Tag: baptism
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Not Yours, But God’s
Psalm 69:1–5, 30–36; Genesis 17:1–13; Romans 4:1–12 “Abram” translates to “exalted ancestor”. “Abraham” translates to “ancestor of a multitude”. While Ismael was Abraham’s son (the son he had with Sarah’s servant), it didn’t quite connect with Abraham as Ishmael wasn’t a result of him and Sarah (his wife and love).Both names had their own sting.…
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Remembrance of Change
SermonTemplate400 words (3 minutes)Auto-publish to Faithlife SermonsAboutSeriesTopicsPassages Genesis 1:1–5; Acts 19:1–7; Mark 1:4–1 Approximately 70% of the earth is covered by water. Around 3% of that is readily drinkable. On average, a human is 60% water. Depending on weather and health, a human can survive 2–7 days without additional liquid. We all know water is…
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Good Gone Bad
Mark 12:1–17; Matthew 10:5–7; Matthew 17:24–27 Within the context of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the primacy of the remnants of the Israelites cannot be denied. Jesus calls them the “lost sheep”. Their place is significant to God, for they are even called by God’s name (2 Chronicles 7:14). The tragedy of it all is that while…
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Salvation Balance
Matthew 16:13–17; Romans 10:6–14 In the US, individuality is all the rage, and it has been since at least 4 July 1776. Individuality is not a bad thing, automatically. While there are many aspects to our faith that are indeed communal (and must remain that way), there are others that are certainly individual. The most…
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Graveside Dancing
Psalm 30; Hosea 13:4–14 Yesterday was the birthday of my stepfather. He passed away years ago. For whatever reason, this year his birthday hit me kind of hard. He and I had our good moments. We had our bad moments. Just like any parent-child relationship. I was his only child. At his burial, the priest…
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Disciple, Baptize, Teach
Matthew 28:16–20; 1 Corinthians 1:14–25 One of the measurements of a church’s growth is the annual number of baptisms. If we were to review the church’s (and, by this, generally all American churches), the percentage is not particularly great. It certainly does not meet the so-called New Testament numbers. A lot has changed over the…
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Seashell Summer
Matthew 3:1–13; Mark 10:35–40; John 13:1–11; 1 Peter 3:18–22 (read online ⧉) What is one thing you think of when it comes to Summer? How about a Summer trip or vacation? Today is the first day of Summer. Today is also National Seashell Day, in honor of trips to the ocean being the summer trip…
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3 is 1 and 1 is 3
Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Matthew 3:13–17; Matthew 28:16–20; 1 Peter 1:1–2 (read online ⧉) This is one of those odd “Liturgical” Sundays in the Christian year. It set aside to specifically observe the creedal declaration of and faith in the Trinity. We have Sundays set aside for Advent, Lent, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost. These are event-based. It’s not…