The 4th of July falls on Sunday this year. The comparisons between our liberty and freedom as Americans and the freedom found in Christ are easy to make, but we need to be careful. I wish to present a sermon that is both patriotic and scriptural, but also fair and truthful. The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 – the Bible was not. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Christianity
The New Thing in Sermons
In the Old Testament, the prophet was a person who did the speaking for God. Not necessarily predicting future events, the prophet acted as the spoken voice of God on earth. During Jesus’s earthly ministry, he was found daily in the temple or synagogue reading and teaching. While his sermon on the mount may have turned the Pharisees’ world upside down, he was regarded as a rabbi in most Jewish circles. In Acts chapter 2, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preaches something entirely new. Continue reading
Who Framed Jesus?
I can tell that Easter is near. Every year about this time, several television specials and news magazines focus on the fact that Christians still believe in Jesus even though they should not. In about a week, expect Time Magazine (or its equivalent) to run a cover story on how/why the resurrection could not have possibly taken place. Predictably, they will claim Jesus either 1) did not die 2) stayed dead, or 3) was never alive in the first place. Each year, several media outlets predict an end to Christian faith, despite the fact that each year there are still billions of Christians around the world. Continue reading
Jesus Greater Than Moses: Heb 3
Hebrews is easy to preach because its form is much more like a sermon than an epistle (letter). At the heart of its message is an impassioned plea not to leave the Christian faith for another, and so in order to be convincing the author of Hebrews makes many comparisons between Christ and all the things of the Old Testament he is superior to. We have already seen that Christ is superior to the angels, and that through suffering he becomes the perfect founder of our faith. Chapter 3 begins this way:
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Hebrews 3:1-6
Open Door Policy
Summer is the season of mission trips, Vacation Bible School and Backyard Bible Clubs. I would like to share a personal experience that I find especially encouraging.
Our church is hosting a large number of volunteers this week from Lynchburg, VA. Their mission team is doing a few construction projects and running several Backyard Bible Clubs in different locations. One of them is at the small country church I frequently preach at. This is an old church, and does not have central air. During the day we open up the windows and turn on a couple of fans. We’ve been leaving the front door standing open, just to move some air. Well, this morning a young couple was driving by and noticed the open door. She has been looking for a job, and everyone knows what that is like right now. She felt the need to stop in and pray. They entered the back of the sanctuary, and listened to the children’s Bible lesson that was being taught. When the kids went downstairs for snacks and crafts, we had the chance to listen to their story and pray with them. We invited them to join us tomorrow, and certainly for service on Sunday.
They stopped at the church to pray because they saw the front door open. We often (I hope) invite people to church, but how inviting is our church? How many others would stop and pray, ask questions or just talk to us if they saw the door open? This happened at 11:00 on a Thursday morning. There’s a lot of hurt, a lot of need, a lot of fields white for harvest out there. It may be a stretch just to imagine people with problems wanting to be anywhere near “church people.” Imagine if more churches had open doors and people waiting to pray with those passing by. Just a thought.
Having An Excuse vs. Making An Excuse
Years ago my family went to church with a guy named Ted. He was a lifelong smoker, and had developed a pretty bad case of emphysema by the time we met him. They finally starting bringing him to church in a wheelchair, and he stayed on oxygen all the time. There was a large machine in his house with little hoses run to each room, and he carried a small tank around with him on wheels. He frequently spent time in the hospital. No one would have held it against Ted if he had stayed at home. It would not have made him a lazy Christian or a bad witness. But instead he was one of the most faithful members. He wanted to come to church for as long as he was able, and did. Continue reading
Discussions That Are Academic
There are some discussions/debates that are purely academic in nature, meaning that they have no real bearing on anything practical. Is Superman strong enough to beat up the Incredible Hulk? It doesn’t matter who wins the debate, there is no practical application for the results. Continue reading
A Letter to the President
Tom Foreman is a correspondent on Anderson Cooper 360. I actually read through his letter the first time thinking that it was written by Anderson Cooper, and although it’s not, it is written by one of his guys and displayed by CNN on their website. Foreman has been writing President Obama a letter each week since he took office. Here is a sample of his latest offering, in reference to Christians in America, since Easter is this week:
People of faith sometimes mistake their own fist for the hand of God; non-believers sometimes mistake scientific findings for proof that God is not there. Faith by its very nature is not subject to proof one way or the other. If you had proof, it would not be faith. If you need proof, faith is far away.
And if we can learn to accept those opposing stances in each other, we’ll be a stronger nation where both the faithful and faithless can share the peace and wonders of our world…
Read the entire letter here, and tell me what you think. Is Foreman’s take on religion in America just about right?
It’s like a trip on Jesus.
“It’s like a trip on Jesus.” That’s exactly what the young man said who shared his testimony this evening. Those are the words he used to sum up his salvation experience.
I don’t write much about the youth ministry I’m involved in, but feel like I must share this story. A Christian should be able to share his or her testimony. Maybe not in front of a church congregation, maybe not even in a group. But a believer should be able to tell another person, even if just in a one on one conversation, what God has done in their life. So tonight at BCM Celebration! (Baptist Campus Ministry) we talked about what it means to share a testimony. Continue reading
Tithing Rap
There is no denying that these are tough economic times. Large corporations and banks are failing, so you can imagine what’s happening to charities and ministries that rely on the generosity of the giver to fund their operations. You do what you gotta’ do, right?
People can’t give what they don’t have. But what if we could make tithing cool? Maybe like with a rap or something? Thanks to Bob’s Occasional Musings, I give you Tithing Rap!
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The Master's Table 
