Sermons by Dan Vellinga
Setting the Mind
Setting the Mind Colossians 3:2-4; Matthew 6:19-21 Sunday, August 11, 2024 at The First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa 12th Sunday after Pentecost Introduction I have a photo up on the screen which I downloaded from the internet. The picture is of Alex Honnold, a celebrated mountaineer known for his daring ascents of mountains and cliffs. Recently he broke the world record for climbing El Capitan, a sheer cliff of enormous height in Yosemite National Park. He achieved the climb…
Authority
Authority John 6:1-21; Ephesians 3:14-21 Sunday, August 4, 2024 11th Sunday After Pentecost First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa Introduction Ma Lucado wrote this story about the power of authority that comes from within and from who the person in authority is. “In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse. Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy…
Provision
Provision Mark 6:30-44; Ephesians 2:11-22 Sunday, July 28, 2024 10th Sunday after Pentecost First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa Introduction Awhile ago I read an article in which a student asked a college professor what was the earliest sign of civilization? Instead of pointing to an archeological discovery, the professor pointed to a picture of an ancient human leg bone. She said that this is the earliest known example of a broken bone that was set and had healed properly. …
Victory
Victory Mark 16:14-20; Ephesians 1:3-14 Sunday, July 21, 2024 at The First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa Introduction: The Remains of the Day There’s a movie, set in the 1930’s, starring Anthony Hopkins as the very professional and completely devoted butler to a Lord Darlington. Convinced that service to a great man is a route to greatness for himself, the butler, named James, ignores the Lord’s Nazi sympathies and the needs of his family and friends to be the…
Access: Prayer for the Nation
Access: Prayer for the Nation 1 Timothy 2:1-7; 2 Chronicles 7:14 Sunday, July 7, 2024 Introduction As we leave the Fourth of July behind our thoughts naturally turn to matters of the nation, of patriotism and for Christians, prayer for the spiritual condition of the country. Some pastors turn to the passage we read from 2 Chronicles, about the Lord’s people praying and the Lord healing the land. In our main passage for the day, we look at the call…
Earthen Vessels
Earthen Vessels 2 Corinthians 4:5-12; Psalms 116:10-15 Sunday, June 16, 2024 at the First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa 4th Sunday after Pentecost 2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. Introduction: Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea: Lots of men need to be useful. When we don’t feel like we can to much anymore, that can be a hard thing…
The Weight of Glory
The Weight of Glory Sunday, June 9, 2024 at the First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the thing which are not seen are eternal. Introduction:…
Lord of the Sabbath
Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2:23-28 Sunday, June 2, 2024 at The First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa Introduction: pleasing God or pleasing people. Which is harder? The passage this morning asks the question, is it easier to please God or to please people? I suppose it depends on the person, and someone considering the holiness of God might answer that pleasing God is harder, but this passage implies that it is people that can be harder to please. …
The Bible and the Trinity
The Bible and the Trinity Sunday May 26, 2024 Titus 2:11-14; Matthew 26: 36-46 Titus 2:13 …looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,… Introduction Pablo G. Pérez González, an astrophysicist writing in the English language version of El Pais, indicated that we should not exist. He wasn’t making some sort of moral condemnation of humanity, but making a point as a physicist. The Big Bang theory of the universe should…
Maidservants Sunday, May 12, 2024 at The First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa 1 Samuel 2:1-10; Luke 1:35-38 The Seventh Sunday of Easter and Mother’s Day Introduction The Rev. Dr. Ashley Cleere, the Executive Director of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, is taking leave of her work to respond to a call to ministry with the Center Church on the Green in New Haven, Connecticut, the oldest church in New Haven. The current building was constructed…
Far Above All Powers
Far Above All Powers Ephesians 1:15-23; Revelation 19:11-16 May 5, 20204 The Sixth Sunday of Easter at The First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa Ephesians 1:20-21 “…which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” …
Christ Our Passover 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Exodus 12:1-8 April 21, 2024 The Fourth Sunday of Easter First Congregational Church of Marshalltown, Iowa Introduction-Passover starts this Tuesday Jesus died on Passover, and in the structure of how these holidays are determined sometimes they take place at the same time, and this year one starts long after the other is finished. Easter is behind us but Passover starts this Tuesday. Let’s take a look at some of the symbolism of this…