Gentle Spirit Christian Church

The Baggage We Carry

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: Mark 6:1-13
But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter — Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further. (Verse 3)

Inward Belief, Outward Proclamation

Third Sunday after Pentecost Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: Mark 4:26-34
How can we picture God’s kingdom? What kind of story can we use? It’s like an acorn. When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, yet once it is planted it grows into a huge oak tree with thick branches. Eagles nest in it. (Verses 30-32)

What Is the Real Fake News?

Second Sunday after Pentecost Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: Mark 3:20-35
"Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives." He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil. (Verses 28-30)

What Inheritance?

First Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) Sermon: Alyce Keener, Vicar Reading: Romans 8:12-21
And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us — an unbelievable inheritance! (Verse 17)

Three Movements of the Spirit

Pentecost Sunday Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: John 16:4-15
I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. (Verse 12)

A Prayer for You

Seventh Sunday of Easter Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: John 17:6-19
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. (Verse 18)

Being Connected Is the Key

Fifth Sunday of Easter Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: John 15:1-8
Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. (Verse 4)

Missing the Obvious

Easter Sunday Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: John 20:1-18
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Sir, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him!" (Verse 15)

Resurrection in the Time of Crisis

Easter Sunday Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: Matthew 28:1-10
The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was laid.” (Verses 5-6)

More Than Words

Fifth Sunday in Lent Sermon: Rev. Paul M. Turner, Senior Pastor Reading: Matthew 7:13-29
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them — living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. (Romans 8:5-8)