Month: May 2018

Sermon:           “The Water and the Spirit”

Theme:            The people of God are empowered by a relationship with God that is in community with one another as God is in community within God’s self.

Purpose:          The congregation will examine their relationships with one another.

Scriptures:       Isaiah 6:1-8      Isaiah is called – “Here I am, Send me”

John 3:1-17     Jesus speaks with Nicodemus about the Water and the Spirit.

Questions:

What difference does the Trinity make to us? What does it mean to us that God is in community within God’s self? How do we draw from the presence of God within us to be in relationships with one another and with the world? In what ways do we fail to participate in the fullness of God’s presence and power in our attempts to care for the world? How do we celebrate and live in the relationships of being God’s beloved people, abiding with Christ in the world?

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Sermon:           “The Spirit of God Gives Life”

Theme:            Our strength, inspiration, and power comes from the power of the Holy Spirit.

Purpose:          The congregation will seek to be empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit and God’s love.

Scriptures:       Ezekiel 37:1-14            The valley of dry bones and Spirit of God.

Acts 2:1-21      The Holy Spirit comes down on the disciples, enabling to speak in languages.

Questions:

What does Pentecost mean to us today? How do we allow the Holy Spirit to move and energize us? What causes us to be resistant to allowing the Holy Spirit to act and be creative in our midst? What does it mean today to have the dry bones of our failed efforts to come alive as a mighty force for God’s work? What is needed so that we may be faithful in using our gifts and abilities to serve Christ as the people of God?

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Sermon:           “Strangers in a Strange Land”

Theme:            God calls us to be in the world but not emotionally or spiritually invested in the values of the world.

Purpose:          The congregation will evaluate their priorities and attachments.

Scriptures:       1 John 5:9-13  Whoever has the Son has life – this is our testimony from God.

John 17:6-19   We belong to Christ and are not of the world.

Questions:

What are the things to which we become emotionally attached? In what ways do those attachments affect our relationship with Christ and with other Christians? What are the things that we make more important than God in our life? How do we learn to put things in a healthy perspective? How do we find the humility to put our relationships with Christ and those Christ has placed in our lives above our own need for control and the things that we begin to make overly important in our minds?

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Sermon:           No Longer Servants – Now Friends

Theme:            We are chosen by Christ to be in a relationship of confidence and joy as we abide in love that overcomes all that we may face in the world.

Purpose:          The congregation will seek to learn confidence through practicing the love of Christ.

Scriptures:       1 John 5:1-6    Everyone who believes is born of God, and through Christ we conquer the world.

John 15:9-17   Jesus commands us to love one another and abide in that love.

Questions:

What does Jesus mean when he says that he no longer calls us servants, but calls us friends? What does it mean to be a friend of Christ Jesus? In what ways does our understanding of what it means to be Christian change when we move from serving out of an obligation to living out a loving friendship?  How do we become full of the love that Jesus showed in offering forgiveness to the world so that we may be free from judgment, guilt, or fear? How does one develop a faith that enables us to lay our life down as servants of God?

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