Sermons

According To Luke: Faithful Friends Opening Illustration: In the mid to late 1990’s, “Friends” was the most popular show on TV. It was, as NBC stated, Must See TV. Every Thursday night kids my age would sit down to see the comedy of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross and Joey. Each week we would meet them in their apartment and at the coffee shop. There were lots of funny conversations around the coffee table at the Central Perk.  As I remember back on that show, I remember the relationships between the fictional friends as funny, but not very fruitful. The characters seemed to always be in trouble. Their personal lives were always a mess. Each episode, while humorous, highlighted the brokenness of their lives. They all had trouble at work. They all had trouble in their dating lives. Ross, who had been previously married, had trouble with his ex-wife and child.  Truthfully, when you really think about it, each character was a wreck of a human being and ev

Strangers Passing Through Opening Illustration: I have had the opportunity to travel to some pretty fantastic places over the years. I have visited several foreign countries and seen some of the wonders of the world. I have seen the Mona Lisa and stood on the Great Wall of China. I am traveling to Paris, France in just a few days on a Mission Trip with members from this church in a few short days. I love traveling.  Do you know what this is? That’s right, its a passport. Specifically, it is my passport. In order for me to enter into another country, I have to have a passport. I can remember that when I traveled to China that not only did I have a passport, I also had to have a temporary visa. Many of you have traveled before. You have gone though customs. You have had to produce that passport and visa. They look you over, ask why you are coming into the country and then they stamp your passport and grant you access.  Friends, do you know what it means to have your

According To Luke: Follow Me Illustration: Over the Christmas holidays, my family did some traveling. We spent a grand total of 18 hours in the van together. It was a rich and rewarding experience. As we traveled we played a little game where we would count car tags from other states.  We got to 39 states and two different tags from Canada. Not to bad. While counting tags, I also noticed the dizzying array of bumper stickers.  There is a lot of wisdom in bumper stickers you know. One of the more interesting ones that I saw said this, “Don’t follow me, Im lost too”.  Now that’s pretty funny. There is a lot of truth in that statement. I don’t know about you but I have been guilty of following the wrong person. Going the wrong direction. I have ended up more lost that when I started. Answer this question for me: Who Are You F ollowing ? Luke 5:27-32 ESV 27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Fol