Sermons from Second

New Year. Same Promises. God's Promise of BLESSING

Check out Second Presbyterian Church! 

Read along with the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:1-12 HERE. 

 

Sermon excerpt: 

In this life, in this present age, the truth is that we will suffer: “mourners often go uncomforted, the meek don’t inherit the earth, those who long for justice frequently take that longing to the grave.”[1] But according to Jesus, to be blessed is to know, that through your suffering, you are “included in the coming realm,” in the kingdom of heaven.[2]

So in the larger vision of what it means to be blessed according to Jesus, it’s not just that suffering is far away and you’re happy and in comfortable circumstances—it also means that, in the midst of turmoil, you can live with confidence and peace because you are secure in the promise of God’s love and faithfulness in Jesus Christ. You have a place in the kingdom.

[1] Wright, Mt for Everyone, Part 1, p. 36.

[2] Ibid.

New Year. Same Promises. God is FAITHFUL.

 

 

Check out Second Presbyterian Church! 

Read along with Psalm 40 here. 

 

Sermon excerpt: 

Interestingly, this psalm starts with a recounting of God’s faithfulness but moves into a plea for protection in verse 11, saying, “11 Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.” You’d think it might be the other way around—a plea for protection first and THEN reassurance of God’s faithfulness.

But the truth is … life’s trials persist, even with a God who is faithful. We sometimes mistakenly think God is a giant vending machine, ready to dispense whatever we want. But even with a God who is faithful, sometimes marriages still fall apart, the cancer doesn’t go away, and the promotion goes to someone else. God’s promise of faithfulness doesn’t mean our lives will be sunshine and roses 24/7 but it does mean God will never leave us for forsake us.

So even when things start to head south, we can be fearless because we know God is holding on to us and will never let us go.

"Masters in the Hall" from Second Pres 2016 Lessons & Carols

Check out Second Presbyterian Church! 

"Masters in the Hall" sung by the Second Pres Chancel choir (and friends!) under the direction of Dr. Stanley Workman during our 2016 Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols on Monday, December 19. 

How the Light Gets In: Obeying

 

 

Advent 4 (preached at Second Presbyterian Church on Sun, Dec 18) 

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There's a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
--"Anthem" by Leonard Cohen

Sermon excerpt: 
It should not surprise us that Jesus’ birth was cloaked in scandal because his death certainly was too. This is the Jesus Matthew sets before us—One who was born on a beautiful, scandalous night; who lived a beautiful, scandalous life, and who died on a beautiful, scandalous night.

And in this Advent season, as we watch for him to come again, Jesus is inviting us into that same kind of beautiful, scandalous life as we wait; one that cares much more for God’s commands than society’s conventions; one that is willing to love the unloveables and touch the untouchables.

To live this kind of life is to believe that God is at work in the world and that you want to be a sign of that reality for others. And it means embracing awkward situations and unexpected situations, and even embracing scandal in the eyes of the world knowing that there is something bigger, something wonderful going on in God’s divine plan.  

How the Light Gets In: Doubting

 

 

Advent 3 (preached at Second Presbyterian Church on Sun, Dec 11) 

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There's a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

--"Anthem" by Leonard Cohen

 

Sermon excerpt: 

Doubts and questions and uncertainty in life and in faith are natural and normal. The Israelites did their fair share of it as they wandered in the wilderness, and goodness knows the disciples did their fair share of it too. And as long as we continue to look to God for answers, I don’t think there’s any harm in doubt because it means your faith and your belief is trying to grow. To have questions means you are not satisfied with remaining the same; that an answer that satisfied you 2 or 3 or 10 years ago may not fit any more because your understanding of what God did for you in Jesus Christ has deepened. Your faith is awake and moving, growing.

So maybe John the Baptizer is having a little crisis of faith, maybe the doubts were starting to creep in and overwhelm him, sliding between the bars of his prison cell. And he does the only thing any of us can do in that position: he goes straight to Jesus for the answer to his question.

Choral Anthem "Springs in the Desert"

Under the direction of Dr. Stan Workman, the Second Pres Chancel Choir presented "Streams in the Desert" on Sunday, Dec 11. The soloist is Shawnee State University senior Jonnie Carpathios. 

How the Light Gets In: REPENTING

   

 

Advent 2 (preached at Second Presbyterian Church on Sun, Dec 4) 

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There's a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

--"Anthem" by Leonard Cohen

Sermon excerpt: 

The word “repent” sits like lead in our stomachs, like when we’ve indulged in too many Christmas cookies. The word “repent,” it feels heavy and uncomfortable and burdensome. To repent means we have to stop and think about and claim our sin—to go back and re-live those times we stuck our foot in mouths, when we lashed out in anger, when we treated a person like an object, and when we judged someone because of how they spoke or how they were dressed.

To repent, and to do it well, is a painful and quite possibly humiliating process.

But that need to repent is stirred in us, sometimes unwillingly, by the God who loves us and wants to initiate and extend a righteous relationship with us. So he prompts us and he stirs us and he illumines our eyes and the eyes of our hearts by his Spirit and begins the process of redeeming and regenerating us.

How the Light Gets In: WATCHING

Advent 1  (preached at Second Presbyterian Church on Sun, Nov 27) 

(Pardon the hoarseness of my voice in this recording--I was recovering from the winter crud that's going around! atb) 

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There's a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

--"Anthem" by Leonard Cohen

Sermon excerpt: 

Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the World, became one of us so that we might become more like him; he wants us to be his light for our world. And the good news is that it's through these very cracks and flaws that his light can shine—despite our dis-eased busy-ness and our distractedness and our human doing-ness, his light can, will, and does shine through us.

When we practice “the art of watchful living,” when take the time to be mindful of God’s judgement and salvation, when we take our eyes off of earthly things and think about heavenly things instead, just for a little while—THAT’s how the light gets in and how it shines through us. 

"Ain't Got Time to Die"

The Second Presbyterian Church chancel choir, under the direction of Dr. Stanley Workman, singing the spiritual, "Ain't Got Time to Die." 

The Peaceable Kingdom (Sun, Nov 13)

Check out Second Presbyterian Church! 

Read along with Isaiah 65:17-25 here. 

Sermon excerpt: 

How will we know when the world is finished? 

Here’s a little bumper sticker answer for you, something simple enough that you’ll be able to hold on to it this week and maybe even remember if I ask you about it next week: we will know the world is finished because what is wrong in this world is made right in the kingdom. There will be peace, there will be rejoicing, and even the most vulnerable in our society will be blessed.

This kingdom has already begun, ushered in by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ but it won’t come fully until he comes again. In the meantime, we live in an “already but not yet” world, tasting and glimpsing the kingdom which has already come but knowing it’s not here completely yet.

Our job, as God’s partners given the task of finishing the world, is to watch for where God’s kingdom continues to break through and to support and nurture it wherever it is found.