Sermons

The act of singing to God has become for many a lifeless liturgy or professional performance of praise meant only to satisfy self. This series of sermons declares that when you sing from your heart to God, he is exalted and lives our changed.

Spirituality is in. Across the American culture there are very few things as in vogue. People are flocking towards it in the 2000’s like they did Elvis in the 1950’s or hammer pants in the 1980’s. Everywhere you look you can see some form of spiritual expression. It shows up on TV, on the best sellers list, in movies, and through the ever increasing popularity of spiritual groups. Spirituality has busted out like the next Hunger Games movie or the new American Idol winner. It seems that people in search of spirituality are moving away from Christianity. The problem is not with the lack of spirituality involved in Christianity itself but rather that this spirituality has been sucked out of the church in America. Therefore, it has become uninteresting and uninviting to the people who are looking for a spiritual “fix.” This series of sermons examines the true spirituality of Christianity with the goal of showing people that Christianity offers more.

Everyone has an identity. The source of that identity is of paramount importance. Tragically, most have let what they look like, what they have, what they do, and what others say define them; they’ve allowed their identities to be stolen. Experience shows that a stolen identity is a fragile identity – blemishes, pay cuts, demotions, and mean words causing an identity crisis. In this series we are going to show you how you can reclaim your identity by finding it in Christ.

Life is full of hurt. We feel pain, struggle, fear, and failure. Despite it all, most of us hope. We hope for a better tomorrow. We hope for future success. We hope to be forgiven. We hope our lives will matter. And, we hope that death will not come too soon. But, false hope is no hope at all. The Bible declares that our greatest hopes hang on if Jesus rose.

The Palm Sunday story is well known: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey as thousands of people lay their coats and palm branches at his feet while shouting, “Hosanna. Hosanna.” What is sometimes forgotten is the miracle that proceeded this event, a miracles that contributed greatly to the size of the crowd – Jesus raised a man named Lazarus from the dead. The miracle of resurrection has alluring power and the source of resurrection ought not be ignored.

The complexity of our world often leaves us struggling to figure out what is right and what is wrong. Making matters worse is that sometimes when we do that which culture declares right, we are left feeling as though we did wrong. This series of sermons on James presents Christian ethics according to the book and calls all who hear it to a different, better way of life.

Biographies are compelling, in part, because they offer us a glimpse into the life of people beyond their public work. They help us understand who the people are/were, not just what they accomplished. This series is something of a biography of Jesus. A lot of people know about what Jesus said and did, but what was Jesus like? These sermons share three stories from the life of Jesus before his public work and teaching began. In looking at Jesus as a baby, kid, and young man, listeners will, perhaps for the first time, meet Jesus.

English psychiatrist and philosopher Eric Fromm said, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” Most people feel a constant desire for more; most people never feel like they have enough. Despite this, almost nobody recognizes themselves themselves as greedy. These sermons on greed aim to help people understand what greed is, why it is spiritually significant, and how they can overcome it.

It seems, in our current culture, one of the worst things someone can be called is “judgmental.” Sadly, this label often given to anyone who declares a belief in a moral standard; Christians are constantly called judgmental. People are reacting to this in one of two ways: They get louder and angrier – seemingly more judgmental – or they stop talking about right and wrong altogether. The average person intuitively understands that these common, yet extreme approaches are both flawed. People shouldn’t yell at everyone who does something they don’t like; people shouldn’t accept everything that everyone does as good. The Bible offers a complex solution to this tension. This series of sermons aims to teach what the Bible says about judging others.

In a world that offers plenty to worry about, worry plagues almost everyone. This is troubling, especially because worry brings with it a wide variety of physical, emotional, and spiritual dangers. While the average person won’t consider it’s dangerous side affects, most would love to remove worry from their lives, but because of it’s universality, most see no hope in ridding themselves of this negative emotional. This series of sermons teaches listeners Jesus’ tips on living a worry-free life.