Sermons

The Road To Easter: An Empty Praise Welcome: Every spring, hundreds of Hollywood “stars” gather for the Academy Awards. Very few “slip in the back door:” instead, they make an entrance. They walk down the long red carpet, smiling at the cameras and waving to the people in the stands (who, by the way, all had to apply and go through extensive background checks), showing off their clothing (and undoubtedly a bit more), chatting with the reporters. Some will go to great, great lengths just to be noticed. Contrast that with Jesus: to the man healed of leprosy in Matt. 8, He said: “See that you don’t tell anyone.” To the two blind men He healed in Matt. 9, He, “warned them sternly, ‘See that no one knows about this.’” And in Mark 1, a demon possessed man in Capernaum yelled out “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”, to which Jesus replied “Be quiet!”  Jesus often chose not to be in the limelight. In fact, most of Jesus ministry happened outside of the capital city o...

Proverbs: Life In Detail- Solomon’s Wisdom For Our Words Welcome: Lose Lips Sink Ships During WWI, enemy spies used to hang around the British pubs to hear loose talk about ship movements. Sailors would talk about their next assignments, where they were going, when they were leaving—vital information for the German submarines. Just a few careless words would tip the enemy off and thousands of lives would be lost. A slogan was raised to remind people of the terrible devastation that could result from words ill spoken, “Loose lips, sink ships”. The problem of careless talk was so great that the government began to put up posters like the example I have on the overhead.  Opening: Words are not simply sounds caused by air passing through our larynx. Words have real power. God spoke the world into being by the power of His words (Hebrews 11:3), and we are in His image in part because of the power we have with words. Words do more than convey information. The power of our wo...

Proverbs: Life In Details-Liberated Listening Opening Illustration: This Is The Problem With America Recently KGO talk radio in San Francisco conducted a call-in poll. Ronn Owens invited listeners to express their opinion. Thirty-five percent said yes, 33 percent said no and 32 percent were undecided. One listener, aghast at the large number of undecideds, protested, "It’s this sort of apathy that’s ruining America."  The only problem with all these responses was that the radio station had never posed any question. The people were listening, but they weren’t attentive. They really weren’t tuned in. Point: Well there you have it, people are pretty poor listeners.  You and I probably struggle with listening.  We struggle with staying connected.  How many of you have cell phones in the audience this morning.  Good most of you do.  If you are like me, you are always searching for wi-fi.  You even have that little wi-fi symbol in the upper ...