Indian Run UMC Sermon Archive

The Missing Guests | Luke 14:12-24

In the "Seen - Noticing the People We Overlook" sermon series, we will be looking at the people who we don't tend to notice in the Bible. Tucked around the edges of the big stories are dozens of people other than the big names, like Moses, David, Mary, or Paul - People who get one sentence or a brief mention. Some are named, others are nameless, but when we slow down and look at them, something remarkable happens. We find that these overlooked figures often reveal something essential about God, about Faith, or even about what it means to follow Jesus. Today we look at The Missing Guests. Jesus is at a dinner party and is speaking to the Pharisee who invited him. He knows the Pharisee invited only the people with standing to his dinner party - family, friends, people with means, because he knows they could invite him to parties of the same kind and repay him. He speaks to the idea that you should invite those without standing - the poor, the blind, the disabled, because they cannot repay you, and instead you will be repaid in heaven.

The Four Friends | Mark 2:1-12

In the "Seen - Noticing the People We Overlook" sermon series, we will be looking at the people who we don't tend to notice in the Bible. Tucked around the edges of the big stories are dozens of people other than the big names, like Moses, David, Mary, or Paul - People who get one sentence or a brief mention. Some are named, others are nameless, but when we slow down and look at them, something remarkable happens. We find that these overlooked figures often reveal something essential about God, about Faith, or even about what it means to follow Jesus. Today we look at The Four Friends. These Four unnamed men sought Jesus' help not for themselves, but for their paralyzed friend. As they arrived to meet him, they found themselves stuck behind the crowd. Rather than give up, they found another way, and their love friend and faith in Jesus was so strong that he forgave the mans sins and healed him. They did the silent, disappearing, carrying work of caring for another who cannot care for themselves.

Epaphras | Colossians 1:3-8; 4:12-13

In the "Seen - Noticing the People We Overlook" sermon series, we will be looking at the people who we don't tend to notice in the Bible. Tucked around the edges of the big stories are dozens of people other than the big names, like Moses, David, Mary, or Paul - People who get one sentence or a brief mention. Some are named, others are nameless, but when we slow down and look at them, something remarkable happens. We find that these overlooked figures often reveal something essential about God, about Faith, or even about what it means to follow Jesus. Today we look at Epaphras, a man mentioned only 3 times in the scriptures, a faithful servant and follower of Jesus Christ, one who wrestled in prayer, who was alongside Paul as a prisoner of Jesus Christ, who never stopped praying. These three sentences can open your eyes to what it can meant to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Life After Naming Your Truth | John 4:1-26

In the "Life After" sermon series, we're going to journey through what the resurrection actually looks like when it meets us where we are. It's not about quick healing or tidy restorations, it's about what happens in the long middle. It's about the slow, confusing way new life has a way of finding us, even after we've stop looking for it. Today we focus on life after naming your truth. What will your life be like after you say your truth out loud? Will people accept you? Reject you? Just awkwardly stare? What will happen if people really know you? What will happen if God does? These are real, authentic fears. And it's okay to have them. But Jesus wants you to know that He will meet you on the other side of your truth. He does so to the Samaritan woman He meets at the well, and He will do so for you as well.

Life After Love | Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

In the "Life After" sermon series, we're going to journey through what the resurrection actually looks like when it meets us where we are. It's not about quick healing or tidy restorations, it's about what happens in the long middle. It's about the slow, confusing way new life has a way of finding us, even after we've stop looking for it. Today we focus on life after love. Love comes in seasons: the beginning, the deepening or shifting, and the ending. It's not uncommon to ask " What do I do now?" when you encounter each season of love. Qohelet, the writer of Ecclesiastes, writes that each season is composed of pairs of opposites, such as a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. These pairs encompass the whole suite of human experiences, and that each experience, from the time to weep to the time to laugh, be given a moment to be felt.