Sermons by Bob Rhodes (Page 12)
Wisdom & Revelation
This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday and our third week of our Extended Advent series. It may seem as though all of our scriptures so far have been focused on eschatology (the theology of the last days). This is a fair assessment. Even when we follow the shorter four-week Advent schedule, the first of these is always an eschatological selection. This is because our preparations for the arrival of the Christ child parallel our preparations for the second coming…
Starting with Why
Pastor Bob begins our Extended Advent series this Sunday beginning with a scripture text that doesn’t necessarily seem as though it’s a the right choice for beginning the Advent season. But as we’ll hear, Paul uses a Greek word that specifically speaks to us in this time and helps us to prepare ourselves for the coming Christ. Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Don’t miss our Sermon Note for this week’s message available here.
Rejoice
Pastor Bob concludes this year’s Stewardship series on this All Saints Sunday with an invitation to rejoice! Perhaps the idea of rejoicing seems strange in this time on a day when we name those of our loved ones who have been lost in the last year. Our scripture remind us that there is nothing that God cannot make new! Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25
Renew
There is so much bringing us stress and anxiety in this time. We may be worried about wildfires and storms, illness, the political climate, and so much more. This third Sunday in our Stewardship series focuses on our need for renewal and where we might go for the source of that renewal. Scripture: Isaiah 40:21-31
Reveal
This week begins our Stewardship sermon series, where we will RE:IMAGINE ministry looking forward to 2021. The world has changed in so many ways, especially this year! We find ourselves struggling to learn how to do ministry in this time, and just as difficult is the likelihood that doing ministry in the future will be forever changed too! The “new normal” by not be a “normal” we’ve ever seen before. Even so, we are invited to live into the idea…
God’s Accomplishment
This is the second in our series on Foundations, and this week’s message focuses on the Protestant Reformation. The reformers were particularly informed by Paul’s writing on grace and salvation by faith. In this focus, we humble ourselves and acknowledge that salvation is not our accomplishment but God’s. Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10
Joined on the Journey
Pastor Bob begins our September series on Foundations with an exploration of Christian history before the Reformation. Beginning with Jesus walking along the road to Emmaus with the Disciples, we explore: early Christianity to Constantine and the adoption of Christianity as the official Roman faith; the early middle ages, including Byzantine Iconoclasm, the controversy of the filioque clause, Anselm and Abelard’s disagreement over atonement; and the Great Schism. Scripture: Luke 24:13-35
Hold On!
This Sunday’s sermon concludes our series on starting with why. Following last week’s message encouraging us to live as though Jesus makes a difference in our lives, Pastor Bob encourages us to hold on, because a spiritual life can bring radical change to our lives and to the world!
Who Do You Say
LJUMC online worship for the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. We continue to explore our “Why” based on our understanding of, relationship to, and calling by Jesus.
To the Lost Sheep
Continuing the series on starting with “why,” Pastor Bob wrestles with a difficult scripture about a Canaanite woman who seeks healing for a loved one.
You Give Them Something
We begin a new Sermon Series called Starting with Why during this month August. In this first message of the series, Pastor Bob explores the familiar story of a large crowd receiving a needed meal. Rather than focusing on how the bread and fish were multiplied to sustain such a large crowd, but instead on why Jesus responded in the way that he did. Consider the role that compassion holds in our life of faith and how we are called…
Living in Prayer
We conclude this short sermon series with the reminder that prayer isn’t necessarily easy. Even the disciples asked how to pray, and Paul reminds us that we don’t always have to have the right words to do so. But we also must remember that prayer isn’t limited to just words! Scripture: Romans 8:26-39