The Last Things on My Mind Providence Baptist Church, Hendersonville NC Dwight A. Moody, preaching January – June, 2024

  Introduction: I have been preaching the gospel of God for more than 55 years. During those years I have earned three degrees, traveled the world, preached hundreds of sermons, pastored four churches, read hundreds of books, engaged in countless discussions, and wrote thousands of pages of text. Yes, I have changed my mind about many things; but yes, I have kept my judgment about many other things. While I still have my wits about me, I want to preach a series of sermons on how I understand the gospel, the biblical message, and the divine expectations for human life, for my life. This long-running desire was pushed into action when I heard two famous artists sing the old folk song, “The Last Thing on My Mind” (written and performed by in 1964).  The version I heard was a duet by Dolly Parton and Doc Watson. I am not sure how the story of the song meant for this phrase—the last thing on my mind—to be understood; but I embraced the phrase immediately, and it called to me in accordance with this long-standing desire described above. I now use the phrase as a reference to my end-of-career ambition to gather up what I now believe and embrace. Here, then, is my series of sermons that may be, ministerially speaking, the last things on my mind.   LOVE I. The prime q2uality of God, the great commandment of religion, and the foundational element of righteous and happy living on planet earth is love: the love God has for us and all people, the reciprocal love we have for God, and the love that we share with God for the wellbeing of every one of our neighbors (all people, everywhere, at all times).  I begin this series with two sermons on love.
  •            Love of God: God loves all of us, and we love God (Deuteronomy 6:5, Luke 10:25-28, John 3:16, Romans 5:5-8)
  •            Love of Neighbor: God loves our neighbor, and we care for them (Leviticus 19:9-18, Luke 10:25-37, First Corinthians 13)
  JESUS II. Jesus is the central person in our religion, in the biblical story, and in the drama of redemption. These next four sermons summarize what I now think about Jesus as a human person filled with the Spirit of God; as teacher of the law, the8 prophets, and the writings; as a prophet sent by God to call all people to a God-shaped life; as a visionary of what God intends and commands for all humanity; as a friend of sinners who received all people as children of God; as a martyr for the cause of truth, righteousness, and holiness; and as the first person raised from death to life and into the presence of God and the age to come.  
  •            Birth of Jesus: Full of the Spirit
  •            Ministry of Jesus: A Beautiful Life
  •            Death of Jesus: Today in Paradise
  •            Resurrection of Jesus: In This Very Room
WORLD III.       The five pillars of Christian thought (theology or doctrine) are these: how God continues to create the heavens and the earth, how God responds to the corrupting power that seeps into every corner of creation, how God elects people (first, Jesus, and before than Jews, and now, us) to be agents of faith, hope, and love in the world, how God redeems the all the people of the world; and how God is pulling all creation toward a future consummation that is good, beautiful, and righteous.
  •            God is Creating: then and now
  •            Satan is Corrupting: then and now
  •            God is Electing: then and now (him, them, and us)
  •            God is Redeeming: then and now
  •            God is Consummating: then and now
  VIRTUE IV. These are the three abiding virtues, available to all people everywhere, by which we are able to: reach by faith into the past, latch hold of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is such as way as to transform our lives today; reach in hope into God’s good future, envision what is coming so that we might embody it today; and connect into the spiritual realm, the heavenly places, and embody the love of God and neighbor so as to serve the world in the spirit of Jesus. Hence, these three sermons on faith, hope, and love.
  • Faith: Reaching into the past and changing the present
  • Hope: Reaching into the future and changing the present
  • Love: Reaching into the heavens (the spiritual realm) and transforming the earth (the
WORSHIP V. Three of the practices of people walking in the way of Jesus are: praying, especially that shaped by the prayer Jesus gave us to pray; singing, pushing into the world all the human emotions as they are embodied and enriched by the lived experience of Jesus; and bible-reading, connecting ourselves to the work and 8will of God across the centuries. Of the many Christian practices, these three will be the focus of sermons.
  • Prayer: Adoration, Surrender, petition, confession, appeal
  • Music: Joy, lament, comfort, inspiration, and encouragement
  • Bible: Divine Word, Human Word
LIFE VI. Between birth and death, each person flourishes when he or she can live among friends (in the family, in the congregation, and in the community). Furthermore, human flourishing occurs when people live at peace, without war, violence, and danger, but with equity, justice, and opportunity.  These are the conditions that make possible the Hebrew vision of Shalom and the Christian understanding of Beloved Community. This, we say, is the work of the Spirit of God in the world today.
  • Friendship: life in family, in congregation, and in community
  • Peace: life without danger, violence, and war
  • Justice: life in community marked by opportunity, achievement, and aspiration
GRACE VII. Finally, the human-divine qualities that animate the human person and create the kind of human experience that we all crave: kindness, the disposition to treat others as we wish to be treated; mercy, forgiving others as we seek their forgiveness; and grace, receiving from God and sharing for God as a witness to our calling to walk in the way of Jesus. The final sermon, on kindness and mercy.
  • Kindness, Mercy, and Grace