Two “Top Ten” Lists for 2019
Hi everyone. I’m never sure that doing these “top ten” lists are worth doing, but when I have done them, as I found this year, I usually find something that I hadn’t noticed the first time. Occasionally, we learn things from looking backward if only to see how far we’ve come. With that in mind, what follows are two such “top ten” lists. The first is the ten most read, or at least the most “clicked” sermons that I posted last year, and the second is a similar listing of my most “popular” blog posts. And, before I even get started, I’m backing up again. As I look at my list of how many “reads” there were for last year’s sermons, the numbers are really so close together that listing ten seems to be a bridge too far. After the first five, each message was read less than 20 times, and there is six-way tie for sixth so it would have been a “top eleven” list anyway.Part 1 – Top Ten Five Sermons
#5) March 31 “How often in our lives have we heard phrases like, “You aren’t good enough,” “You aren’t rich enough,” “You aren’t smart enough,” “You aren’t pretty (or handsome) enough,” “You aren’t one of us,” “We don’t want you here,” “Why don’t you and your friends sit… over there.” Almost all of us, at one time or another, were one of the outsiders. We didn’t “fit” in the popular group. We weren’t wanted. We didn’t measure up to whatever standards that group thought were important.” The good news, for all of us, is that God has an entirely different opinion. Find out what that is in Return of the Rejects. #4) April 18 “Most of the time, the commands of Jesus don’t rise to the level of a “commandment” because it isn’t something that applies to everyone.” “ But at the conclusion of the Passover feast, Jesus says something that he intends to be a lasting instruction, an enduring command, a “commandment” if you will, that applied not only to the disciples, but everyone who would ever claim the name of Jesus for all time.” There is something for all of us to remember from this Holy Thursday message, A New Commandment. #3) August 25 “How many times can someone need to wash their hair when you ask them out on a date? Or be out of town every single time you ask them to help with something? Look, if you don’t want to go on that next mission trip, just tell me that you don’t want to go, and I’ll quit bothering you about it. But, can you imagine how many excuses God has heard when he asks his people to do stuff? And, don’t you think that God knows that we’re just making excuses? Of course, he does.” Take a hard look at all the excuses we make for not doing what God has called us to do in No Fear, No Dogma, No Excuses. #2) November 17 “As much as we dislike trouble, and as painful as it can be, pain and trouble seem to be an integral part of life itself. Where there is life, trouble seems to be present.” “But even though trouble and pain and suffering are always there, it seems fair to wonder what God thinks about it, why God allows it, or what God is doing about it. So, together, let’s explore that idea for a little while…” in Trouble Times Three. #1) August 18 “What do you do when everything seems to be going badly? You know what I mean. When your plans are falling apart, and nothing is going the way that you expected it to go. Worse than that, what do you do when the tide, and life itself, seems to have turned against you?” “When things are going well, enjoy it, and give thanks to God.” But sometimes you just have to Embrace the Suck. That’s long enough for today, but tune in tomorrow for Part 2 – Top Ten Blogs of 2019Did you enjoy reading this? Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages. Click here to subscribe to Pastor John’s blog. Click here to visit Pastor John’s YouTube channel.
Pastor Partridge 