No More Normal: Pray

Reading: Psalm 51

We ended our "No More Normal" series with a focus on prayer culminating in a week of prayer. To put it succinctly, prayer is powerful, and we're not likely to get out of the rut without making that connection to God through prayer.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on February 6, 2011 at PLWC.

No More Normal: Connect

Reading: Acts 2:1-4, 42-47; 1 Timothy 6:11-21

Sorry for the late posting of this sermon; it's been a busy week. Our focus for last Sunday was on the need for building genuinely loving connections within the body of Christ.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Click here to download a recording of this sermon. Once again, the file is too large for Google's online virus scanner, so you'll get an error when you try to download it at first. Just click on "Download anyway" when you get the error. Apparently my sermons have been too long recently...

Preached on January 30, 2011 at PLWC

No More Normal: Serve

Reading: John 13:31-35; Luke 10:1-24

Here we go with more meddling. Our focus this week was on the need not only for service, but also for service done with a servant's heart. In other words, do we really love our neighbors?

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Click here to download a recording of this sermon. Once again, the file is too large for the online virus scanner to work, so you'll get an error message when you first try to download it. Just click on "Download Anyway" when you get the option.

Preached on January 23, 2011 at PLWC.

No More Normal: Simplify

Reading: Luke 20:45-21:4; Matthew 19:16-30

There is no sermon for January 9; Carey and I were away due to a conference. This last Sunday, however, we picked up our "No More Normal" series again. Our focus was on counteracting the busy-ness that fills so many of our lives and crowds our focus on Christ.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Click here to download a recording of this sermon. Note that the file is large enough that you'll get a message warning you that Google Docs can't scan it for viruses; just click on 'Download Anyway.' Also note that the audio quality isn't great on this sermon.

Preached on January 16, 2010 at PLWC.

No More Normal: Victory?

Reading: Genesis 3:8-15; Isaiah 43:16-44:5

This is the last of our "No More Normal" sermons for this Advent; we'll be picking up the series again in January after a brief break. It seemed appropriate to end this phase of the series by proclaiming the hope of victory, which is all too often not the norm in the Christian life.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on December 19, 2010 at PLWC.

No More Normal: Weak or Strong?

Reading: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; 1 Corinthians 4:8-16

Once again, we used an un-Christmasy text for our Advent sermon this week. Usually we want to focus on the cute baby in a manger, but this time we looked at the Suffering Servant and what that tells us about our own lives as Christians and as a church.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on December 12, 2010 at PLWC.

No More Normal: Which Spirit?

Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-18, 28-32; Isaiah 11:1-10

This is the second in our "No More Normal" series. This week our focus was on the Holy Spirit's role in Christmas and how if He's involved, things should be anything but normal.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

(Sorry, no recording this week — technical difficulties.*)

* "Technical difficulties" means "I forgot to set the timer to start the recording." Oops.

Preached on December 5, 2010 at PLWC.

No More Normal: Good News?

Reading: Luke 2:8-20, 4:14-21

This last Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent, began our series called "No More Normal," which might end up asking more questions than it answers. This week we asked how good our news really is.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Click here to download a recording of this sermon.

Preached on November 28, 2010 at PLWC.