| Back in the saddle again... by Don Neuendorf |
Back from a week off, I'll be trying to write this week enough to catch up and get back to looking two weeks out. We'll see if I can manage it. |
| Deuteronomy 7:6-9 by Don Neuendorf |
"God did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore..."
"God loves America." We hear phrases like that a lot, and it's hard to argue very forcefully against them. After all, look around at the astonishing blessings he has given this country. The natural beauty, the expanse, the bountiful resources, the fertile fields, the persistence of freedom, the economic prosperity. It's remarkable - and so we remark on it.
But does God love Sudan?... |
| Romans 8:12-17 by Don Neuendorf |
This is the text I'm preparing to preach on this coming Sunday, but it's a bit perplexing. The spirit of the text is victorious. After Paul's frustration with sin, and the wonderful news about being set free from his sinful nature, these verses reflect that we should now live differently... not like slaves, but like sons. But... |
| Isaiah 55:10-13 by Don Neuendorf |
"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven... so is my word that goes out from my mouth..."
The rain is falling right now, as I write. It's funny how we can look at such a commonplace thing, something we are so totally familiar with, and see it almost every time as a negative. "Oh rats, it's going to rain today. I won't be able to..." |
| Romans 7:14-25 by Don Neuendorf |
"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin... Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
People often debate "difficult" parts of Scripture. They might find it hard to believe miracles, or hard to understand concepts like the Trinity. I have spent years trying to help people see the truth and trustworthiness of God's Word. But in these verses there are two words that even I have trouble with. "We know..." |
| Zechariah 9:9-12 by Don Neuendorf |
This is a funeral sermon.
At least that's how I think of it. Zechariah (whose name means "Yahweh remembers") is a priest and prophet after the Babylonian exile. The people he is preaching to are the folks whose parents and grandparents had been dragged off to captivity with hooks in their cheeks. They lived 70 years in a foreign country while their homeland was destroyed. And now these are the remnant, the smaller number who returned after the Babylonian Empire fell. What would their life be like?... |
| Matthew 10:34-42 by Don Neuendorf |
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace on the earth."
That's a disappointing phrase, isn't it? We prefer Jesus' words just one chapter later, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Can both those phrases be true at the same time?... |
| Romans 7:1-13 by Don Neuendorf |
You might want to pay special attention to the epistle lessons for the next couple of months. They are all in sequence from a very important part of Paul's letter to the Romans. I'll be preaching on them the first 2 Sundays in July.
Here at the beginning of chapter 7 Paul is concerned with the question, so what do we do with the law? Have you asked yourself that? What is the place of the law in your Christian life?... |
| Jeremiah 28:5-9 by Don Neuendorf |
OK, so I never got back to blog on the Gospel lesson for last week, but I preached on it and that sermon audio is posted (for what it's worth), so you can check that out if you want.
I really wanted to preach on the Jeremiah text because it has always fascinated me how he openly confessed that he didn't want to preach. He tried not to preach. But he found that he had to - and whenever he did, he had to tell the truth... which was bad news and got him into trouble... |
| Romans 6:12 by Don Neuendorf |
"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."
Man, this is frustrating. I'm sitting here trying to come up with words for this weekend's sermon and I'm getting nowhere. Note: this is not a new experience. I've got soft instrumental music playing on the computer (I recommend www.pandora.com - it's great and free). I've got a cold soft drink to supply the caffeine. I've got a great text to work with (Matthew 10, about being sent out as sheep among wolves). But I don't know how to begin to put it all together.
Pursuing an idea for an opening illustration, I read through several recent commencement speeches. It discombobulated me - so that I am a mixture of depression, cynicism, irritation, doubt, and determination. In other words, frustration.
Or, to pick a much more accurate word... sin.
"Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies." Easier said than done... |