Brian's Sermons

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, "Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!" Matthew 23:37-39 You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker as many times as I have – maybe you even have one on your car. Across the sticker, in the background is the familiar red, white, and blue of our flag, blowing in a breeze. In the foreground is the slogan, "God bless America." There’s something that kind of bothers me about that slogan. I wonder about the particular use of the word "bless" that is used there. Hasn’t God already blessed us? We are one of the wealthiest nations, both financially and materially. God has blessed us over and over. But why? Some would...

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" "Who are you, lord?" Saul asked. And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." Acts 9:1-6 What are the six hardest words to say in the English language? I pose that they are "I am sorry. I was wrong." Nobody likes to be wrong. It is part of our nature that we always want to be right – and even when we know that ...

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me." But the Lord said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." -Luke 10:38-42 Last week, we studied how God called Moses’ name twice from the burning bush. Moses was mired in a life of inactivity, not living up to his potential or even to his training. God had prepared something for him to do, and He needed to call Moses twice. Today we look at a completely different situation; Martha is anyth...

note: this is the manuscript I prepared for Sunday's sermon. I delivered a bit different sermon, as I felt that God was really calling me to do so. Here's the outline of what I preached. God called Moses twice because of Moses' inactivity. He was brought up in the house of Pharaoh to be a leader, and here he was, tending sheep. God gets Moses in a place where he will hear Him. For us, times of prayer and fasting are such places where we can hear God. God calls Moses to a postition He had prepared for him. He has something prepared for you, too. God doesn't just call the equipped; He equips the called. One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. "This is amazing,...

So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. Colossians 3:1-3 (Message) Church camp was always a great time for me. I loved the setting in rural Indiana where I would spend a week every summer learning, playing games, memorizing scripture, worshiping God, eating camp food (honestly, I thought it was pretty good), and hanging out with Christian kids from all over north central Indiana. One of the highlights of camp was the real way I would experience God. In fact, it seems like every summer, I was led to conviction about something, and on Friday night...