The Mediator: A Parable

In this sermon I begin a 3 week series on prayer.  I look at the power and diversity of prayers in the Bible and compare it to the prayer that we use today.  What might our lives and our churches look life if we deepened our prayer lives?

13 Nov 201421min

Jesus helps the disciples to catch a lot of fish at the beginning and the end of His earthly ministry.  In this sermon I compare these 2 stories.  The first gives us the metaphor of "fishers of men" to represent what has historically been called evangelism.  I propose, however, that fishing was different back then and perhaps we should look at evangelism differently today.  I borrow the word Nudge from the book of that name by my teacher Leonard Sweet.  I believe it is  a great model for evangelism in the future and really does fit first century fishing.

7 Nov 201423min

This year for Reformation Sunday I looked at the key beliefs of the reformation by looking at the 5 Solas of the Reformation-“Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Alone); “Sola Gratia” (Grace Alone); “Sola Fide” (Faith Alone); “Solus Christus” (Christ Alone); and “Soli Deo Gloria” (To God Alone Be Glory).

30 Okt 201420min

This is the sermon from the celebration of Westminster's 50th anniversary in its current location.  In it I tell the history of the church since well before we moved to Oak Hill in New Brighton.  It is amazing to me how much of this history shapes the spiritual DNA of our church to this day even with members who were not connected personally or in their family with the church until recently.  I also at the end of my sermon turn the attention to the future of the church in anticipation of the collection of commitment cards for a capital campaign that began this Sunday.

20 Okt 201427min

What happens when an idea, movement, or organization get's off of its original vision and purpose?  How does it find its way back? This is the question the prophets ask in the Old Testament as Israel goes into exile.  Where did we go wrong?  And as Ezekiel dreams of a new temple and Ezra rebuilds the temple, they wonder how to do it differently now.  What can our church today learn from this time in history?

15 Okt 201423min

This week I continue building toward our anniversary celebration and capital campaign by looking at the building of the temple by Solomon.  Why is it built?  Why doesn't David build it?  What problems are there once it is built?  What does this tell us about being a church today?

7 Okt 201414min

As I build up to a capital campaign in the next few weeks, I am looking at the building of the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament.  What were their purposes?  Why was it important that the people give to help them be built? For this sermon, I built a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and rearranged furniture in the sanctuary to be more accurate to the set up of the tabernacle.  I walk around a lot, so I had to have my phone set on the first pew to record.

2 Okt 201428min

In 2 Corinthians Paul gives a list of all kinds of difficult things he has been through.  He is trying to show just how crazy he was for Jesus.  If you think about it, that kinds of abuse would have made Paul look very different.  What does it mean that Paul had all these scars and that Jesus has scars?  Do we live lives that are scared for Jesus?

21 Sep 201418min