Brian's Sermons

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired me and followed him. Mark 1:16-20 In our effort to understand our mission: Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world , last week we talked about discipleship – how being a true follower of Jesus requires us to count the cost and to commit ourselves completely to Him. Simon, Andrew, James, and John left their profession – left everything – to follow Jesus in this new endeavor. Now they were going to give their lives to catch people rather than fish. If you were all-powerful and you wanted everyone on earth to ...

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...