Brian's Sermons

Luke 13:1-8 Why do bad things happen to good people? This is one of the most important philosophical questions the Christian can answer. In seminary, this question is known as theodicy, and it deals with what is called “the problem of evil.” Simply stated, the problem of evil is, how can an all-powerful, all-loving God allow evil to happen. It is a valid question. Before we deal with this question, we have to look at the context in which it is asked. In the passage in Luke, this question is being brought up for a specific reason. It is a distraction. Jesus’ preaching is making people uncomfortable. Luke 12 records Jesus preaching, first to his disciples, then to a crowd of many thousands, so many, the Bible records, that they were trampling on one another. Jesus warns them to “ Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15). He also warns them against worry – reminding them that G...

How many of you have ever given something up for Lent? I never gave something up for Lent until I was in seminary, and when I did, I gave up pop. Now, you have to realize that I was dirt poor at the time, and my pop consumption was pretty low. I would buy a Pepsi from the machine at the Laundromat for $.35 when I did the laundry, probably about once a week. But the second day of Lent that year, I went to a seminar, and in the intermission, they had a table set out with all kinds of free snacks and free Coke and Cherry Coke… and of course, I had given it up the day before. I still remember and kind of groan about it, and, upon some reflection, I think I know why. My focus was off. I was focused on myself and what I was giving up. The whole reason I gave it up was because I felt like I was supposed to give something up for Lent. While I have fasted and have seen that discipline help me, I admit that there are times when I have done it for the sake of fasting. Or even because everyo...

As a coach, there is one thing I’ve found that seems true over all age groups and in pretty much any sport. That truth is this: if you focus on the basics, you will be more likely to succeed. Not just focusing on the basics, but practicing them over and over. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a football player try to “thud up” a ball carrier or an outfielder get ready to make the big throw before the ball is in his mitt or a basketball player blow a slam dunk when an easy lay-up would have done just fine. I even remember a soccer teammate who tried to do a fancy backwards overhead kick to clear out the ball and ended up scoring on our own goal. As a Christian, and as a pastor, I’ve found that sometimes we can focus a whole lot of attention on the little things, and some of them seem really important, but if we don’t spend time focusing on the main thing, we can forget the whole point. A prime example would be a famous pastor and public speaker who has always focused on lost an...