Two sermons: "Healing We Don't Deserve" and "Lord, Save Us From Our Desolation!"

I'm posting two sermons here since I didn't post anything during the week of Thanksgiving. We'll start with the oldest first, the sermon for Christ the King Sunday which concluded our series on healing. One of the most potent demonstrations of the Lordship of Jesus Christ is found in this shocking call to love our enemies.

Reading: Genesis 16:1-13; Luke 6:17-38
Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon (.pdf).
Click here to download a recording of this sermon.
Preached on November 20, 2011 at PLWC.

This first week of Advent begins a new and somewhat unconventional series for us. Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, and so this year we'll be drawing our theme from the book of Lamentations, in which the people of Israel lament the destruction and exile that resulted from their sin. Their need for a savior was literally right in front of their faces, and so we'll be entering ourselves into their story during Advent to recognize our own sin and need for a savior. Note that each sermon during this series will be accompanied by an Advent reading; the sermon calls us to repentance and confronts us with our sin, while the Advent reading proclaims the promise of a coming savior.


Reading: Lamentations 1, Isaiah 54:1-10
Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon (.pdf).
Click here to download a recording of this sermon.
Click here to view the Advent reading accompanying this sermon (.pdf).
Preached on November 27, 2011 at PLWC.

Healing Community

Reading: Numbers 21:4-9; Luke 8:26-39; Acts 5:1-11

This is the third sermon in our series leading up to Christ the King Sunday. We've been looking at the ways healing reveals the Lordship of Christ, and in our culture of individualism we tend to ignore the impact healing has on our communities.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon (.pdf).
Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on November 13, 2011 at PLWC.

Not Ashamed of the Gospel

Reading: John 4:1-42; Romans 3:10-26

This is the second sermon in our "With Healing In Its Wings" series focused on the Lordship of Christ as demonstrated through healing. This week we saw the impact that Christ can have as He heals us of our shame.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon (.pdf).
Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on November 6, 2011 at PLWC.

With Healing In Its Wings

Reading: Malachi 3:13-4:3; Mark 8:22-26, 10:46-52

This week is the start of our series focused on healing. We're approaching Christ the King Sunday, and throughout the Bible healing is associated with the Lordship of God. We'll be looking at a variety of types of healing in the next few weeks, but this time we started with the obvious: physical healing.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon (.pdf).
Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on October 30, 2011 at PLWC.