Posts Tagged ‘Sermon’
My Sermon on the Mount
July 26th, 2010 | 
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On March 20, 2006, I bid goodbye to the sixty ecumenical Christian Internationals I had been traveling throughout the West Bank with to spend two nights on the Mount of Beatitudes in Israel. This awe inspiring site sits above the shimmering Sea of the Galilee where Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount. After the nine day Sabeel Reality Tour in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I needed to be alone and silent. But, I ended up delivering my own Sermon on the Mount.
Four Franciscan Sisters, one each from Syria, Jordan, Malta and Italy care for the shrine and the pilgrim guests at the Hospice Center where I spent two nights and a day of silent reflection of all I had witnessed the previous nine days.
At dinner a Catholic Pentecostal from Scotland introduced himself and asked me why I was there and what church I was from. I responded I have Irish Roman Catholic, Polish Jew, Russian Orthodox and Episcopal roots but that my rock is The Beatitudes.
He looked even more perplexed when I told him I came to the Mount of Beatitudes to decompress and reflect after nine days in Occupied Territory. I asked him if he were aware of the work of Sabeel, a Palestinian founded organization that promotes a theology of liberation based on justice, peace, non-violence and reconciliation for all, regardless of faith path or nationality.
He sternly admonished me, “God gave this land to the Jews! The Bible never mentions Palestine, and that is that! God gave this land to the Jews and that is that!”
I responded just as fervently that the Palestinian Christians are the descendants of those who first followed Christ and they have been denied inalienable human rights by the Israeli government. I told him the Christians in the Holy Land have shrunk from 20% of the total population to less than 1.3% since 1948 and if things don’t change soon, there will be no Christian witness in the land where Christ promised it is the peacemakers who are the children of God.
He sputtered, “But the Jews have suffered! God gave this land to the Jews and that is that!”
I responded, “Yes, the Holocaust happened because good people did nothing for far too long, and now the oppressed have become the oppressors. In the 21st century good people are unaware, ignoring or are in total denial about the injustice in the Holy Land. And what about all the Hebrew prophets, such as Micah who reminded the Hebrews of what God requires: To be just, to be merciful and to walk humbly with your Lord.”
I could NOT shut up although I knew that Scotsman was trying to get away-he also looked a bit terrified! But, I was on a tear and barely took a breath as I tell him that instead of staying in Israel for his entire visit, he should go and witness life in the occupied territories; to go and see the effects of The Wall on his spirit and see what it has done to the Palestinian economy. I tell him he should go and tour some of the 57 year old refugee camps and see the ruins of all the uncompensated home demolitions. I bring it on home by telling him that I also doubt that God was ever in the real estate business!
His eyes had bugged out and his mouth had dropped open while the torrent of words flowed out of me. When I finally finish delivering my sermon, he stammered, “But there is suffering everywhere!”
I responded swiftly, “Yes there is suffering everywhere and Christ always stood up for the poor and the oppressed. And he told us what ever we do or do not do for the least and the outcast; we do it or do not do it unto God.”
He shook his head and turned and quickly walked away and never looked my way again. Nobody else spoke to me the rest of that evening or the next day. All I kept hearing within was Luke 23:34: “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
A new Zogby International poll found that 31% of those surveyed in the national poll strongly believe or somewhat believe in the ideas behind Christian Zionism, defined as “the belief that Jews must have all of the promised land, including all of Jerusalem, to facilitate the second coming of the messiah.”
A CNN/Time poll showed that 59% of the American public believes the prophecies contained in the Book of Revelations will come true.
The fastest growing cult in the USA-and perhaps also in Scotland-is the cult of Christian Zionism.
What is Christian Zionism?
Christian Zionism is an extremist Christian fundamentalist movement which supports the claims of those who believe that the State of Israel should take control of all of the land currently disputed between Palestinians and Israelis. It views the creation and expansion of the modern state of Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy toward the second coming of Jesus.
Christian Zionism is a two hundred year old theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism, thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel. The Christian Zionist program provides a worldview where the Gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism and militarism. In its extreme form, it laces an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ’s love and justice today.
What is the Christian Zionist connection with the Holy Land ?
Believing that God fights on the side of Israel, Christian Zionists call for unqualified support for the most extreme political positions related to the Holy Land. Christian Zionist spokes persons have attributed Hurricane Katrina to God’s wrath over our failure to stop Israel from pulling out of Gaza. They consistently oppose any moves towards a solution to the conflict which would validate the political aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis.
Who Supports Christian Zionism?
Christian Zionism has significant support within American Protestant fundamentalists, who number between 10 and 20 million. Its reach is broad, by virtue of its favorite themes related to the “End Times” and an Israel-fixated Christian media.
Christian Zionism is both a “movement” and a way of interpreting current events. Its focus is on Israel and the Middle East, as much an ideology as a “movement.” Its promoters share many beliefs but are not organized through any one institution.
Throughout history Christians have at times twisted scripture to justify violence: for the Crusades, for Anti-Semitism, and for slavery. Too often the church has been slow to respond to these biblical distortions with disastrous results.
Although the Christian Zionists motives are couched in terms of compassion toward the Jewish people based on a literal reading of scripture the political agenda of territorial expansion advocated by Christian Zionists has given rise to injustice against Palestinians and added fuel to the fire of conflict in the Middle East.
The GOOD NEWS is that some mainstream churches have spoken out against this inherently anti-Semitic theology. What follows are but a few words from some of those who have.
Presbyterian Church USA, in July 2004 during the National General Assembly meeting stated: “Christian Zionism promotes a theology that justifies grievous violations of basic rights of people who are also made in the image of God, and is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
In June 2004, the Reformed Church in America at their Annual National Synod issued an Historical Analysis and Critique which stated, “Jesus, picking up seminal themes from the Hebrew scriptures, preached and lived a message of reconciliation.”
In July 2003, the United Church of Christ’s General Synod offered an Alternative Voice to Christian Zionism and affirmed, “We believe that the tenets of Christian Zionism neither reflect the intention of the teachings of Jesus and the prophets, nor promote peace in the Middle East, and respectfully recommend…an alternative voice to this theology.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America during its June 2005 Chicago Metropolitan Synod issued a Resolution to Encourage the Study of Christian Zionism
which states that “the movement of Christian Zionism based on these biblical interpretations seeks to influence U.S. policy toward Israel in a manner that would arguably facilitate mistreatment of Palestinians, continued occupation of the land, opposition to a two-state solution, and exclusive Israeli control of Jerusalem.”
The United Methodist Church in June 2005 held a Conference On Unwrapping the Rapture warned that
“every household should give prayerful consideration as to how God will actually judge us for our silence about and complicity in the crushing of the Palestinian people.”
In 2004, the Diocese of Chicago’s Episcopal Church confronted Christian Zionism and reminded the flock that, “A partial response to Christian Zionism would be to say that we read Scripture in light of [Jesus'] two great commandments – to love God and our neighbor.”
All Christians would do well to remember, that in that war ravaged land we call Holy, Christ delivered his Sermon on The Mount which promised, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9
http://www.wearewideawake.org
She returns to the West Bank in November 2006 and will be reporting on WAWA.
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So You Want To Give A Sermon Read This
First of all, it’s important to know that your congregation wants to like your sermon. Nothing makes them feel more miserable than thinking that they’re going to be listening to some bore of a lecture. It’s bad enough that most of them are at church because they feel that they have to be there. Don’t make them suffer through the process. Point is, they want to be on your side. They want to like what’s coming. So you’ve already got a head start on pleasing them, kind of like a comic at a comedy club.
Secondly, you need to be prepared. You CANNOT wing this. So many people have tried to go up to that pulpit and just speak off the cuff. It’s very hard to do. What usually ends up happening is that you end up wandering all over the place with no real destination in mind. These sermons usually end up going on for 30 minutes or longer. And let me tell you, any sermon over 10 minutes is in serious danger of losing the congregation. So whatever you do, don’t wing it. Be prepared!
Finally, and this is something few people think about, come with a strong speaking voice and plenty of water. Nerves are going to get to you. They get to everybody. Dry mouth is going to creep in like mold on a wet soggy day. So having plenty of water to drink is going to be a must. You’re not going to get through a whole sermon without it. As for your voice, do some vocal exercises to loosen it up before you start speaking.
Like I said, giving a sermon LOOKS easy. That’s because a lot of work goes into giving one before the first words are even spoken, such as a specific bible verse to lecture off of, a well written outline, and some personality thrown into the mix to keep everybody awake. That is what makes a good sermon.
Check out my blog here for some free sermon samples and a review of a great sermon service
I am not a serious writer but occasionally like to put together articles about things I am passionate about. I always excelled at writing in my college days and enjoy it now as a part-time hobby. I hope my articles can be of benefit to those who view them and appreciate comments and feedback. Enjoy!
More Simple Church Sermon Preparation Tips
You will find, and I kind of touched on this briefly in another article, that if you outline your sermon first, it will go a lot smoother. One way to do this is by writing down a list of bullet points that you want to cover in the sermon itself. These can usually be sandwiched in between an intro and a conclusion. From the outline, you can then write the completed sermon. This will help you stay structured and organized.
Another thing you want to do is actually give the sermon out loud (by yourself) before you give it. There is a strange thing about the written word. It sounds one way when reading it silently, but can sound totally different when read out loud. This is why you want to read your sermon out loud before you give it. You will probably find that some of the wording just doesn’t sound quite right and you will end up wanting to change it. Had you not read it out loud before giving it, you would have never picked up on this.
Finally, if at all possible, you want to memorize as much of the sermon as you can. The reason for this is that if you have your face buried in the text through the whole sermon, you’re going to lose your congregation. They want to see YOU. They want to feel that you’re speaking to THEM and not to the notes on the pulpit. If you can’t memorize the sermon, at the very least, make sure you read ahead and look up as often as possible. The sermon doesn’t have to read word for word, though that would be preferable. Point is, you need to make eye contact with the congregation to be effective in your delivery.
There you have it. Three more simple tips to help give you the best sermon that you can possibly come up with. Make an outline, make sure you read the sermon out loud to yourself first, and make eye contact with the congregation. If you do these 3 simple things, added to the tips I gave prior, you’ll find that your sermon is the best one you can possibly deliver.
For some free Bible Sermon samples and a review of a wonderful service that provides access to tons of sermons as well as fantastically written new ones each month, check out http://www.onlinebiblesermons
.com
I am not a serious writer but occasionally like to put together articles about things I am passionate about. I always excelled at writing in my college days and enjoy it now as a part-time hobby. I hope my articles can be of benefit to those who view them and appreciate comments and feedback. Enjoy!
3 Simple Sermon Preparation Tips
So, you want to write a sermon. It can be quite a daunting task, especially if you’ve never written one before. Where do you start? What are you going to talk about? What passages of scripture do you use? How do you tie everything up in a neat little bow? Can you even do that? After all, a lot of scripture is open to interpretation. Well, if you’re wracking your brain trying to write that sermon, these 3 simple sermon preparation tips should help.
At the top of the list of things to do is to make sure that you have a passage of scripture that you want to preach off of. A lot of times, this will lock you into a subject. For example, if you’re preaching on the Last Supper, you’re not going to stray and start talking about the Sermon on the Mount. Having specific bible verses in mind will make the sermon itself go a lot smoother and even, in some cases, write itself.
Another thing you want to do is start the sermon off with a related personal story. Try to make it a humorous one if you can. The reason for this is because you don’t want the congregation falling asleep on you. If you dive right into the theological stuff right off the bat, you’re going to lose a lot of your congregation before you even reach the second paragraph. Adding the human element will greatly help in keeping the parishioners interested.
Finally, you want to keep your sermon brief. A wise minister used to say, if you can’t get your point across in less than 10 minutes, then it wasn’t worth getting across in the first place. One way to keep your sermon brief is to make a list of bullet points that you want to cover in the sermon itself. Try to keep them to 3 or 4 points in total. If you limit each one to about 3 minutes talking time, you should have no problem keeping your sermon to around 10 minutes.
There are other things you can do to improve your sermon, but we’ll cover those in future articles. In the meantime, if you follow the tips I’ve outlined above, getting a specific passage of scripture, starting off with a personal story, and keeping the sermon to about 10 minutes, you will find that your sermon will be well received by your congregation and they won’t end up falling asleep on you.
For some free Bible Sermon samples and a review of a wonderful service that provides access to tons of sermons as well as fantastically written new ones each month, check out http://www.onlinebiblesermons.com.
I am not a serious writer but occasionally like to put together articles about things I am passionate about. I always excelled at writing in my college days and enjoy it now as a part-time hobby. I hope my articles can be of benefit to those who view them and appreciate comments and feedback. Enjoy!
Is Love and Marriage Forever? – Part 1
On Judgement Day, all the people were queuing up to enter heaven. God decided to divide the people into three lines. The first line was for the men who were dominated by their wives while living on earth. The second line was for the men who dominated their wives during their lives on earth. The third line was for all the women. God looked at the first two lines and saw that one was longer than the other.
The first queue was really long and God was greatly disappointed to see that there were so many men who failed to fulfil their destiny set by God as the head of the household. Their lives were completely controlled by their wives. But God saw that there was one man in the second line. Finally, there was one man who lived up to his calling. God turned to all the men in the first queue and told them to follow the good example of the one man in the second line. However, God was really curious as to how he did it. He turned to the man and asked him for his secret formula on how he managed to control his wife and not let her dominate his life. The man turned to God and said, “I don’t know, God. My wife told me to stand in this line so I obeyed.”
Marriage is long instituted by God. It was created by God in the Garden of Eden. When God instituted marriage, it was not meant for Christians alone but for all people. King Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes 9:9 (New Living Translation) to “live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife, God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil”. Clearly, even King Solomon understood the meaning of marriage and to live happily with the woman that God has rewarded you for you your hardworks. King Solomon wants us to enjoy the marriage that God has instituted in our lives.
Marriage is important to God and to use. It represents how God loves us and our relationship with God. The Bible likens us as the brides of Christ. If we say that our marriage is not working, then we are saying that our relationship with God is not working. All His marriage institutions then are failure. This is not a good representation of God’s love for His people. There are many divorces in this world. We are Christians have a role to play and that is to show God’s love is real. We must ensure our marriage is successful as it is our message to the world that God’s love is real and our relationship with God is real.Ephesians 5:22-25; Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.The Role and Responsibilities of a Husband1. To be a leader
The husband is to be a prophet, priest and king to his wife. The husband is the leader and head of the household. As the leader and the head, men are called to have vision and to provide direction. Why is the man called to be the head? On the head, lie the eyes. The purpose of the eyes is to see far and near, to see ahead with vision. When God created the world, He created the man first and God gave man the responsibility of work to look after the garden and the animals. God left man with the accountability and command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before God created woman.
However, since sin entered the world through Adam, men began to fall away from God. Today, men are so busy working. They do not have time to pray. They do not have time to serve in the church. They do not have time to read the bible. They do not have time to provide spiritual food to their wives and children. How then is the man going to fulfil his role as the priest and king to his wife?
As the priest, the role is to lead the people of God into the presence of God. As the priest to your wife, your responsibility is to provide spiritual food and guidance to your wife, and to lead her into the spiritual presence of God.
A king always carries himself with dignity and authority. He is supposed to lead like the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads God’s people. He does not drive or push the people to meet God’s goals. The king rules the kingdom wisely and reigns among his people.2. To love his wife
A wise and loving king will put his kingdom and people first before himself. Similarly, as the husband, you are to lead your wife and family but not by force or by thumbing your wife down. A wise and loving husband will govern his household wisely and reigns. His family will respect him and obey him as he puts his wife and family first before himself. A husband must love his wife, be willing to give of yourself and lay down your life for your wife.
Every time we backslide or sin, we grieve God. But He never gives up on us. He saddles us with His love and lovingly holds us in His arms. God remains faithful even if we are unfaithful. In every way, the husband is to be like Jesus who loves the church and gave of Himself for our salvation. In the same way, the husband is to love his wife and give of himself to her.The Role and Responsibilities of a Wife1. To be a helper to her husbandGenesis 2:28; And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
God told Adam the reason why Eve was created. When God created the world, God said that everything He created was good. When He created man, He said that it was not good enough. God said that something was missing and it was not good for man to be alone. Although when God created Adam, he has a job to look after the Garden of Eden but God realised that it was not healthy for Adam to be alone. By being alone, Adam will not have a healthy character development. Hence, God created woman to be a helper and comparable in every way to Adam in order to assist him.
How then is the woman to help man to fulfil the visions and dreams given to him by the Holy Spirit? How is the wife to help her husband to see the visions and dreams from God? For the wife to be a helper, she must know the husband’s vision. It is the husband’s responsibility to share his visions and dreams with his wife. If your wife believes that the visions and dreams come from the Holy Spirit, she will believe in you. It is the wife’s role to help her husband to achieve his visions and dreams. As a wife, you are to be a dream enabler, not a dream stealer or destroyer. You are to encourage your husband and to render help to make the visions and dreams come true.2. To submit to her husbandEphesians 5:24; Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
The responsibility of a wife is to submit to her husband. When the Bible says that a wife is to be submissive to her husband, it does not mean that she becomes a slave, to be thumbed down, to be ordered around or to be abused. A wife is to be encouraging, supportive and helpful. In turn, she is to be loved, treasured and respected by her husband. As a wife, you are to submit to your husband in everything.
If a man is married to a woman, who is high powered, more educated than him, and earned much higher, he must do his duty as a husband and as head of the household before she is willing to submit to your authority. Think about it. If you first love your wife and shower her with your agape love, you will find your wife loving you willingly in return. Just as God first loves us, as husband, you are to love your wife first.
Why does marriage fail and Woman dominate over Man? Let’s see in the part 2.
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