Brian's Sermons

Have you ever had to wait and wait and wait? Can you remember when you were a little child, when it seemed like Christmas morning would never get here? The wait was endless. Or maybe you’ve had to wait for something more recently, like waiting for the doctor to come out to the waiting room to tell you that the surgery was successful… or waiting for a soldier to come home… or waiting for the call that says you’ve got the job. Then there are other kinds of waits. Is there anyone who doesn’t check to see which checkout lane is shortest? And that doesn’t mean just by numbers – you have to look at how stuffed the carts are.  Same thing with lines at tollbooths or even stop signs. And some of us will drive 40 miles out of our way to avoid a 10 minute traffic jam. We don’t like to wait. Why is it that we don’t like to wait? Part of it is that we just aren’t patient by nature, but another part is that we are often fearful about the results. It’s like why men don’t go to the d...

(Note: The thoughts contained in this message and last week's come from   The Bait of Satan  by   John Bevere ) Last week we established that most of us have every reason to be offended. We have suffered every sort of wrong, no matter who we are or what we’ve done (or not done) to deserve this treatment. The worst pain comes when the offense was done by someone close to us, and often, when we’ve been wronged, we begin to build up around ourselves walls for self-preservation. Unfortunately these walls don’t end up protecting us; they end up isolating us and keeping us from growing and maturing. Often God uses those difficult circumstances to shape us into the person He is calling us to become, and when we simply run away from them, we not only miss out on the blessings God has for us, but we are actually sinning against God. This is exactly what Satan wants us to do; pick up the bait he has set out for us and end up trapped in a stronghold. Most of us have experience...

(Note: The thoughts contained in this message and next week's come from   The Bait of Satan by John Bevere ) I grew up watching a lot of action movies. The general plot of every action movie in the mid to late 1980s was the same: bad guys do bad things. The good guy is usually reluctant but eventually is brought into the action, usually after something bad has happened to him, his friends, or his family. He is thus “forced” to come in and get revenge. There is something that just seems “right” about this kind of story. When we are wronged, we need justice. This is intentional; it is because God wired us this way. God made us in his own image, and our God is a God who requires justice; it is part of his Holy character. So when we desire justice, we are, at some level, reflecting God’s character. Unfortunately, going all Chuck Norris on someone is not what God had in mind. But the draw of these action movies is clear; most of us have been wronged at some point or anot...