4
May
2008
12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service. 12:2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
The story that interlaces with the sermon can be found in A 4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul
rochcov 
Pastor John DuBall, Combined Service, Sermons, Confirmation Sunday 
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24
February
2008
Key Point: Jesus calls us to live in His new Kingdom as forgiven, faith-filled people
Who was Mark?
Jesus’ 1st sermon Mark 1:15b = “Repent and believe!”
Signs of the new Kingdom: action/teaching/challenge
-Ch 1 Launching a Kingdom ministry (with ordinary people)
-Ch 2:1-12 You are newly forgiven (now live like it!)
-Ch. 3:31-34 The new family (Jesus’ mother & siblings)
-Ch. 4:1-20 The new order (parable of sower/seed/soil)
-Ch. 5:25-34 The new healing (woman with hemorrhage)
-Ch. 6:30-42 The new food (feeding 5000+)
-Ch. 7:1-23 The new definition of right relationships
E.g. Getting married = only beginning – now live married!
In what ways are playing “married” with Jesus?
Empty religion = pretend; inflict rules of hollow tradition
In what ways are we creating hollow religious rules?
Repent and believe! = live as forgiven, faith-filled people
Final Story = “Well done…!”
rochcov Pastor Gary Downing, Combined Service, New Testament, Sermons Comments (0) » |
1
January
2008
25:8 “And you shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall be to you forty-nine years.
25:9 Then you shall send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land.
25:10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family.
25:11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you; in it you shall neither sow, nor reap what grows of itself, nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines.
25:12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat what it yields out of the field.
Key Point: As we celebrate RCC’s 50th anniversary, let us get back to the “basics” of Biblically informed, and passionate, personal commitment to being fully devoted followers/disciples of Christ Text Principles - “Year of Jubilee”
- God owns everything; we are to be dependent on Him
- We can be enslaved by our possessions, debt, status, etc. and depend on our resources instead of relying on God
- Jubilee requires us to return to the basics of land, family, values
- Jubilee allows/creates opportunities to re-create justice and mercy relationships between employer/ee, lender/borrower, owner/tenant, countrymen/foreigners etc.
What would happen if we actually did a Jubilee?
To what/whom are we __________________? Property, debt, status, self-reliance etc.
How do we find __________________ from the “cult of the imperial self’?
To what __________________ do we need to return in 2008?
Link to the website mentioned at the end of the sermon. Click “View Presentation”
rochcov Pastor Gary Downing, Combined Service, Sermons Comments (0) » |
23
December
2007
Shepherds:
2:8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
2:9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
2:10 And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people;
2:11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
2:12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”
2:15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
2:16 And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
2:17 And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child;
2:18 and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
2:19 But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.
2:20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Magi:
2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying,
2:2 “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”
2:3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
2:4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
2:5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet:
2:6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.’”
2:7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared;
2:8 and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
2:9 When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.
2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy;
2:11 and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
2:12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
Prophet/ess:
2:21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
2:22 And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
2:23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”)
2:24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
2:25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
2:26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
2:27 And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,
2:28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
2:29 “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word;
2:30 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
2:31 which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.”
2:33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him;
2:34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against
2:35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
2:36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phan’u-el, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity,
2:37 and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
2:38 And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Key Point: God’s will for our lives is sometimes revealed through strangers; therefore take the risk of welcoming and listening to strangers
What can we learn from the story of the Nativity?
Two responses to “strangers”
#1 W__________
Natural Response = _________________
#2 L__________
Spiritual Response = ________________
Life of faith: free of vs. free to risk!
Where/how are you being challenged to take a risk?
What stranger might be your angel, shepherd, wise man, prophet?
rochcov Pastor Gary Downing, Combined Service, Sermons Comments (0) » |
18
November
2007
Merge Ministries
Missions Sunday
9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity.
9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
9:38 pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
rochcov Combined Service, Dale Lusk, Sermons Comments (0) » |
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