preach-itSermon Archive

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July 2022

What Do We Do?

There is something in all of us that resists change. I believe much of it is rooted in our fear of the uncertainty of it. I was thinking of the Hebrews as they left Egypt. Just a mere 45 days after being freed from the slavery and oppression of Pharaoh their cry was to turn back for the consistency of where they had come. Exodus 16 recounts,

“The whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, â




Robes of Righteousness

We conclude our current sermon series focusing on those passages that highlight pieces of clothing by studying Isaiah 61 together. One the occasion when Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus stood up in the synagogue and read a portion of this chapter (Luke 4:16-21), and after reading it He said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” So, Jesus’ own testimony about Isaiah 61 is that it is about Himself. Isaiah 61 is remarkable for all the generous, posi



Who Touched My Garments

Poor, Jairus! His daughter was dying. His child who he had quieted after nightmares, and carried on his shoulders to the marketplace, and who he had served and protected with all the tender devotion of a Father was struggling to draw another ragged breath. He stood there feeling helpless. Terribly helpless.

When he had left her bedside, she had looked as though she might die at any moment. Her limp hair had been plastered against her sweaty brow. He needed a miracle, and so he had le




Joseph’s Coats

In this message we are going to be spending time with a dreamer named Joseph. We find his story at the end of the book of Genesis (Chapters 37-50). In the Bible clothing is a marker of identity for all classes of people. A king is recognized by his robes of office, just as a priest is set aside from other people by his distinctive attire. Mourners customarily wore sackcloth to display their grief, whereas prisoners of war were stripped naked, showing they had lost all personal identity. In



June 2022

Armor of God

As we continue our study of scripture passages that highlight articles of clothing, we are going to take up the topic of spiritual warfare as we unpack Ephesians 6:10-18 together. This portion of scripture, commonly known as the Armor-of-God passage, describes number of different items that God calls us to put on. We are going to talk about a terrifying and unscrupulous enemy that attacks us and our homes and our churches from the unseen realm, and of course, we will also talk about our gre



The Father’s Business

What comes to mind when you think about Father’s Day? Is it power tools and BBQs? New ties and #1 Dad Shirts? My family recently vacationed in Florida and spent a few days at Universal Studios. Just about every souvenir shop we entered had displays of fake Oscar awards. These awards display a man, standing tall, fit and chiseled and each one of these particular fakes was emblazoned with different monikers like, “Best Teacher”, “Best Grandparent”, and “#1 Dad”. Inevitably as we walked by eac



Sack Cloth

Last message launched us into a new series that looks at the story of God’s plan to redeem fallen humanity by examining a number of scripture passages that focus on articles of clothing. We began with that first infamous instance of clothing ever mentioned in the Bible, fig leaves.

One of the types of clothing that is most often mentioned in the Bible is sackcloth. Sackcloth was typically made of dark goat hair. It was scratchy and very uncomfortable to wear. In the ancient world s




Fig Leaves

Clothing holds a surprisingly prominent place in the story of God’s plan to redeem fallen humanity. The act of getting dressed is a daily ritual that I think very little about. I certainly do not often reflect on the spiritual significance of clothes wearing. At the first, Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed in their garden home, but then they ate the forbidden fruit, and the very first symptom of the fall that reared its ugly head was their sudden awareness of being naked. This awoke



May 2022

What Will Tomorrow Bring

Towards the end of each year a group of my friends and I make predictions for the coming year. I recently looked over our predictions from last December and I was struck by the fact that neither I nor any of my friends predicted Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, or Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. Nothing was said about Elon Musk attempting to buy Twitter, or a leaked draft decision from the supreme court pointing toward a possible overturn of Roe vs. Wade. None of us foresaw the ba



Faith and Works

There is a sense as you read the Gospels that Jesus saw a lot of things that others did not. He saw hidden motives. He saw hidden needs. He saw hidden sin and hidden potential. He saw a hidden future and the hidden stratagems of the enemy as they tried vainly to change the future God had foreordained. Much of Jesus’ interactions with humanity as captured in the Gospels portray a clear-eyed Jesus addressing souls that were utterly blinded to the spiritual realities that surrounded them. An





 
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