Progress Not Perfection

Scripture Passage – Matthew 14:30-31
Description – The fifth in a six-part series ‘Get Your Feet Wet.’
This morning we begin with this quote from Max Lucado.

(Slide 1) Whether or not storms come, we cannot choose. But where we stare during a storm, that we can. (Source: Max Lucado via twitter.com/MaxLucado, October 12, 2009)
(I think that [...]

Why Do We Need Jesus?

Isaiah 64:1-9

Main point: We need Jesus because we need to be changed by God!

A person who knew nothing about football was taken by a friend to a college football game. The friend explained the game as clearly as possible before they arrived.
As the officials met with the captains of both teams for [...]

Some Say He Was A ______

Text: John 1:1 – 14

Main point: Who is Jesus? Jesus is God.

(The song The Outlaw, written and recorded by Larry Norman is played with overhead 1 up)
The song we’ve just heard was written and recorded over 30 years ago by Larry Norman. It is entitled The Outlaw. And though it is 30 years [...]

How Do You See Jesus?

Scripture Passage – Isaiah 53:1-6
Description – Communion Meditation for October 4, 2009
(Slide 1) How do you see Jesus? If you could paint a picture of Him, what would He look like?
(Slide 1a) What color eyes would you give Him?
(Slide 1b) What color hair would you give Him?
(Slide 1c) How tall would you make [...]

2003 Good Friday Service: “Wounds: Visible and Invisible”

The Two Thieves
Luke 22:32-43

Two men. Someone’s sons. Both, arrested, tried, sentenced, and slated for execution. What were their wounds?
As we have heard in the text, the hung alongside Jesus as He was crucified. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions. What were their wounds for?
I hear in the voice of the repentant thief a deep [...]

Risking Life and Limb

Scripture Passage – Matthew 14:25-32
Description – Communion Message for September 6, 2009 and the introduction to the Fall 2009 series, “Getting Your Feet Wet!”
People who are learning to speak English as a second language probably wonder what a phrase like ‘he risked life and limb’ really means. What does it mean? According the freedictionary.com it [...]

Living and Dying

Description – Communion Meditation for December 4, 2005
TS Eliot wrote one of my favorite Christmas poems many years ago entitled, ‘Journey of the Magi.’ Written from the perspective of one of the Magi, it contains a very reflective perspective on the travels to find the Christ child and the results of that meeting.
(Read the entire [...]

The Reality of Christmas

Matthew 1:21
Matthew 2:13-18
Description – 2005 Advent Sermon
I begin this morning with two views of Christmas. View number one:
My husband and I had been happily (most of the time) married for five years, but hadn’t been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if He would give us a [...]

God Makes A Statement

John 1:1
Description – 2005 Christmas Day Sermon
As I reflected on the theme on this morning’s bulletin cover, I decided to re-listen to the audiotapes of both Jonathon and Daniel’s births. As I did so, I heard voices of joy, of business, of pain, and of life.
Both boys happened to be born in the same birth [...]

What Do You Have?

Scripture Passage – Matthew 15:32-39 Description – Part 1 of a Two Part Series on Using what God has given you.
(Slide 1) It was only a few years ago that I learned to swim.
This was after the boys had already learned to swim.
Their joy and enthusiasm in the pool gave me a boost that I [...]