Brian's Sermons

We are in our second week of our Life Together series – trying to navigate life in community, to live out what God has called us to be.  Last week we encouraged one another; how did it feel to seek people out to encourage them?  I thought it was great; before I’d even left this building, I saw you rushing to encourage each other.  It was good, and I hope you keep it up.  What kinds of things did you do to encourage others?  Did anyone come up with anything creative? Did you use words, or did you think of other ways to encourage as well?  One of the most encouraging things that I saw actually didn’t come as a response to last week’s message. Back in January, I preached a message in which I included a story from the late Mike Yaconelli, in which a young woman in his congregation, in response to a sermon about God’s unconditional love, decided they ought to have a welcome dinner for the carnies.  Well, that stuck with some of you, and you decided that we...

Do those words from the Psalmist hit home for you? Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm. (Psalm 55:6-7). We are wired to respond to acute stress by “fight or flight” in which we either meet our problems head on or we run from them.  Not only am I a runner physically, but I am naturally a runner when it comes to conflict, too.  I would rather have everyone just be happy and get along together.  I don’t like conflict! I would rather run! But the truth is that God calls us as Christians to do hard things .  We are not called to run away from trouble.  Last week I mentioned the “faith hall of fame” in Hebrews 11, and how all of these heroes of the Bible lived by faith.  They lived by faith even to the point of death, and they were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things...

6th message in our series: Putting the Pieces Together: a Journey toward mature discipleship*. The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt." At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. John 12:12-16 It is a fantastic scene: Jesus coming into Jerusalem triumphantly: for as humble as it may seem, this was the answer to prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See...

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired me and followed him. Mark 1:16-20 In our effort to understand our mission: Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world , last week we talked about discipleship – how being a true follower of Jesus requires us to count the cost and to commit ourselves completely to Him. Simon, Andrew, James, and John left their profession – left everything – to follow Jesus in this new endeavor. Now they were going to give their lives to catch people rather than fish. If you were all-powerful and you wanted everyone on earth to ...