Sermon 13 April 2006
Maundy Thursday, Year B
John 13:1 – 17

“Wash what?�

We have just demonstrated…

This is common practice now for Christians on this night…

What was the original reaction?

Jesus’ disciples were rather shocked by his actions. Peter especially. Jesus was doing the unthinkable – washing someone’s feet. Jesus was the Rabbi, the Master, the Teacher, the Lord. It was beneath him to do this! Only a slave would do such a menial task. The disciples had to do a lot of work: according to the traditions of the day, they had to do whatever their Master commanded them to do, without questioning him. If he wanted them to carry water or chop wood, they had to do it. If he wanted them to take a message to someone, they had to do it. If he wanted them to stay up all night, they had to do it. They had to do anything he told them to do.

Well, almost anything.

Disciples were basically like slaves. They had to do what they were told, no matter how ridiculous or unfair it seemed. But there was one way in which they were distinguished from slaves: slaves had to wash people’s feet, whereas disciples did not. Disciples were near the bottom of the food chain, but that one activity, washing feet, separated them from the very bottom – slavery.
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Ok… so not just Easter.

We’re getting the party started tomorrow night, Thursday, when we experience the celebration of Maundy Thursday. Then there will be not one, but two community Good Friday services. Then we will have the Saturday night prayer vigil. Then we will have not one, but two Easter Sunday services.

It’s going to be cool. And you won’t see anything else unless you come to them!

Thursday: 7:00 PM FBCWarren 3217 Surrey Rd. SE, Warren, OH 44484
Friday: 12:00 PM 2nd Baptist Church
Friday: 7:00 PM First Assembly of God, Parkman Rd. NW
Saturday 6:00 PM – Sunday 6:00 AM Prayer Vigil, FBCWarren
Sunday 8:30 AM – “Sunrise” Service, FBCWarren
Sunday 10:45 AM – Regular Worship Service

Come experience the depth of Christ’s passion and the glory of his Resurrection!

Sermon 9 April 2006
Palm Sunday & Passion, Year B
Mark 11:1 – 11 and Mark 15:1 – 39

“Hosanna? Crucify!”

Palm Sunday. Most of us have heard the story since we were kids. Jesus sends his disciples to get a young donkey that no one has ridden on. They throw their cloaks over it, and he sits down on it. His disciples begin cutting branches out of the fields and waving them as he passes down the road. A crowd gathers. They put their cloaks on the road and wave the branches at him as he and his donkey make their way into Jerusalem. They shout, “Hosanna!� Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!� The crowd goes wild as Jesus makes his way to the Temple.

We’ve all heard that story often. Perhaps we’ve heard this story often enough that we don’t really think about how odd some of this behavior really is. I mean, can you imagine this happening today? What are these people up to?

These people are proclaiming that this miracle-worker and teacher from Galilee (think “Arkansas� or “West Virginia�) is God’s promised King and Messiah – the one who would free them from all who oppress them, and who would establish David’s throne forever. This King would restore the Kingdom to Israel, and establish justice there. You see, this crowd knew their Bible well. When they saw what Jesus and his disciples were doing, they, like all Biblically knowledgeable people, immediately thought, “Aha! This is a fulfillment of Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9!�
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This evening, I read a biography of Hildegard of Bingen.

Fascinating stuff. She’s someone who combined…

• visions
• prophecy
• music
• communal living
• leadership

This sounds like someone I should read… that’s all stuff I’m in to. She may have something good for ministry here in Warren, too.

For her biography, check here or at Wikipedia.

This is really funny.

Dr. Seuss Bible

“Oh, the places you’ll go!”

via bro. maynard.

The smartypants over at GM are running a contest to “make your own” commercial for the gas-guzzling Tahoe SUV. People are giving them just what they deserve. These are likely to be yanked sooooooon, so get ‘em while they’re hot!

Here’s the one that I got to work…

via BloggedyBlog

this is really funny because they just left themselves WIIIDE open for this kind of stuff…

Peter Drucker, the leadership guru once said leaders of non-profit organizations should ask two questions:

1. What is our business?
2. How’s business?

Percentage of McDonald’s franchises that did not sell a hamburger last year: 0%
Percentage of Ace Hardware Stores that did not sell a hammer last year: 0%
Percentage of Kaybee Toy Stores that did not sell a toy last year: 0%
Percentage of Salvation Army Outlets that did not help a needy person last year: 0%
Percentage of State Universities that did not educate a student last year: 0%
Percentage of airlines that did not fly a plane last year: 0%
Percentage of Wal Mart’s that did not sell merchandise last year: 0%

Percentage of Methodist Churches that did not receive a member by profession of faith last year: 43%

from RevitalizeYourChurch via CMS.

Is this why 7000 churches per year close their doors in the US these days?

So, as of 2 April, 2006, I am an ordained pastor. Pictures are coming. So are more of the sermons and messages that were delivered. Peace in Christ.

From the message given by Paul Thomas during the Ordination Service on 2 April 2006:

A purging is coming on the earth. A purging is coming on this denomination. It is already underway. God is confronting, challenging and removing everything that is in the way of freedom. It is a time when He removes all that would destroy you, leaving neither root nor branch. Part of this will be the removal of things in you that would hinder Him. He will challenge areas of doctrine and practice, but most of all He has come to test the heart. Beloved, watch over your heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life. So as the trials come, do not wonder if you have been abandoned. Do not wonder if it is the end for you, and do not allow hopelessness to remain in your heart, but know that the trial is for your redemption and not for your destruction. Now is a time when freedom will come. Now is a time when new life will spring up. The Lord will make known to you the path of life. (He is doing this especially through dreams and visions. They are being released to you in an unprecedented way.) Hold fast to the path that He has revealed to you by His spirit, for this is the path of life. Many have been sent to divert you from this path. Your enemy, the devil, has come as a roaring lion. He has gained entry in the lives of those who live in a place of despair, a place of hopelessness, a place of unbelief, and of frustration, and he has given them a message of compromise, of self pity, rooted in selfishness. Do not listen to or entertain such messages. It is time to stand form and be confident in what you have seen, for the father testifies to those who do His will, but the deeds of darkness will be exposed. Remove the tares. Remove the tares from the field, for the time of the harvest has come. He is awakening His people.

Sermon 2 April 2006
5 Lent, Year B
Jeremiah 31:31 – 34

“The days are surely coming…�

[Reference one year’s anniversary at the First Baptist Church of Warren.]

[Explain Jeremiah’s reputation.]

These were dark days for the Kingdom of Judah. Babylon was outside the gates of the city of Jerusalem. They already had captured the city once, and taken the Judean king, Jehoiakim, into exile. Three months later, they took his eighteen-year-old son into exile as well. They took all of Judah’s “best and brightest� away to Babylon with them. The Babylonians took many other things that they wanted – namely, the gold and silver dishes, cups, and tools used in the daily sacrifices at the Temple. The city was in poor shape. Now Jehoiakim’s second son, Zedekiah, whom the Babylonians had placed on the throne, has decided to rebel against his Babylonian overlords.

The prophet Jeremiah repeatedly urged Zedekiah and his predecessors not to fight against the King of Babylon, since Babylon was God’s judgment against his people for rejecting God. He urged them not to resist the Babylonians, and they would live. If they rebelled against the people that God had placed over them as kings, they would die.
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Tomorrow I will be ordained Pastor at First Baptist Church of Warren, Ohio, at 3:00 PM.

This has taken nearly a year of sustained effort to get here – and that after 7 years of undergraduate and post-graduate education. That after a lifetime of experiencing God’s call in numerous ways.

Yet this is still but a tool for the work of Ministry to which God has called me. It is, in some senses, a summation and certification of what God is doing. But it is hardly the end goal to which I am working. Following Jesus Christ has brought me here, and being here will open up new things that God is already doing and will do. Therefore, I do this out of faithfulness to him.

I’m looking forward to it.