As a very young man, Timothy had joined Paul in the earliest days of his ministry and had spent the better part of fifteen of his most formative years right at the Apostle’ side. It would be hard to place an estimate on the value of that experience. There was no one Paul knew better and no one he trusted more. In his own words, “I have no one else like him” (Phil. 2:20). And yet, when it came time for Timothy to assume the mantle of pastoral leadership, it is clear that Paul took nothing for granted. In spite of his overwhelming confidence in Timothy, he knew that the most precarious moment of a race is in the passing of the baton. That the church is ever only one pastoral change away from the fidelity on which the life changing power of the gospel truly depends. And that in that, Timothy was no exception. His passionate and stirring charge begins right out of the gate with his introduction to the letter, as we’ll see this morning in 2 Timothy 1:1-14, in a message entitled, “Unafraid…Unashamed…
Archive for Sermons – Page 13
It is the closest that God’s people have ever come to actual extinction. It was the original attempt at the final solution. Driven from the security of their nation home, into a diaspora that spanned the farthest reaches of the Persian empire – from India to Ethiopia – they were at the complete mercy and goodwill of the peoples among whom they lived. Which they enjoyed…until they didn’t. The hatred and determination of just one man flowered into an irrevocable, empire-wide edict, which when carried out would have resulted in the extermination of almost every living Jew on the face of the earth. Never have God’s people hung by a thinner thread. But as we’ll be reminded this morning, the survival of God’s people has never depended upon God’s people. It is the sheer miracle of the mere existence of God’s people that is on full display in Esther 8:1-14, in a message entitled, “Saving the Unsavable”.
It has become an idiom for a place or state of extreme disadvantage, antagonism, or hostility. We’ll say, he or she was thrown into the lion’s den. Or a person who is entering a dangerous or threatening situation will describe their experience as they felt like they were walking into a lion’s den. It seems like there are more people than ever, who for many reasons, feel like that’s exactly the place where they find themselves today in the midst of these turbulent and uncertain times. This morning we’ll take a close look at the actual story to which we owe the familiar idiom. The experience of a godly young man, in a strange land far from home, who faced down not only antagonism and hostility, but a literal den of lions. What brought him to that situation, how was he delivered, and what happened as a result? And importantly, what exactly does it have to say to those of us who find ourselves feeling like were living in the midst of our own lion’s den, right here and right now. For that we’ll turn this morning to Daniel 6:1-28, in a message entitled, “Shutting the Mouths of the Unshuttable”.
Matthew 14
Daniel 3:1-30
Jonah 3:1-4:11
There is an enormous spiritual difference between knowing about God and knowing of God. Sometimes those with the most knowledge about God, are the very least when it comes to their personal knowledge of God. And unfortunately that can even be true of those whom we might assume – by their education and vocation – to be the closest to God. There is no more telling example of that truth than a patrician priest by the name of Zechariah, whose example and experience are writ large in our Christmas story. It wasn’t until much later in life, at the very zenith of his priestly career, that he made the surprising spiritual journey from prayerless priest to Christmas prophet. This morning we’ll consider his personal testimony of that transformation, and its important message to us, through his recorded psalm in Luke 1:67-79, in a message entitled, “Coming to the Knowledge of Salvation”.
Over the next several weeks we turn our hearts and minds to the joy and wonder of our Savior’s birth. As we do so, we’ll direct our attention to the deeply personal, deeply prayerful, musical expressions of three individuals who were as different as they were unique. A very young peasant girl; a cultured, patrician priest; and a very obscure, very devout, and very aged prophet. Each of whom left to us the spiritual legacy of a psalm, every bit as timeless and valuable to our personal devotion and corporate worship as any psalm of David. And like the psalms of David, each an intensely personal expression giving poetic voice to an intensely personal experience.
2 Kings 6-7
Glorifying God by Encouraging
All People to Pursue a Lifelong,
Joyous Relationship with Jesus Christ