Adam's podcast

Nov. 1, 2009 - “Has no one condemned you?” John 8:10, Matt. 7:3-4

Jesus’ questions today should and will cut us to the heart - challenging our attitudes and actions.

Hear Him ask you today: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” and also “Has no one condemned you?”

October 25, 2009, Questions from Jesus: “If You Can?” Mark 9:23

The coach says, "I don’t want you giving up a certain point when you could go further."

Maybe we give up too soon. Maybe we've contented ourselves with the 30-yard-line when He wants to bring us to the End Zone. Maybe we've just chosen to sit on the sidelines while He's trying to get us into the game.

Today we will hear Jesus say: "'If you can'? Everything is possible for him who believes."

Do we believe that? Do we live that?

October 4, 2009 – “Do you believe this?” - John 11:26

“Do you believe this?” This is Jesus’ question to us today

The word, "believe," is a dominant word in the Gospel of John. He uses the Greek word for believe – pisteuō - 98 times. When John explains the purpose of his gospel in John 20:31 he writes: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

So belief is not passive, nor it is mere cognitive assent. Belief is dynamic, active, alive. John uses an action verb to describe belief. So Jesus’ question “Do you believe this?” is a most powerful and poignant questions for your answer and action in response will change everything.

September 27, 2009 – “Do you want to be well?” – John 5:6

Change is always risky and hard - even when the prospect is of changing from something worn, old, past its prime to something new and better. It’s easier, safer, more comfortable to cling to what we know, sometimes, we just don’t want to change.

And that truth is at the heart of the question that we hear Jesus asking us today. For beyond the question of our comfortable old shirts, we must examine the comfortable, yet worn out and frayed corners of our lives and hear Jesus asking us: “Do you want to change?” “Do you want to be well?”

September 20, 2009 - What good will it be for a person if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? - Mark 8:31-38

The economic crisis that we now find ourselves in has brought an interesting phrase into the headlines: toxic assets. Toxic assets are a huge reason why banks are in the trouble that they are in.

You see, assets are loans. Somebody owes the bank money that they pay it back with interest. However, as the economy now stands - especially with the mortgage foreclosure crisis - many of these loans have actually become liabilities.

People are unable to pay back these loans and the houses that secured the loans have decreased in value - below the amount of the loan. So these loans, instead of being assets, have become liabilities. And any asset that is harmful to the bottom line is toxic.

This phenomenon is not just in the banking industry, but in our own lives as well. Often, we consider things to be assets that in the end reveal themselves to be liabilities. Sometimes, like these bankers we invest our lives in things that we think will pay in the end - investments that appear valuable and trustworthy but we find ourselves in the red. We invested in toxic assets.

Jesus’ question today gets to the heart of the matter. He’s asking His disciples - and asking us - to evaluate our portfolio - have we been investing in toxic assets? Has our life been given to things that in the end will actually be shown to be liabilities?

This is what Jesus is getting at when he asks us today:"What good is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a person give in exchange for his soul?"

September 13, 2009
Series: Questions from Jesus
Sermon: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?”
Scripture: Luke 13:2

Where were you on September 11, 2001?. Last Friday we paused to remember the anniversary of 9/11 – eight years ago that day. And most of us have vivid images in our minds – sights, sounds, smells - of that day.

Often in the wake of tragedy, our fears blind us. We grope through darkness, grasping at answers, looking for understanding. In our desperation, we too quickly and uncritically latch on to answers without adequate reflection as to their veracity. Sadly, all too often, like this man and others like him did, point the finger in the wrong direction.

Jesus was confronted with just such a situation. People, groping about in the darkness of tragedy trying to understand “why,” pointing fingers, looking for answers, and desperately latching on to wrong ideas.

And so today, we hear Jesus confronting them – and confronting us - in all of our wrong ideas and wild accusations, asking pointedly: "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?" and again: "those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?"

Sept. 6, 2009 - “What do you want me to do for you?” - Mark 10:36, 51

Today we turn to what may be the most frequently asked question of Jesus. It is a question that Jesus seems to ask often, to many different people, and in many different ways: "What do you want me to do for you?"

Jesus asked many variations of this question:

• “What do you want me to do for you?” Mt. 20:32; Mk. 10:36; 10:51; Lk. 18:41


• "What is it you want?" Matt 20:20-22


• "What are you looking for?" John 1:38

What do we learn from this question to us today?

08/23/2009
Series: Questions from Jesus
Sermon: “How many loaves do you have?”
Text: Mark 6:32-44

We come to God with all kinds of questions. Often we do so much asking and so much talking that rarely do we listen and consider that maybe God has some questions for us.

When we read the Gospels, we find that Jesus was a master at asking questions. One scholar counted 307 questions asked by Jesus in the four gospels.

So this fall, we embark on a journey – we will study together some of these Questions from Jesus. What do we learn about the questioner as we study His questions? What do we learn about ourselves as we answer His questions?

For if we believe as Hebrews 4:12 declares, “The word of God is living and active,” then these questions from Jesus recorded in the living Word might become to us today questions He is asking of us as well.

And so, as we have heard of what the Fall holds for our church. It is most appropriate that we also hear Jesus asking us: “How many loaves do you have?”

August 23, 2009 – The Core: The Last Things

This week we are going to wrap up this sermon series about the Core of our faith by talking about the Last Things. Now, rightfully, there are many other ideas and doctrines that we might have included under the guise of the “core of our faith.” But if we use the Apostles’ Creed as a basic statement of our shared faith, we see that by the end of today’s sermon, we will have covered everything in there and more.

When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about death, resurrection, and Jesus’ return in 1 Thes. 4:13-18. He said that his words are written that they might not “grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope” and also that they might “encourage each other with these words.”

And the truths that we study today do give us great hope and encouragement.

August 16, 2009 – Holy Spirit – various Scripture

The Spirit is probably the least understood – and in some ways, most intimidating - member of the Trinity.

The Spirit seems hard to describe directly. After all, Jesus we saw, heard, and touched (1 Jn. 1:1). The Father has been made evident through His mighty works and own self-revelation (Deut. 3:24; Ps. 19:1-4; 145:4; Rom. 1:19-20). However, the Spirit stands as more mysterious (Jn. 3:8).

So we, as the Church, must seek to understand the Holy Spirit. For our very nature is defined by His presence and His ministry: His ministry to us and His ministry through us to this world.

August 9, 2009 – The Core: Salvation – various Scripture

Today we come to the very Core of the Core. Everything that we have studied thus far points to this Core truth. Everything that we study afterward emanates from this Core Truth. Salvation – the Cross of Jesus Christ.

When Christianity is represented symbolically, a cross is almost universally used. For we preach the cross, the death of Jesus Christ, as our salvation.

This truth is so core that when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church he said, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

My friends, this is the Core – the very heart - of our belief. For it is here at the Cross of Jesus Christ that we find the heart of the Father for us – a lost, sinful, broken humanity.

Author Ravi Zacharias, in his book Questions I Would Like to Ask God, wrote: I have often referenced the quote by the talk show host Larry King, in his response to a particular question: "If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?" Mr. King's answer was that he would like to interview Jesus Christ. When the questioner followed with, "And what would you like to ask him?" King replied, "I would like to ask him if he was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me."

When Ravi Zacharias requested permission from Larry King to quote him in his book, King sent word saying, "And tell him I was not being facetious."

“The answer to that question would define history for me.”

That is a game changer. For if Jesus was born of a virgin - if His mother was human, but His Father Divine - then in fact God did become flesh and lived amongst us. Then Jesus was in fact more than a man, more than a prophet, more than a great teacher – but instead THE God-man.

We must understand this, for truly; “The answer to that question would define history for me.”

Messiah is not an unfamiliar word to us today. We might hear of someone having a messiah complex: a state of mind in which the person believes he/she is, or is destined to become, a savior.

Many of our superhero movies today possess subtitle, or not so subtitle, Messiah imagery.

This concept of a Messiah/Savior that is prevalent in the popular culture today comes directly from the Bible.

Messiah is the English spelling of the Hebrew word mashach – which literally means to smear, pour, or anoint. In the OT, formal use of the word mashach was in the ritual anointing with oil of persons or objects being set apart for special service – such as for the worship of God. So one who had been anointed and set apart – was a maw-shee'-akh – or a Messiah – an anointed one.

The Hebrew term Messiah is translated in the New Testament by the Greek word Christos – literally meaning “the smeared [or anointed] one.” This Greek word Christos is where we get our English word Christ.

Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ.

But what does this mean? And more importantly, what does this mean for us today?

It is from Marriage that most of us are familiar with the idea of Covenant. For in marriage, we enter into a covenant with another person.

Our English word “covenant” is derived from the Latin convenire via the Old French covenir, essentially meaning “coming together.” For Covenant is about a “coming together” - covenants establish relationship.

Whether is be a marriage, a compact, an adoption, or a political treaty - covenants establish and regulate those relationships - identifying the parties involved, outlining their responsibilities or promises/vows, and indicating the consequences of breaking the covenant.

And in the Bible: Covenant is the primary language used to describe God’s relationship to humanity. As theologian Eugene March observes, “From the beginning to the end, the Bible presents a series of covenants as a means of depicting the deep and ongoing commitment and love that God has for humankind.”

July 12, 2009 - Series: The Core - Sermons: Angels, Demons, and Satan - Scripture: various scriptures

The difficulty that we encounter when we turn out attention to study angels is that our ideas about angels and about Satan are far more influenced by popular culture than by the Scripture. So most of us, and most of this culture, carry a distorted view of angelic beings and of Satan.

So what does the Bible actually teach us about angels, demons, and Satan?

June 28, 2009 – The Core: Sin – Genesis 3

Christian Musician Keith Green retold Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son in his song: The Prodigal Son Suite. Taking his share of the money, Green sings of this son’s departure from his Father:

Not too many days later, I was well on my way,
I met a traveling stranger, who seemed to have much to say,
He told me tales of the city, and all the women he’d had,
I asked him, wasn’t that sinful,
He said, no, it isn’t that bad.

"No, it isn’t that bad." Sin is a word and a concept that has lost favor in today’s world. We must come again to understand that which the Biblical writes declared, which our fore-runners feared, and of which preachers have warned.

We must again understand this problem of SIN – and more than that...from it, we must be saved.

June 21, 2009 – Father’s Day – The Core: Male and Female, Gen. 1:26-28, Gen. 2:18-25

We began the sermon by watching a brief clip of the Pixar movie Wall-E (Wall-E DVD, scene 3, 00:06:01–00:09:23)

The movie Wall•E is about a lonely robot who for 700 years has been cleaning up the trash left behind by humans on an abandoned planet.

In this scene Wall•E arrives at his "home" and pops a battered copy of Hello Dolly into an old VCR.

He is suddenly captured by what is occurring in the film. On the screen, a man and a woman are walking through a park, singing to each other. It's a moment filled with romance, and the words of their song seem to resonate deeply with Wall•E. He presses a button on his chest to record them as they sing: "It only took a moment / To be loved a whole life long."

As they sing, their voices harmonizing together, the man and the woman also hold hands. When they finish, Wall•E looks at his left "hand," then his right, and slowly brings them together in imitation of what he has just seen on the screen.

The message being conveyed is powerful: It is not good to be alone.

Gen 2:18 says The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.” We weren’t created by God to be alone. Yes, the Bible teaches that some have been given the gift of singleness in order that he or she might do some special work - but even then rarely do those people live in absolute isolation.

And we find in the creation account that humanity wasn’t created to be alone. That the image of God inherent to humanity is expressed in the Creation account as both Male and as Female - distinct, different, corresponding.

As we studied two weeks ago, the Biblical account is unquestionably clear - humanity is created purposefully by God, in His Image, to rule over and care for all of His Creation.

And today, on Father’s day, understanding and embracing our identity as male and as female is a most timely and important topic.

June 14, 2009 - Children’s Sunday – Generations – Judges 2:6-15

This morning we sang:
Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
And oh God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks Your face oh God of Jacob

The song is taken almost word-for-word from Psalm 24.

This song and the Psalm force us to face an imposing question: Will this next generation be a generation who also seeks the face of the God of Jacob? Will this next generation be a generation who hungers to ascend the hill of the LORD and stand in His holy place? OR, will this next generation be a generation who lifts up its soul to idols and swears by what is false?

My friends, I believe the answer is in a large part contingent upon us.

June 7, 2009 - Series: The Core, Sermon: Humanity, Scripture: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:4-7; Psalm 8:3-9

This week we continue to study God’s Creation and today we examine the very pinnacle of that Creation: Humanity.

We discuss what we are and why we are as humans. This understanding is vital to how we live for it impacts the way we relate to God’s Creation and to one another.

An agnostic – who regularly and vocally questioned the existence of God, was visiting a local pastor. During the visit, the agnostic noticed that the Pastor owned a beautiful globe portraying the constellations and stars of the heavens.

"This is exactly what I'm looking for," said the agnostic after examining it. "Who made it?"

"Who made it?" repeated the pastor in mock astonishment. "Why my friend, nobody made it, it just happened."

Just as the beauty, order, and perfection of that globe did not just happen by chance - neither did the beauty, order, and perfection of that which the globe depicts "just happen."

Rather, whenever we observe order and complexity in this world – we naturally assume an intelligence was behind that order.

The last two weeks, we have discussed "God" - specifically, the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is clearly revealed to us as the "Creator God." Nehemiah 9:6 says, "You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."

The Bible clearly and unquestionably reveals God to be the Creator of all that is. So as we continue this series and examine the core of our faith, we must understand not only God, but also that which He has made: the Creation.

And the Bible lays for us a foundation that we might better understand our world, our reality, and most importantly - ourselves.

Date: May 24, 2009
Series: The Core
Sermon: Trinity
Scripture: various Scriptures

This morning, we sang:

All Creatures of Our God and King
Praise praise the Father praise the Son - And praise the Spirit three in One

Come, Now Almighty King
Come now Almighty King...
Come now incarnate Word...
Come Holy Spirit come...
To the great One in Three / Eternal praises be...

How Great is Our God
The Godhead three in one / Father Spirit Son

Holy Holy Holy
Holy holy holy / Merciful and mighty
God in three Persons / Blessed Trinity

Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow...
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost

In song and worship we declared that Father + Son + Spirit = One God. Or 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. So it seems that Christians are either very bad at math, or we are pondering the imponderable, scrutinizing the inscrutable, trying to know the unknowable. As St. Augustine declared: “If you can understand it, it’s not God!”

When we discuss an idea such as trinity, this is an important to recognize, for if as humans, we are finite, how can we perfectly or completely grasp the infinite? If the human eye cannot deal with the brightness of the sun – and the sun is only part of the creation, then how could the human mind comprehend the glory of God – who is Creator of all that is?

There will always be truths about God that we cannot and will not fully know - things that we observe and affirm without ever fully understanding. However God in His goodness and grace has revealed to us enough that we might know Him personally. For God is not “a concept” to be comprehended, but “a someone” to be encountered.

We need not know or understand everything about God to encounter Him - and as we will see today, it is God’s reality as Trinity makes our real encounter with Him both possible and personal.

May 17, 2009
Series: The Core
Sermon: God
Scriptures: various scriptures

Today, when you say “God” to someone - one or more out of a plethora of thoughts, ideas, and definitions might spring into that person’s mind. So we must be clear about what we mean by the words that we say.

For example, when we as Christians speak of “God” – of whom or what do we speak? Who is this God? What is He like? How do we know about Him? How is He different from, or the same as, that other person's idea of “God”?

We must be clear in our own minds as to what we mean by God so that we are able to communicate clearly with others.

May 10, 2009 – Sermon: What We Should Give to Mom
Scripture: Matthew 15:4; Ephesians 5:25; 2 Timothy 1:5; Titus 2:3-4

We’ve too much devalued motherhood. We’ve forgotten the importance of the role that mother’s play. For if, as we often say, "children are our most valuable resource," that must make mothers our most important citizens!

In his article, “The Glue of Society: Celebrating Mother’s Day” Pastor Johann Arnolds writes: “Mothers are the backbone of our society and the glue that holds a family together — their work is vital but often unseen. We all need to show greater appreciation for them.”

We all do need to show greater appreciation for the mothers amongst us. And today we consider what it is that WE should give to mothers; those women who have given us so much.

The End of Christian America
Jon Meacham, Newsweek

Faith Isn't Under Fire
Jon Meacham, Newsweek

A Christian Mistake
Jim Wallis

The Coming Evangelical Collapse
the Internet Monk

The Coming Evangelical Collapse: Are You Buying It? (Monday Morning Insight)

The Collapse of Evangelicalism? (Sojourners)

On the Lasting Evangelical Survival: What will and will not survive of this movement. (Christianity Today)

The Christian Science Monitor picked up three separate blog posts and published them as a single op-ed article. The author was Rev. Michael Spencer - an ordained Baptist Minister who blogs at InternetMonk.com – a blog that is consistently rated in the top twenty Christian blogs in the world. It was recently voted the number 12 blog read by Christian leaders.

However, from CSM, the article was picked up by the Drudge report and from that point on, spread across the internet and into many mainstream media outlets.

Why did this article garner such attention and such a reaction? Because its title is: “The coming evangelical collapse”.

Then, as if to affirm the Internet Monk’s predictions, not one month later, the April 4th edition of Newsweek magazine hit newsstands with this cover: The Decline and Fall of Christian America.

So is the End of really near? Is evangelical Christianity approaching a collapse? Is it facing an imminent demise? Are you out of luck and am I out of a job?

My friends, we need to be ready to respond. We must correctly understand this dialogue that is happening about us that we might to rightly discern what will and will not survive the cultural shift that is unquestionably happening.

For we must to cling to that which is unchanging, eternal, divine and we must let go of that which is dying, passing, temporal, earthly.

As the Apostle Paul charges us in 2 Cor. 4:18, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

C. H. Spurgeon said in one of his sermons: “NATURE is selfish, but grace is loving. He who boasts that he cares for nobody, and nobody cares for him, is the reverse of a Christian, for Jesus Christ enlarges the heart when he cleanses it. None so tender and sympathetic as our Master, and if we be truly his disciples, the same mind will be in us which was also in Christ Jesus.”

NATURE is SELFISH - survival of the fittest, every man for himself. However, as Dr. Mead said, the first sign of civilization is not knowledge, not technology, not intellect – but COMPASSION. In the same way, the first sign that Jesus Christ has come into our hearts is not Bible knowledge, not wearing the right clothes or doing the right things, but rather the same HUMILITY and COMPASSION as evidenced in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

COMPASSION is a stubborn refusal to turn away - it is the humility that allows our hearts to grow. Compassion allows that other person’s needs affect me, it makes her problem my problem, it makes his burden, my burden.

The Church of Jesus Christ must be marked by such Compassion For the world will not take seriously our message until we take seriously the problems of this world.

Our Compassion builds a bridge across which our message might travel and testifies to the truth of our message.

My friends, THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO TURN AWAY FROM OUR MESSAGE, IF WE REFUSE TO TURN AWAY FROM THEIR NEED.

Don’t Turn Away

Read about Kevin Baugh and his 1.3 acre Kingdom of Molossia at http://www.molossia.org/

This is humanity’s problem; we all desire to set up a “Kingdom of Me.” A Kingdom in which I am the only one who matters, I am the only one I need to think about, where the world rightly revolves around me - my wants, my needs, my desires.

It is a very small Kingdom indeed. For in exalting ourselves above all others we find there is no little room at the top of the heap for anyone else.

Sitting upon our self-claimed throne we find no room left to even consider the needs, wants, or desires of others. And our position at the top of the heap is so tenuous - we could be pushed off at any time – that we must protect what we think is ours.

Pride says “I’m first. My wants. My needs. I’m the only one worth consideration.” Pride exalts itself above all others and builds but a tiny little Kingdom where there is room for only you.

Jesus showed us another way. He was a King - yet instead of building a tiny little Kingdom for Himself where everyone might serve Him. He washed other people’s feet.

He was God, but instead of clinging to power, honor, glory, and praise He humbled Himself; taking the form of a servant

He was the Greatest, but instead of exerting His rights He gave up His rights and was humiliated by death on a cross

And Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection can enable us now to get down off our lonely mountains. In Humility, we might live in a different type of Kingdom – His Kingdom - wide and expansive, characterized by service, love, and sacrifice.

April 12, 2009 – Easter – Luke 24:1-6; Heb. 2:14-15> - “Emptiness”

We live in an empty and fear-filled world. I don’t know about you, but my heart has been broken many times over the course of the last month. The associated press ran a story just last Tuesday (April 7, 2009): In last month, mass shootings claim 57 lives. It reports; "A string of shootings in the U.S. in the last month alone has claimed the lives of 57 people"

In face of such an empty and fearful world - where is the Hope?

My friends, it is at the Empty Tomb of Jesus Christ that this Empty World might find Hope.

Thursday, April 9, 2009 - Maundy Thursday - Matthew 26
A Table for Turncoats, Traitors, and the Timid

Tonight we read of the events surrounding Jesus’ final meal with His disciples as found in Matthew 26.

As we reflect upon the table that Jesus prepared, consider who were the first to receive the new meal He instituted?

That evening, we find that it was a Table set for Turncoats, Traitors, and the Timid. A table set for men and women like you and like me.

Date: April 5, 2009; Series: At the Cross
Sermon: False Advertising; Text: Mark 11:1-21

What has been termed "The Triumphal Entry" is one of the few events recorded in ALL 4 gospels - emphasizing its importance.

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was a carefully orchestrated parable - in the words of theologian Robert Stein, “For Jesus the triumphal entry was a carefully orchestrated messianic act. It was a parabolic act that could be perceived by those with eyes to see but that was concealed for others.”

And those with eyes to see understood the true meaning of this parable: The King is Here!

Upon arriving in Kingly fashion, what are the first actions of this new King? Another parable. After His highly parabolic and symbolic entry, Jesus enacts another parable that clearly communicates His intentions of this King: He curses a fig tree and then overturns business as usual at the Temple.

Jesus is clearing the way for something new, something better. He’s clearing the way so that men and women - like you and me - might truly be saved. Hosanna in the Highest!

March 29, 2009
Series: At the Cross
Sermon: The God Who Understands
Text: Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:14-5:2

Do we serve a God who just doesn’t get it? Is God so apart, separate, high and aloof that He just doesn’t get our pain, He doesn’t understand our suffering, He can’t grasp our temptations?

Maybe that’s it - God is detached, unsympathetic to our human plight. Maybe He’s just watching us from a distance – smiling down on us in dispassionate ignorance.

But this morning we sang a hymn that declared:
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share
Jesus knows our every weakness,
take it to the Lord in prayer

So what is right? Is Jesus detached – smiling down on our human pain and suffering - or in fact, does He know our every weakness?

It is essential that you answer this question correctly, for the answer will fundamentally alter how you approach God. A detached God who stands far off, immune to our temptation and suffering is not a God to whom you can run for understanding and mercy. However, a God who understands is God to whom you might run and receive mercy, grace, and help in your need. Unconcerned or Understanding – who is this God we serve?

March 22, 2009 - Series: At the Cross
Sermon: No Condemnation - Luke 7:36-50; John 3:17; Romans 8:1

We’ve all seen people struggling through an airport weighed down by all the baggage they are trying to carry. People who would love to be relieved of their burden - grateful if someone removed just some of that weight from their shoulders.

Today, we read the story of a woman who shows up at a dinner party carrying all sorts of baggage. The luggage of her sin weighs her down, the knowledge of what she has done bears heavily upon her heart and mind. The collective weight of her condemnation is crushing her.

This morning, we sang that familiar hymn “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” Some churches have sought to soften the message of those lyrics by changing “saved a wretch like me” to “saved someone like me.” One theologian, surprised at this change, muttered: “If I’m not a wretch, grace isn’t amazing.”

The woman in this story understood how amazing grace was because she stumbled into dinner that night well aware of her wretchedness. She knew she came to the table with all her baggage and condemnation.

So imagine how grateful she was to find that baggage lifted. Imagine the relief to find such amazing grace - that in Christ there is no condemnation. Imagine the joy that you too might now find.

March 15, 2009 – Acts 2:37-41, 8:34-38, 16:30-33 – What shall we do? (Baptism Service)

We had some problems with the recording equipment on Sunday morning so this a "re-recording" of the sermon.

That Sunday evening we further discussed Baptism and I went into detail about modes (methods) of baptism and why it is we baptize adults and not infants. I included this extended discussion as part of the recording.

We opened our baptism service with a clip from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou. You can watch the (unedited) clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_bhD0_Trw (link opens in a new window).

Or watch here:

March 8, 2009 – Wise Investments - Series: "Being the Church" - Matthew 25:14-30, Ephesians 2:10, 1 Peter 4:10-11.

Today’s sermon is NOT about money. It's about something much, much more important.

As we wrap up our series on “Being the Church” I’d like us to consider another type of investment. As a part of the Church - as a member of the Body of Christ - how will you invest what you’ve received?

According to 1 Cor. 12:7, we who are part of the Church, have all received gifts - “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

So all of us who have been called to be a part of the Body of Christ have been filled by the Spirit of God and been given gifts by His Spirit for us to use for His glory.

So the question is: “how will I make a wise investment of what I have received?”

At one church’s VBS program, the kids always prayed at dismissal time: "I will do the best I can with what I have where I am for Jesus' sake today."

How about you? How will you best invest what you have have for Jesus' sake today?

Date: March 1, 2009
Series: Being the Church
Sermon: Loving Leaders, Faithful Followers
Text: Acts 20:28; Heb. 13:17; 1 Thes. 5:12-13; 1 Tim. 3:1,13; 5:17

“Question Authority!” We live in a world that is inherently suspicious of authority.

In our fear and suspicion, we have a tendency to throw the concept of authority completely out the window. We try to level the playing field and create a system somehow devoid of any real authority. As such, in our town governments here we have the familiar "New England town-hall" style of meeting. And somehow this "authority-less" form of government has crept its way into use in many of our New England churches.

We live in a fallen world and we have seen the heinous abuse of authority. We all know well that spiritual authority is not exempt from such abuse. All one must say is “don’t drink the kool-aid” to remember how horrible and utterly tragic and abuse of spiritual authority can become.

But the question with which we must wrestle this morning: is all authority truly evil or might there be such a think as Spiritual authority – beneficial to us all?

Date: 02/22/2009
Series: Being the Church
Sermon: Internally Strong, Externally Focused
Text: Matthew 28:18-20; John 17:14-18

There is a conversation that cycles through the church community – “where should we put our attention?” Should the Church’s emphasis be on becoming internally strong - GROWING the Saints? Or should our attention be focused externally - GOING to the lost and suffering?

Should we be focused on GROWING or GOING?

This question gets danced around, dissected, and debated in the church today: Internally Strong or Externally Focused?

And I am here this morning to tell you that the answer is YES.

YES, we need to be INTERNALLY STRONG - we dare not ever forsake our fellowship or our study.

YES, we need to be EXTERNALLY FOCUSED - we dare not forsake a lost and dying world.

These two emphases are NOT competing interests or mutually exclusive but rather we will see that these two realities are complementary. To be INTERNALLY STRONG we must be EXTERNALLY FOCUSED. At the same time, we cannot be EXTERNALLY FOCUSED - and effective - if we are not INTERNALLY STRONG.

These are two sides of the same coin. We are not free to flip the coin and merely choose a side. Rather, we will discover that as a church we GROW as we GO. These impulses are not mutually exclusive of, but rather utterly dependent upon, one another.

Date: 02/15/2009
Series: Being the Church
Sermon: Defense of an Old-Fashioned Idea
Text: Acts 4:32-33

I stumbled across ARTICLE V of our church Constitution titled CHURCH COVENANT.

Did you even know we have a Church Covenant?

My friends, I have been in this church coming up on six years as of July. NEVER ONCE have we read this covenant together as a body. NEVER ONCE have we asked anyone to consider or affirm this as part of attaining church membership. NEVER ONCE have we referred to it as we evaluate our corporate life together.

It is glued inside the back cover of most of our hymnals, but we never read it, never use it, never refer to it. It is an entire article of our church constitution, however it might as well not exist because we utterly neglect and ignore it.

At this juncture, we need to do one of two things:

1. either change our church constitution and remove this Old-Fashioned silliness about covenanting together and being members of one another


2. or start taking it seriously

And my friends, if we choose to dismiss this idea of covenanting together - if we decide to take membership too lightly - then we will take the church too lightly, we will take our responsibility to one another too lightly, we will take our mission to this world too lightly.

No, what is most needed now in the church universal - and our church in particular - is a defense of this Old-Fashioned idea of Church Membership - of Covenanting together; of becoming, like the early church – one in mind, one in heart, one in purpose.

02/08/2009 – Series: Being the Church - Body by the Spirit – 1 Corinthians 12

Nowadays we have:

• Body by Jake


• Body by Glamour


• Body by Dr. Ted


• Body by Victoria


• and Body by Milk - because Milk does a Body good

Corporately, as the Church, we here have a Body by the Spirit.

Last week, we discussed how we are a community of the Spirit. What we will see today is that the Spirit makes us even more than a community, but in a real way, a Body. As 1 Corinthians 12:13,27 says, "So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body... Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

It is a mind-blowing concept that in some very real way, we are Jesus’ Body here on earth. We are His representatives, His ambassadors, His Body. We are Jesus to this world - His Body, His Voice, His Hands and His Feet.

So to be the Church - we must understand what it means to be the Body of Christ - a Body by His Spirit.

02/01/2009 - Series: Being the Church, part 2 - A Community of the Spirit - Acts 1:4-5; 2:1-41

Last week we said the church is a community founded upon the Rock of the apostolic message – the divinely inspired confession of and message about Jesus Christ. The identity and message of Jesus Christ are foundational to the identity and message of the church.

But while the church is gathered around the identity and message of Jesus Christ, the church is more than that. We will see today that the church is a Community of the Spirit.

Remember that Matthew is the only Gospel that contains the Greek word ekklesia, that we translate as church (Matthew 16:18 and 18:17). The first occurrence of the word ekklesia after the gospels, comes at the end of Acts 2, the passage we will consider today (Acts 2:47).

So while the church is a community built upon the Apostolic message about Jesus Christ, we will see today it is also a community of His Spirit.

In the words of one commentator: “We must understand that the church’s nature is unique, and that this unique nature is the result of the work of God’s Spirit in the world.”

January 25, 2009 – ekklesia – Matt, 16:13-20; 18:15-18

For what the church is will determine what it does will determine how the church is to be organized. In other words: form follows function, function follows identity. So we must be clear upon the identity - the nature - of the church.

On commentator put it this way, “The interrelationship of the three aspects is clear. The church is. The church does what it is. The church organizes what it does. The nature of the church is based on God’s presence through the Spirit. The ministry of the church flows out of the church’s nature. The organization of the church is designed to support the ministry of the church.”

So today we embark upon a new sermon series, “Being the Church.” We will study that we might adequately answer this question: what is the church. For in answering this foundational question, all the other pieces will fall into place.

January 18, 2009 – Imago Dei - Genesis 1:27; 9:5-6; Prov. 31:8-9; Matthew 22:37-40

Imago Dei is Latin phrase used by theologians meaning "The Image of God." As Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

This concept of Imago Dei is an important one for us to understand for the concept possesses far reaching implications for a plethora of moral issues.

Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday, a day in which we recognize that all human life is sacred - rich and poor; short and tall; sick and healthy; born and unborn; red, brown, yellow, black, and white – and all human life is precious in His sight. For ALL are created in God’s image

And so we remember on this, Sanctity of Life Sunday that Imago Dei – the image of God borne by humanity - makes human life more than dignified, more than valuable, more that respectable - it makes human life sacred.

January 11, 2009 - State of the Church address: Grasshoppers or Giant Slayers, Numbers 13 & 14

Joshua and Caleb are men whose names have endured the test of time. Their deeds are NOT forgotten for they are men who never forgot God’s mighty deeds. These are men who, in faith, believed God’s unbelievable promises, trusted his unknowable strength, and knew His generous gifts. As such, these men became Giant Slayers – unstoppable, courageous, and remembered even until this day.

However, the other ten men in this story, their names have been forgotten by the majority of people. Their story has been purged from our consciousness. Their existence is but the knowledge of but a few scholars.

These men are forgotten for they forgot what God had done for them. These are men who, in fear, could not believe the unbelievable guidance, strength, and gifts of God. So and they became but grasshoppers – easily trampled, frightened, and forgotten.

Today, Chestnut Street Baptist Church - as we face the two-hundred-and-first year of our incorporation - we, like the Israelites, face a relatively unknown land and future filled with giants and challenges.

The question that faced them then, is the same question that faces us today: will we be Grasshoppers or Giant Slayers?

Dec. 28, 2008 – Series: “What’s in a Name?” - Light - Isaiah 9:2; Matt. 4:13-17; Luke 2:25-32; John 1:9

And although most of us are not clinical, we all to some level possess a fear of the darkness – it’s part of being human. By nature, there’s something unsettling about the darkness. We avoid it, we fear it, we run from it. For the darkness hides all kinds of unknown evil and dangers. We are more likely to accidentally get hurt in the darkness. We are more likely to be hurt by someone or something of ill will shrouded in the darkness. Darkness can feel isolating and empty, leaving us to feel utterly alone. Darkness can make us forget that there will ever be light again. Darkness can steal our hope.

The Christmas story - which we just celebrated – is a story that began in darkness. Though beginning in darkness it is a story ends in light.

For as Matthew 4:16 makes clear, we see in the Christmas story the prophecy of Is. 9:2 fulfilled: "the people living in darkness / have seen a great light; / on those living in the land of the shadow of death / a light has dawned."

Dec 21, 2008 – Series: “What’s in a Name?” King - Is 9:7, Matt 2:1-12

So while th familiar Christmas carol "We Three Kings" offers us a mix of traditions - the Bible lays out the truth of the story.

NO, they were not Kings - but we do know they had come to worship to the one True King.

These sojourners would refer to Him as “the King of the Jews” and yet these non-Jewish visitors would bow their knees and worship Him. As Jeremiah 10:7 says, “Who should not revere you, O King of the nations?”

We do know how many of them there were to worship and offer the child gifts - but we do know from Revelation 7:9 that one day there will be, “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” that will worship and offer Him praises.

We do not know exactly when the Magi arrived to worship this Child King - but we do know that whenever someone might come, she too can find and worship and receive the King.

As we sang this morning: "Joy to the world! The Lord has come! / Let earth receive her King!"

So what is in a name? For this child is called “King.”

What is in the name King?

The hope of all nations. The joy of the world. The Kingdom of God breaking into human history. The invasion begins not in power and glory, but with the baby King seated in humility upon a manger throne.

Back in 1990, Bette Middler sang:

from a distance we all have enough / and no one is in need
there are no guns, no bombs and no disease / no hungry mouths to feed
from a distance, we are instruments / marching in a common band
playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace
they're the songs of every man

God is watching us from a distance

So is that where God is? Watching us from a distance?

- from a distance, where disease becomes invisible, poverty un-seeable...

- from a distance, where the rich blend with the poor...

- from a distance, where humankind appears united it a common dance...

- from a distance, where God might view the world through rose colored glasses and remain detached and unmoved by events of this small globe?

Is that where God is? At a distance?

No, for that is the Good news of Christmas.

While human religion and human efforts could never reach him, God reached to us. At Christmas He sent Immanuel – which means God with Us.

The eternal God stepped into time. The incorruptible God took on flesh and bone. The immortal God became mortal that He might die for us. The invisible God became visible, limited, human.

Immanuel – God with Us.

God reached to us that first Christmas. However, none of us ever expected that the hand of the Almighty God would reach to us in the tiny, delicate, fragile hand of a newborn baby.

But within that tender baby's reach we see the very hand of God and we learn the truth that God is with us - Immanuel.

12/07/2008 – Matthew 1:21- Series: What’s in a Name - Jesus: Yahweh Saves

Shakespeare famously asked in the play Romeo and Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

As we look at the Christmas story together this Advent Season we will hear many names given to the child laid in the manger. What do we learn from those different names?

Today we will consider the name Jesus

• Next week, Dec. 14 – Immanuel (God with Us)


• Dec. 21 - King of Kings


• Christmas eve, Dec. 24 we will briefly reflect upon the name child


• And the Sunday after Christmas, Dec. 28, the name light

Evangelist Billy Sunday said, "There are two hundred and fifty-six names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express."

Each name or title revealed in the Christmas account tells us part of His story. Each is another piece fitting together as a puzzle – revealing to us the bigger picture of who He is.

Of any name or title bestowed upon Him, today’s name - His given name - Jesus is the most famous and is also the most profound revelation of His identity and His mission.

11/30/08 - 1 Tim. 6:3-10, 17-19 - Have Yourself a Money Little Christmas.

Financial matters are mentioned more often in the Bible than prayer, healing, or mercy.

Why?

Because our pursuit of money always threatens to derail our pursuit of God. That’s exactly what had happened in the Church at Ephesus. In today’s passage, we will hear Paul condemn "men...who think that godliness is a means to financial gain" (6:4) and in 6:10, those "eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs..."

It should cause us to rethink everything, even how we celebrate Christmas. For at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, so shouldn’t we reflect upon how our celebrations might better honor Him?

Gift giving is in no way evil or bad. I love giving gifts to my kids and seeing their faces light up. But at the same time we must remember that in America, $457.4 billion was the total expected holiday sales in 2006. In 2007, shoppers around the country spent and average of $859 on gifts for the holiday season. All the while, half of the 6 billion people on this planet live on less than $2 a day.

Spending money is not bad. Giving gifts is not bad. But have we stopped and given honest consideration to how we live and how we give? Have we reflected upon how our use of money affects the world?

November 23, 2008 – 1 Tim 1:17; 6:15-16 – Thanksgiving

As often happens in Paul's writings, when he begins to dwell upon God and re-tells the story of Grace – the story of Jesus Christ - he often breaks into doxology and thanksgiving (cf. Rom. 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 16:27; Gal. 1:3-5; Eph 3:20-21; Phil. 4:20; 2 Tim. 4:18)

Good theology should always lead us to doxology.
Theology (theo - God & logos - words) words about God.
Doxology (doxo - glory & logos - words) words of Glory.

Right words about God should always lead to praise and giving glory to God.

Twice in the short letter of First Timothy, Paul breaks into hymns of praise - both times, these hymns of ecstasy praise pour out as he reflects upon Jesus Christ.

And so today - this Thanksgiving Season - we reflect upon what God has done, how he as provided, all that He has given and we too give thanks.

Most importantly we, like Paul, remember what God has done for us in Jesus Christ – and we are eternally grateful.

November 16, 2008 – 1 Timothy 5:1-6:2 – House Rules - from the series: "Watch Your Step: A Study in First Timothy."

In chapter Five of First Timothy, Paul reminds the church at Ephesus of the House Rules. As Paul wrote in 3:15 - the church is God’s Household. So when you're in God house - in His family - you play by His rules.

We remember that the household at Ephesus was in disorder, wrought by the false teachers and the wayward leaders whom Timothy had been left to silence.

For Timothy must help the church at Ephesus "Watch Its Step." For many have already been spiritually, theologically, emotionally injured by the landmines of falsehood laid by these false teachers.

In God’s Household we play by House Rules - and here we learn that House Rules say: show RESPECT to all.

11/09/2008 – 1 Timothy 3:8-16 – "Leaders Worth Following - Deacons (part 2) - Deacons." From the series: "Watch Your Step: A Study through First Timothy."

In the New Testament - and here in the letter of 1 Timothy - we see alongside the Elder another official role of church leadership. A role of equal importance but different function - the role of Deacon.

The Greek diakonos that we translate here as Deacon is translated elsewhere in the New Testament literally as servant or minister.

So who are these servant leaders? What is their role in the church? How do they function alongside the elders?

And most personally, how should they all function today in 2008, here at Chestnut Street Baptist Church?

11/02/2008 – 1 Timothy 3:1-16 – Leaders Worth Following.

First Timothy offers ample evidence that some of the false teachers at Ephesus were the very Elders charged with the care of God’s household. This would account for the extended treatment of the qualifications for church leadership here in 1 Tim. 3:1-16 and later the discipline of church leaders in 1 Tim. 5:17-22.

Paul had predicted a day when some of the church leaders might go bad in his tearful farewell speech to the Ephesian church recorded in Acts 20:29-31: "I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!"

As such Paul has written so that the church at Ephesus will know how people "ought to conduct themselves in God's household" (1 Tim. 3:15) and that the church might have "Leaders Worth Following".

For if the church is to catch the Wind of God’s Spirit and be always ready to follow the leading of His voice, it must be structured in an effective, efficient, and God honoring way. There must be leaders worth following standing at the helm, trimming the sails, and weighing anchor.

10/26/08 - "Men and Women at Worship" - 1 Timothy 2:8-15

In the words of one commentator addressing the topic of a woman's role in the church:

The apostle Paul spoke to a church and a culture that needed specific guidance and correction, just as we today need to hear from God a word for our generation—a word which resonates harmoniously with all of the inspired Word. One could wish we had direct teaching from Jesus on the subject, or that Paul could articulate for our generation as he articulated and applied eternal principles for his generation. Our task would be so much easier.

And so we tackle what is arguably one of the most difficult to interpret texts in the New Testament.

October 19, 2008 - 1 Timothy 2:1-7 – Prayer and Politics. From the series "Watch Your Step: A Study Through First Timothy."

Politics can change behavior.

Prayer can change the heart, which will eventually change the behavior as well.

This November, Politics will bring us new President, but only Prayer will bring us what we truly need: a spiritual revival.

Jesus was neither Democrat nor Republican; but Jesus died for both Democrat and Republican. And according to today's passage, God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

October 12, 2008 - 1 Timothy 1:12-17 - Grace - from the series "Watch Your Step: A Study in First Timothy."

This idea - that some religions call karma - seems to be at the very center of human existence:

• Moses said “fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.” (Lev. 24:20)


• Jesus said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 7:12)


• The Apostle Paul wrote, “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7)


• Issac Newton’s Third Law of motion says, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”


• Justice demands that, “The guilty will not go unpunished.”


• Society says, “What goes around, comes around” or “You get what you deserve.”

So this idea of karma is at the very center of the human existence. And if we are honest, we all have those things that we have “put out” that we hope don’t come back to us. Those things that we have sown that we hope we don’t reap. Those wrongs we have done which deserve recompense

Ours is a world is desperately in need of grace, for we are a people desperately in need of grace.

We all need someone or something to interrupt the consequences of our actions lest we all reap the horror of what we have sown, lest we get what we really deserve, lest we - the guilty - bear the ultimate punishment for our sin.

We need grace.

October 5, 2008 - 1 Tim 1:18-19; 4:6-8; 6:11-12 – Fight the Good Fight. From the Series: Watch Your Step: A Study Through First Timothy.

At Ephesus, Timothy had a fight on his hands - and it was going to be a difficult one. However, Paul wants Timothy to remember that The Faith is well worth fighting for. And we remember that it is still worth fighting for today. By listening to Paul’s advice and following Timothy's example, we too might learn to "fight good fight of the faith."

September 28, 2008 - 1 Timothy 1:3-5; 1:18-19; 4:11-16. From the series, "Watch Your Step: A Study in First Timothy"

Last week, we examined the pathology of these wandering teachers. Today we consider the antidote or the immunization. HOW might Timothy avoid same pathology? HOW might Timothy Watch His Step so that he doesn’t become like the shipwrecks around him? HOW is Timothy to counter the pathology of these false teachers and lead the church at Ephesus to Watch Its Step?

We will see that according to Paul, the secret to Timothy’s success in Ephesus will be to Love ‘em and Lead ‘em.

September 21, 2008 - 1 Timothy 1:3-11 (and 1:18-20; 4:1-8; 6:3-5, 20-21). "When Theology becomes Pathology" from the series "Watch Your Step: A Study of First Timothy."

Things are a mess in Ephesus. Paul indicates that false teachers and outlaws are running amok, causing trouble and disorder in the church. It reminds me of those old westerns where they’d say: "There’s a new sheriff a comin' and he's gonna clean up this town." So Sheriff Paul has deputized Timothy and left him to clean up the fair town of Ephesus

Paul commands, "Watch Your Step" for the trouble is NOT as simple to diagnose as it was in the old westerns: the good guys don’t always wear white and the bad guys don’t always wear black, so they're not that easy to identify.

In fact, the problem is that some of the good guys have become bad guys without turning in their white "good guy" uniforms. Some of the local Elders and church leaders have begun gun slinging for the wrong side.

And now Deputy Timothy has been charged with "calling them out" – exposing the error of these men and cleaning up the church.

The problem with these Elders - these former "good guys" - is that their Theology has become a Pathology. Dictonary.com defines Pathology as, "any deviation from a healthy, normal, or efficient condition." So the Theology and teaching of these Elders had become pathological – deviating from healthy or sound teaching and doctrine.

Timothy is charged to expose the PATHOLOGY of these teachers and remind the church of sound, healthy THEOLOGY.

September 14, 2008 - A Sermon on Baptism. Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38, 22:16; Rom. 6:3-5; Colo. 2:11-12

This morning we sang together:
Oh to know the pow'r of Your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like You in Your death my Lord
So with You to live and never die

We also declared in song:
And we are raised with Him
Death is dead love has won Christ has conquered

This is the meaning of baptism that we come to celebrate this morning:
united with Christ
into His death and resurrection
so with Him to live and never die

"Watch Your Step: A Study of First Timothy" - 1 Timothy 1:1-2

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

September 08, 2008 05:38 AM PDT

09/07/2008 - 1 Timothy 1:1-2 – "Watch Your Step: A Study of First Timothy" – INTRODUCTION and OVERVIEW

I was reading Worst-Case Scenarios: How To Navigate A Minefield there is says:

You're on a 2-week nature trek in Afghanistan, and you start walking toward some wildflowers off to your left. All of a sudden, a large animal appears and charges you. Then, KABOOM! The animal is obliterated. Uh-oh! You've wandered into a minefield. What should you do?

Back up slowly in your own footsteps. Do not turn around. Walk carefully backward....

[and how do you avoid getting into this situation again?] Watch the movements of locals: Locals who avoid perfectly good trails probably are avoiding a mined area. Observe which routes they will not travel on and avoid those areas. Never travel alone in a suspected mined area.

Many of the Apostle Paul’s letters read like "Worst Case Scenario" handbooks with useful advice for traversing the minefields of ministry. Paul wrote what are commonly referred to as the Pastoral Letters: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. He penned these open letters to the young Pastors, Timothy and Titus seeking to help them successfully navigate the Minefields of Ministry.

In these epistles, Paul's teaching cries, "Watch Your Step!" Observe me, for I am a local, familiar with this territory and these trails. I’ll help you avoid the minefields. Follow in my footsteps, for where I have stepped is safe and sure.

FALLing Forward

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

September 01, 2008 01:07 PM PDT

August 31, 2008 - 1 Kings 18:16-39

As I have looked to all the changes that the fall would bring, my greatest hope is that we might not FALL back, nor might we FALL down, but that we might FALL forward.

HOW might we do that? Is there some important thing we need - a most essential ingredient?

As we look at the story of Elijah and the prophets on Mount Carmel, we remember that until the Fire of God falls there is no sacrifice; all you've got is a pile stones, sticks, and dead animals. The sacrifice is incomplete, ineffective, and meaningless without the Fire of God.

Keep Building

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

August 18, 2008 05:43 PM PDT

August 17, 2008 - Nehemiah 4:1-23

"Sons of Abraham! Of Issac! Of Jacob! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.

"A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.

"An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of Israel comes crushing down! But it is not this day!

"THIS DAY WE FIGHT!

"Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes. I bid you stand, Men of the Israel!"

Nelson Mandela taught that; Courage is not the absence of fear—it's inspiring others to move beyond it.

I opened the sermon with a movie clip from Return of the King (Lord of the Rings Trilogy) where King Aragorn inspires his troops in the face of their fears and uncertainties.

It is the very thing that we see Nehemiah do in chapter four – he rallies the people to overcome their fears and to keep building.

And it is the very thing we in our church need to do - to overcome our challenges and fears and to keep building the future that God has for us.

I review some of the upcoming programs this fall of 2008 - a new Sunday School program, Sermon Based Home Groups, evaluation of our church structures (utilizing the Natural Church Development program). We have much to be excited about this fall, but also many fears and challenges we must overcome together! Keep Building!

(Below is the video clip I showed at the beginning of the sermon)

Misunderstanding Jesus?

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

August 10, 2008 06:11 PM PDT

August 10, 2008 - Matthew 10:32-39; 16:13-17; Luke 22:67-70; John 5:16-18; 8:24; 14:6-9

I opened the sermon, showing this video clip from a dramatic production of Peter Kreeft's "Between Heaven and Hell." This is an edited clip of the "aut deus aut homo malus" argument about Jesus' identity ("either God or a bad man").

Have we been misunderstanding Jesus for 2000 years? Everyone has something to say about Him. But the question each one of us must answer; "Who do you say that He is?"

Where Was God? (The Problem of Evil and Suffering)

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

August 03, 2008 06:33 PM PDT

August 3, 2008 - The God of the Bible is said to be all-good
(1 John 1:5); all-powerful, or omnipotent (Jer. 32:17); and all-knowing, or omniscient (Ps. 147:5).

Then in the words of the Greek Philosopher, Epicurus: "Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?"

So where was God when tragedy hit? Why didn't He do something? Doesn't He love us?

Just Another Book? (Is the Bible Reliable?)

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

July 27, 2008 12:51 PM PDT

July 27, 2008 - In this sermon we tackle the question of is the Bible reliable in three dimensions: 1) Accuracy (truthfulness of the authors); 2)Transmission (do we have what the original authors wrote - was it accurately preserved); 3)Selection (how did we come to have these particular 66 books in our Bible? We answer some of the erroneous accusations made in Dan Browns' the Da Vinci Code).

You Can't Handle the Truth!

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

July 22, 2008 12:27 PM PDT

July 20, 2008 - John 14:6; 18:37-38 - We begin our "Summer for Skeptics" by seeking to give an answer to a generation who, “can’t handle the truth.” What is Postmodernism, how did we get here, and how do we answer the objections that Postmodernism raises to TRUTH?

Just Between You and Me

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

June 23, 2008 04:36 PM PDT

June 22, 2008 - Matthew 18:15-20

Nothing threatens to destroy community faster than a lack of reconciliation. Hebrews 6:14-15 warns us of the 'bitter root' that grows from the seeds of unresolved conflict. We must learn to reconcile that we might cut off bitterness at its ugly and divisive root.

I reference the dc Talk song, "Between You and Me" at the end of my sermon. You can watch the video and hear the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnHVQl3faVs

Father's Day Devotional

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

June 18, 2008 06:14 AM PDT

June 15, 2008 - Psalm 144:1 - A five minute Father's Day Devotional.

In a day when society either robs men of their strength or rewards indiscriminate aggression, we need to encourage not weak men nor violent men, but rather Warrior Poets for the Kingdom of God.

Aim Lower, Think Smaller

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

June 13, 2008 10:52 AM PDT

June 8, 2008 - Mark 10:13-16 - Aim Lower, Think Smaller - Children's Day Sermon. I began the sermon by showing this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7huKGnCojjU):

Communion and Community

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

June 03, 2008 09:32 AM PDT

June 1, 2008 - Communion and Community, 1 John 1:5 - 2:2.

How does the remembrance at Communion give us the Courage for Confession and allow us to develop true Community (koinonia)?

No Greater Love

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

May 27, 2008 09:44 AM PDT

May 25, 2008 - No Greater Love - Memorial Day Weekend sermon on John 15:12-13. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

They say that you should never discuss Politics or Religion in polite company. So here today, in church on Memorial Day Weekend, we walk a perilous line, do we not?

The Barley Loaf

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

May 24, 2008 08:23 PM PDT

May 18, 2008 - The Barley Loaf, Judges 7:1-25. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

Loving Mom

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

May 14, 2008 02:12 PM PDT

May 11, 2008 - Loving Mom - Mother's Day sermon on Mark 7:5-13. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

Compelling Community

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

May 12, 2008 10:36 AM PDT

May 4, 2008 - Compelling Community, Acts 2:42-47. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

Spiritually Fit: Shake Up

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

May 05, 2008 08:59 PM PDT

April 27, 2008 - Spiritually Fit: Shake Up, Acts 15:1-21. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine. PART 4 OF 4, Spiritually Fit series.

Spiritually Fit: Filled Up

Send to Friends | 1 Comments | Download | Permalink

April 22, 2008 10:24 AM PDT

April 20, 2008 - Spiritually Fit: Fill Up, Acts 4:1-31. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine. PART 3 OF 4, Spiritually Fit series.

Spiritually Fit: Built Up

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

April 15, 2008 08:31 PM PDT

April 13, 2008 - Spiritually Fit: Built Up, Ephesians 4:7-16. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine. PART 2 OF 4, Spiritually Fit series.

Spiritually Fit: Get Up

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

April 15, 2008 08:29 PM PDT

April 6, 2008 - Spiritually Fit: Get Up, John 21:1-19. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine. PART 1 OF 4, Spiritually Fit series.

Unexpected

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

March 31, 2008 07:48 PM PDT

March 23, 2008 - This is the 2008 Easter sermon I preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

Revolution

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

March 31, 2008 07:35 PM PDT

March 16, 2008 - Revolution, Matthew 21:1-17. Palm Sunday sermon, preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church in Camden, Maine.

Today you will be with me in Paradise.

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

February 27, 2008 07:03 PM PST

February 10, 2008 - Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise, Luke 23:43. Part of a "Seven Last Words of Christ from the cross" series, preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

One

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

February 27, 2008 07:00 PM PST

February 3, 2008 - One, Ephesians 4:1-6, 25-32. Preached in the midst of a Pastoral transition at Chestnut Street Baptist Church in Camden, Maine that our church might be challenged "transition well."

Until the Last Stone Falls

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

November 15, 2007 01:39 PM PST

October 28, 2007 - Until the Last Stone Falls, John 8:1-11. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

You're Going to Fail (graduate)

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

January 25, 2008 08:15 PM PST

June 10, 2007 You're Going to Fail (Graduating Senior), 2 Samuel 11 & 12. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

Wholly, Wholly, Wholly

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

January 25, 2008 08:06 PM PST

March 11, 2007 - Wholly, Wholly, Wholly (Holy, Holy, Holy), 2 Timothy 2:20-21. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine. What can a toothbrush teach us about Holiness?

Kingdom Come

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

January 26, 2008 09:02 PM PST

August 27, 2006 - Kingdom Come, Matthew 6:9-10 (Opening to the Lord's Prayer). Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

My City

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Download | Permalink

January 25, 2008 08:09 PM PST

October 30, 2005, My City, Jeremiah 29:4-7. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

The Basin and the Towel

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Permalink

January 25, 2008 08:32 PM PST

April 3, 2005, The Basin and the Towel, John 13. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.

Who Turned the Lights Out?

Send to Friends | Leave a Comment | Permalink

January 26, 2008 08:58 PM PST

November 7, 2004 - Who Turned the Lights Out? - Matthew 5:13-16. Preached at Chestnut Street Baptist Church, Camden, Maine.