Month: July 2017

“Milk it for all it’s worth”

Sermon:           “Insecurity and Security Blankets”

Theme:            Instead of creating “Sacred cows” we will find our security in the knowledge of God’s unending loving care for us.

Purpose:          The congregation will recognize their insecurities and begin to seek to set them aside.

Scriptures:        Romans 8:31-39          All things work together for those who are in Christ, if God is for us, who can be against us?

Matthew 14:22-36      Jesus walks on the water to the Disciples, who are struggling in the boat.  The people want to touch the fringe of his cloak.

Questions:

How do we respond to the anxieties and fears that are with us over long periods of time? What roles do “good luck charms” and other attachments play in our lives? In what ways do we enable fears to dominate our lives? In what ways do we lack trust in God’s love or willingness to care for us? What are the ways in which we can remind ourselves that God’s love is with us? What can we do to break our dependence on superstitions and other crutches for dealing with anxiousness and fear? What is a healthy understanding of anxiousness and fear for Christians?

Click HERE to listen to the message.

God clothes us in a robe of being valued for ourselves.

Sermon:           “Putting On an Identity of Love”

Theme:            We are constantly pushed to show importance, power, influence, and success but real happiness and security is found in clothing ourselves with compassion, humility, and above all, love.

Purpose:          The congregation will become sensitive to their need to be noticed and important so that they may seek instead to find love and peace.

Scriptures:                    Matthew 6:28-30        Consider the lilies of the filed.

Colossians 3:12-17      Above all clothe yourselves with love.

Questions:

What shapes the way we think of ourselves? In what ways do we allow our “self” or identity to be given to us by others? In what ways do we have a solid self that holds onto our value and purpose? What role does love play in our values? In what ways do we allow superficial things to determine how we feel about ourselves and the attitudes we hold towards others? What impact does the tendency to make judgements about other people’s appearance make on ourselves and our own relationships?

Click HERE to listen to the message.

Sermon:           “Working and Living”

Theme:            We become slaves to our work and anxieties about proving ourselves worthy, and as a result lose the precious gift of being God’s capable people.

Purpose:          The congregation members will consider what they do that is important to relationships and focus on those things.

Scriptures:       Exodus 20:8-11           God commanded to rest on the Sabbath.

Luke 13:10-17 Jesus heals on the Sabbath.

Questions:

Why is it so many of us do not have a healthy balance between work and rest? What causes us to think that somehow neglecting our health and our family is pleasing to God? What lack of inner strength leads us to obsessively worry about work and money? How do we learn to honor sabbath without becoming legalistic about it? What can we change in our lives to be healthier in our relationships with our family and with God?

Click HERE to listen to the message.