Jordan Rimmer Sermons

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

 

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?

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.

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.

 

 

 

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?

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.

 

 

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?

 

 

 

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?

 

 

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? 

 

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/.

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.

 

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? 

 

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?

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.

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).

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.

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?

 

 

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?

 

As I build up to a capital campaign in the next few weeks, I am looking at the building of the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament.  What were their purposes?  Why was it important that the people give to help them be built?

For this sermon, I built a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and rearranged furniture in the sanctuary to be more accurate to the set up of the tabernacle.  I walk around a lot, so I had to have my phone set on the first pew to record.  

                                    

 

In 2 Corinthians Paul gives a list of all kinds of difficult things he has been through.  He is trying to show just how crazy he was for Jesus.  If you think about it, that kinds of abuse would have made Paul look very different.  What does it mean that Paul had all these scars and that Jesus has scars?  Do we live lives that are scared for Jesus?

 

 

This sermon is inspired by the book "Ruthless Trust" by Brennan Manning.  In this sermon I propose that the primary response to His love and grace that God desires from us is trust--daily trusting God for everything.  

I am preaching some sermons inspired by the work of Brennan Manning.  In this sermon I look at Isaiah 64 and talk about how we are all ragamuffins.  We are all sinners in need of God's grace, but we are also radically loved by God.  We should therefore start to look at ourselves differently.  There is no room for self-hatred in the Christian life.

Last year author and speaker Brennan Manning passed away.  I got to meet him once for just a few moments, but I have been greatly influenced through his books and talks.  I have decided to take a few weeks to read his work again and preach out of what God is showing me.

This sermon is about the love of God.  Do you really believe that God loves you just as you are and not as you should be?  When you pray to the Father as Jesus taught his disciples, do you see God as your daddy?

This is the conclusion to my summer series looking at food in the Bible.  This sermon is not on the general image of meat in the Bible but rather on the specific issue of meat offered to idols in 1 Corinthians 8-10.  The people are allowed to eat the meat offered to idols, but should they?  This sermon gets into some big and important issues for us today:  How do we relate to the world?  What do we do with the messy nature of sin?  How do we deal with diversity when we disagree about these things?

This is a sermon about banquets and festivals in the Bible.  When you understand banquets in Biblical times then the Bible starts to make more sense. Jesus uses banquets in several parables, shares a table with His disciples for the Last Supper, and according to Revelation will someday host an eternal banquet.

This is a sermon on milk in the Bible.  Milk is used to show God's blessing and to show God's expectation.  God blesses us, and expects us to respond with purity and maturity.  It is time to lay off the bottle and move on to some steak.

This is a continuation of a sermon series on food in the Bible.  This sermon is on Water--how it was different in ancient days, what it was used to symbolize, how Jesus related to water, and how water relates to use through our baptism.

Famine does not mean much to most people today, but for generations famine was a crisis felt by the entire community.  We see many famines throughout the Bible.  How do we understand dry and difficult times in our lives?  

This sermon is a survey of the use of Bread as a metaphor in the Bible.  It begins with the importance of bread in ancient cultures and then moves through the Bible to look at Jesus as the Bread of Life.  It was also done on a communion Sunday so the conclusion sets the stage for the sacrament.