Sunday, June 28, 2020

Greater Twogether


Pericope: Eccl 4: 9 – 12 9 Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one, for the results can be much better. 10 If one falls, the other pulls him up; but if a man falls when he is alone, he’s in trouble.
11 Also, on a cold night, two under the same blanket gain warmth from each other, but how can one be warm alone? 12 And one standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Sermon Text: Eccl 4: 9 (a) Two are better than one…  
Sermon Title: Greater Twogether
What Tom Hank's volleyball Wilson looks like now as Castaway turns ...

Point 1: Two Pays vs. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil   Study Tools
Point 2: Two Lifts vs10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow [friend] But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Point 3: Two Warms vs 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?
Point 4: Two Wins vs 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken
Life Application:
1.  Volunteer to be on the return to worship task force
2.  Return to worship as the Lord leads you
3.  Give more as Covid/CDC request things we never budgeted for.
4.  Stay connected – lifegroups – leadership zoom – serving group gatherings (choir, helps, pastoral teams, etc)

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Men Matter...Black Men Matter Too - A fathers day message. Bishop Dudley

PericopeGen 1: 26- 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Sermon Text: Gen 1: 27a So God created mankind in his own image...
Sermon TitleMen Matter, Black Men Matter Too
Point 1: God made man and gave him PowerVs 1: 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue itRule over … every living creature that moves on the ground.” Quite often we see 
Point 2: God made man and put him in a Place.  Vs 2: 11, 15. 
11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 15 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  
Genesis 10:7 - 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
Genesis 2:11 - 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Point 3: God made man and gave him a PurposeVs 2: 19-20 19 … He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; … So the man gave names to all…
2:18 and 20 - 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. .  
Point 4: God made man and gave him a PositionGen 2:22 …God made a woman…he brought her to the man.
From slavery to now Satan with the help of society has tried to move man out of position and black men in particular.
·      Slavery 
o  Not allowed to have a family
o  Bred to have chattel
o  Denied the place of protector provider progenitor
o  Manifest destiny
·      Post Slavery
o  Vagrancy laws passed 
o  Jim Crow codified 1896 Supreme Court until 1956 Brown versus Topeka KS
o  101 out of 120 Southern Congressman manifesto 
o  GI Bill – Red Lining FHA
§  no home ownership no equity 
o  War on drugs
§  Incarceration ($17B cost for housing - $19B prisons)
·      25 years $350K - $2.3M
·      Move than apartheid in South Africa
·      1 out of 14 Black men – 1 out of 106
·      DA prosecutors 2nd offense drug
·      Offense 1% whites 16% blacks
·      Philando Castille stopped 49 times in 13 years 
1.   Take a seat in heavenly places Ephesians 2:6 - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
2.   Strive not only to be the exception but change the laws policies and rules that authorized this system

3.   Embrace your power, place, purpose and position 

Sunday, June 14, 2020

LoveTrumpsHate

Pericope1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 13: 13 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Sermon TitleLove Trips Hates
BP: Move the hearers to live
Introduction:  
Point 1: The Brand of love.  Vs 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Shift (generation) your sons and daughters
-       Not Rude… Vs 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Shift (generation) your sons and daughters
-       Not Self Seeking… Vs 5 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
-       Not easily angered… Vs 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
-       Keeps no record… Vs 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
-       Does not boast Vs 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
Point 2: The Battle of Love. Eph 4:15  15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Point 3: The fruit of love. Gal 5: 22! 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Point 4: The life of love. John 13: 35 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Controlling the Narrative

PericopeActs 2: 14-16 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel…
Sermon Text: Acts 2: 14 (c) let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 
Sermon TitleControlling the Narrative
         Images help tell the narrative.  Luke did the same when he used the word “like” Act 2:2 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Luke used imaginary to control the narrative. Luke knew if you can’t control your narrative you cant get your message to change the lives of people.  The other narrative of that day was Acts 2: 13 13… “They have had too much wine.”
Acts 2: 8 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 
Point 1: It’s a Millennial moment Vs 17.  17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young menwill see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
-       Shift (generation) your sons and daughters
-       Sharing Vs 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.    
-       Shaping Vs 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.     
-       Shaking Vs 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to bloodbefore the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Point 2: Jesus reinterpreted Vs 22-24 22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossiblefor death to keep its hold on him.
Point 3: Jesus reigns! Vs 32-33 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God
-       Reigns Vs 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
-       Reoders Vs 37 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles… 
-       Restores Vs 40 40… “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Life Application:
2. Call out quiet people in your circle

3. Stand with the right of Jesus

Virtual Family Sunday Questions

What ways can we create community as a family? How has our viewership/church attendance enhanced or diminished our family covenant? What way...