God clothes us in a robe of being valued for ourselves.

Sermon:           “Putting On an Identity of Love”

Theme:            We are constantly pushed to show importance, power, influence, and success but real happiness and security is found in clothing ourselves with compassion, humility, and above all, love.

Purpose:          The congregation will become sensitive to their need to be noticed and important so that they may seek instead to find love and peace.

Scriptures:                    Matthew 6:28-30        Consider the lilies of the filed.

Colossians 3:12-17      Above all clothe yourselves with love.

Questions:

What shapes the way we think of ourselves? In what ways do we allow our “self” or identity to be given to us by others? In what ways do we have a solid self that holds onto our value and purpose? What role does love play in our values? In what ways do we allow superficial things to determine how we feel about ourselves and the attitudes we hold towards others? What impact does the tendency to make judgements about other people’s appearance make on ourselves and our own relationships?

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Sermon:           “Working and Living”

Theme:            We become slaves to our work and anxieties about proving ourselves worthy, and as a result lose the precious gift of being God’s capable people.

Purpose:          The congregation members will consider what they do that is important to relationships and focus on those things.

Scriptures:       Exodus 20:8-11           God commanded to rest on the Sabbath.

Luke 13:10-17 Jesus heals on the Sabbath.

Questions:

Why is it so many of us do not have a healthy balance between work and rest? What causes us to think that somehow neglecting our health and our family is pleasing to God? What lack of inner strength leads us to obsessively worry about work and money? How do we learn to honor sabbath without becoming legalistic about it? What can we change in our lives to be healthier in our relationships with our family and with God?

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The way in which money decides what we think about ourselves.   “moolah”

Sermon:           “Cash Cows”

Theme:            Money becomes an idol which can dominate our hearts, lives, and thinking.

Purpose           To create an altitude of freedom from money.

Scriptures:       Ecclesiastes 5:10-20    God has given wisdom in taking pleasure in what we do for labor and be in relationships which are healthy.

Matthew 6:19-24        You cannot serve two masters, where your money is, there your heart will be also.

Questions:

What does it mean to be a “lover of money?”  How does our relationship with money affect our way of seeing ourselves? How does our feelings about money affect our spiritual life? In what ways do we seek to serve money and to serve God?  How do we go about the process of putting our money in service of God? What role does sacrificing our feelings about money have in developing our healthy relationships with God and the people we love?

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“Cow-nt Your Blessings”

Sermon:           Slaves to Golden Calves

Theme:            We become slaves to those things that become more precious than our relationship with God.

Purpose:          To make the congregation aware of the condition of being slaves to possessions.

Scriptures:       Exodus 20:1-6 You will have no other gods or idols.

Luke 18:18-30  The story of the wealthy young man.

Questions:

What does it mean to put God first in our lives? In what ways are we prone to make idols to replace God?  When Jesus asked the rich young ruler to sell everything, was this a command to us all or an invitation specifically for this particular individual?  What would have happened if this young man had embraced Jesus’ invitation? What is meant by the “iniquity of parents” carrying out to three or four generations but blessings going to the thousandth generation?  How do we embrace the gift of living free of slavery to our possessions and enjoy our possessions in a healthy way?

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Sermon:           “Chewing the Cud”

Theme:            We create idols that enslave us and separate us from God out of our loss of direction and need for control.

Purpose:          The congregation will begin to be sensitive to the idols we have created.

Scriptures:       1 Corinthians 10:14, 23-24, 31-33      All may be lawful but not all is right.

Exodus 32:1-6,            Moses is with God, and the people form a Golden Calf.

Questions:

What is an idol?  How is it that we make things so important that they get in the way of our relationships?  Why is it we never have time to pray, to worship, or to reach out in love? What has happened so that our priorities have lost the focus on knowing God? How would our lives be different if we focused our time and energy in ways that supported our health and knowledge of God?  In what ways are the sacred cows running our lives?

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Sermon:           “Sent With God’s Spirit”

Theme:            We are given the power of God’s own Holy Spirit so that we may have the power to accomplish what we are created to fulfill.

Purpose:          The congregation will seek to see themselves as empowered by God and to use that power.

Scriptures:       John 20:19-23 The Resurrected Jesus shows himself to the disciples and sends them with peace.

Acts 2:1-21      The winds of Pentecost turn fearful disciples into bold people to share the work of God to all of the world.

Questions:

What difference does the Holy Spirit make in our lives today? What difference does having power from God make for those who are moving or going through major changes in their lives?  What difference does it make to us that we are empowered and commissioned by God?  How do we tap into that power from the Holy Spirit?  As our young people graduate, how are they like the disciples, being empowered to go new places and speak new languages?

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