Pinehurst United Methodist Church
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Jesus Christ in us; Jesus Christ through us

Sunday Sermons

The following sermons by Pastor David Banks are available both here and on the Multimedia page.  The links on this page will open in Windows Media Player.  On the Multimedia page, the sermons will play from the web page.  In order to listen, click on the hot link below.  

 

2011 SERMONS
 
2011 May 15, "Hearing Voices"  (John 10:1-11, 27)
 
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and we are the sheep the distinguishing quality of which is to hear his voice.  There are many voices, some sinister, some familiar.  Sheep have trained their ears to hear Jesus' voice.  How is this achieved?  By time with Jesus, we learn his voice.
 
2011 May 8, "Where Life Makes Up Its Mind"   Festival of the Christian Home (Daniel 1:1-21)
 
Someone has said, "The home is many things; mostly it is where life makes up its mind." The home has the power of rearing. In its love, by its teaching, through its example,as an agent of God's purposes, the Christian home seeks to produce and sustain persons of spiritual resolve and moral courage.
 
2011 April 24, "Good News"  Easter Sunday (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)
 
Although resurrection was not immediately believed by the disciples, they and the whole church came to understand it as an essential and core element to the Gospel.  Resurrection testifies to a promise kept, to sin atoned, life freely given.
 
 
The world makes promises to offer life, so too does Jesus Christ.  The world cannot completely and faithfully deliver on its promises.  In the raising of Lazarus, Jesus shows he has the ability to deliver all that he promises.  Jesus is the source of life.  He offers newness of life to Nicodemus and the water of life to the women at the well.  He is the bread of life, the way, the truth and the life.  With powerful authority, he is revealed as the resurrection and the life.
 
 
A grace enabled life includes a witness to grace.  The blind man provides an analogy of a grace enabled life.  Grace effected a change, and the change continues.  However, with the change there is also a witness to grace.  His understanding of Jesus deepens and so too does his witness. The impact of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ enables a witness to grace.
 
 
Every soul thirsts for God, and God seeks and desires every soul.  Jesus seeks and designs a soul quenching, life changing encounter with each of us.
 
 
The grace enabled life is rooted in a spiritual rebirth through Jesus Christ. The new birth which inaugerates this grace-enabled life is the gift of the Father through the self-giving of the Son.
 
 
One cannot know what Jesus would do unless he or she has been doing what Jesus did in order to become as Jesus is.  Absent the mind of Christ and Christlike character, one is ill prepared to discern what Jesus would do.  We are made ready to resist evil by doing what Jesus did in seeking the Father, prayer, fasting, etc., and by becoming as Jesus is in character.
 
March 6, 2011, "Bread that Endures"  (John 6:22-35)  Rev. Emil Johnson, preacher
 
 
February 20, 2011, "More than an 'Anybody' Life  (1 Corinthians 3:10-23 and Matthew 5:38-48)
 
There is an "anybody life," a life that anybody can live, and there is a greater life of spiritual distinction. We are called beyond an "anybody life: to a grace enabled life of spiritual maturity.
 
 
The Scriptures call us to "grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."  The apostle idetifies the characteristics of immaturity and encourages to deepen and to grow in our spiritual lives increasingly guided by the mind of Christ.
 
 
The message of Christ alone, crucified, empowered by the Holy Spirit forms the mind of Christ within the Christian and the Church.  As persons and churches make decisions, they are either using only natural faculties and resources, or they are guided by the spiritual power of the mind of Christ. There are no other alternatives.
 
Jan 30, 2011 "The Maker's Purpose"  (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)
 
As a luthier designs and crafts a guitar with a purpose in mind, so Christ has built his church.  He has established us to be a people in Christ by grace through whom he continues to live and work.
 
January 23, 2011, "Clarity in Purpose"  (Colossians 1:24-2:3 continued)
 
The ministry to which we are called spans the distance between God's gracious work in the death and resurrection of Jesus 2000 years ago to this time and place.  This ministry is a call and a gift.  Its task is preaching, teaching, encouraging. Its goal/purpose in to present persons complete in Christ. The power for this and the effect are from God.
 
 
The ministry of the church of Jesus Christ seeks to present persons complete in Christ, to proclaim the Gospel, to encourage and teach that all persons may become everthing God purposes for them to be in Christ
 
January 9, 2011, "Beginning or End"   (Matthew 3:13-17) Baptism of the Lord Sunday
 
 
2010 SERMONS
 
 
 
 
 
 
John Chrysostom wrote in one of his sermons, "As a moth gnaws a garment, so does envy consume a man." Envy is an insidious sin, but Jesus delivers us by the power of redemption (Titus 3:1-7)
 
 
God has a call upon our lives and upon our church that cannot be obviated or averted by the broken roads of our lives.
 
August 22, 2010 "Report from Guatemala  (Acts 13:1-4, 14:24-28)
 
As with the first missionary journey, the team returned to Antioch to give a report of the mission.  So our group having been sent by the congregation are reporting on all God has done as they journeyed and served in San Pablo on the shore of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.
 
 
While at times we are unable to solve rightly the puzzles of life's difficulties, we always live by faith. In the puzzle, faith seeks an encounter with God in Christ; faith seeks to know Christ.
 
August 8, 2010 "Urged to Faith"  (Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16)
 
When difficulties and/or distractions invade our lives, we should continue intentionally and deliberately in faith as we recognize the danger of becoming spiritually sluggish or in shrinking back. Faith obeys God as one rests in God's reliability.
 
 
When pain and suffering are out of proportion or attack the innocent, many offer explanations. However, not all answers are useful, good, and true. In the voice of Job's wife, two unusable answers are discerned. While we must live without easy answers to suffering, we always live by faith.
 
 
Satan's accusation was both against God and Job. Satan accused that Job was not free, and, if he was, he would curse God. Love and devotion require freedom. In ease and in suffering, Job chose God.
 
 
The call to discipleship includes a call to living as Christians in society. Disciples live for the community's good. We do good as those seeking to have a missionary encounter with our own culture.
 
 
Recent studies indicate that 70% of those born between 1982 and 1992 who have been active in church for at least one year during high school, drop out church by age 22.  Of those who drop out, only one third return even sporatically by age 30.  With this we should not be satisfied.  We should not give up our young adults without a fight. We must be intentionally and spiritually equipped to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ in "Jerusalem," i.e. among our own children and youth.
 
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Discipleship is lived and expressed by means of a Christian citizenry. While ever mindful of the divine purposes for the institution of government, Christians, who are also citizens of a more enduring kingdom, live respectfully and rightly for the common good. However, we must not and cannot abide by an unjust law contrary to God's law.
 
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April 25, 2010 "Coverd Dish"  (Romans 12:9-21)
 
As those who share in the fourfold commitments of all Christians, we seek to display our faith by transformed living.
 
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In our life in Christ, there is a gracious God-side in which God has acted to save us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. There is an adherent-side wherein one repents and surrenders by faith to Jesus Christ. There is also a church-side. On the Church-side, there are four commitments we hold in common: We commit to Jesus Christ, to growing Christlikeness, to the body of Christ, and to service in ministry.
 
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April 11, 2010 "Changes"  (John 20:19-31)
 
The resurrection of Jesus Christ effects a change in us as well. Mary's grief is transformed to joy. Peter's guilt is met with forgiveness. The Disciples' fear is replaced with peace. Thomas' doubt becomes the strongest confession of faith in John's Gospel, "My Lord and my God."
 
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April 4, 2010 "Truth about God"  (Romans 8:31-39)  Easter Sunday
 
What God has done in and through Jesus Christ has established a bond of love that cannot be broken. From this bond, three truths encourage us in adversity. First, God is for us. Second, God will not betray what he has done in Jesus Christ. Third, God's love is stronger than any assailant or adversity.
 
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Christians know that God in faithfulness, power, wisdom, and love works within all circumstances to the benefit of those who God.
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March 14, 2010, "Glory"  (Romans 8:18-25)
 
Christians lives are guided and encouraged by the expectation of the future God promises to us. That which God has accomplished in Christ will be fulfilled. This gives us hope.
 
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Through the Holy Spirit, God gives victory in the mind over the tyranny of the flesh.
 
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You and I are spiritually helpless.  We can neither save ourselves nor enable right living.  But there is good news in the midst of our weakness.  God is able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  By the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ we are not condemned, we are emancipated, and a new way of living is open before us.
 
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Jesus Christ sets us free from the tyranny of sin in order that we might enjoy the life under the rule of grace.
 
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January 24, 2010 "Power to Live as We Ought"  (11:00 a.m.)  (Romans 6:3-14)
 
The reign of grace sets us free from sin's tyranny by uniting us with Christ in both his death and resurrection.  By the grace of God in Jesus Christ, we have power to live as we ought to live.
 
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January 17, 2010 "Reign of Grace"  (8:30 a.m.)  (Romans 6:1-2)
 
While the grace of God in Jesus Christ has power to forgive sin, grace cannot be used as a justification or a license to sin.  Grace is a reign or rule which gives us power to live as we ought.  In that sense, grace gives us true and genuine freedom.
 
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Jesus Christ inaugurates and effects the regime of grace so that all who surrender to his rule may no longer be slaves in the regime of sin and death. Instead, we become slaves of a better freedom, those who live under the reign of grace.
 
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January 3, 2010 "Admire or Follow"   (11:00 a.m.)  (Matthew 2:1-23)
 
The presence of the Messianic King compels a decision.  The Magi could not simply admire Jesus, they chose Jesus over the pretensions of Herod's court.
 
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2009 SERMONS
 

May 24, 2009  "The Task of the Home" 

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September 13, 2009 "Why is it Called Worship?"

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September 20, 2009 "A Cure for Amnesia" 

Worship is the weekly refreshing of our memories in the story of who God is and what God has done for us in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

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September 27, 2009 "One Fabric" 

Worship weaves the fabric of life into a unified whole. Affections, emotions, passions, and desires are brought into harmony with a mind and will surrendered to Christ. We are thus taught and enabled to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
 
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October 4, 2009 "Worship: Offering Oneself"  (8:30 a.m.)   also    October 4, 2009 "Worship: Offering Oneself"  (11:00 a.m)

There are times when the gestures, kindness, and gifts of another obligate in some way.  Such is the case with the mercy of God.  Having become the recipients and beneficiaries of mercy, we are urged to live lives of worshipful response, "to present our bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, and acceptable to God."  (Romans 12:1)

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October 11, 2009 "Not Ashamed"  (11:00 a.m.)  (Romans 1:1-17)

The Gospel invites confidence. A church that has lost its confidence in the Gospel has lost its purpose and its reason for being. We may be confident in the presentation of the Gospel for we are called to this by God and because it is God's power to salvation.

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October 18, 2009 "Right by Faith"   (8:30 a.m.)  (Romans 3:19-31)

How is one to be right before and with God? Since no amount of good we do can undo even the smallest of sins, how can the broken relationship be restored? God by grace makes us right by the offering of Jesus Christ. This is received by faith.

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October 25, 2009 "Faith:  Exhibit One"  (11:00 a.m.)  (Romans 4:1-25)

Faith is only as good as its object.  For Christians, faith is the heart's rest in the power and reliability of God. For us who are justified by faith, our object is God who is able and who is faithful to keep his promise and to accept us through Jesus Christ.

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November 1, 2009 "MadeFriends"   (8:30 a.m.)  (Romans 5:1-11)

Abraham, having believed God, is described a a friend of God (James 2:23). We too are made a friend of God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

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November 22, 2009 "Thanksgiving: A Mark of  Wisdom"   (8:30 a.m.) (Psalm 107)

The Psalmist  asked,"Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things and consider the lovingkindnesses of the Lord."(Psalm 107:43) His point is that wisdom recognizes the interventions of God and ascribes thanksgiving.

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November 29, 2009 "Thy Kingdom Come"  (8:30 a.m.)  (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13)

As a season, Advent reminds us to prepare not only for the celebration of Jesus' coming at Christmas, but for his coming again. As a people looking for the second advent of our Lord, we seek to grow in love and holiness.

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December 6, 2009 "Patient and Hopeful"  (8:30 a.m.)  (Philippians 1:3-11)

Often, the work God is doing takes time, time to grow, time to answer prayer, time to work in history to prepare for Jesus Christ's coming, time to make of us all he desires us to be. The continuation of God's good work gives us reason to be hopeful and patient toward one another.

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December 13, 2009 "Time and Circumstances"  (8:30 a.m.)  (Luke 1:5-20)
 
God has a time; God has a plan; and God's work inlcudes the subtle arrangement of time, circumstance, and people that his good purposes be fulfilled.
 
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December 20, 2009 "The Tree"  (11:00 a.m.)  (Luke 1:26-45)
 
The symbol of the tree tells the story of salvation.
 
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