Brian's Sermons

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...

Acts 9:1-22 Over the past couple of months, there has been a lot of talk about God being removed from our schools – last week, despite out-of-town threats of lawsuits, the Jackson School Board voted to keep the picture of Jesus that has hung in the school since 1947. What began as a rule against a government-sanctioned state religion has been interpreted as a requirement for the government to suppress religion and keep it completely out of the public sphere. We need look no farther than Europe to see the decline of the church’s influence in the public sphere. Sometimes it can be easy to shake our heads at how society has gotten worse and worse. It can be discouraging enough that it’s tempting to just give up. Transform the world? That’s not my job, and, oh, by the way, it’s impossible. The world doesn’t want transformed. Or, maybe for some of us, it’s a little closer to home – my family doesn’t want transformed. We’ve begun praying for a whole list of people, many of ...