SERMON: The Rescue

SERMON: THE RESCUE
This is one of three sermons uploaded for commissioning.  It is based on Romans 7:15-25 and was given on 3 August 2014.   It is an audio recording only.  Video is simply stills from Trinity UMC in Lebanon.  And if any colleagues from seminary watch this, yes, I do know the law is Mosaic, not Abrahamic, so don't ask me why I said that.

Romans 7:15-25New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁵ I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, ²³ but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

SERMON: By the Waters of the Jabbok

This is another audio of a sermon for commissioning.  The text is from  Genesis 32:22-31 and is the very familiar story of Jacob crossing the Jabbok and the dark night of the soul.  It was preached on 27 Jul 2014 at Trinity UMC in Lebanon.  Lessons learned from posting two of these - I talk too long.  Way too long.  Not that I haven't been told that before, and I have tried, but maybe it's time to try harder.  Also, please forgive the first minute or so of the recording.  I did not yet have my mic turned on.

Genesis 32:22-31 (NRSV)

²² The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. ²⁴ Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” ²⁷ So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” ³¹ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

SERMON: The Promise of the Stars

This is the third sermon posted for commissioning and is based on Genesis 15:1-6 and Romans 4:13-25.  It was given on 7 December 2014 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Lebanon.  It is a full service so for uploading purposes it had to be segmented into three sections due to limitations with blogger.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3