Sermons

The Gift: The Gift of Revelation! Opening Illustration: A new pastor was visiting the homes of some of the people in his congregation. He came to one house and he knocked but there was no answer. He could see the lights were on and it seemed very obvious that someone was home, so he knocked again. When there was no response, he took out a note card and simply wrote on it Revelation 3:20 and stuck it in the door. The next Sunday after the offering was passed he found someone had put his note card in the plate. He looked at it to see that they had added to it a cryptic message saying simply: Genesis 3:10. The pastor grabbed his Bible and opened it to the verse cited and began to laugh. Revelation 3:20 begins: "Behold I stand at the door and knock." Genesis 3:10 reads: "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid for I was naked." Point: Now that is a revelation isn’t it? You know we are exiting a season of revelation. Your kids get ex...

The Gift: The Gift of Liberation! Opening Illustration: The other day I saw a news story about a Christmas do-gooder. You will see from the story that he saw a man needed help so he did what any normal person would do, he helped! Watch this video. Play Video Now I know that this video is pretty funny. It seemed pretty obvious that this was merely a dummy hanging from the house and if you are familiar with the Christmas classic, “Christmas Vacation”, then you will know what the home owners were going for in their decorating. Yet there is a deeper more meaningful thing that took place here. Sure, the news anchor was making fun and laughing, but did you hear the desperation of the man seeking to save someone’s life? This would be Good Samaritan ran to what he thought was a person who was about to die, ripped the ladder from the bushes and placed it just in the reach of the dummy. Did you hear his words, “Can you reach it…can you reach it”, speaking of the ladder? He was...

The Gift: God’s Affection Opening Illustration: Do you remember the classic Christmas cartoon, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”? It is always one of my favorite things to watch during this Christmas season. Originally aired back in 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas has been a year fixture on our television sets. Recently I heard that there were executives that were trying to have the cartoon banned for it’s offensive nature. Offensive? Really?  Do you remember the story. Charlie Brown was working to get into the Christmas Spirit. He purchases a sad little Christmas tree. Everyone makes fun of Charlie Brown. Even his faithful pal Snoopy laughs at him and mocks him. Towards the end of the show, Charlie Brown screams for someone to share with him the real meaning of Christmas.  The next part is what troubles television executives.    Linus begins to recite Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. This child’s cartoon does a great job of reminding th...