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Showing posts from May, 2016

you know you really gotta

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get right with the Lord A sermon from Galatians : All you have is your reputation; and Paul’s had seen better days… Paul founded the congregations in Galatia.  While he was away working with other congregations, though; some other missionaries showed up… And when they found out Paul had been the one to start those congregations, they couldn’t hold their tongue. “Oh Paul . You know, he isn’t authorized from HQ, right,” they ask rhetorically. Paul’s pedigree didn’t cut the mustard… But that wasn’t all. Because it wasn’t just Paul’s bona fides that troubled those other missionaries. It was his entire message … The infiltrators said Paul’s message was too simple .  They accused Paul of telling the Galatians what they wanted to hear. That Paul made the Gospel easy , because he was trying to gain the favor of his audience, the Galatians. That Paul was a people-pleaser. All you have is your reputation, and these other missionaries were suspicious of Pau

out there's a land

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 that time don't command A Pentecost Sermon : On any given Sunday you come to here as if it’s the most ordinary thing in the world to do. You could just as well be doing anything else. But, here you are — acting as if you’re perfectly normal! These days though, at least in our little corner of the world, fewer and fewer folks are knocking down the doors of the church. More and more people are looking just a little sideways at our gatherings. Questioning just how normal you must be to be here this morning… Once again , we’re being confronted with the scandal of The Church. How strange our little assembly each week, truly is… Take comfort! You are certainly not the first to be told how strange your Sunday morning activities are - with God’s grace we won’t be the last, either.  The first Christians certainly had no illusions about their gatherings. They knew how strange their Sunday morning plans made them. A theologian once quipped, Christians woul

A letter about Rest

Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray always and not lose heart ~Luke 18:1 I suspect the biggest reason prayer doesn’t come easily to us, is because we’re not good at resting . Sure, summer is quickly approaching. Perhaps your thoughts are turning to a quieter schedule. Maybe you’re even looking ahead to a vacation. But have you ever returned from a long-awaited vacation, even more tired than when you left?  I know I have! We’re an all or nothing people. We work, work, work until we’re totally exhausted. Eventually we decide it’s high time we take a rest. So we cut out any and all work for a few days, perhaps we even go to the beach.  During those days set aside for nothing but rest, we jam in as much relaxation as we can. We end up exhausting ourselves, trying to make sure we get as much leisure as possible! It’d be comic if we weren’t all so worn out, so often… Yet Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will