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Sermonsby the Rev. Robert J. Whitaker, Ph.D. (Many of these sermons are in Microsoft Word format) Christmas 2009 Pentecost 2009 Sermon for Mother's Day Easter Hope Fasting - Feasting on God Spiritual Disciplines: An Introduction The Message of Christmas Preparing for Jesus Christianity and Time Election 2008 The Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church Spiritual Gifts Nehemiah and the Building of St. John's Church Young People's Sermon Evangelism: Love in Action On the Holy Spirit The Continuing Impact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Why Do We Need a Savior? What If St. Joseph Had Said No? God's Promise Fulfilled The Four Last Things Preparing for the Messiah Abraham and Our Fruitfulness Sermon on a Recent Baptism Our God is a Jealous God God's Trustworthiness The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic The Holy Spirit, Sent by Jesus to Convict and Reveal The Virginia Tech Tragedy The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Do You Believe It? Saved by Faith The Consequences of Original Sin What We Can Learn from the Baptism of Infants How Did We Human Beings Get in Such a Mess? Is Jesus Christ the King? The Creation of Man The Value and Significance of Jesus’s Ascension The Passion of Christ
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Sermon ExcerptsThe message of Christmas is that each human person has infinite value and significance in God’s eyes. The Bible tells us we were created in the image and likeness of God. Christmas reminds us that God has intervened into human history to reverse the damage caused by sin. He has done so by Jesus of Nazareth, the God-Man, the Second Adam and Son of God, who came into the world, lived a pure and sinless life, and was then crucified on the cross as Calvary. And that death has reconciled with God every one who believes in Jesus the Messiah.--Christmas 2009 Always remember that God’s promises have been and shall be fulfilled. And the promise that we learn from the birth of Jesus the Christ is that God loves us, each and every one of us, infinitely, completely, and everlastingly. He will never desert us or abandon us but will always be with us.--God's Promise Fulfilled As Christians, we are the offspring and progeny of Abraham. Our God is the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. We are the inheritors of the promises made to Abraham some 4,000 years ago. And God wants to use us, just like He used Abraham, to share the knowledge of the one true God with others.--Abraham and Our Fruitfulness The Bible shows us a God who is adamant about having a certain kind of relationship with His people. There are many aspects to this relationship, but the fundamental aspect is love. God wants our love; God give us His love. But this is not some kind of mishy-mushy, sentimental, on-again off-again puppy love. Rather, it is a fierce and powerful and all-consuming love. The Bible describes God as a jealous God who will not stand for any competition. That’s why He hates idols—whether they be the Old Testament kind of gods made out of wood or stone or clay, or the kind we are more familiar with today: money, pleasure, success, living “the good life,” and so on: whatever it is other than God Himself that we put at the center of our life. The kind of relationship God wants is a monogamous one. He does not want to share us with anyone or anything else. And that seems also to be a fundamental principle of how we human beings are constructed. We can have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. But we cannot expect to have a good relationship with God if we’re also in a relationship of love and devotion with things that compete with God.--Our God is a Jealous God "We have all experienced the unbelievable shock and anguish of the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech this past week. It is a natural human tendency to want to know why this happened. We desperately want to figure out the reasons why one troubled young man shot and killed 32 of his fellow students and professors. And we want to do something to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. "--The Virginia Tech Tragedy "The resurrection is the central fact of our Christian faith. It guarantees that everything Jesus said was true, and that he truly is the Messiah of God, the Savior of the world. But all of this is for nothing if you and I don’t believe that Jesus actually and physically rose from the dead."--The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Do You Believe It? "Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. And some 13 years later, when Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared to him again and promised that he would have a son through Sarah. And by this time, Sarah was 90 years old. And both Abraham and later Sarah laughed at God for saying this. "But then Sarah soon after became pregnant and had son, and they named him “Isaac,” which means “he laughs.” So it was really God who got the last laugh!"--Saved by Faith
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