October 28                 (Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost)    

Text:                Mark 10:46-52

Title:                “IMPORTANCE: OF MIRACLES”

Theme:           In this text Jesus heals a man who had been blind from birth.  We can accept Bible stories about miracles but we raise an eyebrow when someone tells us they have experienced a miracle. This sermon will discuss miracles, and may suggest that they are more common than many of us realize.

 

October 21                 (Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost)    

Text:                Mark 10:35-45

Title:                “IMPORTANCE: OF PERSPECTIVE”

Theme:           Following Jesus can be difficult and demanding, for his ways are counter to the world's way. We often fail to see his peculiar way of salvation, and instead try to see Jesus the way we think he should be. Likewise, we often look at life from the perspective of an inward circle, but Jesus emphasizes a new perspective, the outward circle.

October 7                   (Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost)     

Text:                John 6:56-69

Title:                “IMPORTANCE: OF TRUSTING WITH YOUR MOUTH OPEN”

Theme:           Jesus tells the Disciples that if they are to have life they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. Understandably they don’t understand this unusual command and call it a “hard teaching”. But their problem is not as much about misunderstanding as it is a lack of trust, a problem we contemporary Christians wrestle with as well.

September 30 (Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Text: Mark 9:38-50

Title: “IMPORTANCE: OF KNOWING WHEN TO GO TO HELL”

Theme: In this text Jesus cautions about sin and its consequences (namely hell). We often hear warnings like this as instructions as to what we are to “stay away from” or “avoid”, but on some level what Jesus may be saying is that sometimes we need to enter into the hell of people’s lives if we are to truly follow the Christ.

September 23 (Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Text: Mark 9:33-37

Title: “IMPORTANCE: OF FOOLS”

Theme: In this text the disciples question Jesus on which of them is most important. Jesus then uses a child as an object lesson for humility. We see a child as an innocent, and we hold our children to be very important, but in the culture of the time, children were “non-persons”. This sermon will talk about the “non-persons” who exist in this world and how Jesus often uses them to build his kingdom.

September 16 (Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Text: Mark 8:27-38

Title: “IMPORTANCE: OF A NAME”

Theme: This sermon begins an 11 week series on aspects of life and the faith that are of eternal importance, both to us and to God. In this text Jesus asks the disciples who the people are saying that Jesus is. This sermon will focus on identity; the identity of Jesus and our identity as we take the name, “Christian”.

September 9 (Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Text: Job 1:1, 2:2-10)

Title: “LESSONS FROM THE UNKNOWNS: JOB”

Theme: This sermon will tell the story of Job and wrestle with the question of “Why bad things happen to good people.”

September 2  (Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Text: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14)

Title: “LESSONS FROM THE UNKNOWNS: SOLOMON”

Theme: This sermon will start a very short (3 week) sermon series about some of the lesser known (or sometimes unknown) Bible characters. This sermon will focus on Solomon and how God granted him a “wish”. It will attempt to counter and compare “wishing” to “praying”.

August 26 (Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Text: Esther 7:1-10)

Title: “LESSONS FROM THE UNKNOWNS: ESTHER”

Theme: This sermon will focus on Esther, telling Esther’s story and emphasizing an important truth about the story of Esther, “No matter what, God is still in control”.

August 19  (Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost)

Rev. Chuck Huffman, East District Superintendent

Text:  Philippiane 4:4-8