Sermon 09-04-11 "Messes"

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.” At times our love for others is lukewarm at best – we may be concerned for another’s wellbeing, but not to the point that we would do something costly. God’s love, on the other hand, is never an emotion or feeling of goodwill alone – it is costly. Gods love acts. It sends. Today we ponder again what it means that God has sent Jesus to be present among us. We call that sending incarnation, and in that incarnation we are inseparably bound to him, now and forever. He is present among us. And that presence sends us out into a world that desperately needs God’s presence. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The mystery of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.

- Martin Luther

The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.

- C.S. Lewis

New sermon posted at reliantchurch.org

Sermon 08-21-11 "You are because I AM"

Next week we have our annual Call to Mission. Every year we revisit the heart of who we are and what our mission is. In advance of that, we consider today the heart of who Jesus is. Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Little did he know what that confession would mean.

“I did not make it, no it is making me.”

- Rich Mullins, on the Creed

“It is to be believed because it is absurd.”

- Tertullian (155-222 A.D.) on why he

believed the Christian faith

New sermon posted at reliantchurch.org