2011-01-16-am Sermon 1 Corinthians 1
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110116am 1 Cor 1:1-9 John 1:29-42 What is a Christian? What is the Christian Church? When we bring children to be baptised, we are saying that we are going to bring them up as Christians, and as members of the Christians Church, like we ourselves are. So what does that mean? St Paul sets it out in this letter that he wrote to the Christians in a city called Corinth. To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. For a start, it's local (the church of God in Corinth, or the church of God in Pudsey) and its universal (all those everywhere). So who are the people who are members of it? Two things, it's those who are called to be holy in Christ Jesus, and those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he calls on us and we call on him. What happens when you 'call' on someone? How many ways can you think of to call someone, to get a message to them? If you are playing in your room or outside and your mum wants to call you for tea, what does she do? [SHOUT] What if you want to call someone who is somewhere else? [PICS: SHOUT, LETTER, TEXT, EMAIL, MOBILE PHONE, LAND LINE, FAX, TELEGRAM (Queen on 100th birthday), PARCEL, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, RADIO, BABIES CRY, BLOW A WHISTLE, RING A BELL, SOUND A HORN, PUT AN AD IN PAPER, POSTER, SIGN, SKYWRITING, MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE, CARRIER PIGEON, SIGN LANGUAGE, DIFFERENT LANGUAGES (Can anyone say hello in another language?)] So how does God call us? He called on us by sending Jesus to us. He calls on us now in our heart, in our soul. Anything might make us have thought or feelings towards him, usually it's through his Word – the story of Jesus and his friends, which we read in the Bible, or Bible story books, or when we listen to someone talking about it. We do that in church – that's what church is for, to talk to each other and so hear God calling us, and if we don't do it here it's hard to know where we will do it. Now if someone calls you, what do they want you to do? Answer. Christians are those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls us, and we call on him. How? Calling on the name of the Lord means trusting him and giving ourselves to him, which is what Baptism stands for. And calling on him means in our heart, in our soul, by speaking to him from our heart either inside us or out loud – praying, talking to him, singing to him. We can call on him all the time, at home, at school, at work, when we're happy, or sad, or worried, or excited, or bored, or enjoying ourselves, all the time. We say thank you for all the good things he gives us. We say sorry for the bad things we do. We say please for the things we want him to help us with. Then as Paul says, he will keep you strong and blameless to the end. So have you heard him calling you? And are you calling on the name of the Lord?
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