Brian's Sermons

The Parable of the Sower Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 I’m not much into gardening, but whenever I am working in the garden, especially pulling weeds, I always hear God’s voice. No, not an audible voice, but God speaks to me when I’m in the garden. For example, there’s this one vine that grows all over the place, in our garden, in the flower beds outside the church. It starts small, but before you know it, it’s everywhere, sending out little vines that wrap around everything. When I see it, it reminds me of sin, which starts small and, if unchecked, will wind its way through every aspect of your life. Can anyone relate? It’s no wonder that when Jesus began telling stories about the Kingdom of God that He used everyday situations to convey his message. When I was little, we learned that a parable was an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. But in seminary, my professors told us that parables were earthly stories with earthly meanings. A parable is a story that carries a lesson. Speaking t

Luke 14:7-24 Our country is full of people who claim not to like the church but to be fans of Jesus. I see Jesus all over in pop culture: everything from “Jesus is my homeboy” t-shirts to Jesus bobbleheads. It seems like everyone except violent atheists like Jesus. That’s all well and good, but some people at some point in history didn’t like him; they didn’t like him enough that they crucified him. What is it about Jesus that makes him such a polarizing person? How could he attract large crowds who would follow him everywhere and at the same time have a group of influential people willing to stop at nothing to kill him? It could have something to do with the things he taught. But the only way to find out what he taught is to listen to what he said. In this sermon series, I’m going to invite you to listen to the stories Jesus told. There are some that are familiar enough that their phrases have come into normal cultural use, like “Good Samaritan.” Others are a little more obscure.

Titus 3:5-15 As we continue in Paul’s letter to Titus, I want to pause a moment to acknowledge something. On one hand, it’s been pretty easy to translate the situation on Crete to the current situation in our country; both have prevailing cultures of indulgence and deceit. At the same time, it’s been hard preparing these messages, because the scripture continues to unearth difficult areas in my life where I need Jesus more. Last week I realized that one reality that is difficult to navigate is how far we have to subject ourselves to rulers and authorities when they are obviously corrupt. It was obvious as I preached that section of scripture that many of us have some pretty strong feelings about authority, especially when it comes to personal liberties and use of money. Many of us feel like we’re being stretched, poked, and prodded needlessly by the government and we’d really like the government to just get out of our business, especially out of our wallets. I recognized that tens

Titus 3:1-5 Paul continues in his letter to Titus, a letter full of instructions on how to live a Christian life in a decidedly non-Christian environment. It’s kind of ironic that while I’m in the midst of a series on a book of the Bible I’d never really even studied before, the theme of our Bible Studies at Camp Sychar was Holy Living in an Unholy World. Sounds pretty much like Paul’s theme to Titus. Titus chapter 3 starts with a reminder: Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good… This is hard in a culture of “I have the final authority in my life,” which is exactly what Titus was dealing with on Crete and pretty similar to the conditions we face here. Remember that there is a higher authority than you. Ultimately we all follow God, but God has placed each of us under authority. For a moment, let’s consider the situation to which Paul is writing. Crete long held out independence against neighboring invaders, inclu