been wonderfully gifted to make an eternal difference in the lives of the people around you! Let's discover together what God has so graciously provided for our good and for His glory!
October 02, 2011
H - Heart, Passion
Today is the second part of a five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "H" of our shape. What has God given you a heart, or a passion, to do?
October 09, 2011
A - Abilities
Today is the third part of a five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "A" of our shape. What has God given you abilities and talents to do?
October 16, 2011
P - Personality
Today is the fourth part of a five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "P" or personality of our shape. How you are wired explains why you do what you do.
October 23, 2011
E - Experience
Today is the last part of our five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "E"of our shape. What experiences has God given to you that have shaped and prepared you to serve Him in your own special way?
October 30, 2011
Who's doing what, when, and where?
Matthew 3:13-17
January 09, 2011
Come and See
Think back to the person who first talked to you about Jesus, brought you to Him and introduced you to your Savior. Who were they? How did they do it? Who can you invite to "Come and See"?
January 23, 2011
The 3 C's of following Jesus
There is a tremendous difference between merely belonging to a church and being a real follower of Jesus. The former is "churchianity" which will not save you. The later is "Christianity" which will not only save you; it will change you for time and into eternity.
January 30, 2011
Can we get there from here?
The disciples wanted to stay up there on the mountain with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, far away from the trials and troubles of life. Jesus said no, they must follow Him down the mountain and up to the cross, for there can be no resurrection without a cross, no new life without the death of an old one. In other words, now that Jesus Christ has died for our sins, we must die to them if we are to enjoy the new and abundant life that He has come into our world to bring us.
March 06, 2011
Temptations Come and They Go
Today’s Gospel finds our Lord Jesus being tempted by Satan when Jesus has spent forty days in the desert with no food. What to do indeed! Just as Jesus answered Satan’s taunts and temptations by rightly quoting Scripture, so we too can find strength in God’s promises. We can count on God’s Word to be true for all time and in every situation we find ourselves. Temptations come and go, but God’s Word lasts forever!
March 13, 2011
Born Again
If you have faith in Jesus, you have been born again, born from above. This took place in your Baptism when the washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit was generously poured out on you through Jesus Christ. (Titus 3:5)
March 20, 2011
Our Disgrace is discarded by His Grace
Through the woman at the well, Jesus clearly shows us that He knows us; He knows our sins and our short-comings. But He loves us anyway. He sees us as having value and worth. When we begin to discover this, we begin to see ourselves as lovable persons with value and worth. This, in turn, changes our attitude and behavior in every facet of our lives.
March 27, 2011
What's your response?
Sight comes by God's grace. Whether it is physical sight or spiritual insight, God is the One Who gives it to us in His Son Jesus Christ. In our Baptism, God enabled us to see Jesus as our Savior through the eyes of faith. Yet, like several of the characters in today's Gospel lesson, we still have blind spots – fault finding, fear, prejudice and pride can prevent us from clearly seeing God's glorious grace in our Lord Jesus.
April 03, 2011
Do You Believe This?
It is our nature as sinners to second guess our Lord Jesus, even to criticize Him, when He does not do what we think He should be doing. In just this one chapter of the Bible, the disciples, Martha, Mary, the mourners, the Chief Priests and the Pharisees all found fault with what Jesus did or didn't do. But in the end He was the only one right. Thank God, Jesus did it His way then.
April 10, 2011
The Lamb's Purpose - Our Response
Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42a
January 16, 2011
Shine, Jesus, Shine
God’s people are called to be "salt and light" in a world of discontent, dissatisfaction and darkness. By God's grace through faith in Jesus, Christians are to live in His grace so that through loving service to one another, people will praise their Father in heaven!
February 06, 2011
Do Not Commit Adultery! Love the Lord; Love Your Spouse
While God longs to prosper, bless and give life to us as His dearly loved people, He will permit us to choose devastation and death for ourselves and for our children. He will not make us obey Him against our will. He will let us hate what He commands us to love and to adulterate what He has made pure. But we always do so to our own present and eternal harm.
February 13, 2011
Do Not Worry
! Jesus tells us in today's Gospel lesson that worry is sinful, destructive, and totally unnecessary. God is in control. He promises to take care of all our needs as we look to Him in faith. Our problem is that we don't fully trust in Him to do so.
February 27, 2011
What have we made it?
When Jesus entered Jerusalem that Sunday, many wanted to make Him a political revolutionary, perhaps even a King. When Jesus entered the temple the next day, He found His Father's house had been made into a market place and a den of thieves. How about us? What do we try to make Jesus and/or His church into today?
April 17, 2011
This Joyful Eastertide
CHRIST HAS RISEN! Alleluia! And because He lives, we shall live with Him in heaven forever! This changes everything in our lives even now. How we think, what we seek, where we spend our time, the way we behave toward one another are all in preparation for the eternity that Christ Jesus has prepared for us with Him in heaven.
April 24, 2011
Peace, I Leave You
God wants everyone to have peace through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. That is what Easter is all about as we celebrate and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father! May his death and resurrection be the foundation of life and living for you today and always!
May 01, 2011
What did you say, God?
Jesus' suffering and death was even more devastating to His disciples than it needed to be. That's because they had not carefully listened to what He had told them must happen before it took place. We can be the same way. We confuse our hopes with God's Word. Then, when He doesn't do what we think He should do, we are unnecessarily crushed.
May 08, 2011
Note the "and"
The Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished everything necessary for the salvation of the world. But neither His perfect life, His innocent suffering and death, nor His glorious resurrection from the grave will benefit anyone until they hear and are brought to faith in this saving Gospel. Jesus knows this. Satan wants us to forget it. What are we going to do about it?
May 15, 2011
Greater Things are Coming
Just as Jesus prepared His first disciples to carry out His ministry of repentance and forgiveness, He also prepares us to serve Him in ever greater ways. This morning we celebrate with our Confirmands their Confirmation and the vows they will make to the Lord. Confirmation is not an end of one’s spiritual formation, but rather an opportunity for greater involvement in the Church's mission and ministry as the equipped saints of God!
May 22, 2011
If You Love Me
If the Lenten-Easter season shows us anything, it shows that God loves us with an outrageous and sacrificial love. "No greater love can anyone have than to lay down his life for his friends; you are my friends,” Jesus tells us. The question is: Do you love Jesus? Does your behavior affirm or contradict your answer?
May 29, 2011
Dealing with Life's Difficulties
Many Christians mistakenly believe that once they come to faith in Jesus their life should run smoothly; they should experience no trials, no suffering, and no difficulties. Such is not the case. The devil and the world will inflict suffering upon us in this life because of our faith and in the attempt to destroy our faith. Don't let them shake you! Stand firm in your faith!
June 05, 2011
Responding to the Spirit's call
We are celebrating one of many promises Jesus made to His disciples – His sending the Holy Spirit into the world! Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit reveals the saving work of Jesus the Christ. The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts to believe all the promises of God. As beneficiaries of His grace and mercy, we live for Him Who died for us!
June 12, 2011
Make Disciples
While there is so much that we cannot possibly know or comprehend about God this side of eternity, we do know that in love He created us, in love He saved us, in love He sanctifies and sustains us, and in love He will one day call us to be with Him in heaven forever. In the meantime, He commands us to go and MAKE DISCIPLES! Let's be about it out of love for Him!!!
June 19, 2011
Finding Rest For Your Souls
Every time we gather in the name of Jesus, it is a glorious day of hope and peace. Today is no less as we celebrate gifts of freedom. Not only do we celebrate the physical freedom Americans enjoy through the sacrifice of life and treasure of the fore-fathers of this great land, but more importantly, the spiritual freedom that is only found in Jesus Christ Who calls everyone to Himself through His sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and the hope of life eternal with God in heaven! In this hope we "live and move and have our being in Him!" (Acts 17: 28)
July 03, 2011
Heart Matters
It is wonderful to gather with God's people to hear His Word. How you hear that Word will determine how that Word will operate in your life. We are to hear and receive God’s Word gladly so that the Word accomplishes all the good things God desires for our lives – namely, peace and salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord!
July 10, 2011
Throw Away The Remote
The Lord Jesus Christ is the priceless Treasure. He is the Pearl of great price. Thus, whether you stumble upon Him by accident, or discover Him only after a very long and intentional search, be smart enough to let go of everything else and stay tuned into Him for the rest of your earthly life. Your eternal life depends on it.
July 24, 2011
Bring What You Have
God is in the habit of doing the impossible! Do you believe that? The disciples didn't - at least not before Jesus miraculously fed over 5,000 folks from a little boy's lunch. What we, like Jesus' first followers, often lack the most are compassion for those around us and faith that God will give us what we need to care for them.
July 31, 2011
Faith Building is Seldom Tranquil
When we experience something that we perceive to be unpleasant or dangerous, our sinful human nature is quick to presume that God must be punishing us for something that we have done wrong. Otherwise this would not be happening to us. The truth is, God puts us in unpleasant and frightening situations, strictly to build up and strengthen our faith in Him. So perhaps the proper question is not "What have I done wrong in the past?" but rather, "God, What are You preparing me for in the future?"
August 07, 2011
It's All About You Jesus
In our sinful self-centeredness, we always want to make it about us, good or bad. If God does something wonderful for us, we think that we have earned it or deserve it. If God allows something bad to happen to us, we figure we had it coming for something we did wrong. Jesus uses an unnamed Canaanite woman to teach us a very valuable lesson. It is not about us - who we are or what we have done. It is all about Jesus! Who He is! And His undeserved love for us!
August 14, 2011
On This Rock
God, through His Word, reveals His love for all mankind. The proof of which is the sending of His Son, Jesus, into the world to be the once and for all sacrifice for mankind's sin. This is the foundation and the confession on which the Church is built and God's Kingdom grows. Let us continue to grow in our faith and our witness of God's love in Jesus Christ for the whole world!
August 21, 2011
Die to Yourself, Take Up Your Cross
God's gift of salvation is free. But it is not cheap. It cost Jesus' His perfect life on a cross. And it will cost you your sin-filled selfish life on earth. The call to discipleship is a call to daily die to sin and to live for Jesus.
August 28, 2011
A Labor of Love
Often times we celebrate work and the opportunity to serve others when times are good and stress is low. Other times though, we feel put out when asked to do and serve beyond the commitments we have already made. God desires to fill our lives with joy and love so that as we serve Him, others will sense and know His love by how we treat them! May our service to Jesus and others be a Labor of Love for us!
September 04, 2011
What's in your heart?
We can only "fake it" so long. What is in our hearts will eventually manifest itself in our lives and on our lips. Poison or praise, fear or faith, hatred or holiness, whatever we are full of will come out. That's why it is so important that we are filling our hearts and minds with the saving Word of God in Christ Jesus. For if we believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, and confess Him with our mouths, the Bible tells us, we will be saved! Praise God!
September 11, 2011
Which Son Are You?
God's gift of salvation is available and free to all people. God desires that all people have faith in His Son Jesus and know the security of everlasting life! Having the assurance of our place in God's Kingdom and our relationship with Him, we are called to live for Jesus - Who died for us and rose from the dead - with joy and great hope!
September 25, 2011
S - Spiritual Gifts
We are beginning a month-long series to discover how God has SHAPEd His people for service in His Kingdom. Through His Son, Jesus, God has reconciled the world to Himself not counting men's sins against them. This is Good News! It is also Good News that, as part of God's Kingdom through faith in Jesus, you have been wonderfully gifted to make an eternal difference in the lives of the people around you! Let's discover together what God has so graciously provided for our good and for His glory!
October 02, 2011
H - Heart, Passion
Today is the second part of a five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "H" of our shape. What has God given you a heart, or a passion, to do?
October 09, 2011
A - Abilities
Today is the third part of a five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "A" of our shape. What has God given you abilities and talents to do?
October 16, 2011
P - Personality
Today is the fourth part of a five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "P" or personality of our shape. How you are wired explains why you do what you do.
October 23, 2011
E - Experience
Today is the last part of our five-week series to discover how God has uniquely SHAPEd each one of us - His redeemed person - for service in His Kingdom. We have all been saved and then shaped to serve in a specific manner and fashion. Today we are looking at the "E"of our shape. What experiences has God given to you that have shaped and prepared you to serve Him in your own special way?
October 30, 2011
Remembering Our Past, Living for the Future
Today we will take a two-prong approach: Celebrating and giving thanks for the faith of those who died in the Lord this past year; and looking at our Haiti mission as one way we can make heaven yet fuller because of the ministry work still to be done before Jesus' return.
November 06, 2011
Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant!
Answering God's Call to Biblical Stewardship is not about how much we have, but what we do with what God has entrusted to our care. To those who use what God has already given them in a manner that glorifies Him, God promises to give even more. But those who squander His resources will lose even that with which they have been entrusted.
November 13, 2011
It's All for You, Jesus
King Jesus has called us to faith, to forgiveness and to life in His name. Now that we are His saved servants, He calls us to live for Him and to lead others to Him out of our love and gratitude toward Him. So even our "Building spaces for Old and New faces" is really all for Jesus. For whatever we do for the least of His brothers, we have done it unto Him.
November 20, 2011
Lo! He comes With Clouds Descending
Jesus is coming back! It is not a question of "if," but merely "when?" Since we don’t know the answer to this question (nobody does except our heavenly Father), we need to make sure we are ready to meet Him and go with Him when He returns. For "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love." (Galatians 5:6)
November 27, 2011
