Sermon Archive

My Father

You know I shouldn’t have gotten a darn thing. Boy, had I disappointed everyone. I had hurt my father and my brother, and our family name. I was ashamed of myself. But my father took me back. You know me. My name is Prodigal. Means wayward, lost. Screwup. I was just a kid and I came to my dad and I told him that I was leaving, I didn’t want to be connected to this family anymore. I told him that I hated him and I wished that he was dead. I was leaving but I wasn’t going to go empty handed. I demanded my share of the inheritance. I didn’t care that he wasn’t dead yet – he was dead to me, and I demanded my money.

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My Responsibility; Yours; God’s Pleasure

Do you know that I have a responsibility to you?  I am supposed to be a watchman.  I am to warn you about sin and evil that can ruin your life now and send you into hell forever.  God called Ezekiel to be a watchman.  A watchman back then would stand up on the wall of the city and would be looking for enemies who were trying to break through the wall and do harm to those inside.  Ezekiel’s job wasn’t to stand on a wall, but he was to watch over the spiritual condition of God’s people.  He looked over their souls.

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How God Changes Us

We live in a society that offers instant change. We watch TV and change the channels just like this—click, click, click! We look at our iPhone and change the screen just like this—tap, tap, tap! We put food in our microwave and it’s ready to eat just like this—zap, zap, zap! Because we change channels and screens and food so fast we think we should be able to change our lives with just a click, a tap, or a zap!

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Heavenly Minded

10 days ago the Pastor’s Conference was over at Pastor Rick’s church – Immanuel in Englewood. We had our study in the room next to his office. As I looked ahead of me I saw two items on the same shelf – a cross and a First-Aid kit. I don’t know if someone did that on purpose, if they were getting ready for the Children’s Message, or if that is where things just ended up – but they do go together. Perfectly. The cross is the Christian’s First-Aid kit.

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Staying Strong

There are certain verses in Scripture that become the strength of Christians.  Sometimes they are the words that they use at their funeral, or put on their headstone, or ask that their funeral sermon speak those words.  Words like, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”  (Matthew 25:21)  Or Revelation 2:10, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  Recently, here at Ascension, these words were spoken at a funeral, “The time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearing.”  (II Timothy 4:6b-8)

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Big Things with Small Stuff

I’ve got really bad news for you. You are not a super hero. And neither am I. We can’t fight our way out of our prison of sin. We can’t think our way out, buy our way out, educate our way out, vacation our way out, or blast our way out. We’re all stuck in sin—Heartbreak Hotel!

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Get Ready

  This is where Peter and Jesus had some words with one another.  Jesus talks about the Christ suffering, being rejected, being killed and then rising on the third day.  The suffering part didn’t sit well with Peter.  The Christ would do nothing at that sort.  The Christ is triumphant, glorious, victorious.  He always wins.  He never loses.  Peter got in the face of Jesus and told him not to talk like that anymore.   

            But Jesus told him that suffering comes before glory.  He called him “Satan” and told him to leave.  He then told them that this suffering wasn’t only going to be His but theirs.  “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”  (Luke 9:23-24)

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Seeing God In The Dark

God was in the dark for Jesus. God is in the dark for us. And God continued to be present in the dark for Joseph, and his brothers. Jacob, their father died, and Joseph’s brothers feared that he was only showing kindness to them for his father’s sake. Now, they feared, all hell was going to break lose without their father’s protection.

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Black and White

Living without trust in God is foolishness. Trying to solve the curse of our sin, the question of our eternity, the dilemma of daily decisions, without God as the source of our strength and wisdom and hope is just plain dumb. Jesus is our Savior. Trust in Him. Give all your sins to Him.

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Higher Things

What we get to do, when God is working through us, is catching people for life – the life that God has in store for them. It is a life of cleansing and forgiveness. It is a life filled with hope and joy. God gives His new creation a higher purpose and a greater one – living in love for God and for everyone else. It is life that continues into eternity and lives for the final day – when our bodies will be raised in great power. God is catching them for life – abundant and full life.

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