Joel Gilbert

Jesus is in the midst of his farewell discourse - or his last will and testament. Last week, we saw that Jesus is preparing his disciples for what to expect in the near future - that he is leaving, what Jesus expects of them - to believe and to work what Jesus will give them - the Holy Spirit As Jesus…

Do you have a will? I hear that question almost weekly on several of the podcasts and radio programs that I listen to. You’d think the constant reminder would motivate me to get mine updated - but I seem to start the update and then get paused. Nobody really likes to talk about our end or our departure…

(start with a blank slide) Jesus gathered 12 disciples around him. Some of those guys we see a lot. Some we know very little about. It certainly seems like there were sort of concentric rings of followers. There is the outer circle - the guys that are merely mentioned. This might include Thaddeus, Judas…

One is the loneliest number In 1968, Harry Nilsson wrote the lyrics to his song “One” after getting a busy signal. You’ve probably heard the song on various TV shows or animated movies like Shrek. It seems to hint at a response to a breakup. There are times when it’s true, one can be a lonely number.…

Stop inviting your friends to church... Several years ago, I was listening to a leader of a large youth ministry. He made that statement to the Christian kids in his youth group. Of course, the students, and our, natural response is WHAT!?! “I thought that’s what we’ve been told to do for years? Isn’t…

INTRODUCTION: There are many times when the month of September starts a new ministry year. Students have promoted to the next grade. Graduates have moved on to their next phase in life. The “lull” of summer - which sometimes doesn’t feel like there was really a lull - gives way to a new season in the…

Lou Gehrig’s Farewell On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig gave a farewell address to his baseball fans: (quoted from: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/lougehrigfarewelltobaseball.htm) Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest…

Surprised by Underwhelming Expectations I rarely introduce myself as Pastor. It’s not that I don’t want people to know the role I play, but I don’t want my title to become a barrier. Sure, it may open some conversations, but it may also hinder others as people might think I’m some holy man - because…

The quest for glory people do interesting things to get glory or notoriety start YouTube channels tweet or say outlandish things perfect an art or craft document big adventures Er eat Shackleford led an expedition to the South Pole. It is said that he took out an ad which read Men wanted for hazardous…

Priceless In the mid to late 2000s, the Master Card company ran a series of commercials where they would put prices on a variety of items - then the commentator would conclude that the collective sum of those things is “priceless.” Their whole point is that not everything is valued in money, but for…