Brian's Sermons

Judges 13:1-5 Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines, who oppressed them for forty years.  In those days a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and said, “Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.”  Many of us know the story of Samson. It falls within the pre-king history of the people of Israel, during the time of the judges. You remember the pattern that the people fell into: when they had a good leader, things were good an...

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...

A quote attributed to Zig Ziglar says, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” As Christians, we have an unfortunate problem that sometimes, in our attempt to be (as the Apostle Paul put it) “all things for all people,” we end up aiming at nothing and thus that’s what we hit. In its roots, the Methodist movement has always had holiness as its goal. Last week we looked at the difficulty for us; holiness is not so easily achieved because of our sin problem. We have so corrupted God’s image within us that we cannot even approach him… Thankfully, because of God’s character, he bestows grace upon us when we least deserve it. The Holy Spirit extends Prevenient Grace, the grace that goes before us, and woos us, calls us, invites us to him. But if this was where God’s grace stopped, we would be in trouble. It would get us to the door but no farther. It would be cruel, for God to show us our sin but to leave us in it. But that’s not what God does. God finds us in our sin and...

On the Journey: Sanctification As we continue in week 3 of “The Journey” I want to share with you something that happens every year at Annual Conference. In the course of Ordination in the United Methodist Church, every candidate must go before the assembled Annual Conference and answer what are known as “The Historical Questions.” There’s always a nervous laugh at one of the questions: “Are you in debt so as to embarrass you in your work?” But the first four questions we are asked are as follows: 1.       Have you faith in Christ? 2.       Are you going on to perfection? 3.       Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? 4.       Are you honestly striving after perfection in love? The first one is an obvious but unfortunately necessary question; faith in Christ is necessary for new birth; as we discussed last week, it’s the one condition of justification, which is when Go...

I have to start out this morning by acknowledging that many of you made significant decisions last week as we decided together that “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.” This is important as we enter into this time of our Christian calendar – if you’re not familiar with the Christian year, we started Lent this week, a 40 day period where we focus on holiness, repentance, fasting, prayer, and preparation for Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return. This year during Lent I will be leading a series called Vital Signs. we will be looking at the signs and miracles Jesus performed as recorded in the Gospel according to John.  Understand as we go into this that these aren’t Jesus’ only miracles.  John himself reported that Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (John 21:25).  But the signs that John reported are important for us for t...

For the last two weeks, we’ve been talking about discipleship – the mission of the church is making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world . We recognized that to make disciples of Jesus Christ, we must first be his disciples. We have to count the cost and commit ourselves fully to being his disciples. Last week we acknowledged that discipleship is messy, that it’s not linear, and that it doesn’t look all that "churchy." The end goal of discipleship is for the disciple to look, think, and behave like his rabbi. If we are following Jesus, our goal is to look like Jesus: we call that process sanctification. But here’s what we believe: we believe that if we each become more and more like Jesus, the result will be the transformation of the world. Paul wrote to the Romans (12:1-2) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform...

John 17:13-21 NLT Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth. I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. John 17-19 NRSV Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent t...