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.

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.

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)

World oldest Christian Sermon

The Christian Church was born on the day of Pentecost in about
30 AD Until the moment Jesus preached the Kingdom of
God and came to death some seven weeks.

The Apostles of Jesus with women, including Mary the
mother of Jesus praying together for a number of days.

Suddenly, all "got enthoysiasete" and started talking
very loudly.And a very strange happened. Began
Speaking in languages that do not know.

There was such a mess, it attracted a crowd; Some said
The Apostles were drunk. others had amazing opportunity to be heard
their mother tongue from those who did not even
understand this language.

One of the disciples, the Apostle Peter, began to speak:

"Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell in
Jerusalem, is this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the
the third hour of the day.But what was spoken by
the Prophet Joel,

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
You'll see visions, and your males aged should dream dreams: And by
my servants and for my servants I dialyma those
days of my spirit; and they must anticipate and I would like to shew
wonders in heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath;
blood, fire, and vapour of smoke must enable Sun
in darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and
notable day of the Lord came and it begins to move,
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord must
Save.

"You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
made by God himself in the midst of you, as you yourselves for
therein, we also delivered the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
He was crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having free
the pains of death: because it couldn't that have
be holden. For David speaketh concerning him,

"I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for the
It is in my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Rejoice, my heart and my tongue was glad; Moreover also my
flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.Thou hast made me Thou their lifestyles.
shalt be my full of joy with the admit. "

"Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the
Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and
sepulchre is with us unto this day, so that a prophet
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of
the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, this could create
up Christ to sit on his throne he seeing this before he spake of
the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not in
Hell, neither his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath
God raised, credit we witnessed to by
the right hand of God exalted, and having received from the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this,
you now see and hear for David is not ascended into the
heavens: but he saith himself,

"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right
hand, until your enemies Thy footstool. "

"Let us therefore his home, we know that Israel eventually
God hath made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both
Lord and Christ. "[Acts 2: 14b-36]

This message has a phenomenal impact The hearers wanted to.
you know what to do next. again Peter speaks:

"Repent and be baptized every one of you during
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto
you and your children, and for all who are afar off, even
as the LORD our God shall call. "[38b-acts 2:
39]

Whereas a sermon that one group that was "to the public
square ", as a result of 3000 converts to Christianity and they
were all baptized and they continued faith as
in accordance with instructions given by the Apostles.

This was also the beginning of the Verse Roman Catholic Church.
10 explicitly mentions, in addition to the Jews and people from
other countries, and strangers from the Rome ".This is certainly
understood as the country was under Roman occupation.

The Church in Rome grew so much that the Apostle Paul dedicated
the whole epistle to the Romans before he went there.
History confirms that existed underground of the Roman Church
right (actually literally) through the worst persecution .this
continues until today.

But the best part is the last statement of Peter cited above:
"For the promise is unto you, and your kids and all
that is far off, even as many as the LORD our God shall
Call. brings old sermon 2000 years
Today we than 30 AD, certainly "away".

I suggest you use the sermon. Quote here with the old
King James version where there are no copyrights. Select a
modern translation, if desired. will not return of God
void.

How to prepare a sermon

Many new religious pastors and Ministers get very nervous while putting together the first priests. Be honest: how many readers of this article, found by typing "how to prepare a sermon" into your favorite search engine?

There are many websites out there who could explain specific steps you can follow when he or she is looking for guidance on preparing and put together a sermon. The truth is, however, that the preparation of priests is a personal and private process.What works for one week to not work for you next. Finally, as you become more experienced in sermon preparation, you'll understand how to find inspiration when it feels like your mental well has run dry.

One of the ways to learn how to prepare a sermon is to begin work on a prepared outline. stroke work item as a roadmap to the finished product. The outline will help you focus your thoughts and associated exactly what you want to say at the end of the week.

Some strokes will prompt you to start by selecting a writes that you want to use to inspire your Assembly. Other borders will ask you what do you want to talk about.At first your selections, a structure can help fill in your report, until you have a sermon that is ready to receive.

Learn how to prepare a good sermon involves much trial and error as any experienced clergyman or Minister will tell ...Sometimes the words flow easily and sometimes most certainly do not identify the proper tools (such as how websites, sermon outlines, etc) to help you put together your sermon when they feel inspired is part of the process of learning every pastor and Minister goes.

How to prepare a sermon

Many new religious pastors and Ministers get very nervous while putting together the first priests. Be honest: how many readers of this article, found by typing "how to prepare a sermon" into your favorite search engine?

There are many websites out there who could explain specific steps you can follow when he or she is looking for guidance on preparing and put together a sermon. The truth is, however, that the preparation of priests is a personal and private process.What works for one week to not work for you next. Finally, as you become more experienced in sermon preparation, you'll understand how to find inspiration when it feels like your mental well has run dry.

One of the ways to learn how to prepare a sermon is to begin work on a prepared outline. stroke work item as a roadmap to the finished product. The outline will help you focus your thoughts and associated exactly what you want to say at the end of the week.

Some strokes will prompt you to start by selecting a writes that you want to use to inspire your Assembly. Other borders will ask you what do you want to talk about.At first your selections, a structure can help fill in your report, until you have a sermon that is ready to receive.

Learn how to prepare a good sermon involves much trial and error as any experienced clergyman or Minister will tell ...Sometimes the words flow easily and sometimes most certainly do not identify the proper tools (such as how websites, sermon outlines, etc) to help you put together your sermon when they feel inspired is part of the process of learning every pastor and Minister goes.

How to assign the first sermon

On Sundays, I'm listening to my preacher and always surprised by what comes out of the mouth. For years, he thanked God that had never to stand in front of my community, and to deliver a speech. And then it happened. A few months back, I became a leader in my church, and should deliver my very first sermon--and I was terrified.

Here are some simple strategies that I've found that might help you as you prepare for your first sermon.

START AT THE END consider what you want to say. Most speeches--and lectured really is just a speech-driven Word, isn't it?--have an orbit. That is, in many ways, not only to tell a story, but ends with similar concepts established at the outset.So, where do you want to go? what are the dominant themes you want to present to the community of believers? What do you want to say?

Find crossing once you have the trajectory in mind, we know what specific clips you'll want to look Exactly like your. may have brainstormed some of the topics you want to use, you may want to consider specific passages which will help to support the main topics that you are talking about. Preserves passages but to a minimum. In my opinion, I found that increases the impact of the word.

Make PERSONAL Know, all great sermons have some personal anectodes incorporated therein. yours should be too.Try using a time when this special and specific passage Paper would be useful to you.It is extremely important to personalize the story.Assist the Assembly is able to open their lives and I believe that when this can happen as well.

KEEP SHORT Brevity is key! we all slept through--er--Sat through a very boring sermons. If the point is to educate, then a better sermon it may be necessary; but if this is a sermon for a regular, weekly church service, then the objective of maintaining in between 5 to 7 minutes.

Keeping in mind these three aspects, and you have an incredible sermon in no time!

10 Minute Bible sermon is what

With today's fast paced lifestyle, capturing an attention getting, keeping them smoking and delivering your message getting ever more important, that makes sermon Bible minute 10 should be. We're bombarded with information overload and it is your job to make sure that your time at the Pulpit is constructive, and makes your matter how congregations gray, keeping them hanging on your every word throughout.

At the top of the list should be initialized. We have all heard the phrase "correct planning and preparation prevents poor performance" and perhaps some variants ruder between these two.For a great 10 minute Bible sermon, good planning will keep you focused and more importantly, keep your sermon jam packed with high quality, inspiring words that is easily said, so when you start your preparation?

Firstly, I firmly believe you must select the writes you'd like to cover.Use this as a basis for your Bible sermon and leave the rest on the way before any proposal for write (or say) ask yourself if this leads back to your original piece written or spoken in a different direction. With a piece of writing in place, carefully lay out a form on paper.

Give a brief introduction, followed by your organization finishing with a sermon, easy-to-understand summary.The summary or conclusion is particularly important, as many people remember only the last part of a conversation, TV show or even a sermon. summary you clear that there is a little bit about your audience captures to misinterpret. Once this is done the wrong and the result of accidental was potentially very annoying. Fortunately the Synaxis knew me very well and we have realised a little mixed up with my choice of words.

Within your sermon Bible, see if you can use a story or real life examples. ideally a personal experience, or perhaps a listen and point out clearly. We all love stories (Jesus was a great story teller), appeal to all ages, highlight key points and help us to remember a whole lot better. A great story will still be passed from person to person.There is no better feeling that giving a great 10 minute Church sermon and finding out that members of the Assembly are shared with friends, colleagues, family and work.

Finally, do your best to memorize your sermon Bible.A great speaker never gets tongue tied and never sound like a robot or as though they are reading from a piece of paper either.Whenever you hear a great speech, presentation or interview me almost cannot guarantee that these words were carried over and over again as soon as your Church sermon. is memorized you can focus on adding emphasis on certain words, making eye contact with your Assembly and focuses on how you can deliver these deep, life changing words will repeat the last few words "Change of life" because this is what can make a great sermon Bible.

Remember, preparation is key and the best you've planned, the more confident you will be indicating your sermon Bible will take better. Focus on a specific piece of writes and weave into an introduction, body with great summary at the end (and ideally a great, relevant passage from the Bible); Memorize sermon you so you can focus on delivering engaging with the Assembly and become well respected provider is great Bible sermons!

Old Testament sermon-Christian city of refuge

The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (ROM. 3: 25). There is no way we can live or measuring to expectation of God. Our only hope of escaping from the avenger of blood (wages of sin to us) is running in the city of refuge-our faith in the son of God, Jesus Christ.

Every Sin tends to eliminate a person's life. The wages of sin is death.But God has shown his gracious concern for everyone with the Mission of the only begotten son to save us from the penalty of sin. whoever believes in him will be safe.

The city of refuge has four elements,

1. The sinner

2. blood Avenger

3. The city of refuge

4. the high priest

The sinner

As said earlier, everyone has sinned and need forgiveness. Before the forgiveness, there should be a confession of sin atonement for sin and repentance through resignation. You may receive forgiveness only through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The city of refuge (NUM. 36: 8-34)

In the old testament, the city of refuge was a safe place for people who died accidentally. While the offender remains in the city of refuge is protected from the avenger of blood (penalty of sin).

Today, the Christian city of refuge is the re-birth.Each sponsor must regenerate.Born again do not come unless a genuine repentance.Should walk in newness of life: life devoid of sin and injustice.As a supporter, he remains the faith is safe from the penalty of sin.

The avenger of blood

The avenger of blood is executed judgment about the sinner.However, it will touch anyone who is a sinner. the Bible says our adversary.the devil looks for whom swallowing, therefore you are the avenger of blood.However, Christ came that might have an absolute lifesaver.

If we want to avoid running out of you ... If we want to avoid many of the capture with us.If you do not want our sins to find us-must remain in Christ, our refuge. City murderer must remain in the city of refuge until his death, the high priest.

Our high priest

Jesus Christ, our high priest, never dies, but live forever (Heb. 6: 17-20; 7: 23-28, 8: 1-2). one of the responsibilities of the high priest in the old testament was to atone for the sins of the children of God; it was A high priest who periodically. sinner is not atone for anyone until he has atoned first himself.

Jesus Christ our high priest, is without sin and he atoned once and for all for our sin and he has forgiven our sins, if we are in him live eternally. we do not need a high priest to die before we are free from all bondage of sin; we are protected by the avenger of blood (you)

Remain on the main

Today, a Christian is someone without backsliding in the city of refuge. callous person leaves a Reversion to the work of God; therefore, it is prone to attract the avenger of blood

Whoever is in Christ, the evil one touch him.

"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit SIN; for seed of remaineth in him: and he cannot sin because he/she is born of God (1Jn. 3: 9). it is completely free from the avenger of blood.

3 Simple rules for preparing sermon outlines

Preparing sermons and sermon outlines can be a painful for many Ministers or pastors. You must come up with something fresh and new each week to keep the attention and participation of your Assembly. Here are 3 simple rules which of course can help.

1. Decide what passage writes that you want to use this usually will help you decide what do you want your sermon is about.

2. the authority with a personal story related to the sermon will help capture your attention; a collection of humorous story is even better. The personal touch we hope you will keep your attention parishioners ' all the way through to the end.

3. Finally, try moving your point in ten minutes or less. If it is more than you are, you are in real danger of attention parishioners started to wander about.They can begin to think about what you are looking for a meal, the errands to run the next day, or what you are going to watch on TV that evening.

Why not make a list of three or four bullet points that you want to include in your e-mail address?Try to limit each bullet point on approximately three minutes talk time; so if you have three places to meet, talk about nine minutes.

Articles that will cover more tips for sermon outlines in the future about what you can do to improve your performance. for now, remember to start with a personal story, humorous whenever possible and keep the sermon in ten minutes or less; in this way, you'll be more likely than grabbing your Assembly attention from beginning to end.

Storms & questions (the sermon on point 4: 35-41)

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I'm conscious this morning that we've had another baptism, which is wonderful, but I do get the feeling sometimes that when parents bring a child to baptism they are sort of quietly hoping that the experience might have a soothing effect on the child. After all, isn't that part of what good religion is all about - helping people get civilized.

I remember hearing of a conversation between a couple in an airport lounge whose wild and unruly son was racing around causing havoc with the other waiting passengers. The husband said to his wife, "Maybe we should send him to Sunday School". Getting a bit of religion into him would be bound to make him a little more easy-going. Again, isn't that a large part of what religion is about - settling things down?

Well ... if the air of holy chaos here didn't put an end to that idea the moment you walked in this morning, the Bible readings we had should have! We read of David cutting off Goliath's head - engaging in what I saw one preacher term 'sacred violence' (something we've surely seen enough of that in our world).

After that we had St Paul speaking of the beatings he'd taken, and the imprisonments and riots he'd been involved in. And then we capped off our Bible readings with a crazy story about Jesus and his disciples in a storm - a story of pain and panic, fear and frustration, chaos and confusion!

And I find it to be quite a disturbing story - this story of Jesus and His friends getting into a boat and then this sudden transition from a peaceful voyage across the lake to this terrible scene of impending death.

I'm influenced of course by my own unease with the sea, and by my experience many years ago, when my birthday party at Lane Cover River National Park suddenly turned very dark very quickly as my three-year-old daughter suddenly became trapped under a capsized boat that started sinking towards the bottom of the river.

And that's how these things happen. One moment you're happily gliding along through life and then suddenly everything gets turned upside-down and the waves are coming crashing inside the boat from you don't know where!

These things are often so difficult to make sense of. Mind you, in the case of the Gospel story the whole scene is difficult to make sense of. How did the storm come up so quickly? Why weren't the crew able to steer away from it? And indeed, why weren't these men better prepared to deal with a storm. After all, they were supposed to be career sea-people, weren't they?

Of course, the competence of Jesus' disciples in their initial careers as fishermen is always a bit of a mystery. How is it that every time we see these guys in a boat they are either sinking or sitting there frustrated because they can't work out where the fish are! Thank God Jesus saw other employment opportunities for these men.

Mind you, the whole scene is weird, and not just the disciples! The way the storm comes up so quickly, the way they fail to deal with it, the way they fail to handle Jesus properly - all very odd. But the weirdest part of the story of all, I think, is the way in which Jesus stays asleep through the storm!

I've tried to envisage what sort of boat this must have been, such that Jesus could have remained asleep in it through the bulk of the passage of the storm! I think the boat is often depicted as a small dingy of sorts, but it's impossible to imagine anywhere in a boat like that where one could sleep during a storm without being deluged with water after the first few rough waves, and I can't imagine that it is possible to stay asleep while someone is pouring water all over you!

It had to be a bigger boat, I think to myself, yet even on a luxury liner like the Titanic, you would reach a certain point, would you not, where it was no longer possible to sleep through the crisis! Are we supposed to see this as part of the miracle - Jesus demonstrating the power of divine sleep - a sleep such as that which came upon Sleeping Beauty, a sleep from which no human power could awaken you?

I don't know. I'm a heavy sleeper, and yet it seems to me that there are certain things you just can't sleep through. A car accident would be a one. I can't imagine waking up and saying, 'Oh, the car is upside-down, and half-full of water! Did I miss something?' Your boat going down with all hands on deck would be a second!

How is it that Jesus remained asleep for so long?

Could it be that he was actually awake the whole time, but was testing his friends to see how they would handle it? That's possible, but it seems so unlike Jesus to have fun at other people's expense - one eye half-open, pretending to be asleep and quietly chuckling to Himself, while his friends race around in a blind panic.

Of course the weirdness doesn't stop there, does it? If how Jesus manages to rest during the storm is an issue, how He manages to put the storm itself to rest is a bigger issue.

In none of the Gospel accounts are we given any real details concerning exactly how it all happened. It seems he just shouted 'shut up' to the storm, and it did!

The parallels with the story of Jonah are hard to avoid of course. There the boat was also going down, all hands on deck, you will remember, until they hurled Jonah into the water.

There it's like some terrible offering to the storm god, who, once it received the body of Jonah, calms down completely. No bodies in the water in the Gospel story of course, but it seems that the transition from complete chaos to absolute calm is equally striking.

The other weird thing in this story is how Jesus seems to resent being woken! When they eventually do manage to rouse Him, we are told, He rebukes the wind and the waves, and then He turns and rebukes them: "Oh ye of little faith!" Should they have let Him sleep? Is that what we learn from this story?

If so, it's a funny sort of lesson for the Christian life. We've always been taught that if we are in trouble we should call upon Jesus, whereas if you follow this line of thinking you might think it best to tackle the problems on your own. After all, Jesus needs His sleep!

Of course I don't think that's the real lesson we're supposed to glean from this passage and I don't think that the reason the disciples get told off is because they wake Jesus. The reason that Jesus tells the disciples off is, presumably, because they give in to fear, and because they let fear control their responses and their relationship with Him instead of faith.

There is a contrast being drawn here between fear and faith. Both involve looking to Jesus and calling on him for help, but one comes out of a relationship of trust, and one comes out of distrust.

And so, as Fosdick put it:

- Fear imprisons, faith liberates

- fear paralyzes, faith empowers

- fear disheartens, faith encourages

- fear sickens, faith heals

Fear not!, says Jesus. Oh ye of little faith! And if there is a simple lesson to get from this story, it is this: that though the storm might look menacing, Jesus has the power to calm and to heal, Fear not! Have faith!

Indeed, historically this has been the message that the church has taken from this story, as this story has always been drawn upon as an archetypal story of what it means to be a member of the church.

One of the earliest symbols of the church, adopted by the early Christians, was a simple drawing of a boat with a cross for a mast. Likewise, in early times Christians starting calling that part of the church building where the congregation sits 'the nave', from the Latin word 'navis', meaning 'boat'.

This image of the disciples huddled together in a boat, tossed around by the stormy sea - that's us! We are small, fragile, and our craft does not look overly sea-worthy, but instead of being moored safely to some dock, our little ship that is venturing out into the deep, with only faith to keep it afloat!

The winds are blowing and the waves are rumbling and water is spilling in over the bow, but Jesus is with us! It might not always be obvious that Jesus is with us. Sometimes we might wonder, if Jesus is with us, what is He doing at the moment? Is He asleep? But then we hear His voice, "fear not, oh ye of little faith!"

It's a tricky image, of course, as it leaves a lot of questions unanswered:

- Why is it that Jesus so often seems to be asleep?

- Why doesn't He seem to wait so long before calming the wind and the waves?

- And why did He steer us into this storm in the first place! For we note that in the Gospel story (as in so much of life) it is Jesus Himself who points the boat towards the storm!

And the truth is that we don't know the answer to all these questions, as indeed there are lots of questions we don't have the answer to. And, notably, we haven't even looked at the biggest question that comes out of this passage, which is the question that the disciples themselves ask, namely, "who is this guy, Jesus, such that the winds and the waves obey Him?"

And there's no answer given here to that question either of course, but we do pick up from this story that whoever Jesus, He is a good person to have alongside you if you are in a storm.

And perhaps that's the basic perception which leads us to bring our children to baptism. Perhaps we're not sure exactly what we are getting ourselves into when we join the church or exactly who this guy Jesus is, but we know that He is the one we want alongside us and alongside our families as we traverse the storms of life.

We don't pretend to fully understand Him, but we know that He is someone who can be trusted.

We don't understand why where exactly He is taking us, but we sense that He knows where we need to go.

We can't make sense of why He keeps steering us into the storm, but we know too that He is also the one who can calm the storm and bring us to a brighter day.

HEAVEN-the sermon on John 21

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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

It's about time I preached on 'heaven'. The number of friends and family who have been heading in that direction lately make it a pertinent subject for me personally. Besides that, I've just realised that I've never preached on the subject of 'heaven' before in my life!

I think I know why I haven't preached on it before. I don't like the term! It's one of those words like 'holy' that really rubs me up the wrong way, and for the same reason. It's been so often abused and used to mean something that it's not, that I avoid using the term altogether.

What does 'heaven' mean to you? What is it? Where is it? Are you in a hurry to get there?

My 3-year-old daughter Imogen has worked it out. She's realised that heaven is in a box. We made clear to her that Grandpa has now gone to heaven, and she saw that we put him in a box, so she's put 2 and 2 together and realised that heaven is somewhere in that box.

My grandmother, it seems, is also dying at the moment, and it's been interesting to hear something of her understanding of heaven. She's been saying how she's looking forward to seeing her daughters again (my mum and Aunt Helen) and she's looking forward to seeing her husband again (which surprised me) AND that she's looking forward to being the first person to see her grand-daughter Sarah's new baby. You see, my cousin Sarah is pregnant, and not due until November, but Grandma has worked out that if she dies now, she'll get to pass the new baby, who'll be on his way down while she is on her way up!

What does 'heaven' mean to you? What exactly does it look like? Where exactly is it?

Back in the days when I used to do 'street witnessing', there was one group that I hung around with who used to communicate chiefly by handing out pictures of heaven. They were pictures of beautiful landscapes with waterfalls and ocean views and people flying around without clothes on (though this was quite tastefully done). The idea was that we would give out these pictures, and explain to people what a great place heaven was - how you got to fly, explore new planets, and have sex with a variety of people - and then, when the person expressed an interest in going there, we could turn over the picture and reveal a little prayer. Once it was prayed, their ticket to heaven was assured! We were quite successful.

Today's reading from Revelation is a vision of 'heaven':

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

The one clear detail we're given here about 'heaven' is that there is no sea, which is quite at odds with the pictures I used to hand around. Mind you, in our ecological system, if there's no sea then there are no clouds, and while many people might be able to imagine a 'heaven' without a sea, I can't see many people accepting the concept of a heaven without clouds!

You see the problem here - the word 'heaven' means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, though there are certain elements that are common in our culture (broadly speaking). The presence of clouds and harps and angels with wings are standard components of the common perception of heaven. Others envisage heaven as something like one endless church service. Others envisage hell as something like one endless church service.

Most people, Christian and non-Christian alike, envisage heaven as some sort of 'parallel universe' that exists alongside the one we normally experience, so that when a person dies, they move from one dimension to the other, and so live on in heaven, the parallel universe.

I want to answer some basic questions on heaven today: 'what is it?', 'where is it?' and 'how do I get there?', and I want to focus on this verse in Revelation - where 'the sea is no more'.

Why would the people of Israel envisage heaven as being without a sea?

1. The Jews were a people who hated the sea

This is the truth of course. Read through your OT and you'll see countless stories of the great armies of Israel. You'll never read any stories about its navy, because it never had one.

The Jews did not like the sea. They were not a coastal people. The Philistines were the people of the coast. The Jews lived further inland. They didn't go for seaside holidays by the coast on their summer breaks, and they didn't get into boats unless they had to.

That's why the story of Jonah and the boat and the big fish is such a drama for the people of Israel. It was every Jews' worse nightmare being caught in a boat in a storm at sea.

2. God formed creation out of the sea.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.

This is the uncreated mass (the 'tohu wabohu'), as envisaged before the work of creation. God moulds land and life out of the dark and mysterious 'formless void' of water.

In the Hebrew mind, God pushes the water back to reveal land, and he holds it back so that people might be able to live (except in the days of Noah, when he deliberately let the waters move back, with all the resulting death and chaos).

That's why when God parts the waters of the Red Sea so that Moses and his people can cross to dry land, it's seen as a miniature reenactment of creation - or rather an extension of God's creative work - holding back the waters and so giving life.

3. The Sea symbolises all that is dark and chaotic.

In the Hebrew mind, the sea is symbolic of all that is dark and chaotic in human experience. And I can sympathise with that.

There was a time when I used to think of the sea as my friend - when I used to be part of a rowing crew, used to swim regularly, and used to be out on the water or in the water on almost a daily basis. Those days ended for me when we had a boating accident only a few years ago where Veronica was almost drowned.

There we were, celebrating my birthday, paddling happily around in boats in the Lane Cover River National Park. One minute we're all laughing and joking around. A few seconds later one of the boats has turned over, Veronica is trapped underneath it, and it's dragging her down to the bottom. Next second I'm in the water, pulling Veronica down and out from under the sinking boat, and then realising that, in my boots and leather jacket, that I'm having trouble staying afloat too! We all survived, though my mobile phone was never quite the same again. But the other thing I lost that day was my love of the sea.

Indeed, I learnt later that lots of people have been killed on that idyllic little river. There were weeds and things at the bottom of that little river that could tie you up and kill you.

I came that day to appreciate the Hebrew perception of the sea - quiet and placid perhaps on the outside, but beneath the surface there were dark and mysterious things lurking - things that would kill you if they could.

And if you've seen any of the documentary-type films on the undersea world, you know that this is true. Everything appears calm and beautiful to the casual observer, but there's really a constant war going on down there, where almost every creature there is dedicating itself to the work of killing and eating the other creatures there.

And so, to the Hebrew mind, the sea comes to symbolise all that is dark and chaotic, all that is mysterious and life-destroying.

Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts;

all your waves and your billows have gone over me.

Says the psalmist (Psalm 42) - and we know that feeling. That feeling like we're 'going down for the third time'. That feeling of being overwhelmed by circumstances beyond our control so that we find ourselves sinking, splashing, waving.

Ange and I went to court on Friday, and we were struggling to stay afloat in that environment - treading water madly in the middle of a sea of sharks. And like the sea, it was one of those environments that all looked very peaceful and well-ordered on the outside, but there were some dark and mysterious things going on in there.

For some of us, perhaps, all of life is like a furious struggle to keep your head above water?

Well, if that's you, you're tapping into a struggle that has been going on since the beginning of creation. In the beginning, Genesis tells us, when God created the heavens and the earth, He took this dark and mysterious 'tohu wabohu', this formless void of sea, and He started to order it, to tame it, to bring life and light out its dark and mysterious depths. And the story of the Bible is that the battle against these deep forces of chaos goes on.

And so when the book of Job deals with the pain of unjust suffering, it speaks of God as the master of the monsters of the deep - Leviathan and Behemoth.

And so when the prophet Isaiah looks forward to God's coming, he speaks of the day when God will come down and kill the great dragon of the sea.

And so when we see Jesus walking upon the water, we know that God must be in him, for He is continuing this work of mastering the deep.

And so when Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee, we can understand why people stare at

him in amazement - 'who is this guy, even the sea obeys him?'

And so, when John in Revelation speaks of the coming of the Kingdom - of the final day when all will be wrapped up in a final act of grace - he speaks of the sea being 'no more', for all that is dark and chaotic has gone, and those of us who have been furiously paddling our little boats around over great depths will find ourselves all of a sudden secure on dry land.

And so heaven is a place without water, or at least without large bodies of water.

I said that I was going to attempt to answer three questions about 'heaven': 'what is it?' 'where is it?' and 'how do I get there?' You might feel that I've responded to none of these three questions yet.

The problem is that the term 'heaven' can mean a number of things in the Bible.

1. It can mean that dimension of reality where God dwells and where we do not dwell.

2. The coming of 'heaven', or 'the Kingdom of heaven' can be used to refer to the whole historical event that is envisaged in Revelation 21 -where God finally overcomes all the forces of chaos and darkness and institutes His rule. This event is normally referred to as the coming of the Kingdom of God. In Matthew's gospel, Matthew does not like to use the name of God, so he refers to the Kingdom as the Kingdom of Heaven.

3. The term 'heaven' can just another word for 'sky'.

When God created the 'heavens and the earth', it doesn't mean that he created two separate parallel universes, but that He created two dimensions to our universe - namely, land and sky. Likewise, in Revelation 21, when John speaks of a 'new heaven and new earth', it's clear there that the term 'heaven' is just another word for 'sky'.

That's a very common way in which the word is used in the Bible. Perhaps that is why the Bible never says of anyone that they 'died and went to heaven'.

St Paul certainly believed that nothing could separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, including life and death. And he said of his own death that 'to be out of the body is to be with the Lord'. Even so, no Biblical writers ever use the term 'going to heaven' as a way of referring to what happens to people when they die.

Now the historic Christian hope - the 'hope of Heaven' - is a hope for 'heaven' in the 2nd sense of the word - ie. it is a hope for the final coming of the Kingdom.

If we understand 'heaven' in this way, then to ask 'where is heaven?' and 'how do I get there?' becomes a bit like asking 'where is the end of the war and how do I get there?' We might say in response to that question 'the end is in sight - that since the death and resurrection of Jesus, the end of the battle has been in sight'.

The key point I want to make is that the Christian hope is not that I get to go to heaven when I die. The Christian hope is for a new heaven and a new earth, where the old things have passed away and where death and dying and pain and corruption and all that is symbolised by the wild and raging sea has been tamed or destroyed and where 'the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.'

Maybe you don't see much difference here? I see a difference here.

The Christian hope is not just about me making it to heaven and you making it to heaven. It's about this world making it, to the point where God is all in all.

The Christian hope is not simply that we as individuals might be able to cheat death and go on living, but rather that the world as we know it might be transformed into the world as God envisaged it, and that we might enjoy life on this planet in the way in which it was intended.

This means that life, for the Christian man or woman, is not some test wherein if we pass we get to escape from this life into a better life. Rather it is a war in which we have been ordered to enlist - a battle that has been raging since the beginning of creation, a battle against the forces of chaos and darkness, a battle which Revelation 21 tells us we will surely see won.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away?

And the one who was seated on the throne said, See, I am making all things new.

A sermon in shoes?

The statements people do sometimes change with major ways; but this change cannot be seen with the naked eye all at once. Like a rock has rough edges polished away like water facilitates supervision hours upon hours in a stream bed, so we are conformed by guiding propelled that echo in the us. There is the small voice that seems to distance back and forth, sometimes as the Holy Ghost of God woos us throughout our daily circumstance.

All we had this happen from time to time. You know ... I overhear someone talking and there is a word or two that seem to jar you as someone who is rolling around in an earthquake. Or, simply by reading God's Word, you may read a verse which may seem like the letters is the size of the cars on a railroad. You are affected by this words.Years ago, as a young preacher, I had an experience like this when I was graced by a phrase that has never left me. If I was not always a poster boy for, however the cliche ', "a sermon in footwear" has impacted me like nothing else.

(Titus 2: 7-8)"In all things shewing let a good pattern works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, frankness, speech Sound, which can be ordered, that he that is the opposite part may be ashamed, having no bad thing to say of you." (KJV)

Recently, when the daily me in, I came across Titus chapter two and I was impressed by what the Apostle Paul said Titus to while on the Mediterranean island of Crete. As Titus was to organize Godly leadership at various levels, he said, and he himself was to conduct its affairs in a certain way.The phrase used is that of "in all things shewing let's a pattern of good works ..." This verse reminds me of the phrase "a sermon in shoes". I believe this carries more weight than the usual, all far, word "TESTIMONY". Although similar, the word "PATTERN" gives an idea of actual evidence which cannot handle.

Each leader of his people, whatever the venue, you must have a "PATTERN" of moral behaviour. so many companies have abandoned this philosophy! Politicians tend to adopt ethical situation concerning the "TESTIMONY".Despite this growing gap, every child of God should try to have a "PATTERN" good works or deeds flying preeminently the honour and glory to Jesus Christ. Yes, must be "a sermon in footwear"!

If for no other reason, we will generally have to have a good testimony, radiate a pattern a good ethical lifestyle, and is a sermon in footwear due to the next generation.The history books are rewritten to mitigate the sentence idealist, sacred and God honoring pattern of living our forefathers did.This is to increase the worst modern personalities so that young people will not know the difference between the two.

(Isaiah 5: 20)."Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness. What is bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!"(KJV)

There is a stark contrast to godly men of the past and modern day flunkies who is prompted to our children.

Bottom line, you must decide on an individual basis, born again, God fearing people focus around our door with the help of God, we should clean our lives, and live for the Lord Jesus as we do, our "SERMON shoes" talking about the same and, therefore, the effect is like a far reaching tsunami!

Cowardice and vanity about "Works" are treated in the sermon on the mount

Let your light shine before others, that you may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven ... Be careful not to ' acts of righteousness ' in front of others, must be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your father in heaven.
~ Matthew 5: 16, 6: 1(TNIV).

To see or do not see?This is the question facing Jesus. our incentives directly. We can achieve only two things above with the right motivation.

We have a problem with praise and appreciation. It affects us. In "lonely" Finally, all kinds of personality disorders are beckoned. In "rich" Finally, the excesses of praise and strangely enough, let us more conceited blank (and spiritually blind in real need) than ever.How many of us can really enough praise? how often you're left scratching are possible;your head due to a lack of recognition for something you've made; for me it seems every day! (Even if small way "feel".)

John Stott notes that two seemingly contradictory lyrics Jesus above target two sins--cowardice to hide a good job and vanity (pride) to parade.

To see or not seen; this depends on the motivation. For at one end we're investing and don't want to attract our attention, just as a result of some sort of tall poppy syndrome. At the other end is our pride. receiving the kisses, the applause, the hunters in the labelling and in writing. If you do good things and to answer any of these ways have some things to ask of God--that can purify cowardice and vanity, vanquishing the vast spiritual imbalance of us poles, one day at a time, indefinitely.

One thing that we must all around with our separate ways how to cover for lost glory. Michael Eaton emphasises this in his book. We regain that sense of belonging by God himself--and yet this is a stern discipline that must work in. It is all about.Do not store your treasures in heaven.We take them from heaven. HEAVEN, in this context, it is now.HEAVEN is in our hearts.God our Ministers there!The remuneration is a spiritual reward momentary, unreserved well that is a priceless gift of grace.something that we cannot "WINS."

Good things to do, without the need to see, thanked or acknowledged, is the way to an inner freedom, peace and joy are rarely known personally for humanity still, we face and the direct opposite of jealousy when considering a Nelson Mandela Mohandas Gandhi or a or a Mother Teresa, and compare ourselves (unfairly, I might add). This is much more than we would have liked. we need even balance.

Our good works will be examined separately from our incentives should be considered or not; our Father in heaven sees to it that circumstances allow for people to see the good things we do when we fairly consistently. There is a requirement of "faith".

Besides, you probably the halcyon's gleeful human experience is maintained both in God that we are forever so comfortable with the ' secret life ', but we are totally at home with hybridization joy when father is glorified in projects, and we are pleased with our strong position in all this.

© Wickham j. s. 2010.

[1] John Stott, the message of the sermon on the Mount (the Bible speaks today) (Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, 1978), pp. 126-27.
[2] Michael Eaton, The Way that leads to Life: The radical Challenge to the Church of the sermon on the Mount (Ross-shire, United Kingdom: Christian Focus publications, 1999), p. 109.

The lower mobility of Jesus (the sermon about 2 Corinthian 8: 9)

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I thought it was about time I began a sermon with a joke, and today's passage did make me think of that story about the world's leaders at prayer, asking God when their countries would repay their national debts.

As the story goes, President Obama prays to God, asking when the US economy will recover. God says to him, "in 100 years time the US will repay its national debt". The American President begins to cry, and God asks him "why are you crying, my son." President Obama says, "because I won't live to see it", and God says, "No, my son, but the American people will live to see it."

Simultaneously, as the story goes, President Mahmoud Admadinejad is also praying to God, asking when Iran will repay her national debt. God says to the Iranian President, "in 1000 years time the Iranian national debt will be repaid". President Admadinejad begins to cry, and God asks him "why are you crying, my son." He says, "because I won't live to see it", and God says, "No, my son, but the Iranian people will live to see it."

Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd is also praying, and he prays, "Lord, tell me when Australian will repay her national debt?" And God begins to cry...

As I say, I thought it was about time I started a sermon with a joke for, I must admit, that most Bible passages I prepare for week by week don't easily lend themselves to jokes, but not so today's passage, which is all about money, and there are never any shortage of jokes about money, for indeed our society is obsessed with money and we talk all the time about money, and so we joke all the time about money.

And for the same reason, I must confess that when I first hear these wonderful words from St Paul - that "Although [Jesus] was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich" - my knee-jerk reaction is to want to say that Paul is surely talking about a lot more here than just money.

Admittedly, the statement is made in the context of St Paul's appeal to the church at Corinth that they might cough up more coin to support the aid work that was going on in Jerusalem, and yet the statement is about a lot more than just money

I'm not saying that that's not a part of what is on view - that Jesus gave up his real job as a respectable middle-class tradesman in order to wander the hills as a penniless preacher, but that's not all that is on view. For the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that makes us rich is something more than His change in career path. That, in itself, doesn't do a lot for us beyond setting us a great example.

The voluntary poverty of Jesus that makes us rich is something more than economic. It's a voluntary impoverishment of person, whereby God reaches down to us and comes down to us and dwells alongside side us, and suffers and dies for us in order to lift us up to something better.

It's a pattern of downward mobility, where the Lord Jesus empties Himself for us so that we might be filled, and it's a downwards mobility that was illustrated for us beautifully in today's Gospel reading.

Our Gospel reading from Mark chapter 5 was the story of two 'healings' (of sorts) - the healing of the woman suffering from a hemorrhage and the raising of Jairus' daughter from death, which is a rather extreme form of healing!

It starts out as a story about one healing - that of the little girl - but then the older woman intrudes into the narrative, touching Jesus' cloak as He presses His way through the crowd towards Jairus' house.

It's a bizarre scene, in case you're not familiar with it, as Jesus has a large crowd moving with him as He tries to get to the house of Jairus, and he's being constantly jostled by those around Him, and so the disciples find it somewhat absurd when Jesus suddenly stops and asks out loud, "who touched me"?

I envisage it something like one of those scenes of a pop star trying to get through a crowd of fans, or the newly elected President trying to get to the podium through a crowd of supporters, with everyone having their arms outstretched towards him, hoping to shake his hand or at least touch his clothing.

It seems ridiculous that in such a context Jesus could stop and ask, "who touched me?", but, of course, some touches are more significant than others, and this touch evidently makes contact with something deep in Jesus that actually draws something out of Him! And so when He asks the question, this woman knows exactly who He is talking to, and she comes forward trembling, only to find that Jesus isn't wanting to rebuker her, but only to make real contact with her.

This woman, as I say, intrudes her way into the greater story of Jairus' daughter, with whom we might think she otherwise has nothing in common. And yet they are both females, which in itself is instructive when we consider who Jesus structured His time around. And the period of 12 years is significant to them both.

The little girl, we are told, was twelve years old, while the woman had been suffering from her gynecological disorder for 12 years, and while twelve years might not be long to be alive, it's an awfully long time to be suffering from a seemingly incurable disease! And they're both unclean of course (in the religious sense) - that's the other thing these two have in common.

Dead bodies were always unclean by definition. You couldn't touch a dead body without being unclean for seven days (according to Numbers chapter 19), which is presumably why the crowd around Jairus' house tell Jesus not to go into the house, as they don't want to see Jesus excluded from the community for a week.

Of course what the crowd probably didn't realise was that Jesus was already technically unclean by this stage, as he'd just had physical contact with the woman who couldn't stop bleeding, which mean that both she and Jesus were already in the 'untouchable' class.

In case you're not familiar with what uncleanness is all about, in a practical sense it meant that you couldn't go to church, you couldn't go shopping alongside everybody else, you couldn't mix with your community as a normal person.

The woman, as we know, had been isolated from her community in this way for 12 years already, and Jesus, as a good God-fearing, law-abiding Jew should have voluntarily excluded Himself from the community (for seven days at least) and then put Himself through a series of rituals to be re-admitted to society, except that, of course, Jesus had scant regard for these traditional laws and seemed to be totally uninterested in who was clean and who was unclean.

Now we could continue here to discuss the minutiae of these healings but the big picture is that what we have here is Jesus coming down to our level - dealing with people whom society considers insignificant.

These were not 'important' people, from a worldly point of view. In neither case do we even know their names. We know Jairus' name because he was an important person, but his daughter will forever only be known as 'Jairus' daughter'.

Likewise this woman, who emerges anonymously out of the crowd, goes on to sink back into the crowd and so remains in obscurity. We don't know what happened to her, and there is no indication that she was particularly deserving of the healing or that Jesus saw potential in her, such that her healing might free her to accomplish some great work.

Jesus did not heal her so that she could go on and become the President of the United States. Jesus healed her, it seems, simply because He cared and because He was willing to come down and to stay down with the most ordinary and insignificant of people because this is the sort of person who Jesus is.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Although he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. "

And, as I say, this is not just about money, which is why it is so bizarre than when St Paul makes this great statement, what he is talking about is just about money!

In this excerpt from this letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, Paul is not talking about ministry to the less significant people of our world. He is not exhorting the congregation

Never copy another sermon-how do I create a sermon ideas

Your back is on the wall and you must create a sermon. What are you doing? You may be able to copy lectured off the net, but aren't better. Why not come with a unique and powerful sermons in a pinch? You can do with these five techniques. Follow these techniques and you'll get Sermon ideas galore.

Look at the text through a theme

Here you can a theme such as youth or mother or Seniors, or another topic, then look at the text explicitly to see if this text says specific situation under review.

Look at the text from different perspectives

Here you can change the perspective.For example, often written in the history of the Prodigal son and put in place of the son ourselves and put God as father and then we place other users as the brother I never left. what happens if we ourselves in a father; How changing the story? What happens if we try to assess what the brother who has never actually went and look at history from the point of view? This action may cause us to consider again the text and may help to see different things that you might not otherwise see.

Look at the text through a doctrine

This is an interesting approach is often when trying to teach doctrinal texts use the instructive portions writes rather than narrative. But what happens if we have a history with a particular doctrine in mind. What has to tell us about the doctrine of the story? What does the above mentioned Prodigal son story tell us about say the Trinity. Can you hit an impasse, but tries to find this link may help you make more related doctrines in the minds of the hearer.

Look at the text for images, sounds and smells.

Listen to the text and see what pictures to text.What you see?What you are listening to?What do you smell?How matching these things with other images in the Bible? What sites and odours are Prodigal son story? we are very conscious of the odours of the pig pen compared with odours home cooked meal.The difference in the smell alone might spark some sermonic content.What will, how to think about what to say what I saw about how Prodigal son back home; what was on the road from the pig pen at home?Without doubt, was the same way he is grouped.What has been changed so that now the same sights, sounds and smells that will lead away from home now leads the back home; here we have the most points for sermons from the sights, sounds and smells in the text.

Look at an old text Classic

Often excessive emphasis on the originality, but consider a joint text has already frequently preached over and over again; what does this text say to us today; there is no reason that many of these texts are common.

There you have it 3.5 top techniques for sermon idea generation if they follow you'll get more then Sermon ideas than you have time to preach.

Three of the best sermon preparation tips

In several previous articles by some of the best tips you have included sermon preparation using a variety of modern instruments in particular the most out of your computer with preaching, presentations. The focus of this article are bolts and nuts of your sermon outline. Giving to start with a transition of writes, says a real story and keeping the sermon concise. You will gleam some extra tips that greatly help to provide the best sermon held your Church Assembly aside their positions and, in particular, awake!

It is crucial to begin by outlining your Church sermon before taking any further steps. This will ensure you are adequately prepared, feel confident and sermon run much smoother.An easy way to do this is to use the bullet points that can be easily thabetai your memory and to develop outside with real life examples. these bullets, smart sandwiched in between a good introduction and the conclusion summarizes your sermon make for a well structured and organized sermon, the perfect sermon type, right?

Another great tip is to talk to yourself. Yes you heard correctly, if Read aloud via your sermon will find words and phrases that don't quite fit together right.Paragraphs which are not linked to even out Something strange happens enough. When you read what you write without any user intervention and was staying with those never ending paragraphs and outside the frame comparisons-a mistake to avoid! The best I have lectured at doing was possible previously practices.

Finally, if you can spare the time, memorize your sermon bonuses are a church sermon for 5 or 500 people.You've come to learn that most speakers, TV and radio presenters speak almost always from a well rehearsed script; even the best stage and film actors do.When; Simple, knowing what you are going to say lets you focus on other key skills for providing you with the best sermon

Eye contact, enthusiasm, building rapport with the Church Assembly and showing them that you meant every word of your standing now at the Pulpit, don't see someone looking at the notes, see you and your face beaming with important life change messages.

There you have it, three very simple and can be used techniques you can use to convert a modest sermon on one of the best your sermons. make a good sermon outline, read out loud to yourself and try to memorize this so you can make recurring eye contact with the crowd. those are the three best tips sermon I know of and so easily be overlooked due to its simplicity.

The sermon on the wedding

What do you think will happen with the Association of man and woman if couples have committed themselves conscientiously follow the characteristics of the sermon on the mount? I think there will be less divorce about you? Also, of course there would be happier children in the household, we are there?

Below I have done a guide confirmation one week for wedding using the "sermon on the mount; try it for a week, and if all goes well, try it for another week, etc.

Copy/paste/print this weekly wedding guide--follow for three weeks and see how you feel about yourself and their spouses.If you feel like email my results, I would love to hear from you.

1.) Today on Monday, I'll not acting proud with my husband. I humble myself, even if I think I am right.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for it is the Kingdom of heaven
Matthew 5: 3

2.) Today, Tuesday, I'll just ask my husband, not himself. The whole day we frankly gentle and kindness to my wife Would make only. those things that will provide and polite to my wife/husband.

Blessed are the meek shall inherit the Earth. Matthew 5: 5

3.) Now on Wednesday, I will give my husband/wife wishes. what request, within reason will not be denied.Will not be selfish.

4.) Today on Thursday, I'll find one or more biblical ways to improve my marriage.What would God want to make my marriage today? how do I make my wife/husband feel good about who he is?How can I get the happy?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because it will be filled in.Matthew 5: 6

5.) Today on Friday, I'll forgive my wife/husband injury to my heart.I ask God to get rid of my heart and mind negative emotions and resentment towards my husband would forgive. Really.

Blessed be beneficial because it will show mercy; Matthew 5: 7

6.) Today on Saturday, I admit my inability to my spouse and the most important God. Today I ask God to grant forgiveness and free me from the temptation to sin.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God Matthew 5: 8

7.) Today on Sunday, I'll be a peacemaker. I will not go or to fight with my wife/husband. Today I can find one or more ways in which I can bring contentment and peace in my marriage.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they called sons of God; Matthew 5: 9

I have just finished an interview with radio network world talk where I discuss spiritual awareness for marriage; if you have some time today, surf in there and listen to what I have to say about marriage.

http://www.globaltalkradio.com

How to assign a Board sermon

In this article will give four cores of a Board of affective sermon. Preachers should pay attention to each one of these groups, if the call to action will be effective. Great preaching calls people to do something, the appeal is when you call to follow their lead when the sermon.

The first focus of action is to accept and follow the effects of the main point of the sermon.You have something in the sermon that requires a change in behavior and/or intellectual. at some point in your call needs to call everyone to accept this point I labored for constructing and presenting.

Suppose you preached a sermon with one main point was to "be not conformed but transformed."The first focus of your appeal will be for your people to walk in the direction of transformation which presented in the sermon. Go ahead and invite them to raise their hand or stand to show solidarity with the message.

The next focus of action is to call people to come and to accept Jesus Christ in their lives. There may be someone at the Synaxis reaching ever in Jesus and salvation. Regardless of where the sermon, you'll need to have some sort of angle depends on the saving power of God. You may have the calm, raise their hands or come to alter as congregational tradition.

Another focus is related to those who once were connected with Jesus but fell away. These people are invited to come back.This is a separate group from the previous one and efficient sermon appeals will ask specifically for this group to come.Follow back congregational tradition may come to alter, but you want to call these people back to Jesus

Finally, we have a focus on those who are in a saved state, but felt a call to a particular Assembly.This can be people who have moved into town and never joined your church, but also may be members of other churches who feel to your particular conference call of God .This is a "sticky" focus that some folks refer to as "stealing" sheep, but I would say that if Jesus lets you go into a church, you must go to church that regardless of what others may say. the focus this invite those people to join this particular Church.

Efficient sermon appeals require tackling a number of people in the Synaxis. be sure to consult the entire Assembly to accept the sermon, but also calls for those who wish to come to Jesus, or go back to Jesus. Finally, never forget to call those who feel the call to your particular Church.