Brian's Sermons

8  “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. 11  Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. What would you do if we, as a church, got a letter directly from God? How would it impact the way we do things? Would it change the way you looked at life? Would you do things any differently? Two weeks ago, we began lookin...

You Think You’ve Got Enemies When I think of enemies, I think of the big ones. I think of Stalin’s Soviet Bear. I think of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Today we have Al Qaeda and Islamic Fundamentalists. There are also pretend enemies, like the Boogieman – as a kid, I was scared of some guy named Mr. Freebish, who my dad threatened would come in and eat my vegetables if I didn’t eat them (I didn’t mind so much if he ate them; I was just scared of this stranger who would presumably break into the house to eat my food). Then there are characters from fiction, like Darth Vader. And over the course of our lives, there are times when we make other enemies, too. Like the bully down the street. Or the rival for your beloved’s attention. Or the person at work who always seems to at you. Most of us probably don’t have enemies who threaten to physically harm us, though if we have school-aged children or grandchildren, they might. Three weeks ago, we looked at Saul’s conversion to...

(*Note: This is my first sermon at Wellston Hope UMC) Romans 5:1-5 It’s been quite a journey for me and my family, and I imagine you are in some ways right in the same boat as we are. Except that most of you don’t have all of your earthly possessions in boxes all over the place. But you are definitely in the “who is going to be our new pastor?” mode, and being in that mode for the last four months hasn’t been all that fun, has it? I invite you to take the time to get to know us. What I know definitively about Wellston Hope UMC, I can sum up in a few statements. I know that the West Ohio Conference and the Shawnee Valley District believe in this church. Word has spread about your generosity in the midst of a difficult economic landscape. You have been pegged as having the potential to be a hub of ministry, a vibrant disciple-making station for hope in a city that has been described to me as having no hope. I have been sent here because there is hope. I have sp...

When I was in middle school, I found a bumper sticker at a novelty store. It was white with red letters which boldly stated: I can resist anything but temptation. Isn’t that true? If it weren’t for temptation, we’d probably be doing pretty well in our quest to live sin-free lives. But sadly, we don’t always do such a good job resisting. Jesus knew the human condition. That’s why he instructs us to pray; Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. At first glance, this seems really straightforward. We all need help in overcoming temptation. If I asked you: “how many of you have been tempted already this morning?” the only ones who wouldn’t raise their hands would be the ones who were tempted to lie. Let’s first look at temptation itself. In biblical thought, to tempt meant to test something or someone in order to determine or demonstrate worth or faithfulness. Temptation also refers to an attempt, often by Satan, to incite a person to sin. Jesus knows all about tempt...