Messages at Masonboro Baptist: Recent Episodes
Masonboro Baptist Church
A weekly word of inspiration from the pulpit at Masonboro Baptist in Wilmington, NC. Check us out at masonborobaptist.org.
We began our Lenten series on the Sermon on the Mount last week with a look at the beatitudes. Jesus lists 8 characteristics of his disciples. Last week we covered the first four. This week we’ll look at the other half. How does Jesus expect his disciples to interact with the rest of the world? What kind of influence are we supposed to have? These questions are just as important today as they were in the first century.
Wednesday began one of the most important seasons in the church year, the season of Lent. This year during the Lenten season, we will be studying the Sermon on the Mount in worship. We begin this week with a look at the first 4 beatitudes.
"Blessed are the ______." What does that mean for us today? What is the point Jesus is making with the beatitudes? We will look at what it means to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek and to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Jesus' sermon seems as radical and counter cultural today as it did when he first preached it. We begin our look at the Sermon on the Mount this week.
This week, we close out the first series of the year with a look at the core practice that is the foundation of all the rest and a look at where we stand after an eventful year in 2019 and a great start to 2020. God is doing some great things at Masonboro. We'll celebrate some of those things and look ahead at even greater things to come.
It’s pretty common in Paul’s epistles to witness Paul defending the church against false teachers. Heresies are almost as old as the church itself. We’re looking at 1 Timothy 6 this week and we’ll see Paul dealing with heretical teaching that is still very much alive and well today. There are some temptations that remain just as powerful in the 21st century as they were in the 1st.
The apostle Matthew writes the account of his own conversion and it's an interesting one. Matthew was a pretty bad guy when Jesus called him. His story teaches us a lesson about how we are to welcome others.
If you are ever inclined to make a case that Jesus was a Baptist, you could make a pretty good argument for it based on how often he seemed to get together with people for big meals. Jesus was at home gathered around a table. He ate with his closest friends and he ate with his enemies. He performed miracles of abundance with fish and bread on a hillside in the synoptic gospels and with wine at a wedding in John’s gospel. Jesus did some of his best work at mealtime, and the church followed in his footsteps.
The Bible talks a lot about love. In any conversation we have about God, we won’t make it long in the conversation without bringing up love. Paul says if we don’t have love, it really doesn’t matter what else we do have because it isn’t worth anything without love. But love is such an obtuse word, it can mean a lot of different things. When we talk about the love of God, what exactly are we talking about? We’re going to look at a passage from 1 John that addresses this question and it’s going to point us toward another of our core practices at Masonboro.
We're continuing in our study of our core practices at Masonboro. If you missed last week and you want to catch up, be sure to check it out on the podcast. This week, we're looking at Mark 10 and talking about Jesus' command to cherish families. It's an important word for us!
There is an ancient Greek aphorism used by Socrates and many others that came after him, including St. Augustine of Hippo and “the Oracle” from The Matrix movies. Temet nosce is the Latin. In English, it’s “know thyself.” It’s easy to go through the day-to-day routine of life, get stuff done and never take the time to assess one’s self. You can do the same thing in an organization.
It’s easy to go from week to week in church life without ever stopping to ask questions like: What makes us who we are? Why do we do the things we do? What are we shooting for? You can get from week to week without asking these questions, but that’s about all you can do. It’s tough to progress as an organization without having a clear picture of who we are and what we do.
For the last several months, church council has been working on putting some answers together for these questions. These practices are “what we’re made of” so to speak; they form the basic building blocks of our community of faith. Church council created the list. For the next seven weeks I’ll be expounding on each practice in a sermon. Specifically, I’ll be looking at the biblical basis for carrying out these practices.
This week we’re discussing worship and reading the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. What can we learn from Jesus’ interaction with this woman?
While Wes was out of town, Eddie West shared a word about looking back on God's grace in our lives and looking ahead to the new year. This is the recording of Dr. West's powerful word for Masonboro.
This week, we celebrate Epiphany. The magi from the east are the first Gentiles to worship Jesus. Their story is our story - God's revelation to humanity in Jesus is not just for one people but for all people. Their story is also a lesson for the church in our commission to share the good news of God's kingdom with all people.
The waiting is almost over. We’re only days away from celebrating the incarnation of God in flesh and blood, what C.S. Lewis calls the greatest miracle. This “Grand Miracle,” said Lewis, “was the central event in the history of the Earth—the very thing that the whole story has been about.” But even this shocking intervention by God into human history could have been thwarted by humans. Herod tried to stop it but he ultimately couldn’t. Joseph could have stopped it, but he chose instead to embrace his part in the story.
This week, we’re looking at Joseph in Matthew’s gospel to see what we can learn about discernment. God is still looking for ways to break into our lives, but we have to let him in. How do we discern what is God and what isn’t? How can we best prepare our hearts to be able to receive what God wants to do in us? As Christmas draws near, we’ll see what Joseph has to teach us.
This is the time of the year when our “stuff” starts to really accumulate. Partially, it’s because we pull out a lot of Christmas stuff that usually stays inconspicuously stashed in a closet or attic. And partially it’s because we get lots of new stuff. I know in our house, we have to get rid of some of our old stuff and our broken stuff to make room for the new. The arrival of Jesus demands something similar of us. Last week we talked about how the coming of Jesus compels us to choose a new, better way of life. This week we’re looking at Isaiah and Matthew and considering how to make room for the new life God wants to grow in us.
The word Advent means “arrival.” In the Advent season we prepare for the arrival of Jesus, the most important birthday ever. This Advent, amidst the busyness and the shopping and all of the other great stuff that happens at Christmas time, we will ask the question “what are we waiting for?” What does Christmas really mean and how does it impact our lives and our world?
We have come to the end of the series on Jesus in the Psalms. We’ll close it out this week with a look at a Psalm of Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. In ancient Israel, people believed that all of their provision came directly from God. They survived because God provides. In many parts of the world people still believe that way, although we sometimes forget. We think we’re supposed to be self-sufficient, but God wants something very different for his people.
We will continue with our Psalms series Sunday and go through all of the cool things about Psalm 84. All of the music, all of the things that scholars say about the author, when was it written, why was it written. Psalm 84 is a glimpse of heaven on Earth. It is a Psalm of faith and we have to remember to guard that faith so that we are able to stay strong in tough times. Paul says in 1st Corinthians that “our bodies” are “Temples” of the Spirit, The Holy Spirit Who lives within us. It is within us that we find that dwelling place.
Many of the Psalms are attributed to King David. David is one of the most admired people in Israel’s history, but he certainly had his own shortcomings. This week, we’re going to take a look at Psalm 51. This Psalm is David’s confession in the wake of one of his biggest mistakes.
Note: We had some technical difficulties in the sermon recording process this week, so this recording is a little strange sounding. It should still be easy to understand.
You have to hand it to the school system. Taking a teacher workday on the day after Halloween is pretty brilliant. “The day after Halloween” sort of feels like the appropriate title for today, but it’s really Nov. 1 that is the more significant occasion because it’s All Saints Day.
All Saints Day is a day when we celebrate those saints in the church upon whose shoulders we stand. We are blessed at Masonboro Baptist with a rich legacy of faithful saints in our 163 years.
All Saints Day is a good day to remember those that came before us. It’s also a good day to consider what kind of legacy we will leave for those who come after us. What binds the church together in communion?
We’re going to take a break from the Psalms this week and see what Peter has to say about the communion of saints. We will also remember those folks in our congregation who have passed away this year.
“How’s it going?” It’s pretty normal to greet someone with a question about how they’re doing. People have different standard responses to that question. Larry Knowles says “about 2 floors shy of wonderful.” Van Jackson says “not good, not bad.” Most of us just say we’re doing pretty well and move on.
But that’s not always true. Sometimes we aren’t doing well. Sometimes we’re hurting and sad. Just because we have the joy joy joy joy down in our hearts doesn’t mean we’re always ok. But we sure don’t like to talk about it and what’s more, we don’t expect others to talk about it either.
We don’t like to acknowledge our hurt, we don’t put words to it. But the Psalms do. Psalm 42 names the hurt and doubt and distance from God that we all sometimes feel.
I love old country music, and there are a bunch of great old country songs about the road. Road songs go back a long way - over 2,000 years!
There is a whole section of Psalms written specifically for traveling called the Psalms of Ascent. Our scripture this week comes from that collection. Psalm 121 offers a powerful promise of help that we can count on to help us get through the “comings and goings” of life.
The Psalms are the closest thing we have to the hymnbook of ancient Israel and the early church. They served a practical purpose, to guide the praise and worship of the God of Israel who made himself known in the person of Jesus. The Psalms teach us how to praise God! Psalm 146 is a great example of this instruction about praise.
If you have more than one passage of scripture committed to memory, chances are one of them is the 23rd Psalm. We encounter it often at funerals. It's appropriate in times of grief, but it's also a powerful daily reminder about what discipleship is.
Jesus often used the same metaphor of a shepherd that the Psalm uses, so it's not hard to find Jesus in Psalm 23. This week we will look at this familiar, comforting word from King David and see what Jesus can teach us about it
The presence of Jesus is woven throughout the psalter. Some Psalms predict him, some speak with his voice, some beg for his forgiveness and some declare his victory. The Psalms are a powerful testament to the Gospel.
This week we're looking at Psalm 98, a Psalm that declares God's victory and responds to it with song. It's a great way to start something new.
The Story of Mary and Martha helps us to remember what is important. Mary made a choice to put Christ first. When we choose Christ first in everything we do, everything else will fall into place.
In the wake of Hurricane Dorian, we're looking at a passage from Isaiah written to encourage a people suffering in exile. It speaks to how God relates to us through tragedy. It's an Old Testament passage with a lot of Jesus in it.
We’re wrapping up our Summer series on Ephesians. For five and half chapters, Paul has been outlining a plan for Christian discipleship, a vision of the way life is meant to be lived. God’s plan will come to fruition, that’s not in question. But it’s going to be a battle to get there. There are forces that oppose God’s will for the world and they are fighting back. The people of God still have some work to do. In closing his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul reminds them - and us - that we aren’t on our own.
We’re looking at what the Apostle Paul says about family in Ephesians 5 and 6. He uses the family as an example of what Christlike relationships should look like. As we draw near to the end of our Summer-long study of Ephesians, we’ll look at some of the most practical instruction that Paul gives anywhere in his letters.
What does it mean to be holy? The Bible talks a lot about holiness, and it can be a confusing concept. Holy means “set apart.” That meant something distinct in ancient Israel. The temple was designed with increasing levels of holiness, or set apartness. God’s people are set apart from other people in the Old Testament and are supposed to remain separate. But Jesus changes that. Hebrews 10:10 tells us that we are made holy by Jesus - that’s how we are set apart. It’s a lot different than the Old Testament. It’s less precise, harder to measure. Still, God’s people are set apart. Before Jesus, the set apartness was marked by following the rules. But now we are set apart by something else. As we continue in Ephesians this week, Paul is going to talk about what he calls “true holiness” and give some concrete examples of what it looks like. It’s an important word for the church in the 21st century.
What does it mean to be a mature Christian? It’s not a simple question. Many people associate spiritual maturity with a lot of theological knowledge. A new believer might only understand the basics of the Gospel but as they spend more time in the church and in the Bible, they will know more, and thereby become more mature. In our passage from Ephesians this week, Paul talks about spiritual maturity in a different way. He gives us a couple of clear indicators of mature faith.
Life can be really tough sometimes. There is so much worry and grief that we encounter, it’s easy to get discouraged. But Paul tells us not to be discouraged, God has a plan. God has a plan for the world and for each of us. Sometimes it’s hard to see it, but God’s plan for us is working its way through our lives.
We’re continuing our study of Ephesians where Paul lays out the vision for a church that is united by the peace of Jesus Christ. It’s a hard word for our divided, angry culture today but a much needed one.
We’re back to Ephesians this week with a look at the first part of Ephesians chapter 2. Paul spends the first chapter talking about the amazing power of God that is at work in the church through Jesus. In chapter 2, he reminds the church what God has done in them with that power. The first ten verses of Ephesians 2 is one of the clearest presentations of the Gospel in the entire New Testament. Let's look at that and celebrate what God is doing in us!
Paul and the early church existed in a world where there was one truly power,ful person the Roman emperor. It didn’t really matter who it was - if he held the title Caesar, then that meant the world revolved around him, or so he thought. But not everybody agreed. The followers of this upstart branch of Judaism called “The Way” didn’t think the world revolved around Caesar or any other political figure. They didn’t challenge Caesar for political authority, but they also refused to declare their ultimate allegiance to him, reserving it instead for Jesus. That power struggle forms the backdrop against which all of Paul’s letters are set. This week, we’re looking at what Paul has to say about power, what the church believed about power in the first century and what we can learn from them.
When the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost, the church adds 3,000 people to their number in a single day, and they’re just getting started. The church spreads like wildfire across the Roman Empire. A big reason for that is the Apostle Paul. Paul is uniquely qualified to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. He has amazing success as a missionary, starting churches in cities all across the Ancient Near East, preaching the Gospel, and writing letters that become an important part of our New Testament. For our next series, we’re going to dig into one of these epistles, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. It’s not long - only six chapters - but it covers a lot of ground. We’re going to go through the whole thing this Summer. In so doing, we’ll touch on a bunch of different aspects of discipleship, we’ll get to know Paul a little better and we’ll discuss how the issues that the church encountered in the first century relate to the issues we encounter today.
This week is Pentecost Sunday, an important week to remember in the life of the church. Jesus promised his disciples that he would send his spirit to help them. He tells them to wait for it in Jerusalem, and they do. Then finally, on the day of Pentecost, the promise is fulfilled and the world is never the same again. The church baptizes 3000 people that day and keeps spreading throughout the world through the power of the Spirit and the infectious message of the Gospel.
This week, we wrap up our 40 day look at the Kingdom of God, the central focus of Jesus’ preaching and ministry. In Mark 4, Jesus shares a parable about a farmer who sows seeds all over but gets mixed results from different places that he sows. Then he explains the parable to his disciples, telling them that the secret of the kingdom has been given to them.
It is God's desire for every person to become a disciple of Jesus and participate in the Kingdom. But even so, some people won't. Some people choose another way, and Jesus is clear that there will be repercussions for the choices we make.
Thankfully, we don't have to guess what sort of lives Jesus wants us to live. He tells us. We're going to look at a passage this week in Matthew's gospel where Jesus flat out tells us some of the things that are expected of his disciples in crystal clear language - no parables, no mysteries, no interpretation needed!
The Kingdom is like…” There are quite a few parables in the Gospels that Jesus starts like this. Jesus often uses parables to illustrate qualities of the Kingdom of God that require a little more context than just simple instruction to get the point across. One such passage from Matthew’s gospel is the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Jesus makes a pretty definitive statement about what forgiveness requires of us as his disciples. It’s an important lesson.
After Jesus is resurrected, he spends forty days with his apostles. Luke tells us that he spends those days talking with them about the Kingdom of God. That is not much different than what he had spent the last three years doing with them, but they must have sensed how important it was. According to Jesus, the reason he came was to proclaim the good news about the Kingdom. It’s at the heart of everything he teaches and everything he does. For the next 40ish days leading up to Pentecost, we are going to spend the time after Easter doing what the apostles did, talking about the Kingdom of God. This week, we’ll talk about the “when” of the Kingdom - one of the most confusing questions about it - and we’ll look to The Revelation of John for some insight into that question.
We’ve been studying Luke’s gospel since Advent and still it feels like we’ve flown through it. But the story doesn’t end at the end of Luke, it moves on to something new. We’ll look at that this week. The end of the Gospel of Luke and the beginning of Acts tells the story of the ascension. Jesus comes back from the dead on Easter, but after a few weeks, he leaves again, this time ascending into heaven. God’s work on Earth is not over when he ascends, it’s only just beginning. This week we’ll look at the end of Jesus’ time on Earth and the beginning of the church carrying out it’s mission, a mission we’re still working on today.
n his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul writes these well known words: If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins,and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else. (1 Cor 15:17-19 CEB) Jesus was a great teacher. We can and should base our lives on his teaching. Jesus Christ gives us hope in this life, but it doesn’t end there. Because, as Paul continues: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. (1 Cor 15:20) This Sunday we celebrate the greatest truth that binds the church together. Jesus Christ defeated death. We are not still in our sins, our brothers in sisters in Christ who have gone before us are not gone forever. This Sunday we celebrate the impossible hope of eternal, abundant life that Jesus Christ inaugurates with the resurrection and offers to each of us.
After Jesus is arrested, his friends all scatter. All of them, that is, except Simon Peter. Peter goes with him to the high priest’s house. Then the wheels come off for Peter. Jesus had predicted that Peter would deny knowing him and sure enough, that’s exactly what Peter does. But this story is not the end of Peter, not by a long shot. Peter becomes a great man. Peter becomes “the rock” as Jesus says, upon which he will build the church. Peter’s mistake is not the end of him and neither are ours the end of us. What can we learn from Peter’s mistake that can make us into better disciples of Jesus?
The church was around for decades before there was a New Testament to read and share. There is saying of Baptists that we are “people of the book.” The early church was not. They didn’t have a book. They had a story and they had a meal. From the beginning of the church, the Lord’s Supper has been the way followers of Jesus remind ourselves of what Jesus did on our behalf and the covenant to which we are bound. This tradition began only hours before Jesus was arrested. It’s easy to treat our shared meal as just another thing we do in church, but to Jesus, it was anything but rote. This week, as we draw closer to the cross, we’ll look to the Passover meal Jesus shares with his apostles on the night he was betrayed and we’ll share the meal together to remind ourselves of our place in the covenant.
A lot happens in the week between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. It’s an important week in Jesus’ life, so we’re going to slow it down this year. To close out the series on Luke, we’re going to spend the last few weeks looking at the events in the last few days of Jesus’ pre-ressurection ministry. And that begins with his entry into Jerusalem. The way Jesus came into Jerusalem was not an accident, it was a statement. And it is a statement that demands a response, both from his contemporaries and from us.
Our scripture for Sunday is a very popular story of the Prodigal Son, also known as the Parable of the Lost Son. It is one of three parables in a row where Jesus demonstrates what it means to be lost, how heaven celebrates with joy when the lost are found, and how the loving Father longs to save people. He is a loving forgiving Father who says, "Rejoice, my son is home. He once was lost but now is found." You can always come Home to the forgiving Father.
Jesus dealt with sinners in a very different way than the religious leaders of his time. Sinners were drawn to him. Why?
*Sorry for the technical glitches on this one. We were having some wireless mic interference. It's not too bad, just a little weird sounding.
We begin our focus on some of the parables Jesus uses in Luke with a look at the Good Samaritan. Jesus answers a couple of questions for a legal expert and helps define what it means to be a neighbor.
The Jews were serious about the Sabbath. Sabbath observance was one of the principal ways they were different than their Gentile neighbors. It was a big part of their identity as the chosen people of God. In our passage from Luke 13, a synagogue leader accuses Jesus of violating the Sabbath, but Jesus sees a bigger issue at stake. He has a different idea of what it means to set aside a day to honor God. Jesus interprets the Sabbath and the rest of the Law with a different hermeneutic than the Jewish religious leaders of his day. It gets him in a lot of trouble and teaches us an important lesson about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus' earthly ministry recorded in the gospels primarily included teaching and miracles. The gospel of Luke, like the other synoptic gospels (Matthew and Mark), slowly reveals through its stories who Jesus is and what he is trying to accomplish. There's a lot of mystery surrounding Jesus. Even his followers ask, "Who is this man?" and don't really understand what his goals are. This week we'll take a look at how some well-known miracle stories from Luke 8 help us answer those questions.
This week begins our February focus on some of the miracles Jesus does in Luke’s gospel. When Jesus performs miracles, he helps people that need it, and he also teaches us something about the Kingdom of God. For the rest of the series, we will keep coming back to this idea that Jesus keeps coming back to: the Kingdom of God. In our passage this week, Jesus performs a miracle for an unlikely person whose faith amazes Jesus. Where does that faith come from and what does the centurion in Luke 7 teach us about the Kingdom of God?
There are lots of ways we communicate information at Masonboro - podcasts like this, announcements, videos, the bulletin - but those things are necessarily fragmented and never lay out an overall picture of where we stand or a vision for moving into the future. This week in worship, I will do just that; something like a state of the church address (but maybe without the choreographed standing ovations). A lot of stuff has happened over the last few months and a lot is happening at Masonboro. It’s an exciting time at church. I’m looking forward to looking ahead and considering what God might have in store for us in 2019 and beyond.
For the first couple of weeks of this series on Luke's Gospel, we looked at the events that prepared Jesus for his public ministry. But Jesus doesn’t go it alone as he preaches throughout the Galilean countryside, he has disciples that follow him. This week we’re going to read about the first disciple that Jesus calls. Peter will become the rock upon which the church is built, but he doesn’t start there. He starts out as an ordinary fisherman named Simon. This week, we’ll look at the first step he takes toward his calling and see what step God is calling us to take on our journey as disciples of Jesus.
Jon Krakauer wrote a book in 1996 called Into the Wild. It tells the story of a young man named Christopher McCandless who, after graduating from Emory University in 1990, went out on his own into the American West. The story ends tragically with McCandless dying of starvation in Denali National Park in Alaska. The book is a reminder of both the allure and the danger of the wilderness. For many, the wilderness is a place of discovery and renewal, for others it’s threatening and dangerous. For Jesus, it seems to have been both. Fresh from his baptism, Jesus sets out into the wild and faces some of the same sorts of temptations we face in our lives. We all end up in the wilderness sometimes, what can we learn from Jesus that will help us navigate it?
In the first chapter of his gospel, Luke tells us a lot about the birth story of John the Baptist. John is an important character in the story of Jesus. He prepares the way for Jesus. He calls for much of the same change that Jesus calls for. And he faces similar opposition to what Jesus faces. John’s appearance in Luke is a good chance to study the forces that work against God’s will, both in the first century and in the 21st. John also gives his audience a prescription for escaping the sinful nature of the world. John lays the groundwork for Jesus.
We’re beginning a new series this week on the Gospel of Luke, which is probably my favorite gospel. We really started in Luke during Advent. We learned about the people of the Advent story, saw what kinds of questions they asked and saw how their questions are still very much relevant today. The story changes this week. This week, Jesus steps onto the stage and begins his ministry reading scripture in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. He is not well received. His message at Nazareth sets the stage for his whole ministry, it’s a thesis statement of sorts. Why do the people in Nazareth react so strongly against his message? What does it mean for Jesus’ ministry, his disciples and for us?
Christ is born and the New Year is on its way. I’m sure everyone has some sort of resolution or something they want to do different to be a better person. Well, that’s exactly what we are going to talk about Sunday.
For a long time I felt like I was too far gone to change and sometimes it’s really hard for us to see that God has a bigger plan in store for us. It’s never too late to change, we just have to have faith and the willingness to listen to what that plan is.
Christmas is almost upon us. On the secular calendar, Christmas is over at midnight. But in the church year, the season of Christmas begins on the 25th and hangs around for a little while. I think the church calendar has it right. Christmas is just the beginning of what God is doing. This year for Advent, we’ve looked at the characters in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel. For this last week of the series, we’ll turn to the real heroes of the story, Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth and Mary are faithful from the beginning. They believe the word of God that Gabriel brings them and submit to God’s call in their lives. They usher in a new era of God’s work in the world. Elizabeth and Mary challenge us to accept God’s call in our lives and to look forward to what new thing Christmas might begin in us.
I spent some time visiting a couple of families this week and learning about the family connections: who is related to whom and who married into what family and all that. I can say for sure that the term “church family” is an appropriate way to describe Masonboro. That’s really similar to the way communities in firstcentury Judea were connected, the connections were not just geographic but familial. We talked about Zechariah and Elizabeth, who Gabriel promises a son despite their “very old” age. This pregnancy sends ripples out into their whole community: It’s what everybody is talking about. I think we can see much of ourselves in the way this community reacts to Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Something big is happening in their village that will stretch out over all of Israel and holds true for us today.
"Many people," Luke writes, "have already applied themselves to the task of compiling an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used what the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed down to us. Now, after having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, I have also decided to write a carefully ordered account for you.” Luke does exactly what he sets out to do. His gospel is a rich, detailed history of the life of Jesus from the very beginning. We’re going to be going though Luke's gospel for awhile, beginning this Advent season with the first chapter. The first chapter of Luke is full of the supernatural - angels, impossible pregnancies, prophecies fulfilled. But it’s also a story of real people with real human questions. This Advent season, we’ll be looking at the people in Luke’s gospel that prepare us to welcome Jesus at Christmas. We’ll be looking at the situations in their lives and the questions they ask and seeing how their stories and their questions inform ours. This Sunday, we begin with a look at Zechariah who has a question with which many of us can identify.
On Thursday, many of us gathered with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a great holiday, but being thankful is meant to be more than just a once-a-year event.
Sometimes it is awfully easy to forget that. Life can get busy. Often it is our blessings - family, friends, work - that keep us so busy that we forget to stop and give thanks. But we’re better off being grateful every day. A grateful life is a more satisfied life. It's a more abundant life. We see this in Luke 17, when Jesus heals ten lepers but only one returns to give thanks. The one who returns gets more than just a healing.
Have you ever considered if there is ANYTHING that can separate you from God's love? Have you ever thought that another person couldn't be a Christian because of the presence of something in their lives? The Apostle Paul had the same question and so did the members of the churches to which he wrote. Join us for worship on Sunday at 9 or 11 am as we consider what, if anything, can separate us from the love of God and what it means to be "in Christ."
There used to be a TV show that came on when I was a kid called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. When I was older there was something similar called Cribs on MTV. The idea here is that regular people get a glimpse into how the rich live. We watch it because we like to imagine what it might be like to live like that. But is it actually better to live like that? Is there any evidence that the rich and famous are happier than the rest of us, or even as happy? And if not- if we're not shooting for rich and famous- what are we shooting for?
We're looking at a passage from Mark 12 this week where Jesus talks about a couple of people and how they handle their money. But he's talking about more than just money, he's talking about purpose and identity and what life can be
There are six holes in the wall by the stairs in my house. The reason we have holes in the wall is that we once tried to put up a baby gate to act as a barrier between Banks and the stairs. Banks. was. not. having. it. So he ripped the gate out of the wall. So I put it back up with bigger screws. And he ripped it out again. So I put it back up with those plastic wall anchor things and even longer screws. And he ripped it out again. So we gave up on the baby gate thing. Some walls weren't meant to last forever.
This Sunday we celebrate All Saints Day. We call it a celebration because it is, but it's also sad. It's sad to be separated from people that mean so much to us. Death is like a wall between us and the people we love, but some walls weren't meant to last forever. This week we're moving from the chronological end of the Old Testament in Nehemiah to the end of suffering,painand death in Revelation. John shows us a vision of eternity where the wall of separation falls and we are reunited with God and each other forever. It's a powerful vision of hope for the future.
Preparing for the last week of this sermon series on Nehemiah has been a little sad. I feel like I’ve been in engrossed in fifth century bc Jerusalem for a good long while. It’s starting to feel familiar. This last look at Nehemiah feels all too familiar. There are parts of the restoration story that read like a Hollywood script, but the ending is all real life.
Every Sunday we gather for worship and as a part of that, we read a passage from the Bible together. Reading scripture is an integral part of what the church does week in and week out. Reading scripture is one of the things that makes the church the church. We hear the stories of what God has done through Israel, in the life of Jesus and in the early church. Scripture is one of the things that we build our community around. In our passage from Nehemiah this week, we’ll see the people of Jerusalem begin a new pattern of centering their community around God’s Word.
When we left Nehemiah this past Sunday, the community was together and the construction had begun. Things were going well. I enjoy that time in a project; when the work begins and even though I know there's a long way to go, at least the neglect is over. But every big project hits a snag sometimes. And when it's something really big that God wants you to do, you can just about count on there being some adversity that will creep up and try to sabotage it. We can learn a lot from looking at how Nehemiah's enemies try to sabotage him and how Nehemiah responds to the adversity.
When I decided to do a series of Nehemiah and the restoration of Jerusalem, it never occurred to me that we would be in the center of so much physical restoration in Wilmington. I was just shooting for a good metaphor! But nonetheless, here we are. Homes are underwater. Trees are down everywhere. There’s a lot to be rebuilt. This week, we’re tackling two chapters from Nehemiah, 2 and 3. This is when the hands-on work begins.
It's easy to skip Nehemiah. It's not going to come up often in a devotional reading. It almost never comes up in the lectionary, so you don't hear a lot of sermons preached on it. It has some lists of hard-to-pronounce names. But Nehemiah is an important part of God's salvation history. It's the chronological end of the Old Testament, the story of the earliest beginnings of the society that Jesus is born into. It's also a reminder that God likes to breathe new life into his people. The book of Nehemiah tells a remarkable story of the city of Jerusalem, which lay in waste for years, being rebuilt in weeks. It's a story of a man with no qualifications other than a willingness to follow God's direction, spearheading a campaign of restoration that will set the stage for the birth of Jesus several centuries later. It's an important story, an interesting story and one from which we can learn much. It is ground breaking. It starts this week and it starts with prayer.
Over the last four weeks, we've looked at different aspects of Jesus' identity. Everybody who encountered Jesus recognized that he was a wise teacher. Many recognized him as a prophet. When he calls himself the "bread of life," he makes a claim that many people can't accept. And when he claims the authority to forgive sin along with his healing, the religious establishment labels it blasphemy. Jesus can make the claims that he does because he has authority. The people recognize it when they hear his teaching. He demonstrates it when paralyzed people get up and walk, lepers are healed and demons are cast out. Jesus has authority unlike anyone else who has ever lived. We will wrap up the series on Jesus' identity this week by looking at where he gets that authority. And we'll read one of the boldest passages in scripture concerning who Jesus is; for the early church and for us.
Everything about the church, the Christian and the Christian's lifestyle flows from understanding and living according the Jesus's exemplary life and personhood. These days you can notice that the church is about everything except Jesus. Theologians and pastors are writing books with titles like, "Christ-less Christianity." In our study of the Sermon on the Mount I asked the prayer meeting crowd if they thought that someone embodying Jesus's Beatitudes (MT 5) would ever get elected as President? They said, "No" "Why?", I asked. The answer was "FEAR." They were right. Fear and courage don't usually inhabit the same space. It takes more courage to live by the tenets of the Sermon on the Mount than to retaliate, hurt, slap, shoot, get even, hold a grudge or live with prejudice. My topic is Jesus as healer. The text is Mark 2: 1-12. Jesus cured a paralytic whose friends lowered him through the roof because the house was too crowded. Notice the first thing that Jesus said to the paralyzed man. Why do you think that was so important?
For the last two weeks, we've talked about Jesus the way his contemporaries talked about him. Pretty much everybody agrees that Jesus was an important teacher and lots of religions even consider him a prophet. Those claims are not unique to Christians. This week, we're going to consider a identity that Jesus claims for himself. It's a claim that causes a lot of the people who followed him around to turn away and one that only a committed disciple of Jesus can accept - and even then it's hard. Following Jesus isn't easy, but it is life giving.
Last week we talked about Jesus' identity as a teacher. That's the word a lot of people used to describe Jesus, and it's one of the reasons crowds (like the one we talked about in Mark 6) gathered to hear him. But Jesus is more than just any teacher. This week we'll take another look at the same crowd of people, but look at John's account of Jesus feeding them. Jesus reveals something else about his identity here and the folks who witness it add another title to his resume that hearkens back to Israel's history. Can we tap into that same legacy?
We are all pretty complicated creatures. We inhabit a lot of different roles in our lives and all of them play a part in who we are. The same is true for Jesus. Over the next five weeks, we're going to look at some of the ways people understood Jesus in his world so that we can better understand who Jesus is for our world. This week we're starting with the most common way Jesus is described by others in Mark's gospel, the way many people who came into contact with Jesus experienced him. It's an important piece of his identity and an important part of our identity as his church.
The lectionary Old Testament text this week is Amos 7: 7-17. We in the church tend to neglect the ancient prophets--especially the ones we call "Minor Prophets." These writers are called minor prophets because their writings are shorter than the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah & Ezekiel), not because their message is any less important. Prophets make us take a larger vision of how God wants us to live together. There is a personal message, but for the most part these prophets are speaking to the nation of Israel--especially to leaders. It is in these writings that we discover how God wants people in power to act and legislate. We can learn what kind of leaders God wants us to choose. It is a minor prophet, so you can read the book of Amos in 30 minutes. It contains some of the most vivid images of judgment in the whole Bible. As you read, think about parallels with our times. You might also think about the relationship of the church and the state. Why was Amos, a farmer (layperson) in Judah (the southern kingdom of the now divided kingdom of Israel), sent to Israel (the northern kingdom) to proclaim a word of judgement from God? From Amos we might discover how to be objective in our understanding of what God wants from us as individuals and as a nation.
Discipline is a tough word. We associate it with punishment or with short term suffering for long term goals. But discipline can be energizing and liberating. There is something exciting about working towards become the person that you want to be, whether that's physically, mentally or spiritually. Spiritual disciplines help us grow into people more like Jesus. One of the disciplines that the Bible talks about most frequently is generosity. This week's passage from 2 Corinthians 8 talks about the discipline of generosity, about finishing what we start. It's an important practice to manage our money out of God's economy rather than the world's.
I went to Haiti in June and this is my talk about what God is up to there. This is an audio recording and I used a lot of pictures and videos in my talk, so this will be better if you can see those. I've uploaded the audio with the pictures and videos cut in at the correct times onto Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHK4fmfrYDw
So if you're able, watch this talk there. But if not you'll still get the gist of it here.
The Bible is full of stories where people hear God call them to something transformational. It’s usually something that they couldn't miss; a bush that’s on fire, the heavens are opened, or an angel appears. Those sorts of things rarely happen to us. But Samuel’s story is different. Samuel’s call is easy to miss - in fact he almost does. He almost mistakes God’s call for something a little more believable. Thankfully, he finally gets it. And God tells Samuel he’s going to "do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.” Samuel goes on to become one of the most important people in Israel’s history. What can we learn from his call? How can we be sure to plug into God’s purpose for our lives?
We celebrated Pentecost last week- the fulfillment of God's promise to give his Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of the risen Christ, to the church. Now that we have the full revelation of God through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this Sunday is Trinity Sunday. The scripture text comes from John 3: 1-17. The word "trinity" is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is presented as an experience of the church. For this Sunday you might reflect on your experience of God as Father/Creator, Jesus as Son and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as Comforter and Sustainer of God’s Church.
This Sunday is Pentecost, considered the birthday of the Church. It is when God fulfills his promise, spoken through Jesus to pour out his Spirit on the church. There are many things that we could say about the Holy Spirit, but one thing is central—the Holy Spirit is Jesus’s presence everywhere and potentially in everyone who acknowledges and makes a primary place for Jesus in their lives. Acts 2: 1-21 recounts one of oddest days in history. Some people are gathering for a regular Jewish feast and all of sudden people are speaking and/or hearing the good news of the Gospel in languages that they had never studied and probably never heard before. We don’t talk much about Pentecost, but it is a significant day in the life of the church. Our question for this Sunday is the same one uttered by the crowd when they witnessed the strange miracle: “What does this mean?” Well, how would YOU answer that inquiry of someone considering the Christian faith?
Tension is a part of life and a big part of life when you follow Jesus. How do we thrive in the tension and help spread the good news of Jesus to the 'ends of the Earth?'
This Sunday's text is 1 John 3: 16-24. In these verses we encounter what might be considered one of the most troublesome words in all of God's inspired word--the little word “if." While not so difficult by itself, in certain contexts it can ruin your day. Verse 17 is the culprit. I won’t print it here so you will read the whole passage for yourself. Question: Do you want to the be the kind of person that wants it said of you, “The love of God really lives in her/him?" Then if you have the resources to help someone and don’t do it, you are negating that claim. Ouch. Just how far do you think we should take this?
This Sunday is sometimes called "Shepherd Sunday." Jesus says in John 10:11-21 that he is the "Good Shepherd." He is placing himself in the role of shepherd just as David saw God's shepherding love in Psalm 23. Those that follow the Good Shepherd then must be sheep. What do you know about sheep? Not much. But sheep sure keep the Shepherd busy. We rely upon the Shepherd for food, rest, protection, community and good hygiene. He takes away our fear no matter where we walk. The Good Shepherd even lays down his life for the sheep. We are much more familiar with cats, dogs and maybe birds, but sheep? Not so much. How much do you depend on God? What about what the Good Shepherd does for us leads us to thankfulness, sacrificial love and a desire to be transformed? Where would we be without the Good Shepherd?
Easter is a season and not a day spanning the time between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost, fifty days after Easter. In his resurrected state, Jesus keeps appearing to his disciples. In I Corinthians 15 Paul lists the number of people that saw Jesus alive after Good Friday--more than 500. Have you seen him alive? Wouldn't you love too? Our text this week from John 20: 19-31 is for us. Jesus keeps coming to his frightened and unsure disciples. Thomas misses the first appearing, but demands a second--and gets it. Isn't there a little Thomas in all of us? Its okay to admit it. What are your most significant doubts about the faith? About Jesus's resurrection? What I get from this passage is that honest and deliberate seekers get the assurance they want and need.
Easter on April Fool's Day? If you haven't looked at your calendar, Easter is in fact on the day that we play practical jokes and pranks on our friends. In the history of the early church some of the most respected theologians advocated that Easter be a time for joy and levity. They even got together and told jokes to make one another laugh "the Easter laugh." The reasoning was that on Good Friday, Satan and the forces of evil were sure that they had won a great victory--they had defeated and done away with God's Son. But the last laugh was on the Evil one because, God raised His Son in a glorious victory over sin, death and the Devil. That is the reason for our deep joy. Nothing, not even death, can come between us and the God that has loved us with such a wondrous love. Therefore, April Fool's Day is a great day for celebrating the resurrection of God's Son.
Jesus paradoxically speaks of seeds dying to bear fruit, giving life to get life, hating life to find life and all of this is somehow tied to His “glorification." Jesus will be “lifted up” and by this lifting he will draw all people to himself. Is this a common understanding of modern glorification? How has God turned our values on their head by having Jesus be glorified by being lifted up on a cross?
It's hard to come up with a verse of scripture we are more accustomed to seeing than John 3:16. It's commonplace for us, but when Jesus said it to Nicodemus, it was anything but common. We know the verse, but do we get the point?
Charles Wesley wrote a hymn with the line, “Gentle Jesus meek and mild." Our passage corrects that misperception. What would have made Jesus start tearing up the temple and running people out with a whip? What modern application can we make of this incident?
"Get behind me Satan!" Jesus has some strong words for Peter in Mark 8. What causes Jesus to rebuke his friend? We aren't guilty of the same thing are we?
Peter writes a letter to the early church in Asia Minor who is suffering in a hostile environment. As our culture veers further away from the way of Jesus, Peter's words are equally approprate for us today.
Marriage is one of the fundamental institutions in our society and in the church. Here's a look at some statistics on marriage and what the Bible has to say about it.
Scripture tells us that we're in good hands with God. So why do bad things happen to good people?
Is it ok for the church in Corinth to eat meat that was sacrificed to pagan idols? The Corinthians want to know what is a sin and what isn't. Paul encourages them and us to ask a better question.