Proper 8 (A): Who’ll Feed the Preacher?

What would you attempt if you could not fail? Are you hindered in what you would like to attempt for the Lord because of self-doubt? I wonder how we would run our computers if Bill Gates had not dropped out of Harvard and risked founding MicroSoft? I wonder if Coca-Cola would have blanketed the globe if Robert Woodruff, CEO of Coca-Cola from 1923 to 1955, had not had a vision of people being able to buy a Coke anywhere in the world? I wonder if the modern missionary movement would have gained the same impetus if William Carey had chosen to remain in his cobbler's shop in England rather than set out for India?

?Good News Is for Sharing

April 26, 2009 ?Third Sunday After Easter (B) Luke 24:36b-48 "I don't believe it!" is the oft-heard response to incredible news. In the shock of the unexpected loss of a loved one, a grieving family member will repeat to herself, in stunned disbelief, "I don't believe it!" If the prize patrol from Publisher's Clearing House pulls into your driveway during the Super Bowl, you will likely say, "I don't believe it!" Suppose someone you love is dead-you watched the crucifixion yourself-and has been buried. In spite of it all, some of your friends have heard reports that your friend has come back from the dead. A few even claim to have seen Him. Of course, this is the story of the disciples and the resurrection. This is the third scene in the resurrection drama presented in Luke. The disciples reacted to the news with "I don't believe it."

?A Refining Fire

April 19, 2009 ?Second Sunday After Easter Acts 4:32-35 A good definition of grace is "treating others better than they deserve to be treated." We talk about grace a lot, using expressions like, "Only by the grace of God did I find the strength to carry on after my wife died." Or, "There but for the grace of God, go I." Grace is used in a lot of different ways. There's an interesting usage in this morning's text. Luke writes, "With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all." Just how did that grace manifest itself? The portrait of the early church that Luke paints in these verses is a description of God's grace at work in a congregation.

???The Most Important Day Ever

April 12, 2009 ?Easter 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Some years ago, the distinguished publishing house of Grosset & Dunlap brought together a panel of 28 educators and historians and asked them to select the 100 most significant events of history, then list those events in order of importance. After months of labor, the panel reported that they considered the most significant event of history to be the discovery of America. In second place was the invention of movable type by Gutenberg. Eleven different events tied for third place, and five events tied for fourth place. The events tying for fourth were the writing of the Constitution of our country, the development of ether, the development of the x-ray, the discovery of the airplane and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus tied for fourth.

?The Word That Sustains the Weary

April 5, 2009 ?Palm Sunday Isaiah 50:4-9a On that first Palm Sunday, Jesus mounted a donkey and rode down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley and up through the Eastern Gate. The crowds hailed Him as their conquering Messiah. Sadly, they did not know that Jesus was not to be the kind of Messiah they expected. On this Palm Sunday we ask, "Are we to be happy for Jesus' acclamation by the crowds? Do we join in and acknowledge His messiahship?" Or, is it a time for us to be sorrowful? After all, we now know what Jesus suffered and why He suffered during His passion.

Finding Contentment in God’s Best

09.21.08 Proper 20 Philippians 1:21-30 The great hope of the Christian faith is that we will go to heaven when we pass from this life. Don Piper is a Baptist pastor from Texas who has written the best-selling book 90 Minutes in Heaven.

What Does God Say About It?

09.14.08 Proper 19 Romans 14:1-12 Nancy Ortberg tells the story of her daughter coming home from a church service with a note in her pocket. She was so deeply touched about what her daughter had written that she put it up on the cork board in her kitchen. It said, "Help me not to be OK just because everything is OK with me."