I came across this amazing sermon when I cleared out my google reader account today. This sermon from Dr. King interrupted my day and shocked me with how much contemporary relevance it has. I commend it to you.
You can listen to the sermon here:
Thank you to Steve Manskar at Accountable Discipleship for lifting this up.
The seventh sermon “Watching Over One Another in Love” in the “Blueprint for Becoming Disciples” sermon series is now up. You can listen to it on my podcast here.
This sermon discusses the Wesleyan practice of “watching over one another in love” through small group accountability. One of the central arguments of the sermon is that you will either move forward or fall backward in your faith. John Wesley understood this and used small group accountability as a way to help Christians keep their faith in its proper place as the number one priority in their lives. When Christians have gathered together in order to “watch over one another in love” both communities of faith and individual Christians have tended to grow in their love of God and neighbor. Especially for Methodists, when we discontinued this practice we began to decline and lose our zeal.
Have you had any experiences with “watching over one another in love?” How did it help you in your growth as a Christian? What are other thoughts or reactions to this sermon?
One word of warning: I caught whatever has been going around just before I preached this sermon. I did the very best I could under the circumstances, but I felt terrible. I am afraid that shows a bit in this sermon. So, I apologize in advance.
Again, I would love to hear your reactions to this sermon!
The fifth sermon “Rule #3: Practice the Means of Grace” in the “Blueprint for Becoming Disciples” sermon series is now up. You can listen to it on my podcast here.
This sermon discusses the third General Rule “Attend Upon the Ordinances of God.” This sermon discusses those practices that enable us to fulfill the first part of Jesus’ double commandment to love God and neighbor. The sermon looks at the public worship of God, the ministry of the Word, the Supper of the Lord, family and private prayer, searching the Scriptures, and fasting as practices, or means of grace, that enable us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Again, I would love to hear your reactions to this sermon!
The third sermon “Rule #1: Do No Harm” in the “Blueprint for Becoming Disciples” sermon series is now up. You can listen to it on my podcast here.
This sermon discusses the first General Rule, “Do No Harm.” The sermon looks at the idea that in order for Christians to grow in their relationship with God, they first have to stop doing things that cause them to move away from God. In other words, before you can move forward in your faith, you have to stop going backwards. I relate a way that I learned this lesson when first learning how to drive a stick shift and coming to a stop just below the top of a hill. I had to stop going backwards before I could get the car to go forward.
As always, I would love to hear your feedback. What do you think are some particular areas where Methodists are called today to provide a witness in “doing no harm?” Is there anything that you particularly resonate with? Anything that you particularly disagree with?
The second sermon “Just the Beginning” in the “Blueprint for Becoming Disciples” sermon series is now up. You can listen to it on my podcast here.
This sermon lays the foundation for the Methodist blueprint for becoming disciples by focusing on the importance of God’s empowering and enabling grace. It also argues that once we have come to an initial experience of faith in Jesus Christ, that this is just the beginning. We have begun the journey and by grace we can actually become disciples of Jesus Christ.
As always, I would love to hear your feedback.
I am currently preaching a sermon series called “A Blueprint for Becoming Disciples.” In this sermon series we are looking at the method that caused our spiritual forebears to be called Methodist. John Wesley instituted an intentional method that he believed would help people move from initial faith in Jesus to a deep, life changing relationship with God. This sermon series is based on the conviction that many people want to grow in their relationship with God, but they aren’t always sure how. This series uses the General Rules and the accountability structure of early Methodism as a guide for a contemporary blueprint for becoming disciples.
Here are the titles of the sermons I will be preaching:
The first sermon in this series has been uploaded to my podcast and I plan to get the second one up today or tomorrow. (I have been having some trouble with gcast, which is why I am behind.) You can listen to the sermons here. If you do listen to them, I would love to hear your thoughts, reactions, criticisms.
This past sunday I preached on Matthew 1:18-25. Maybe it is because I am an expectant father, I’m not sure, but I found myself really drawn to Joseph in this passage. I started out with a basic question: What difference does Joseph make in this passage? Is he necessary? I found that he was necessary and had an important role to play. Here is the sermon:
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Last Sunday I preached a sermon on Matthew 6:19-24. In working on the sermon I wrestled with the reality that American Christians seem to often struggle with divided hearts. We do claim Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, but we also seem to find more meaning in the things of this world. Many Christians seem to put their hope not in God, but in the United States of America. But we are confronted in Matthew 6 with the words of Jesus Christ, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” The entire sermon follows below, if you are interested in reading it. Read the rest of this entry »
