Asbury Church

Acts 9 recounts Saul’s conversion. The Holy Spirit speaks to Saul and Ananias. Acts 9 shows some of the reasons God speaks to us today.  Relationship requires communication. And communication requires speaking and listening. In some ways, it is like going from noticing that a bird is singing to being able to identify a particular bird’s song. This sermon will help you learn to tune in to the disti...

The Apostle Paul was a Roman citizen from birth, and he used the rights and privileges of that citizenship for the purposes of the gospel. American citizenship is a gift from God. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of America, we would do well to remember the tremendous privileges we American Christians have received by virtue of that citizenship. Will we use it for the glory of God and the fur...

In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council makes a fateful decision: Gentile Christians do not have to become Jewish before they can be saved. Rather, the Council realizes that all along God’s plan was to save the nations through Jesus. The reason this matters is because it means that the church will be made up of lots of different cultures, each bringing their best to God. In other words, heaven will be a...

In the book of Acts, the church continues to grow as the Lord adds to the number of those being saved. But growth creates new challenges. As more people come to faith, the need for leadership, service, and shared responsibility increases. In Acts 6, we see a pivotal moment in the life of the church. Rather than allowing the demands of ministry to overwhelm a few leaders, God raises up others to se...

Jesus told his followers exactly what their mission was - GO and make disciples and teach them everything He commanded. After such clear instructions, why did Jesus then tell them to WAIT and not depart just yet? What were they waiting on?

I would like to set out a challenge for Asbury this summer: By the end of the summer, I would like every single Asburian to have a personal testimony of the power of the Holy Spirit for mission and ministry. Jesus told the apostles that the Father was going to give the Holy Spirit to empower them for ministry. The Holy Spirit is not for special Christians only, but for all Christians, because all...

As I was reflecting on our big Pentecost service of consecration and ordination, I kept coming back to Jesus’s promise to the apostles in Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The Holy Spirit has been given to us to empower our ministry. I think my problem w...

Asbury Church will enter a new season this Pentecost. Joshua 1:1-9 and 3:5 offer a powerful example of a new beginning in the Bible. John Wesley and Francis Asbury also offer models for strength and courage in the midst of changing circumstances. This sermon is a call to prepare and get ready for Pentecost.

In 1 Samuel 1 we meet one of the very few wholly positive characters in the Bible: Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Hannah is a model for the spiritual life. She brings her pain and sorrow to God, and then, when she receives the gift she has been desperately praying for, she puts that gift in God’s hands.

As a boy, I thought of Samson as a biblical He-Man. But when I went back and read the Samson account (Judges 13-16) as an adult, I realized what a complete disaster his life is. The tragedy is that the Lord gives him a purpose, and Samson just wastes his life and strength. The Lord has given us a purpose, too, and for us to be faithful to it, we will need to raise up pastors to lead us on. It’s li...

Last week I went to Washington, D.C., to participate in a public reading of scripture. I was assigned what I think is the hardest passage in the entire Bible: Ezra chapters 1-3, and especially chapter 2! Sure, Ezra chapter 2 is no one’s favorite passage and it doesn’t appear on any bumper stickers or license plates. But, I’ve come to believe that what at first seems like the most boring passage of...

One of the wildest parables Jesus tells involves a dishonest manager who is *praised* for his dishonesty! The point of the parable: God’s people need to be more streetsmart, but not according to the world’s values, but streetsmart according to the values of the kingdom. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “You folks need to think like a kingdom mafia.”

There’s this great encounter we read about in Joshua chapter 5: Joshua is about to lead the people into battle when he sees a strange figure with a drawn sword. Joshua asks “Are you on our side, or on the side of our adversaries?” The strange man’s response: “No.” The question, it seems, is not “Is God on our side?” The better question is, “Am I on God’s side?”

Why does the resurrected Jesus have scars? The answer: because the scars are part of his glory! The scars tell us that God is working all things together for the good of those who love him. Life has many hard, difficult moments, but the scars are proof that if God can use something as evil as the Crucifixion as part of the glory of the Resurrection, there is nothing and no situation that is withou...

Jesus fulfilled the ancient prophecy of a victorious and humble king, but he did so in a way no one expected. We often want Jesus to push our agendas, stand for our causes, and represent our values. We want Jesus to be like us, but he wants us to become like him. Salvation means becoming more like Jesus.

Deuteronomy is Moses’s farewell speech. The Israelites are gathered on Mount Nebo, ready to go into the Promised Land, and Moses tells them what they need to do to live well in the land: Listen.

In Numbers 13, the Lord guides the Israelites to the edge of the Promised Land and sends twelve spies to explore the land He has promised to give them. When they return, ten of the spies focus on the challenges, the size of the cities, and the strength of the people. This causes fear to quickly spread through the camp. Only Caleb and Joshua trust that if God has promised the land, He will also giv...

I believe we are living in the end times. We have been since the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after the Resurrection. What does this mean? What do we need to do? In light of the fact that we are living in the end times, Jesus gave us a two-word command: “Stay awake!”

Leviticus is about the sacrificial system, which is why what happens on the Day of Atonement is so striking—the culminating event on the Day of Atonement isn’t a sacrifice, but a scapegoat. On the Day of Atonement, the goat that bears Israel’s sins is sent away alive. This is the concept of the so-called “scapegoat”—the idea that one bears the sins of the many.

Any modern person who has started to read Leviticus immediately wonders, “What’s with all the blood?” The sacrificial system is strange… and beautiful, once you understand it. See, in the Bible, the sacrificial system was meant to teach Israel what it would take to come back into the presence and life of God. The answer? A blameless representative who would die on behalf of sinful people.

“Ministry” is not something that just pastors or church musicians do. Ministry is for all Christians. The first person in the Bible said to be filled with the Spirit of God is not Abraham or Moses—it’s a man named Bezalel. And in Exodus 31 we read that Bezalel is a craftsman! That is, the Holy Spirit gives him the ability to make things. It’s the spiritual gift of carpentry, you might say. Now, be...

Over and over again throughout the Bible, the same pattern occurs: The Lord offers Eden, people rebel and live in Exile, but the Lord continues to offer Eternal Life to those who trust him. Once you see the pattern, you see it everywhere.

The final section of Genesis (chapters 37-50) tells one of the most intricately-crafted, moving, and mysterious stories in the entire Bible—the account Joseph and his brothers. In the second to last paragraph of the entire book, Joseph says something remarkable. His brothers—who sold him into slavery years before—are worried that he will seek revenge. But Joseph says, “What you meant for evil, God...

The Bible is difficult. If you have ever read the Bible, you’ve encountered something puzzling or off-putting or mysterious. Why isn’t the Bible easier? Why is the Bible so hard to understand? The disciples actually put this question to Jesus. His answer: God is trying to get our attention. Do you have eyes and ears? Use them.

Even if you’ve never read the Bible, you probably are familiar with its first verse: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The problem with that verse is that…it’s *too* familiar. That is, we take it for granted. But what if we didn’t have it?  What If You Didn’t Know Genesis 1 Existed? What If There No Creator? What If Those Pages Were Ripped Out?