Brian's Sermons

...for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matthew 5:1-12 I know some people who have complained that they don’t understand the Bible. I can sympathize with them; there’s a lot that is hard to understand. There are lists of names of places that are all hard to locate and even harder to pronounce. There are customs and situations that are foreign to us. There are confusing names. But I think it was Mark Twain who quipped, "Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture which they cannot understand, but as for me, I have always noticed that the passages in Scripture that trouble me most are those I do understand." This is the heart of the matter. It’s easy to say that Jesus was a good teacher – that’s common parlance even for non-Christians. But Jesus said some seriously difficult things, and this is why we are starting a series asking the question, "What did Jesus really say?" Over the next eight weeks we will be looking at Matthew 5:1-12, a section of scripture

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Mark 10:13-16 When is a child not a child? No, I’m not asking when a child becomes an adult. I’m asking when a child is not a child. You see, we are so immersed in our own culture that we miss the weight of Jesus’ words in this passage. When we miss the weight of his words, we thus miss out on what they mean, and in this case, he’s talking about the Kingdom of God; we risk missing out on the Kingdom altogether when we superimpose our 21st century ideas

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but every bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15-20 Many of you know that I like hot peppers. I like them a lot. So much that I freq uently grow my own. Last year I grew two kinds: cayenne peppers and habanero peppers. But there was one plant that didn’t quite look like the others. It was bigger than the other cayenne pepper plants and smaller than the habanero plants. As its peppers began to grow, they looked like cayenne peppers, but they were smaller, and I recognized them as ornamental peppers. When they got ripe, I tentatively tried one, and though they had a

Matthew 2:1-12 What exactly do the wise men bring to the Christmas story? Besides the gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and besides the inevitable confusion over their number, names, and identities, what do they add to the story? Why is it that Matthew records their visit? Really, this story doesn’t make any sense. Think about it. No, really, think about it. You’ve all become so accustomed to the wise men being in the nativity that it has lost its absurdity. But if you really think about it, it doesn’t make any sense at all. Here we have a story of these magi, from a far-off nation, probably Babylon. Though Matthew wrote his gospel to Jews, these who came to admire the newborn King are not Jewish – they were likely Zoroastrian priests – noted monotheistic astrologers from Babylon. They probably traveled over nine hundred miles to get there. As a frame of reference, that would be like us making a trip from here to the Colorado/Nebraska border. Without the aid of vehicular travel, of course

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 As a child, I always wanted to make a new year’s resolution, mostly because of a record my father shared with me. Happy New Year by Spike Jones When my mother-in-law begins to yell and shout Through the window I would like to throw her out. But I resolve not to do it, here is why: I'm afraid of hittingsomeone passing by. This is my New Year's resolution. When I'm at the movies watching a love scene And a lady's hat is blocking half the screen I resolve not to shout, "Take off that hat!" I'll remove it gently w