Preview for May 13, 2011 sermon

Here is an excerpt from Phillip Yancey's book  What's So Amazing About Grace?

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods' appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."

          After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, and the Muslim code of law -- each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.

          Aware of our inbuilt resistance to grace, Jesus talked about it often. He described a world suffused with God's grace: where the sun shines on people good and bad; where birds gather seeds gratis, neither plowing nor harvesting to earn them; where untended wildflowers burst into bloom on the rocky hillsides. Like a visitor from a foreign country who notices what the natives overlook, Jesus saw grace everywhere. Yet he never analyzed or defined grace, and almost never used the word. Instead, he communicated grace through stories we know as parables.

          -Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 45.

Enjoy God's beautiful gift of grace in Jesus Christ!

Sermon Exerpt from Sunday, August 23, 2009

.........I am the father of Thomas and Jordan…I am the only father that they have – no one else can be their father…others can fill in when I’m absent, can help to meet a need if I am unavailable, but they are missing something if their father is not present and active in their lives. Who can do that? You? Of course not, that’s not your role, that’s not your calling. If there is going to be a father for Thomas and Jordan, it has to be me. Whether or not they have a father is measured by my action or inaction in their lives…agreed?.............

If there is a church here, YOU are the church…However active or inactive you choose to be determines how active or inactive the church is. And Paul says that you are part of a holy people – set apart for a great and specific work that only you can do. Christ lives in you -- So go, tell everyone about Christ.......

The future and direction of this church depends on you, because you are the church.

Your choices, your decisions, your priorities, your stubbornness, your generosity, your openness, your graciousness, your words and deeds ARE the shape and form of this church – you are the brick and mortar laid on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ!......................