Langdon Palmer

Some of us really struggle with conflict and our anger. Others of us think we don't have an anger problem but anger has many faces including Grumbling, Sarcasm, Cynicism, Moodiness, Withdrawing, Playing the Victim, Depression, and Contempt. Jesus teaches us how to live in a world full of anger.

In this crazy world filled with so many opinions and choices, where is the path to the good life found? What's more important - what we believe or what we do ? Could it be that most of us get this question wrong? When Jesus said "Don't think I have come to get rid of the Old Testament law but to fullfill it" what did he mean? Are Christians supposed to obey the Old Testament laws today ? Is Christianity about doing the right things or about God's love, mercy and grace ? How do those two things go together ? Jesus shows us in the Sermon on the Mount.

One bible scholar has called the Beatitudes the best known and the least understood of all of Jesus' teachings. What are they really about ? What does Jesus mean when he says Blessed are the Poor, or Blessed are those who mourn? Today we look in depth at the Beatitudes and find they are giving us a summary of both the Christian life and the promises of God.

Sometimes when we hear too many details, our minds go numb, and we miss the big picture of the forrest because of the clutter of the trees. In our scripture for this morning, Paul sweeps away all the clutter, all the secondary concerns and lays out the gospel and the Christian life in a clear and challenging way. It turns out there is one word we need to get deep down in our bones if we are to live the Christian life - there is one word we need to understand - and it is the word RECONCILE.

There are ideas that empower us and draw us closer to God, and there are ideas that undermine us and paralyze us, leaving us defeated. We look at an episode in The Hobbit, where a small, uncertain, very ordinary person who felt trapped and lost, learned how to act when faced with powers that seemed overwhelming. We discover in 2 Corinthians four smooth stones that can help us when destructive ideas come knocking.

Why do Christians act so weird ? It has to do with seeing the world differently. But is this view accurate? What does it mean to walk by faith and not by sight? Is Christianity 'blind faith' ? Do you have to turn off your brain to be faithful ? We get a beautiful image of what the Christian life actually is from one of the most beautiful places on earth - the Grand Canyon. To see the image that this sermon is built around, go to http://www.southridgeworship.com/2_corinthians.htm

What is the key to a life well led ? Is the good life based on what we do or fail to do? What is the relationship between the Old Testament law and the Grace and Freedom found in Jesus ? How can we experience for ourselves the presense of God? All these important questions are tied up with the section of scripture we study today. And it turns out that the Old Testament law is alot like the nail gun being you will hear being used during this sermon !

Is holding on to dogma as bad as people in our culture think it is? How about the dogma that declares that God loves us so much that he wants to give us eternal life? What does the wilderness portage of a canoe from one lake to another have to do with eternal life? In this last sermon on the Nicene Creed, we look both at a summary of the creed as a whole, and the particular meaning of it's last phrase: "We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting" In our modern scientific age is it really reasonable to believe in a literal resurrection of the body - a real new physical body at the end of days? It turns out that it is! For images and other resources on the creed go to http://www.southridgeworship.com/nicene_creed.htm

Ever try some new experience and look at everyone else and wonder - am I doing this right ? Is what I am feeling what I am supposed to be feeling when I do this? How do you know that you are really a Christian? How do you know that what you are experiencing is what other people experience as the life of faith? How do you know if you are doing it right or if you are missing something? It turns out that baptisim gives us a window into the entire Christian thing. But what is baptisim ? What does it do? We look at the whole sweep of scripture through three verses and three movements: The Promise, The Preparation, and The Power - to discover the meaning of baptisim and how to know if you are experiencing what people mean when they talk of being born again.

If the kingdom of the Son of God is real and shall have no end, why does it seem like our culture is falling apart ? Why are we falling apart ? In the year 410 the Christian thinker Augustine was struggling with the same questions - he came up with profound answers and he began by asking one of the most basic questions - 'How can I be happy?'