Jordan Rimmer Sermons

Taking Back Christmas

This sermon is about Isaiah 59 and our need to acknowledge our need for the Christmas message.  Part of an Advent spirituality and part of taking back Christmas from our culture may be a personal journey like Scrooge had to go through.

Taking Back Advent

In this sermon I take a look at the great divide between the message of Christmas and the message of Black Friday.  I propose an Advent spirituality as an answer to the craziness that most of us face every December.

DEFIANT GRATITUDE

This is a sermon that I gave at a community Thanksgiving Service.  I preached about how the Bible encourages us to be thankful in all circumstances.  Is this foolish optimism, or is something else going on?

JESUS + NOTHING = EVERYTHING

For Christ the King Sunday I preached my own thoughts from the book Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian.  If we had Jesus and nothing else it would still be everything we need.  Do we really believe that?

Principles of Stewardship

In this sermon I take a Biblical look at financial stewardship and share my own journey in this area.

Kingdom Economics

This sermon is about the Parable of the Sower.  Most people want to talk about this as the Parable of the Soils, since that is the part of the story that Jesus explains.  Here I focus on the Sower and how sloppy his sowing work is.  In fact, many of Jesus' stories and actions include things that do not economically or logically add up.  Perhaps this is on purpose. Perhaps Jesus' kingdom does not work like our world.  Perhaps that is why Jesus speaks so often in parables. 

I apologize for the varying sound quality.  I walked around a lot and the microphone (my iPhone) was stationary.

John Calvin: A Heart for Truth and Mystery

For Reformation Sunday, I did this biographical sermon about John Calvin.  I found his story so interesting as I dove into it.  I had been sick the week before and had lost my voice so you may hear my voice crack at times.

Up From the Ashes

How do we handle difficulties in our lives?  We understand that God is with us, but how do we live that out when we do not feel that God is close?

This sermon was given on the 50 year anniversary of the fire which burned down the building that we previously held.  It is an amazing story of God's presence through difficulty.  I weave the story of the fire with the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3.

Discerning God's Will

In this sermon I reflect on how we make decisions in our lives.  While we analyze our options, the Biblical characters discern God's will.  What is the difference and how do you discern God's will?

Global Christianity (and what we can learn from it)

For World Communion Sunday this year I preached on the state of the church around the world and what Western Christianity needs to learn from them.

Pittsburgh Steeler Jon Kolb Guest Preacher

Pittsburgh Steeler great and Superbowl Champion Jon Kolb was our guest preacher on September 29.  He brought a challenging and engaging message on living out your faith.  

Sorry about the quality.  I recorded it from my phone but Jon walked around and the sanctuary echoes so the recording is not super clear.

How Christianity is like Farming

This is the third and final sermon in my series called "Who do you Think you are?"  I look at Paul's view of church and Christians from Ephesians 3.  He expects that the gospel has so much power that it changes people.  He expects that the church has so much power that it can change the world.  He expects Christians to sometimes suffer.  I used farming to help the people connect with Paul's vision.  I wore overalls and barn boots to get into character.

Who do you think you are: RECONCILED

Who do you think you are?  How do you think about yourself and your life?  In the book of Ephesians we see that we are reconciled to God and Christ.  We must, therefore, be reconciled to one another.  What does that look like?

Who do you Think you are: IN CHRIST

This is a sermon about our identity.  How do we look at ourselves?  I used a little character in a jar to talk about what it means that we are "in Christ."

Bitter Idols

I finish off the sermon series on stories of the Bible with the story of the Golden Calf from Exodus 32. I wrestle in this sermon with Idols today.  How do texts about idols speak to us today?  What does idolatry look like today?  What do we do about our idols?  I owe much in this sermon to Pastor Mark Driscoll and Pastor Timothy Keller.

The Woman at the Well Part 2- A Comparison with Nicodemus

Today I had a well and a bed up front as I compared the story of the woman at the well in John 4 with the story of Nicodemus in John 3.  I added at the conclusion to worship that we believe that Nicodemus does become a believer later, though I held onto that information during the sermon.

Woman at the Well: Alone at the Well

This is part 1 of 2 sermons on the woman at the well.  In this sermon, I try to open up our view of who this woman is and why she asks her question about worship.

In the Lion's Den

This sermon is about the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den from Daniel 6.  I also tie it into communion for the day.

A Wee Little Man

This sermon is on the all too familiar story of Zacchaeus.  The text is really about 2 conversations- one between Jesus and Zacchaeus, the other between Jesus and the crowd.  What can we learn from these conversations?

David and Goliath

This is a sermon to get past the "children's sermon knowledge" that many of us have of the the story of David and Goliath.  I read the entire passage from The Message and then look at the story from the perspective of Goliath.

Tingling Ears

This is the story of the call of Samuel.  Are we ready for God to do something that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle?  Are we ready to boldly obey?

Lunch for a Bunch

Here I continue the summer of story series with the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000.  I was inspired by and borrowed at several points from Dr. Barnes now of Princeton Seminary who preached this text at the Festival of Homiletics.  Also included in the recording is my benediction.

The Flood Story- Rated PG-13

I seek in this sermon to get past the children's story of the flood and wrestle with it as adults.  How could God do this?  How could Noah follow God so faithfully when it was so difficult?

Calm in the Storm

Today, in our summer of story series, we look at Jesus calming the storm.  Such a fun and intriguing story.

Mary and Martha

This Sunday (June 2) I did short homilies instead of one longer sermon.  In this first sermon, I looked at the story of Mary and Martha and what we can learn from them.

The Power of Story

This Sunday (June 2) I did short homilies instead of one longer sermon.  In this first sermon, I introduce the importance of story by looking at Nathan's story to David after his actions to marry Bathsheba.

What We Believe (and why its important): End Times

Put your thinking caps on.  We are looking at the deep truths of our faith and why they are important to our personal faith as well as our church.  We will also be reading from the Westminster faith documents.  In this final sermon I deal with issues related to end times.

What We Believe (and why its important): Salvation

Put your thinking caps on.  We are looking at the deep truths of our faith and why they are important to our personal faith as well as our church.  We will also be reading from the Westminster faith documents. This sermon is about salvation and one of my favorite Biblical images of salvation--adoption.

What We Believe (and why its important): The Holy Spirit

Put your thinking caps on.  We are looking at the deep truths of our faith and why they are important to our personal faith as well as our church.  We will also be reading from the Westminster faith documents. This sermon is on the Holy Spirit.

The Mediator: A Parable

This is a parable meant to show Jesus' relationship to God the Father, the incarnation, the dual nature of Christ, and Jesus as the perfect mediator.  Heavy topics but more accessible in story form.  I hope it sparks some thoughts for you. I had recorder problems on my sermon so this story is what I could post.