Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
Recently I talked about the importance of teachability/teachability 2.0. I said teachability is an essential quality of being a disciple. Disciples, by definition, are teachable! Disciples must be passionate! Another requirement, I believe, is passion. Think about it: the word apathy means “without passion.” What do you think about the term, “apathetic Christian”? Isn’t that … Read more
Ephesians 1.17-23 Persistent Intercessory Prayervv17-18aPaul is praying a prayer of intercession, a prayer for others, specifically for the Ephesians. But it is my prayer for us and I want you to make it your prayer for yourself, for other believers and for this body. It is a persistent prayer, "I keep praying." He continues to … Read more
John 20.1-18 Do you like Easter? We all look forward to Easter don’t we? Easter is a sign that spring is here or on the way. We look forward to everything turning green and the first flowers are coming up. The first of my tulips bloomed just this week! We look forward to this very … Read more
In "The Great Thanksgiving" that we sometimes use for our communion liturgy, there’s this phrase where everyone is invited to "proclaim the mystery of faith" … "Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again." Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. All three parts are essential! The Apostle Paul talks … Read more
1 Corinthians 6.12-20 IllustrationThere is a story of a woman who had tried everything to lose weight—diet, exercise, appetite-suppressing pills Finally she found something that worked. She attaches a 12” x 16” picture of a beautiful, this, shapely woman, dressed in a bikini, on her refrigerator door. Every time she was tempted to snack, the … Read more
In wrapping up this series on the “7 deadly sins,” we’re going to talk about the last two sins on our list: lust and gluttony. Lust and gluttony are twin brothers. Lust is misplaced love and gluttony is misplaced hunger. A woman struggled to lose weight. She had tried everything — all kinds of diets, … Read more
[Note: As part of our devotion/Bible discussion time at beginning of our council meeting tonight, I shared a brief review of Tuesday’s message as well as some additional thoughts on teachability.] Psalm 51 reveals the teachable heart of David. It’s the psalm he writes about his repentance following his sins involving Bathsheba and Uriah. In … Read more
[Note: This sermon was presented at one of the Community Lenten Services coordinated by the Juniata Valley Ministerium. This sermon was delivered at the Zion Lutheran Church.] In this series of messages during Lent, we’ve been focusing on the promises of God’s blessings given in the beatitudes, a section of Scripture that Jesus presents at … Read more
“He who dies with the most toys wins.” You may have read that on a bumper sticker at some point. That could be the slogan for avarice. Avarice (a word we don’t really use much anymore) means “excessive, unbridled desire.” There are three closely related words we want to talk about … Greed – an … Read more
Notice the use of "abundant" or "abundance" in the following passages.John 10.10Luke 12.15-21 Abundance of possessions or abundant life? Which will we choose? Greed: desires more and more Covetousness: greed with jealousy (desiring what another has)Avarice: an excessive desire to obtain and keep money or possessions. Hoarding. Hoarding: News story of woman whose house is … Read more