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No One is Good but God Alone

10/14/2018

Job 23: 1-9, 16-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10: 17-31
October 14, 2018

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This is not a pleasant subject to preach on or to hear about. In fact, I have passed on this topic to Judy and Amy the past two Octobers. Today, we will once again look at an ugly side of humanity with an eye toward hope through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In our gospel reading, the young man addresses Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” We don't have any argument that Jesus is good; Jesus is God. But is he correct when he says no one is good? Are none of us gathered here this morning good?

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Siblings, Spouses and Children

10/7/2018

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Job 1:1; 2:1-10; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16
October 2, 2018

Our New Testament readings today certainly can draw our minds to families. In Hebrews, the author wrote about God and angels and Jesus. But as the reading concludes, we heard Judy read, “For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” We are sanctified; we are siblings of Jesus.
In Mark, I read about marriage; husbands and wives intended to become one flesh; spouses. And then, “People were bringing little children to (Jesus) in order that he might touch them.” Siblings, Spouses and Children . But as we look at the readings, these family groups are never really discussed as any kind of unit. Each one picked out to make a particular point. And so for today's three point sermon, we will look at how each of these family parts speak to us in our relationships in God.

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Be A Good Friend

9/23/2018

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Proverbs 31: 10-31 James 3: 13-4: 3 ; Mark 9: 30-37
September 23, 2018

It is hard to make truly good friends. It can be hard to make new friends. But Teri Leinbaugh tells about her seven year old son who, when they moved int a new home, made some fast friends. An hour after leaving on a tour of the neighborhood, he was back proclaiming that he had made two new friends.
Mom asked, “Are they boys or girls?”
“One is a boy and one is a girl.”
“That's great,” Mom told him. “How old are they?”
“Mom,” he replied, “that would be very rude to ask.”
That seemed odd to her, that a 7 year old would respond this way. But an hour later, he was back. “Mom,” he yelled, “I found out how old my new friends are. The girl is sixty-five and the boy is seventy.”
It is good that he didn't have an age limit on friendship. He seemed to have a handle on being a friend. As I was doing research for today's sermon on being a good friend, I googled friendship. I found list after list giving descriptions of what being a good friend looks like; the 7 qualities of a good friend, 25 ways to be a good friend, 11 signs of a genuine friendship, 10 tips on being a good friend, the 13 Essential Friendship Traits. And I wondered how to select the list that fits best with what we are doing with our Jacob's 11 list.

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Be Gentle to Others

9/16/2018

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Proverbs 1: 20-33; James 3: 1-12; Mark 8: 27-38
September 16, 2018

James, the author of our epistle reading today, seems pretty paranoid about the power of the tongue. A few examples from his epistle “The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity.” “no one can tame the tongue-- a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” If any does “ not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.” “the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.” “As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” He obviously believed that we should watch our words carefully.
Today's trait from Jacob's 11 is the trait of gentleness. We are in week ten of the eleven traits, just one week left. It is awfully easy to fail to be gentle in how we use our words in relating to one another.

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No One is Good but God Alone

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