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Recent sermons: Rev. Timothy Ensworth
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A great generation -- Colossians 1:1-14 (7/11/2010)
I learned from them a style of faith that is a life calling, not merely a Sunday morning duty. There is no way you could separate their faith in Jesus from the rest of their lives because it was so closely and intimately intertwined in everything they thought and said and did.
Gently, gently -- Galatians 6:1-5 (7/4/2010)
We cut them off or excuse them or hope they get what’s coming to them or think how glad we are we are not like them, but we don’t try, or rarely try, to set them right. We keep our distance. We watch them rise and fall -- maybe with pity, maybe with sympathy, maybe with anger, maybe with resentment -- but always from a distance. They will rise or fall, on their own, with no help from me.
Getting what you want -- Galatians 5:1-26 (6/27/2010)
All of us routinely substitute politeness for kindness, modesty for humility, pleasantry for love. We really want love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and humility and self-control, but we settle for poor substitutes, mere shadows or even opposites of the real thing.
This changes everything -- Galatians 3:23-29 (6/20/2010)
You are all one in union with Christ Jesus, and if you do see a difference, if you do believe there is a difference, if you do act as if there is a difference, you are wrong, terribly wrong.
WDJD -- Galatians 2:15-21 (6/13/2010)
“Margaret, daughter of Eve, frail and beautiful, full of compassion and overcome by grief, bearing the burdens of others’ sins as well as your own, come and eat. Come and eat at my table!”
What does this mean? -- Acts 2:1-12 (5/30/2010)
The true church is a global, multicultural church. If our worship creates the impression that all Christians speak and sing and pray the same way, or that being American or being Iowan or being congregational or being wealthy and white is as important a feature in us as belonging to Christ, then we are witnessing to a false gospel and hurting the cause of God’s kingdom in this world.
Exploitation, intimidation, transformation -- Acts 16:16-40 (5/16/2010)
Exploitation is all around us! Without a sense of higher duty, without allegiance to a higher authority, an economic system predicated on the aim of maximizing profit is readily susceptible to that evil. Paul himself said it: “The love of money is a source of all kinds of evil.”
Things are not always as they seem -- Acts 16:9-15 (5/9/2010)
It is ironic that a church that claims “there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women,” rather that “we are all one in union with Christ Jesus” -- it is ironic that such a church should have for so much of its history kept women “in their place” and outside the circles of power, consigning them instead to the margins of community life. Actually it is a double irony! It has taken so long and women have had to fight so hard to attain the kind of recognition and respect and status in the church ... that they had at the beginning!
You can't put bridle on the Spirit of God! -- Acts 11:1-18 (5/2/2010)
What we have received is not a tradition, but a relationship. We are stewards of what God has given us, but the best of what God has given is himself, and what God is and does is not subject to our control. The wind of God’s Spirit blows where it will, where God wills. We can’t keep God or our faith in a box. You can’t put a bridle on the Spirit of God!
Great expectations -- Acts 9:32-43 (4/25/2010)
What bothers me, as I think about this text, is that sometimes we, the church, you and me, expect God to do ... nothing.
Damascus Road -- Acts 9:1-6 (4/18/2010)
That’s the key. That is what makes the difference. That is what makes us different -- when we do not charge into the world with the strength of Jesus behind us, but when we charge into the world with the face of Jesus ahead of us!
Acedia -- Acts 5:27-32 (4/11/2010)
When did the church become harmless? When did nice replace good? When did it become the highest of Christian virtues to not make waves? When did it become the worst of all sins to cause offense? When did we decide to talk about Jesus only among ourselves?
Nonsense -- Luke 24:1-11 (4/4/2010)
Nonsense! That’s what the apostles thought of the report Mary and Joanna and the other women brought them. Nonsense!
The end of the road ... for death! -- 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 (4/4/2010)
But Jesus faith, resurrection faith, does not offer a way out, but a way forward. It does not promise escaping the body, but redeeming it. It does not promise escaping this world, but redeeming it. It is a faith in love with what God has made, and it makes a far more radical, if less palatable, claim.
>Unreasonable love -- John 12:1-8 (3/21/2010)
She gave -- not just an extravagant gift -- but herself, holding nothing back, pouring it all out, pouring herself all out, in whole-hearted, fully-surrendered, beyond the boundaries, impractical, unreasonable, holy love!
Join the party! -- Luke 15:1-32 (3/14/2010)
And when the gospel works, when that good news touches a broken heart, turns around a wandering soul, puts a stumbling man back on his feet, gives new hope to a despairing woman, why, that’s cause for celebration! That’s good reason to throw a party, don’t you think?
Never give up -- Luke 13:1-9 (2/28/2010)
Do you believe everything happens for a reason?
Staring down the fox -- Luke 13:31-35 (2/21/2010)
Fear’s power is the power of imagination. Fear does not directly do you harm, but fear hurts you by changing your behavior.
They saw his glory -- Luke 9:28-36 (2/14/2010)
Do you see? Do you understand? The source of light was not the sun!
They left -- Luke 5:1-11 (2/7/2010)
Regardless of the ramifications and the risks and the costs, it makes me sad to think there is no love above all other loves, no adventure beyond all other adventures, no calling above all other callings, no holy passion, for which we would be ready to leave ... everything.
"They left" (audio recording of sermon)
When the truth hurts -- Luke 4:21-30 (1/31/2010)
Why are we afraid of the truth?
Because we’re human ...
Because the truth hurts ...
Because it shatters our view of reality ...
Because it changes us ...
Because it makes us uncomfortable ...
Because we think we know everything already ...
Today -- Luke 4:14-21 (1/24/2010)
The poor will hear good news, not someday, but today! The sick will be healed, not someday, but today! The oppressed will be set free, not someday, but today! You will be saved, not someday, but today!
Le chaim -- John 2:1-11 (1/17/2010)
It’s all about life! Abundant and full and overflowing life! Le chaim! To life!
Also -- Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 (1/10/2010)
“Also” means you matter. You matter to Jesus, and since you matter to Jesus, you matter to God. You are not alone. You are not left on your own. You are understood. You are appreciated. You are wanted. You are loved.
Word and picture -- John 1:14 (1/3/2010)
We saw his glory! We weren’t just told about it. We were not merely given a message, a secret, a new law. We were not merely pointed in the right direction, shown a new way.
We saw it!
God is still speaking,
Never place a period where God has placed a comma. - Gracie Allen
Updated: July 10, 2010
