The Wall

This sermon takes a look at the symbolic barrier of sin in our lives as we attempt to justify or deny our actions as being grievous to God. The text of course is of King David and his moment of indiscretion with Bathsheba.
Next week we will dig into the cover up that David attempted as a way to hide his guilt.

The question we must all ask ourselves is: what is the barrier in our own life that is keeping God at a distance? Can we confess that sin and surrender it over to God?

Selective Hearing - the sermon that did not get preached

Well this sermon was anything other than what I expected. I organize and plan a six month preaching calendar and this is the fifth month into what I planned in January. The sermon that I wrote fit very much with what I was thinking from this text in January however when it came to Sunday morning I knew that I would be unable to preach it. There are just times when the congregation has to hear the Holy Spirit doing the preaching and not the pastor. (which sometimes feels like a lecture and one sided rebuke) Whether I was right or wrong in not preaching this sermon I will never know. But after reading the text on Sunday I asked the congregation to share what they heard the passage saying to them. The good news is they basically preached the same sermon that I had written, but it was not me saying it. It was the congregation allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through them.
I know this is a bit unconventional, but I also knew that because of the difficulty and poignancy of James that my words could have been misinterpreted. (That fine line between a pastor illuminating the text and standing in front of it I think)
Anyway, I did not record the pseudo sermon but I did decide to post the PDF of what I had prepared. If you would like you can read it and comment.