Friday, May 26, 2006

Sermon for Sunday, May 21, 2006

The Making of a Church III: Inclusiveness

Acts 11:1-18

Real men will eat anything, right. I remember attending a game dinner many years ago. It must have been a bad year for venison, because the real men ate fowl and skewered pieces of marinated raccoon meat. Yes, I tried it. No, I didn’t have seconds. What the most disgusting meat you’ve ever eaten? The thought of it turns your stomach? The Apostle Peter might be able to tell you his nightmare meal.

In the Book of Acts, chapter 10 God showed Peter a vision of a backwoods banquet coming down out of heaven. There’s some snake and a bunch of reptiles. God says, “Go on, Peter, have a bite.” I don’t know if anyone here has ever eaten snake before. Some people say it tastes like chicken. In case you’re interested, I scoured the Internet for snake recipes. Here’s my favorite - -a recipe for East Texas Fried Rattlesnake Dinner that contains all four food groups.

1. Bake a chocolate cake (this is the 1st food group).
2. Fry two pounds of bacon in a cast iron skillet. Leave ½ pound on the drainboard to munch on while you’re cooking, and put the rest in the fridge.
3.
Go outside and find a big rattlesnake. Kill the snake. Nail its head to a tree.
4.
Go in the house, skin and boil six large potatoes. (Potatoes are the second food group)
5. Go back outside and cut the snake down the middle being careful not to ruin the rattles. Cut the skin away from the head. Pull down hard and steady. Lay the skin in the sun to dry and instruct the dog to leave the snakeskin alone.
6.
Slice the snake meat into half-inch thick patties. Pour a lot of flour onto two plates, and scramble three eggs in a bowl. Put black pepper and some cayenne pepper into the plates. When you think you have enough pepper, add some more. After all, you’re about to eat a rattlesnake. Dip the meat into the plates of flour and then gently lay the battered meat into the hot grease. If done correctly you’ll not get burned. If done wrong, you’ll learn.
7.
Leave the meat in the grease until it’s brown on the bottom, then turn it over.
8.
Meanwhile, fork-test the potatoes. If they’re done, drain off the water, add a stick of butter (3rd food group) and some milk.
9.
Put two cans of peas in a big bowl with a half stick of butter. Put the bowl in the microwave and nuke them.
10.
Leaving the fire low, slowly sprinkle the left over flour into the left over grease and scratch it around until the flour is cooked. Slowly add whole milk, while squishing out the lumps. Don’t add too much milk. The final consistency resembles grayish-brown wallpaper paste. This process takes some practice, but eventually you will scratch through the lumps and have the fourth food group: gravy.
11.
Take the peas out of the microwave and the bread out of the oven. Put everything on the table. Call everybody to eat.
12. Feed them fried rattlesnake while you eat mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and chocolate cake.

The outdoorsmen of the world tell us that snakes, racoons, possum, squirrels -- all that stuff is tasty when it’s prepared correctly. Apparently, Peter was disgusted by it all. Maybe Peter just didn’t have a good recipe.

In the first century, the great question was one of boundaries. Where would the lines be drawn that would determine who should hear the gospel and who would not. Believers assumed that God’s recipe for a good church was limited to those who followed the commandments and rituals of Judaism. The first church members called themselves Jews. They worshiped like Jews. They did not associate with anyone who was not Jewish. It was against Jewish law to be in contact with Gentiles and their traditions. The early Christians kept kosher homes and obeyed the Jewish laws. The law said that no Jew was allowed to eat things like pigs, or reptiles, or shellfish, or certain species of birds. You can imagine how Peter’s horror when he sees these unclean animals in a vision. God tells him to eat the forbidden animals. Then God sends Peter to the home of Cornelius – not only an unclean Gentile, but a Roman army officer.

Peter visits Cornelius and tells him the story of Jesus. The Holy Spirit immediately fills Cornelius. He and his entire household convert to Christianity. This blows the minds of the good Jewish followers of Christ. It is unbelievable to them that God’s love would actually reach out to unclean and idolatrous gentiles. The other Apostles hear about this and call Peter to task. God reminds his followers that the boundaries of the kingdom reach farther than they ever dreamed. I think we need a reminder of who the church is, and what we are called to do.

Since we were kids, someone told us that God loves everyone. This doesn’t mean that God just loves those who are popular, or good looking, or the ones who have it all together. It also means that God loves those whom the world labels as ugly or incompetent. The membership rolls of the early church sound more like roll call at a detention camp. The church converted people who were seen as low-lifes – religious zealots, the poor and oppressed, helpless charity cases, and foreigners. The church is not a special club for people who have it all together. The church is for rejects. The church is a place for people with real pain to hear words of healing and hope. This place exists because all of us have been unfaithful, unworthy, undesirable and unsure, but because of Christ we have never been unloved.

An inclusive vision of the church means that we restlessly commit ourselves to preaching and teaching the message of God’s love. We don’t do it because we think we are better than others. We do not speak about Jesus to swell our membership roles. We tell others about God’s love because we love them and we’re are convinced that humanity is doomed without God’s loving touch. The message that people both inside and outside this church need to hear again is that God loves you and every person with equal passion and devotion People will never hear this life-saving message if we don’t tell them, and we can’t tell them if they are not welcome among us.

People are not welcome if we judge them according to our misperceptions. Dodie Gadient, a veteran schoolteacher decided to travel across America and see the sights she taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her truck. Despite the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping. Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, 'Please God, send me an angel . . . preferably one with mechanical experience.' Within four minutes, a Harley drove up, ridden by an massive man sporting long, black hair, a beard and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he jumped off and. Without even glancing at Dodie, he went to work on the truck. Within a few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached a tow chain to the frame of the disabled Chevy, and whisked the truck and trailer onto a side street, where he worked on the water pump.The schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket: 'Hell's Angels -- California'. Dodie finally found the courage to say, 'Thanks so much,' and carry on a brief conversation. Noticing her surprise at the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye and mumbled, 'Don't judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you're talking to.' With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had appeared.”


Given half a chance, people often crawl out of the boxes into which we've relegated them. Don’t let judgments and assumptions guide you. God’s love belongs to everyone, and everyone belongs in the church. Whether the advice comes from your grandmother or a Hell’s Angel, it’s still true: Don't judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you're talking to.


God wants us not only to tell, but also to show his love. By themselves, words can be meaningless until they are backed by action. For instance, what does a visitor see when he or she attends worship here? Do we look bored and fidgety, or do we actively worship our Savior? If we look like we can’t wait to get out of here, then our actions might show that we are here just out of mere obligation. If we act like we love God and enjoy being with each other, we confirm that our faith has actually had an impact on our lives. Our neighbors, our families, our children, and even complete strangers are watching you, and they want to know if all this talk about Jesus and church really makes a difference in your life. The church can become an inclusive community when we back up our words with integrity-filled actions.

In 1999 a little church in Decatur called Oakhurst Baptist Church was ejected by the Georgia Baptist Convention for a variety of issues having to do with Biblical interpretation and inclusiveness. In the 1960's this congregation took a stand against segregation and had lost two-thirds of its members. In the 1980's the church opened its doors to the homeless, who have been welcomed and have worshiped there ever since. In fact, the pastor tells about the time when he and his young son were visiting another church facility and his son asked, “Dad, where do the homeless live here?” He assumed that you could not have a church without a place for your homeless friends. One day, when the congregation was in the news, a developmentally disabled church member saw a TV camera and hurried over to offer to be on television. The reporter extended his microphone and asked, “Tell me, what do you like about this church?” John grinned and answered, “They love everybody here.”

I’ve been to similar churches. I think of one church in that regularly opens to all. On any given Sunday, this church has business professionals, college professors, group-home residents, and homeless people all worshiping together, praying for one another and celebrating each other’s lives. Another I know sends out its “worship wagon.” The Worship Wagon goes to the homes of elderly people and others who can’t get to church. They are driven to the worship service and returned home afterwards. Churches like these realize that we are not fully the body of Christ until everyone is included.

Don’t you want to be part of a church that changes the lives of others by modeling love and devotion? Who will invite others in and show them the love of Jesus? Who will seek out those who are different from us, those who are disabled, or lonely, or hurting, or socially different? Who will show them that someone cares, that we loves them, that we believe in them because God cares, loves and believes in them?

Do we want to see the church to have an impact on the culture around us? Do we want to see people’s lives touched by God? If so, it means being committed to living God’s vision of an inclusive church. It means being personally responsible for telling all people about God’s love, and showing them love in action, even if it stretches our comfort zones, and even if it challenges our faith.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Sermon for Sunday, May 14, 2006

The Making of a Church: Calling

Acts 9:1-20

Pastor Jack J Stahl has decided that the best way to take God to the people is via the medium of Tom Jones records. He is available to conduct funerals, exorcisms and weddings - you just can't choose your own music. Stahl says, “Since I was six years old, I have used the angelic voice of Tom Jones to get in touch with the Holy Spirit. To me, his voice is spiritual, soulful and supernatural. So when God called me into the ministry in 1990 it only made sense to incorporate Tom Jones into it. Simply stated, it works for me. With the help of 'The God of Voice' Tom Jones, miracles happen and people are healed.” With the help of Tome Jones, Pastor Stahl can banish the devil or your foot fungus. An interviewer asked Stahl How he performs exorcisms using Tom Jones' music. Stahl says, “I usually lay my hands on the person's head or wherever they need a healing. I ask the person to agree with me in asking for the miracle from God. I briefly explain that I need to have the angelic voice of Tom Jones playing to enable me to get in touch with the Holy Spirit. I then start the Tom Jones song, scream at the Devil, often curse at him and cast him back to the bowels of Hell. I am baptised in the spirit and speak in tongues. You have to understand that the Devil is a bully and when you stand up to him he runs like the coward he is.” Why does Stlahl think that demons respond to the Welsh heartthrob? He says, “The Devil hates anything that is of God . . .just because something is different does not make it wrong. God calls different people into different ministries. I am simply answering my calling.” (http://www.bizarremag.com/real_people.php?id=1596#)

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times. People want to know what God calls them to do. When we feel lost or aimless, we will often make our lives busy and frantic. In the hurried pace of trying to do more and more to make ourselves better, how often do we stop, sit still, and listen (and make sure that what we are hearing is God and not Tom Jones).

Today we look at story that deals with hearing and responding to the voice of Jesus. Before we read the Scripture, allow me to set the scene. Last week we read about the boldness of the Apostles who preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Their preaching reaches many new converts. There aren’t enough Apostles to oversee this new religious community. They choose seven men who are known to be full of the Spirit to help. One of the men is named Stephen. He is full of God’s power, and performs miraculous signs among the people. His faith in Jesus enrages religious leaders. The leaders bring Stephen to court and accuse him of blasphemy. At trial Stephen reverses the accusations. He calls the Sanhedrin the blasphemers. The accusers become infuriated. They cover their ears and, and yelling at the top of their voices, they rush at Stephen, drag him out of the city and kill him.

Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr. Persecution breaks out against the church. One of the persecutors is a Pharisee named Saul. Saul travels from house to house, dragging men and women to prison in an attempt to destroy the group who called “The sect of the Nazarene”, or “the Way.”

Later, Saul will become known as Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles and the most influential thinker and preacher in all of Christianity. He started out as the ringleader in a campaign of violence. After hearing the voice of Jesus, he becomes a follower. I refer to this episode as the calling of Paul. Some say that this story represents Paul’s conversion to Christianity. The term ‘conversion’ may lead us to believe that Paul changed his religion: the Jew became a Christian. But, the NT is clear that Paul remained a Jew who fulfilled his calling as an Apostle to the Gentiles. This is not a conversion from one religion to another, but a call to a specific mission.

The term “call” can be confusing. I have heard people say to me, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard God’s call.” Having a call simply refers to knowing God’s specific purpose and plan for your life.

Saul listened to the voice of Jesus. He stands in contrast to the members of the High Court who close their ears to the preaching of the gospel. While traveling the 150 mile stretch to Damascus to the north the heavens open up and strike Saul with a blinding light. A heavenly voice speaks to him and no one else seems to hear it. Just moments before Saul was so sure of himself. Now, in this desolate area, God speaks, and God is Jesus.

One step in knowing God’s call or purpose in your life is to listen the voice of Jesus. The voice of Jesus calls us to stop living contrary to God’s will. The voice calls us to turn our lives around and seek the things of God. I realize that to some this may all sound strange. How exactly are we supposed to listen to this voice? After all, it sounds foolish for me to wait for cosmic voices. People who hear voices usually get “sent away for a while.” How many of us really expect God to speak to us from the clouds and give instant direction to our lives? I’ll admit, I’ve never audibly heard the voice of God, and I’ve never had an experience like Saul’s, but I am learning how to identify the thoughts and feelings that I experience when God is trying to get my attention.

For me, hearing God involves a process. I knew I was supposed to be a minister from the time I was 12 years old. Friends would say, “What do you want to be when you grow up.” Some would say sports star. Some would say president. I wanted to be a minister. If you knew me back then, I would not have struck you as a spiritual child. Like today, I was a loud-mouthed free spirit. Somehow, as a sixth-grader, I sensed God’s call into ministry.

By the time I graduated college, I changed my mind and decided to be a High School English teacher. I knew I was supposed to enter the ministry, but I wanted options. The thought of being a minister terrified me – especially the part about getting up in front of people and preaching week after week. After sharing my struggles, some loving friends sat down with me and helped me to listen and clarify what God was trying to tell me. When I couldn’t ignore God’s consistent voice any longer, I turned...and I listened. God spoke to me though the voice of others, and started me on a process that helped me decide my future.

Sometimes people ask how Chris and I knew we were supposed to come to Trumbull. It was not a single momentous experience where we heard God’s voice saying “Go Ye to Trumbull and preach My Word.” The call was a process. We prayed, and talked, and read, and prayed some more, and shared our struggles with others, and talked some more, and prayed some more, until we felt we had a firm grasp on what God wanted us to do. At the same time, the search at this church committee prayed, and interviewed, and prayed, and discerned the church’s future, and prayed some more, and involved the congregation. We heard God through the process.

Have you ever had to make a decision like that -- something that affects the outcome of your entire life? In our noisy world of competing voices, how does God speak?

1. God is heard in the Bible. When we take time to read and reflect on

Scripture, we can hear God’s voice and learn God’s will.

2. God’s voice can be heard in confessions and creeds of the church.

3. God’s voice can be heard in liturgy and music. We come to church to worship, and sense God’s presence through our acts of praise. Don’t be surprised if God nudges you by something you sing, or something you see in a stained glass window, or the words of a prayer.

4. God’s voice can be heard through trusted friends, and Spirit-filled members of the community of faith. Such voices give guidance and direction when we are confused about God’s will.

5. God can be heard through the Holy Spirit working directly in your heart and mind. But don’t go over board. Once I was in a church where people heard words of from God. Worshipers would stand and share these prophecies. One of “the regulars” once stood and said, with crunched eyes and folded hands, “there is someone here who has a deathly fear of alligators. God wants to heal you today.” We were in Danvers, MA. There were no alligators within a thousand miles. I would think God might say, “If you’re afraid of alligators, don’t go fishing in Florida swamps.” Direct words from God need to be tested against scripture and the church’s leadership.

Maybe God is trying to get your attention on the Damascus Road of your life. Have you ever come to a place where you can no longer resist the sound of that urgent, persistent voice that asks you to do something new for Jesus Christ? God’s voice still speaks today. God may not speak to you with blinding lights and booming noises. He may begin to speak slowly, and gently, and tenaciously. He calls us to seek, to trust, and to follow. If you have never heard that voice, or if you’ve just been ignoring it as you turn your head away to listen to other messages, I encourage you to silently listen to the voice of Christ which says, “Come, follow me, and believe. God is doing something new, and I want you to be a part.”

Listening is not enough however. We need to be obedient to the voice of God. It’s one thing to listen. It’s quite another to trust God and yourself enough to do follow through. In a vision God told Saul to go to Damascus and meet Ananias in order to see again. Can you imagine how frightened Saul must have been? He’s struck blind and he has to face the very people he set out to destroy. In another vision, God tells Ananias to heal Saul. Can you imagine how frightened Ananias might have been? God tells Ananias to heal the man who wants to kill him. Ananias, the persecuted one, becomes the healer. God humbles Saul, the persecutor, and calls him to return to the Pharisees and preach the message the Good News.

Sometimes the voice of Christ asks us to do difficult things. Jesus calls us to leave our comfort zones to follow. He calls us to stop behaviors that conflict with God’s desires for us. Jesus calls us to do the impossible, things like loving our enemies and loving God more than we love our comfort. I don’t know about you, but for me such demands frighten me. They put me in a place where I can’t trust my own accomplishments or experiences anymore. Obedience means yielding all of our actions to the demands of God’s kingdom.

We are called to obey God’s will at home, loving and serving our children and or our spouses in a way that brings honor to Christ.

We are called to obey God’s will at work and school, taking a stand for what we believe to be true, even when it makes us disliked or unpopular.

We are called to obey God’s will for our personal lives, living with honesty and integrity even when no one else is watching.

We are called to obey God’s will around friends, not caving into peer pressure, and not giving anyone else a reason to blame Christians for being hypocrites.

We are called to obey God’s will as a church, finding ways to invite everyone to be a part of what God is doing.

We are called to obey God’s will around strangers, knowing that our lives may be the only Bible they ever read.

How do we make the church strong in the midst of today’s culture? We seek God’s calling in our lives. We listen, and we obey. And we allow God to use us to transform the world around us.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Sermon for Sunday, May 7, 2006

The Making of a Church: Boldness
Acts 5:17-42

Tim Burke video taped this sermon for me. You can see it at this link:

http://upload.tmbphoto.com/Sermon.mov



Prayer: May we refuse to speak your name, unless we speak with the full-throated cry of fools and lovers.

Let me share another prayer with you. It was printed in a popular newspaper a while back.

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray my Cuisinart to keep
I pray my stocks are on the rise
And that my analyst is wise
That all the wine I sip is white
And that my hot tub is watertight
That racquetball won’t get too tough
That all my sushi’s fresh enough
I pray my cordless phone still works
That my career won’t lose its perks
My microwave won’t radiate
My condo won’t depreciate
I pray my health club doesn’t close
And that my money market grows
If I go broke before I wake
I pray my Volvo they won’t take.

We can’t escape culture and it’s trappings. But, how do you think we, as Christians, should interact with the culture? In our tradition, protestant reformers cried Sola Scriptura. Theirs was a call to engage culture with an authentic understanding of Scripture. But, whose interpretation do you trust?


Some people think the church should pour a steaming cup of scorn on culture. These churches want to protect their members by providing a safe haven against society’s contamination. Some of our neighboring congregations say their mission is to be, “in but not of the world.” In other words, church members physically reside here on earth and but this is not their real home. They look forward to a day when Christ will return and restore them to their real home in heaven. They see the church as a refuge where members can get away from Sponge Bob Square Pants, and the Powerpuff Girls and be encouraged in their faith. Here’s the problem. Christian enclaves develop their own culture, with activities and catch phrases that the rest of us can’t understand. [i]

Some churches do just the opposite. They throw the doors wide open and make room for the culture. Instead of the fear underlying the first approach, these churches adopt the values of the surrounding society. Ron Sider, founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, says that his tradition is suffering a crisis of disobedience. Christians divorce at the same rate as everyone else. Materialism destroys the church’s generosity. Christian spouses are just as abusive as non-churched spouses.[ii] The problem is that accommodating churches can begin to look like a bowl of cold unsweetened oatmeal – without form, taste, or substance

Some people want to protect themselves from the culture. Others see culture as a positive influence. Both are convinced that they are right. I think there’s another way. The stance of the church should not be that of a community that has all the answers, but a people who are in process.[iii] What if we stopped worrying about whether we bar the doors or fling them wide? What if we prayerfully go where Jesus goes, instead of assuming Jesus is going to come to us? I think God wants us to adjust our lives to profess hope in action. I think God wants us to have tender and sensitive hearts so that we can do the God-sized work that the church is supposed to do.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking in the Book of Acts to see the God-sized work the early church was called to do. I hope we will see some characteristics that apply to our churches. We begin by reading an account of a court appearance of the Apostles.

In today’s reading, we meet a group of religious and political leaders known as the Sadducees. The Sadducees were known by their conservative views and wealthy members. They held the power in the Jewish court. Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees didn’t believe in an after life, or in the resurrection of the dead.

You can understand why they don’t like hearing about these followers of Jesus who go to the Temple, heal the sick and preach the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. All this teaching about Jesus being alive goes against everything they stand for. So they throw the Apostles in prison, and command them to speak no more.

Have you ever felt like the status quo challenges your faith? If not, just try to seriously use the name of Jesus in a public invocation. Somehow, we accept the false notion that God no longer belongs in the public sphere. To publicly speak the name of Jesus means that we’re trying to shove our religion down someone else’s throat. The silencing of the gospel is subtle. In the name of tolerance, we’re asked to keep the boundless love of Christ to ourselves so that no one else is offended. For the sake of not offending someone, we are tempted to ignore the suffering around us. For the sake of everyone’s comfort, we believe it when we’re told that church is just something for Sunday mornings. We are tempted to backtrack on our beliefs so that our churches are nice and pleasant places, like a kindly old great-grandma who sits in the corner and gently gives out hard candy to the kids. Is this really what Jesus intends for his church?

The Apostles may help us to find some answers. We learn that they make a miraculous escape from prison. As free men, they have some choices to make. They can run away and deny their faith in Christ. After all, they’ve done it before. Didn’t they run away from Jesus in his most desperate hour, leaving him to die with his executioners? Wouldn’t it be natural for these men to cut their losses and hide? The Apostles know the disappointment of running away. They have experienced the consequences, and know it isn’t an option.

What if they say -- “OK, it’s time for plan B. We are going back to Galilee. We will construct a chapel, and just meet there on Sunday and sing songs about Jesus. People will be curious, and they will come and sing with us. This way, nobody gets hurt” ?

What decisions do we make when our faith in Christ is challenged by society’s status quo? Do we run in fear? Do we compromise? To we apologize for our faith, and try hard not to offend any on else in the future? When the culture of tolerance asks us to keep silent about our deepest beliefs, what can we do?

What do the Apostles do? They do not run. They do not start a capitol campaign. They go right back to the spot where they were arrested and start preaching right where they left off. The religious authorities arrest them again and the Sadducees declare, “We gave you strict orders not to preach in his name!” But the Apostles know what they saw. They lived with Jesus. They saw him die. They touched his scarred hands, and talked with him after he rose from the dead. They will not be silenced. They don’t cave in to the demands of the powerful. As Peter says, “We must obey God rather than human authority” (v.29).

For their boldness, they are flogged – probably with the punishment of forty lashes minus one -- a punishment endured by those who offend Jewish law. It was meant to be a serious lesson to offenders. People died from it. They are released with strict orders not to speak again. Then we read something strange and amazing: their punishment filled them with joy. They rejoiced that they were found worthy by God to take on their share of suffering for the sake of the Jesus They did not keep quiet. They could not keep quiet as they went back to the Temple a third time and preached about Jesus.

From this point on, and throughout history, boldness in the face of persecution causes the church grow. From this point until today, men and women will be arrested, questioned, and persecuted for their faith in Christ. And their boldness will cause the church to become strong.

Here we are today, in this church in humble Trumbull, confronted by the boldness of those who have gone before us -- those who made it possible to be here. How do we confront the pressure to accommodate the demands of a culture that really doesn’t care much for what the church has to offer. The Apostles' answer is boldness. We have something worth offering to those around us.

Many will say it’s impossible to transform the culture. “The world is too hard. Too secular. Too post-Christian. This is the age of information, not regeneration.” So the world around us goes untouched and untaught. You know what? We have some real good news for people. God is still at work today. God’s in the business of healing the brokenhearted and binding the wounds of the hurting. God’s concerned for the needs of the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the powerless. God’s actively involved in the struggle to free people from sin, fear, oppression, hunger, and injustice. God is leading us to a just, peaceable, and loving world through Jesus Christ.

Those who go out to live the message of Jesus will come back weary and wounded, numbed by rejection and hurt by the resistance . . . and filled with joy.

More than ever, our neighbors, even our own families need to hear and to know that Jesus Christ is alive, and that he can change thing for the better. History reveals that the church grew because of the boldness of those who believed in Jesus. They talked about it with their lips, and backed it up with their lives. Today we are faced with a decision. May we walk and talk with the same character, integrity, and boldness of the Apostles, convinced that our message, and God’s Spirit, still has the power to transform lives in the name of Jesus our Lord.



[ii] The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, 27-29.

[iii] Douglass John Hall, The Cross in Our Context, 195.

Sermon for October 6, 2019

Abundant Bread Preached by Pastor Matt Braddock They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get her...