
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."
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."
A sermon on Mark 9:2-9 for Transfiguration Sunday.
Sermon Talking Points
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?
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?