What do you think of when you hear the word justice? For some of us justice is immediately about judgment, about someone getting what they deserve. For others of us justice may be a cause of fear, being afraid of getting what we deserve. Some of us think of justice in terms of our society...
Category: <span>Sermons</span>
Matthew 18:21-35 “The Expectation of Grace”
Last week we started our brief look at “The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant”. Our context for studying it is to learn the heart of our king so that we can understand the nature of His kingdom; Jesus’ context for teaching it was for His disciples to learn that humility expresses itself through forgiveness and...
Matthew 18:21-35 “A Merciful King”
There are at least 11 times in the book of Matthew in which Jesus said “The kingdom of heaven is like . . .” and then He told a story, what we call a parable, to illustrate or explain to us the nature of God’s kingdom. As I have been sharing, the only way to...
Isaiah 6:1-13 “The King Who Sends”
Today we had the opportunity to do something both beautiful and biblical, sending out our dear friend Arne Mathingsdal into the next steps that the Holy Spirit has ordered for him. In doing this we began our discussion of being “kingdom-minded”. Every kingdom reflects the heart of it’s king, as citizens of the Kingdom of...
Jeremiah 20:1-18 “The Contents of Our Hearts”
We started this year by talking about the function of God’s Word in our lives. We read God’s Word to see God’s character, to meet Him, experience Him, draw near to Him and follow Him. God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path as Psalm 119 says but it...
II Samuel 9:1-13 “What Kind of King is This?”
Today we will finish our discussion of the story of David and Mephibosheth. We have talked about Mephibosheth’s tragedy, how in a moment he went from being a prince to an orphan, from royalty to exiled and from privileged to afraid, ashamed and even disabled. While Mephibosheth’s story is dramatic we all share in it,...
Hebrews 12:1 “A Rich Heritage”
This Sunday our youth leader Amanda Mackie shared the message using Hebrews 12:1 as her text: This morning I hope to be able to encourage each of you in some way, but to also offer a challenge. Hebrews 12:1 says “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge cloud of witnesses to the life...
II Samuel 9:1-13 “From Kindness to Restoration”
Last week we started talking about Mephibosheth, a man born as a prince, orphaned, disabled and exiled as a little boy and then adopted and restored as a young husband and father. As I mentioned last week, while Mephibosheth’s story sounds dramatic he was not different than any of us. We are all born for...
II Samuel 9:1-13 “Kindness in the Midst of Our Hurt”
For the next few weeks I want to talk about the story of a man named Mephibosheth, a man born into royalty, thrust into disability, hidden in fear and shame all the while never knowing that his Father had provided for his redemption before he was even born. Mephibosheth’s story is dramatic, it is filled...
Acts 9:10-19 “Fear and the Refugee Crisis”
Today I want to take a little bit of a break from our conversations about the Person, Purposes and Plans of the Holy Spirit and I want to talk to you about one of my biblical heroes and by doing so I hope that I can use his example to address our current cultural climate....