The Pulpiteer

This is the fifth sermon in the Lenten series reNEW.  This sermon focuses on repentance and the scripture reading is from Psalm 51:1-12.  The summary of the message is really the heart of the Gospel – God is good.  I am broken.  God can change me.   We must come to grips with our brokenness, or sin, then we can rely upon the goodness of God and the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  At the end of the message was a time to pray for a new heart and forgiveness.

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This is the fourth sermon in the Lenten series reNEW, and in it we are called to have a new focus.  The New Testament reading is from John 3:14-21 – which, by the way, includes the well known John 3:16.  This text refers to an Old Testament story found in Numbers 21:4-9 where Moses makes a bronze snake on a pole that saves the Israelites in the wilderness.  Jesus draws a comparison – just as the serpent was lifted up, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.  This comparison fills out what is meant by the “whoever would be lieve in him,” found in John 3:16.  The sermon was preceeded by an awesome dramatic presentation of the Numbers reading by the Junior High Youth group, who ensured that the congregation would remember that particular story for a while.

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Saint Patrick of Ireland

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a day when many within some Christian traditions remember the life and ministry of St. Patrick. It’s unfortunate the the celebration of the life of one of the greatest missionaries the Christian movement has known has been reduced to drinking green beer, and wearing green so you don’t get pinched. So if this is all you know about St. Patrick (and perhaps that there is some story about him and snakes…) then I encourage you to find out some things about this saint.  He really was an amazing guy.  I know that I am impressed by the fact that he returned to the people who kidnapped him as a young man, and ended up bringing the gospel to their culture.

Here is a prayer that St. Patrick is known for, it’s called “The Breastplate of St. Patrick.”
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through the confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation. Continue Reading »

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This is the third sermon in our Lenten Series titled: reNEW.  This sermon is from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 and it is about a new wisdom – which is in fact the foolishness of the cross.  In this sermon I try to lay out what Paul is stating in the scripture – that the cross is foolishness and it is weakness, but the foolishness of God is wiser than the world’s wisdom.  How do we view wisdom and power through the cross.  I should mention that the secondary reading – that you don’t hear – is from Exodus 20, which is the Ten Commandments.  I didn’t say this during the sermon, but isn’t it curious that God gives commandments as opposed to saying, “Just do what you think is right.”  Anyway, I found this passage in 1 Corinthians to be very challenging, in part because I would tend to buy into the slick presentation and sale of the Gospel, and I want to give “wisdom” on how to fix things.  Preaching the straight message of the cross, without self help, really puts a preacher out there, I think, because if God in his grace does not work I have nothing to fall back on.  And that seems to me to be exactly what I am supposed to do here.

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This is the second sermon in our Lenten Series titled: reNEW. This sermon focuses on the story of Abraham and Sarah getting their new names as found in Genesis 17:1-8, 15-16. As I go through the passage, the message is in some ways very simple. We are offered renewal, just as Abraham was, only ours is in the New Covenant set forth by Jesus Christ. As a response to the message this week people took slips of paper on which they had written down negative names and they laid them at the foot of the cross and picked up a large key chain that had “My Child” written on it.

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