Church Planter Resources
In this inspiring series of sermons, church-planter Peter Choi has found a way to take the standard Reformed confession, The Heidelberg Catechism, and has made it both appealing to and relevant for postmodern churchgoers who so often express a sense of homelessness and of wandering in the world. Rev. Choi has recognized that at its heart, the Catechism is all about ending our sense of alienation and homelessness.
We belong.
We have a home.
What follows is his sermon series that highlights various parts of the Catechism. Bit by bit, week by week, his sermons help to move those who feel displaced away from the highways and byways of life and into the heart of the home God has prepared for us all through Christ Jesus our Lord. We begin out on the sidewalks of life but end in the cozy kitchen of our God's home-a place where we know we are in the family, both now and even forevermore!
The Journey Home
A sermon series pointing the way home in a world where belonging is elusive Based on the Heidelberg Catechism, with movement through 3 acts, using various images.
The Series at a Glance:
Theme: Introduction.
Sermon Title: "Homeless in Ann Arbor"
Based on Genesis 47:1-12 and incorporating Q&A 1 of the Catechism
Theme: The Sidewalk.
Sermon Title: "Cracks in the Façade"
Based on Acts 5:1-16 and incorporating Q&A 3-5 of the Catechism
Theme: The Sidewalk.
Sermon Title: "Where Strangers Meet"
Based on Acts 6:1-7 and incorporating Q&A 6-8 of the Catechism
Theme: The Living Room.
Sermon Title: "The Couch and Coffee Table"
Based on Acts 8:26-40 and incorporating Q&A 26 of the Catechism
Theme: The Hearth and Fireplace.
Sermon Title: "The Hearth and Fireplace"
Based on Acts 10:1-48 and incorporating Q&A 27 of the Catechism
Theme: The Kitchen.
Sermon Title: "The Sink and Stovetop"
Based on Acts 16:11-15 and incorporating Q&A 88-89 of the Catechism
Theme: The Dining Table.
Sermon Title: "The Dining Table"
Based on Acts 16:16-40 and incorporating Q&A 125 of the Catechism
Theme: At Home with God.
Sermon Title: "At Home with God"
Based on Revelation 21:1-14 and returning to Q&A 1 of the Catechism
Outlines of the Sermons
Introduction: (show | hide)
Sermon 1: "Homeless in Ann Arbor"
Sermon text: Genesis 47:1-12
Sermon theme: Our experience of homelessness points us toward the home we have in Jesus
Sermon outline:
- Not at home: Jacob is homeless in Egypt (as are we in our respective places)
- At home: Jacob at home in God (as can we)
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 1: We find true belonging in Jesus.
Q & A 1
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong-
body and soul,
in life and in death-
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
Act I: The Sidewalk (Problem/Need: Homelessness) - A Journey from Sin (show | hide)
Sermon 2: Image 1: The sidewalk - a place with cracks and weeds, a broken place.
Sermon title: "Cracks in the Façade"
Sermon text: Acts 5:1-16
Sermon theme: The gospel helps us live with cracks in the façade, in ourselves and in others.
Sermon outline:
- We can be image-makers, crafting our own image, or.
- We can be image-bearers, submitting our broken image to God's healing touch in the context of community.
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 3-5: We have a natural tendency to break relationships, hence it's just a matter of time before cracks appear in the façade.
Q & A 3
Q. How do you come to know your misery?
A. The law of God tells me.
Q & A 4
Q. What does God's law require of us?
A. Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22-
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind
and with all your strength.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the Law and the Prophets hang
on these two commandments.
Q & A 5
Q. Can you live up to all this perfectly?
A. No.
I have a natural tendency
to hate God and my neighbor.
Sermon 3: Image: The sidewalk - also a place where strangers meet, a place of hope and possibilities.
Sermon title: "Where Strangers Meet"
Sermon text: Acts 6:1-7
Sermon theme: The gospel carves out space where strangers can truly and safely live together.
Sermon outline:
- A life of generosity, especially towards strangers and foreigners.
- A life of selflessness, even to the point of taking serious risks.
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 6-7: We were created good and there is hope of restoration.
*Movement: from strangers (or, those estranged)
Q & A 6
Q. Did God create people so wicked and perverse?
A. No.
God created them good and in his own image,
that is, in true righteousness and holiness,
so that they might
truly know God their creator,
love him with all their heart,
and live with him in eternal happiness
for his praise and glory.
Q & A 7
Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?
A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents,
Adam and Eve, in Paradise.
This fall has so poisoned our nature
that we are born sinners-
corrupt from conception on.
Q & A 8
Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil?
A. Yes, unless we are born again,
by the Spirit of God.
Act II: The Living Room (Problem/Need: Rootlessness) - A Journey into Salvation (show | hide)
Sermon 4: Image: The couch and coffee table - a place of storytelling and story-making.
Sermon title: "The Couch and Coffee Table"
Sermon text: Acts 8:26-40
Sermon theme: The Lord reveals himself (initiates, gets involved) in human conversations.
Sermon outline:
- From the margins of the page: the gospel takes people from the margins of the page (e.g., the Ethiopian eunuch).
- To the heart of the story: the gospel invites people to participate in the story of redemption (e.g., Philip's explanation of redemptive history).
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 26: God is both almighty God and faithful father, both highly exalted and intimately involved.
Q & A 26
Q. What do you believe when you say, "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth"?
A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who out of nothing created heaven and earth
and everything in them,
who still upholds and rules them
by his eternal counsel and providence,
is my God and Father
because of Christ his Son.
I trust him so much that I do not doubt
he will provide
whatever I need
for body and soul,
and he will turn to my good
whatever adversity he sends me
in this sad world.
He is able to do this because he is almighty God;
he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.
Sermon 5: Image: The hearth and fireplace - a place for intimate bonding.
Sermon title: "The Hearth and Fireplace"
Sermon text: Acts 10:1-48
Sermon theme: In the midst of life's interruptions, God sends us invitations to true life.
Sermon outline:
- People interrupting people: there's a lot of people interrupting people going on in this passage. God often uses these kinds of interruptions.
- God interrupting people: there's a lot of God interrupting people going on in this passage. The fact that God gets involved in human affairs, and the ways he gets involved, is an expression of his love and grace.
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 27: In his providence, God can turn interruptions into invitations.
*Movement: to friends
Q & A 27
Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. Providence is
the almighty and ever present power of God
by which he upholds, as with his hand,
heaven
and earth
and all creatures,
and so rules them that
leaf and blade,
rain and drought,
fruitful and lean years,
food and drink,
health and sickness,
prosperity and poverty-
all things, in fact, come to us
not by chance
but from his fatherly hand.
Act III: The Kitchen (Problem/Need: Restlessness) - A Journey for Service (show | hide)
Sermon 6: Image: The sink and stovetop - a place of work.
Sermon title: "The Sink and Stovetop"
Sermon text: Acts 16:11-15
Sermon theme: The gospel brings people together in ways never before imagined, laboring together in common mission.
Sermon outline:
- Gospel conversion: Lydia gets her world turned upside down, has a personal encounter with a gospel that has close to its heart racial and gender reconciliation.
- Gospel subversion: Paul gets his world turned upside down, gets invited into the home of a gentile woman after witnessing her conversion, which he didn't even go looking for (he was looking for a place of prayer).
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 88-89: It is genuine repentance and the dying away of the old self that amounts to genuine conversion and gospel subversion.
Q & A 88
Q. What is involved in genuine repentance or conversion?
A. Two things:
the dying-away of the old self,
and the coming-to-life of the new.
Q & A 89
Q. What is the dying-away of the old self?
A. It is to be genuinely sorry for sin,
to hate it more and more,
and to run away from it.
Sermon 7: Image: The dining table - a place of fellowship and bounty overflowing.
Sermon title: "The Dining Table"
Sermon text: Acts 16:16-40
Sermon theme: The Lord provides unexpected feasts in unexpected places with unexpected people.
Sermon outline:
- Unforeseen setbacks: trials and persecutions (Paul and his friends getting beaten and thrown into prison) are on the surface a setback, yet a part of the life of discipleship.
- Unplanned parties: in the middle of the night, in the dark corner of a dungeon there is singing, and then even more amazing, there is a party for these prisoners thrown by the jailer himself!
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 125: We can trust God to provide for all of our needs.
*Movement: to family
Q & A 125
Q. What does the fourth request mean?
A. "Give us today our daily bread" means,
Do take care of all our physical needs
so that we come to know
that you are the only source of everything good,
and that neither our work and worry
nor your gifts
can do us any good without your blessing.
And so help us to give up our trust in creatures
and to put trust in you alone.
Q & A 89
Q. What is the dying-away of the old self?
A. It is to be genuinely sorry for sin,
to hate it more and more,
and to run away from it.
Conclusion: (show | hide)
Sermon 8
Sermon title: "At Home with God"
Sermon text: Rev 21:1-4
Sermon theme: The Lord comes to make his dwelling with us
Sermon outline:
- The passing of former things
- The coming of God
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 1: We begin and end here, at the point of belonging in Christ.
Q & A 1
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong-
body and soul,
in life and in death-
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
If you would like more information on this series, feel free to contact Rev. Peter Choi. His email address is pchoi@cornerstonecrc.net
