Sermons Podcast

College grads, how it the job hunting going? How about those of you who lost jobs due to economic cutbacks? You remain in our prayers. Looking for a job is harder now than ever. I continue to hear stories which show that one of the biggest advantages in job hunting comes from knowing the right person/people and being able to use their name/names to get at least some initial notice. When it comes to a job, there is power in a name. That was true even back in the time of Jesus. Whose name have you been dropping?

College grads, how it the job hunting going? How about those of you who lost jobs due to economic cutbacks? You remain in our prayers. Looking for a job is harder now than ever. I continue to hear stories which show that one of the biggest advantages in job hunting comes from knowing the right person/people and being able to use their name/names to get at least some initial notice. When it comes to a job, there is power in a name. That was true even back in the time of Jesus. Whose name have you been dropping?

We live in a judgmental world. People are always looking at us with a judgmental eye and often we do the same to them. Judging others in a critical way seems to be a human condition, but it doesn’t have to be so. When Jesus met the man who was possessed by demons, a man who lived in a cemetery, he met a man who was judged harshly by the world. Yet, Jesus did not judge this man. He freed him from his demonic captivity. This powerful story in Mark 5 is teamed up with the Apostle Paul’s words about how God united and does not divide us through baptism (Galatians 3) to help us all see how God’s grace frees us from the power of critical judgment. God works to bring all people together. That’s what Jesus was all about.

Every once and a while it is important to take time to assess where we have come from, where we are, and where we are going as a congregation. That’s what I plan to do with this week’s message to you. “A Congregational Check Up” will take a look back at our 2006-2007 SWAMP Report (and if you’re new to Grace you probably don’t have a clue what that is!) and all we have accomplished at Grace these past few years.

I’ll also talk about the current health of our congregation; what’s going well (and fortunately many things are), where we need to work and improve, and how we need to keep our focus on Jesus Christ remembering that it is his church and not ours.

Finally, I’ll talk about what the future may hold for us and where God may lead us.

We are all fortunate to be part of a healthy and alive congregation in a time when many churches are struggling. However, this doesn’t mean we can just sit back and not consider these important topics.

It was on the Day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came upon the gathered followers of Jesus Christ. Filled with the Spirit, Luke tells us that the disciples “began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” They went out and for the first time, publicly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ. It was a rowdy and tumultuous beginning for the church, but at the end of the day 3,000 people were baptized in the name of Jesus and they too received the Holy Spirit and “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

We live in a time far removed from the Day of Pentecost, but the work of Pentecost continues. We have all been baptized in Christ’s name. We have all received the power of the Holy Spirit in our baptisms and we too, are called to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the ability the Spirit gives to us.