Brian's Sermons

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...

Philippians 2:5-18 Last week, we got a full-on attitude check. Not an “at least my attitude is OK” kind of attitude check, but the kind where we ask, “Is my attitude the same as Jesus’ attitude?” I fully believe that Jesus had every opportunity and ability to quit. At any time, Jesus could have called the whole thing off. But instead, Jesus chose to serve humanity, going so far as to offer himself as a sacrifice on the cross. And so God gave Jesus his reward – he exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Jesus’ obedience even to death on a cross reveals Jesus’ equality with God.  There is a reason Paul says all of this, and I’ve often been guilty of taking what commentaries call the “Christ Hymn” out of Paul’s context and using it solely to look at Jesus and his actions and his character, but Paul has a specific reason for saying all this. One of the reasons Paul is writing to the Philippian Church is to encourage them in thei...