Lenten Series Blog

The Easter Promise  This Easter Sunday message is a wrap-up of our sermon and study series on Fear. Jesus experienced fear. So did his disciples, and so did his followers after his ascension as they experienced the oppression of Rome and rejection by many fellow Jews. What does the Easter Event teach us about the Christian response to fear? What lesson is there here that applies to us here and now? Listen to or read this message, and share your thoughts.

Thank you for engaging in this on-line discussion during the last six weeks. It was fun to use our audio sermons in this way, and I enjoyed sharing some of the ideas I worked on in preparing my weekly sermons which were  not incorporated into the final version of the sermons.  Let me know if you would like to use this blog format again. Eastertide Blessings, Ken +

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(*If you can’t access this audio link, please click here to download the audio file.)

Fear of Releasing Control This sermon covers the last kind of Fear we will cover in this preaching series. We learn in our faith formation that God is sovereign over all creation. But do we remember that, and do we incorporate it into the way we approach the the adversities we face in life? Our human nature limits the power of God to what we can predict and understand. Is your God too small? Have you placed Him in a box of your own making?

In what way have you limited God’s power in your life?
When you have given God more control of your life, have you seen it make a difference? How?

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(*If you can’t access this audio link, please click here to download the audio file.)

Fear of Calamity  We continue our exploration of the Christian response to many of the fears that we face in life. This week we look closely at the personal and global, physical, emotional, and spiritual, calamities of our life. This is the time to rally our faith, to call on the Holy Spirit who lives in us, and refuse to allow this brand of fear from robbing us of the joy of today because of what might happen tomorrow. In this sermon I present the case that everything – everything – that happens in your life has spiritual significance.

What example can you share of a personal calamity or adversity that led you to an important learning?

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Fear of the End of Life  In this fourth week of Lent we are delving into a topic that is far from comfortable. It is not part of polite conversation. It is not dinner table talk. But it is where ‘the rubber hits the road’ in our faith journey. In this sermon I explore the evolution of Judeo-Christian understanding of what happens when we die. We find that there is an extreme development in our understanding of death and resurrection in the New Testament.  I also present a challenge to consider experiences of ‘little deaths’ in your life. 

Have you had a near-death experience?
How did that experience compare to what Scripture tells us?
What effect have ‘little deaths’ had in your life?

Please listen to or read this sermon by clicking below, and offer your comments on the sermon, or on the questions I am offering above for discussion.  Ken +

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The theme for this week’s study on Fear, is the Fear of Disappointing God. My sermon distinguishes between the healthy, enabling side of that fear, and the destructive, debilitating side. How often do you ask God to guide you through a challenge you face, so that the result will make God proud? What action can you take to make that conversation between you and God something that is on-going throughout your day?

Listen to the sermon by clicking below, or read the text, and then offer your Comments to our discussion group. Ken +

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Fear of Not Mattering: This source of fear can be as simple as making us think twice before we take on something new, when we give ourselves an internal pep talk, saying ‘You can do this.’ But this fear can also completely debilitate some people. Are you convinced that you will  never do anything important, or do you feel you are incapable of any significant contribution to your family, your company, or your friends? In this grand scheme of God’s plan for humankind, do you think there is any room for you to play a part?

Please share some breakthrough thought that developed in the thinking of your small group this week (obviously honoring any confidentialities of your group). If you are not in a small group, listen to the sermon for Week Two, and then share your Comments on; your version of dressing like James Dean to earn significance, your own experience of realizing the high personal value that God holds for you. Ken +

In this second sermon of the series on Fear, I presented a personal look at the different ways we each exhibit our Fear of Not Mattering. This source of fear is reinforced by our culture, and by the high population area and crowded roads and shops we use. We become a number, another nameless face. We respond to that fear in the ways we ‘engage’ with people around us, the way we dress, and I have suggested maybe even through our view of the role of having a family. Holy Scripture offers valuable insight into this issue of Not Mattering. Listen to this sermon by clicking on the link below, or read the text, and offer your Comments through this blog on what I preached last Sunday. Ken +

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The sermon given by Deacon Michael today provided an introduction to our topic of “Fear”, which we will also be studying in our small groups, and in this blog, throughout Lent. Click the Play button below to hear his sermon. Then I invite you to use this blog posting to offer your Comments on the questions Deacon Michael presented at the end of his sermon.
Ken +

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I was caught up by the idea of Max Lucado’s most recent book, ‘Fearless’. On the book cover is the picture of a young boy, fitted with snorkel, mask, and fins, jumping without a concern in the world off the end of a boat dock. I don’t remember much about fear when I was a boy. But as I grew older, I learned about fear of things known (like getting hit by lighting if I stood under a tree), and things unknown (as when I walked into my first college level class).

There is another fear, though, that seems to come in the package as we grow up. It is the fear of what might happen. These are the kinds of worries that Lucado writes about. I think we will make some discoveries from the discussions we have while we work through the next six weeks of topics.

So let’s begin this Lenten discussion with some of our experiences of fear. When you are up against fear in a situation, what things do you do to avoid feeling fear? How do you live with fear? And what lessons have you learned from fear?