Jordan Rimmer Sermons

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?

James Pt 5: Tongues and Rudders

  

James 3:1-12 talks about one of the most difficult and most important part of being a doer of the Word--your tongue.  James uses a bunch of metaphors in rapid succession to share how our words are important to our faith.

James Pt 4: Faith that Works

 

How are we saved?  Is it faith without works as Paul says?  But James says that faith without works is dead?  In this sermon I look at these kinds of questions and try to look at how faith and works relate to each other.

James Pt 3: No Partiality

 

We continue in James talking about the need to be doers of the word and not hearers only.  James calls us to not show partiality and favoritism in the community, because our faith is one for the lost and the broken.

 

 

James Pt 2: Doers Not Just Hearers

 

In this sermon I look at the second half of James 1.  What do you see when you look in the mirror?  Are you ready to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer?

James Pt 1: Faith Testing

I am preaching through the book of James from the perspective of images and metaphors. Here we start the book with 7 images.  I even brought a live Alligator Snapping Turtle to church with me.  Listen to find out why.

A Biography of Worship

Westminster Church is in the middle of a transition in worship.  Our 37+ year organist is retiring and we are thinking about what kind of worship we want moving forward.  In order to set the stage for those discussions, I decided to preach a sermon about what worship is and how it developed into what it is today.

 

 

 

When All the Bows are put Away

What happens when all the bows are put away?  When Christmas is over?  We cannot possibly keep up the pace and the emotions of Christmas, but what part of the holiday can and should we keep going?

3 Lever for Your Best Year Ever

In this sermon I talk about 3 things you have to keep in balance as a Christian.  When you get these in balance they can become great lever to help you grow.

Mirace on Mercer and 1st Street

 

 

This sermon looks at the Magnificat--the song that Mary sings with Elizabeth.  What does Mary understand about this miracle in her womb?  What should we recognize about the same miracle happening in our lives?

 

Sermon- Twas the Nightmare Before New Years

 

 

In this sermon I take a look at all the pressure of the holidays.  How do we find the real meaning of Christmas in all of the chaos?

My Big Fat Dysfunctional Family Christmas

 

 

In this sermon I look at the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist.  Luke splices this story in with the story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus.  What we find out is that since it began Christmas has been difficult for families.  What does that mean for how we relate to our families during the holidays? 

How the Grinch Stole Advent

 

In the sermon I talk about Advent.  I talk about what it is, the spiritual posture that we should take in it, and why I think it is a bad thing that we have lost it.  You can also read the sermon on my blog at http://www.jordanrimmer.com/how-the-grinch-stole-advent/.

Teach Us To Pray Part 3

This is the final of 3 sermons on prayer.  In this prayer I look at what prayer does to us spiritually and special situations and aspects of prayer.

Teach Us to Pray Part 2

 

I am amazed how many people have never been taught in simple terms how to start and develop a prayer life.  In this sermon I try to begin answering that problem by giving practical advice and ideas for praying.  How to set the space and your attitude?  How to use Scripture to guide your prayer?  What to say when you pray? 

 

Teach Us to Pray Part 1

In this sermon I begin a 3 week series on prayer.  I look at the power and diversity of prayers in the Bible and compare it to the prayer that we use today.  What might our lives and our churches look life if we deepened our prayer lives?

Teach a Fish to Nudge

Jesus helps the disciples to catch a lot of fish at the beginning and the end of His earthly ministry.  In this sermon I compare these 2 stories.  The first gives us the metaphor of "fishers of men" to represent what has historically been called evangelism.  I propose, however, that fishing was different back then and perhaps we should look at evangelism differently today.  I borrow the word Nudge from the book of that name by my teacher Leonard Sweet.  I believe it is  a great model for evangelism in the future and really does fit first century fishing.

The 5 Solas of the Reformation

This year for Reformation Sunday I looked at the key beliefs of the reformation by looking at the 5 Solas of the Reformation-“Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Alone); “Sola Gratia” (Grace Alone); “Sola Fide” (Faith Alone); “Solus Christus” (Christ Alone); and “Soli Deo Gloria” (To God Alone Be Glory).

The His-Story of Westminster Church

This is the sermon from the celebration of Westminster's 50th anniversary in its current location.  In it I tell the history of the church since well before we moved to Oak Hill in New Brighton.  It is amazing to me how much of this history shapes the spiritual DNA of our church to this day even with members who were not connected personally or in their family with the church until recently.  I also at the end of my sermon turn the attention to the future of the church in anticipation of the collection of commitment cards for a capital campaign that began this Sunday.

Rebuilding the Temple

What happens when an idea, movement, or organization get's off of its original vision and purpose?  How does it find its way back?

This is the question the prophets ask in the Old Testament as Israel goes into exile.  Where did we go wrong?  And as Ezekiel dreams of a new temple and Ezra rebuilds the temple, they wonder how to do it differently now.  What can our church today learn from this time in history?

Building the Temple

 

 

This week I continue building toward our anniversary celebration and capital campaign by looking at the building of the temple by Solomon.  Why is it built?  Why doesn't David build it?  What problems are there once it is built?  What does this tell us about being a church today?