SERMONS

It’s true God helps those who help themselves. Do well and one is rewarded. When we don’t do well, then life can turn rough on us. Get an A in your class, run faster than other kids, be more likeable than your friends, and things go well. But struggle in school, don’t succeed in areas of interest, have trouble with other people, and often life feels like an upward climb.… Read More »AN EYE-TO-EYE KIND OF GOD 5/16/21

We have information about the earliest Christian churches in Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi, Rome, and others. I am thankful that the information we have doesn’t come in the form of annual statistical reports or financial statements. We have letters, mostly written by the Apostle Paul, to people and to churches. Reading between the lines is required because it’s been 2000 years, and because as in any letter some things are known… Read More »GOOD AT GRATITUDE 5/2/21

We live in a culture in which we are largely defined by what we do, meaning our job. We meet someone and they ask us, “What do you do?” They’re not expecting us to say, “Well, I play golf, I read books, I visit the grandkids, I watch Masterpiece Mystery on Sunday nights, I make scrambled eggs every morning.” They’re asking if you have a job and what is it.… Read More »WHAT ARE YOU DOING? 4/25/21

Everybody knows life is serious stuff often. Sometimes we hear of someone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time and life is never the same. School is harder today than it was in my day. Parents put a lot of pressure on their children these days. Even in a strong economy, people know they must take their job seriously and work hard to ensure they keep their… Read More »FIND YOUR FUN 4/18/21

It is after the resurrection. Jesus appears to his disciples and what we have this morning are Jesus’ final words to them, to closest to him, who followed him. This passage is known as the Great Commission. The Great Commission is a call to take the gospel to the world out there – to all nations. Someone has to do this. Jesus hands off this job to his disciples, who… Read More »LABOR OF LOVE 4/11/21

A non-Alaskan native was preaching in a little church in that state when an earthquake hit. “The earth heaved for a moment that seemed forever,” he wrote. “The little church shook. But the Alaskans sat there like it was another day at the office. Their only response was the woman who said, ‘How about that, the light fixtures didn’t fall this time.’” The pastor ended his sermon immediately. He was… Read More »SHAKEN FOR GOOD 4/4/21 Easter

Palm Sunday gives emotional or spiritual whiplash. In the church year, which is not the same as the calendar year, since the church year starts with Advent, usually the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the Sunday before Easter is commemorated as both Palm and Passion Sunday. If you were to encompass both ends of this week in one sentence, Jesus entered Jerusalem to cheers and adulation, but by the end of the… Read More »WHAT A WEEK! 3/28/21 Palm Sunday

Jesus and the disciples are traveling when they notice a blind man. This was apparently someone known in the community and known to the disciples, because they are aware he’s been blind from birth. On seeing him, the disciples ask the obvious to them question, “Who sinned, he or his parents?” Not an obvious question for us of course. Can you imagine living in a world where and when a… Read More »JESUS POWER 3/21/21

We’re familiar with John 3:16, being probably the best-known verse in the Bible. “For God so loved the world that God gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” There are two halves to this verse. Perhaps folks can be divided a bit on which half they focus on. Some read the first part—God so loved the WORLD—and take… Read More »IT’S SIMPLE—LOVE! 3/14/21