Our Advent 2015 sermon series: Date Sermon Title Texts November 29 True Food and True Drink from Heaven Numbers 11:4-13; John 1:14; 6:51-59 December 6 “I AM the Light of the World” Isaiah 9:1-7; John 1:1-9; 8:12 December 13 “That Where I am You May be Also” Isaiah 33:13-16; John 14:1-7, 15-18 December 20 The King-Priest is Worshiped at His Birth Psalm 45:6-9; Matthew 2:7-12; John 19:38-42; Text: John 19:39-40
Read MoreIsaiah 9:1-7; John 1:1-9; 8:12 (text) December 6, 2015 • Download this sermon (PDF) Congregation of Christ: Why is Christmas traditionally a season of lights? Many want to outdo one another in lighting up their homes, malls and other buildings with multi-colored lights and decorations. We’re all amazed at the creativity of those who surround their homes with all kinds of lighted decorations. Most people in the northern hemisphere say that it’s because they want to brighten long, dark winter nights. But even in tropical countries where it is not…
Read MoreDownload and print this timeline (PDF) A summary of our Sunday school lesson on November 29, 2015. Download this study (PDF). Definitions 1. “canon”: from Gr. kanon, ruler, standard for measurement 2. canon of Scripture: “the list of the writings acknowledged by the Church as documents of the divine revelation” (F. F. Bruce) 3. In Roman Catholicism, the church establishes the canon; the church gave birth to the canon. For Protestants, the process of canonization is the process by which the church recognizes which books are canonical and which are not.…
Read MoreNumbers 11:4-13; John 1:14; 6:51-59 (text) November 29, 2015 • Download this sermon (PDF) Congregation of Christ: Today, we start the season of Advent this year 2015. Advent is a time of remembering and giving thanks to God for his most precious gift: Jesus his only-begotten who was born a true human baby to save his people from their sin. Advent and Christmas are two of the most cherised and beautiful Christian traditions. However, every Advent season, there are naysayers, many coming from Reformed circles, that Christmas, or any…
Read MoreToday, hordes of turkey-stuffed shoppers in America will flood the stores in the early morning hours of what’s commonly called “Black Friday.” How did this day come to be known as “Black Friday?” History Channel’s story about its origin makes the most sense. Back in the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, when hordes of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city in advance of the big Army-Navy football game held on that…
Read MoreThankful for oldlife.org for pointing to this article by Robert Tracy McKenzie, professor and chair of the Department of History at Wheaton College. This article was posted on November 25, 2015, and I’m re-posting it in its entirety because, as so happens so frequently, the link changes or even disappears in time. Tomorrow families all across America will celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, and some, at least, will link what they are doing to the Pilgrims’ celebration on the coast of Massachusetts in 1621. Although frequently embellished and sometimes caricatured, the…
Read MoreBroadcast on November 22, 2015 at KSYC 103.9FM in Yreka, CA Download this article (PDF) Thanksgiving Day in American History Most Americans are familiar with the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving Feast of October 1621 in Plimouth Colony, Massachusetts. Fifty surviving Pilgrims, together with 90 Wampanoag Indians, had a three-day harvest festival of wild turkey, duck, geese, venison, lobsters, clams, bass, corn, vegetables, and dried fruits. This was not a religious event, except for giving thanks for the food. But few know that it was not the first thanksgiving feast in the…
Read MorePsalm 65 (text); 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 November 22, 2015 • Download this sermon (PDF) Congregation of Christ: Today, we take a break from our study of the Gospel of John, as we look forward to a great Christian tradition in America, Thanksgiving Day. Many people think of Thanksgiving Day only in terms of family get-together, or turkey, or football, or just an opportunity for relaxing on a four-day weekend. But as Christians, how should we celebrate Thanksgiving Day? Its origins date back to the first settlers in the New…
Read MoreMalachi 1:11; John 4:7-30; 39-42 (text) November 15, 2015 • Download this sermon (PDF) Congregation of Christ: Nothing has changed in 2,000 years since our Lord Jesus Christ first appeared preaching and teaching in Palestine. In the Gospel of John, Jesus performed so many signs, or miracles as we call them today, that John says, “Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). Today, many people still look for all sorts of signs…
Read MoreEzekiel 36:24-29a; John 3:1-8 (text) November 8, 2015 (BSCC) • Download this sermon (PDF) R. C. Sproul tells of an incident in his life when he was walking on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia. He was alone on the way to the School of Theology, when suddenly a man stood in front of him blocking his way. Then, the man asked him, “Brother, are you saved?” Sproul, probably annoyed and offended, snapped back, “Saved from what?” The man, not knowing how to answer, hurriedly left him, probably thinking…
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