"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me ..." Philippians 4:11-13 Participants enter and take their places in the chancel. As they come forward, the congregation sings the hymn "O God of Mercy." When the hymn is completed, the drama begins. LECTOR: "... I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. I know what it is to be in need, and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have ...
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried..." They killed him. They taunted him...tortured him. They killed him. Why? What had he done? The answer of our faith over the centuries has been NOTHING. He was the only perfect one who ever lived. Sinless. Yet the record remains and our affirmation is repeated: "...suffered ...
Interesting item in the paper the other day. "According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year...Male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer, however, retain their antlers until after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen...had to be a ...
Have you ever been frustrated because you were trying to talk to someone who simply was not listening? Would you wives hold up your hand? Television news host Hugh Downs once told how frustrating it was to him to see journalists conducting interviews without really listening to the person they were interviewing. He called those types of conversations the "yeah-well interview." As an example of a "yeah-well interview," Downs recalled an interview he heard between a journalist and a former prisoner in the ...
Now will you hear the word of the Lord as you find it in the 5th chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. The 5th chapter of the second letter to the Corinthians, beginning with the 14th and continuing through the 21st verses, the end of the chapter. This is the word of the Lord. “For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all, therefore, all have died. And he died for all that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who, for their ...
Dick Sheppard was one of the great preachers of England in another generation. He was really one of the British church, a great preacher prophet. His preaching often set all of Britain aflame. The morning after he died, almost all of England mourned his passing, and a London newspaper proclaimed a great truth. The paper carried a picture of the pulpit of the church where Dick Sheppard preached, St. Martin’s in the Field. A soft light shone down on the reading desk where there was an open Bible, and in the ...
Our scripture lesson is taken from the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, beginning with the 7th and reading through the 18th verses. I’m reading from the Revised Standard Version. This is the word of the Lord. “So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and ...
Dick Sheppard was one of the great preachers of England in another generation. He was really one of the British church, a great preacher prophet. His preaching often set all of Britain aflame. The morning after he died, almost all of England mourned his passing, and a London newspaper proclaimed a great truth. The paper carried a picture of the pulpit of the church where Dick Sheppard preached, St. Martin’s in the Field. A soft light shone down on the reading desk where there was an open Bible, and in the ...
Our father of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, had an attention-getting way of expressing truth. Though he was very wordy in his sermons, he could gather up a world of truth in a few words. His pithy sayings are often quoted and are a source of truth and inspiration. Listen to him: “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” The best way to resist the devil is to destroy whatever of the world remains in us. Every new victory a soul gains comes as a result of prayer. The essential part of ...
[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] The title of today’s sermon, “Panic Room,” has nothing to do with the IRS forms some of you still have at home, waiting to mail. Surely you have your papers in order. However, it is about fear. In 1947 ...
Once upon a time, there lived a humble man who accepted everything that happened in life as an act of God. If something good happened, God did it. If something bad happened, that also was an act of God. Unfortunately, he was about the unluckiest man alive. Makes you wonder about his theology, doesn’t it? But never once did he complain. He got married and his wife ran away with his best friend. His daughter fell in with the wrong crowd and became addicted to drugs. His son was in a bad accident. He lost a ...
Transition times. Life is full of them . . . times of transition. As Eve allegedly said to Adam as they were leaving the Garden of Eden, “We are living in a time of great transition.” Transition times. No times are more filled with possibility and promise. No times are more filled with peril and despair. In transition times, everything is possible, and everything could fall flat and fail. Think about every time you started a new school. Think about the first time you moved out of your parent’s home. Think ...
Our blessed Lord presses the issue. Do you or do you not want to be my disciple? If you do not, then it is with great sadness that your Savior must move on with those who are willing to fully commit themselves. In our lives, each and every one of us receives Christ’s invitation of discipline and abandonment of the world. No longer are we getting acquainted. We are being asked to come into a relationship at once glorious and painful. Yes, it comes to all of us — sooner or later. It is like moving from an ...
There is an old Jewish folk saying which affirms what the Lord does is certainly best, probably. Now there is an ambiguity there, but it’s really a profession faith. What the Lord does is best, probably. Ours is a society that thrives on certainty. The Lord calls us to live with mystery. Ours is a high-tech civilization, so we’re preoccupied with fact. The Lord calls us to live in faith. Last Sunday we began this series of sermons on the book of Exodus, and we’re going to preach through this great book in ...
Consult any physician, ask any health guru, read any article in a newspaper or magazine, and all will agree - the best thing we can do for our physical health is exercise. We may not be able to run a marathon or lift weights like a football lineman, but it will do us a world of good to simply take a walk. Here in his letter to his young friend Timothy, Paul, too, notes the value of physical exercise, then quickly instructs Timothy to get in shape spiritually as well. “Train yourself in godliness, for while ...
Our children and grandchildren came in last weekend to celebrate Easter with us. Last Saturday evening we took the entire family (all 10 of us) over to Goode Company Taqueria on Kirby Drive for a casual child-friendly meal. As we walked in, we began to look at the large menu printed on the wall just above the serving line. I was pointing out to everybody that we could order hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks or Mexican food. Just then, four-year-old Daniel asked (what was for him) the ultimate question. In a ...
For the above title, I reach back across Matthew's more detailed record of the same message where he recalls that Jesus specified the right hand, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off" (Matthew 5:30). That might be significant because research indicates the somewhere around 85% of humans are right-hand dominant, and it could mean that Jesus is not just saying that a sinning hand should be excised but that even if it is the dominant hand that sins it must go! Let us think about it, and ...
In many ways, Nicholas Green was an ordinary seven-year-old boy, but he became a source of life for seven people and a beacon of inspiration for the world. Nicholas was born on New Year's Eve 1986, a new bundle of joy to greet the New Year. Along with his baby sister, Eleanor, and his parents, he enjoyed life and all the fun associated with being a child. With the help of his mother, Maggie, he read all seven books of C. S. Lewis' epic The Chronicles of Narnia. He loved to role play and considered himself ...
The best way to jump-start your spiritual life, according to a recent survey, is to serve others in Jesus’ name, in addition to studying the Bible. Eighty thousand people from 200 churches responded to this survey. What sent shock waves to pastors and leaders everywhere is that the weekly worship service can only carry a person so far in aiding spiritual growth. If the person only attends worship after awhile they become bored, angry, and sometimes leave the church. They describe their experience as being ...
Matthew 28:1-10, Matthew 28:11-15, Matthew 28:16-20
Teach the Text
Jeannine K. Brown
Big Idea: Matthew narrates Jesus’ resurrection, demonstrating God’s vindication and authorization of Jesus’ mission, and Jesus’ commission of his followers to disciple the nations through baptizing and teaching obedience to all that he has taught. Understanding the Text Chapter 28 narrates Jesus’ resurrection (28:1–15) and his commissioning of the disciples (28:16–20). The resurrection story picks up plot elements introduced at the end of chapter 27, including the presence of certain women at the cross and ...
Big Idea: Although the Spirit’s gifts do not grant status to their recipients, the gifts that benefit and build up Christ’s community are of greater significance and value than those used only for the personal benefit of the individual. Understanding the Text Paul now returns to his discussion of spiritual gifts begun in chapter 12. To fully appreciate chapter 14, however, chapter 13 cannot be dismissed as a digression or a simple aside. Although 14:1–25 seems to focus primarily on tongue speaking and the ...
How Eliphaz Explains Job’s Adversity Big Idea: Eliphaz explains Job’s adversity as a standard case of God’s retribution for sin. Understanding the Text Job’s three friends, who arrived on the scene in 2:11–13, wait until after Job’s opening lament in chapter 3 before they speak. From chapter 4 through chapter 27, the friends and Job speak alternately, as they all try to explain Job’s adversity. Eliphaz is the lead speaker in each of the three cycles of speeches, and his words introduce the key points that ...
There was a best-selling book in 1995 by Daniel Goleman called Emotional Intelligence. This book provided us with many examples of the effects that our emotions can have on our rational brain. The book begins with the story of Gary and Mary Jean Chauncey, who were in an Amtrak train that crashed into a river after a barge hit and weakened a railroad bridge in Louisiana. Gary and Mary Jean were trapped in their compartment as they tried desperately to save their eleven year-old wheelchair ridden daughter ...
There are four stories going on in this text: 1) the story of a humble leader, 2) the story of a sick woman, 3) the story of a dead little girl, and 4) your story and mine. We want to be sure to get at the truth of the Bible stories, but we also need to look at the personal connection, the application of the text to our lives. That's your story and mine. In other words, preaching Bible stories must not only be true to the text; preaching also must make a difference. This text about Jesus' healing power is ...
I’d like to tell you about a trip I made the other day, down to the Jordan. You know it isn’t all that far, but it is a challenging walk, so I took plenty to drink and an extra jacket because I knew it would be cold by the time I get back. I threw a couple of snacks in my jacket pocket too, just in case I got hungry. Well, I heard there were a lot of people planning on going, so I left Bethany early to avoid the crowd on the road. You know, some of those places along the road near Jericho are pretty narrow ...