Brian's Sermons

The evangelist Billy Sunday is quoted as saying, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Last week I finished with the challenge that there is no such thing as a Sunday-only Christian. This week we continue looking at the vows of the United Methodist Church. Our final vow is this: As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayer, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness? This should serve as a reminder that the members of the congregation are, by definition, the church. The church isn’t a building or an institution. In today’s culture, we talk of “going to church” as if church is a destination or a place. But that isn’t accurate. The church is the people of God, called out by God for a purpose.   For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that...

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” We have come a long way through the Ten Commandments. We first recognize where they come from; the Ten Commandments are not just arbitrary rules; they are God’s handiwork to help us follow Him, not just outwardly, but in our hearts and attitudes as well. The last several commandments deal with how to get along with others, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not lie. These deal with our actions, but Jesus’ words show that they also deal with our hearts. One does not have to murder to be guilty; Jesus expands the concept of murder to include hatred. One does not have to commit adultery to be guilty, Jesus expands the concept to include lust. But the commandments themselves deal with specific actions.   Now we get to the la...

1 Samuel 1:12-18 I have grown up in an achievement-oriented society. We are known by what we accomplish. We want to be known as competent and strong.   Last week we looked at the story of Hannah, and we met Eli, the high priest of Israel, who loved to sit in his chair at the entrance to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. We saw Eli in direct contrast to Hannah — she was a nobody, yet she knelt in the presence of Yahweh. Eli was the high priest, yet he had no real relationship with Yahweh! Eli would have been the competent and strong man; he was the high priest.   But the contrast does not end here. Hannah dedicated her child to God, quite literally; he was raised in the Tabernacle. But look at Eli’s own sons — 1 Samuel 2:12 describes them this way: Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. Worthless. Can you imagine? In 1 Samuel 1:16, Hannah pleads, “please don’t think I’m a worthless woman.” We remember that it was she who was in positio...

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one . Matthew 6:13 Over the last two weeks, we looked at forgiveness. To get to forgiveness, we must recognize that we have sinned. We ask for forgiveness from our past sin. Now that we have done so, we ask for protection from future sin. The reality is, temptation will always be with us. The closer we draw to Jesus Christ, the more the devil will tempt us. Our goal as Christians is Christ-likeness, and so we should expect the same things that Jesus experienced. Right as he was to begin his ministry, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Hebrews 4:15, in describing Jesus as our high priest says this: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus has been tempted in every way, but he did not give in to temptation. Sometimes Christians believe that temptation itself is...

1 Corinthians 11:23-29 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. As a child, I remember playing outside with my friends in the evening, having so much fun, and then we’d hear a familiar sound. One by one...

What Does The Holy Spirit Do? Last week we had an intense time of worship, where many of us admitted that we weren’t where we want to be in relation to the Holy Spirit, that there are times when we don’t experience the Spirit’s presence. There was an outpouring of the Spirit as many came forward for prayer. I hope and pray that this isn’t simply a play on the emotion of the day but a time of listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking. One of our problems seems to be that we want control. A long time ago I received a small pamphlet by Robert Boyd Munger, called My Heart – Christ’s Home . He describes his heart as a home for Christ. Toward the end, he realizes that he has been trying to keep his heart clean and available for Christ, but when he gets one area clean, he discovers another area that is dirty. When he cleans it, he finds the first area is dirty again. Suddenly I asked, “Lord is there a possibility that you would be willing to manage the whole house and op...

Have you ever met your hero? When I was fourteen years old, one of my heroes was American football star, Jim McMahon. In January he had led his team, the Chicago Bears, to the championship, and in March, he came to my hometown to sign autographs. I stood in a long line with thousands of other fans, and bought an overpriced poster. Finally my brother and I were face-to-face with our hero. I had watched many of the Chicago Bears’ games that year, including the championship. I knew all about Jim McMahon and the disciplinary trouble he’d gotten in. I even knew what kind of treatment he had gotten for his injuries. So how do you expect he greeted me when I walked up the steps to the table where he sat autographing pictures? After all, I knew all about him. If you’re wondering, he didn’t greet me at all. He didn’t even look at me. He just scrawled his name on my poster. I could tell you that I met Jim McMahon that day, but I really didn’t. And there are a lot of people in our world ...

Philadelphia: Revelation 3:7-13 It has been a while since I have been in the pulpit here. But before Easter Revival, when I last preached here, we were looking at the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia, as recorded in the Book of Revelation. Today we get the letter to the church in Philadelphia. Some of the churches were doing pretty well, but there were some problems. Mostly with churches trying to coexist with the culture by inviting un-Christian aspects of the culture to infiltrate the church. So many of the letters are punctuated by sharp warnings. But not the church in Philadelphia. If you want to think of it this way, think of going to charge conference and presenting your report, and instead of picking at the little details, the DS and those assembled have nothing negative to say. The name “Philadelphia” means “city of brotherly love.” But the Christians here were receiving a less than loving response from the Jewish community. In fact, the church was being p...

The Sixth Word: “It is finished!” (John 19:28-30) Reflection 28  Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”  29  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.  30  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. I love long-distance running. I have loved running since I was a little boy. But there is something about running a long race. My first long race was a 40 km trail race. It was over some very difficult terrain, and the last two or three km were all uphill. When I saw the finish line, I got tears in my eyes. I was finished, not just done with the race, but I was finished. I had nothing else left. You’ve probably seen football matches where, at the final whistle, the players ...

Matthew 7:24-29 It is our final installment in the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus starts out this section with a “therefore.” I learned as a kid that whenever your verse starts with a “therefore” you’ve got to go back and see what the “therefore” is there for. Immediately before this section was the section about false prophets and about those who say, “Lord, Lord, I did all this in your name!” but to whom Jesus says, “I don’t even know you.” Jesus is making it clear that those who truly are his disciples are those who are all his – inside and out. Not the hypocrite who makes sure to follow the letter of the Law but ignores its intent. Not the one who makes a big show of their so-called righteous acts. Not the one who chases after the things of this world. And not the one who purports to speak for God but speaks on their own authority. These are those to whom Jesus proclaims, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:23) ...