Brian's Sermons

The evangelist Billy Sunday is quoted as saying, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Last week I finished with the challenge that there is no such thing as a Sunday-only Christian. This week we continue looking at the vows of the United Methodist Church. Our final vow is this: As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayer, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness? This should serve as a reminder that the members of the congregation are, by definition, the church. The church isn’t a building or an institution. In today’s culture, we talk of “going to church” as if church is a destination or a place. But that isn’t accurate. The church is the people of God, called out by God for a purpose.   For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that...

Acts 1:1-11 Last week we met up in Kabangwe for the Holy Spirit Encounter. Pastor Blake worked hard to help you understand that the Holy Spirit is calling Christians to lead in ministry, to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to this church, to your neighborhood, through Matero, throughout Lusaka, all over Zambia, and to the world. Some of you stood up and accepted the challenge and the mandate; you are going to be God’s witnesses. This is what is happening in the first part of the book of Acts. Just a little background before we get into the message today. I did not know this until I was in seminary, but the book of Acts isn’t its own book. It’s the second volume of a two-volume work. Does anyone know what the first volume is? We know it as the Gospel according to Luke. Each is the size of a standard scroll, but together they make up a whole. So when scholars talk about these two books of the Bible, they regularly call them together Luke-Acts. Anyway, in the second scroll, st...

Acts 9:31: The Church was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. For the last several weeks, we have been looking at the Holy Spirit, not just to know more about Him, but to get to know Him better. Our goal is never just to know more about God; we can know all about Him without ever knowing Him. I hope this series on the Holy Spirit has at least made you interested in Him, but a sermon series won’t cause you to be filled with the Spirit. The Bible says that the way to receive God is to seek Him with your whole heart. In Jeremiah 29:13, God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” What is it like to seek God with your whole heart? If you’ve ever been deep in the water where you aren’t sure if you’re going to make it to the surface in time to breathe, your desire for air is what God is talking about. The Psalmist puts it this way: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul...

Last week we began looking at Acts 1:8, where Jesus tells his disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We spent our whole time last week on the concept of power, a concept that is sadly lacking in most of our American churches these days, where we are more known for our potlucks than our power. I just want to reiterate that this power is not our own power; it’s not that we are already good at something and then we just happen to use that skill in the church. This is Holy Spirit power, the power through which we know that in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37) Do you feel like more than a conqueror? If you are in Christ, that is who you are. That is how God defines you. God, who created the earth in a word, calls us more than conquerors, so this is who you are. Turn to someone next to you and t...