The Big Picture

Remembering The Big Picture

Introduction

Over the last couple of weeks Kristi and I have been looking at some houses online that are for sale. A former student of mine is a realtor in Tampa, so he’s been sending us links to homes with a description and pictures. We decided to pick our five favorites, and compare lists and then narrow it down to what we had in common. This quickly turned into me putting my list away and just agreeing to look at the homes on Kristi’s list! Hey, you’ve seen my apartments and her house, so I think I’m making the right move.

We’ve also been looking the homes up on Google Maps (for those of you who are not into computers, it is a program that allows you to locate specific residences and even to see pictures). You can even determine the scale of the map, from as wide as the entire country, to as narrow as a street. You can even click something called “street level” and look around at the houses in the neighborhood. And as you can imagine, homes that look good in their individual descriptions don’t always look as inviting when you expand the picture to include the entire neighborhood.

Over the last few weeks we studied together about the birth of Jesus from the opening chapters of Matthew, a “street-level” view. I want to use the story of Jesus’ birth to illustrate the difference that expanding out to see the big picture can make.

Dealing with Discouragement During the Holidays

Dealing with Discouragement During the Holidays

If my Facebook feed was any indication of how the past year went, lots of people really struggled in 2013-

• Loss of loved ones
• Personal loneliness
• Illness or financial setback

Complicating things is the time of year:

• Dark, cold, gloomy weather has an impact on some worse than others
• Seeing others enjoy lots of presents if you are short financially, or dealing with the reality of spending more than you had
• Looking at happy family photos can really make loneliness more acute
• This is a naturally reflective time of the year, easy to rehash mistakes and setbacks of the previous year

So I want to offer a word of encouragement, just some basic exhortations from Scripture that I hope can help.

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)

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.

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...

Sermon: God (Mature in the Faith Series)

Isaiah 6:3

I.  God is holyBasic idea: separate, apart“Holy, holy, holy” – the MOST holyIn what sense? Isaiah 40:27-28-Eternal vs temporal (“The LORD is the everlasting God”)
-Creator vs creation (“the Creator of the ends of the earth”)
-Infinite vs finite (“He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable”)
Read Isaiah 40:12-26

Sermon: Learning from the Suffering of Paul

Some brief notes from Sunday morning's sermon on Paul's suffering in Second Corinthians:

Sermon: Forgiving Like Joseph

I apologize for not having thorough notes on this lesson, but then, if you read it, you will have to forgive me! I preached on the text of Gen. 50:15-21-

Sermon: What God Has Joined Together (Matthew 19:1-11)

Introduction

Someone asked me to do a lesson as a follow-up to the sermon on marriage last week on the subject of divorce. I am glad to do so, for several reasons:

First, Jesus taught on the subject, and as followers of Jesus, we need to know what He said about the matter.

Sermon: The Weaker Vessel (1 Peter 3:7)

Introduction

This morning I have been asked to do a lesson on the relationship of husbands to wives, and particularly to explain the expression found in 1 Peter 3:7, in which Peter describes wives as “the weaker vessel.” We heard that passage read in the Scripture reading this morning, so let’s take a look at the big picture of what’s going in here in 1 Peter and then figure out what Peter has in mind by calling wives “the weaker vessel.”

Sermon: Do You Love Me? John 21:15-19

Introduction

Not long ago announced that I was going to do a series on mistakes I had made in preaching. One member said such a series would take several years! But like a lot of preachers, when I look back on lessons I have preached, I often cringe. Made lots of mistakes.

One of the most common ones was to misuse word studies. To think that the answer to every question about a passage was to try to understand the Hebrew or Greek. The most important task of Bible study is careful attention to the English text. I’d like to illustrate that with passage in John 21:15-17, and then draw some applications from this story.

Loving God's Word, Head and Heart

(This is the text of a chapel devotional I gave at my alma mater, Florida College, yesterday).

In keeping with the lectureship theme of the resurrection, this morning I am going to read some selected verses from Luke 24.

Sermon: The Christian Basis of Human Dignity

Here is a link to the audio of the sermon I preached this morning on The Christian Basis of Human Dignity (it was given a slightly different title by our webmaster). Feel free to leave your comments here on my blog.

Sermon: The Perfect Work of Adversity (James 1:2-4)

I have been preaching on maturity, and yesterday I focused on the Book of James. Here is a skeleton outline of my lesson:

I.  Count it all joy when you encounter various trials (James 1:2)
 

Museum of the Messiah: The Manger

In the second lesson in this series I talked about the significance of the manger Jesus was placed in (Luke 2:1-12). The manger signifies the humility of Jesus-

Sermon: Museum of the Messiah - The Swaddling Cloths

Yesterday I began a series on the birth of Jesus imagining a museum exhibit of the life of Jesus. The first artifact on display is the swaddling cloths mentioned in Luke 2:1-12. The swaddling cloths are a vivid reminder of Jesus' humanity. And according to Matthew 1:18-22, Jesus became human to be Immanuel, "God with us." Why is God with us?

Sermon: Abounding in Thanksgiving

Even though Colossians is a relatively small letter, Paul says a great deal in the book about giving thanks. Here are some points I drew out of the book for my sermon yesterday morning:

Sermon: What the Election Will Not Change

1.  Our loyalty to Christ above all attachments – Philippians 3:20-21; Acts 5:29

2.  Our mission to proclaim that Jesus is Lord – Ephesians 1:20-21; Acts 17:1-8

3.  Our duty to honor, submit to and pray for those in authority – 1 Peter 2:13-17;            
1 Timothy 2:1-3; Acts 16:16-39

4.  Our ability to change lives through love and truth – Ephesians 5:8-14; Acts 19:18-20, 21-27

Sermon: Amnon and Tamar

Amnon and Tamar

Introduction

Mount Pleasant was rocked this week by the news that the star QB of the high school football team along with two of his friends was arrested for allegedly having relations with a 12 year old girl. The boys were ages 16, 17 and 18, and since all three of them were with her, it is unclear who the father of the child was. According to reports, the acts were consensual, but since the girl was under age it is considered rape nonetheless.