preach-itSermon Archive

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December 2023

Love

John 3:16 tells us that it was because of His love for the world that God the Father gave His only Son. And what is that giving of Jesus except a description of Christmas? How appropriate that Christmas began with an act of giving. And the motive of the Giver was love.

This messages marks the fourth Sunday of Advent when we light the love candle and think deeply about love as Jesus’ motivation in coming into the world.




Joy

Joy came bubbling up in me like it was under pressure and it would have broken out of my chest if I had not let it vent out through my mouth in singing. That’s how I felt when I was a little boy, and my family would gather in our pew down at Chillum Community Church for the annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. I won’t pretend with you that I was a particularly spiritual-minded little boy. I wasn’t. Back then I didn’t doubt the truth of the Christmas story, but I also wasn’t p



Peace

This message marks the second Sunday of Advent when we light the Peace Candle. We will be celebrating the appearing of the One who was described in Old Testament prophecy as the “Prince of Peace” and whose birth the angels announced to the shepherds singing “And on earth peace to those on whom God’s Favor rests.”

God is a peace-loving God, and a peace-making God. The whole history of redemption, that climaxed in the death and resurrection of Jesus, is God’s strategy to br




November 2023

Hope

Anyone who was once a child on Christmas Eve knows something about waiting with hope. My brother, Job, and I shared a bedroom back then and it was an annual tradition for us to try and stay up and listen for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. I can recall after being sent to bed I would lean over from the top bunk and whisper excitedly to Job on the bottom bunk. Back and forth we would talk as we listened for the sound of reindeer hooves on the roof. I was so excited that it seemed impossible th



Festival of Booths

In this message we’ll be looking at the Festival of Booths (Tabernacles), which is, I think, the closest approximation in the Bible to our own holiday of Thanksgiving. It came annually at the conclusion of their harvest season and was a time of feasting and a time to express gratitude to God in worship. It was called the festival of booths because when God instituted the holiday (Leviticus 23:33-43) He commanded that all the people live in makeshift shelters made of branches for seven days



Thanksgiving Dinner

It was 160 years ago, at the height of the Civil War, that President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. In his Thanksgiving Proclamation, issued on October 3, 1863 and published a couple days later in the New York Times, he spoke of the many ways that God had blessed and helped the United States. Speaking of those many blessings he wrote, “No human counsel has devised, nor has any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracio



Grace Be With You

We turn our attention to the final greetings that mark the end of the letter (Colossians 4:7-18). At first blush these verses might strike us as being not particularly worthy of study and reflection. The main body of the letter, with its weighty exhortations and deep teaching, concluded in verse 6. These verses, by contrast, seem breezy, perfunctory and not nearly as momentous as what came before. There is a rush of names, a smattering of final instructions and then “Grace be with you.”



October 2023

Final Greetings for Colossae

We turn our attention to the final greetings that mark the end of the letter (Colossians 4:7-18). At first blush these verses might strike us as being not particularly worthy of study and reflection. The main body of the letter, with its weighty exhortations and deep teaching, concluded in verse 6. These verses, by contrast, seem breezy, perfunctory and not nearly as momentous as what came before. There is a rush of names, a smattering of final instructions and then “Grace be with you.”



Gospel-Shaped Community

We continue our study through the New Testament book of Colossians by studying Colossians 3:18-4:1. This passage describes a number of relationships and how they ought to be lived out within a Gospel-shaped community. I hope you can join us as we spend time in this challenging portion of scripture together.




Church Family

We will be continue our study through the New Testament book of Colossians by studying Colossians 3:12-17. In these verses we will see the important role that our church family holds as a means of grace in our lives to help us put on the new self.





 
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