Brian's Sermons

Luke 7:17-23 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” What do you come expecting when you come to celebrate Christmas? What are your expectations? What are you celebrating? One of the themes as we p...

What brings you joy? This time of year is often associated with joy – people experience joy in Christmas. Advertisers would like you to believe that only if you buy their products will your joy – or the joy of your loved ones – be complete. This is the third week in Advent. We started with hope: the hope of Christ’s birth and Christ’s return. Last week we focused on love: love came down at Christmas in the Person of Jesus Christ, and love lives within us, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, allowing us to love other people, even the unlovely. Today our focus is joy. Joy is one of those Bible words that in some ways has lost its meaning, partially because there are many words that we translate to joy, and they vary in their intensity. Just like we can say we “love” all kinds of things, from our favorite sports team to our favorite food to our spouse, “joy” can also carry different weight. It’s one of those things where we know we want it, but we don’t necessarily know how to defi...

Good Friday Community Service Everything started exactly right. Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, with God as their God and friend. But you know the story; they sinned, and the entire world felt the sting. Separation from God ensued. The God of the Universe pursued His creation, created from nobody a people, a people He would bless to be a blessing to the world. The Lord would be their God and they would be His people. God led Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Later, God called Moses to lead His people out of Egyptian captivity – leading Israel in a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. But in the last five chapters of the book of Judges, three times we find the phrase: “in those days Israel had no king.” This is an important designation, because a king was not simply the ruler of his people. In the Ancient Near East, a king didn’t function quite like a king or ruler might function today. It was the universal understanding that the king was not the top dog – the deity w...

Luke 3:1-20 What are you looking forward to? Christmas?  The New Year?  Heaven?  Most of us are looking forward to something.  When I think of Christmas time as a child, the one word that I would use to describe it would be anticipation.  I would generally just ask for just one thing for Christmas, and then I’d have to wait and wait.  Christmas Eve was the hardest night to fall asleep, because the anticipation was so great. So what are you looking forward to?  What are you anticipating? And what are you doing to prepare for it?  As a child, we were told that Santa would know if we’d been naughty or nice, and that our Christmas haul depended upon our behavior.  So we would ostensibly prepare for Christmas by being “nice.” When we look at scriptures, the Bible works to prepare us for Christmas, for the coming of Jesus Christ.  The entire Old Testament works together to let us know why it was necessary for God to take on flesh and to...