Brian's Sermons

John 4:46-54 Today we’re continuing our series Vital Signs, where we are looking at Jesus’ miracles as recorded in the Gospel according to John.  As the Scripture stated, this is the second miraculous sign Jesus performed.  But before we start, let’s pray. I was a junior in high school, I was at church camp, and I was in love (for those reading this and not just hearing it, you’ve got to read that in the most sarcastic, sappy voice you can muster) . There was this young lady there at camp who I thought was fantastic looking.  She was just my type.  I was determined to make my move on her.  Through the week I tried to get to know her, not really successfully.  But then my sister, who shared a cabin with this young lady, told me about one morning, when the young lady in question had gotten dressed.  She was apparently admiring herself in the mirror, saying, “My shoes are brown, my pants are brown, my shirt is brown, my socks are brown, my hair is brown… my last name is Brown!”   This

I have to start out this morning by acknowledging that many of you made significant decisions last week as we decided together that “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.” This is important as we enter into this time of our Christian calendar – if you’re not familiar with the Christian year, we started Lent this week, a 40 day period where we focus on holiness, repentance, fasting, prayer, and preparation for Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return. This year during Lent I will be leading a series called Vital Signs. we will be looking at the signs and miracles Jesus performed as recorded in the Gospel according to John.  Understand as we go into this that these aren’t Jesus’ only miracles.  John himself reported that Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (John 21:25).  But the signs that John reported are important for us for this reason: it was

Today is the Day to Choose… Joshua 24:1-24 It was the Fall of 1985; I was 14 years old, it was halftime of the last soccer game of the season, and we were tied.  I can remember the scene vividly, how our coach gave us a rousing pep talk. I can still remember the words he said to us, but they’re not really appropriate for a Sunday morning talk!  We went on to preserve the tie, the only game that season that we didn’t lose.  The halftime speech did what it was intended to do. What makes a good halftime pep talk?  A reminder of who the team is – their history, maybe even their past failures as well as their successes.  A reminder of what has brought them there; what hardships they’ve overcome to get there and what has defined them as a team.  Do you think the New Orleans Saints mentioned Hurricane Katrina before or during the Super Bowl? During times of transition or difficulty, it is always important to be reminded of what’s most important and of who you are. This is what we find in

The closer the person, the worse the pain.  There is nothing that hurts like the pain suffered at the hand of a friend or family member.  Have you ever been hurt?  Badly?  The kind of hurt that leaves scars for the rest of your life?   Today I want to tell you the painful story of Joe Jacobson ( yes, I took the name from Andy Stanley ). Imagine a middle eastern teenager, only 17 years old.  His brothers were tending their father’s sheep, and Joe’s dad, Jacob, sends him out to meet them to see if everything was well with them. Now you have to understand that Joe was his dad’s favorite and he had never exactly ingratiated himself with his brothers. He had already brought bad reports on them (basically tattled) and as the baby of the family, he was his father’s favorite.  And he had those dreams. Dreams where his brothers were worshiping him.  So anyway, he headed to find them.  When he got there, he found that they had moved on an additional 10-15 miles.  So he followed them until he