Brian's Sermons

The evangelist Billy Sunday is quoted as saying, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Last week I finished with the challenge that there is no such thing as a Sunday-only Christian. This week we continue looking at the vows of the United Methodist Church. Our final vow is this: As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayer, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness? This should serve as a reminder that the members of the congregation are, by definition, the church. The church isn’t a building or an institution. In today’s culture, we talk of “going to church” as if church is a destination or a place. But that isn’t accurate. The church is the people of God, called out by God for a purpose.   For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that...

According to the grace given to you, will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world? An older couple came to me for marriage counseling. She told me, “I want a divorce. He doesn’t love me.” I turned to him and asked, “Is this true?” He replied, “We have been married for fifty years. At our wedding, the pastor asked if I loved her. I   As continue to we look at the membership vows of the United Methodist Church, we now turn to our responsibilities. We recognize again that our salvation is a gift of God’s grace. Remember that Grace is God’s unmerited favor. We didn’t do anything to deserve it; it’s all about what God did for us. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. That proves God’s love for us. There has often been raised the issue about our good works. In fact, there are some who seem to think that our good works are what save us. Apart from God’s grace, Isaiah 64:6 reminds us, that “when we d...

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races? Matthew 16:13-17  When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.   I love reading mystery books. I have some personal rules about mystery books. One is that the bad guy can’t be someone newly introduced at the end of the book; there have to be clues all along.   My biggest ru...

1 Corinthians 11:23-29 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. As a child, I remember playing outside with my friends in the evening, having so much fun, and then we’d hear a familiar sound. One by one...

As a coach, there is one thing I’ve found that seems true over all age groups and in pretty much any sport. That truth is this: if you focus on the basics, you will be more likely to succeed. Not just focusing on the basics, but practicing them over and over. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a football player try to “thud up” a ball carrier or an outfielder get ready to make the big throw before the ball is in his mitt or a basketball player blow a slam dunk when an easy lay-up would have done just fine. I even remember a soccer teammate who tried to do a fancy backwards overhead kick to clear out the ball and ended up scoring on our own goal. As a Christian, and as a pastor, I’ve found that sometimes we can focus a whole lot of attention on the little things, and some of them seem really important, but if we don’t spend time focusing on the main thing, we can forget the whole point. A prime example would be a famous pastor and public speaker who has always focused on lost an...

We live in a church-saturated culture. There are all kinds of churches in all kinds of denominations. In fact, we have three churches on our block, all of different denominations! Many people have good reasons why they are in a certain denomination, but for many, it is more circumstantial than anything else. For example, Roy Gilliland (a well-known member of our local church) tells the story of becoming Methodist – when he was a boy, the Methodist church had heat. Others became Methodist because their parents or grandparents were Methodist or because they started dating a Methodist or married a Methodist. So a good question to ask is “Why United Methodist?” The sermon series we are starting today will explore some of the distinctive features of United Methodism, a denomination so varied that it includes 4George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton! I became a United Methodist after seminary, and it was all John Wesley’s fault. Truly to know what a United Methodist is, you have to s...