“Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, who pleases me. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle….
Category: Hope
Hope When You Come to the End of Your Life
One of the first disciplines I developed in pastoral ministry was record keeping. I use a special book to record every wedding and funeral that I officiate. It has blanks that ask for specific items of information as well as extra lines for me to write any additional thoughts. For some reason I have recorded…
Hope When You Come to the End of Yourself:: 3
Jesus’ audience did not anticipate the twist in the plot. They had no way of predicting the kind of reception the prodigal would receive from his father. Jesus’ portrayal of the prodigal’s father was significantly different than their understanding of Jewish fatherhood. The prodigal’s father had been looking for him, and when he saw him…
Hope When You Come to the End of Yourself:: 2
The story of the prodigal son is familiar (Luke 15:11-32). There was a man with two sons. They lived with their father, working on the family farm. One day the younger son approached the father and asked for his portion of the inheritance. We know an inheritance as something that is transferred upon the death…
Hope When You Come to the End of Yourself:: 1
The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialed the employee’s home telephone number and was greeted with a child’s voice, “Hello?” It was a quiet little voice. Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to…
Hope When You’re at the End of Your Strength:: 1
“Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble…
Hope for When You’re at the End of Your Rope:: 2
What do we learn from Mark 5 that will help us when we’re at the end of our rope? 1. The end of your rope is where God begins. Like the woman in this week’s lesson, we will try to do everything we can to solve our problems and resolve our issues. We use our…
Hope for When You’re at the End of Your Rope:: 1
Have you ever felt as though you were at the end of your rope? Maybe that’s how you feel today about your life. If you’ve never felt that sense of desperation, hold on, because the likelihood of you living your entire life not having experienced it is really, really small. On Sunday I shared a…
hope: a new series coming to FBCDSM!
This weekend I’m beginning a new, four week series on hope, based on four familiar narratives from the gospels. Here are the titles and texts I’ll cover: HOPE: At the End of My Rope (Mark 5:25-34) HOPE: At the End of My Strength (Matthew 14:22-32) HOPE: At the End of Myself (Luke 15:11-32) HOPE: At…
Hope That Sings 2
Yesterday I posted some thoughts on how I handled 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and how I viewed this concluding section as Paul’s song of hope which was the result of the implications of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In short, Paul didn’t just want his readers to know something…he wanted them to feel somthing as well!…