God’s Restless Love

Introduction

Have you ever heard the phrase that “love will make you do some reckless things”? How many of you have ever experienced a love ...

Love Conquers Envy

Preacher’s Intro:

This sermon on how love conquers envy was part of a sermon series on how grace covers our shame.

The remarkable response to Brené ...

Ode to a Donkey

Introduction

Today is Palm Sunday, the day the church celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, only to be crucified by the ...

A Bad Day

Introduction

As we walk thru life all of us are going to have some good days, some average days, and some bad days.

One of my bad days happened ...

What Is Love?

Introduction

All of us have a working definition of love in our minds. Love is one of those words that we instinctively know what it means. We ...

A Song of Contentment

Introduction

One of my favorite films of all time is Chariots of Fire. Chariots of Fire is based on the true story of two runners named Harold ...

The Endurance of God's Promises

Introduction

As we read the verses this morning, I admit that my mind wandered a bit. And though I'm not proud of what I thought about, I admit that ...

Because He Loved Us

Introduction

About 25 years ago I almost became a hero for the cause of justice and compassion. For my first job after college, every morning ...

It’s Time for a Fresh Start

Introduction: The Story

(Read John 21:1-14)

It was an early morning on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee. A light haze of fog hung over the water making ...

Advent: Christmas Eve

Introduction

Happy Christmas!

Christmas is very much a thing at our church. You may be watching this on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, or the ...

Advent Conspiracy: Love All

Introduction

Every Christmas there is that one toy that everyone wants and that creates all sorts of craziness.

In 1983 it was the Cabbage Patch Doll! The ...

Outrageous, Miraculous Love

Introduction

In the fall of 2001, I was a senior in college. Because of where my college was located, I was an hour and a half away from my hometown ...

Do You Love People?

Introduction

Soon after I graduated from seminary one of my first ministries was as an assistant pastor of First Baptist Church in Medford, Oregon. ...

When You Say I Do

Introduction – Upsetting the Equilibrium

Jacob thought he was marrying one person but he got stuck with two, the Rachel he wanted and the Leah he ...

Christian Unity in a Politically Diverse Congregation: Why Both Sides Are Right

Introduction

In this two part series we are going to explore how our baptism can help us achieve Christian unity in light of our political diversity. And ...

The Sudden Turn of Joy

Introduction

It’s a wonderful day and I’m really honored to be preaching on the first Sunday of the New Year it’s a great joy. I have ...

Count Your Blessings

Introduction

The Chamber of Commerce invited a pastor to offer the blessing at a banquet honoring elected officials. The master of ceremonies forgot to ...

Fake Faith

Introduction

In a now famous experiment, two social psychologists at Princeton University in 1973 wanted to examine whether thinking religious thoughts ...

A 7-11 Song

Introduction

Psalm 118 is a type of psalm this is what is known as an antiphonal psalm, which means it has echoes whereby God’s people respond to ...

Through Love, Serve One Another

Introduction

Have you ever been loved in a way that really astounded you? Have you ever been served in a way that, when you sat back and thought about ...

Hope in the Present

IntroductionIt’s a popular statement. I heard it years ago though I’m not sure who first said it.: Human beings can live for 40 days without ...

The Story Before the Grand Story

Introduction

In the Bible there are two books that begin with these words: “In the beginning, God spoke.” The most famous is the Book of Genesis. ...

My Name is Hosea

Introduction

My name is Hosea. My profession is prophet of the Lord Jehovah. My prophetic ministry took place in the northern kingdom of Israel between ...

How to Love the Lord Your God

Introduction

(Read Deuteronomy 11:1-7)

I want to label the message "How to Love the Lord Your God." In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses has already ...

God's Love Language

Introduction

Why does it take so long to learn how to love the important people in our life? Am I the only slow learner in this crowd? When our kids were ...

Looking Otherward

Introduction

Many years ago, I had dinner at a place called Windows on the World. The restaurant sat atop a skyscraper so high that the wait staff literally ...

Will You Forgive?

Introduction

Anybody you're having a hard time with these days? Ever forgiven anybody who doesn't deserve it? If so, this sermon's for you. And if you've ...

National Reflections

Introduction

This past week, our elders met to pray and talk about our church and the level of churning in our nation these days around issues of political ...

Freedom from Lust

Introduction

The voices of lust are varied—young and old, male and female, single and married—but all of them are strained, brittle, and sad. ...

The Love Reaction

Introduction

(Read 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10)

A single mother struggles to pay for a college education for her only child. She hates her job but knows she ...

The Love Expression

Introduction

(Read 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5)

God is the source of love, Jesus is the proof of love, and believers must be the agents of love in this world.

The Love Connection

Introduction

Dick Purnell, in his 2003 publication Finding a Lasting Love, makes the following statement: "We all need to love and accept the love of other ...

Learn God's Law

Introduction

We naturally like to hear of philanthropy, of charity, of giving. Our hearts may be warmed as we hear of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett choosing ...

Called Out and Called Up

Introduction

Our title for today's message is "Called Out and Called Up." One of the things that people misunderstand about the Christian ...

When Small is Great

Introduction

Every once in a while in American culture there will be a court case that sort of captures our whole nation. That's not a recent ...

Yet . . .

Introduction

I'm sure there are times when you have wondered, "What will become of me?" Were you standing, bewildered, outside of your boss's office door? ...

Two Inseparables: Truth and Love

Introduction

Thanksgiving and Christmas are a time when we like to open our home to family and friends. However, in the ancient Mediterranean world it ...

True Relationships

Introduction

As we wrap up our series on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we are going to continue our focus on Christ's second coming.

I am a member at Sam's Club ...

Family Matters

Introduction

Colin Smith suggests a number of common, but faulty, metaphors for the church. He says the church can be viewed as a gas station—a place ...

Party of Three

Introduction

Oprah recently interviewed Diane Nyad, the 64yr old who completed a 53 hour solo swim from Cuba to Florida. In the interview Nyad said that ...

Jesus, Betrayed and Crucified

Introduction

If you have ever flown into Ireland, north or south, one thing will strike you. From the air, Ireland is remarkably green. What the tourist ...

God's Stolen Identity

Introduction

Identity theft is one of the most rampant crimes sweeping across America. A thief steals someone's Social Security number and personal information ...

When the Perfect Comes

Introduction

We have been going through 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 through 14, and we have been studying the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. We saw the ...

Love Keeps Going

Introduction

Several years ago there appeared on Broadway a political satire called Of Thee I Sing. The opening scene of that musical took place in a smoke-filled ...

God Is Good

Introduction

Can you recall the first prayer you learned by heart? Was it for you, as it was for me, the one still prayed by children around dinner tables ...

God Is Love

Introduction

God is love. This is the characteristic of God that we will explore today in our Discovering God series. The fact that God is love means that ...

Hanging on When You Feel Like Giving Up

Introduction

Helen Hayes, a stage actress of another decade, was talking about charm when she said, "Charm is that thing which, if you have it, you don't ...

The Power of a Blessing

Introduction

Nancy and I had gotten married and were celebrating our first Christmas together. I was in grad school. We had no money at all. There was ...

Deep Love

I want to know what love is.

Sooner or later, it had to come around to love. For six weeks now, we have been considering tests of true faith—the ...

What Makes You Happy?

In John's first letter of correspondence to the churches, there are some troublesome verses. First John 4:9-10 is not difficult: "This is how ...