Santa Monica Nazarene Church Church of the Nazarene

In this sermon we continue our look at some of the great prayers of the Old Testament (preaching in concert with Walter Brueggemann's book about them). Our focus in on Moses who among other things has the gall to quote God back to God in hopes that God will forgive God’s people. However, we also remember that God is not averse to consequences, that they are a part of our journey with Jesus, that they have the power to change us (for the better, ideally), and this all has to do with sanctification.

In this sermon we begin a series through some of the great prayers of the Old Testament (thank you, Walter Brueggemann). Our first prayer is about the time Abraham haggled with God to save a city. We look at his reverence and audacity as he prays, as well as how his prayer nods towards the way Jesus will teach us to pray much later. And, oh, a little bit on the Doctrine of the Trinity to kick things off (don’t worry, it makes sense).

In this sermon we celebrate Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit on God’s people and throughout the creation. With a little help from a scene in the film Arrival, a story about the time Derrida kept saying ‘cows’ in a lecture, the Truth and Reconciliation commission in South Africa, and all things Willie James Jennings we find ourselves drawn into the good news of the Holy Spirit drawing up close to God and one another in Christ. 

In this sermon we celebrate the ascension of Jesus. We consider that the ascension has to do with Christ’s lordship over all things and that because he returns to the Father we have know we are in good hands. This, with a little help from C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and a story about a train attendant at the London Euston railway station who once saved the day.

In this sermon we look at what it means to follow a God who sets things in motion behind the scenes. It’s a sermon from the modern the era, perhaps. For people who are otherwise closed of God, but cannot escape that something beyond is pressing into their lives (and this with a little help from a 2012 film called Jeff Who Lives at Home).

In this sermon we talk about how the future of God was always meant for the eunuch even when for a thousand years it wasn’t.