Brian's Sermons

Philippians 4:4-9 I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, reading a book that was required reading for class: The Christology of Jesus . It was very heady reading, and I was struggling with it. A woman asked me what I was reading and I showed her the cover of the book and muttered, “It’s a chore.” She, having obviously misheard me, responded brightly, “Honey, any time you’re reading about Jesus, it’s a joy.” I don’t know if she was an angel sent down from heaven or if she was just an angel stationed here on earth, but God had obviously sent her to give me a clear message. This is the same kind of message Paul is sending to the church in Philippi. There is always something to rejoice about! It doesn’t bother me that I read this first part of the passage in my last sermon, because, if Paul can repeat himself, so can I! Rejoice in the Lord always! Rejoice! One of the things that Paul was sure of was that Jesus would return soon. I’ve seen a T-shirt that says, “Jesus is co...

Philippians 2:19-30, 3:1-11 I don’t think we can adequately understand how hard it was on Paul, waiting to receive news about his loved ones, when we are bombarded with news. If my mom hasn’t gotten a Facebook update from me in a couple of days, she gets frantic ( sorry for picking on you mom, and please know that this is hyperbole ). We have Facebook and cellphones and Skype and stuff I don’t even know about. Instead of all of that, Paul has Timothy. We already discussed Timothy very briefly when we looked at the introduction and back in January I had a sermon series about Paul which included a sermon about Timothy, Paul’s  “beloved son in the Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:17), his “true son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2). As we’ve gotten this far in Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, we have seen that Paul is calling the Philippians to have a Christ-like attitude, one that values others over self, but did you notice Paul’s attitude? Paul is in prison, where Timothy and Ep...

Philippians 1:12-30 In the last two weeks of our study of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, we have gotten all the way through the introduction and prayer. Today we will dive into the body of the letter. As we do, remember that Paul didn’t write this letter to right some kind of wrong; he is writing to thank them for their gift and to encourage them during a time of struggle. When you’re struggling, you’ll find that there are several kinds of people. The first kind really doesn’t care. They are simply self-absorbed. They say, “How are you doing?” and when you start to answer, they wait until you take a breath and interrupt to tell you their own story of woe. There are the well-meaning people who just don’t have the words to say to encourage you, but they feel like they need to say something anyway. They are the ones who you thought were your friends and then they say something so insensitive that you can’t believe anyone would say it, let alone a Christian friend. ...

Philippians 1:3-11 I’m not really a collector or a saver – moving as often as we do, I know better than to try to save too much stuff . But one thing I do save – this I keep in a drawer in my desk, usually down to the left where it’s easy to access. It is a stack of letters, each of them encouraging. I am so encouraged when I see someone move from being a skeptic to a believer. I am so encouraged when I see someone who is a “pew sitter” become involved in ministry, sharing Jesus with others in real ways. As a pastor, part of the pain of moving is not getting to see the progress continue. We are in our second week looking at Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, a letter most of us have come to know simply as “Philippians.” The church in Philippi was very special to Paul. It was during Paul’s second missionary journey when he met Timothy and invited him to come along with him. In Acts 16, we read that while they travelled, Paul had a vision in which a man from Macedonia beg...

Six years ago at a conference clergy meeting, I was invited to participate in a “young clergy” group designed for pastors under 35 years old. A friend and I joked about being “grandfathered” in, as we were both 35. Though for years young people have been told not to trust anyone over 35, in clergy years, 35 is considered “barely out of diapers.” But, as I read to the children earlier, Paul writes to Timothy, telling him, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”   1 Timothy 4:12 Timothy was disregarded because he was too young. Now, there are some here who would consider themselves “young” but most of us aren’t, and none of us is getting any younger. But most of us have reasons why someone would look down on us. Maybe it’s not about youth, but instead we’re too old. Maybe we just don’t know the Bible well enough. Maybe we’ve got the wrong family name. Maybe we’re no...

Last Sunday we looked at Saul’s conversion – how he was persecuting Christians – the Bible puts it this way: he was breathing out murderous threats against the church. But Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and transformed him. We met Ananias, a regular guy who was instrumental in Saul’s conversion, even though the man God sent him to minister to was the worst of the worst. We also recognized that there were a bunch of regular men and women who were instrumental in our own conversions. Whether they were our family members or Sunday School teachers or friends, there were regular people who took an interest in our lives and our salvation. If that person who made a difference in your life is still alive, why don’t you take a little time this afternoon to write them a little handwritten note and send it to them? I can’t think of any reason anyone would not want to receive a letter like that. Anyway, today we will continue to look at some of the players in Paul’s life, people w...