Based on Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:21-35. Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on September 13, 2020.
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Weeding God’s Garden
Based on Genesis 28:10-19a; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on July 19, 2020.
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Seeing God
Preached on February 23, 2020, Transfiguration Sunday, at First Presbyterian Church of Cuba. Based on Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9.
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Can You Hear Me Now?
Preached on January 19, 2020, at First Presbyterian Church of Cuba. Based on Psalm 40, Isaiah 49:1-7, and John 1:29-42.
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The Death of Fear
Preached on December 29, 2019, at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on Matthew 2:13-23, Hebrews 2:10-18, Isaiah 63:7-9.
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The Shame of Christmas
Preached on December 22, 2019, at First Presbyterian Church of Cuba. Based on Isaiah 7:10-16 and Matthew 1:18-25.
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God’s Justice
Preached on October 20, 2019, at First Presbyterian Church of Cuba. Based on Jeremiah 31:27-34 and Luke 18:1-8.
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What’s Ours Is Yours: Time
Preached on July 7, 2019. This is one entry in a sermon series (where the rest were preached by Rev. Lou Ellen Hartley) on stewardship. This sermon was based on Deuteronomy 5:6-21 and Luke 13:10-17. Old Testament reading by Rev. Robert Rogers.
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The Voice of Hypocrisy
Preached on April 7, 2019. This is one entry in a Lenten sermon series (where the rest were preached by Rev. Lou Ellen Hartley) titled, “Whose Voice Do You Hear?” This sermon was based on John 12:1-8 and Psalm 126.
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Divisions in the Church
This is a devotion on 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, prepared for the Campus Ministries Association meeting on 24 January 2019.
At the beginning, there was just a group of Jesus-followers, (almost) all of whom were Jews. Later, Paul and others spread the Gospel to Gentiles throughout the Mediterranean, and also to Europe, Asia, and Africa. The first big conflict was between Jews and Greeks, which Paul wrote about so eloquently in Galatians. In this passage, we hear that within the predominantly Gentile church in Corinth, there were disagreements over interpretations of the Gospel, possibly exacerbated by socioeconomic divisions.
That was far from the end of it. For two thousand years, we have been re-interpreting the Bible and re-encountering Christ through the Holy Spirit, and because we all have imperfect understanding, we’ve splintered. Some of the schisms over the years have been fundamental theological disputes; others were about money and power; others were cultural.
Paul reminds us here that we are all one in Christ. Among this group [CMA], we would probably have a hard time coming up with a statement of faith that we could all agree on. We come from different faith traditions, with different styles of worship and different understandings of how God works in the world. And yet, we all serve the same Lord, Jesus Christ. We are all bound by the same Great Commandment:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37,39
We have all been given the same Great Commission:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
Matthew 28:19-20a
While we may never agree on some things, so long as we are guiding people to become disciples and pointing them towards the Truth that is in Christ, while loving God and loving our neighbors, we can work together to build God’s kingdom.