The Best Kind of Trouble-maker

        While working on this last week’s sermon I was looking through Phillip Yancey’s excellent book—The Jesus I Never Knew—when I came across a section that I found profound.  It didn’t quite fit my sermon, but it caught my eye enough that I copied it down.

Practical Tips To Avoid Judging Others

          When I research a sermon, such as Sunday’s message on judgmentalism, I always try to think through some practical steps or tips in how to implement God’s desire for our lives.  I rustled together a herd of ideas this week and I offer them to you. 

The Shepherd, the King, and the Rescuer

         God has got a long list of names, but some of those names are better than others.  There is a small child who thought God’s name was Harold since the Lord’s Prayer includes the phrase “Hallowed be thy name.”  When you think of all the scriptures that are most likely to be memorized you would have to include Psalm 23, The Lord’s Prayer, and John 3:16.  The danger for us is our tendency to focus on the wrong thing. 

Old Jokes Are The Best Jokes

Sunday morning, we took a look at Jesus’ command to make our enemies into neighbors and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  One of the obstacles to doing this is our growing sense of tribalism—whether it’s a political, socio-economic, or even theological tribe.