Sermons for today

Both sermons went off well. One of the elders told me the AM lesson was a keeper. The AM sermon had a couple of glitches in the PowerPoint (actually we use Media Shout for the auditorium presentation but I create the slides in PowerPoint – actually Open Office and then convert to PowerPoint), The first glitch occurred when one of our media guys zoomed in for a slide. I had a map of Asia Minor with Colossae identified and the map was a little on the small side. So Doug zoomed in with the projector. I don’t know what everyone thought about Doug’s actions but I thought it was cool. Anyway, then the slides wouldn’t advance. But eventually they started. On the slide for the invitation when I clicked for the last bullet point to come up, all the other bullet points disappeared. Somewhat disconcerting. I’m getting to where glitches don’t fluster me as much.

The PM went without glitches. I thought that the fonts I used were too small. The song leader (himself a retired preacher) said just before the final song, that he thought it was a very inspirational lesson.

No texts for this week. We are headed to VA to visit Lisa, Dan, Nathan, Jeremy, and Derek. On the way up and the way back we will visit Pat’s folks (Lon and Jeanne Mohundro – Grandy and Nana) for lunch.  I probably won’t post much next week since we will be gone most of the week. I guess I’m going to have a blogfast like Brian. Are you supposed to drink water on a blogfast?

PM Sermon 4/1/07

Sunday evening’s sermon will follow my pattern for choosing a text from our daily Bible reading schedule. I’ve chosen 1Samuel 17 and will call it “Faith Without Restraint.” I want to make sure that I just don’t moralize about having faith but want to show the passage in God’s movement toward redemption in Jesus Christ.

What I see in the passage is that David has trust in a God who doesn’t need our resources to deliver us. In fact if we have trust in our resources (like Saul and his army) then when we come up against a stronger opponent then we give up. Our God is able to deliver without our weapons in unconventional ways. God often sets our standards upside down and choses things that we would never think of.

This will be a good follow up sermon for our campaign. By the time I step into the pulpit for this sermon we will have already begun our follow up for our contacts. I’m sure we will find some of them don’t really have any interest. We need to trust God and not let our defeats stop us. He is able to give the victory so we press on.

AM Sermon 4/1/07

I don’t think I will plan an April Fool’s sermon for this next Sunday. Instead I will begin my sermon series on Colossians. I’m going to start with the idea that in order for a Christian or a congregation to “Live Heavenly Values on Earthly Soil” it must begin with a faithful church. I will start with Paul’s introduction, 1;1-2. Paul address his letter “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae.”

Paul sees them as a faithful congregation doing the Lord’s will. For those of you who remember reading Gene Getz’s book, The Measure of a Church, Paul’s introduction and prayer often contain clues about the church’s maturity level. For Getz the three words were faith, love, hope. All three of theme are present in Paul’s prayer for them (1:4-5). However, these three will be saved for the next sermon where I will talk about the characteristics of a faithful church. I just mention theme here to establish that this is a mature and faithful congregation.

Not sure just yet what direction I’m heading for this lesson. I will begin study tomorrow and see where it takes me.

Theme for Second Quarter

This next week I will begin a sermon series from the book of Colossians. The theme for the year is Keep Your Eye on Heaven in 2007 and the theme for this next quarter is “Living Heavenly Values on Earthly Soil.” I choose the title and the book of Colossians because of 3:1-4 where Paul tells them to keep their minds on things above. Here are my titles:

Living Heavenly Values on Earthly Soil
1. Begins with a Faithful Church 1:1-2
2. Characteristics of a Faithful Church 1:3-14
3. God Brought Heaven to Earth 1:15-20
4. The Results of Heaven coming to Earth 1:21-23
5. A Heavenly Ministry 1:24-2:5
6. Walk with the One from Heaven 2:6-7
7. Leaving Behind Earthly Values 2:8-23
8. Keep your eyes on heaven 3:1-4
9. Putting to death Earthly Practices 3:5-11
10. Putting on Heavenly Virtues 3:12-17
11. Heavenly Households 3:18-4:1
12. Presenting Heaven to Outsiders 4:2-6
13. Heaven’s Fellow-workers 4:7-18

I really love preaching a series from a book. Colossians is always a favorite. I’ve come to believe that the church in Colossae was actually a quite mature congregation, even more so than the church in Philippi. I don’t think that the things Paul mentions in 2:8-23 were present in the congregation as they were on the horizon. Paul is warning them about trends that were headed their way (or possibly present in a small way). Anyway, I think it is the perfect NT book to talk about living the Christian life here on earth while keeping your mind on heaven.

Welcome to Bob’s Sermon Notes

The purpose of this site is to gather ideas for my sermons. I will post my title, text, and a brief explanation of where I’m headed with the text. I want those who stop by to read the text and share any comments, stories, illustrations, statistics, or insights. I hope to gain not only a better understanding of the text but a better understanding of those listening to the sermon and text. Thanks for your help.

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