It is common for me to come across a wonderful sermon illustration, but run out of time to use it. In talking about the genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel I would have loved to work the following in. Unfortunately, I’d already said enough and I wasn’t quite sure where and how to work it in. Nevertheless, it’s worth taking a look at and reflecting on.
There are many wonderful creeds that have guided God’s people over the centuries, but I like this one which was written relatively recently as a summary of our beliefs. It was put together by Pastor and author Brian McLaren and is included in his book (which I recommend) entitled, The Story We Find Ourselves In.
Starting this Sunday, I’m going to add a blog to our church web page each week. Though it’s not a novel idea, it is something that’s been tickling my brain for some time now.
In our final sermon on Guardrails I drilled down into how to put into place guardrails against Greed. Christians have been fighting this battle for centuries. In fact, Greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins (They use a more antiquated term, Avarice.) It can rob us of gratitude and hence joy, but greed can also undermine the kind of generosity of spirit that is so important to God.
Archived Posts
The Biblical prayer we don’t know what to do with
Psalm 137 is written by people who have experienced catastrophic loss.
They have been conquered...
Patience and Trust
Sunday, in my benediction (which traditional folks did not hear) I talked about the Marshmallow Test. The original results of that test with children was that those who could delay gratification did better in life than those who could not.
Gandhi and the Sugar
I wasn’t preaching Sunday, Reverend Jackie Chandler was. And she talked about the power of influence you get when you practice what you preach. This famous illustration came to mind. It fits Jackie’s points quite well. Enjoy!
Not Just for Parents
Our current sermon series is about How To Talk Parent, but it doesn’t require any of us to be parents to appreciate the bits of wisdom OUR parents shared with us growing up.
If Not Higher
Here’s a story I wanted to use when talking about ‘what you do when no one is looking’ yesterday. It’s a wonderful illustration of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:1-6—do what you do because of who you want to be, not so that others will take notice and praise you.