Palm Sunday Message, Acts 7:37-53 I’m always kind of conflicted about Palm Sunday. I know it’s a critical event on the church calendar, but for the Sunday to Sunday crowd who attends church in America, Palm Sunday is an instance of party-hopping. We go from the party on Palm Sunday with branches waving and shouting […]
The message “Palm Sunday, Party-Hopping, and the Real Work of God” was first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on March 29, 2015 by Barbara Shafer. You can listen on YouTube at http://youtu.be/X9IOD1GcFQg
For those of you who have been following our sermon series at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine (WI) on the Acts of the Holy Spirit and the Apostles, you’ll recall we’re in the midst of Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin. I had a week off from sermon writing but will include a text version to […]
We’re in the Acts of the Holy Spirit and the Apostles and we’re catching up with Stephen. The first martyr of the Church is in the midst of his speech before the Sanhedrin before he gets stoned to death. He’s on trial for speaking against the temple (“this holy place”) and against the customs of […]
The story of Joseph told by Stephen (the 1st martyr of the Church) is more than just a nice story of reconciliation among brothers. Stephen presents Joseph as a “type of Christ,” a foreshadowing of Jesus. This message was first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on March 15, 2015 by Barbara Shafer. […]
What would you do if you were accused of a crime as an innocent person? That’s what Stephen faced. What would you do if you were falsely accused? Would you put up the best defense you possibly could? That’s what Stephen did. He’s dragged before the Sanhedrin and since they couldn’t stand up to his […]
In Part 1 of Stephen’s Defense (Acts 6:13-7:8), Stephen begins addressing the accusations of blasphemy against the temple and the customs of Moses. This message was first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on March 8, 2015 by Barbara Shafer. You can listen to the audio on YouTube by clicking this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jBBWLa8tY&feature=youtu.be
I hope that by now, the cycle of Pure Church, Powerful Church, Growing Church, and Persecuted Church is quite apparent. Last week, we saw the Church survive a possible split or being thrown off task into tackling endless divisions and disputes, temptations to overlook some and overwork others, and a bit of temptation to cultivate […]
The audio link to the message “What About Stephen?” on Acts 6:8-15 can be found at http://youtu.be/riyuXTmIy_A . This message was first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on March 1, 2015 by Barbara Shafer.
The cycle we’ve seen before continues in the Acts of the Holy Spirit and the Apostles: Pure Church, Powerful Church, Growing Church, then Persecuted Church, repeat. The enemy on the outside of the Church is always easier to deal with than ones arising as division on the inside of the Church. Persecution and pressure from outside […]
