Creating a Sermon

The Devotional sermon society, that I mentioned yesterday (which is more like a sermonette-25-30 minutes), this is not the typical schedule a pastor I have (hopefully). Here are a few differences:

I have a separate full working time
I was outside the town for marriage # 7/8
I had a lot of time to think about selecting text-and complete freedom in choosing this
Can I run function relatively low amounts of sleep for a week
So there are some pros and cons of this list, of course, having a separate full working time is a con, as well as being outside the city think to make a decent expository preaching, I need 20 hours-where can I get is similar for most pastors who make a sermon 45 minutes that takes real text. However, the other side of this is that it introduces BREW sermons every week, so I had enough time to think about what text to select it (about 2 months). If I was smart, I collected from my text and masisoyn about bits for 2 months, but, unfortunately, I'm a big procrastinator and did some "chewed" the week before, with the bulk of crafting being done during the week leading up to the sermon. I picked a verse that I went with my Study Paper a few months ago, so that cleanup exegetical was more or less finished, just need to make a sermon but anyhoo, here's the verse:

This says is trustworthy and deserve full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am primarily

I narrowed to just "trusted say: Jesus Christ came to the world to save sinners.

And here is how it went my schedule:

Monday

Thinking about some illustrations and important points.I actually ended up with three: Jesus who is, what it does, who we are.Launched an outline.

Tuesday

Don't have much time to work on anything important, except for the gnawing feeling in the back of my brain. Sea with border-placing some flesh on the bones of a semi normally write-full manuscript, so I started to connect some pieces already I studied up on.

Wednesday

Add a little more meat, but is beginning to get worried progress (or lack thereof).

Thursday

Massive author block.Watched some interviews about DVD Resevoir Dogs began to track certain ... from the comment, but it was horrible, so I decided to watch the movie I went every now and then. to write a bit.

Friday

Lots of progress I have essentially completed the. sermon, and even run through this sometimes out loud, and try sometimes to church.

Saturday

Was out of town until 10: 30 p.m., and instead of going home, I went directly to the Church to add some final touches, and to get more familiar with the sermon. I changed more than I thought it would, and add the best picture from your sermon and that night I ran across this. sometimes and even though it was late (2: 30 am) I was happy to have the Church work.

Sunday

Got a three hours before the Church and final labelling and marking my manuscript. I went through (mainly to strengthen confidence) and was feeling good in Church, marked with ease, and was generally pleased with what I felt. due to the crunch time, I rely heavily on paper in front of me. in its entirety, but I believe God explained in such a way that many people could understand and hope that you people are also affected.

Get the Man right

One Saturday morning, a Minister could not think of a sermon to write. He simply could not get inspired. He stared out the window, the birds that splashing in bird bath. His mind was empty, as was the sheet of paper in his Office in writing.

Also had to write a sermon in difficult circumstances. The woman, who had left the arcade, with his son. Since it has been raining, the son was anxious and bored. In order to keep him occupied Minister tore a colorful world map out from a magazine.Then he shred the map into pieces. "If you can put together, "he said, scattering the pieces on the floor," I'll give you a quarter. "

Preacher thought will be occupied by his son with this game for some time.But, in a few minutes, he was the son of the study door. He handed completed map. all continents came together correctly.

"How did you so fast and so well?"

"As soon as I put the picture of the man on the other hand together.I figured if I am right man, the world would be correct, too. "

"Thanks for my sermon. Here."

"You said a quarter! is 10 dollars!"

"Ideas worth a lot more," was his father.

How to write a sermon

Planning is needed before writing an efficient sermon. The first step is to identify with the audience. This requires a lot of empathizing. Misunderstanding between people may be reduced if they step into the shoes of the other.

The second step is to conclude whether it would be a sermon is based on need or biblical principle based.If the audience is a collection of recently married couples, a topical sermon about how to promote a closer relationship with a spouse would be appropriate if the Assembly is of a general nature which have just listened to the word of God, an expository preaching is okay.

The third step is to identify the objective, namely, "to speak the word of God with full faith in him".Or might be "helping kids drug-addicted to return to normalcy". Objective recognition after the first two steps is better than keeping as a first step. This can save lot of time, energy and mistakes due to negligence.

The fourth step is to use this target and select relevant passages of the Bible; It requires an in-depth knowledge not only of the Bible, as well as the applicability to people's lives.Just as an effective teacher spends more time and effort in preparing by tradition a lesson, an effective preacher spends more time and effort in this selection procedure. Topical lectures require more time to prepare than expository, as the former need to document real life experiences, relevant case studies, etc. from different chapters and verses, to convince the public.

The sermon must be based on reliable, trusted sources (for explanations), be brief, if possible, and readily applicable to audience real life experiences; If the contents are oral or audiovisual, you must have an impact on the audience.

You Covenant with death, an agreement with hell

As we walk in the beautiful raze Sun, there are a lot of time taking into account our death nor or eternal home. The Bible tells us that we have an appointment and a Covenant with death, and an agreement with hell.

Half 28: 15 because you said, we have made a Covenant with death, and hell are in agreement;Where's overflowing scourge passes through, will not come unto us: for we did our refuge, lies and falsehood are we hid ourselves: do men we truly believe these doctrines will store them in an era of Christs resurgence? Do believe, wood, hay and Stubble, would keep them from the fire of eternal damnation:?

Half 28: 15, are the thoughts and words of those who have and will reject God and his son Jesus. From the Mosaic law on the law of Grace and Mercy.

As it was in the days of Mosaic law, today there are multitudes who reject God's Word. The Bible is one of the most read books in the history of the world. Many read to find salvation and mentoring and other read about finding fault.

Many scholars of the past and present, tried to avoid this issue, many say that hell is just a fantastic place created by the Church and death is only the end of life, without charge or punishment. Half 28: 15. A mutual consent or agreement of two or more persons, or to tolerate some act or thing? the Convention-layout. Agreement;Union minds in connection with a transfer of the interest-negotiate. Compact. Convention;layout.

The Covenant with death came with the fall of Adam.All are born with evil that Adam and Eve have placed our. we are all of the family of man, from start to finish.Now that was born as a result, we are also the same liability certainly the Testament which Adam brought by everybody. we appointed to die.

ROM 5: 14 course death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam, who is the number of him who was to come.Acts 17: 26 and hath made one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the Earth and hath an indication of the times before their appointment, and the boundaries of their habitation.
The agreement that many sign with hell, is the spiritual rather than the physical body, enters into a contract with hell to comply with any rules or restrictions regarding our actions as a physics. satisfy the flesh while allowing Satan have soul.

DEU: 22 for a fire is outrage, and mine and must write unto the lowest hell, consume the Earth by raising, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains, the word "Hell" says 55 times in the KJV.

All with the idea that it is a place of utter cruelty and is the result of gods wrath with humanity.Psa 21: 8 Thine hand check all thine enemies: thy right hand check those who hate them. Many can say they don't need God, we are beautiful, we are intelligent, we control our own destiny, we are Gods by ourselves. We have reached the Summit of Intellect, wisdom, knowledge and understanding of our world, and the universe is ours to plunder and to shape.

Psa 21: Thou shalt become 9 as a fiery furnace in the era of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow their anger, and the fire will devour them.

In Mat 23: 13, we will see an example of the things that happen in the time of Jesus, but also things that is our world today. There are many teachers, teaching for doctrines the human things that are contrary to the false religions, Scriptures, false doctrines, books written by humans for humans, by the will of man and not God.
Papers authored by humans which alter Gods Word, false prophets are as something if not, for example, his books, Nostradamus, Scientology, Joseph Smith, the Bible Church of Satan, Marshal Applewhite, Jim Jones, the new world religion, and many many others.

Man has created himself Gods stone, wood, gold and paper. Not only these men, but also those who believe in them. Humanity, meaning the time of Adam, he tried to do gods many that will provide the Beatitudes of the flesh and facilitate Salvation to gain, these moments were the days of darkness.

Mat 23: 13. But Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you closed until the Kingdom of heaven against men: for neither you go to yourselves, nor suffer yourself entering to go.
Just as the followers of Nostradamus, the writings are so vague that anyone could intreprete any of the words mean something they wanted. Not the words mans but use those words, creating a real and present danger. These writings are the writings of confusion and deception. If you receive the book as a fantasy, things would be different.But the use of these words Create an obstacle to their teaching, and a wall of ignorance for all who Hear and believe. Just as Jesus stated. " you closed until the Kingdom of heaven against men: for neither you go to yourselves, nor suffer yourself entering to go. "28: 9 Half who will teach knowledge?And whom he make to understand doctrine?What it is weaned from the milk, and the chest.Ignorance and indifference do women vulnerable to all kinds of false doctrine, accept these things leads to a Covenant with death, and a meeting with hell.
False prophets preacher, and his Ministers;Mat 23: 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.Mat 23: 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation: of hell?

Ars
Half 28: 9-I teach: Isa_30: 10-12;Psa_50: 17;Pro_1: 29;Jer_5: 31, 10, Joh_3 Jer_6:: 19: 38, Joh_12 Joh_12: 47 48 doctrine: Joh_12: Heb. at the hearing, Isa_53: 1 * marg.

Weaning: Psa_131: 2 Mat_11: 25, 15, Mat_21 Mat_21:: 16: 15; Mar_101Pe_2: 2, 32: 22 Deu-for a fire: Deu_29: € 20, € 35; Num_16:Psa_21: 9, 14, Psa_97 Psa_83:: 3, Isa_66: 15, 16, Jer_4 Isa_66:: 4, 14, Jer_17 Jer_15:: 4; Lam_2: 3, 11, Eze_36 Lam_4:: 5; 6; Mal_4 Nah_1:: 1,: 2, Mal_4 Mar_9: 43-48-2Th_1: 8; Heb_12: 29

shall burn: or, hath burned lower: Psa_86: 13: 33; Isa_30 Zep_3: 8; Mat_10: 28, 9: Mat_18 must consume no more Mat_23: or, hath eaten, Isa_24: 6, 19, Isa_24 Isa_24:: 20 institutions: Job_9: 5, 6, Psa_46 Job_9:: 2, 5, Isa_54 Psa_144:: 10; Mic_1: 4; 5; Hab_3 Nah_1:: 10

A sermon for Advent

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The ideas of left-handed and right handed power come from Robert Capon's book.

Alright, so let's do a little experiment. Let's say your boy is 16 years old and he is standing at the edge of a cliff. You obviously don't want him there, because he could fall off. So there is two different ways to exert your hopeful result; the result being of course that he doesn't fall off the cliff. One way to stop him would be to sneak up from behind him and tackle him away from the cliff, this would be a very direct way of making sure you got your way. Or you could call to him from afar and try to convince him to come away from the cliff. One would be very-direct straight line power, and the other more left handed. Right hand power is that which comes out of our self-determination and self-direction, focused on getting the results that we want. It is governed by the logical, plausible-loving left hemisphere of the brain.

Now direct, straight-line, intervening power does have many uses, so I'm not telling you this to say it's wrong. You can do most chores this way. If you want to use the phone, you bring the phone to your head. If you want to drive across the street, you get in the car and drive it there. This type of power, the kind of power that uses the force that you need to get the result that you want is the reason that almost anything in this world exists. Anything you want done, you have to apply direct force and power to it.

So if you want your way...you apply direct force and get it. You use direct, right handed power.

Now let's keep this analogy going for a bit. Let's say that your 16 year old went back to the cliff, and you told him not too and then he went back again. Let's say he just keeps going back and back and back and never listens to you. At first you may drag him away from the cliff. Maybe next time to drag him away and yell at him to try to scare him a bit more. Let's say he keeps doing it, again and again and again? What do you do next if you only know straight line direct power? Well I suppose you could start beating him, and then just beat him harder and harder. Then you can chain him to a pole. In the end of this exchange of affairs you get your way. But there is something lost in this. If we as humans believe that one of our main objectives in life is to remain in loving relationships with other people, then this direct, straight-line power becomes completely useless. It doesn't work. The relationship will always be damaged.

This is where forcing direct straight line power gets you. It gets you your way, when you don't even want it anymore because your relationships have been completely destroyed. It eats itself. You will get your way most certainly, but the power you have exerted has caused damage elsewhere.

The other option in this situation is something Luther calls left-handed power. "Unlike the power of the right hand (which is governed by the logical, plausible-loving left hemisphere of the brain), left-handed power is guided by the more intuitive open, and imaginative right side of the brain." Left-handed power, is paradoxical power. It looks like weakness, intervention that seems indistinguishable from nonintervention. Examples of left-handed power would be what Gandhi organized in his non-violent resistance against the British. Any martyr is using this type of power also. This kind of power though, never ever guarantees that you will get your own way and it will never stop evil doers from doing evil things. The only thing that left-handed power does is guarantee you have not made the mistake of closing any relational doors from your side. There is a deep paradoxical understanding that is needed for this type of power to be understood, but it is the only way that conflicts between people can ever be truly solved and dealt with.

Q: What are some modern day and biblical examples of obvious right handed or left handed power?

We see this kind of struggle all through the scriptures. Man constantly trying to do things by simply getting them done and God always taking back roads and indirect ways of doing things. Prophets are a perfect example of left-handed power. Radical individuals who were set apart to call Israel back to God. They end up alone, wandering in desserts with very few people listening to them. You think that if God wanted to accomplish something he would make it obvious? Use some of the power that he obviously had. The examples are endless in how God acts within history and chooses a very left-handed solutions. A solution that usually doesn't even look like power at all, but rather weakness. Atheists argue from this point of view all the time. If God was real, if God was alive and wanted us to have a relationship with him then he would make it obvious. In other words, he would use a very direct and straight-line approach of getting our attention to let us know he is out there.

In our culture we have been made incapable of understanding anything but right handed, direct power. We go to war to get what we want. We spank to stop our kids from doing what we don't want them to do. We push hard and fight hard and manipulate to swing the favour of an argument into our direction. We always choose results over relationship. We have no understanding of choosing relationships over results. It barely makes sense to us. This isn't just happening in our culture or our time. It is has been happening ever since humans realized that they could get what they wanted if they just pushed and forced harder enough. Let's look at the Jewish nation, and the types of power they expected.

There were a few major sects of Jews that existed when Jesus was born, and I think if we understand them a bit, we can get a better understanding of the birth of Jesus and why it was so important.

The main group, that most of us are aware of are the Pharisees. The Pharisees had very specific ideas of what they were expecting in terms of a Messiah. They were studying the Torah in and out and they were convinced that someone was going to come who would finally purify Israel of all the sin and infringements on the Torah. They spent their lives staying pure and chastising others to be pure also. They had very strict rules following the Torah and they kept people in and out of their community based on whether or not the rules were followed. This is why most stories we read in the New Testament have the Pharisees gawking at Jesus hanging out with impure people and having problems with the sin that they thought he was committing. To them, a Messiah was coming to reward the pure, punish the impure. He was coming to a cleaned up people, ones that were already fixed. Because of this, the Pharisees found it necessary to use direct, straight-line power to try and make everyone pure so that their Messiah would come and not be disappointed. They stoned prostitutes. They instilled fear into tax collectors. They eventually crucified anything or anyone that got in their way of doing what they thought needed to be done, even if it meant destroying relationships.

Another group that existed in this time was the Sadducees. The Sadducees were much more involved in politics and they used that to sway the public. When they wanted to get something done, they simply used their social capital and made it happen. Everything they did was very straight-line and direct to get their own way using very powerful structures to get their own way.

Another group that existed were types of revolutionaries. There active slogan was "no King but God" and there was many violent attempts to remove power from the Romans. They did not believe in any sort of power in the king.

What they all had in common was that they were being persecuted and oppressed in the very land that God had promised them. They all had their own ways to use direct, straight-line, right handed power to try and make this happen. One used manipulation and fear, the other ones used politics and social capital and the others used violent means to get what they wanted or what they felt they deserved. All of them chose results over relationship. None of them would be in right relationship with the people they were trying to have power over.

So you have three strong people groups, all expecting some type of Messiah, some type of Saviour. One group is expecting rewards and punishments, another is expecting the Messiah to be a political hero and the other is expecting a war hero. This is the environment and the expectations that were everywhere when Jesus was born. Everyone is expecting a messiah who is going to right-handedly take down Rome and usher in a new kingdom.

Jesus was born in a stable. There is absolutely nothing royal, beautiful or exciting about it. This is one of the filthiest places around. This is where animals, the slaves of men, live. He was armed with nothing but his own innocence. The first things to experience the birth of the most important person to ever be born was a young virgin, her confused fiance and a bunch of farm animals. This is what Jesus was born into.

Jesus, the messiah, the one everyone was waiting for, arrived on the scene in the most anti-climatic way possible. Nobody knew it happened, besides a few animals. They couldn't even get into the inn. The only people that found out were some random shepherds...people who really have nothing to do with the entire story. At this point in the story, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to assume or expect that this kid is actually a king. All the signs point away from it. Out of wedlock, zero power, in a barnyard with smelly excrement lying around. This is better told as a story of a kid in a trailer park.

This is a risky move by God. God chooses to do the opposite of what the world expected and knew to start the beginning of the most important birth in the world. I want to show you this clip from a radio show called wiretap. Wiretap is a show on CBC of scripted conversations that a guy named Jonathan Goldstein writes and performs on the radio. This one is about a guy named Gregor pitching his idea for marketing the Messiah.

This is what people expected the first time the Messiah showed up. They expected the fireworks, the battle where he comes out on top and for the world to know when he entered the scene. Jesus though, was up to something else. He is sent to a no-name virgin, in a no-name town, with literally no one around besides some no-name shepherds. Either God needs to take some marketing lessons from Gregor or he had something else under his sleeve.

I would argue that what God was doing with the birth of Jesus was exercising left-handed power. This left-handed power at first glance looks weak, and barely deserves the name of power. But really, when you think about it, it is the only kind of power in the world that evil can't touch. This is the only way that he could have actually accomplished the redemption of all humankind. It had to come completely different than anything before. It couldn't come from just stronger force and louder voices. It had to end the cycle, not just add to it with a loud bang. This was the basis of Christ's life and ministry. He could have many times over and over again, destroyed Roman rule, take power in the dessert, pulled himself down off the cross. All these temptations were there, in fact they were named many times over and over again through the entire New Testament. No one really understood what was going on. He was mocked, Peter cut off an ear, they challenged Jesus to show them miracles. Slowly as his ministry grew, Jesus used less and less right handed straight line power and started to see everything in a different light. Eventually the only option is that instead of dishing out power and justifiable pain and punishment he was willing, quite foolishly, to take it on himself. He refused to use his power, which is the ultimate showing of left-handed power.

Just like in the story with the kid at the side of the cliff, if relationship is actually important then right handed power does not actually work. Instead of beating him into submission, you eventually take the beating on yourself, which we know that this is eventually what Jesus did. God in Christ died because he refused to use right handed straight line power to make his point and get the results that he wanted. In the end, he is on the cross, leaving the reality that there can be no more power that is exercised towards him, yet that leaves him with so much more he ever would have had if he ever forced his way.

Think about any situation where you are forced or coerced into doing something. While the person with the power may get his own way for a while, he will no longer have the relationships around him that he once had. What happens if the results he wanted was love and followers? How do you force that? You can't. The only option is to exercise left handed power, and take the brutality on yourself and allow it to happen. This truly is the only way.

It is this opposite left handed way of living that Jesus' birth brought into the world. He was an innocent baby, not a powerful ruler or king. Only through the innocence of his birth and being a child could this entire system of right handed living be reversed. If God would have sent another strong ruler, he would have only pushed a system that does not work, and would only make it worse and would still have no one following him after it was over. A left handed baby brings hope to the entire world, because he takes left handedness to the extreme and destroys any hope of right handed power actually winning. The only way to beat right handed power, is to take all the brutality of it on yourself and die. The birth of Jesus was the beginning of this.

Just do it! A sermon on Luke 17: 5-10

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..."Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

(Luke 17:7-10)

I have not always been an Anglican! In my late teens - in the days following my rather dramatic conversion experience - I found myself gravitating naturally towards the more charismatic end of the church. Maybe it was because it was more youthful and energetic. Maybe it was because I felt at home with so many people who were struggling with drug and alcohol issues. Or maybe it was because I enjoyed the dramatic testimonies.

"Tell us about your life before you met Jesus, Bob

Well pastor, before I met Jesus I was living in a caravan. I was bankrupt, my family had fallen apart, and I was drinking myself to sleep each night.

And what about now, Bob?

Well pastor, since I met Jesus I haven't touched a drop of grog, I now run a multi-million dollar cosmetics business and, hey, have you met my new wife?..."

We've all heard stories like that, haven't we - stories of people who have met Jesus and so have gone from strength to strength, people for whom Jesus has been the answer in every area of their lives - spiritual, emotional and financial, people for whom the Christian life seems like nothing but one glorious celebration after another! Well... have we also heard this story?

"Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

You may remember a few weeks back I brought in my copy of "The Positive Bible" - that specially edited version of the New Testament that promises you "all the good stuff and nothing else", and I did so with a view to pointing out that the passage I was speaking on that day did not make it in to "The Positive Bible".

You could be forgiven for assuming that I'm giving a sermon series on passages that didn't make it into "The Positive Bible". I'm actually just working my way through the Gospel of Luke. It was the "Hate your mother and father" passage (in Luke 14) we were looking at last time I produced this. That was followed by the less-than-cheery story of Lazarus and the rich man, and this week we get this slap-in-the-face story that compares the life of discipleship to slavery, concluding with the admonition: "So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

Once again, it's not very positive, is it, and it hardly makes the Christian life look like an attractive career option!

Frankly, the whole image of the master and slave seems entirely distasteful. We, of course, do not have slaves who plough our fields or tend our livestock, but even if we did I suspect that we would not treat them with the quite the degree of disdain that this master seems to be treating his slaves with.

Is this master really supposed to be a metaphor for God - the God and Father of our Lord Jesus who himself came among us not to be served but to serve? Is this how we envisage God dealing with us when we have done all that is asked of us? What happened to "well done, good and faithful servant?"

And after all, We who have been schooled in the humanistic phenomenology of Carl Rogers know full well that human beings perform best when their self-esteem is at its highest, and so we know that the key to managing staff is to affirm them at every opportunity. We like to be told that we have done a good job - that we are good at what we do. Nobody likes to be told that they are worthless! What sort of way is that to treat your team?

Moreover, the whole master-slave concept is a painful one, as it depicts the Christian life as nothing more than the living out of the 'd' word - ie. duty!

Despite the fact that Robert E. Lee credited 'duty' as being 'the most sublime word in the English language', nobody likes the 'd' word any more. It evokes images of heartless toil and endless routine, and is akin to other 'd' words, such as 'discipline' and 'drudgery'.

Nowadays we don't respect people who act only out of duty. "We would have split up years ago but stay together for the sake of the children!" "I married my pregnant girlfriend because I thought it was the right thing to do!" "Putting mum in the nursing home would have been easier but I thought it was my duty to look after her."

It all seems so old-fashioned - so 'the generation of our parents', so unliberated, so pre-enlightenment. We don't want to live lives that our bound by convention and social obligation. We want to live spontaneously and follow our hearts. We want to go with our emotions and do what we feel like doing. We hardly want to live a life of slavery!

And then of course there is the Biblical question of what on earth this story has to do with the discussion about having faith that preceded it?

In truth, I think the broader discussion about faith is the key to coming to terms with this parable, and indeed perhaps not only the discussion on faith immediately preceding the parable but the whole dialogue that starts at the beginning of Luke chapter 17.

The passage in Luke that we are looking at is a part of Jesus' great travel dialogue, where Jesus is walking and talking, as He edges ever closer to His city of destiny - ie. Jerusalem.

Chapter 17 opens with Jesus urging His disciples to take care of the 'little ones' - specifically, members of the faith community who are weak. The disciples respond by saying, "Give us more faith!"

For me this passage seems a little reminiscent of the passage in Luke 9 where Jesus was trying to tell His disciples about His impending betrayal, but where His team wanted to know 'Which one of us is the greatest?' (vs. 43-46) Here Jesus is trying to talk about caring for weak members of the community but the disciples bring the focus back to themselves, and I think we need to see Jesus' statement about 'faith the size of a grain of mustard seed' as a reprimand.

The disciples are asking for more faith. Why are they asking for more faith? I assume it is, again, because they want to be great, and they want to perform great miracles such as Jesus does with His amazing faith.

Now I appreciate that it is hard to know whether Jesus is happily joking when he uses the metaphor of the mustard seed and the deliberately ridiculous image of planting mulberry bushes in the ocean, or whether He is speaking out of exasperation, but I am suggesting to you that it is the later.

Perhaps there is still something of a twinkle in His eye when Jesus says this but I do believe that this whole response comes out of frustration. For the disciples do not in fact need more faith. They just need to be acting out faithfully the faith they already have! The disciples are quite capable of doing crazy things with the amount of faith they already have. They don't need more faith. They just need to do more with it!

I am embarrassed to say that I have had a number of people come up to me over time and say, "Oh, if I had faith like you do I'd give up my day-job and do the sort of things that you do", which I always find entirely exasperating!

I've always responded to such people by saying something along the lines of, "if you really think that there's something I'm doing with my life that is more worthwhile than what you are doing, then do it! Don't wait until you have more faith or more anything. Just do it!"

Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Workers Movement, once had someone say to her, "You are a saint!". She apparently responded, "don't you write me off that easily", and I imagine for exactly the same reason. There is nothing special about me, she was saying, such that you could not be doing exactly the same sort of thing with your life should you wish to. Just do it! Don't wait to become a saint. Just do it!

Now I appreciate that I might be risking infringement on Nike's copyright by using this phrase repeatedly but I do think that "Just do it" is the basic message we get from both the mustard seed illustration and from the parable.

For it seems that the disciples are wanting to wait for a greater influx of spiritual giftedness before they get on with doing the work that they've been called to do, and they don't need to wait. They just need to get on with it.

And the servants in the parable - it's not their place to wait around for anything either - be it greater faith or a special bonus reward for having completed their work on time or any show of gratitude or for anything of the sort. They just need to get on with their work and do it!

It's not a comfortable image - the whole master-slave relationship - but it is a depiction of a master-centred world where God is God and we are not, and where God's requirements are the business of the day and where our needs, our faith, our goals and our rewards are sidelined somewhat, as we lose ourselves in a world that is much bigger and more significant than any of us individually.

I started today by saying that I haven't always been an Anglican but was initially more attracted to churches with high energy and lots of positive success stories, and I must be honest and say that I think one of the reasons I gradually drifted away from those types of churches was because it became increasingly difficult for me to identify with the sort of success stories I was hearing week by week.

I'm now 30 years in to my walk with Jesus and I can't pretend that it's been one great and glorious string of victories - far from it! Indeed, while not wanting to deny that the Lord has been able to do something with me over those years, I'm very conscious of the fact that the things I struggle with today are not that much different from the things I was struggling with back then!

And that is one of the reasons I like Anglicanism (or at least Anglicanism in the form in which it is demonstrated in my community) with its emphasis on comprehensiveness. Comprehensiveness means that there is room for everybody in the Christian community - the rich, the poor, the slave, the free, the sinner, the saint, the guy with the great success story and the guy more like the rest of us.

For in the end it doesn't matter whether you have a great story to share, just as it doesn't matter if you have great faith or a great bank balance or great prophetic powers or great anything else. What matters is simply that we get on with doing the work that God has called us to do.

For most of us I suspect that our walk of faith is a conglomeration of these stories. Sometimes it is a glorious tale, and sometimes it is just hard work and seems entirely thankless. But don't wait until you feel good about it. Don't wait until you have more faith. Don't put off stepping out in faith until your self-esteem has reached a level that makes it come natural. Just do it! Amen.

(First preached at Holy Trinity Dulwich Hill, October 2010)

Great Sex lectures

Great sex lectures have cut around the country. Main focus on a topic many churches choose to ignore: sex. Not only gender broadly, but sex according to how God's Word. These sermons to stress the importance of a pleasant and interesting intimacy within a relationship.

Controversy:

There is a lot of controversy surrounding lectured great sex.Some preachers believe that the Gospel is what should be preached, not sex. Many feel Sunday morning sex congregations are highly improper. major cities tend to be more lenient in such sermons, but smaller cities whose populations, more centered and religious, are offended by not only priests themselves, but the signs traffic promote these sermons great sex.

The message:

Stronger sex sermon stipulates that the message is partly to get parents and kids more discussion of sex earlier before arrive somewhere else the message that could attach to such factors as early teen pregnancy.They also just preaching God's word in relation to sex as mentioned in the Bible.

These lectures were very, very popular and many couples say opens its doors for greater intimacy takes place within marriage is often times sex isn't discussed much in the same relationships as occurs and disable sex life without major effort to improve things and create a higher level of pleasant intimacy. switching to a sermon, the flood gates not only open for conversation, but really steps taken then couples can improve their intimacy; for example, many couples leave these sermons, go home and buy electronic manuals religious intimacy to further their knowledge and to apply practices pleasant intimacy in their relationship.