Camden First United Methodist Church

Today we start a new series on the book of Isaiah. We will begin by understanding the role and responsibility of the prophet.

This is our last Sunday in the Epistles of John and we are looking at the third letter where John the Elder is writing to Gaius. In the brief letter, he defines three men by one trait - truth.

What we do is driven by where our faith lies. In the 5th Chapter of John's first letter, John said our victory is possible through our faith in Christ - not our faith in systems or family or even our country. They are powerful but often flawed. Our faith in Jesus never fails.

God is love and we are called to love one another. So why are Christians marketing fear?

We know that Jesus was the ultimate example of self-giving and self-sacrificial love but what does that means for us?

I John is to the Gospel of John as Acts is to Luke. Luke and John tells us about Jesus' ministry, his death, and his resurrection. Acts and I John helps us understand why that has made a difference in our world and in our lives. Today we begin our series on 1 John and the call to knowing yourself.

Jesus Said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Do you understand what this means? The disciples were busy asking lots of questions but they will eventually discover that Jesus was giving the all the answers in that one sentence. You just have to understand Jesus to know what it means.

This Easter sunday we are exploring the I AM saying from the 11th chapter of John where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus tells Mary and Martha, "I am the Resurrection and the life." What does he mean by "the life." Let's explore where Jesus appears to the disciples.

"I am the true Vine." This is the fifth of Jesus' I Am saying in the gospel of John. Jesus' first sign in John is creating wine out of water at a wedding in Cana. Like many of the other saying, it has toos in the Old Testament.

This is the fourth sunday in Lent and the fourth sunday in our Sermon Series, " I Am." Today, we look at the 10th Chapter of John once again for the second I Am saying - I Am the Good Shepherd. What is a good shepherd compared to a bad shepherd? Ezekiel 34 makes it clear.

Today we explore Jesus' saying, "I am the gate." Do you know that gates are mentioned over 400 times in the Bible? The vulnerability and strength of a fortress is found in the gate.

Jesus declares in Chapter Eight of the Gospel of John, "I am the Light of the World." How important is light? We also look at one of his seven signs where he brings light to a blind man's eyes.

On this first Sunday of Lent, we begin a new series on the seven I Am sayings of Jesus and the seven signs of Jesus. Today, we look at John 6 which contains the "I am bread of life," and the feeding of the five thousand.

Alll the previous covenant led us to this new Covenant. It was not made with words, it was made with flesh and blood. His name is Jesus and he is fully human and fully divine, God's word incarnate. He is the ultimate self-revelation of God. Redemption is not possible for us all.

This week we will look at the timing of God's Covenants with humanity. We operate in chronological time but God operates in "kairos" time. What does that mean?

The fourth covenant God made was with the unlikely king of Israel, King David. Today, we explore what God created kings to do versus what God expected kings to end up doing and God was right. Power corrupts even those near to the heart of God. 

Today our Redemption Story moves to Moses and the covenant God made with the Hebrew people at Sinai.

God began God's plan of redemption with one man, Noah, but now God moves to one family - headed by a man named Abram.

Today we look at the Noah story through the lens of redemption and covenant.

Today we celebrate Baptism of the Lord's Sunday and Holy Communion. Isaiah 43:1-7 reminds of to remember who we are.

Today as we celebrate Epiphany, we come to the end of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi and discover that Paul has had his own epiphany!

Today we learn why Paul was writing this letter to the church but it is a minor point compared to his encouragement to lead a life worthy of the gospel and to be joyful!

In the third chapter of Philippians, Paul provides his credentials. If our salvation depended upon our credentials, Paul would be at the head of the line. Credentials provide certainty, not faith. Paul had to let go of certainty to create space to grow spiritually. We do, too.

In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul reminds us who we follow. We follow a God who humbled himself, took on human flesh, and lived among us. As he came to live humbly among us, so we should live humbly with each other. After all, we are all being refined.

This morning we begin a new series with Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. This is a love letter to this church and today offers hope for us all.

Every sermon series on Leviticus should conclude with a sermon on Jubilee, found in the 25th Chapter of Leviticus. We do not have evidence that this command was practiced but if it had been, it would have been revolutionary. This idea of God making everything right every fifty years was not abandoned. It evolved into a eschatological promise that we call the Day of the Lord or the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus, in Luke 4:14-21, refers to it in his sermon in Nazareth as the Year of the Lord's Favor.

I broke a 25 year streak and spoke about election politics from the pulpit this week. Why? Because not talking is not leading us to a better understanding. In humility, I admit there were legitimate concerns shaping the election that did not have my attention. There are legitimate concerns others have that are also being ignored.  We have legitimately elected a president by popular vote and electoral college vote and we need to respect this process but we all have to get out of our echo chambers and talk to one another. 

Chapter 17-26 in the Book of Leviticus is known as the Holiness Code. Chapter 17 spells out the sacredness of blood as life and Chapter 18 outlines the sexual ethics of the time. We will spend most of our time in Chapter 19 which reads like an extended version of the Ten Commandments but it is really about healthy communities. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all community based faiths. We walk this road together and to do so, there are definitely some guidelines.

Have you ever used the term "scapegoat"? Did you know it comes from the 16th chapter of Leviticus? Let's explore the depth of God's mercy and all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ!

Today we pick up Leviticus 11 that tells us what we can eat and what we must avoid. But then we go to the four chapters we would rather skip - the chapters on body fluids and skin irritations. But can we learn something from the discussion of clean and unclean? Yes, we can.

This has been such a difficult week that I choose to interupt our series on Leviticus to talk about suffering. We used the Lectionary texts for today of Psalm 22 & Job 23.

In today's scripture, Moses ordains Aaron and Aaron's sons as the priests who will keep the Tabernacle holy for the presence of God. By the first century, the priests and religious leaders had stopped being the people's representatives to God. Jesus is our prophet, priest, and king, and everything we understand about God should be witnessed through him.

We previously looked at the standard sacrificies of burnt offering, grain offering and peace offering. Today, we look at offering regarding sin and guilt. Sin is attitudes, behaviors, and speech that are out of line with God's values. Leviticus differieniates between unintentional sins, intentional sins, and what we might call high-handed or plotted sins. The sacrifice depends on who committed the sin as well because there was a catagory for priests, for community, for leaders, and for a common person.

This is the second sermon in our series on Leviticus. There are twenty-seven chapters in Leviticus and ten of them are on worship. God is declaring that God cannot be worshiped as other gods are worship. Offering sacrifices are one of the main components of ancient worship and the first six chapters of Leviticus cover the instructions for sacrifice. Today we will look at the voluntary sacrifices - whole burnt offering, grain offering, and peace offering.

This is the first week in our series on the Book of Leviticus. Why is there a book of Leviticus? It is the resolution to an issue in the Sinai wilderness. How does God live among God's people when God's holiness is so powerful. Leviticus is the temporary answer. Times will change but God's holiness is unchanging.

How will the world find out about Jesus. The Church. We are called to be the Light and the Salt. If we are doing it right, everyone should want to know Jesus.

Every great Olympic athlete has a place of training. It is there that they receive the best coaching, the best nutrition, the best nutrition, and the best encouragement. They will compete in a different arena, but at their place of training, they are learning and preparing. For those who follow Jesus, the church is our training facility.

Paul uses the metaphor of the body in speaking about the church. We find this in Romans, I Corinthians, and in Ephesians. He could have used family or team or other metaphors but he uses the body. So let's explore what that means.

Last week, we talked about the joy, the hope, and the promise of God's Kingdom. It is important to remember that because the church is a sign of that kingdom.

This summer was held Round Robin services at seven of the United Methodist Churches in Columbia, Union, Calhoun and Ouachita Counties. This is my sermon at Norphlet UMC.

I grew up hearing Hellfire and Brimstone sermons about the coming apocalypse. They warned of fiery pits and terrifying beast. Those sermons were pretty scary then I read the scriptures they left out, like the 365 times the Bible tells us "do not be afraid." Today we talk about end times with a different vision intended to give us hope.

For God so loved the world that God gave God's only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.  We have all been asked, " Have you been saved?" like it is a one time transaction. That is not how Paul describes it and it isn't really the overall picture in the Gospels so what is salvation?

Today, we are talking about the third person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit and what do it do for us?

Today we talk about Jesus. Who was he and what did God accomplish through him? How are we called to follow him? We look at the seventh chapter of Daniel for the earliest concept of the Son of Man then look to the Christ Hymn in Philippians to understand how to follow him.

Sin was not created by God. It is dischord and it is noise and humans participate in it every day.

Who are we as humans that God is even mindful of us. We were created by intention as instruments of God's grace to care for the earth and to care for each other.

Today, we are talking about Providence or how God interacts in our world. There are sopme who believe God directs everything and on the oppostie end, there are those who see God as creator but totally inactive in our world. Most of us are somewhere inbetween. 

Today, we talk about the Creation. Did you know the Hebrew verb "to create" is used in the Old testament many times but when it is used, there is only one subject and only one creator, God.

The week starts our new Sermon Series on what we believe. Sometime we become so comfortable with what we think we know, we forget about what we do not know and what we cannot know. We learn very little when we are comfortable but we can learn so much when we are uncomfortable. Today, our first lesson begins, as it should, with what we can know about God. You are invited to post questions as we work through our understanding and misunderstanding together.

In this last sermon on Paul's Letter to the Galatians, we explore our own motives as we confront sin - in others and in ourselves.

In the Fifth Chapter of Galatians, Paul is challenging the church to a journey of faith and hope, led by the Holy Spirit. This chapter is the most persuasive argument of the church's need to be spirit led.