I had so much fun with this sermon yesterday.  And to think I didn't get to write it until dark and early Sunday morning.  But do not tell anyone that. 

I have been busy smoking hams since Thursday, and the sermon writing seemed to fall behind.  It was my intention to put the sermon together Saturday night, after our church's Ham -N- Bean dinner.  Yeah, that never happened.

We were all a bit drained yesterday morning, but, I think, everyone also seemed to be very thankful for what we were able to do with God's help.  Our children opened our worship service with a skit using Chris Tomlin's Amazing Grace, and our district superintendent and her husband joined us for worship.  That was a blessing. 

So, here is our Thanksgiving sermon.  It is entitled There's Always One in the Bunch.

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If you have yet to laugh today then this will do the trick.

If you have already laughed today, then good for you. Keep it up. <="" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" embed="" flashvars="autoPlay=false&orig=" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:mvideo:cmt.com:40319" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="window" height="354" width="425">

I cannot convince anyone to listen to a sermon.  All our churches around the world would be full if anyone could.  It is the ol' addage that reminds us you can take a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.

You can, however, as someone was told me, tell him how good the water is!

In my sermon preparation for last Sunday's worship service, I gave myself a challenge: Preach on the parable of the talents and not talk about money and/or spiritual gifts.  Guess what?  I passed.  Well, I did talk about not talking about money.  Does that still count?  And, I spoke about gifts, but of another kind.  We considered God's absurd gifts to us.

So, I hope you will listen and let me know your impressions.  There will be another group listening, rather reading this sermon.  This was the sermon I turned in to our conference Board on Ordained Ministry.  I have been working on my written examination to turn into them.  This board will determine whether I will be commissioned in June or not.  No, I did not put any more work into this sermon than any other.  Gloria likes to watch House Hunters, and I heard a term from that show that I think is part of my way of thinking of things: Analysis Paralysis.  This is what happens when you over analyze, or, in other words, think too much about something.

And that is now what I wanted to do with this sermon.  I wanted it to be like any of my other sermons.  We shall see what happens.

Give it a listen and let me know if it was commission-worthy. 

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Maybe next time I will preach on money.

Does anyone else think of Richard Pryor's movie Brewster's Millions when they read the parable of the talents?



Think about it:

1. The slaves get an absurd amount of money from the master.
2. If they're able to deal with it appropriately, they get even more.
3. If they don't, they get nothing.




It's a reasonable thought.

Matthew 25:14-30:

14 ‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; ¹⁵to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. ¹⁷In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. ¹⁸But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” ²¹His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” ²²And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” ²³His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” ²⁴Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; ²⁵so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” ²⁶But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? ²⁷Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. ²⁹For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ³⁰As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 

I'll be preaching on this text this Sunday.  This sermon will be the one I submit to my conference board to evaluate for my, hopeful, commissioning next year.  So, be praying.  See you Sunday.

Our church has decided to incorporate our Thanksgiving worship service with our usual worship time.  That is, we will not have an additional service time Thanksgiving week; come to church on Sunday, November 20th and we'll be talking about thankfulness and all that jazz.

We're not being lazy.  Actually, next weekend is our big Ham and Bean Dinner.  That is an all-hands-on-deck event.  It takes everyone's work and effort.  Indeed, it is a lot of work.  So, we'll stumble in on Sunday morning and thank God for, among other things, what we have been able to do as a body of Christ.

Now, here is something you can use for your Thanksgiving observance.  ABC is scheduled to air a Hallmark Movie called Have a Little Faith.  I have only seen the previews, but it looks pretty decent.  Hopefully, it will be a little better than most movies that call themselves Christian are--hey, have a little faith!

Follow this link to see ABC's preview: Have a Little Faith
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I think this is something I am going to want to watch with our family. How about you?

Johnny and Chachi are at it again. This time they offer you some great tips on how to invite someone you know to church. Watch the video, and tell me what you learn.

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