Sermons from November 2020
What’s the story? | Acts 13:13-52
Elijah loves Dora the Explorer. When he goes to bed, he almost always asks for a “Dora story.” So I sit down and I tell Elijah a story about Dora going on an adventure. There’s only one problem. Although I’ve been telling Dora stories for months, up until last Tuesday, I’d never actually watched an episode of Dora the Explorer. So everything I told Elijah was based on what I’d heard Monica tell him, what I’d seen here or there…
Open or Closed Heart? | Acts 13:4-12
I used to work the opening shift at Indian Village in Estes Park, Colorado. I’d get down to the store by 9am, unlock the front doors, turn on the lights, uncover the register and jewelry cabinets, and turn on the neon red and blue “open” sign. We used to just have a cardboard sign that we would flip from closed to open, but we upgraded to an LED sign. That sign stayed bright all day and it was one of…
Is God calling you to ministry? | Acts 13:1-3
Is God calling you to ministry? Do you ever sense God might want you to serve him in church ministry or in missions? I’m not talking about frontline ministry today—serving God at your normal everyday job. That’s really important; but today’s passage is about something else. Todays passage is the launch of a global missionary effort that changed the world. I’m wondering if God is calling you to be part of it. I was around twelve years old when my…
No King but Jesus | Acts 12:1-25 (first-person narrative sermon)
When I was at my Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min) program in October, we talked about preaching. For one assignment we had to take one sermon we’d preached and preach it again in an entirely different form. Same message, different approach. Three of my classmates tried preaching first-person narratives. That’s where you pretend to be a person from the Bible story and preach it from their point-of-view. My cohort mentor challenged us to try new ways of preaching, so today, I’m…
Mission vs. Maintenance | Acts 11:19-30
What are the two happiest days in a boat-owner’s life? The day they buy the boat… and the day they sell the boat. Some say a boat owner is happiest the day they sell their boat and buy a bigger boat. I never want to own boat, but I would like to have friends who own boats. I also want a friend with a pool. Boats require a lot of maintenance. From what I gather, the day you buy a…