New Blog

Because I've been having trouble on the main church website in posting my sermons, I have decided to make a new blog simply as a clearinghouse for my sermons.

I hope you feel free to post in the comment section, including questions or even disagreements. Please, however, do so in a civil tone - if there are uncivil comments, I will delete them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Eve: Jesus is Hope, Love, Joy, Peace

Throughout Advent, as we have been preparing for Christmas and for Christ’s return, we have been focusing on the four words of the Advent candles: Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. Today, as we celebrate Christmas Eve, we lit the most important candle, the Christ candle. And as we light the Christ candle, it is only fitting that we would focus on Christ and his place within this wreath. Jesus Christ is not only the center candle for his obvious central role in the Christmas story, but his spot in the center of the wreath is because he is the fulfillment of all of the candles. We began Advent with hope. Fitting, that Hope Church would focus on hope. For a people caught in the “in between” times, Micah’s prophecy includes these words of hope: But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. (Micah 7:7) In the Old Testament, when you find the word “hope” it is almost always characterized not simply as “hope” but “hope in the L ord. ” Here
Read more

Life Together: Live in Harmony with One Another

Shortly after I had graduated from college, I took a job at my college in the deans’ office. While I worked with faculty and staff, the other side of the office worked with students.  During the summers, we were usually able to catch up on our work because most of the students were not on campus.  I remember someone making the comment that “if it weren’t for all the students, working at the university would be a perfect job.” It can be easy to forget that without the students, there would be no university.  When it comes to the church, the same is true.  Without the people, there would be no church.  So today we continue in our Life Together series, where we look at the “one another” commands in the Bible.  In the first week, we encouraged one another, and last week we served one another.  Today we get to live in harmony with one another. This can be a confusing and complicated topic, so let’s dive in. In 1 Peter 3:8, Peter gives final commands. Finally, all of you, live in harmony
Read more

The Lord's Signet Ring

Haggai 2:20-23 They say that timing is everything, but I have to admit that in my scripture reading, I often read right over time and place names, but God inspired the authors to include those names on purpose, and by reading over them, that purpose is thwarted. In today’s scripture, we find the last word of the Lord that came to Haggai. There is a specific date included, and it’s the same date that the last word came, which is also the same day that construction started on the temple. This is significant, because the word that God now delivers is in direct response to Zerubbabel’s actions. I believe that God spoke again in direct response to the people. There are people who believe that God set things into action and then stepped back, but this belief simply does not follow from a biblical understanding of God. In this prophecy, we see God responding to the action of his people! Remember that last week in God’s previous word: God promised to shake away all created things
Read more