United Methodist Church of Kent Sermon Podcast

What are you seeking in life? What will satisfy your soul? We are invited to find our real fulfillment in Christ.

Jesus turns our typical notions about who is “blessed” on their head. We idolize the rich and famous, but Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor (in spirit),” and “Blessed are the meek and those who mourn.” How can people who feel a deep sense of lack and loss be blessed? Perhaps it has something to do with how those people become receptive to God.

What does it mean to be blessed by God? How do we enter into God’s blessing? The story of Abraham helps us to understand how God’s blessing works.

Paul writes that we are like fragile earthen vessels or tents, and yet we are entrusted with the living and sharing of God’s Word. It is only by God’s grace that we can take on this mission.

During our United Methodist Women celebration, Judith Nedel of the Rebecca Circle delivered this message about finding true happiness and the scriptural basis for living a life filled with blessings.

What is God’s calling for your life? How do you discern, and follow, that call?

How do we come to faith—a personal faith that is real and that is our own? The parable of the bridesmaids gives us an example from which to draw inspiration.

What is the nature of evil? Why does it exist? What do we do about it? Like the first disciples, we are called to “cast out demons” today.

Christ brings triumph over the power of evil. The battle comes to focus on the cross and culminates in the resurrection. Evil may yet rage in the world, but its power over us is broken, when we put our faith in Christ.

People do not generally decide to be evil. They are drawn into it, they deceive themselves, and imagine they are OK when they are doing great wrong. We see the pattern again and again—in social movements from the Nazis to present-day Islamist terrorists, and in the behavior of individuals. The Scriptures guide us to recognize such deception, and guard against it!