I have posted today’s sermon on my sermon blog. Based on Exodus 20:1-17, Philippians 3:4(b)-14, and Matthew 21:33-46 it is entitled “The Power Of Love”.

Here’s a portion of it:

I found this on Facebook the other day and want to share it with you today:
When I say I am a Christian, I am not shouting I am clean living, I’m whispering I was lost, but now I’m found and forgiven.
I don’t speak of this with pride. I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.
I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and need His strength to carry on.
I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.
I’m not claiming to be perfect. My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.
I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon HIS name.
I’m not holier than thou, I’m just a simple sinner who received God’s good grace, somehow!

You can read the entire sermon here.

I have posted yesterday’s sermon on my sermon blog. Based on Matthew 21:23-32 it is entitled “Actions Speak Louder”.

Here’s a portion of it:

I dont know about you but I dont like hearing that someone who does not appear to be a Christian maybe an obnoxious person who tries to run the church or maybe even the neighbor who never darkens the door of the church or maybe even the man or woman on the street who is drunk or high on drugs most of the time I dont like hearing that God may smile on them more than God smiles on those of us who come to Church every Sunday.
You probably dont like hearing it, either.
Maybe youre thinking:
What do you mean these people who try to push people around or try to impress others or who have never darkened the door of the church or who truly dont look like religious folks might be doing Gods will better than we are?
Unfortunately, when we become offended by ideas like these we are very close to the thinking like many of the Pharisees who confronted Jesus in our scripture passage before us today and throughout the gospels.

You can read the entire sermon here.

September 11, 2001. While this is not the original “day that will live in infamy” it is truly a day that I pray we never forget.

I’m sure most of you remember what you were doing today ten years ago when you first heard the news of the attacks. I was driving home from an early morning meeting — listening to the 9:00 news on the radio — when they told about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. By the time I got home they were talking about the second plane. I spent the rest of the next few days glued to the TV, radio, internet, and telephone stunned by what I was hearing, thanking God that my niece in Washington and her husband who happened to be in New York City were safe, praying for those who lost loved ones, and leading Church services. I will never forget the feelings of fear, anger, and sympathy for the victims.

Ten years later, I am proud of the men and women who are serving in our armed services — – doing what they can to make the world safer. My prayer is that they can come home soon and that we can all live in safety. This may seem to be impossible, but I pray that the day will come when it can be true.

I close with a Psalm and a prayer.

Psalm 91 was a favorite of my Dad’s as he service in Italy flying a B-24 during World War II. It’s words speak of the way God protects us. May it’s words give us hope.

1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,2 will say to the LORD, My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5 You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.8 You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the LORD your refuge,the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

14 Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. 15 When they call to me, I will answer them;I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. 16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.

The prayer is from The Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church:

God of compassion,
you watch our ways,
and weave out of terrible happenings
wonders of goodness and grace.
Surround those who have been shaken by tragedy
with a sense of your present love,
and hold them in faith.
Though they are lost in grief,
may they find you and be comforted;
through Jesus Christ who was dead, but lives
and rules this world with you. Amen

I have posted my sermon from this morning on my sermon blog. A “ten year anniversary of 9/11″ sermon, it’s based on Psalm 91 and entitled “What We’ve Learned From 9/11″.

Here’s a portion of it:

Here are 3 things I would suggest we can learn from the events of September 11, 2001:
First — We can learn that God is with us in all situations of our lives.
Second — We can learn that God loves us and gives us the ultimate victory in life and over death in Jesus Christ.
Third — We can learn that God calls us to share His love with others as we tell them about Gods offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and reach out to them with actions of love and compassion.
In the chorus of the song I quoted a few moments ago Allan Jackson sings:
I’m just a singer of simple songs
I’m not a real political man
I watch CNN but I’m not sure I can tell
you the difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love
Yea — faith — hope — and love are indeed some good things God has given us and the greatest is love. Gods love is the greatest thing He has given us and the greatest thing we can share with others.

You can read the entire sermon here.

I have posted today’s sermon to my sermon blog. Based on Romans 13:8-14 it is entitled ‘Who Are You Putting On?”.

Here’s a portion of it:

Did you ever see Mel Brooks movie Young Frankenstein?
Gene Wilder stars as a young relative of the famous Dr. Frankenstein. He wants to distance himself from his famous relative and even demands his name be pronounced differently. But then he himself creates a creature much like his relative had created and wants to show the scientific community that his creature is different from the one his relative created. There is a great scene in the movie where he is introducing his “creature” to he scientific community at a major convention. He and his creature both dressed in tux and tails — begin singing and dancing to “Putting on the Ritz.” Of course, everything goes wrong the creature makes one of the stage lights explode and a fire breaks out and the creature goes wild proving that even though he could be dressed like a Broadway star, he was still a monster.
The problem was that all Dr. Frankenstein did was dress up the outside of his creature. Inside, the creature was still the monster. Putting on airs or putting on an act or even putting on the ritz did not really change the creature.
If you want to grow as a disciple, Paul says you dont need to put on airs or put on an act or even put on the ritz you have to put on Christ.

You can read the sermon here.

I have posted today’s sermon on my sermon blog. Based on Romans 12:9-21 it’s entitled: “Prescription For A Christian Life”.

Here’s a portion of it:

Some of you know that yesterday was my birthday. I truly appreciate all the cards, messages, Face Book greetings and other birthday wishes I received.

I am another year older today!

At 56 I seem to have reached the age where I take a lot of pills.

I take a pill in the morning to help me wake up due to my sleep apnea. Sleep Apnea means that I quit breathing while asleep and will jerk when I start breathing again. Even though I dont awaken, my body doesnt get the rest it needs during the night many mornings I wake up tired so I take a pill to help me stay awake. I take another pill in the middle of the day to help me stay awake again due to my sleep apnea. I also sleep with a CPAP machine that helps my continue breathing at night again due to the sleep apnea. Doctors have warned me that I need to sleep with the CPAP machine every night – or I might stop breathing and not start again. There are nights I feel I have to sleep with one eye open to make sure Sally doesnt cut the machine off!

Besides my pills for my sleep apnea I take a pill in the morning to keep my uric acid level under control. The doctor tells me that if I stop taking it I will develop gout in my foot and I have had that enough to know that I do not want it again! I also take 3 pills at night one for high cholesterol, and two for allergies.

I also have to have a bottle of Tylenol handy for the aches and pains I seem to be prone to especially in my right knee that I had surgery on several years ago.

Whenever I pack to go anywhere I have to pack a rather large bag what I call my medicine kit for all my pills plus a lot of room in my suitcase for my CPAP which is one of the older and more bulky models.

Yea I have definitely arrived at that age where my pills follow me wherever I go!

You can read the entire sermon here.

I have posted yesterday’s sermon on my sermon blog. Based on Acts 1:1-11 it is entitled “Don’t Just Sit There!”.

Here’s a portion of it:

How committed are you to going into the community and finding the needs that are all around us and looking for ways you as an individual and we as a Church can meet those needs?
Let me give you a suggestion.
Pray for God to bless you with vision for the needs that are in our community and the willingness to do something about them.
Pray a prayer I learned from Steve Hayner, President of Columbia Theological Seminary. Hayner once told a group I was a part of that he had written in the cover of his Bible:
Lord give me eyes to see things as You see them.
Break my heart with the things that break Your heart.
Let me never pass up opportunities to touch others with Your love.
This prayer is now in the cover of the Bible I use for my personal devotionals every morning and is part of what I pray every day.
As you go about your daily routine at home, work, school, in the community, wherever you may be pray that God will give you eyes that see things and people as He sees them and a heart that is broken by the things around you that break His heart.
I promise you that if you pray for God to give you an outward perspective that focuses on meeting the needs of others with His love and telling them about Him, He will rejoice and bless you with ways to reach out into the community and the world.

You can read the entire sermon here.

I have been at the Engage Evangelism Conference this week and have heard some great speakers — such as Dan Kimball, Stan Ott from The Vital Churches Institute, Chris Walker, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) Evangelism staff (Ray Jones, Dave Loeling and Eric Hoey). I come away with a new commitment to evangelism and making disciples for Christ.

While I learned many things about what evangelism is and will post my thoughts about the conference in the next few weeks, I learned one thing evangelism is not. It is not this:

(Love that video– it’s so funny!)

I have posted today’s sermon on my sermon blog. Based on Romans 10:5-15 it is entitled “Seeing — Hearing — Believing”.

Here’s a potion of it:

You may remember the motion picture Gandhi. Ben Kingsley starred as Mohandas Gandhi, the man who helped lead India to freedom through non violent protest. Kingsley spent months preparing for the role, visiting Indian locales Gandhi had frequented. He even learned to spin cotton thread on a wooden wheel, as Gandhi did, while holding conversations. The physical resemblance between Gandhi and Kingsley proved startling. After filming a scene in a village south of Delhi, Kingsley stepped out of a car and an elderly peasant knelt to touch his feet. Embarrassed, Kingsley explained that he was merely an actor playing Gandhi. “We know,” replied the villager, “but we see him and hear him in you.”

Friends thats the world’s plea to you. If you have Christ in your hearts and on our lips, you will grow in your faith and if others can see and hear Christ in you, they will believe.

You can read the sermon here.

I have also posted today’s sermon on my sermon blog. It’s based on Romans 8:26-39 and entitled: “Will You Sink Or Will You Swim?” .

Here’s a portion of it:

One of the safety measures taken at camp is that the children are tested for their ability to swim when they arrive on Sunday afternoon. If they can swim well they are given a green wristband to wear all week to signify that they can swim in any part of the pool jump off of the diving board — and take canoes and kayaks on the lake. Of course they can do these things as long at the lifeguard is on duty. If they can swim some but not very well they are given a yellow wristband to wear all week to signify that they can swim in parts of the pool but not the deepest parts. Those who can not swim are given red wristbands to signify that they have to stay in the most shallow end of the pool and even then under direct supervision of their counselors. They are very safety conscience at Camp Pee Dee — especially when it comes to the pool and lakes so determining who can and who cant swim is an important part of the first afternoon at camp as is the colored wristband system.
As I thought about the Camp Pee Dee colored wristband system this past week and had our text for today Romans 8:26-39 in my mind I thought about the challenges and dangers and struggles we all face in life and if we swim through these challenges or if they make us sink.

You can read the sermon here.