Sermon Central
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His Gifts Were And Are
Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 11, 2003 (message contributor)
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1. Sending
Contributed on Jun 11, 2003
For Reformation Sunday: Luther’s reform taught us that the church has an apostolic gift, whereby each of us -- the priesthood of all believers -- can break new ground for the Kingdom. Sometimes, however, we send back the gift!
Have you ever had the experience of sending a gift, only to have it returned? What does it feel like? Somebody’s birthday is coming up – and you’ve found just the perfect gift. You wrap it up, you package it securely, and you trot off to the post office. She’s going to love this! Three days ...read more
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2. Universality
Contributed on Jun 11, 2003
Thanks to Constantine’s move, the church gradually began to think of its universality as power rather than as an evangelical mandate. Christ is to be lord of our political life, our cultural life, our everyday life -- every aspect.
Christ is lord of all! What a bold statement! Maybe even an arrogant statement! Lord of all? Do we believe that? It was said of one preacher that “for tender minds he served up half a Christ.” Behind that lie two realities – first, that many of us don’t want the full gospel, we’d rather ...read more
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3. Holiness
Contributed on Jun 12, 2003
Holiness is the gift of an identity, appearing to be too good to be true, but received by accepting forgiveness.
Today’s message is framed by incidents provided by two church members. I will not be naming the players, but they have given me both the beginning and the ending of this message on holiness. The beginning: a few days ago one of you told me that you came to worship each Sunday so that you could ...read more
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4. Oneness
Contributed on Jun 13, 2003
Receiving the gifts of oneness means that we love one leader and commit to one calling. Those things are not the same as having doctrinal agreement or being socially compatible.
This week I met a young man who was very clear about what he needed. He came here to the church to participate in a wedding rehearsal. We began to talk about weddings. He expressed the hope that this wedding would not be like the last wedding he had attended. In that earlier wedding, he had ...read more