Horizontal Humanity/Vertical Vicarious Vindication

Today's text was Luke 18:9-14

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Here are my notes:

I. Preface - Jesus tells a story of 2 men praying; the same action, but each with different motives, different prayers, and different outcomes

II. Pharisee - Considers himself one righteous dude...do I think of myself more highly that I ought? Do I realize how often I sin? Do I consider the sanctity of the sabbath when I plan out my week?

III. Publican - ceremonial unclean and unfit to enter the temple; a snapshot of who Jesus came to save. He saw himself as a sinner in need of a savior. Need to check how we are doing with sin and our view of ourselves? Simply check with Matthew 22:38-39, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

IV. People - "You are more wicked than you ever dared believe, but you are more loved than you ever dared hope." We ARE saved by works - Jesus' works. "When we are looking horizontally, we may never see ourselves in the same boat with other sinners. It is only when we look vertically that we see the utter hopelessness of thinking we are better than others and we realize we are all in the same sinking ship with only one Life-Preserver."

V. Purpose - we must recognize our own sinfulness and accept God's forgiveness of our sins

How simple. How amazing.

Today's sermon by Kevin Nolen, Covenant Presbyterian Church

Crucial Conversations (Colossians Conclusion)

I knew I was in for a great morning when our pastor opened his sermon by saying that the application for today's passage was TALK! What a great message for me!

Today's passage was Colossians 4:2-18. Paul wraps up his letter to the Colossians by telling them to TALK with God, TALK with the world, and TALK with each other.

God calls us to change the world for Him...three conversations at a time. (Three conversations that work together and happen at the same time!)

Verses 2-4
2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

In this passage we are instructed to pray. A question to ponder: Does prayer work? What if talking to God is like talking to my spouse? Do I always get what I want for it to "work"? Maybe the point of talking isn't always to get what I want...

Verses 5-6
5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Earn the right to be heard. But, be heard!

Verse 7 through the end are Paul's final greetings, instructions, and affirmations within the church community. They are heartfelt and specific, directed toward individuals living and worshiping in community. The message here: personal relationships with individual people are important.

Thoughts to ponder this week...How much are we talking to God about people and to people about God? Who are you talking to today?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this message and what you've been learning lately!


Message by Jay Hull, Covenant Presbyterian Church

Today's Message

Today's sermon was from Colossians 3:18-4:1. Instead of dissecting each verse and focusing on cultural controversy, Jay wisely guided us to three main principle's found in the passage.

#1 Down Home Holiness
Holiness is like rain. If it doesn't come down, it's just fog. Holiness is just something for super-spiritual people like nuns or monks. Holy lives are to be lived out in normal surroundings - in our family, personal and work relationships.

#2 Reciprocal but not Symmetrical
God designed human relationships to be reciprocal but not symmetrical. Responsibility and blessing go both ways, but fundemental inequalities have been built in by God to relationships between men & women, parents & children, and employers and employees. The real question is, what are you going to do with your strengths and gifts?

#3 90º to Jesus
The fastest way to Jesus' heart is through other people. What we do for others, we do for Jesus. Who can I bless today to show my love for Jesus?

How about you? What did you learn today?


(These are my sermon notes from today. Pastor Jay Hull, Covenant Presbyterian Church)

I love being a Superhero

I am a superhero. I have super hearing that allows me to hear a crying child several rooms away, over the noise the house fan and a movie at full volume. I can heal owies with a single kiss, and calm a frightened child by simply holding him in my lap. And now, I'm off to attack a rather large pile of laundry that is slowly trying to take over our house!

The Best Hug of My Life

It happened at gate C-11 in the Dallas Fort Worth airport. It was last Thursday afternoon, March 12. My grandpa had died that Monday. My grandma, his wife of nearly 68 years, was about to begin a second battle with cancer. I had spent much of the previous 3 days working on a video to celebrate his life, and I was exhausted physically and emotionally.

Thanks to a dear friend I was able to fly as a "non-revenue" passenger. For those unfamiliar with this term, as the official guest of an airline employee I was paying next to nothing...but was flying stand-by with no priority over paying customers. My flight out of Reno was great - plenty of seats...mine was even in first class. But the Dallas airport was FULL. It was the official beginning of spring break and lots of people were flying to or through St. Louis. Too many. I was number 27 on the stand-by list. The problem? None of the next three flights were looking any better and the visitation was already underway. The service was at 10am the next morning. And the video was in my purse.

As I waited hopelessly for my name to move up the list, I had an idea. What if my brother Kevin happened to be flying through Dallas too? I called and his phone was turned off. I called Scott to check his schedule and sure enough, Kevin was going to be on the next flight out of Dallas! I waited a few more minutes and called him again.

This time he answered. "Why are you calling me? I'm on an airplane!"

"I thought you just landed," came my reply.

"Are you at C-11?"

My heart skipped a beat. He was heading my way...

What was probably about 5 minutes - the time it took him to take the tram over from the other terminal - seemed like an eternity. I paced impatiently in front of the screen that listed the stand-by passengers and frequently glanced down the corridor toward the tram.

When our eyes met from across the airport our steps quickened. And then it happened...the best hug of my life. I wasn't alone. My brother was with me and everything was going to be okay.

We walked back to c-11 where my name ended at #5. Closer, but not enough to get on that plane. We had 2 hours until Kevin's plane was leaving so we went to get some lunch. Scott called while were eating to check my status. At one point I passed the phone to Kevin and all he said was, "I got her." He smiled, and hung up.

We decided to save the salad for later and went to check on the flight. I identified myself as a non-revenue passenger and inquired as to my chances for getting on this flight. "None" was the harsh reply. I had a shot at getting on the 9:30pm flight, of course missing the whole visitation. I gave Kevin 2 copies of the video so he could take them for me. Somehow I would still make it before the service, even if I had to rent a car and drive all night. Admittedly, not a great plan B.

A little while later Kevin got up to use the restroom. When he came back, he handed me a boarding pass and said, "We won't get to sit together." What??? How did he get a boarding pass? Why did it say "First Class" on it? As I started to put the pieces together he just looked at me and said, "This was the only way to get you on that plane and I wasn't going to leave this airport without you."

We cried, and hugged, and cried some more. Then we sat together in the back of the plane and shared our salad while some random stranger enjoyed a first class flight to St. Louis. I guess he thought he was lucky. But I'm the one with the first class brother.