The Wall

This sermon takes a look at the symbolic barrier of sin in our lives as we attempt to justify or deny our actions as being grievous to God. The text of course is of King David and his moment of indiscretion with Bathsheba.
Next week we will dig into the cover up that David attempted as a way to hide his guilt.

The question we must all ask ourselves is: what is the barrier in our own life that is keeping God at a distance? Can we confess that sin and surrender it over to God?

Selective Hearing - the sermon that did not get preached

Well this sermon was anything other than what I expected. I organize and plan a six month preaching calendar and this is the fifth month into what I planned in January. The sermon that I wrote fit very much with what I was thinking from this text in January however when it came to Sunday morning I knew that I would be unable to preach it. There are just times when the congregation has to hear the Holy Spirit doing the preaching and not the pastor. (which sometimes feels like a lecture and one sided rebuke) Whether I was right or wrong in not preaching this sermon I will never know. But after reading the text on Sunday I asked the congregation to share what they heard the passage saying to them. The good news is they basically preached the same sermon that I had written, but it was not me saying it. It was the congregation allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through them.
I know this is a bit unconventional, but I also knew that because of the difficulty and poignancy of James that my words could have been misinterpreted. (That fine line between a pastor illuminating the text and standing in front of it I think)
Anyway, I did not record the pseudo sermon but I did decide to post the PDF of what I had prepared. If you would like you can read it and comment.

Anarchy in the Temple

This Sermon compares our Christian lives to a light house. It forces us to think about the total opposite nature of Black and White, sin and righteousness. We talk about how our world is struggling and becoming more foggy every day, and we all react to that fog of society in different ways. Both Paul and Jesus indicate that we are to be the light of the world even in the midst of a "crooked and depraved generation." How do we do that? What does it look like? How can we honestly inspect our lives and look for ways to improve the way that we are being the Temple of the Holy Spirit? Join us for this fun message and I pray that God will inspire you through the words that you hear.

The Day of Salvation

This sermon is an exciting venture as we compare our Christian lives to the Titanic. We like our luxury liner, but find out the only way to make it to the other port is to abandon our life and get on the life boat called "faith in Christ." This analogy is powerful and exciting as I draw in the responsibility of fathers to their children like unto Paul's sacrificial giving of himself to the early church.

Thriving

This message completes the thrive series. In it I ask the challenging question, "If attending church would leave us with a permanent flame sticking out of our head and an uncontrollable urge to speak with everyone about Jesus, would we still be here?"
This is the kind of faith that God wants to give us through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. It is time for us to displace fear of talking about religion with a zeal for Christ that looks like a drunken fervor. We need to abandon our religious reservations and stand up for Jesus like we have a flame burning on the top of our head.

Grasping for Straws

In this sermon we look at the roots of faith that hold us firm in the face of life's challenges. Specifically I address graduates and challenge them to remain grounded in their faith. The analogy of the plant continues in this message to look at our spiritual health and ability to produce the harvest of faith. I pray we all take a moment to look at the foundation of faith in our own life. Does it need a little tending?

Top Ten

This is the third sermon in the Thrive series. Today we learn about the importance of herbicide and killing the weeds in our life that can grow up and kill us spiritually. We also learn about the "Round Up Ready" seed that is meant to that is genetically altered to accept the herbicide. That seed is like the word God has put in our hearts. God promises us in Jeremiah and later in Hebrews reminds us that He has put his word in our heart. In essence we are created to live according to God's law and it is intended to be like a herbicide that will kill all the weeds of sin in our life. I hope you enjoy the analogy and are able to apply it to your life.