Brian's Sermons

Matthew 22:35-40 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”   One of Zambia’s biggest problems is poverty. Any NGO or service operation will tell you this. We all know this. Nobody can say any differently, because we can all look around and see poverty. And we can see poverty in our own lives. The West would like you to think that poverty is all about money, or the lack of money. They say that all you need is money, which will solve your poverty problems.   The problem with this approach is that it never addresses the root cause of poverty. Nor d...

When I was a little boy, I learned at church that the plan of salvation included recognizing our sin, confessing, repenting, being baptized, and living the Christian life. It was presented as something easy, and for the most part, it looked to me like the adult Christians around me never struggled. We even sang a song that went “I’m in-right, out-right, up-right, down-right happy all the time. Since Jesus Christ came in and cleansed my heard from sin, I’m in-right, out-right, up-right, down-right happy all the time.” I often wondered why living the Christian life was so much more difficult than I thought it would be.   Part of the problem, I found, was not a problem with the Christian life. The problem was within. We have been looking at the root causes of poverty. Poverty is not about not having enough money. Poverty is at its core, about broken relationship. Last week we looked at broken relationship with God. Today we are looking at another relationship, one that w...

Last week we introduced an important and difficult concept. Poverty. We often think of poverty only in financial terms, but in reality, poverty is based in broken relationship. Broken relationship with God, broken relationship in ourself, broken relationship with others, and broken relationship with all creation. In the beginning, God created humanity to be in perfect relationship with him. But very quickly, we find Adam and Eve disobeying God. The response, as found in Genesis 3:23-25 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life . Now, instead of living in the Garden of Eden in perfect relationship with God, they have been banished, never to return. Never to walk together in the cool of the morning. Never again to speak face to face. Our relations...

One of my heroes as a child was a wrestler named Ted DiBiase. His nickname was the Million Dollar Man. He used to walk around with a briefcase full of money. He had it all. He was a champion wrestler. He had fame. He had more money than he even knew what to do with. But what he revealed later was telling. Although he had all of that, inside he felt empty. Though he was rich beyond measure, he was in poverty. How can someone who is rich be in poverty?   The truth is that poverty is more than a lack of money. In fact, in Revelation 2:9, the word of God to the church in Smyrna said this: “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)… You might be saying, wait, which is it? Are they in poverty, or are they rich? The answer is “yes.” They are both.   How about 2 Corinthians 8:1-2:  We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance o...

(Note: The thoughts contained in this message and last week's come from   The Bait of Satan  by   John Bevere ) Last week we established that most of us have every reason to be offended. We have suffered every sort of wrong, no matter who we are or what we’ve done (or not done) to deserve this treatment. The worst pain comes when the offense was done by someone close to us, and often, when we’ve been wronged, we begin to build up around ourselves walls for self-preservation. Unfortunately these walls don’t end up protecting us; they end up isolating us and keeping us from growing and maturing. Often God uses those difficult circumstances to shape us into the person He is calling us to become, and when we simply run away from them, we not only miss out on the blessings God has for us, but we are actually sinning against God. This is exactly what Satan wants us to do; pick up the bait he has set out for us and end up trapped in a stronghold. Most of us have experience...

(Note: The thoughts contained in this message and next week's come from   The Bait of Satan by John Bevere ) I grew up watching a lot of action movies. The general plot of every action movie in the mid to late 1980s was the same: bad guys do bad things. The good guy is usually reluctant but eventually is brought into the action, usually after something bad has happened to him, his friends, or his family. He is thus “forced” to come in and get revenge. There is something that just seems “right” about this kind of story. When we are wronged, we need justice. This is intentional; it is because God wired us this way. God made us in his own image, and our God is a God who requires justice; it is part of his Holy character. So when we desire justice, we are, at some level, reflecting God’s character. Unfortunately, going all Chuck Norris on someone is not what God had in mind. But the draw of these action movies is clear; most of us have been wronged at some point or anot...

Over the past few weeks, we have been asking the question “Why?” We first tackled the little question of the meaning of life: we were made to bring God glory.   Everything about us is meant for that purpose, to extend to God the central position in everything.   We revolve around God, not the other way around.   So last week, when we asked the question, “Why the church?” we have to remember that the church’s purpose is to bring God glory.   Everything we do should bring God glory.   Anything else is missing the mark. This comes in handy when we consider this week’s question: Why did Jesus have to die?   This is a very good question, and it gets to the heart of our entire belief system.   One way of putting this question is this: If God is so good, why doesn’t he just forgive?   To ask God to simply look the other way, like a kindly grandfather tsking “boys will be boys” would be to ask God to be someone who he is not.   God is just.   ...