These are sermons about the works, words, and nature of Jesus.
Our lives are filled with emptiness. The complexity of life clouds our experiences. The things we hope to find fulfillment in, don’t fill us at all. 2,000 years ago two men walked a country road feeling just like we do. Then, they had an encounter with someone unexpected and for perhaps the first time, they experienced clear eyes and full hearts.
The opposite is easy to find. Discord, turmoil, distress, fighting, frustration, and most other antonyms of peace, are all around us. Peace though, it is often illusive. This Palm Sunday sermon, about a group of people seeking peace, explains where we can find it and how we can keep it.
We spend our lives looking for the answers to life’s questions, but maybe we’re missing what’s been right in front of us all along. Instructions that stand the test of time. Find the answer you’ve been looking for as we examine Jesus’ parables and discover the uncomplicated truth of history’s greatest genius.
This is the Holy Week sermons (Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter) from 2016.
Long before Jesus was born the world knew much about what he would do and who he would be. Many of this knowledge came from a prophet named Isaiah. In his book he offers important insights into the magnificence of Jesus. These sermons expound Jesus in Isaiah and declare him to be, Immanuel.
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.
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.
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.