I'm a preacher wanting to put together a positive message for Sun. Thoughts, especially from Bible, sought.

Question

Certainly people do sin today, but much is right today, which deserves discussion

Jesus' had ethics and sacrificed. I see that trait in many people in U.S. today. Many men and women work 2 and even 3 jobs to support their family. At work women now dress professionally. This was not true in the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, when mini-skirts and even micro-minis. Young men (and older) today with short hair, and long shorts look like MEN, which follows what the Bible advocates.

College tutition costs are tremendous; back in my day it was a fraction of today's costs. But people are meeting this difficult challenge. We have gallant soldiers making a tremendous sacrifice for Bush's flawed fiasco in Iraq. They are volunteering for it.

The exceptions in a way show there are standards. Barry Bonds' steroids use completely tainted his record. Michael Vick and Bill Belichick are suffering strong punishment for misconduct. Thoughts for working into sermon would be appreciated.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur made the statement about the soldiers praying for peace. In that same speech he quoted Plato as saying only the dead have seen the end of war, a sad but true fact.

Answer 1

How about, has your faith changed the way you live? You could use Matthew 2:12 as an opening verse. After the wise men found Jesus, they were warned to "find a new way home." Finding Jesus may mean your life has to take a new direction. And from that, your friends and family see the change, and they follow, and then society follows.

Of course, we all have the choice to follow God. And the Path is narrow, so it is easy to get off tract. (you get the idea.)

God Bless!

Answer 2

Are these things even relevant to the great commission? Some of this sounds more like a presidential speech. Brother, I think something more positive for your congregation would be to teach them how to act like Jesus. Your job as a preacher is to lift up Christ, not just to discuss the successes of men. People need a firm foundation in their faith, not just a pat on the back about what a great job they are doing. The most positive thing you can share with them is the hope they have in Christ, and how they need to emulate Him and treat others with love and respect.

Answer 3

Isaiah 59:2

Answer 4

Honesty is the best policy:

* * *
Did a historical Jesus exist?
http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm

ALL CLAIMS OF JESUS DERIVE FROM HEARSAY ACCOUNTS

No one has the slightest physical evidence to support a historical Jesus; no artifacts, dwelling, works of carpentry, or self-written manuscripts. All claims about Jesus derive from writings of other people. There occurs no contemporary Roman record that shows Pontius Pilate executing a man named Jesus. Devastating to historians, there occurs not a single contemporary writing that mentions Jesus. All documents about Jesus got written well after the life of the alleged Jesus from either: unknown authors, people who had never met an earthly Jesus, or from fraudulent, mythical or allegorical writings. Although one can argue that many of these writings come from fraud or interpolations, I will use the information and dates to show that even if these sources did not come from interpolations, they could still not serve as reliable evidence for a historical Jesus, simply because all sources derive from hearsay accounts.

Hearsay means information derived from other people rather than on a witness' own knowledge.

Courts of law do not generally allow hearsay as testimony, and nor does honest modern scholarship. Hearsay provides no proof or good evidence, and therefore, we should dismiss it.

* * *
The Myth of the Historical Jesus
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html

Pagan origins of Jesus:
http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/index.html
http://geocities.com/christprise/
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html
http://www.rationalresponders.com/a_silence_that_screams_no_contemporary_historical_accounts_for_jesus
http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/pcc/pcc09.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa3.htm
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/lecture.html
http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/virgin.html
http://www.harrington-sites.com/motif.htm
http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa052902a.htm

Answer 5

If you were really a preacher,
you would be down on your
knees asking the Lord what
HE wants you to preach about
on Sunday!!! He knows what
the congregation needs to
hear!

Answer 6

Why don't you throw in Britney Spears while you are at it?

'Jesus struggled, just like Britney at the Video Music Awards."

Answer 7

Joseph in Genesis reveals Jesus in typology.
It's a gut wrenching story of hardship, rejection, abusive authority, AND hope, ending with :

Answer 8

Your poor congregation....

Answer 9

"Don't molest the altar boys." Sound like a good one to you?