Brian's Sermons

Exodus 20:15  You shall not steal. When I first came to Zambia for a visit, we were driven through Central Market on a Saturday. It was crowded and packed with people, cars, shoppers, vendors. Suddenly as we were stuck in traffic, a man came running through the crowds. He was being pursued by several other men, one of whom had a large club. When they reached our car, they caught the first man and began beating him. Blood was everywhere. In fact, when we reached New Hope Church, our DS remained behind to wash the blood off the car. Rev. Kilembo later explained to us that this man was a thief. He had stolen in the market, and the punishment was a terrible beating. We recognize that stealing is wrong. But here is the fact: stealing is normal in Zambia. If you take your car to a mechanic, you must watch the mechanic like a hawk or he will steal good parts from your car and replace them with poor quality parts. Our DS had most of the parts from his car stolen by a mech...

Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor. - Proverbs 22:9 Merchants have already quickly forgotten Thanksgiving in the rush for Christmas money. I think most of them, except for the grocers, completely forgot Thanksgiving altogether this year. In fact, I was hearing Christmas songs in the stores before I’d even lost the sugar buzz from eating my kids’ Halloween candy. Thanksgiving just doesn’t make the stores a whole lot of money. On Thanksgiving, we give God thanks for all He has given us through the year. That sort of celebration doesn’t lend itself to retail exploitation. But on the day after Thanksgiving, the retailers breathe a sigh of relief as Americans rush out to get whatever it is that will be the huge Christmas gift this year – at all-time low prices, if you’re early enough. For some, Thanksgiving is simply an annoyance, a detour in the endeavor to make more and more money. For others, Thanksgiving kicks off the whole season of accumulation. In Matthew...