Sermons from Tim Reed

This is the first in my sermon series entitled “Grow Up”, which I creatively entitled “Introduction”.

Hope you enjoy.

Powerpoint presentation
MP3

Or listen below.

 

 Grow Up - Intro: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here’s my sermon on Galatians 1. D/l it or listen to it below.

Here’s the powerpoint.

 

 Galatians 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’ve started a new series called Bright and Salty. This is the kickoff.

Here’s the powerpoint

 

 Bright and Salty - the Kickoff [25:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Focusing on the last words of individuals in scripture.

Jesus (duh).
“Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Obedience to God to the point of death could be a theme, maybe a look at martrys, starting in Acts. That same passage includes the bit with the temple curtain tearing in two, and another (or only) theme could be the reconciliation of God and humanity through the death of Christ.

Joshua.
Just before his death Joshua gathered together the people and had them swear to remain faithful to God. Themes include the necessity of faithful leaders for a faithful people (Joshua 24:31), staying faithful to God even when a majority of people surrounding you aren’t (Joshua 24:15), and the faithfulness of God to his people (Joshua 24:1-15).

Moses
Of course you’ve got all of Deuteronomy to choose from here so there’s 31 chapters of material to choose from. Deut. 6:4-7 is a good place to start, in there you’ve got monotheism, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength, as well as impressing the commands of God on your heart and passing it on to your children. That’s at least an entire sermon in and of itself. But you also have Moses prophesying that God will raise up another prophet like Moses, which of course, ends up being Jesus.

Stephen
You’ve got an entire chapter’s worth of Stephen’s last words here. Needless to say you’re not covering all of it. Sticking with the theme means going with Stephen’s really last words. Here you’ve got Saul (the future Paul) holding coats and looking on which opens the door for a discussion of Paul’s change of heart. What sets off Stephen’s murderers was his mention of Jesus at the right hand of God, which flows into a discussion of the centrality of Christ, and of course you have Stephen being faithful to the point of death.

Jezebel/King Saul
Cautionary tale time.

Solomon
You’ve got all of Ecclesiastes to choose from. The general theme is the meaningless of pursuing anything but God, and Solomon ends with this little gem:

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

It practically writes itself.

I’m sure there will be more to come….

Central Michigan is a little different from most other places in that if you drive two hours in any direction you hit a vacation spot, either at a great lake or just a good one. As a result summers get lonely as everyone takes off as much as possible. That means I have about 12 weeks in which we have sporadic attendance from a larger group than usual. As a result of this I was thinking of taking one of two extreme tacts:

1. A 12 week sermon series. I rarely go more than 5 weeks on a single series, so this would be sort of new. With people being sporadic they could miss a few weeks and still get the gist of it. But would it be too much for the people who regularly attend even through the summer?

2. A whole bunch of one shots. This way irregular attendance isn’t punished.

Oh well I have a lot of months to decide.

I’m currently in a sermon series on 1 John. Mostly because if I spend a week in each chapter that brings me up to time for the Christmas series. So, it was more practical than any other reason.

The biggest thing I’ve pulled out of this book is the intimacy that John has with his readers. The way he addresses them is less one of authority figure, and more of older brother.