Stewards Of The Story: The Task Of Preaching

Stewards of the Story: The Task of Preaching Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. Paper, 108 pages, $16.95. ISBN 978-0664-22981-8. In Stewards of the Story, James Earl Massey reminds us of the awesome task to whichwe have been called as proclaimers of the Word, and models for us what it m

Safe In Jesus?

1 John 5:9-13 As a group of young, neighborhood friends, we were playing a fierce game of tag, running through backyards and between houses. I was being hotly pursued, when I sped around the corner of a house and saw him: a huge, tethered dog staring at me from a back patio! He barked and

Where’s The Joy?

John 15:9-17 We who claim to have joy often look as if we have been weaned on dill pickles. The "joy, joy, joy, joy way down in the depths of our hearts" has long departed and in its place is some sort of ugliness that emerges like a bad taste in our mouths. What once was a fac

Thanksgiving Comes Early This Year

As an introduction to a series on Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, this Thanksgiving sermon focuses on the importance of giving thanks in our lives. First, we are privileged to give thanks for the way God has called us into relationship with himself and with each other. Second, we are privileged to give thanks for five specific God-given gifts.

Taking Christ To The Nations

Acts 8:26-40 One man who impacted his nation for Christ is more often associated with green beer and leprechauns than the proclamation of the gospel - Patrick of Ireland. Kidnapped by pirates as a teenager, Patrick was taken from his well-to-do home in Roman-Britain in A.D. 405, transpor

The Good Shepherd

John 10:11-18   Jesus often spoke in rural images that communicated visually to the people he addressed. Even though we are not as acquainted to those images today, they still can say a great deal to us today, even in our modern, urban, industrialized world. One such image that Jesus

The Narrow Way

Matthew 7:13-14 Someone put up a sign along one of the muddy roads in rural Iowa during the rainy season. It read: "Choose your ruts carefully; you'll be in them for the next ten miles." That sign may invoke a smile, but actually it offers sound advice. When roads are slippery, it's for your