Prepare Ye

This is a draft of my message for Sunday, August 26. It uses John 6:56-69 and Ephesians 6:10-20 as the lessons. It is WAY TOO LONG, almost twice the length that I target. I'll whittle it down to a presentable length, but want to preserve the "Director's Cut." The audio version is from Redeemer .  Sorry that some parts aren't as loud as others; I had to move.  Here is the Preaching Preview .  The 60 Second Sermon Summary will be loaded sometime on Monday.   I open in prayer, with words from our Psalm: The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. AMEN . Grace & Good News to you from our Creator & Lord .  AMEN. I had an interesting dinner experience on Friday. I went to what is, according to Bon Appétit magazine, America’s Best New restaurant. It’s here in Oklahoma City. It’s called Nonesuch, and it is on North Hudson and Northwest 7 th...

This is a version of my sermon from April 19. It's a combination of what I said and wanted to say at both Our Savior's and Emmanuel. It is based upon Acts 1:1-14. It is from the first week of our Spring/Summer series going through the book of Acts.    One of my favorite movies is the Blues Brothers. This comedy is crude at times, and features some of best car crashes in cinematic history. But at its heart, it is about two musicians who drop everything because they are on a mission from God – or so they believe. Elwood picks up his brother Jake when Jake gets out of prison. They go to the orphanage where they were raised and find out that the orphanage is going to be closed because it is behind on it’s tax bill. When they visit a church, Jake sees a vision that they have to reunite their band to play a concert to pay tax bill on orphanage. They go to recruit their old band mates, all of whom have better jobs and have moved on. Jake and Elwood use two qu...