Sermons & Worship from April 2016

I Corinthians 1:10-31 I’d like to begin my sermon with an apology to all of the little people. Last week, I preached on a scripture passage that I referred to as coming from “Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.” I was using biblical scholarly convention, but even as I used the phrase, “Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians,” I was aware that I was giving short shrift to two other men in the room at the time of the writing…

Acts 17:1-10; I Thessalonians 1:1-8 The apostle Paul was a contemporary of the disciples but he didn’t know Jesus personally. He was, in fact, initially opposed to the Christian movement and as a zealous Pharisee, he abhorred the message of the disciples and persecuted the young church. We don’t know exactly what Paul disliked about the gospel but since after his conversion, he writes about the scandal of the cross, we can assume that his objection was the same as…

Acts 1:6-14; Galatians 4:8-11, 19-20 Even in the sparse words of the gospel writers who were more interested in telling the story of Jesus than describing to us the psychological state of the disciples, we can still feel the terrible grief and confusion of the ones who were left behind after Jesus is gone. In Luke’s description of the ascension, Jesus is lifted into heaven to reign in glory, yet the triumph of Jesus doesn’t alter the fact that he…

Luke 24:13-35 It can happen as early as March 23 and it can occur as late as April 23 though usually it falls somewhere in between those two dates, but no matter how late or how early, we can be assured that year after year Easter will come. Year after year the horror of the crucifixion is followed by the announcement of the resurrection and we cry out with gladness, “He is risen. Jesus Christ is risen indeed!” If you’re…