Brian's Sermons

Luke 2:25-35   25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,   29  “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,   according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”   33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a

Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this . Over the past four weeks, we have been preparing for Christmas by looking at the prophecy from Isaiah 9:6-7. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of

Isaiah 9:6-7  Over the past three weeks, we have been preparing for Christmas by looking at the prophecy from Isaiah 9:6-7. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this . We looked at Jesus’ role as the Wonderful Counselor who guides us to a good destination, just as a shepherd leads his flock beside still waters to green pastures. Last week we focused on Jesus’ role as Mighty God. Jesus is Immanuel, God with us!   This leads us to today’s focus: Jesus is Everlasting Father. Since we already established that Jesus is Mighty God, then it’s not a long way to go to als

Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Last week we started our Advent journey in the passage from Isaiah, focusing on the prophecy in chapter 9, verse 6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Our focus last week was the first Name ascribed to Jesus: Wonderful Counselor. Jesus is our wonderful counselor, transforming us by the renewing of our minds.   A counselor is important to help us overcome, to help

He Shall Be Called… Wonderful Counselor Isaiah 9:1-7 9 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— 2  The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” We have come a long way through the Ten Commandments. We first recognize where they come from; the Ten Commandments are not just arbitrary rules; they are God’s handiwork to help us follow Him, not just outwardly, but in our hearts and attitudes as well. The last several commandments deal with how to get along with others, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not lie. These deal with our actions, but Jesus’ words show that they also deal with our hearts. One does not have to murder to be guilty; Jesus expands the concept of murder to include hatred. One does not have to commit adultery to be guilty, Jesus expands the concept to include lust. But the commandments themselves deal with specific actions.   Now we get to the last c

Exodus 20:15  You shall not steal. When I first came to Zambia for a visit, we were driven through Central Market on a Saturday. It was crowded and packed with people, cars, shoppers, vendors. Suddenly as we were stuck in traffic, a man came running through the crowds. He was being pursued by several other men, one of whom had a large club. When they reached our car, they caught the first man and began beating him. Blood was everywhere. In fact, when we reached New Hope Church, our DS remained behind to wash the blood off the car. Rev. Kilembo later explained to us that this man was a thief. He had stolen in the market, and the punishment was a terrible beating. We recognize that stealing is wrong. But here is the fact: stealing is normal in Zambia. If you take your car to a mechanic, you must watch the mechanic like a hawk or he will steal good parts from your car and replace them with poor quality parts. Our DS had most of the parts from his car stolen by a mechanic

Exodus 20:14  “You shall not commit adultery.” Some of you have been here every week of the series on the Ten Commandments, and you know what I’m going to say. You know that it was God who created us, and the same God gave us rules to live by. There are some people who want to say, “It’s my life and nobody can tell me how to live it.” I want you to imagine something. Imagine you are coming home with a brand new TV. You spent all your money on it, and it’s a big one. You bring it home and take it out of the box. There is a book of instructions, but you decide you are going to ignore it. After all, it is your TV and nobody can tell you how to use it. So you carefully place the TV on the floor, screen up, and you call the neighborhood children to come in and play. They begin jumping up and down on the TV. What will happen to the TV? Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Exodus 20:13: You shall not murder. Through the past weeks, we have been looking in depth into the Ten Commandments, God’s rules for living. We started with God’s introduction — the commandments come only in the context of who God is. After God’s people had disobeyed God and experienced the consequences of disobedience, we read God’s response as recorded in Isaiah 48:17-18: Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waters of the sea.   There are rewards for following God’s will, and there are consequences for not . God gave us the Ten Commandments, not to beat us into submission, but to teach us how to live in right relationship with Him and in harmony with one another.   Last week we shifted from the first commandments, whic

Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.   Recently in Lusaka, RTSA unveiled a new plan for raising revenues; they installed speed cameras in various places around Lusaka, and they sent out speeding tickets via SMS. They apparently have raised K13.5 million already. One of the problems is that often, where the speed cameras are, nobody knows the speed limit! People are being punished for offenses they do not know about.   As God’s people, we have been given the Ten Commandments. They are the rules that God expects his people to live by. But they are not just arbitrary or random rules. They are rules that help us live in right relationship with God and with one another.   The commandment we are looking at today deals with families. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Honor your parents. This seems pretty st

Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Once I led a game with the young people of the church. They were really excited about the game, but there was one thing I didn’t do. I did not tell them the rules. There was really no way anyone could win without knowing the rules. God doesn’t just give us rules to help us “win” but to point us toward him. God, in his power and love, gave us the boundaries that will help us be in right relationship with him and with others around us.   For the background to toda