Brian's Sermons

For the past five weeks, we have been asking Jesus to teach us to pray, just as he taught his disciples to pray. This prayer, which we call the Lord’s Prayer, is a fantastic model of prayer. We begin by acknowledging who God is . Though God is above all else, He is also our Father who loves us. As His children, we accept the responsibility to “hallow” His name, to set it apart as holy. One way we do this is by reflecting His character in our actions and nature. We call God “King” and thus accept his unconditional rule over us . In light of His love for us, and because of our subsequent love for him, we actually obey what he says and we live out His Kingdom here on earth. He is our King, and we are His ambassadors. When we ask for our daily bread, we acknowledge our dependence on God for everything . and as we ask Him to provide for our needs, both physical and spiritual. At the same time, we recognize that He might be using us to provide daily bread for others. As we reflect on th...

40 Days of Prayer starts today! Today kicks off one of the most exciting days in the United Methodist Church: day 1 of the 40 days of prayer. I invite you to visit the UMC Young Clergy prayer blog today, where you'll find the first prayer of 40 . Even as I write this, 192 people have joined the Facebook event for the 40 days of prayer. The hope for this prayer campaign is renewal in the United Methodist Church, and true renewal must start with God. This is our goal in prayer: that God will renew us, lead us, guide us, and transform us. Would you join us?

When I was in middle school, I found a bumper sticker at a novelty store. It was white with red letters which boldly stated: I can resist anything but temptation. Isn’t that true? If it weren’t for temptation, we’d probably be doing pretty well in our quest to live sin-free lives. But sadly, we don’t always do such a good job resisting. Jesus knew the human condition. That’s why he instructs us to pray; Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. At first glance, this seems really straightforward. We all need help in overcoming temptation. If I asked you: “how many of you have been tempted already this morning?” the only ones who wouldn’t raise their hands would be the ones who were tempted to lie. Let’s first look at temptation itself. In biblical thought, to tempt meant to test something or someone in order to determine or demonstrate worth or faithfulness. Temptation also refers to an attempt, often by Satan, to incite a person to sin. Jesus knows all about tempt...

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Therefore the Kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him millions of dollars was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. “Be patient with me,” he begged, “and I will pay back everything.” The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt, and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and began to choke him. “Pay back what you owe me!” he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.” But he refused. Inst...

Message #3 in the series: The Lord's Prayer Matthew 6:5-13 ( look it up here ) What are you asking God for? What is on your prayer list? What feeds you physically? What feeds your soul? As we started the Lord’s Prayer, we were reminded that it is to God, our loving Father, to whom we pray. Our first responsibility is to lift up His name, not only as we pray, but in our obedience to Him. We appropriately “hallow” His name by behaving like Him. When we ask for His Kingdom to come, we voluntarily set ourselves under His rule – in every aspect of our lives. Finally, after we have properly situated ourselves in this context, we are ready to ask for something for ourselves. Remember that this is the context in which we begin to make requests for our needs. We ask for God to give us this day our daily bread . In the biblical context, bread is the staple food. It stands as a synonym for food itself as the symbol for everything needed to sustain physical life. Simply put, we ask Go...