Brian's Sermons

Mark 8:27-38 Today is the fifth Sunday in Lent, and we are continuing our series: Convinced. My clergy cluster group (Tim Reeves, Blaine Keene, Becky Piatt, Wendy Lybarger, Rob Turner, and Ryan Bash) decided to look at spiritual warfare through the book of Mark with the reminder that God wins; we don’t have to get all worried about how strong the devil is, because as Christians, we have God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, living within us, and God gives us victory. And I am convinced that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus! Isn’t that a comforting thought? No matter what you’re going through, no matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what you’re up against, you can count on God’s love. Today we see, however, that sacrifice is required. The setting itself in today’s scripture is important. Caesarea Philippi was a city famous for its pagan god worship. A cave near the city is supposed to be where Greek god Pan ...

Luke 8:19-21 Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you." He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice." In P.D. Eastman’s classic children’s book Are You My Mother , a baby bird hatches from his egg while its mother is out finding food.  Lonely and abandoned, the baby bird goes in search of his mom. What makes the story cute is how naïve the baby bird is – how he asks everyone and everything if they are his mother – he even asks a steam shovel.  He looks everywhere for his mother. It was one of the first books I learned to read (after P.D. Eastman’s other classic, Go, Dog, Go ), and it has a classic theme; the search for belonging.  Most of us can relate to this search; one of our fundamental needs is to belong.  “There are an endless number of symbols of be...