Brian's Sermons

Last week’s sermon was all about discipleship.We focused on Jesus’ last command before ascending into Heaven: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, even to the end of the earth . (Matthew 28:19-20).   Since this was the last thing Jesus said to his disciples, we also looked at how Jesus called his first disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, who were all fishermen. He told them to “come, follow me” and he promised that he would make them fishers of men. They immediately followed. It can be easy to say “be Jesus’ disciples” — especially as a pastor — but listen to what Jesus said in Luke 14:25-33.   25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, ...

Psalm 119:33-40 Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness. It seemed to happen every time we went on a road trip. Whether my best friend David was driving or I was driving, inevitably we would end up going the wrong way. When I say “wrong way” I don’t mean we got lost. I don’t mean we took a short cut or a long cut. We didn’t end up in bad neighborhoods or go to places our parents wouldn’t approve of. I’ll just tell you what happened. We were on Spring Break in Oklahoma, where...

Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” John 21:20-23 “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Some of you may have noticed that I’m a competitive guy. If you haven’t noticed that yet, I’ll invite you to come with me to play some pick-up soccer with my friends. Then you won’t be able to miss how competitive I am. It’s not just that I hate to lose, which I do, but I hate to not be the best. That competitive spirit has always driven me to do my best – I can remember in pract...