Today I preached my second ever sermon. It was entitled, “Faith That Saved A King” and it focused on the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. It is actually part of a series of messages focusing on the book of Daniel. I got to do this one while Philip was away in Mississauga, participating in the 10th anniversary of Grace Brethren Canada (and Grace Community Church).
The second time was definitely the best. I made some goofs in the first one and managed to straighten them up in the second time through. I enjoyed giving the message because I feel like it accomplished two objectives – first it stayed on target, driving home the theme “God is King”, and relied primarily on the text of Daniel. But second, I was able to draw out a message about missional living. I talked a lot about what faith is, how it is built, and what effect it can have on the people around you when it is lived publicly, “in the open”. It was a message seeded by my own tendency to keep my faith to myself, and also in dealing with some of my Christian co-workers, who felt the same. I wanted to encourage people to live openly as Christians, so that God may be glorified even amongst those who do not know him. I really feel strongly that you can’t argue someone into faith in God, but when God works in your life and people find out about it, they are faced with a choice – either try to explain away Gods’ work as coincidence, or reckon with the God that loves them, that they have ignored, shunned, or hated. It is a choice that you cannot set up for them. It must come to them. And it comes when you live out your faith in front of them.
If you would like to give the message a listen please feel free. I have made it available as a podcast below. Please feel free to offer constructive criticism in the comments – I am still very much aware I have lots to learn in terms of presenting a message.
Here’s a link to the sermon, in mp3 format. It’s 40 minutes long, so the dl is about 46 megs.
Tags: community of hope, podcast, sermon
