This Advent season may Jesus teach us that the most powerful thing a human being could ever do is to let go of their perceived power. Will you let go?
Four Steps of Gratitude: the Journey to Complete Joy
Finding Joy Sermon Series
November 11th, 2018
Consecration Sunday and Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost.
Rev. Dr. Bill Kimball is preaching.
John 15:1-11
I Have Seen With Joy!
Finding Joy Sermon Series
November 4th, 2018
Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
1 Chronicles 29:10-18
It all comes from the LORD. Why is it that God would give so generously to all of us? We know that we are far from the people that God has created us to be and yet as the psalmist writes, “My cup runneth over.”
How is it that we can live lives that spill over for good into the lives of people around us? It is in our giving. We see joy when we see how the gifts that we give back to God are used to change the world for Him.
There is joy in giving because we are giving back to the GIVER in a sure and certain hope that those gifts will change the world. When we give like that, there is always joy in the giving.
Though now for a little while ...
Finding Joy Sermon Series
October 28th, 2018
Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Death hurts. There is no getting around that. It could be the finality of it. It could be the new normal that we are all forced to create in the wake of losing someone we loved so dearly. That pain and that suffering is something that, “though now for a little while” can speak to as we go through those difficult times of death and loss in our lives.
If we have an eternal perspective on the lives that we live here, we can say, “though now for a little while” in regards to the hurt and pain we feel. In the text for today we are being called into the eternal as we live lives that are all terminal.
Do you exist in the eternal or in the terminal?
Finding Joy in Jubilee
Finding Joy Sermon Series
October 21st, 2018
Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost.
Pastor Paul is preaching.
Leviticus 25:8-13
You perhaps noticed a theme developing thus far in this series, the realization that joy is not obtained through accidental encounter but rather through intentional pursuit.
In the early years of the nation of Israel, God would remind His people of the need to pursue joy by instituting the “Year of Jubilee”, a time in which people were liberated, property was restored, and life was intentionally simplified. Perhaps there’s something of value in this tradition even for Americans today, namely that joy can be found just as sufficient in the act of giving things up and simplifying our lives as it is by adding to them.
Have you created space for joy in your day to day? Let’s consider together.
Joy is Suffering?
Finding Joy Sermon Series
October 14th, 2018
Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
James 1:2-8
It almost seems to be strange to see the words joy and suffering in the same sentence. The text from James today, believe it or not, can teach us that there is actually joy in the midst of suffering.
These few short verses speak to us of some very certain life truths. We learn that trials, temptations, and struggles will come into each and every one of our lives at one point or another. It is in the way that we deal with them and in the way that we let them work on and in us that will dictate whether or not we are able to see the joy that is in the midst of all our trial, temptations and struggles.
Can you find the joy in the midst of them?
Is My Joy Complete?
Finding Joy Sermon Series
October 7th, 2018
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
John 15:9-17
No one can take your joy away…………….once it is complete. I think that before our joy is complete we mistake our human emotions for joy. We think that happiness is joy even though the two are completely different. Happiness, like all human emotions, comes and goes.
Why is it that I can be happy one moment and then someone cuts me off in traffic and all of a sudden that happiness then gets traded in for anger and fury? Emotions and joy come from two completely different places.
We cannot experience that joy until it is made complete. Jesus in the Gospel of John helps us figure out how he is the one that makes it complete.
Sermon Series - Finding Joy: October 7 - November 11, 2018
Finding joy? I think that many times it can better be said as CHASING JOY. Everyone wants joy in their lives. Everyone is looking for a way, a place, a moment where joy can come to life in their lives.
The question is what is joy and is it something I get or is it something that is given to me? We live in a very divided world and that division seems to be getting wider and deeper with each passing day. Can joy be found in the depths? Can joy be given in the midst of the great expanse?
The answer is YES. Are you willing to go and get it?
We Charge Others
Jumpstart Sermon Series
September 30th, 2018
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
Act 2:42-47
There is power in the “We.” There is power in the “We” when there is
purpose behind the power. I know that God can use me for good things in the world but I know that God can do far more with a whole church that is charged with the power of his son, Jesus Christ, working hand in hand with the Holy Spirit.
The text today shows us what can happen when “WE” come together behind the one purpose of serving and showing Jesus Christ in the world by what we do. There are a lot of people and groups that have energy, but we are called to have power.
At RRUMC we are charged so that we may charge others.
I Charge Others
Jumpstart Sermon Series
September 23rd, 2018
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
James 2:14-26
This month is about giving our faith a JUMPSTART. Why do we jumpstart a battery? We do it to give power to an engine so that it can then move a car, a boat, a tractor, or a motorcycle. The charged battery has a clear purpose. When our faith has been jumpstarted we then have power to GO. We are filled with power so that we can give that power to others in the way we serve.
The text today says that faith and deeds cannot have life when they live apart from each other. Faith leads to deeds and deeds are useless when not done through the power of faith. I am charged so that I might charge others. Are your faith and your deeds living together or are they dying because they are separated?
We Are Charged
Jumpstart Sermon Series
September 16th, 2018
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost.
Pastor Paul is preaching.
Mark 6:34-44
There’s no doubt that personal time with God makes up the foundation of a dynamic and growing faith life, but foundations are meant to be built upon, right?
Some of the most rewarding times in our spiritual journeys occur when we step out of our prayer closets and seek the Lord together. Pursuing God was never intended to be a solo act. Believe it or not, Jesus addressed this as He miraculously fed the 5000+, not so much with His words but in the truth that lies between the lines.
Let’s allow God to speak afresh through this story. Can more time seeking God together with others help jumpstart your faith? Time to find out.
I Am Charged
Jumpstart Sermon Series
September 9th, 2018
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
Luke 8:42b-48 (Matthew 9:21)
The woman in today’s scripture knew that if she could only touch Jesus’ robe she would be healed from ailment that she had suffered from for 12 years. She had discovered in her life that she was broken and only Jesus had the power to heal. She was seeking out that power in her life through a hands-on connection with Jesus Christ.
Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus that allows you to live with a 100% certainty of his power in your life? What can we do personally that will not only help us to discover the power he can charge us with, but to actually connect to that power for the rest of our lives?
Time to Rebuild
Jumpstart Sermon Series
September 9th, 2018
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
Nehemiah 2:11-18
When things go left unattended they almost always fall apart. It could be a home, a car, our health, or our faith. In the text today, Jerusalem has been left unattended for 141 years and the temple is just a pile of rubble and ruin. The good news is that it is not dead. There is still hope for those ruins. Our faith can be in ruins if we leave it unattended. Today we walk with Nehemiah as he begins a “Good work,” to restore the old walls of Jerusalem. It’s time to rebuild because Jerusalem needs a jumpstart. Does your faith need a jumpstart?
Sermon Series - Jumpstart: September 2 - 30, 2018
OH NO! Your battery is dead. What do you do now? You get a jumpstart. OH NO! Your faith is dead. What do you do now? You need a jumpstart. This month is about what happens when we “Take the summer off in the church” or we have not worked on our faith for a long, long time.
Our faith is like so many other things in life. We must constantly be working on our faith or it will slowly fade away and lose all its power. Is your faith in need of a JUMPSTART, then this month is exactly what you have needed.
PLUG IN!
How?
Bullhorn Sermon Series
August 26th, 2018
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
Acts 9:20-30
How do I share my faith? That is what it all comes down to. This Sunday we will join Saul as he is knocked to the ground while he journeys to arrest people who follow Jesus Christ. Saul then has his name changed to Paul. Paul lives out his life of faith from the very parts that struck fear into the hearts of believers. When we live out of the transformed parts of our lives it is difficult to contain the stories of how we were changed. Paul uses his past to become the springboard for his transformed future. What are the parts of your life that have been transformed and how can you share your faith from those beautiful and broken places? When you live your faith out of the transformed parts of your life you cannot keep Jesus inside.
What?
Bullhorn Sermon Series
August 19th, 2018
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost.
Pastor Paul is preaching.
Ezekiel 2-3:3
What are we afraid of? Most of us can admit to the logic of how important
it is to share our faith. The Good News we have to offer can unlock eternity to
those who have yet to receive it. Yet with all the people that still claim Christ in
our world, how often do you actually encounter someone courageous enough to
witness to their faith, even in subtle and non-confrontational ways? Why?
Because we are afraid. The risk is too great. Well, it’s time to begin to name
those fears and confront them head on. As messenger to the wayward nation of
Israel, the prophet Ezekiel faced a task even more daunting than our own. Yet God
emboldened him for his assignment. And He can do the same for us. As risky as it
is to speak aloud our faith, even greater is the risk of remaining silent.
Who?
Bullhorn Sermon Series
August 12th, 2018
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost.
Reverend Dan is preaching.
2 Kings 23:1-3, 25
This sermon may catch you off guard a bit. It’s not about who you are
supposed to share your faith with. It is about who you have to become in order to
be the person that God created you to be. Once you let God bring that person to
life in you, you will not be able to contain the faith that lives within you and gives
you life. Are you that person yet? If not, maybe that is why it seems to be so
difficult to share your faith with others.
Why?
Bullhorn Sermon Series
August 5th, 2018
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost.
Pastor Paul is preaching.
Mark 1:40-45
Before we stick our necks out there to engage in any task as anxiety-
inducing as faith sharing, it’s only natural to seek a solid explanation as to why we
need to do so in the first place. Can’t I just follow Jesus and keep my faith to
myself? It’s a valid question but the answer is already evident in the question
itself. Jesus stopped at nothing to share the Good News of God’s love with all He
came in contact with. Truly “following Jesus” demands that we do the same. The
leper in Mark 1 couldn’t help but share the Good News of Jesus Christ with
everyone he met. To him, it was a natural and joy-filled act. Perhaps his story can
offer some pointers for us.