04/01/2024
From One Detective to Another
The actual quote, that I was alluding to in Sunday’s sermon is from Sherlock Holmes. It is: “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
It makes a lot of sense if you're the epitome of what was an obsessive Victorian faith in empiricism and scientific deduction. But I like Samuel Bar-Spade's version: “When you eliminate the improbable then whatever remains, no matter how impossible it may seem, must be true--or as we assert--must have behind it the power of the living God.”
Ours is not a blind faith. It is a faith based on the testimony of a variety of people who were willing to share their testimony with whoever was willing to listen--to offer that testimony in the face of those who wanted more than anything else to discredit and dismiss them. There is also evidence based on more than just eye-witnesses. There is the evidence of radically altered lives--the broken who have been healed, the lost who have been found, the self-centered who lay down their lives in love, the dead who have been brought back to rich, full, and satisfying life. It might seem absolutely impossible, let alone extremely improbable, but nevertheless all the evidence we have leads to one life-changing truth:
Nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love our God has for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
May that truth warm your heart,
May that truth send you on your way,
and May that truth shine forth in all you do,
now and always.
Archived Posts
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.
The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”
One of the Longest Benedictions I Ran Out of Time to Share
Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...