November 7
Preacher: Gary Dennis
Special Event: The Lord’s Supper; Daylight Savings Time ends
Scripture: Revelation 5:1-10 — Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals; 2 and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. 4 And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. 8 When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 They sing a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by
your blood you ransomed for God saints
from every tribe and language
and people and nation;
10 you have made them to be a
kingdom and priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth.”
Sermon Theme: “Why Do I Follow Jesus? Allows Me to Participate in Something Much Bigger Than Myself” — The big thing that impresses me most in today’s scripture is the reconciliation that had to happen, if in that heavenly choir you find “saints who have come from every tribe and language and people and nation.” How could that ever happen? How could Jews ever be reconciled to Germans, Christians in the Middle East reconciled to Muslims, or in Rwanda Hutus reconciled to Tutsis?
You get a taste of that future reconciliation in some things that are happening in the world today. (I am going to tell three amazing stories of reconciliation happening today.)
This God that we know in Jesus Christ is doing big things in the world and will continue to do those big things until that future day when that heavenly choir drawn from people, tribe and nation sings its praise to the Lamb. This is another reason that I follow Jesus. I love being involved in the big thing that God is doing in the world.
Sermon Title: Why Do I Follow Jesus? – Reason #8
November 14
Preacher: Gary Dennis
Special Event: Shoebox Dedication
Scripture: Luke 5:1-11 –Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Sermon Theme: “Why Do I Follow Jesus> Allows Me to Discover Meaning in Community. This story about the importance of Christian community comes from Luke’s description of Jesus calling his disciples.
Luke’s story is about a great catch of fish. Though Jesus has just helped Peter, James and John and the men who worked with them to make their biggest catch in their years as partners, Luke tells us that they responded to Jesus in an extraordinary way.
“When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.”
So the adventure began. Over the next three years and beyond, these fishermen would indeed learn what it meant to catch people. They would learn this as they followed Jesus and as they continued in community.
I cannot stress enough the importance of community built around following Jesus as Savior and Lord. At the end of this scripture, Jesus has formed the community that he needed for his ministry. Listen to my words,
“The community that Jesus needed.”
If Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the one sent from heaven, the Savior of the world, needed community, what does that say about us? I keep pointing out that even God eternally lives in community. God the Father is eternally in community with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God the Son is eternally in community with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit; and God the Holy Spirit is eternally in community with God the Father and God the Son.
Community, community, community – it is almost impossible to grow in our faith apart from community. I so want you to be in community during this coming year. I love Max Lucado’s insight into the importance of community:
Questions can make hermits out of us, driving us into hiding. Yet the cave has no answers. Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many. When you interlock your understanding with mine, and we share our discoveries, when we mix, mingle, confess and pray, Christ speaks (Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear, Thomas Nelson, 2009, p. 144).
Sermon Title: Why Do I Follow Jesus? – Reason #9
November 21
Preacher: Gary Dennis
Special Event: October New Members presented
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33 — Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Sermon Theme: “Why Do I Follow Jesus? Allows Me to Manage My Anxiety”
What we have in today’s scripture is a miracle story with two acts, each six verses long, one centered on Jesus and the other on Peter – a picture of Christ and his church. In the first act the Lord approaches his troubled church astride the waves and speaks to her with those powerful words,
“Courage. I am. Don’t be afraid.”
I think we should have plaques made with those words inscribed on them, plaques that we can then hang on the walls of our church buildings while also hanging them on the walls of our hearts. In Jesus is the courage we seek. Because of him, we don’t have to be afraid.
In the second act, a believing disciple and an enabling Lord do the impossible. Peter walks on the water. Jesus and Peter together master the elements, and for a brief moment give us a glimpse of the immense possibilities that go along with following Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
Yet, in this second act, the believer also becomes an unbeliever. He sinks back into natural life, cries out to the Lord and is saved. In this second act, the church believes that her surroundings and resources, or the lack of them, are more decisive than Jesus. The church believes the world’s winds are stronger than the Lord’s words.
No wonder we are anxious. We struggle to trust God in the storms that blow through our lives. Please hear what I am saying. Trusting in God does not protect us from a storm. You have a pastor whose nine-year-old son died of cancer. I am a part of a family that has wrestled for almost three decades with the depression caused by that death. It hasn’t always been pretty. That’s just the family stuff.
In our life together as congregation and pastor, you know we have also had our struggles. We have also had our good times, some absolutely wonderful times, but on more than one occasion you have almost fired me. You can imagine the uncertainty that created for my family and me.
Learning to trust God in the storms of life does not make the storms go away. Again and again they return. Yet, like Peter as he begins to sink, we can cry out to the Lord and he will come alongside us, helping us not to drown in those storms that sweep over our lives.
Sermon Title: “Why Do I Follow Jesus? – Reason #10”
A New Preaching Series: Mercy will be our focus for the next four weeks. William Shakespeare helped us think about the importance, if not power, of mercy.
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
’T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s,
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy
(William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1).
In this Advent preaching series, we will explore mercy from the perspective of four peculiar names in the first half of the genealogy of Jesus that is found at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel. The peculiarity is not just the inclusion of four women but the inclusion of these four women.
The four women are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Tamar was forced to play the role of a prostitute in order to trick her father-in-law into keeping his promises. The fruit of this embarrassing union was one of the great grandfathers of Jesus.
The second embarrassing woman in Jesus’ family tree was a woman who wasn’t pretending to be a woman of the night. She was one. Rahab “the harlot” is best known for assisting the spies of Israel. I believe she is the only “woman of the night” mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy, in Faith’s Hall of Fame in Hebrews, chapter 11, and in the Book of James as an example of good works. Again, she is one of the great-grandmothers of Jesus.
Ruth is morally the least questionable of the four women but she is a Moabite. This is an embarrassment because the Old Testament traces the beginning of the Moabites to the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters, which places Moabites pretty low on the social and spiritual register of the racially protective people of Israel. Yet, this embarrassing woman becomes the grandmother of King David and again, an ancestor of the Savior of the world.
The fourth woman is so embarrassing that Matthew will not call her by name. We simply read, “the wife of Uriah.” Matthew makes it clear. She was not the lawful wife of King David. We know her as Bathsheba, more a victim than a perpetrator in the most scandalous seduction in the Bible. This most embarrassing woman was also one of the great grandmothers of Jesus.
If Matthew had wanted to be radical and include some women in Jesus’ genealogy, he could have chosen Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah – the wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These were four model matriarchs but instead Matthew chooses Rahab, Tamar, Ruth and Bathsheba.
Finally, none of the women are Jewish. Tamar was a Canaanite, Rahab a Jerichoite, Ruth a Moabite and Bathsheba, through marriage, a Hittite. What was going on? I find Martin Luther helpful. He wrote, “In these strange Gospel couples God’s desire to show how much love He has for sinners [is seen].” Luther continues, “It is as though God intended for the hearer of the genealogy to say, ‘Oh, Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of the sinners – in fact, he puts them in his family tree.’”
Then, Luther brings this truth home, “Now if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one … but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them” (“Sermon on the Day of Mary’s Birth,” 8 September 1522, 11:2371).
Matthew’s genealogy is about mercy. He wants to preach the gospel even in the list of Jesus’ ancestors. Matthew will teach that God can use not only non-Israelite Gentiles but he can also forgive, overcome and use Jewish and Gentile sinners to accomplish his purposes in the world. That means that God can even use people like your pastor and you. That gives me great hope and encourages me to explore further God’s mercy.
November 28
Preacher: Jim Milley
Special Event: First Sunday in Advent
Scripture: Joshua 2:1-21; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25 — Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.” 4 But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. 5 And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.” 6 She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. 7 So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
8 Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men: “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now then, since I have dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the LORD that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith 13 that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” 14 The men said to her, “Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the LORD gives us the land.”
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the outer side of the city wall and she resided within the wall itself. 16 She said to them, “Go toward the hill country, so that the pursuers may not come upon you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned; then afterward you may go your way.” 17 The men said to her, “We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear to you 18 if we invade the land and you do not tie this crimson cord in the window through which you let us down, and you do not gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your family. 19 If any of you go out of the doors of your house into the street, they shall be responsible for their own death, and we shall be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon any who are with you in the house, we shall bear the responsibility for their death. 20 But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be released from this oath that you made us swear to you.” 21 She said, “According to your words, so be it.” She sent them away and they departed. Then she tied the crimson cord in the window.
Hebrews 11:31 — By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
James 2:25 — Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road?
