Sermons

  Everything Is Awesome & Nobody Is Happy The Gift And The Giver Opening Illustration: Friends, money is one of the hardest subjects to address here at church. I’ve got really good news for you this morning. I’m not talking about money this morning. Paul is. No, no, truthfully, Im not talking about money this morning, Im talking about giving. Ok, ok, you’ve got me, I will be talking about money and giving this morning. It’s funny because the Bible talks so extensively about money and possessions. Did you know that money and possessions are the second most referenced topics in the Bible? Money and possessions are mentioned more than 800 times.  Money, specifically the pursuit of money, is pervasive in our culture. I’m reminded of the 1980’s movies Wall Street starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. Remember the quote from Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko, “greed is good”. While that line was spoken some 40 years ago, it captures our culture in a nut shell. We see the subjec

  Everything Is Awesome & Nobody Is Happy Content In Chaotic Circumstances  Opening Illustration: We live in a culture where we never seem to have enough. It appears that we get, we gain, we demand more and when we receive it is not good enough. People don’t seem to be enough. Relationships leave us unfulfilled. Our possessions don’t seem to satisfy. We crave for a better house, a faster car, sportier clothing, and when we gain these “things”, we grow bitter instead of better. Why? Why is it that the more we have the less joy we feel? Why is it that when we gain material possessions we don’t discover our purpose, we lack spiritual power, and we seem to lose sight of God’s presence. Preachers preach on being content. Self help experts tells us that we can be happy with less. YouTube is filed with people living a minimal lifestyle, building tiny houses, having almost nothing for possessions, and even that seems so unappealing because it goes against everything that we were raised