Brian's Sermons

Malachi 3:8-10: “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.  Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it . Over the past two weeks, we have been looking at the biblical foundation for giving. We acknowledge first that Psalm 24:1: The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it . Remember that God has given us dominion over it all — the command in Genesis was for humanity to work the land and rule over it. Last week we looked at John Wesley’s rules On the Use of Money: gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can. Today ...

Exodus 20:15  You shall not steal. When I first came to Zambia for a visit, we were driven through Central Market on a Saturday. It was crowded and packed with people, cars, shoppers, vendors. Suddenly as we were stuck in traffic, a man came running through the crowds. He was being pursued by several other men, one of whom had a large club. When they reached our car, they caught the first man and began beating him. Blood was everywhere. In fact, when we reached New Hope Church, our DS remained behind to wash the blood off the car. Rev. Kilembo later explained to us that this man was a thief. He had stolen in the market, and the punishment was a terrible beating. We recognize that stealing is wrong. But here is the fact: stealing is normal in Zambia. If you take your car to a mechanic, you must watch the mechanic like a hawk or he will steal good parts from your car and replace them with poor quality parts. Our DS had most of the parts from his car stolen by a mech...

Sermon on the Mount Intro Matthew 5:1-12 Around a decade ago, there was a Christian fad where we were asked to frame our lives and experiences around a question: “What Would Jesus Do?” So in any given situation, we were urged to ask that question and to behave as we would imagine Jesus would have behaved. That is a good practice and proves helpful in our interactions with others, but the reality is that there are times when it’s not as helpful – for example, if I am in the stern of a boat sleeping during a terrible storm, what would Jesus do? He would calm the storm. Since I can’t exactly do that, what do I do? Of course, asking the question What Would Jesus Do? is of no use if you don’t know who Jesus is or what Jesus did! Now, most of us have known someone who lives by the saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Part of the beauty of what Jesus said is that not only did he say it, but he lived it as well. He talked the talk and walked the walk. There are sometimes, however...

Malachi 3:1-4 What do you do to prepare for Christmas? Most of us have traditions that we follow: who puts up a Christmas tree? Who decorates with lights? Who buys Christmas presents? Who prepares for charitable outreach, like food baskets or gifts for those in need? Who prepares for a special Christmas program or party? What other preparations do you make for Christmas? A major theme of Advent is preparation. Advent is a kind of strange time; we’re supposed to prepare for something that already happened. Kind of like Good Friday, where we mourn over Jesus’ death, even though we know that Easter will come and we’ll be celebrating his resurrection. So how do we prepare for something that already happened? While we’re on the thought of what already happened, I want to look backwards from the passage we read in Malachi 3. Most of us don’t spend a lot of time in the little books of prophecy in the end of the Old Testament, the ones that are known as the Minor Prophets, so...

*see below for a note on source James 4:7-10 There is an economic cloud hovering over us these days, yet there is a silver lining to this cloud: economic challenges cause us to re-examine our financial priorities and practices and rebalance our life investments.  If we’re willing, hard times can help us figure out what is really important in all of life and how to invest more wisely in our relationships, careers, and purpose, as well as our finances. Godly wisdom from the Proverbs indicates that God cares about financial matters.  Proverbs 28:19: He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. Proverbs 13:11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow. Proverbs 22:26-27 Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you. Psalm 37:21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,...

*See the end for a note on source James 4:1-10 We spent five weeks discovering Life Together: through the “One Another” verses in scripture, we explored what it means to be Christians; how we are to serve and encourage one another, live in harmony with one another, bear with one another, forgive one another, and, above all, to love one another.  Loving one another is ultimately important because it’s the only true reflection of God’s character.  Knowing God’s character is vital to living life as a Christian, because His character informs our actions.  Many of us struggle with really knowing God; we picture God as a bearded man in the sky or an aloof judge or powerful, holy Creator and we forget about his Fatherly kindness.  In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us that whoever asks God receives, whoever seeks will find, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. He goes on to say, “If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how m...