Recent Sermons
from Revs. Janet and Jerry Duggins
3rd Quarter 2008 Sermons
From "And There Is" based on Philippians 2:1-13 ~ Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ September 28, 2008
Humility isn’t about lowering
self-respect, but about raising respect for others. It isn’t about wallowing in
the mire of our sin, but about turning our thoughts to the needs and interests
of others. It’s about forsaking the island of self and learning to see who we
are and what we do in the light of human community. Humility is the realization
that life is not about rising to the top, being better than everybody else or
becoming number one. The good life is not about getting ahead, but about coming
together.
Jesus might have used his connections to rise to the pinnacle of
power in his world, but instead he chose solidarity with the poor and needy. He
saw that the only way to a better world was by raising the standard of those
below instead of climbing over the backs of those ahead.
read the whole sermon
From"More Than Fair" based on Philippians 1:21-30 and Matthew 16:1-12
~ Rev. Janet Duggins ~ September 21, 2008
Maybe we are most “worthy” of the gospel at those moments
when we know our unworthiness, when we recognize and welcome the gift, the
unexpected good news, the grace.
read the whole sermon
From
"A Common Grace" based on Matthew 18:21-35 and Romans 14:1-12 ~
Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ September 14, 2008
We share a common grace, each of
us loved by God as demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ. We share a
common grace, a message of forgiveness offered without condition at a great
price. We share a common grace, freedom as we live our lives out in the Spirit,
and a mutual responsibility to one another as we follow the example of love in
Christ.
read the whole sermon
From"It's Not About Me" based
on Exodus 16:1-12 and John 6:25-35 ~ Rev. Gavin Pitt,
Pastor of Westminster from 1973 - 1981, Guest Preacher ~
September 7, 2008
This Sunday, as on all
Sundays, our Gospel is not about you or me or us. It is about God and what He
did for humanity in Jesus Christ. You see, the scope of Sunday is very large—God’s
story among humanity that has an eternal perspective.
I believe that it is my duty
to tell you, and to encourage you to remind each other that “this is not about
you, it is not about me, the preacher, rather it is about God and him alone.”
The primary thing we learn
about the church from the history of more than 2000 years is that it is primarily
about God in flesh appearing right up close and personal in Jesus Christ, crucified,
risen and reigning eternally at the right hand of the Father.
We need to learn that we
have to suppress some of our self-concern and cultivate more God-concern.
read the whole sermon
From "Building a Tradition for Transformation" based
on Matthew 16:13-20 and Romans 12:1-8 ~ Rev. Jerry Duggins
~ August 24, 2008 (Charter Member Sunday)
... most sermons in Protestant
churches today will probably make no mention of Peter the rock, rather the
preacher will draw your attention to the question that Jesus asked, “Who do you
say that I am?” In fact, I would normally do just this, but given the occasion,
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk a little bit about Peter the Charter
Member.
I wonder whether our efforts to
build the church on the confession of
Peter rather than the person of Peter
hasn’t led us too far in the other direction. I wonder if we haven’t
impoverished the confession by taking the person out of it. What good is faith
if it is not embodied in a person or community? What good is a Charter without
members living out its vision?
read the whole sermon
From "Jesus and the Canaanite Woman" based on Matthew 15:21-28 ~ Rev. Janet Robertson Duggins ~ August 17, 2008
...what is Jesus like here?
At first he seems not to be
the loving Jesus we expect, open and caring toward everyone, and ready to help. He’s not “nice” It seems like he might not be inclined to
help this woman just because she’s of a different ethnic group and religious! In fact, he seems rather disparaging to here.
But remember: He has come deliberately into a non-Jewish
area, leaving the places where he and his friends usually travelled, places
where the crowds would be largely made up of his own people. He has put himself in a place to have contact
with this woman.
So what can be going on
here? Why do you think Jesus behaves the
way he does, at first, toward this woman?
read the whole sermon
From "Evangelism and the Future of the Church" based on Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Matthew 8:23-27 ~ Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ July 20, 2008
"I hate sermons that are about
“what’s wrong with the church.” I
mention this up front because this may sound like one of those kind of sermons.
I ask for your patience and I promise to end with some good news. But to begin
with, the news is not so good. Today, the church finds itself in a boat on rough
seas and the waves are crashing over the bow. It is probably too soon to tell
whether we followed Jesus on this cruise turned rather rough or somewhere on our
journey we simply got into the wrong boat. Too soon to tell whether Jesus is on
board and asleep or busily calming the seas on some other boat."
read the whole sermon
From "A Church with Lots of Doors" based on Luke 14:15-24 ~ Rev. Janet Robertson Duggins ~ July 13, 2008
"There’s always some danger that a church which provides many points of
connection might lose its grasp on the real, core purpose of the church, which
of course is not coffee or music or groups or programs or services of any kind,
but making disciples. A church that forgets THE main mission of the
church is bound to lose its focus and lose its way. But when a church’s life and ministry
includes health ministries as well as the sacraments, parties as well as hymn
singing, tutoring for kids as well as Vacation Bible School, marriage counseling as well as
weddings... connections are made between
the gospel and life. It’s
a theological statement, essentially, that is rooted in our very Presbyterian
conviction that ALL of life belongs to God, and that God cares about all of it,
and ALL of us. It’s about
learning to become disciples, not just church-goers."
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From "Hospitality" based on Matthew 10:40-42 and 1 Peter 4:7-11 ~ Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ July 6, 2008
"The gospel is about welcome, but a kind of welcome that goes
beyond “hello.”
Think about this:
What in kinds of places have you been received as a guest? What kinds of welcome have you received?"
read the whole sermon
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