The Three Cs

This is the first sermon I wrote. Only two people heard it, my best friend who recorded it, and my homiletics professor, who listened to that recording. I ultimately revamped this sermon, significantly, for my first congregation. Text: 1 Peter 2:9-10 Hello! My name is Jerry, and I’m recovering from an identity crisis. For a half century now, people have been calling me Jerry. But that’s not my name. William Gerald Smith Junior. That’s me. By the way, that’s Gerald with a G. I’m Jerry with a J. Mom and Dad had planned to name me Michael. But surprise! I was born on Dad’s birthday. So they appropriately stuck me with the Junior tag. They couldn’t call me Bill, because that’s what everyone called Dad. But I did go by Bill for three years in high school. I suppose they could have called me Will, but, as it turns out, that’s what everyone outside the family calls my son. We call him Aaron though. Some people here call me William. Mysteriously, I have even been called Steve. So why Je...

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. I made a horrible mistake. For the longest time I thought godliness was something that came from me. Godliness, one dictionary will tell you, is a piety by virtue of being a godly person, or having a righteousness by virtue of being pious, or devout, or reverent. Therefore, if I am pious; therefore, if I am doing something righteous; therefore if I am being reverent, then I am living a godly life, the dictionary will tell you. Apparently, the people who wrote the definition haven't read the Bible. God has revealed a mystery to us here: Godliness isn't something you do. Godliness is something God does through you. Listen to the words of Timothy, again, as God reveals the mystery. The mystery of godliness is Jesus was manifested in the flesh (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35); Th...

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives  forgiveness of sins through his name. Today's passage reminds me, you can't hear this message enough. Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name. You caught that, right? Everyone! Not some believers. Everyone! As Peter reminds us through Luke's account of the early years after Pentecost, God has promised. He didn't just promise here. He promised Abraham (Gen. 15:6). More than that, Jesus himself promised.  Don't be afraid, just believe. Mark 5:36 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. Mark 9:41 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one an...

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. I have Christian friends who don't believe the Word of God. Do you believe? Think about that for a minute. Do you believe in God? Do you really believe the Word is from God? Do you believe the Word was God? Do you believe the Word was with God? (John 1:1-5). And that the Word became flesh? (John 1:14) Some people who call themselves Christians, don't believe. If they don't receive the word of God, if they say it is from men, that it is a human word, not the Word of God, then how can they call themselves Christian? It seems to me that is one of the points Paul is driving home in 1 Thessalonians 2:13. It is important because, what do we have without the Word of God? What we have are heresies taught by false prophets and greedy teachers. "We ar...

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received  it, and it will be yours. I understand why some people don't believe. When they ask and don't receive, well, things don't always turn out the way they think God works. ... Or at least they think they ask. Or they ask without believing. Or they ask for something completely ridiculous, as if to test God. And then, when they don't receive, they try to blame it on Him. But Jesus' words here are clear. "Whatever you ask in prayers, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." I can testify that I believe, I ask, and I receive. I have never tried to move a mountain. But I still believe. Wait, I take that back. I did try to move a mountain, or maybe it was a tree, whatever. And it didn't move. But you know, Jesus was clear ... you need to believe that you have received it, too. I know now I didn't believe I had received it. But that doesn't mean God do...

Check out Fort Wayne Professor Pless' post Fanaticism is Not the Answer ... The New Testament bids us be “sober-minded” (1 Tim 3:11; 2 Tim 4:5; 1 Pet 1:13; 1 Pet 4:7). Rather than becoming intoxicated with a fanaticism to the left or the right, we pray the Lord would give us minds of discernment rooted and grounded in the Holy Scriptures that do not overlook or brush aside the real threat of which the Newtown prayer vigil was a symptom of, namely, the pluralism of American civil religion that requires an even more stringent “no” to unionism and syncretism of every stripe. Indeed, it is for the sake of witness in the public square that we will decline to worship there. Fanaticism is never the answer; faithfulness is. 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. I can't help but ask, as I read this passage, what would I have done if I had seen Jesus 2,000 years ago. What would I have thought if I had seen him give sight to the blind? What would I have believed if I seen a dead man walk out of the tomb after Jesus called to him? Seriously. Think about this for a minute. Two thousand years ago, or even today, if you saw someone raise from the dead (John 11:38-43; M...