Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

A Sermon on Matthew 9:9-13 for Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent. First in a six-part sermon series "Questions about Jesus they don't want answered."

Life in the Valley

A sermon on Mark 9:2-9 for Transfiguration Sunday.

Sermon Talking Points

1. Have you ever had a religious ‘mountaintop’ experience? What’s the problem with chasing after such an experience, or trying to live off such experiences?
2. How did Peter try to prolong the experience? What did the voice of God tell him to do instead?
3. Transfiguration comes from the Greek word, “metamorphosis.” How was Jesus transfigured, and what did it mean?
4. Who were Moses and Elijah, and what did their presence indicate? What Biblical hope does their presence bear witness to? What does it imply about our condition in heaven?
5. Why did Jesus’ glory need to remain cloaked or hidden while on earth, until His death and resurrection? Why can’t humans see God (yet) in His unclothed glory?
6. How are we as believers being transfigured, and why? How does this transform our mundane or earthly lives into spiritual lives? What mountaintop destination are we headed for, and what sights await us?

I Am Willing; Be Clean!

Sermon on Mark 1:40-45, for the 6th Sunday after Epiphany.

Sermon Talking Points:

1. What kind of uncleanness do you find or feel in your own life? What sin or shame do you carry that makes you unclean?

2. What posture do we take before Christ, to seek cleansing? Where does it put our trust?

3. Who have you considered unclean, though Christ has declared them clean? How has that changed how you treated them?

4. How did Christ show compassion? How is He the model of true human compassion? How does this change how we look at and treat those in question #3?

5. What is the power of Christ’s spoken Word? Examples? How does He bring it to us today?

6. In what ways did Jesus take on the uncleanness of the man with leprosy? In what way is our uncleanness given up to Him?

7. Where was our substitution finally accomplished? What benefits do we receive in exchange for our sin and uncleanness that was given to Christ?

The Weight of Jesus

Sermon on Mark 1:29-39 for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany

Sermon Talking Points:

1. What made Jesus spiritually “weighty” or “significant,” that drew all people to Him?

2. Have you ever thought about trying to “gain spiritual weight?”  What means of grace does God use to transform our lives, to make them lives of significance?

3. What ways can you take on BJ’s challenge to volunteer more? Where do you have a heart to serve, and what gifts or talents do you have that you can use?

4. How does prayer help shape our life with God? How does the Lord’s Prayer “teach us to pray”? When can you set aside private time for prayer?

5. What was Jesus’ central purpose for His ministry? How did healing and casting out demons figure into that larger purpose?

6. What did Jesus’ preaching (and in fact all Christ-centered preaching) ultimately point to, as the culmination of His ministry?

7. How was Jesus’ death on the cross the weightiest and most significant moment of His earthly ministry? How does the Lord’s Supper draw our eyes to that sacrifice?