"Varieties of Religious Experience: Growing with God"

SERMON TITLE:                 “Varieties of Religious Experience:  Growing with God”
SERMON TEXT:                  2 Timothy 1:1-14
PREACHER:                         Rev. Kim James
OCCASION:                         August 21, 2016, at First UMC
 
 
INTRODUCTION
 
           In these weeks of August, we’ve been considering varieties of religious experience.  Two weeks ago, we read the story of the woman at the well, whose encounter with Jesus quenched her spiritual thirst.  Last Sunday, we read the story of Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus.  After Saul was struck blind by lightning, a Christian disciple named Ananias laid healing hands on Saul and baptized him into the Christian faith. 
Saul and the woman at the well were both adults when they came into a relationship with Jesus Christ.   Their spiritual experience of Jesus called for and brought about significant changes in their lives.  Today’s reading from 2 Timothy provides us with a different variety of religious experience that is much less dramatic, but probably a lot more common.  Let’s see what we can learn about the young man Timothy and what his experience might teach us about “growing with God.”

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