Sermons 2011

1 John 4:7-8
This scripture simply says that “God is love.” It also says that he or she that does not love does not even know God. Love is the foundation of life. The abundant life promised to us in the teachings of Jesus Christ depends on love being given and received. It is at the core of how we function. It is the cornerstone of the quality of our lives.

Matthew 15:10-11
This scripture is a powerful word from Jesus that was shocking then and it is still shocking today. "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out." Jesus did not care so much about what we ate or drank as he cared about our talk. Simply put, words matter. The old childish "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," simply doesn't make the cut to adult wisdom. Words at times are the most hurtful or helpful things we have. If they are so powerful, let's use them for good.

Luke 10:38-42
What does it mean to be “with” someone? The story of Mary and Martha serves as a great way to see how Jesus valued quality time with others. Having quality time doesn’t merely mean being able to set aside the unimportant for the important, it can also mean setting aside the urgent or necessary for the sake of the essential. It’s a lesson Martha had to hear in her time and one that we, in our busy culture, likely need to hear as well.

Dr. Terry Collier, our Church Counselor, is preparing deeply on this very sensitive and difficult topic of love. I look forward to what his research reveals to all of us.

Galatians 6:2
This sermon wraps up our Five Love Languages series. As we do things for each other, how do we maximize the communication of our love so that we don't resent all the stuff we do? How do we not get bogged down about what we do? How do we make what we do occur? If you are going to do things for others and they don't end up showing how much you love, then how do we reshape the how we do of the what we do?

1 Corinthians 13
The love chapter of the bible ends with the statement, “faith, hope and love, these three abide.” Do we know what faith is? What does it mean to say it is the “assurance of things hoped for?” What is conviction? How do we know if we are feeling it? Faith is one of the top three in New Testament theology. Let’s see if we can understand what it is.

Psalm 39:7
The scripture says that our hope is in the Lord. Hope is the topic of many motivational speakers, used often in inspirational talks and quoted often from great thinkers. Both theologically and psychologically hope is the “sine qua non” (which means without which there is nothing) of life. On this Sunday we are going to wrap ourselves around the meaning of hope and the practical way the scripture invites us into it.

John 15:4
We usually think the word abide means to live somewhere. It actually means to wait, to endure without yielding, to bear patiently and to accept without objection. We skip over this little word when we say, “faith, hope and love abide these three.” We focus on the three nouns while “abide” is the verb of the sentence. When we say, “I can’t abide...” we’re making a pretty big statement.

Revelation 21:1-5 “Behold I make all things new.” The word “lent” means “spring” (not the stuff under your bed) and is the 40 days before Easter. If you wanted to remake something the first thing you would do is remove the flaws, then you would look at what it should do but doesn’t. Those are both the traditional habits of the season of Lent. As we prepare for the resurrection, how are we looking at “being remade?”

Romans 3:21-26
What does the apostle Paul have to say about our humanity? As a good Jew, Paul was familiar with the Genesis story of creation. By exploring that story and the opening of Paul’s Letter to the Romans we are presented with a new and refreshing view of our own humanity, remembering we are created in the image of God.

Romans 3:28-30
Jesus said in Mark 5:34, in Mark 10:52 and in Luke 17:19 that a person's faith saved them. In all three instances he made it clear that his healing, cleansing or saving of that person was dependent on that person having faith. "For we hold that a person is justified by faith" is what Paul says in Romans 3:28. Our outward actions are important but we are not saved by them. It is the inner thoughts of our souls where salvation is found.

Romans 5:1-6
Jesus died for us all. It says in Romans 5, “for while we were still weak, at the right time Jesus died for the ungodly.” You don’t have to be “good enough” for Jesus to love you. Jesus loves you “just as you are without one plea.” Jesus doesn’t need a reason to love you. You don’t need to be good enough or repentant enough or sad enough or well-intentioned enough. He died for you. He loves you. That is simply it.

Romans 8:28-31
Although God is pouring “grace upon grace” into each of our lives, we do have the capacity to resist that. We can say no to God’s support, comfort, guidance and strength. Our freewill has been made very powerful by our Maker and can be used for good or for harm even to ourselves. This will be our communion Sunday as we prepare for the Easter season.

Romans 8:31-39
As we continue to grow in grace and knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to a place called assurance where we are very sure of our relationship with God and our place in eternal life. This does not come easily nor quickly for the believer but results from a journey of intentional faith through the years. This is where the song, “Blessed Assurance” comes from.

Luke 19:29-41
Palm Sunday is always a moving time here at Anona as we watch the palms being processed often by children and hear the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem in triumph. The people thronged to meet him shouting “Hosanna in the highest.” This Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week in the life of our church. A time of preparation for the resurrection that each of us hope for at the end of our life.

Luke 25:1-5
Easter! Easter always begins with a sunrise service that Anona co-sponsors with Moss Feaster Serenity Gardens in the Rose Garden by the fountain among the graves. Hundreds of people will meet the sunrise, many standing beside the grave of a loved one as we commit to our faith in eternal life and hear the message of faith and hope that we will once again see those we have loved and lost in an eternity of love.

Matthew 7:1-5
Matthew 7 says, “do not judge so that you may not be judged.” The most common feeling from non-Christians about Christians is that we are judgmental. In fact, when Barna surveyed young adults across America, they found that of those who didn’t go to church 87% felt Christians were judgmental.

Ephesians 4:29-32
Matthew 7 says, “do not judge so that you may not be judged.” The most common feeling from non-Christians about Christians is that we are judgmental. In fact, when Barna surveyed young adults across America, they found that of those who didn’t go to church 87% felt Christians were judgmental.

Acts 17:22-32
Most Christians respect people of other faiths but the impression that non-Christians have is that we are somehow an intolerant people. The generation raising kids today are very tolerant of other religions and turned off by the Christians who engage in a high pressure sales job of trying to put down people of other faiths.

Job 2:11-13
Christians get it wrong when they attribute tragedy to the will, plan, and hand of God. They get it wrong when they blame victims as the cause of their own suffering. It is not the majority of Christian opinion that when tragedy occurs globally or personally, that it is the will, plan and act of God. When judgmental Christians blame Japan’s lack of Christianity as the cause of the earthquake, we just all look a little worse in the world’s eyes.

Acts 10:28
There is not a single issue such as capital punishment, divorce, homosexuality, or politics that would find the people of Anona 100% in agreement. The Methodist motto is “think and let think.” Sadly, the perception from the outside is that if you are a Christian you have a certain opinion on a social issue. We Methodists are among the most broad-minded of Christians in our diversity.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
When Christians get it right they are the most attractive of all people. They are not boastful, or arrogant or rude. They do not insist on their own way. They are not irritable or resentful. They are not condescending or judgmental.
I not only want to be that kind of person, I want to be surrounded by that kind of person. I want, with all my heart, a community of people dedicated to be just that. I long for the day when Christians instead of talking about what others are doing wrong seek to live 1 Corinthians 13.

Hebrews 11:1-3
As I am looking at this great passage, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”, I realize that the great “leap” described by Christian writers is one of our big steps in life. To be or become people of faith we enter with a group of people who stepped off into the void trusting God with their future. If you read past the beginning of the Hebrews passage there is a whole list of biblical stories about people stepping out in faith. What an honor it is to join them.

Genesis 22:1-18
Two of our pastors Eric McCrea and Katie Pestel will be talking about God’s promise to Abraham and that you can trust God to keep God’s promises because you can see the promises God has kept.
This rich, new time in our church where parents learn to be the teachers of Christian character in their homes is being led forth by Katie, Eric and Richard. It’s very appropriate that on Father’s Day they talk about Abraham and how he trusted God and took off as we trust God and take off into a whole new approach to empowering parents.

Genesis 37:9; 39:2,20-21; 41:39-40
The story of Joseph like most stories in the bible is a “journey” story. Joseph trusted God through betrayal, imprisonment and fear of his life. Joseph accepted God’s hand on him. That made all the difference.
God’s hand is on us all. God desires good to come out of every situation. God’s part of the blessing is to have that hand on us and our future. Our part is the leap of faith to hold that hand as we step forward.

July Theme: Perseverance

Hebrews 12:1
The book of Hebrews tells the story of perseverance through the history of biblical characters starting with Adam and Eve’s son Abel through the woman Rahab who helped the followers of Moses into the promised land.
Surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses as these we are inspired to live a life of perseverance and to “run the race with patience that has been set before us.

Hebrews 12:2-3
The book of Hebrews sees Jesus as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. The point of that faith perfection is to endure through the cross disregarding the shame for the “joy that was set before him.
What is your joy? Hope brings courage. If we have joy to look forward to that brings hope. Hope brings courage. Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk, uncertainty or intimidation.

Hebrews 12:7-12
Perseverance brings discipline which is (according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary) training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character. I have sought after discipline my whole life. I have sought to learn discipline, to be disciplined as a person, to teach discipline and to discipline others. In the middle (or later half) of my life’s journey I have not yet attained the depth of this field of study.

Romans 5:3-6
When people say, “I’ve lost all hope” counselors, pastors and therapists help them understand they are on the pathway to hope for biblically the pathway to hope is not seeing it (faith is the evidence of things unseen) but “suffering” toward it.
This Sunday we will talk about that pathway.

Proverbs 3:5-6
In the end, what we need is for God to “straighten it all out.” The sermon series will conclude with a clear understanding of how we and God work together to get it all straight. We have our part to play and God does too. Let’s sort that out Sunday.

November Theme: Gratitude

As Christians it is important to let others know that we see how they have helped us. Jesus promoted gratitude as a way of life. He had a deep thankfulness within his own soul and he promoted the concept of gratitude in his followers.

 

Thessalonians 5:18
To embrace life in all its variance creates a journey toward depth and genuineness. On this Sunday we will explore the challenge of Thessalonians to give thanks in all circumstances.
When having a grateful heart depends on circumstances outside our lives we lose our resilience. We don’t have a well-being we can depend upon. It doesn’t have to be perfect for us to love it.

Matthew 20:1-15
We have a good life until we become envious and lose our joy because of others. When we receive a fair wage for our work we are happy until we hear that someone else is paid more for the same job. When our happiness is spoiled by somebody else’s kid getting an award, we think our kid deserves or someone else gets a break when we have to take it on the chin, it’s another way that the “mortality” (perishable) gains power over our immortality. Jesus gave an extreme story to help us understand that when our life is resentful of others well-being we spoil the very happiness that could be ours.

Luke 17:11-19
Gratitude is rare. Thanking is unusual. The respect at the drive-thru window at McDonald’s for the person making your change or the way you treat your child’s teacher, the way you treat folks who do things for you is an essential part of the Christian walk.
You can hear Jesus, the Creator of the universe, the one who designed humankind in his disappointment in this bible story. You can almost see the tears and anger on his face when he says, “Where are the nine?”

Luke 22:14-20
The two words “give” and “thanks” in biblical language form the one word Eucharist. Giving and thanking are joined together to form one of the most holy words in our faith. We take the sacrament on other Sundays. This Sunday I want to talk about being the sacrament. Each time we give, each time we thank, and especially when we give thankfully, we are the body of Christ broken for the world.
Be the presence of Jesus Christ. Let that mission carry you through the holiday.