My Final Four Sermons: "You Will Be Here"
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
My Final Four Sermons:  "You Will Be Here" Acts 9:1-6 Back when I was in seminary, a psychologist friend of mine recommended I read a book he had picked up.  The title of the book is, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, by Julian Jaynes.  Quite a title.  It was almost an intimidating enough title to keep me from picking it up and read it. But I did. One of the main ideas of the author has to do with the structure of the brain and how the brain works.  The brain is formed in two halves, or hemispheres.  The left, major, hemisphere ..read more
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My Final Four Sermons: What Is The Meaning Of Life?
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"My Final Four Sermons:  What Is The Meaning Of Life?" Matthew 6:33 John 3:1-8 I was working in my office—this was at another church.  I was engrossed in sermon writing.  My desk faced an outer wall with a window, and the door to the office was off to my left and a bit behind my peripheral vision.  Probably not the best feng shui. I suddenly felt someone’s presence.  I turned towards the door and Grant was standing there leaning against the door frame.  I had no idea how long he was standing there—or, rather, leaning there. He was drunk.  It was late morni ..read more
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My Final Four Sermons: The Dirty Harry Gun
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"My Four Last Sermons:  The Dirty Harry Gun" Psalms 61:1-4 We are all pretty fragile.  It's one of the main lessons I've learned about people during 40 years of ministry.  No matter how tough we think we are, no matter how much of an "I've-got-it-all-together" exterior we show the world, no matter how much we play the rugged individual role in our relationships, there is something that will come along and shatter each one of us.  We will be broken.  It's part of what it means to truly be human—to recognize how fragile we really are. I have seen, over and over again ..read more
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My Final Four Sermons: Floyd
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"My Last Four Sermons:  Floyd" Acts 4:36; 9:26-27 Most of the people I've met over my 40 years of ministry, who had the most  Godly personalities, had no idea they had it.  Floyd was one of those people. Floyd was one of the members of the first church I served.  He was 82 when I arrived on the scene.  He was a little wisp of a man.  Maybe 5'8".  Probably 130 pounds dripping wet.  His clothes hung on him like they were hand-me-downs from an older, much bigger brother.  A 10 MPH wind would have blown him over. Floyd's last name was Hogg—H o g g ..read more
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Know Thy God
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"Know Thy God" Isaiah 6:1-7 At the Egyptian temple in Luxor, there are two parts of that temple.  The External Temple is where the beginners were allowed to enter, and the Internal Temple where a person was only allowed to enter after proven worthy and ready to acquire more knowledge and insights. One of the proverbs of the External Temple is "The body is the house of God." In the Internal Temple, one of the main proverbs is "Man, know thyself.”  It is the proverb most quoted by the philosopher, Socrates.  So if you want to enter the inner temple, and seek the deeper wisdom, yo ..read more
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Speaking The Language
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"Speaking The Language" Acts 2:1-13 I want you to close your eyes.  Get your imagination ready.  Take a deep breath.  Now, imagine a hot day.  You are working out in your yard in the hot sun.  There is no shade.  You feel your arms reddening.  The back of your neck is getting red, and gritty, and sweaty.  You feel the intensity of the heat on your face.  Your t-shirt is sticking to your back with sweat.  It's hot.  It's hard to breathe in the heat. Now, imagine a child sneaks up behind you.  They have an ice cube.  The child be ..read more
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What Is Truth?
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"What Is Truth?" 1 John 5:20-21 Everything we do is shaped by words.  We talk in words.  We think in words.  Virtually everything has a word or words associated with it.  We even have words that explain words.  That's what a dictionary is—words that define words.  And each word in each definition has its own definition made up of words.  It could be said that life is not only about words…life is words. Words are used to define and shape our perceptions of the world around us and every experience we have in our world.  Two people can have the same exper ..read more
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Overcomers
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"Overcomers" 1 John 5:1-5 At the Battle of Shiloh, during the Civil War, where Johnston tried to push Grant into the Tennessee River, there was nothing but victory and enthusiasm for the Confederates on the first day.  Yet, Henry M. Stanley, a correspondent wrote this view of the day: It was the first Field of Glory I had seen in my May of life, and the first time that Glory sickened me with its repulsive aspect and made me suspect it was all a glittering lie.  My thoughts reverted to the time when these festering bodies were idolized objects of their mother’s passionate love, thei ..read more
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All You Need Is Love
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"All You Need Is Love" 1 John 4:7-21 Most of the advice we get about love comes from an odd source.  People may check out self-help books about love and loving, but that’s not the main place we find out about what love really is.  My guess is, most people find out what love is all about from the songs they listen to. It used to be that poets and wandering bards were the ones who taught people, by their epic poetry, what true love is.  Now, the bards and poets have been replaced by song writers and lyricists.  It doesn’t matter if it’s country, pop, rap, or rock-and-roll ..read more
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Quit Being So Adultish
Pratt Presbyterian Church
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3y ago
"Quit Being So Adultish" 1 John 3:1-3 When I was at the church up in Hickman, Nebraska, some kids were playing in the church.  Their moms were getting things set up for Vacation Bible School.  The kids were in and out of my office, grabbing root beer candies, drawing on my whiteboard, typing stuff on my computer while I was trying to write my sermon (I just left the stuff on there that they typed, so it would remind me of that day and what it means to be a kid). They asked if I'd turn on the microphones in the sanctuary so they could sing.  I said, "Sure."  I didn't think ..read more
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