2008 TRADITIONAL WORSHIP THEMES (click on title to hear audio)
22-Jun-08 - "A God Who Is Not Fair!"
29-Jun-08 - "Thank God For Today"
06-Jul-08 - "Loving In The Only Way That Matters" - sorry, no audio available
13-Jul-08 - "What A Difference A Simple Thank You Can Make!"
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon: “The Courage to Get Out of the Boat”
It takes great courage to live life! Life is not easy. Jesus lived life with great courage. The basis of his courage was his relationship with God. God is the source of a courageous life. All of us have those areas that need our attention. All of us struggle to adapt our living and adjust our living to where God is leading. Following God’s lead is all about courage. It is really the only life worth living!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Scripture: Isaiah 40:28-31
Sermon: “Where Is Your Hope?”
We live in broken and hurting world. All we have to do is watch the evening news or pick up the morning paper to realize our wounded the world is. People are sometimes clinging to life by a slender thread. People are looking for hope. As the church of Jesus Christ we are in the hope business. We seek to offer a hope that is lasting and that transforms life’s brokenness. In the midst of despair and hurt Isaiah seeks to proclaim the word of hope.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Sermon: “Change Your Story”
We grow up with hopes and dreams for our lives and the lives of those we love. However as life carries on we tend stray from those dreams. Our lives begin to look less and less like we'd intended. We find that we need something to get us out of the rut that we have created for ourselves. Let us never forget that we serve a God of second chances. (Brady)
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Scripture: Mark 8:1-13
Sermon: “Seeing Is Believing!”
Perspective is all about how we see God, ourselves, others, and the world. Jesus saw life from the perspective of the love of God and the possibilities that love sought to offer in the midst of living. We, too, are challenged by Jesus to see life in such a way. When we see life from such a perspective we come to trust and believe that all that God has for us is true. Such seeing makes all the difference.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Scripture:
Mark 14:32-42
Sermon: "Prayer that Transforms"
So often we find ourselves reaching out to God. We offer prayers for loved ones and requests for ourselves, but do they really make a difference? Does this God of love hear us in our most vulnerable times? In our scripture Jesus models for us just what it means to be courageous in our prayer life. He shows us that prayer can give us the strength to stand even in the darkest of moments. (Brady)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Scripture: I Kings 19:1-14
Sermon: “Life’s Defining Moments”
We all have those saturation points in our life where we feel that we cannot take anymore than we have already taken. The story from the scripture is about the prophet Elijah and how Elijah reaches such a point in his own life and work for God. Such moments can become defining moments for us in life related to how we respond to them. We must be careful however on who we allow to do the defining, God, life, others, or us. Elijah was at a time of great vulnerability and feeling like a victim. Join me on this Sunday as we explore who God is in such moments and where it is God seeks to lead.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31
Sermon: “Is Enough Ever Enough?”
Our culture seems to be all about getting. We never seem to be satisfied with what we have. We struggle to enjoy what we have because we are always thinking about what we lack. We compare ourselves to others and many times come up short. The creation story reminds us that God created us to have dominion over all living things. The essential, most important gifts of life are already ours. Why can’t we be satisfied with who God made us to be with what God has gifted us to receive?
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Scripture: John 15:5-9
Sermon: “L. I. F. E.: Living In Faith Everyday”
Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. Such is the promise of Christ and it is the truth of the life he came to give. Our response to such giving must be to trust it each day we live and follow where it seeks to lead us in life. Such living makes all the difference in who we are and how we seek to live each and every blessed day we are given.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-12
Sermon: “Heroes for this Hour!”
On the heals of remembering 9-11 we celebrate and remember so many who became heroes in the face of crisis and tragedy. Their stories stir us and make us wonder what would we do had we been there that day. Abraham was a hero. He left all he knew for the sake of following God’s lead. Through him God changed the world. Our world today needs such heroes. Heroic living is faithful living. May we have such courage as we seek to be God’s person in a broken and hurting world!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Sermon: "It Is Time"
Timing is everything in life. Life is on the move and we must respond to its movement. Each choice carries with it all kinds of possibilities. God is present in each moment and in each opportunity. Living with that awareness and responding to its leading makes all the difference in who we are and how we live. The author of Ecclesiastes reminds us it is time……
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Scripture: Philippians 3:12-16
Sermon: "Someone Has a Hold on Me"
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Scripture: Romans 12:1-8
Sermon: "A Place Where We Belong"
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34
Sermon: “What Are We Seeking?”
“Living the Transformed Life” Sermon Series - October 19 - November 23, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Scripture (8:30): Genesis 2:4-7
Sermon: "Transformation: Knowing Who You Are"
Scripture (10:50):John 5:1-9
Sermon: "Do You Need To Use A Lifeline? (Trey Oakley, of Methodist Children's Home)
Transformation of life begins for us when we come to know and claim our true identity. Our true identity is discovered in knowing and relating to the God who made us. Such knowing is a life-long adventure and exploration. God has given us certain tools that can help us in this great journey of knowing. When you know who you are living becomes the laboratory whereby we continue to discover what it means to be this person God has made us to be. It is Stephen Curtis Chapman who describes it best as he dares to call life, “The Great Adventure.”
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Scripture: Matthew 26:36-46
Sermon: “Tools for the Journey: Praying That Makes A Difference!”
Living the transformed life God calls us to live requires an active, living, and vibrant relationship with the one who made us. Prayer is one of the tools God has given us to use to keep that relationship alive and focused. Prayer is not for God it is for us. Jesus used it in a way that informed, directed, and led his living. Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested is the most powerful example we have of how Jesus used the tool of prayer to transform his life and the life of the world he came to save. We are invited into such praying.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Scripture: Matthew 3:1-17
Sermon: “Tools for the Journey: Showing Up!”
Woody Allen said, “Eighty-percent of success is just showing up.” John the Baptist showed up one day at the side of the Jordan River fulfilling what God had called him to do as he prepared the way for the Messiah. As John was there baptizing Jesus shows up and asks to be baptized by him. I am sure it was a day John never forgot. Being available to what God is doing requires us to just show up. In being present to God and what God is doing in our life we discover the meaning and purpose God has for us.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Scripture: Luke 21:1-4
Sermon: “Tools for the Journey: Giving Out Of Love”
The nature of God is to give sacrificially. The cross of Christ reminds us every day of such giving. We live in a culture that is all about getting. Our closets are full of clothes we don’t wear, our garages are full of stuff we don’t need or use, and many of us rent storage space so that we can store all the stuff we have accumulated in our need to have and get. The widow gave all she had. At the heart of such giving is a sense that God deserves all we have. Anything less exposes who we have become and what it is that defines our life.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Scripture: John 13:1-17
Sermon: “Tools for the Journey: It Is Your Serve!”
Jesus offers us the example of living from the place of servanthood. Such a notion is not really that popular in a culture consumed with what’s in it for me. Life by its very nature was created to be shared. Living a transformed life is marked by our willingness and surrender to a life of service to God and our brothers and sisters in the family of God. Serving brings great power and purpose to our living!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Scripture: Acts 7:54-60
Sermon: “Tools for the Journey: Do You Have a Testimony?”
Stephen was stoned to death for testifying that Jesus was his Lord. When someone dies in the black church they have a portion of the funeral service that is reserved for resolutions. This is the time in the service when people who knew the deceased stand and begin to witness about their life. Stephen had a testimony. Our living is transformed when the focus becomes all about God and what God is doing in the world instead of all about us. Such living is a testimony!
Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s Theme: “There’s a Place for You This Christmas!”
Sunday, November 30, 2008: 1st Sunday of Advent
Scripture: Mark 13:24-37
Sermon: “Is Our House in Order?”
The season of Advent is the beginning of the New Year for the Christian Church. As we begin a New Year as followers of Christ Mark seeks to focus our attention on one of the themes of the Advent season, the coming of the Lord. As we begin our journey to the stable in Bethlehem we need to understand that this baby who is born to us will not only bring the beginning of God’s Kingdom to the world but he will one day return in glory to the finish the work he has begun. Our response to such promise and certainty is that of keeping the master’s house in order. We have been entrusted with all that God has given. Such giving demands from us the responsibility of taking good care of all God has shared. As we wait with anticipation the return of Jesus in glory we do so by making sure our house is in order!
Sunday, December 7, 2008: 2nd Sunday of Advent (Communion Sunday)
Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-11
Sermon: “Life Is Not Always As It Appears!”
When you hear and see voices and images that all seem to be saying and showing the same message it becomes so easy to believe they must be true. The imagery from Isaiah 40 announces that a lone voice cries in the wilderness a new proclamation amid the many voices of our day. This new proclamation is rooted in the redeeming revelation of the glory of God. The daring word proclaimed is a word that challenges conventional wisdom and the many voices of doom and gloom. This lone voice seeks to paint a dazzling portrait of God’s activity in the history of the world bringing hope to a broken and hurting people. In terms of whom God is, what God is doing, and where God is leading things are not always as they might appear to be! It always depends on which voice to which we seek to listen!
Sunday, December 14, 2008: 3rd Sunday of Advent
The Choir of Salado United Methodist Church presents the Christmas Cantata!
Sunday, December 21, 2008: 4th Sunday of Advent
Scripture: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Sermon: “There’s A Place for Us”
All of us really ever want in life is place whereby we know we are loved for who we are. We long for place where we can be ourselves and find rest. God brings to the prophet Nathan such a promise of such a place. While God shared this revelation so that King David might know that his lineage and people would be the instrument that God used to create such a place in history. The birth of the baby in Bethlehem is God’s fulfillment of such a promise. As we enter into relationship with this Jesus we become recipients and participants in the reality of this promise coming true. In Jesus Christ and the new age he brings into our world and into our lives we finally at last have found our place in this world.
Sunday, December 28, 2008: 1st Sunday after Christmas
Scripture: I Thessalonians 5:16-28
Sermon: “Living Between Already and Not Yet!”
In this letter to the young church at Thessalonica Paul now turns to instructing the new, young Christian converts in how they are to conduct their inner life. Allowing God’s Holy Spirit to inspire their living Paul now calls on them to live with joy, thankfulness, and prayer as they seek to live as God’s persons in the world. Any Christian lives between the already of God’s love as expressed in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the not yet of Christ’s final return in glory to bring the reality of God’s reign to it just fulfillment. As we end one year and anticipate a New Year may we hear and respond to Paul’s sage wisdom to live our lives inside out expressing from deep within in us the assurance of God’s love in Christ with joy, thankfulness, and prayer.
Grace and Peace,
Travis
Notes:
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