Sermons on Family
Space and Grace | Romans 14:1-6 (Women in Ministry Sermon Series)
When I finished my sermon on a hybrid view of women in ministry, I asked a couple of questions: How might we walk by faith and extend grace to each other in this issue? How can we make room for each other? How can we follow our consciences and enable others to do the same? Here’s how I want to phrase it today: How can we give each other grace? We return to this question today because it’s how I…
Spirit-Filled Leadership | Numbers 11:24-29; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:1-4 (female elders?)
Who does God want to lead his people? Who does God want to serve as pastors, elders, and leaders in the church? It’s easy in a series like this to jump right to gender, “only men lead,” or “men and women can lead.” But I think if we look at the broad scope of scripture, the question of leadership and God’s people, we find a surprising twist and maybe a different answer. Let’s look at Numbers 11, Joel 2, and…
A Hybrid View of Women in Ministry | 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 1 Peter 3:1-7 (Complementarian in the Home; Egalitarian in the Church)
Today, we’re finishing our three viewpoint sermons by looking at a hybrid understanding of women in ministry: complementarian in the home, egalitarian in the church. For most of you, this might be a rather new and unfamiliar viewpoint. I’m still learning about it myself, but it helps to go back to our three views. But why look at this position? For some of us, we see God created distinct genders, and some roles do go with those genders. Paul seems…
A Caught Faith | 2 Timothy 1:5 (Lois & Eunice – Mother’s Day Message)
Happy Mother’s Day. I want to start by saying how grateful I am for my mom encouraging my walk with Christ, and I’m constantly grateful for how my wife Monica teaches our kids about Jesus. Today, in scripture, we see two examples of women who did the same thing. We’ve been in this series, Women in the Kingdom, and we’ve been looking at lots of women, wives, and mothers throughout the Bible. Today we’re going to look at a grandmother…
Egalitarianism | Galatians 3:28; 1 Timothy 2:8-15
Today, we’re jumping back into our three sermons looking at complementarianism, egalitarianism, and a hybrid view of women in ministry (complementarian in the home, egalitarian in the church). Last week, we looked at complementarianism, which generally believes God only calls men to preach and serve as elders, starting with 1 Timothy 2:8-3:7. Today, we’re looking at egalitarianism, which believes that God calls both men and women to preach, serve as elders, and serve in ordained pastoral ministry. Next week we’re…
Complementarianism | 1 Timothy 2:8-3:7
Today in our Women in the Kingdom series we’re diving into the text so many go to when deciding the role of women in the church. 1 Timothy 2:12 says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man…” We look at that verse, we equate teaching with preaching and holding authority with being an elder. That is one way to interpret the text, and it’s called complementarianism. For the next three weeks, including…
Mary Magdalene and the Gardener | John 20:1-18 (Easter Sermon by a Woman)
Jesus found Mary Magdalene when she was lost, He gave her a new direction, He told her to find others. If you are feeling lost this morning, Jesus has found you. He wants to give you a purpose. He wants us to help the lost people in our lives. Mary Magdalene was lost. Not physically, but emotionally. We don’t know much about her from the text. The idea that she was a prostitute or secretly married Jesus – that’s not…
Priests & Kings | Genesis 1-3 (Women in Ministry Sermon Series: Co-Ruling in the Kingdom)
As I was preparing for this message, I remembered James Brown and Betty Newsome’s song, It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World (take on mad mad mad world). The first half of the song goes like this: You see, man made the cars to take us over the road Man made the train to carry the heavy load Man made electric light to take us out of the dark Man made the boat for the water, like Noah made the ark…
Isaiah 66:7-13 Zion’s Birth Story (Labor & Delivery Sermon)
Monica Romig shared the following message at Gordon-Conwell’s chapel service on Wednesday, November 17th, 2021 (video link) from Isaiah 66:7-13. She talks about the biblical imagery of labor and delivery to describe how God is going to deliver and redeem his people. Enjoy the message. Since shops are already putting up Christmas lights and radio stations are playing Christmas music I thought it would be appropriate to consider this morning one of the prophetic birth passages of Isaiah. 7 “Before she…
Awkward Christmas | Matthew 1:18-25 (Shameful Christmas)
One of the annual traditions of the town I grew up in was to host a day-after-Thanksgiving Day parade, which was really a Christmas parade. Now they call it the “Catch the Glow” parade. There were lots of rides and floats, people marching, colorful Christmas decorations. But every year, at the end of the parade, Santa and his reindeer came parading down the main street. It was Santa, and presents, on a slay, on a semi, with fake reindeer. Rudolf…
Part 8. “S” – Speak Prophetically | Amos 5:21-24
On the morning of Thursday, February 3rd, 1994, a room of political and religious elite gathered in the ballroom of a swanky hotel in downtown Washington DC. Members of Congress were there, as was the President and Vice President, Bill Clinton and Al Gore, Hilary too. But there was also someone there you might not expect, Mother Teresa. An 83-year-old nun from India, Mother Teresa had spent a lifetime caring for the poor and needy in the slums of Calcutta,…
Finding my Identity as a Child of God | John 1:12-13
Today I want to share a passage I was meditating on during sabbatical. I started reading the gospel of John and for a while, I got caught up on these two verses. John 1:12-13 (ESV) But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. These verses…