God is Generous! [Read Matthew 20:1-16 NRSV] For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others…
Summer Blockbusters The Wheat and the Weeds Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 24 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came…
Summer Blockbusters THE RICH FOOL Luke 12:13-21 He had achieved the American Dream! He worked hard, he produced, he made it to the top. He grew his business to the point where he even had to build new warehouses to store his surplus inventory Most of us would look at…
Romans 12:9-21New International Version (NIV) Love in Action 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient…
If you read Jesus’ parables, you discover that normally, when He tells a parable, He tells the story and then He goes on to explain what it means before telling another parable. But in Luke15, Jesus doesn’t pause to explain. He just launches right into the next parable and then the next. Why? To get their…
Summer Blockbusters, Week 2 PARABLE OF THE SOWER AND SEEDS Luke 8:4-8, 11-15 4 When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and…
Summer Blockbusters, Week 1 The Prodigal Son Luke 15:11-32 This might be a hard message for you to hear. Some of you may hear what I’ve got to say this morning and think, “I can’t believe it.” Others of you might think, “I don’t believe it.” And then some of you…
Graduate Sunday 2015 CONNECT! 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 So, as you graduate and get ready to go out into the world, all kinds of people are giving you advice: o Your parents are giving you advice o Your teachers are giving you advice o Wayne Purdy is giving you advice o When you go to baccalaureate…
“A MOVEMENT BORN IN FIRE” (Pentecost/Aldersgate Day) Acts 2:1-21 Today is a very special day. Today is May 24, which is Aldersgate Day – a very important day for us United Methodists. Today is also Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, the day when God poured out the Holy Spirit on the early church. It’s…
Game Changers, Week 5 MONOPOLY Acts 1:1-11 So today we come to the end of the “Game Changers” series. Each week we’ve looked at a popular board game that represents a negative aspect of life: o SORRY – represents guilt o CRANIUM – represents doubt o CANDYLAND – represents unrealistic expectations o TROUBLE – represents…
