| Sermon Schedule:
“THE ST. ANDREW TREASURY OF WISDOM”
Sermon Series for May 23 – June 20, 2010
Over the years, and in countless sermons, certain phrases seem to have become part of our vocabulary at St. Andrew. These are the tidbits of wisdom that remind us of our faith and values. We know these pearls of wisdom have become part of our culture when we hear one of us reminding another that we’re getting off track and we need to “keep the main thing the main thing.” Or whenever we’re working on something particularly difficult, someone will reference the image that we’re building a cathedral, not digging a hole.
So here are five sayings which have been particularly meaningful over the years, along with the biblical references that support these truths. They are summaries that reference the timeless qualities of God’s kingdom as we follow Jesus together.
May 23, 2010
“The Main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing” John 3:16-17
It is so easy to get distracted by the urgent and forget the absolutely essential. Life can be confusing and when we get to a fork in the trail of life, it often doesn’t look like what we expected it to look like. That’s when we have to sit down with our compass and make sure that we’re headed in the right direction.
May 30, 2010
“I’m not particularly devout – I only tried to be obedient to the word of God from one experience to the next” 1 John 2:3-6 and Matthew 7:24-26
A young man wrote this while reflecting on his suffering as a result of signing the Barmen Declaration in 1934 Germany, opposing the Nazi regime. The accusation often hurled at Christians is that we’re hypocrites, and we are. But our goal should not be to nurture some sort of spiritual persona, but to be obedient to the word of God as best we can understand it.
June 6, 2010
“We cannot become the people God intends for us to be by remaining who we are” Philippians 1:3-6
John Maxwell once said that we don’t change when we see the light – we change when we feel the heat. Change is never easy, and most of us resist it. But change is what the Holy Spirit is all about!
June 13, 2010
“We are building a cathedral, not digging holes” Ephesians 2:19-21 and 1 Corinthians 3:5-11
Life is difficult and the holes we need to dig are often filled with rocks embedded in clay. When the going gets tough, we need to remember the big picture goal. What we are building is essential to keeping us focused and energized
June 20, 2010
“The essential thing is a long obedience in the same direction” 2 Timothy 4:6-8 and Hebrews 12:1-3
Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “The essential thing in heaven and earth is . . . that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.” In other words, the lessons God wants to teach us are learned over the long haul. Our commitment to El Salvador is an example of this kind of obedience in real life.
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