Sermons

According to Luke: So Close Yet So Far Away Opening Illustration: How many of you remember the game show Deal or No Deal? The way the game works is that a contestant choses one case from 26 cases. Each case has a secret dollar amount hidden inside. The contestant hopes that he or she has chosen the case containing 1 million dollars. As the cases are whittled down, an off screen banker tries to make a deal with the contestant to quit playing so that he or she does not win the million bucks. The game is interesting because it tests a person’s common sense vs. their greed. There have been so many people who had the opportunity to walk away with hundreds of thousands of dollars. In many of those games, the contestant’s greed kicks in and they turn down staggering amounts of money in hopes that they have the 1 million dollar case.  Let’s take a look at just one such case. Here is a contestant that has played the game all the way to the end. There are two cases left. Either he...

According to Luke: Faith Like A Child Opening Illustration: Growing up is hard. When you are a kid, you make a lot of mistakes. Thankfully, I had a built in safety net. Now understand that not every kid has this safety net. Do know what this net is called?  Parents! That’s right. With all the mistakes I committed as a kid, my parents were always there. Who am I kidding. I needed my parents when I was 34 as much as I did when I was 4. Now I love my Mother, but there is something special about the relationship between a Father and his son. My Dad taught me a lot over the years and as I got older, my thoughts and feelings changed about my Father.  4 years old: my Dad can do anything 7 years old: my Dad knows a lot, a whole lot 9 years old: my dad doesn’t know quite everything 12 years old: Oh well, naturally Dad does not know that either 14 years old: my Dad is so out of step with reality 20 years old: my Dad is so hopelessly old-fashioned ...

According To Luke: Prayers From The Pious and Pitiful Opening Illustration: We live in a world of fakes. Counterfeits. Frauds. Just about everything of value has some sort of counterfeit copy. Diamonds have cubic zirconia. Ever heard of a super dollar, or a super note? Neither had I until a couple of days ago. Someone tried to pass off a $20 super dollar at a gas station and got busted. You see a super dollar is the same as a counterfeit bill. You can by fake Rolex watches on the street corners of large cities. You can purchase fake iPhones on Amazon.  People have gotten really good a making counterfeits. In many cases, it is almost impossible to tell the real thing from the fake. Speaking of iPhones, I was watching a YouTube video the other day where a fella purchased one of those fake phones. He got it in the mail. The packaging looked just like Apple. The device looked just like an Apple iPhone.  Do you know how he could tell that it was fake? He could tell t...