Go To Him

Matthew 21:12-17 The Bible defines self-worship and making ourselves god as sin. How can a sinful being in a sinful world attain anything but sinful and selfish meanings? The Christian view tells us the answer to sin - faith and trust in Jesus Christ. But, as Paul points out so many times, we still carry that old man full of sin with us. How do we realize God’s expectations and demands for us in t...

Matthew 21:18–22  A dead and evil tree produces dead and evil fruit. Only a good tree produces good fruit and that is only possible through true faith in God. The necessity of active faith is essential; without it, we risk being like the fig tree—outwardly appearing alive but ultimately bearing no fruit.

Matthew 21:23-32 History shows us what happens to human authority and power. It is short-lived and there is always someone behind you ready to step into your place. The majority of those who have sought some kind of power over others aren’t even remembered or they are not remembered kindly.  There is only one true authority with absolute and eternal power. Recognizing and accepting Jesus’ authorit...

Matthew 21:33-46 Have you ever ignored good advice or wise counsel? Maybe ignored someone in authority or they knew more than you? What happened? Maybe not much, maybe something severe. Now the critical question - have you ever ignored God? That is the question we are addressing today. It is the subject of our passage today. The church must heed the warnings of disobedience exemplified by Israel&a...

Matthew 22:1-14 There are four outcomes when we receive an invitation from a person or an organization. We accept and we are blessed. We accept and it turns out for the worst. We refuse and we are safe from something dangerous or sinful. We refuse and we regret it the rest of our lives. An invitation is not a guarantee. Depending on how much we know about who is offering the invitation and why, we...

Four ideas to think about in this passage and one question to answer. Jesus’s preparation for his entry into Jerusalem. The manner in which Jesus enters. The people’s response - right and wrong. How people miss Jesus’s true mission. The King has come; will you choose to honor Him with your response?

Revelation 2:4-5 ,  Revelation 2:10 ,  Revelation 2:14-16 ,  Revelation 2:20-22 ,  Revelation 3:1-6 ,  Revelation 3:8 ,  Revelation 3:15-16 As we look at ourselves, we can do so honestly because Jesus knows.  He wants us to see ourselves as He sees us so we can get back to the reason this church was placed in this spot.  We can become complacent caretakers of memories.  We can become icons of idol...

Matthew 28:18-20 This church is here to tell people how to get to the greatest treasure in all Creation and what will happen if they take the wrong path.  The church universal, and our local congregation, do not exist for ourselves and our glory.  We exist for the Glory of God through proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples.

Nehemiah 2:17-20 Lord, do not let us hinder what You want to do in the future. God honors humility and uses those who come to Him with a humble spirit. James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” Trust that God can redeem any and all circumstances for His glory and don’t let pride stand in the way of being a part of this great work. Give us a passion for the next...

Matthew 20:20-28  Over 100 passages in the Bible about humility or being humble or acting in an humble manner found in almost every book of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Humility, not pride, is what God prizes because only the humble will faithfully follow God. Humility leads to true greatness in serving others, reflecting Christ's sacrificial love in our lives.

Matthew 20:29-34 True vision lies not in our physical sight, but in our spiritual awareness of God’s presence and power; through faith in Jesus, we can overcome our spiritual blindness.

Joshua 4:1-9 This is the start of a four sermon series on the future of our church. Today is the day we set up our own memorial stones, our own “Ebenezers,” ( 1 Samuel 7:12 ) to God’s faithfulness. We do so not because we pine and long for the good old days. We do so in order to remember our God is faithful and that remembrance strengthens our faith in our future. The faithful God of the past, is...

Matthew 19:1-12 As we go through the passage today, look for these three ideas.  Man looks for expedience, God looks for obedience, and marriage is a far more serious matter than just some social contract.

Matthew 19:13-26 Unless you follow God with the trusting faith of a child you will always be looking to the things of this world instead of God.  You will ask, as does the one in the passage today, “what can I DO to gain eternal life?”  God will ask you to recount what you have done, and then remind you there is one more thing.  There is always one more thing and it is the hardest but most blessed...

Matthew 19:27-29 So we, like the disciples, have questions. You just told the rich guy to sell all he had and give it away and come, follow you. Then you tell us it’s almost impossible for a rich person to get into Heaven. What about us? We left our jobs, our homes, most of our friends, at least one of us left a wife at home, to follow you? Given what you said about marriage the ones that aren’t m...

Matthew 19:30-20:16 Our parable today is a stark reminder that God's ways are not like human ways. Instead of a transactional system where merit dictates reward, God's grace offers kindness to all—a theme that can fundamentally change how we interact with others and view our own circumstances in light of God's mercy.  God's grace is unmerited and abundantly generous, calling us...

Matthew 20:17-19 Jesus embraced the path of suffering and pain because he knew the final outcome was so much greater than what was to be endured.  Today we hear Jesus telling the disciples this path is coming to an end.  An end in Jerusalem, an end in death and suffering, an end in glorious resurrection.  As followers of Jesus we can embrace the path before us because His suffering, death, and res...

Psalm 24 As we heard last week, we are living Psalm 23 in the Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Our life is also one of a long, slow climb toward our home. Sometimes we gain ground quickly, other times it seems like we roll backwards faster than we were climbing. Some days we crest a ridge and see our home gleaming far off , other days we are buried in a deep, dark ravine wonde...

Psalm 22  Good Friday is approaching.  The day Jesus is beaten beyond human recognition and nailed to the cross.  Despite the apparent triumph of evil and the end of God’s redemptive plan, Jesus teaches us as the Psalm does, God is not absent.  He has not abandoned us.  He is there.  His silence is not the silence of a jilted lover or an angry and vindictive being.  His silence is part of His perf...

Psalm 32: 6-7, 10-11 Life, as a child of God, should be lived in joy, gratitude, and obedience.  We are truly free, eternally secure, and infinitely loved by the God that brought us out of slavery and into the freedom of His presence.  Living redeemed means inhabiting this reality daily—acknowledging our freedom, embracing our new identity as God’s own, and allowing that transformation to reshape...

Psalm 32:5 Our topic today - repentance. It has far more reaching consequences than just being sorry we did something wrong or, as more often happens, we are sorry that we got caught. It means a total change of life, a total change of direction, a total reorienting of our lives according to God’s will not our own. Until that happens we will never experience true freedom because we will always be e...

Psalm 32:1-2  What does it mean to be redeemed?  Today we will see many examples of redemption both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.  There will be a plethora (a bunch) of theological terms I will define and explain.  (Each one could be one sermon if not a series in themselves.)  At the end, this is what I want us to remember -  Redemption is an act of God that restores us into relation...

Psalm 32: 3-4   With Psalm 32 as the background, we will focus on verses 3-4 today. We will ask the questions “What is sin?” and “How can I recognize sin in my life?” Though these are questions that apply to believers, it is THE question that must first be answered by an unbeliever before they can become a child of God. Unless they can recognize the sin in their life they will never get to the poi...

Matthew 18:1-5  What we see today is unless we completely and totally trust in God and depend on him, we cannot even enter His kingdom.  This is not a case of “You do your best and God will do the rest.”  No, this is a case of God is our only hope in every situation of life and we must depend on Him for everything.  We must humble ourselves and trust Him as his child in order to enter the Kingdom.

Matthew 17:1-13  Today we get a glimpse of Jesus in His glory and what we will become after His return. It’s a familiar story, one we have heard or read many times. While I do not have anything earth shattering to add, I think we need the reminder of who it is we believe in and worship and what this frail body of dust will become. That hope can carry us through our dark days of wanting to be so di...