Text: John 14:15-21 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you LOVE me, you will keep my commandments. Do you love God? Do you love Jesus? My heart wants to say, YES!, I do! Of course I do! I love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength! Don’t I? Do…
Kenotic Words
worship, sermons, lectionary
They Recognized His Voice
Text: John 10:1-4,10-11; 21:1-14 In these weeks after Easter, I’ve been spending a lot of my time reading and thinking about the resurrection appearances of Jesus. They seem like a natural way to spend our time… as we find ourselves looking for signs of resurrection and hope in the midst of our own time of…
Behind Closed Doors
Text: John 20:18-20 Almost every Easter, we focus on the tomb. We focus on the women. We spend all of our time and attention on that glorious moment when they discover the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive and they have a story to tell. But this morning, I want to focus on the…
An Act of Holiness
Text: selected verses from John 13 Never before in my life have I thought so much about washing my hands… how about you? I mean, I washed my hands before… and I hope you did, too… But never before did I see it as such a holy and important act. A life saving act. In…
The Stones Would Shout
Text: Luke 19:29-40 If the disciples were silent, the stones would shout. I’ve been thinking a lot about how no matter what happens in this world… no matter the destruction or devastation…no matter the obstacles or despair… there is nothing that can stop God from being praised. About three weeks ago, tornadoes filled the skies…
How Will We Care for One Another?
Text: Acts 4:32-35, 6:1-7 We aren’t quite to Easter yet, but I thought it might be a good idea to take a sneak peek into the future. The life of the early church, told by Luke in the book of Acts, has an awful lot of parallels with our experience right now! Everything was changing.…
You Have Everything You Need
Text: Mark 6:34-44 This week, all of our lives changed. I’m not just talking about this congregation…. Or people of faith… but everyone… everywhere. Our lives were turned upside down. We have had to stop. Stay home. Make adjustments. For some, these are minor inconveniences. For others, the impact of the coronavirus threatens their physical…
Deeper Water
Text: Matthew 18:18-20, Luke 5:1-10 I’ll often come across a quote or a few paragraphs in a devotional that I’ll save for later, thinking – Ahh! This will make a good sermon illustration! Today, as we think a little bit about diving into deeper water in our prayer lives, I remembered a story told by…