Third Presbyterian Church

Sermons

Leaving the Shadowlands

Revelation 21:1-8 23 November, 2008

“Leaving the Shadowlands”

And so, at last, we come to the end of a journey that began all of
eighteen months ago. From the first verse of the Bible “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth” to its closing
words, sixty-six books and a couple of thousand pages later, “He who
testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come,
Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.
Amen.” We’ve walked the Bible from end to end and what a journey it
has been; from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane;
from the smelting furnace of Egypt to the waterbrooks of Canaan
where a shepherd-king named David knelt to cool his thirst; from the
holy mountain of Sinai where the Law was written by the finger of God
to the hill of the Skull where the grace of God was poured out in the
sangre de Christo (the blood of Christ). We have gone from a garden
paradise emptied of its occupants to a garden tomb left open and
empty by the only occupant it had ever known. We have seen a loose
federation of slaves turn into a unified theocracy whose calling it was
to be a light to the nations. We saw that same kingdom divide and fall

Attachments:
sermon_11_23_08.pdf	[ ]	48 Kb

Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 June 2009 19:16 )

A Call to Persevere

Jude 17-25 16 November, 2008

“A Call To Persevere”

If you have ever seen the film, “The Hiding Place”, you will remember
a scene that takes place immediately after the ten Boom family has
been visited by their pastor. The ten Booms were devout Dutch
Christians who were secretly risking their lives by making their home
available as a hiding place for Jews who were trying to get out of
Holland during the time of the Nazi occupation of their country. What
astounded the ten Boom family was that their pastor was voicing
strong Nazi sympathies and warned them against any acts of
resistance. When he leaves, Corrie says something like, “I don’t
understand how that man can claim to be a Christian!” Her father
answers back, “Just because a mouse gets in the cookie jar, it
doesn’t make him a cookie.”

Attachments:
sermon_11_16_08.pdf	[ ]	29 Kb

Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 June 2009 19:15 )

Choosing to Love

1 John 4:7-21 9 November, 2008

“Choosing To Love”

In some ways we could make this sermon very short. I won’t! But we
could. We could simply repeat the last verse, verse 21. “And he has
given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his
brother (or sister).” It is that simple. It is that direct. It is not an
encouragement. It is a command. It is not a suggestion. It is an
order. And if we are soldiers of Jesus Christ (which is one of the
definitions of being a Christian), then it is clear that we have received
an unambiguous directive from our Master, and it is ours but to obey.
Sir, yes sir!

Attachments:
sermon_11_09_08.pdf	[ ]	45 Kb

Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 June 2009 19:13 )

The Unnecessary Pastor

2 Peter 1:12-21 2 November, 2008

“The Unnecessary Pastor”

I probably respect Eugene Peterson as much as any man alive.
Peterson is a retired Presbyterian pastor and professor who
translated the Bible into contemporary English, and has spent his
vocational career coaching pastors on how to be pastors. I have
mentioned him many times in my writing and preaching (possibly to
the point of irritation) because more than any current Christian
author, I think Peterson has gotten it right. And while there is no such
thing as one, right way to be a pastor, there are plenty of ways to goof
it up. In a similar vein, I have high regard for a Lutheran author and
educator named Marva Davon who has written very perceptive and
biblically solid books about worship – books like; “Reaching Out
Without Dumbing Down”, “Keeping the Sabbath Wholly”, and one
called “A Royal ‘Waste’ of Time”. She calls worship a royal “waste”
of time not because she believes for a minute that it isn’t the most
important thing we do, but because she wants to counter the cultural
idea that if we are not making money or producing something to show
for the time we spend, then it is time wasted. To the contrary, she

Attachments:
sermon_11_02_08.pdf	[ ]	46 Kb

Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 June 2009 19:12 )

Fear, honor, and Endurance

1 Peter 2:13-17 26 October, 2008

“Fear, Honor, and Endurance”

When we started our journey through the books of the Bible roughly
eighteen months ago I really wasn’t sure when we would get to 1st
Peter. What with special liturgical seasons and vacations, study
leaves, and just the unpredictable nature of events that alter our
plans, who would have thought that we would be exploring the
themes of this letter a little more than a week before an important
national election? It hadn’t crossed my mind, but I suspect it crossed
God’s mind. And I further suspect that that is because it is very
important to God that we get our relationship with our government
right. In order to do that, we don’t have to be political science majors,
but neither are we given free-rein to imagine that biblical theology has
nothing to say about worldly politics. So while (as I’ve said before) I
will never presume it to be my business to infantilize you by telling
you for whom to vote, I will insist that Christians carry a God-ordained
burden to wield their power as voting citizens with a biblically-formed
conscience and a determination to take up our responsibility to be
salt and light in the country in which God has placed us. I am saying

Attachments:
sermon_10_26_08.pdf	[ ]	45 Kb

Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 June 2009 19:10 )

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