Peace with Others
Matthew 5:21-26, 43-48; Romans 12:9-21
CBS Affiliate KDKA Channel 3, in Pittsburgh, reports of an unusual Christmas disturbance that took place this past December 16 in Connellsville, PA. Their lead for the story was, “Motorist Tried to Run over Ex as He Put up Lights.” Local resident Alan McCutcheon was busy putting up outside Christmas lights when his ex-girlfriend, Mary […]
Go In Peace
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Luke 7:36-50; Galatians 5:22-25
It’s that time of the year again . . . tax-time. There was a fellow who one year decided to cheat on his income taxes. The problem was that he later started to feel so guilty that he couldn’t sleep. After thinking about it for a while, he sent an anonymous check for $100 to the IRS along with a […]
I Will Trust In You
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Luke 8:22-25
Isaiah 26:1-4
A couple weeks ago, Gail and attended one of my grandsons, Matthew’s, Boy Scout banquets. His Scout troop enjoys putting on little skits. One of them this day was about Jack, who was walking along a steep cliff one day when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell over. On the way down, he grabbed a spindly […]
Prayer Leads to Peace
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Philippians 4:4-6
How many of you are familiar with the name Ann Landers? Beginning in 1955 and continuing under various authors to this day, the Ann Landers daily newspaper column receives thousands of letters every month requesting advice on various topics. When PaulineLederer retired in 2002, she was asked what her most common question was, and answered that most people worry too much. “They’re […]
Peace Meal
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John 14:1-11, 27; Romans 5:1
All of us know that even with all the hope and promise of a wonderful New Year that a little rain is going to fall in all of our lives in the year 2017. And it is probably true that for some it won’t be just a little rain; some of us are going to have to endure storms. […]
Home for Christmas
Luke 2:1-7; John 1:1-12
Before we officially open this Christmas Eve service I want to say, “Welcome and thank you for helping make this time the special time it is.”
As is true of most Christmas Eve services, there are some here who have come because this is your home away from home. You have discovered that this is the place that works for you to worship God. And in that regard, more than anything I can or will say, you can’t wait until we light the candles, dim the lights, sing […]
Be an Angel, Won’t You?
Isaiah 40:3-5, 9-11; Luke 2:8-20
Wouldn’t it be cool to be an angel? To take direct orders from God; to have wings to fly?
The Bible doesn’t have a special section devoted to telling us all we would like to know about angels, but there is enough to indicate that the angels have four roles:
For example, we infer that there are what we call Guardian Angels. Psalm 91:11 says, “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.” And Daniel 6:22 has, “For Daniel’s protection, God sent […]
The Christmas Story According to Jesus
Matthew 1:18-25; Hebrews 10:1-18
Have you ever read the Christmas story according to Jesus? I don’t mean the Christmas story given us by Matthew; how the angel came to Joseph and convinced him to take Mary as his wife. Nor am I talking about Luke’s wondrous description of the baby born in Bethlehem accompanied by the singing of angels. I am not even referencing John’s masterful prologue: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
What I propose to speak about today is […]
Come, Before Winter!
Matthew 24:30-44; I Timothy 4:1-22
Once again, it’s that wonderful time of the year; when Indian summer gives way to fall and all its delights: autumn colors, gourds and pumpkins, the pungent smell of burning leaves, Thanksgiving, OSU and Michigan. What could be better than that?
But you and I know that when autumn’s leaves begin to fall, it won’t be long before something else begins to fall (got a little appetizer last Saturday). It won’t […]
Count It Joy
I Peter 1:3-9 (Call to Worship) Luke 19:41-44; James 1:1-4
Talk about a guy down on his luck, experiencing a little pain and suffering as he’s lost in the desert . . . desperately needing a drink . . . of anything. He comes upon another man riding a camel. He asked the man if he had something to drink. The man on the camel said “No, but I have a nice selection of ties. Would you like to buy one?”
“Are you crazy? I need something to drink, not a tie!”
So […]
Faith Under Fire
Luke 13:1-9; Hebrews 11:17b-12:2
There was a farmer who had three sons: Jim, John, and Sam. No one in the family ever attended church or had time for God. The pastor and the others in the church tried for years to interest the family in the things of God to no avail. Then one day, Sam was bitten by a rattlesnake. The doctor was called and he did all he could to help Sam, but the outlook for Sam’s recovery was very grim indeed. So the pastor was called and […]
Bold Faith People
Last Sunday, the author of Hebrews made the point that stepping out in faith has a way of rewarding us with more faith as we become more and more convinced that our unseen but everywhere present God has our backs.
This past week, I continued to brood in that wonderful 11th chapter and although I initially planned on dealing with the question of causality, I realized something there too good to pass up about bold faith living. So the question, “does God cause bad things to happen to good people?” will […]