Jordan Rimmer Sermons

Parables: The Dishonest Magager

This sermon wraps up my series on the parables of Jesus. It comes from Luke 16 and is described in many commentaries as one of the most difficult parables to understand and apply.

Sorry about the beginning of the scripture. I jumped in only to realize that I forgot to push record.

The 10 Bridesmaids

 

Five of the 10 bridesmaids from Matthew 25 were considered foolish, but why were they not ready for the groom to come? What can we learn from these virgins?

Sheep, Goats, and World Communion Sunday

 

This sermon comes from Matthew 25. Jesus separates the sheep from the goats in the final judgment. But what gets you in? It may be as surprising for us as it would have been for those listening.

The Scariest Passage in the Bible

The passage is from Matthew 7. Not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" and does great things for God will get into heaven. This is a terrifying thought! But we have an opportunity to build our lives on the rock...

Table Manners- Parables from Luke 14

This sermon looks at the parables of Luke 14 that are about banquets and happen at a dinner. I preached it from a banquet table and then served communion at that table.

The Parables of Jesus: The Stewards of 10 Midas

This sermon is about the parable of 10 midas. This parable is often overlooked in favor of the more familiar parable of the talents, but this is a rich and interesting parable.

The Parables of Jesus: Workers for the Vineyard

This parable from Matthew 20 is one of the most frustrating parables that Jesus taught. It is just so unfair that all the workers get paid the same. It is outrageous. But perhaps that is the point... And maybe there are some practical implications for this parable instead of just the spiritual insights that are often taught...

The Parables of Jesus: The Widow and the Judge

This sermon is on the parable of the unjust judge and the tenacious widow of Luke 18. This is a difficult parable because Luke gives and intro about the meaning of the parable and Jesus teaches after he parable and these two "hints" don't exactly line up. This is a simple story with riches of meaning that many people have never heard and many pastors have never preached. Bring it.

The Parables of Jesus: The Kingdom

In this sermon I look at how Jesus talks about his kingdom using parables in Matthew 13. These have real world applications for us, because we are part of this kingdom, even though it does not always feel like we are or we don't always live like we are.

The Parables of Jesus: The Prodigal Father

   

This is one of my favorite passages of scriptures. It is so overly familiar to most people that they miss the depth of the parable. I even think that calling this the parable of the prodigal son is a misleading but you will have to listen to understand why.

The Parables of Jesus: Introduction and The Good Samaritan

  

In this sermon I launch a series about the Parables of Jesus. I begin with some introductory comments on what parables are and how we need to interpret them. I then tackle the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example.

The History of Communion

 

This sermon is a history of communion from the Passover meal to our practices today. I pay special attention to the beliefs about communion, the names for communion, and the way it is practiced. I made major use of a powerpoint presentation that you do not have on the audio. 

The Cloud of Witnesses

In this sermon I reflect on Hebrews 12 and the Great Cloud of Witnesses. I have had the text on my mind since I spent time in England where people are actually buried and memorialized in the church. While this is not always a good idea, I think we Protestants may have missed something here. At the end of my sermon I invited people from my church to come forward and write names of important people to their faith who have gone on to glory.

Leading with Story

God is constantly living a big story and inviting people to play a part in His story. What if the way God leads us is also a model for how we should lead others?

Embody the Story

 

In this sermon I look at the body imagery of the Apostle Paul and think it through in terms of story. We as people embody our stories- we physically move into the stories that we see ourselves in. Marketers know this and invite us into a story with their products as part of the embodiment of our story. How does story give insight into how Paul talks about the faith? How do we learn to embody God's story about us instead of the world's story about us?

 

Living the Story

 

Here I use the story of Nathan and David to look at how our lives our like stories and story can help us grow in our faith. I apologize for the abrupt start to the recording but I did not hit record for the first 2 minutes.

Sabbath as Resistance

 

God said above all the commandments to remember the Sabbath and that the person who does not keep the Sabbath should be removed from the community or even put to death (Ex 31:12-17). Why is Sabbath so important to God? Why don't we practice Sabbath? How do we start a Sabbath habit in our world today? Many of the thoughts of this sermon came from or were inspired by Sabbath as Resistance by Walter Brueggemann.

 

Rethinking Social Justice--Me and We

                  

In this sermon I look at two aspects of our Christian Faith--The Me Gospel or personal salvation and The We Gospel of the kingdom or social justice. These are like two sides of the same coin. When we get too out of balance and emphasize one over the other, then the faith becomes warped to a point that it is no longer Christianity. I am indebted to the book Me and We by my teacher Leonard Sweet which helped me think deeply about this topic.

James : Pray, Praise, Confess (the last James sermon)

This is the conclusion to my series on the book of James. James is giving advice for staying a doer of the word throughout all of life's circumstances. We should lean into God through prayer and praise and into one another through confession and prayer. I also take some time to talk about anointing with oil because after the sermon I anointed those who wanted to with oil and prayer while they came forward for communion.

Of Members and Baptized Babies

 

On April 26 Westminster Church accepted 5 new members and we did an infant baptism.  I took a few minutes to explain membership and baptism and what we believe about them.

James Pt 10: Establish Your Heart

 

In James 5:7-12, James encourages his readers to be patient and establish their hearts because Christ is coming back. But shouldn't Christ's return mean we should be doing more?

James Pt 9: Wealth and Works

 

James has some harsh and bity words to say to the rich in this passage.  But does God think we should all be poor?  Here I compare a few other texts to try to develop a theology of wealth and possessions.  More than that, I make the argument that we should be going through this same process for every area of our lives.

 

Daybreak, Henri Nouwen, and Me

 

I recently took a trip to Toronto, Canada to do research on Henri Nouwen.  Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest who taught at Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School.  He wrote a number of books about Christian spirituality, leadership, and loss.  He spent the last 10 years of his life living in L'Arche Daybreak.  This is a community of disabled adults and their assistants where I went to stay for a couple of days.  I wanted to understand how Henri's personal story impacted his ministry.  I was surprised to learn a lot more about life, ministry, and myself on the trip.  This sermon is my attempt to share this experience with my congregation.

Easter 2015- The Resurrection Life

This is my sermon from Easter 2015.  I use the story of the road to Emmaus to talk about the meaning of Christ's resurrection.  It is about more than "God-talk."  It is about living the Resurrection Life.

The Symbolism of Palm Sunday

When Jesus comes into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday He is actually walking into a ton imagery and expectation.  As we begin to see all of this symbolism we begin to have a richer understanding of what happens on the rest of Holy Week.

The Symbol of the Cross

 

In this sermon I develop the symbol of the cross.  How could this "emblem of suffering and shame" become such a symbol of hope and power?  I also talk about different types of crosses, the motion of crossing yourself or doing the sign of the cross, and the idea of carrying your own cross.  I reference a Powerpoint slide that is posted here.

 

 

A Eunuch's Reading List

In Acts 8 Philip talks to the Ethiopian eunuch about the good news of Jesus based on the passage from Isaiah 53 that the eunuch is reading.  This sermon looks at that same chapter to find Jesus in it.

James Pt 8: Life, James, and the Movies

In this sermon I refer to a number of movies to look at how we struggle to live in the present and follow God with everything we have.

James Pt 7: The God Chair

This sermon takes a look at what I call The God Chair--the space in your life that God was meant to fill but that we put other things into.

James Pt 6: Wisdom and a Wrong Target

       

This sermon on James 3:13-18 is about the two kinds of wisdom that James describes.  Those are easy to see on paper, but is much trickier to see in our own lives.  How can we know if we are aiming at the wrong target in our lives?