Brian's Sermons

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in(to) the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve talked about the honor we have of being God’s people, the church. Everything we do is motivated and led by Christ, our Head. We discussed, therefore, that what Jesus said carries special weight. Many people have died for causes they believed in, but Jesus did something utterly unique: not only did he die for a cause, but he also defied history by his resurrection. Is it any wonder that when his disciples came to him that some doubted? After all, their worldview didn’t include someone physically rising from the dead, yet here was Jesus, who had done so. Now his words held even more ...

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:34-40 Last week we discussed who we are as a church: God has called us out, and we have answered, gathering together for his purposes. I also reminded you that Jesus Christ is central to the church. If Jesus Christ is central to church, then it’s probably a good idea to determine what Jesus found important. A few years back, the movement was to determine "what would Jesus do" – this was supposed to help us figure out how we were supposed to act. Though it’s a good ...

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Acts 2:1-8 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were...

This will be the home of my sermon manuscripts in the future. I accidentally saved over my first sermon: "Who Am I?" so that won't appear here, but in the future, you can come here and re-read what I preached on Sunday. Please note that I write my sermon as a manuscript pretty much in the way I'd speak it, but then I pare it back to notes for Sunday, and the actual delivery won't be exactly like it's written. So if you want to know verbatim what I said, you'll have to show up to hear it.