Brian's Sermons

The Benefits of Discipleship Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is hard. Two weeks ago, we looked at how hard it is. Following Jesus doesn’t mean everything will now be easy. He said we have to prioritize him over everything else. Today we will look at the benefits of discipleship. Before we get to today’s topic, I have a question for you. Would you invite a false prophet to speak at church? Would you invite a false prophet to come and teach you individual lessons at home? Would you willingly look to a false prophet for guidance in your daily life, to disciple you? This is exactly what we are doing when we leave the television on. When we’re watching Bollywood, African Magic, Telemundo. They are discipling this nation, and they are offering a false gospel. They offer guidance that says: Money is the answer to your problems. Your spouse isn’t good enough; you need to have an affair. There is adventure in lying and cheating. You need this product or that product to fulfil...

As many of you know, I am an avid long-distance runner. I have been a runner for most of my life – I joined the track and cross-country teams in 6 th grade and ran through high school. When I was in seminary, I picked up running again and have put many miles on many pairs of shoes. About five days a week in seminary, my friend Nate and I would run a 3 mile loop with my dog. I started running 5K races, but I never got any faster and I never ran any farther. Fast-forward a few years – my friend Rob, who is a United Methodist pastor up near Columbus, went and ran a marathon. I figured, if Rob can run one, I sure can. One thing I learned quickly about running a marathon was that you have to have a plan. This is true for most people training to run any distance, but it is vital for anyone wanting to run a marathon. I can pretty much go out and run any shorter race without much additional training, up to a half marathon, but not so with a marathon. To run a marathon, you’ve got to h...