Archive for category: Sermons

Scripture: Genesis 39:1-23

“The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with you; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.” (Genesis 39: 23)

It seems Joseph can’t get a break. He is left for dead by his brothers, taken into a foreign land to serve as a slave, then he is lied about by the master’s wife and jailed. But throughout he seems to bloom where he is planted, making a way outa no way. Perhaps on our journey we need to look for blessing not in the absence of struggle, but in the heart of it, where we are protected and prospered.

Scripture: Genesis 6:16-22; 9:8-15

“I will remember my covenant.” (Genesis 9:16)

If doppler radar had been around then, the severe weather warning would have been intense. God tells Noah how to get ready for the deluge and he sets to work, making a way outa no way. We don’t really come to know God until we have some reason to trust God. God’s rainbow covenant allows us the baseline of trust we need to start a journey and process of self-discovery that will lead us into a life renewed that is large enough for us to inhabit with our full selves.

Scripture: Hebrews 13: 1-8; 15-16

So let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name. Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices. (Hebrews 13:15-16)

A wonderful quote from the movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”: Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not all right, it is not yet the end. Resurrection reminds us that nothing truly good can die, so we continue to do the work God calls us to do, to be the incarnation of Christ for the world today…for that is the way to life.

Rev. Sandra McNary Preaching

Scripture: Colossians 3: 12-17

Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. (Colossians 3: 13-14)

In the Apostle’s Creed, there is a comma between “born of the Virgin Mary” and “suffered under Pontius Pilate”, a comma that delineates everything Jesus said and did between his birth and his death. This part of Colossians gives advice for daily, practical behavior for Christ-followers…what we do is far more important than what we merely believe!

 

Scripture: Colossians 2: 6-19

So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. (Colossians 2: 6-10)

Paul knew that the Christ must first of all be acknowledged within before he can be recognized without as Lord and Master. God must reveal Godself in you before God can fully reveal Godself to you. We are participating members of the universal body of Christ and Christ is in us!