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.