Sermons by Rev. Joel Lynn

              L ast week we started a series on Joseph. We talked about some of the family dysfunction that was going on in Joseph’s family such as Jacob’s favoritism of loving Joseph more than his other sons, and the jealousy that brought up in Joseph’s brothers. And we talked some about how Joseph didn’t do himself any favors in helping the relationship with his brothers with how he pridefully shared dreams in which his brothers were bowing down to him. He even tattled on his brothers when he observed them slacking on their jobs.             Well, we pick the story back up today when Joseph is again instructed by his father to go and check on his brothers and make sure they are doing the job they’re supposed to be doing with shepherding the flocks. It is here when Joseph is approaching them way out in the wilderness that his brothers conspire to kill him out of jealousy and vengeance. They had ...

             Today is the first Sunday in Advent. And the term Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus meaning coming or arrival. Basically, Advent is a period of waiting and preparation for the coming of God. Though nowadays Advent is primarily thought of as waiting in anticipation of Christmas where we celebrate Christ’s first coming into the world as a baby, Advent initially began, historically, as a period of waiting and preparation for the second coming of Christ when Jesus would return as judge and usher in the fullness of his kingdom. Still today in the lectionary selections for Advent, you can see that the first couple of weeks of advent always contain some texts about the second coming of Jesus. Our text for today from 2 Peter 3 is one such advent text that focuses on the second coming of Jesus. And I think that it is fitting indeed to still talk about the second coming of Jesus during Advent, because as we think about what it m...

          Today we continue our sermon series on the book of Jonah. Last time we spoke of the great evil and violence of Nineveh, Jonah’s desire to thus flee far away from having to go and be a prophet there, and the resulting storm that caused Jonah to be thrown overboard and swallowed up by a whale. And now Jonah has been spit up by the whale onto dry land. And Jonah is given a second chance. The word of God comes to Jonah calling him to go to Nineveh a second time, and this time he obeys. But my hunch is that he is still a little halfhearted about this mission to which he has been called. Because look at what message Jonah goes to proclaim to them: he says, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” As far as I can tell Jonah is doing the bare minimum that he can do to still plausibly claim to God that he’s fulfilling his prophetic role in this city. Because I’ve never preached a sermon so short in my life. If I were Jonah I’d be going in...

        Today, we celebrate Reformation Sunday. And one of the focal points of the Reformation, of course, came in the year 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. Primarily, Luther sought to contest the practice of the selling of indulgences, this idea that if you donated enough money to the church that you could be granted forgiveness of sins. This practice went against so much biblical truth. Jesus said blessed are the poor, and yet this practice seemed to give the rich extra favors in making it to heaven. The selling of indulgences reminds me of Acts chapter 8 where we encounter Simon the Sorcerer who thinks that he can buy from Peter and John the power of the Holy Spirit. He was of course sharply rebuked. The power of God is not something that can be bought. Neither can salvation be bought. As it says in Psalm 49:7 there is no price that one can give to God as ransom for their lives. Our debt is too big. On...

       Today we are starting a sermon series in the book of Jonah. And it begins with Jonah being called to the city of Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a little bit Northeast of Israel and would be traveled to by land, so what does Jonah do? He gets on a boat and seeks to travel as far West as he possibly can by sea. Basically, he’s trying to go in the exact opposite direction from Nineveh. The last thing he wants to do is go to Nineveh. So, he sought to flee the command of God by traveling to Tarshish, a city in Spain. You have to remember that at this point no one in Europe or the Middle East knew about the new world of the Americas, so Spain was literally the furthest west point that Jonah knew of that he could possibly travel to.          Have you ever felt God calling you to do something that you really didn’t want to do? To give up something in your life that you’d rather keep? To befriend someone you’d rather avoid? To do something that felt ...

                              Today we are diving into 1 Timothy 6:6-10 and 11-17 which contains the verse that we have been focusing in on as our theme during this stewardship season. Yes, our scriptural theme this season has been 1 Timothy 6:18: “be rich in good deeds.” It’s a really meaningful teaching. But this teaching is actually found in the midst of a rather large section teaching on the topic of money. And it focuses on 2 warnings about money and 2 recommendations about money. And we’re going to look at all of it…             The first warning that Paul gives is that wealth is not lasting. Just as we came into this world with nothing, we will leave this world with nothing. And this teaching shows up so many places in the Bible that the truth may seem obvious to us nowadays. It showed up in our call to worship from Psalm 49 that told ...