God, Freedom, Evil and Love

Introduction

CBS Poll Assassination of JFK

Did Oswald act alone?

Yes 10% No 76%


Will we ever know the truth?
Yes 19% no 77%

Why?

-Distrust of government (even though few have actually considered the evidence presented by the Warren Commission)

-Refusal to accept that one person could be responsible for such evil and hurt

Lessons from Laments

Introduction
Psalms of Lament are songs that express grief. These songs, not limited to the Book of Psalms, arose from various challenging situations:

• Sin (Psalm 51)
• Illness (Isaiah 38:9-20)
• Enemies (Psalm 3)

Oswald Acted Alone

As a history nerd and hater of conspiracy theories, here is the first of five reasons Lee Harvey Oswald and Oswald alone killed JFK.

Oswald Acted Guilty

Oswald displayed clear consciousness of guilt. Of the many employees at the Texas School Book Depository, only Oswald failed to show up at the roll call after the murder. Of the hundreds of thousands of people in DFW, Oswald is the only person to shoot and kill a policeman moments after the murder. These are the clear actions of a guilty person. 

Genesis 6:1-8

Introduction

This text serves as a bridge between the end of the “Book of the Generations of Adam” in 5:1-6:8 and the “Generations of Noah” beginning in 6:9.
This text can be divided into two main parts: 6:1-4, which describes the spiral of evil throughout the land, and 6:5-8, which describes God’s response to it.

Harmony Is Hard - But Worth It

My text this morning is from Romans 15:1-7.
1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me."4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

We're Moving!

Kristi and I have had an extremely busy summer, which is why there have been no posts here. The highlight of the summer was Kristi's surgery to reverse her colostomy, marking the end of her cancer treatments! We are now at the "watch-and-pray" stage. Every few months she will have blood tests to check the various levels that may indicate there is a recurrence. And every year she will have scans and scopes to make sure she is clean. We have a lot to be thankful for.

The other big news of the summer/fall is that we have decided to move to Valrico, FL, to work with the congregation where my friend and mentor Marty Pickup served. Valrico is about 30 minutes east of Tampa, in the Brandon area. The most difficult thing about this decision was the choice to leave a group of people we deeply love, our family at Woodland Hills. But we think this is what the Lord wants us to do, and we will be headed down in Mid-January.

This move will take Kristi and me back to the area where we first met while students at Florida College,   and reunite me with my friends in the Sunshine District of the Barbershop Harmony Society, including my friends in the Heralds of Harmony. We will also be in an area where many of my former students from my time as a professor at Florida College now live, and it will be great to reconnect with them.

Sermon: The Father I Wish I Had

Recently I read a book called Little Britches, by Ralph Moody. It is an autobiographical tale from his early childhood as his family moved from New Hampshire to Colorado. It is a fabulous book, but as I read it I could not help but be drawn to Ralph's father. The way Ralph described his dad prompted me to think of the kind of father I wish I could have had growing up.

I wish I had a father who...