These are the sermons as they appear in Preacher's Magazine. Go to the home page and select Sermons from the menu bar to get to the full length sermons.
The sermons and resources for Advent and Christmas are provided by Rev. Olivia Metcalf who co-pastors with her husband Dustin in Atwater, California. Rev. Mark Holcomb and Dr. Philip Rogers provide the sermons and resources for the season after Epiphany. Rev. Holcomb serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Education at Olivet Nazarene University. Dr. Rogers serves as senior pastor in Middletown, Indiana.
This series of Advent messages is presented by Rev. Olivia Metcalf.
Olivia is co-pastor of the Atwater Church of the Nazarene in Atwater, California.
During Advent, very simple, ordinary things take on new meaning. As we light
candles, they do much more than bring light or fragrance to a room. They become
symbols of the light of our faith. As we hang evergreens in our sanctuaries,
they are more than mere decorations. They are signs of true life made possible
through Jesus Christ. As we set up the Nativity scene, it isn’t just
because we do it every year. It is because the Nativity characters are timeless
and valuable. Candles, pine boughs, and ceramic figurines are not special
in and of themselves; they are very ordinary. When viewed through the eyes
of faith and grace, the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
During the Advent season we prepare for the coming of Jesus—both His
original advent into our world and His second advent in the future. Birth
is ordinary, but Jesus’ birth is extraordinary. Joseph and Mary were
ordinary, but God partnered with them to accomplish extraordinary things.
It was on an ordinary night turned extraordinary when the angels met the shepherds
in the field. Advent is about ordinary people, in regular life circumstances,
in simple surroundings that are transformed by God’s loving work in
the world. Our world needs to hear the Advent message. We have the privilege
of helping people see that God works through the ordinary things of life to
do something profound. God works through ordinary people to accomplish the
great work of His kingdom. God can work through you and me, ordinary people,
to do extraordinary things!
If you are a pastor of a church like mine, you know the Christmas season is filled with sounds of, “If we only had more children we could have a musical,” or “I wish we could have a choir but we haven’t had one for twenty years.” Our church cannot pull off a full Christmas drama or musical, but we still want the holidays to be a special time. Included with the sermon manuscripts posted at www.preachersmagazine.org, you will also find weekly Advent monologues, readings, and song selections. This means you have the opportunity to use a few key people with different talents and from different age groups to make your Advent celebration far from ordinary.
This series of Epiphany messages is presented by Rev. Mark Holcomb.
Mark, a former youth pastor, serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Education
at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
It seems to me that during this time of year we are usually going through
the motions. The holidays are over; we are overspent in more ways than one.
Our pockets are empty because of the extravagance of our celebration revolving
around the Christmas season. Gifts, vacations, family time, travel, all give
us reason to be broke.
We are also spent emotionally. The kids have been home from school for two
weeks, and we’re tired of having to entertain each other. We’re
emotionally let down from the end of what has been building for several weeks,
all leading to a crescendo that ended on New Year’s Day. We are footballed-out,
familied-out, holidayed-out, played-out, and vacationed-out; we’re ready
to go back to work.
We’re also physically spent. Unbelievably, find ourselves ready for
the oasis we call our cubicle at work. When work is a break, you know something
is askew.
What are we left with after the holidays? January, of course. For most of
us, unless you live in a tropical corner of the country, it means cold, wet,
snowy, cloudy, dreary days. Sorry, not trying to depress you, but most likely,
all the decorations have come down, relatives are gone, the house is empty
(not all bad, I might add), the fridge has been sufficiently raided, resolutions
have been broken, and the bills are coming due. It’s January; here we
go again.
The good news is that in the life of the Church the celebration has just begun. Have you taken your lights down yet? It’s time for Epiphany, the season of light! Let’s journey together this month and attempt to relive what happens now that Jesus has come.
This series of Epiphany messages is presented by Dr. Philip C. Rogers.
Philip has served as the senior pastor of the Middletown Church of the Nazarene
in Middletown, Indiana since 1978.
The essence of holy living is expressed in Jesus’ answer to the question,
“Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” To love God with
our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves is a practical definition
of what a holy person does. Our example and model for this lifestyle is Jesus.
As such, we rightly define holiness as “Christlike love.”
A problem arises when love is defined as an emotional response. When most
people hear the word love they think of warm, fuzzy feelings toward another
person (or thing). When they are told that the essence of holiness is love,
they conclude that God expects them to feel a certain way toward God and other
people. This makes both holiness and holy love unrealistic and unrealizable,
especially when applied to our enemy.
The command to love is not a command to feel love, but to express love. Christlike
love is not an emotion; it’s a behavior. Love is something I do, not
something I feel.
One of the ways I have expressed this principle is by noting that God does
not command me to like my enemy, but He does command me to love my enemy.
Whether or not I like someone is an emotional response over which I have no
direct control. Even if I do not like someone, I am still commanded to love
them. To love someone means that I behave in Christlike, loving ways toward
them. It is appropriate, therefore, to say that I can love someone I do not
like.
Even when we define love as a behavior, the ability to love is not something
we possess in ourselves. Christians who are committed to “love like
Jesus” know that the grace and power to love comes through the sanctifying
work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Only when filled with the love of
Christ’s Spirit in us are we enabled to love as we are commanded to
love.
The four sermons in this series address four important components of “Christlike love.” Incarnational love helps us know that our love of others in Christ’s name becomes the continuation of Christ’s incarnational presence in the world. This is both our great privilege and responsibility as “little Christs.” The second sermon looks at committed love. It addresses the conflict between feeling love and being love. Christians are called to make commitments to loving behavior even when feelings are not present. My third sermon, forgiving love, reminds us that forgiveness is the most Christlike form of love. Our model for forgiveness is found in Christ’s example, and not in popular culture. The final sermon, tough love, explores the truth that love is not expressed in how someone wants to be treated, but how that person needs to be treated. To love like Jesus requires wisdom, courage, and perseverance.
