Grace Alone Online

As a child, I was asked to do chores around the house.  I was asked, and then didn’t do them.  But, as a child I enjoyed watching my dad plant the garden, pick fruit from the tree, and mow the lawn with the cylinder blade push lawn mower we had.  I studied how he mowed and collected the grass on the hottest of summer days.  Although I neglected to do chores most of the time, one summer day, when I...

Do you remember an AT&T commercial, where a female AT&T vendor is handing out lollypops to a boy and a girl?  She wants to show that AT&T is giving away the best deals to ALL customers; those who have been faithful customers as well as the new ones who sign up.  She illustrates how other companies mistreat their customers by giving the girl a small lollypop, but to the little boy she g...

It’d be nice if things still came with ‘strings attached’ so that we might know if it’s as perfect as it sounds or if there aren’t some hidden flaws. It’d be nice to know if that ‘great deal’ that sounds too good to be true, really is, or if it has ‘strings attached.’ Like if at the bottom of contracts or clauses, a proof-reading lawyer might attach saying.  “Spoiler alert!  There are strings atta...

When parables judge and condemn, it appears they don’t square with what WE WANT the kingdom of God to be like.  Take Peter, for instance. One time, Peter thought He knew what the Kingdom of Heaven was.  But when Jesus said, “the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised,” Peter took Him aside...

With today’s parable, we reach the end of Matthew 13.  In the Sower and the Seed we saw how the kingdom is sown through God’s word.  In the parable of the wheat and the weeds we saw how we live in the kingdom of God, producing fruit for harvest.  And we saw how this kingdom starts so small like a mustard seed and harbor in its branches all those who hunger and thirst.  Today’s parable describes th...

In today’s parable, Jesus chooses a seed other than wheat.  He describes God’s kingdom using a mustard seed. When we hear mustard seed, we all most likely go to the Matthew 17 passage where Jesus says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain over there…”. Remember that teaching?  At some point in your life you probably fixated on something and tried to move it...

Autumn is just around the corner and although wheat has been harvested long ago in June, the idea of harvest still comes to mind.  October fest is coming, or, as they say in German, “Oktoberfest is coming.”  The time to celebrate the good plants and destroy the weeds that grew with it!  Jesus follows his parable from last week, the Sower and the Seed, with end-times harvest talk.  Today’s parable...

How many of you are farmers?  I Didn’t think so.  How many of you have planted a garden?  I thought so?  Even if you are not a farmer or a gardener, you probably have a general knowledge of plants and how they grow. Israel was an agricultural society.  It was natural for Jesus to use gricultural imagery like seed, soil, growth, harvest, fruit, even weeds in his parables and teachings.  The whole o...

Your kids are playing.  Suddenly you hear, “Hey you cheated.”  A theater director in rehearsal suddenly shouts to an actor, “Wait, that’s not what you are supposed to say.  Stick to the script.”  In the army, everyone is marching on their right foot; you are on your left.  Drill Sergeant Conlin shouts out, “Soldier, get back in line!”  A quick corrective and everyone is on their way: playing nice,...

Way back in 1977, the Commodores had a hit single, “She’s a Brick House.”  Go ahead, get it out of your head.  Sing it.  Then stop.  Owning a home has been part of the American probably since the 1950s, when the economy was booming and it was possible.  At that time, of course, houses were brick.  And that’s only one way today’s parable about homes in the Middle East is different from your sturdy,...

We begin our study of parables in Matthew today. Exciting new revelations about god's kingdom will begin at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and carry us through Matthew's Gospel. how many times do you misinterpret the parables. Most people do. Find out why and how they really apply to your life and walk with Jesus.

Do you ever worry that God has given up on you? That he’s finally had enough and is ready to kick you to the curb? It’s like God is thinking: “Oh, my goodness! There he goes again! Haven’t I told him often enough not to do those things? What am I going to do with this one?” Yeah, how could God put up with a supposed Christian as lousy as I am? So I wonder if I’m going to make it with God all the w...

Is religion private?  Something that exists only between you and God?  Many people have this idea, although it has nothing to do with what Scripture teaches.  It is very “American” to think so, since our society is based on individualism.  But the concept is still contrary to the teachings of the Bible.  Nowhere in Scriptures will you find that more clearly than in Romans 8

The Walking Dead is a great commentary, a spiritual commentary, on our world today. Are we to fear the Zombies? Are Zombies all around us? Fear abounds in our world today, with unanswered questions about what to do when pandemics, or zombies, lurk about. What do you do?

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Here in this verse from today’s Gospel, Matthew 11:28, Jesus issues a gracious invitation and makes a wonderful promise. “Come to me” is the invitation, and “I will give you rest” is the promise. And to whom does he address this invitation and promise? To “all who labor and are heavy laden.” What is it, then, to labor and b...

Today Jesus tells us that he came to bring us three things: “A Sword, a Cross, and a Life.” Are you sure you want these things? Let’s find out. Our text is the Gospel for today, from Matthew chapter 10. Jesus has been instructing his disciples in this chapter, preparing them for what they’re getting themselves in for. And it’s not going to be a bed of roses. Because some of these roses are going t...

Have you ever been afraid to follow someone or something?  Afraid to follow into battle?  Afraid to follow hikers hiking along the side of a cliff?  Afraid to dive with other children into the pool for the first time? Doubting? Not wanting to commit? Today we wrap up our sermon series called Stop Being Afraid. I’m calling this sermon, “The Fear of Following.”  In Luke 5:27 Christ says to Matthew,...

Last month I finally broke down and bought a shell. It’s a brand new, state-of-the-art shell. Tailor-made. Top-of-the-line. My shell is better than body armor and thicker than an army tank. Why did I buy a shell? To protect me from all the world’s pain. Now when I meet people who don’t know Jesus and who don’t care to know Jesus, my shell keeps me safe. And when I see hunger, poverty and racism, i...

Guys, do you remember how you felt the first time you made plans to ask a girl for a date?  Just how you would ask, where you would meet her to ask, etc.  Maybe you even called a few times but hung up fearing if she were to reject you? And, if so, what could you do to make her accept you? Ladies, might you remember a time you wanted to tell your crush just how you felt? But didn’t… for fear of rej...

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, the Sunday in the church year when we praise God through readings, songs, and the use of our longest creed: the Athanasian Creed, by which we confess most completely our faith in the Triune God revealed through Scripture: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Today we begin Trinity Season of the church year.  This year started with Advent and Christmas, the birth and passion...

This is a sermon in two-parts. The first part is today, the second part is next week. There are some interesting things that happen at Pentecost. Why the tongues of fire? Why preaching on the porch? Why so many languages? What does this have to do with you and me? We're taking a different approach to the traditional Acts 2 material to look at Pentecost in a new way.

"Enough is enough!" A phrase we often use to express that we are fed up with someone or some thing. But, most of the time, for mot people, "enough is not enough," ever! People seem to never have enough time, enough money. They never pray enough, work enough, study enough, etc. Continuing the sermon series, "Stop Being Afraid," we explore the fear of anxiousness, about...

Our series on "Stop Running Scared" continues in these Sundays following Easter. Today we explore something that affects everyone: the Fear of Failure.

PLEASE GOOGLE THE PAINTING "REMBRANDT THE STORM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE" for this podcast. Today we are going to do something a bit different, known as Visio Divina.  This Latin phrase meaning “divine seeing”.  It’s like Lectio Divina but instead of listening to God through his Word we will reflect on God’s message through art. Visio Divina also invites us to personalize Christian truth by...

From Easter through Pentecost our theme is Stop Being Afraid.  Our goal is to move from fear – living paranoid when events uproot you from your comfort zone in life, to faith – being prudent in your actions and decisions even though they may make you feel uncomfortable.  Moving from paranoia to prudence we are moving from those things that make you fear and feel uncomfortable, to act prudently say...