Praire Hill CC: Archive of "Sermons"
The Character of Christ 11/9/08
Friday, November 14th, 2008Sermon Series: Colossians – All About Christ
Text: Colossians 1:15-23
Title: The Character of Christ
Theme: This message is about the incredible power and authority of Jesus. It is an anthem of His character and sets up the fact that He saved us himself.
Introduction: I love the holidays they make me almost giddy with anticipation of the upcoming days.
Transition: The passage that we read this morning is an anthem of the powerful character and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus. The Apostle outlines three different areas of Christ’s character that stand as eternal testaments to His power and authority.
I. Christ the Creator
a. Something about the fact that we cannot excise God as the basis of all creation and still worship Him.
i. It is the fact of creation that scripture returns to time and again as the basis for an understanding of Him.
1. It is the beginning of the Biblical narrative and builds the framework out of which all of our understanding of Him takes place. Gen. 1:1 – IN the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2. Scripture also makes it clear that this creative ability required no preexistent material –
a. “as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (Romans 4:17, ESV)
b. “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3, ESV)
3. It is one the main reasons that we understand Him as God and it is out of Creative authority that God defines His sovereignty over man – Job 38-41
4. It is from Creation authority that we have to understand that Jesus is our sovereign Lord. Before the foundation of time the trinity was considering mankind and the world into which he would be placed.
5. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3, ESV)
ii. The application of this principle to you and I means that we understand that we are more than an accidental bit of tissue that accidently got stuck together in one magical moment – we are the design of an incredible architect who formed us to exist in a magnificent creation as the centerpiece of that creation. This thought should leave us with a couple attitudes toward our creator.
1. Honor and privilege We understand that we were designed for glory and because of that we are aware of the fact that we need to live in the larger context of our existence. In other words our designer lavished an infinite amount of care into us and our surroundings and we should feel the privilege of that high station and live up to it.
II. Christ the Preeminent
a. Christ has first place in “all things” – in every way that man can possibly imagine Christ is first. There are several phrases that depict the first-ness of Jesus.
i. He is the image of God – This phrase probably doesn’t have the impact to us that it would have had to the person of the first century that read this letter. When we think of image we think of a reflection or a caricature of something else. The ancient people understood that this word translated image meant that something was more than just the reflection of something else it was the manifestation of the very thing that it represented. This thought is further heightened by the phrase that “it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.” So this made it clear to these folks that Jesus was more than just a representative or an ambassador from God He was and is the physical existence of God.
1. The author of Hebrews frames a synonymous thought when he declares that Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.”
ii. He is first born over all creation – This phrase signifies the fact that Jesus was pre-existent before the beginning.
1. Francis Schafer frames this idea quite nicely when he says that
iii. He is before all things – things here is represented by the neuter pronoun and indicates that Jesus is to be honored and revered above all material stuff that makes up the world and the universe.
1. I don’t know about you but since we have begun receiving the images back from the Hubble space telescope I have been fascinated at all of the marvels of the universe which have been existing out there without our knowledge of them. (Show slides) As incredible as all of the stuff that is around us appears nothing comes close to the magnificence of our Savior. Sometimes in our desire to make Jesus personal I think that we lose this sense of His majesty: Which makes His personal sacrifice even more poignant.
iv. IN Him all things hold together.
1. Maybe even more significant is the fact that the power and authority of Jesus is what holds the fabric of things together both on a macro universe scale and on a micro quantum scale, it is Jesus that is the glue of creation.
2.
III. Christ the Reconciler
a. The picture that we are given in scripture is one where all of creation suffered a serious brokenness when disobedience entered the creative canvas that God had built.
b. As I thought about this I was reminded of the animated Christmas Classic “Twas the Night Before Christmas. This movie tells the story of a village which has managed to raise the ire of Santa because one of the village mice has sent a letter to the local Newspaper in which he said that Santa was not real. Due to this being put in the paper Santa has started sending all of the letters that the children had written to him back unopened. In order to appease Santa the local clock maker was given the commission to build a large clock that would sing a beautiful song of reconciliation to Santa at the stroke of midnight on Christmas eve thereby causing him to rethink his anger and stop to deliver gifts to the children of this town. Well the plan might have worked except that the same mouse who had written the letter suggesting that Santa was not real wanted to get and see how the clock worked and in the process completely messed up the works. The mayor and town council were so infuriated that the clock didn’t work properly that they wouldn’t let the clock maker who designed and built the clock come and repair it.
c. While the analogy has several flaws I thought that there was an interesting similarity between this and the redemption story.
i. God designed and created us to be in perfect relationship with Him.
ii. We gummed up the works not only for us but for all of creation when we decided to be disobedient.
iii. And as incredible as it seems the designer and maker stands ready to enter the core of our works and repair the brokenness if we only allow Him in.
A Prayer for the Church (Part 2) 11/02/08
Friday, November 14th, 2008Sermon Series: Colossians – All About Christ
Text: Colossians 1:12-14
Title: A Prayer for the Church – Part 2
Theme: This message is a continuation from last week’s sermon where due to time consideration we were not able to complete the text from Colossians 1. This message will focus specifically on the three areas of thanksgiving which Paul tells us to focus on in our prayers: qualification, inheritance, deliverance, transference and redemption.
Introduction: An anti-tonal reading of Psalm 136:1-5, 23-26
Transition: One of the things that I want you to notice is that Paul switches from second person you to first person we and us so that in this part of the prayer Paul is no longer praying and praising God just for the Colossian Christians but for all believers himself included. There are five interconnected blessings which Paul focuses on as the result of God’s work in the believer’s life. They are qualification, inheritance, deliverance, transference and redemption.
I. Prayers of Praise.
a. Thanksgiving that God has qualified them
i. This word is only used twice in all of scripture and it means that God by His own power has reached down and fully made us adequate, or fit as it is expressed in some of the old translations, to receive the incredible gift of grace which He has built for all people.
ii. This blessing speaks of the fact that our position, our standing in the presence of God is only available to us because he has made us fit to be here.
iii. We live in a time and place where people many times believe that we are entitled to a lot of stuff just because we take up space and share the air with the rest of the humans on the planet. That somehow our very existence qualifies us for special recognition. In today’s politically packed climate this attitude is quite prevalent and reinforced by the messages that we get from all of the pundits. We are told that we deserve quality health care, that we deserve a good wage and so goes the endless list telling us that they will deliver all of the things that we deserve because we happened to be born citizens of the United States. I hate to disinflate that theory but the truth is that our existence does not automatically mean that we deserve all of the quality things which life might hold for us.
iv. The same is true of our salvation a lot of people kind of get the idea that God is a loving God, which He is, but to them that means He would never allow anyone to go to hell. The truth is God does desire a relationship with each one of us, He desires it so much that He went to incredible expense to provide it but we don’t deserve it instead God has decided to make us worth what He offers, He qualifies us.
b. Inheritance of the saints
i. The second blessing spoken of here is the incredible rich inheritance which God provides for us as adopted children.
ii. Have you ever thought about what you have inherited from your parents and grandparents? We get all kinds of things like physical attributes: the way our noses and ears look; personality bents we act certain ways because we inherited a bent toward that from earlier generations. Sometimes we inherit things like property or assets or maybe debts. A large part of our lives are made up of the things that earlier generations have already shared in.
iii. The language here harkens back to the time when the Promised Land was doled out to the tribes, clans and families. Each family was given a special inheritance by God that was so specially designated to them that it would continue to remain in their family’s birthright. This inheritance was so important that it should not really even be sold. If the owner of the ground did sell it to another person on the year of Jubilee, which happened every fifty years the land would be restored to its rightful inheritance.
iv. This passage tells us that God has given our inheritance that kind of consideration. He has set aside a non-revocable place in His kingdom of light, the eternal Promised Land. While we can decide not to enter on our own accord it does not take away from the fact that God has still earmarked and set aside an inheritance for us. In the landscape of heaven territory is provided for each of us if we decide to take God up on the offer.
c. Deliverance from the domain of darkness.
i. The next object of blessing which Paul thanks God for is our deliverance.
ii. Being delivered from darkness into light reminds me of a couple of things.
1. Firstly I am reminded of Ephesians 2 where we are informed that in our pre-salvation state we are dead following the course of the world and the prince of the power of the air. I think that it is a very accurate picture to demonstrate that before we are in relationship with God the Father through the Son we are not even aware of the fact that we are serving a lord of darkness in complete oblivion.
2. This makes me think of the description that C.S. Lewis gave to that magical kingdom that Lucy stumbled into when she tried to hide in the wardrobe. Do you remember the description of the condition which Narnia had been facing for years and years without the presence of Aslan? It was always winter and never Christmas.
d. Transference
i. Not only is it necessary for us to be rescued from the darkness that made up our existence before Christ we also need to be transferred into the domain of light.
ii. This means that we begin living differently than before. Our world is no longer about us, it is about the incredible majesty of God and His existence which so outweighs our own that we should scarcely be able to recognize the smallness of the live that we lived before we came to the grace of God in a personal way.
iii. This transference is made possible through the indwelling Holy Spirit. As we open up our lives to the effect of God in us our lives become the things that He wishes us to be.
iv. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, NASB95) “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
e. Redemption
i. Finally we are thankful that God has furnished us with redemption which is the forgiveness of sins. I think in order to really understand what it means that we have redemption we first have to understand that it is an ownership issue. The only way that we could experience the redemption which God has for us is to realize that He paid for us. Redemption only makes sense within the context of value and ownership.
ii. Let me share a few scriptures with you.
iii. (1 Corinthians 6:20, NASB95) “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
iv. (Galatians 3:13, ESV) “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—”
v. (Galatians 4:4-6, ESV) “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!””
vi. God is in the business of redemption - Scripture shows that He has redeemed His people from:
1. Evil
2. Egyptian bondage
3. From distress
4. From famine
5. From death
6. From our sins
7. And from Sheol
vii. He redeems us in:
1. Power
2. Loving-kindness
3. With Justice
4. And with Christ’s own blood.
A Prayer for the Church 10/26/08
Friday, November 14th, 2008Sermon Series: Colossians – All About Christ
Text: Colossians 1:9-12
Title: A Prayer for the Church
Theme: This message will be about what kind of prayer that Paul might pray for the Prairie Hill Church. As the Spirit inspired him he lifted up the Church in Colossae in 5 different areas which we will explore and apply to the Church here.
Introduction: Show short clip from “Expelled”. The purpose of showing you that clip was so that you could see the fact that we no longer live in a Christian culture. In fact I think it is important for us to understand that we now are living in an increasingly anti-Christian culture, one that sees our relationship with God as not only unnecessary but also as dangerous and so it needs to be either limited or expunged from society. While the fact of this anti-Christian sentiment is growing and becoming more noticeable all of the time it really puts us in the company of the churches of the apostolic age that we see represented in the New Testament.
Transition: Today we are going to begin a short study on the book of Colossians. I have limited myself to six sermons (unlike the 20 that I preached through 1 Corinthians that did not include all of the material). These sermons will focus a lot on the person and work of Jesus which is the central theme of the letter, as it really is of the entire New Testament.
Colossae was a town situated in the Lycus river valley in Asia Minor what is today called Turkey. While some scholars doubt the authorship of the Apostle Paul I think that the evidence is pretty clear that the traditional viewpoint, that it is a Pauline epistle, is pretty clear.
We know that Paul must have written this letter before 61 AD because Colossae was destroyed by an earthquake then and as far as we know was never rebuilt. The main point of the letter is as important for us today as it was for the recipients nearly 2000 years ago – there is a large segment of philosophy and societal pressures which are at war with a clear, committed relationship with the Lord and the defense of faith rests in a clear understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ as both general and personal Lord and Savior.
I. Prayers of Supplication
a. Prayer 1 – Filled with Knowledge of God’s Will
i. The English translation doesn’t do justice to the use of the adjectives in this phrase “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” The two adjectives here “all” and “spiritual” are both applied to both wisdom and understanding. So we find a need for both our wisdom and our understanding to be completely spiritual. This is important because it is what sets us apart from the world whose understanding and wisdom is carnal and spiritless.
ii. Wisdom is a general word which takes in the idea of a wider viewpoint of things and the word used here for understanding is a more specific word meaning grasp and I think has to do with applying the spiritual wisdom we have attained.
iii. In the same way that our wisdom and understanding of God’s will needs to be general and specific God’s will itself is both a general will for all people and specific personal will for each of us. What Paul is asking for the people in the Church is that they are filled with, and I think this means a clear personal sensitivity to both God’s general will and specific will for them.
b. Prayer 2 - Bearing Fruit
i. The second pray Paul lifts up on behalf of this church is that it is to bear fruit.
ii. What do you think of when you hear the phrase – Christians are to bear fruit? I think that a lot of us think about bringing people to the Lord and that it is our witness which bears fruit by the increase of people who are attending worship. While the Bible makes it clear that witness, evangelism and defense of our belief in God’s grace toward us are certainly a part of our Christian walk – usually when the Bible talks about believers bearing fruit the idea is that our lives are to bear the fruit of an increased awareness and application of God’s grace in all of our behaviors and attitudes.
iii. God is the one who causes the growth – any other growth is an artificial substitute for the movement of God in a community. (Teresa and my fruit trees).
c. Prayer 3 – Increase in Knowledge
i. The third thing Paul asks for the believers in Colossae is that their knowledge should increase. The word here is a different word than the one for understanding we talked about earlier.
ii. This word is one of those peculiar Greek structures that takes a preposition and attaches it to a verb in order to give it a more intense or powerful meaning. This kind of knowledge is almost an experiential knowledge a firsthand knowing awareness of a subject. The prayer Paul is using here is asking for something like a more intense personal awareness of God. I really like that idea.
1. Last night at the concert that a lot of us went to one of the songs that Big Daddy Weave sang had a line in it that said something along the lines of that this (speaking about coming into relationship through grace) is where religion is dead. I remember thinking that religion didn’t use to be a bad word but I think that as religion without relationship has increased in our culture we see the inherent falseness of any kind of worship that doesn’t include a personal awareness of God’s presence in all of our lives.
d. Prayer 4 – Strengthened with Power
i. The power that we are to be strengthened with is first of all God’s power not our own and therefore it is all powerful.
ii. The word for power here is from dunamis which basically carries the connotation of strength to accomplish a thing.
iii. IN this case what we are being strengthened for is spelled out. We are to be empowered to for endurance and patience with joy.
iv. In other words we have to be able to stand up to the long understanding that our lives are not designed to be islands of safety from the storms which life can throw at us. No we all realize that the circumstances of life affect Christians as well as non-believers. We all face illness, broken relationships emotional pain. That is part of the character of life. The difference is that Christians understand the eternal view. Our wider horizons allow us to be joyful in the midst of suffering and pain because we understand that this is not all that there is.
II. Prayers of Praise.
a. Thanksgiving that God has qualified them
i. This word is only used twice in all of scripture and it means that God by His own power has reached down and fully made us adequate or fit in some of the old translations to receive the incredible gift of grace which He has built for all people.
b. Inheritance of the saints
i. The language here harkens back to the time when the Promised Land was doled out to the tribes, clans and families. Each family was given a special inheritance by God that was so specially designated to them that it would continue to remain in their family’s birthright. This inheritance was so important that it should not really even be sold. If the owner of the ground did sell it to another person on the year of Jubilee, which happened every fifty years the land would be restored to its rightful inheritance.
ii. This passage tells us that God has given our inheritance that kind of consideration. He has set aside a non-revocable place in His kingdom of light, the eternal Promised Land. While we can decide not to enter on our own accord it does not take away from the fact that God has still earmarked and set aside an inheritance for us.
c. Deliverance from the domain of darkness.
i. The next object of qualification which Paul thanks God for is our deliverance.
ii. Being delivered from darkness into light reminds me of a couple of things.
1. Firstly I am reminded of Ephesians 2 where we are informed that in our pre-salvation state we dead following the course of the world and the prince of the power of the air. I think that it is a very accurate picture to demonstrate that before we are in relationship with God the Father through the Son we are not even aware of the fact that we are serving a lord of darkness in complete oblivion.
2. This makes me think of the description that C.S. Lewis gave to that magical kingdom that Lucy stumbled into when she tried to hide in the wardrobe. Do you remember the description of the condition which Narnia had been facing for years and years without the presence of Aslan? It was always winter and never Christmas.
d. Redemption
i. Finally we are thankful that God has furnished us with redemption which is the forgiveness of sins. I think in order to really understand what it means that we have redemption we first have to understand that it is an ownership issue. The only way that we could experience the redemption which God has for us is to realize that He paid for us. Redemption only makes sense within the context of value and ownership.
The Church Risen 10/19/08
Friday, November 14th, 2008Sermon Series: 1st Corinthians – The Church _____________
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:20-29
Title: The Church Risen
Theme: This is a message of solid assurance. Paul’s argument to us is that because Christ has been raised we can be sure of that resurrection as it attains to us. Resurrection is fact based on Christ, the first fruit, who folded the door open and oversees an orderly resurrection.
Introduction: I remember when I became a parent that as my kids began to grow and learned to talk and started to experience the world they asked some of the hardest questions. Things like: Why is water clear? Or why do men go bald? Some of these questions seem pretty innocuous at the time and then you find out that slowly out of these questions, matched up with their own experiences they are building their worldview. They are figuring out how the world works and maybe even more importantly how it is supposed to work.
Transition: When we become new people in Christ there is a process which is very mush similar to those early years as toddlers and young children when we were figuring out how everything was supposed to work. As we search scripture and experience God in new and different ways we slowly build a heaven-view an understanding of how God works in the world and even more importantly how He operates in and through the lives that He has given us. There are a few scriptures that I think are ah ha moments as we experience scripture for our lives. This passage today is one of those for me. Paul has been spent this entire chapter answering a question from the Corinthian Church on the fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. Apparently some of the people these Christians have been listening to have tried to tell them that there is no resurrection of the body. Paul’s impassioned plea has been that the fact of Christ’s resurrection, of which there were plenty of witnesses some of whom are still alive at the time of this writing, is proof that there is a resurrection which we all can look forward to. In the passage we read today Paul is continuing this lecture and including a mini – lecture on end times teaching.
In this paragraph we are taught some lessons about having a Christian heaven-view, and it should fill us with hope and joy as we face this world and the next.
I. Lesson 1 – Christ’s bodily resurrection is fact.
a. Paul has already told these Christians that Christ’s resurrection was a fact observed by a lot of eyewitnesses.
i. Some of these witnesses are still alive at the time of the writing of this letter.
b. In verses 12-19 – Paul has stated that if Christ’s resurrection was not a fact then:
1. His preaching would be in vain
2. We would be misrepresenting God
3. Our faith is futile
4. We would still be in our sins
5. The saints who have already died were not raised
6. We are to be pitied.
c. In other words without the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the tomb our faith is worse than worthless it is powerless and makes us into fools.
d. A lot of people today may make noises like they believe that Christ’s resurrection is a fact but they don’t live as if it is a fact. In other words the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Jesus has been whittled down to little more than a bump on the philosophical model that we build our lives around. A lot of modern people if backed into a corner would say one of two things about the resurrection either: it took place in a spiritual sense and is a much too supernatural concept to have physically happened or they simply don’t believe it and think that it is a product of ancient legend.
i. There is no room for either of those beliefs in evangelical Christianity. The verb which is used here that says Christ has been raised from the dead is in what is called a passive perfect form. That means that this event took place in a past time chronologically but has continuing effect in the present period. If I believe that Christ rose from the dead than there is implications for my life. Which leads us into lesson 2
II. Lesson 2 - Christ’s resurrection is a guarantee of our own
a. Paul declares that Jesus is first fruits of those who have fallen asleep – which is Greek idiomatic for died.
b. The word used here is a very old word and one which Paul also used in Romans 8:23 and used to describe the Spirit’s work in believers. One of the meanings for this word recorded in old papyri was that of entrance fee or legacy duty. It is like saying that our entrance is paid for by the first fruit. What an apt description of the work that Jesus has done our behalf. As first fruit of the dead He has paid our entrance fee into resurrection. How incredible is that. In Colossian s Paul carries the same idea saying that Jesus is first born of the dead.
c. I remember when I was a kid on of the favorite activities around our neck of the woods was going to the roller skating rink. There were times when our 4-h club went there and one of the things that I thought was so cool was that when our 4-h leader paid our way we just walked through the little swing gate and got this glow in the dark stamp on the back of our hand to show that we had a right to be there. Even if we left the rink when we came back they could see that our entrance had already been paid because we were marked.
d. Paul makes the same argument here for the viability of Christ’s sacrifice that he did in Romans 5:12 following
i. Through the disobedience that Adam exhibited in the exercise of his freewill sin entered into the landscape of the human condition. Since that introduction to disobedience all men and women have chosen to be disobedient. This rips apart the relationship that God had originally formed man to fulfill with his creator and taints the rest of creation. This cycle was broken when Christ came, put on complete humanness, lived in perfect harmony with his Father and then sacrificed himself on our behalf.
ii. Paul carries this argument one step further here by saying that he not only broke the cycle of sin and disobedience he also blazed the trail of resurrection which is in step with us.
III. Lesson 3 – Christ’s resurrection is a promise of his return
a. All things are under his power
b. In our Weds. Night study we have been sorting our way through Revelation and one thing has become crystal clear – when you are dealing with unrevealed prophecy and symbolic language there is not much that is clear. But Paul and the rest of the New Testament is crystal clear that when Jesus comes back his second campaign will have a totally different nature than his first.
i. His earlier mission to mankind was marked by incredibly powerful submission.
1. He submitted to the humanity which he allowed himself to be clothed in and felt hunger pain and all of the various other human weaknesses that come from wearing mortal flesh.
2. He submitted to the government institutions. He paid taxes and allowed them to arrest and try him.
3. He submitted to His heavenly Father – by going through with the horrible and purposeful mission for which He had been sent.
4. He submitted himself to ridicule, torture and the sacrificial altar which had been upended and made into a cross.
ii. His next mission to mankind will be marked by incredible power and authority.
1. “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, ESV)
2. ““When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25:31-32, ESV)
3. Revelation 19:11-16
4. This passage this morning tells us about his coming that:
a. He will destroy every existing rule and authority.
b. All of his enemies will be put in complete subjection.
c. After an orderly tying up of all things in a neat package he will place them in his Father’s hand.
d. And the last thing destroyed is death itself.
c. Christ’s resurrection is a promise of his return in power, glory and authority but it is also a promise that death will one day be a distant memory and we will have very little recollection of the rot, corruption and disease that marked this part of our existence.
Conclusion: During the course of our lives we will make all kinds of promises. When we were kids we and we were very serious about our promise we said something like “cross my heart and hope to die.” As adults we stand up in marriage ceremonies and make promises that we intend to last all of our lives. But if you want a promise you can really bank on you have to look at the one that is marked by Jesus’ bodily resurrection – we can know for certain that He is coming back – and I can hardly wait.
Posted in Sermons |The Church - Loving 10/12
Friday, October 17th, 2008Sermon Series: 1st Corinthians – The Church _____________
Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Title: The Church Loved?
Theme: This message is about the necessity, character, permanence and supremacy of love.
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The Church - A Body System 10/5
Friday, October 17th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church – A Body System
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, ESV)
Theme: This text centers around the theme of the interconnectedness of God’s people. This community happens not because think alike or look alike or share a common ancestry or culture this connection is because we all are part of God through His Son. When we came in honest belief as repentant sinners before God we were acted upon by Him to breathe together as one body, our lungs gasping the same air, our veins pumping the same blood.
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The Church Manifested - 9/28
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church – Manifested
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Theme: The main point of this passage is not that there is a list of specific spiritual gifts out of which each Christian has to decide which one they are going to practice. The point is that in each Christian there is some kind of manifestation of the Spirit. This Spirit led force is what gives the Church of God the character of God. God puts His mark of identity on the Church through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s lives.
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The Church - Connected 9/21
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church – Connected
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17-26
Theme: This passage of scripture is a climax to the central discussion which Paul has been having with these Corinthians since chapter one about the internal strife which is a big part of the congregation there. The answer he says is a refocus of personalities on Christ.
Introduction: The big fight over the last drink of kool-aid in a glass. Read the rest of this news item »
Transition: As we have been looking at this letter from Paul to the Corinthians, I have been convinced that a description of this church’s character would have to be contentious. Fighting and disagreement have become a way of life for this congregation. In todays passage Paul teaches the Corinthians and us some hard lessons about the problem of tension among members in the Church.
The Church - Protected - 9/14
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church – Protected
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 10:12-14
“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
Theme: The idea of this passage is that we, like the Corinthians, are living in culture which is not built to keep us in a faithful relationship with the Lord. This means that part of our striving will be to keep ourselves in a position where we are listening to the right voices and watching for the right signals in order for us to be faithful and authentic.
Introduction: The Movie where the girl is searching in the dark office building and comes face to face with the bad guy - imagine that!
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The Church Evangelistic - 9/7/08
Saturday, September 13th, 2008Sermon Series: The Church ________________
Sermon Title: The Church – Evangelistic
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Theme: The idea of this passage is that Paul is outlining the lengths that the Church should go to in order to save those outside of the grace of God.
Introduction: What is it that motivates you to do the hard things? The things that you would probably not do if there was any way to get out of it. Life is full of tasks that need to be accomplished whether we want to or not. (Training for the bike races)
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