Brian's Sermons

Last week we introduced an important and difficult concept. Poverty. We often think of poverty only in financial terms, but in reality, poverty is based in broken relationship. Broken relationship with God, broken relationship in ourself, broken relationship with others, and broken relationship with all creation. In the beginning, God created humanity to be in perfect relationship with him. But very quickly, we find Adam and Eve disobeying God. The response, as found in Genesis 3:23-25 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life . Now, instead of living in the Garden of Eden in perfect relationship with God, they have been banished, never to return. Never to walk together in the cool of the morning. Never again to speak face to face. Our relations...

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 an...

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...

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...

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...

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 commandme...

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...

The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.   One of the things I love to do is to play games. I especially love strategy games. But one of the hardest things about strategy games is learning the rules. Once you know the rules, you can figure out how to play the game. God gave his people rules to live by. We call them the Ten Commandments. The first five of the Ten Commandments help us know how to love God. The final five help us know how to love one another.   We are now on the third sermon in our series o...

The Benefits of Discipleship Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is hard. Two weeks ago, we looked at how hard it is. Following Jesus doesn’t mean everything will now be easy. He said we have to prioritize him over everything else. Today we will look at the benefits of discipleship. Before we get to today’s topic, I have a question for you. Would you invite a false prophet to speak at church? Would you invite a false prophet to come and teach you individual lessons at home? Would you willingly look to a false prophet for guidance in your daily life, to disciple you? This is exactly what we are doing when we leave the television on. When we’re watching Bollywood, African Magic, Telemundo. They are discipling this nation, and they are offering a false gospel. They offer guidance that says: Money is the answer to your problems. Your spouse isn’t good enough; you need to have an affair. There is adventure in lying and cheating. You need this product or that product to fulfil...

Luke 7:17-23 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” What do you come expecting when you come to celebrate Christmas? What are your expectations? What are you celebrating? One of the themes as we p...

Have you ever met your hero? When I was fourteen years old, one of my heroes was American football star, Jim McMahon. In January he had led his team, the Chicago Bears, to the championship, and in March, he came to my hometown to sign autographs. I stood in a long line with thousands of other fans, and bought an overpriced poster. Finally my brother and I were face-to-face with our hero. I had watched many of the Chicago Bears’ games that year, including the championship. I knew all about Jim McMahon and the disciplinary trouble he’d gotten in. I even knew what kind of treatment he had gotten for his injuries. So how do you expect he greeted me when I walked up the steps to the table where he sat autographing pictures? After all, I knew all about him. If you’re wondering, he didn’t greet me at all. He didn’t even look at me. He just scrawled his name on my poster. I could tell you that I met Jim McMahon that day, but I really didn’t. And there are a lot of people in our world ...