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.

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Preached on December 19, 2010 at PLWC.

Church Words: Consecration

Reading: Luke 15

This is the last in our "Church Words" series (for now), since we're moving into fall with all its transitions. We celebrated the Lord's Supper this week, so our focus was on the word consecration.

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Preached on August 29, 2010 at PLWC.

DNA of the Church: Be Holy

Reading: Leviticus 11:44-45; Matthew 5:48-6:4

We’re continuing our series on the DNA of the church by following up last week with its logical extension: loving God should naturally lead into greater holiness.

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Preached on February 21, 2010 at PLWC.

Engage: Transformation

Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Mark 8:31-38

"Transformation" is our code word for "holiness" for this sermon. As we continue on through Lent, learning who Jesus was and why he went to the cross, we are narrowing the focus of our engagement of our faith and actions. This week it's personal: our faith in Christ should truly transform us over time into people who are more and more marked by his cross.

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Preached on March 22, 2009 at PLWC.

Clean Your Lenses

Preached on April 27, 2008 at PLWC.

Reading: Isaiah 62:10-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Romans 6:19-23

Last Sunday started a brief series focusing on some of the most fundamental gifts God gives us as we follow Christ. This will hardly be an exhaustive list, but we wanted to begin by looking at one of the most precious of those gifts: holiness.

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The Hard Way

Preached on August 5, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Matthew 5:1-11

This week we took a look at the Beatitudes, those familiar words from Jesus about who's blessed in the kingdom of God, and we learned from those words that grace is hard work.

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An Eye on the Joneses

Preached on July 29, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Deuteronomy 15:7-11; Amos 2:6-10; Matthew 25:31-40; Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-5:11

Continuing our theme of how people of grace should live, this week we saw that we shouldn't waste, but we should be extravagant.

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A String of Forks

Preached on July 22, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: 2 Samuel 15:10-14; Luke 15:11-32.

This week we began to look at what it means to be a person of grace, because grace characterizes the people of God. To start us out, we're learning from Absalom's mistakes as well as the example of the Prodigal Son's father.

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