Brian's Sermons

[I started this service by reading Psalm 136] This past week we celebrated one of the most vital religious holidays of our culture. This holiday was created to celebrate the one thing that is most important for Americans. People celebrated by doing some things that we do pretty much every day, but on a really grand scale. All kinds of people gathered in huge crowds to celebrate. Yes, I am talking about Black Friday, the holiday we celebrate by getting up insanely early to buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like. Our culture really is all about money; there is a reason people talk about the Almighty Dollar. People don’t set out to worship it, but that’s precisely what happens. The entire presidential election centered on the economy (nobody wanted to talk about foreign policy or anything else – it was all about jobs and taxes). Black Friday ends up overshadowing Thanksgiving, not even waiting until Friday anymore to open. That said, mo...

Last Sunday in the “Dear Abby” column in the Columbus Dispatch, I came upon this letter: Dear Abby: I have a friend, “Dick,” who wears veteran hats — “Vietnam Vet,” “Proud To Be a Marine,” etc. — that imply he was in the service. The problem is, Dick was never in any branch of the military. He claims that he is “honoring” veterans by wearing the hats. But when he goes into a restaurant or other place that offers military discounts, he always inquires about them. And he has never refused the offer of one or admitted that he was never actually in the service himself. I come in contact with real military service people who deserve to wear these hats. I asked a couple of them about what to do with Dick, but you can’t print their responses. What’s your take? — Values Honesty in Ohio You can probably guess what Abby’s response was. Dear Values Honesty: The fact that I can’t print the reaction of legitimate veterans to what Dick is doing indicates how offensive and wrong it is...

Have you ever followed a leader? Follow the Leader is a simple children’s game where everyone lines up behind one leader and then they try to mimic the leader’s actions. The leader is usually happy to get to lead and does simple things, like waving arms, jumping, or walking in zigzag patterns. If you don’t follow the leader more or less exactly, the consequence is you’re out of the game. Until the next round, that is. There are other times, however, when following a leader exactly is more important. For example, if you are walking through a minefield, it’s important to walk directly in the footsteps of the one leading you through. If a guide is leading you along a cliff, chances are that the guide knows where the footing is solid and where it isn’t. Most of us have probably found ourselves in a situation where we think we know more than the one who is leading us. That phenomenon is nowhere more obvious than the Monday Morning Quarterback, where everyone at home knows better t...

We’ve been spending a lot of time on the Holy Spirit. We started out looking at who the Holy Spirit is, concluding that the Spirit is personal and the Spirit is God.   We turned to look at what the Holy Spirit does, and we discussed that it is the Holy Spirit who calls us, turning us to God, giving us the freedom to serve God, and even helps us to pray. The Holy Spirit is the One who seals our adoption as God’s beloved children and heirs, transforming us and equipping us to do God’s will, giving us spiritual gifts and growing within us the Fruit of the Spirit. Last week was a powerful service in which we were given the “good news” that the only way to defeat death is to die… and to be resurrected, and to daily die to self, emptying ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I concluded by reading from Robert Boyd Munger’s pamphlet My Heart – Christ’s Home , where he concluded that it’s not enough for the Holy Spirit to be a “guest” in our heart, but that our job is to sign over...

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die There’s an old song that says “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,” and nowhere is that more true than in our own culture. We don’t even talk about death; when someone we like dies, we say they “passed away” or “went to be with Jesus,” or for someone else, well, they might have “kicked the bucket” or they might be “pushing up daisies.” Death seems to be the one big enemy, the one that we will all succumb to at some point or another. Sometimes we ignore the fact that every day of life is another day closer to death, but it is inevitable. We are not immortal. In Romans 8:13, the phrase that the NIV translates “the sinful nature” is in Greek “the flesh.” The mortal life, the flesh, is bound for death. Though that is bad news, it’s not new; it’s almost as old as the earth itself. When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, the punishment was death, and we’ve lived in death’s sha...

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...