New Testament Stories

We haven’t done right by her, we Protestants. We really haven’t. We haven’t treated her fairly. As a matter of fact, we haven’t done much with her at all. We’ve never claimed her as one of our own.

One of the most touching and unforgettable scenes in the whole passion narrative is the scene that unfolds in the Upper Room. You remember the story---It was a Thursday, the last evening, as it turned out, before Jesus’ death.

First, he waggled a stubby finger in my face, and then he looked at me, hard, like he really meant business.

A few Sundays have elapsed now since the first half of this sermon. Maybe you remember. Back then we talked about the parable generally known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s the greatest story Jesus or anybody ever told.

It’s too big to handle with any kind of completeness. I know that. There’s simply too much there to get your arms around, or for mere human words to encompass. No preacher in the world can do it true justice.

Do you know what I think is the most disturbing word in the New Testament? It may be another for you, but for me it’s that word right there in our text...the very first word of the sentence---INASMUCH.

Do you know what I almost wish? Not really, I guess, but I almost wish there were some things Jesus had never said. They’re so hard to understand, and hard to explain.  

If you could have been present, physically present, for any one brief period of time, say 15 minutes, during the life of Jesus, what period of time would you choose? If by some miracle of time warp, like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future, or Kathleen Turner in Peggy Sue Got Married, or, better yet, the crew of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek IV, you could go back in history and be a literal witness to any scene recorded for us in the Biblical account, what quarter hou

And so we come to the end of the line.... not just the end of the month, which it also is, but the end of our series of messages on MINISTRY. You let me practice on you for the National Convocation of Adult Workers with Youth. I am back from that experience now, and I have one sermon left over. I didn’t get COMMITMENT in here before I had to deliver it THERE, so I bring it home already warmed up.

I need your help! May I ask you for your help? I have the privilege...responsibility...  of delivering 4 sermons next month to the national United Methodist Convocation of Adult Workers with You. It’s an honor, I suppose...28 people turned them down before they got down to me...but that’s all right. It’ll be fun and a nice trip. 

Do you know what I almost wish? Not really, I guess, but I almost wish people didn’t know the Bible so well.