Faith Sermons and Studies

I used to be an avid archer.  During my high school years I participated in an archery program and was involved in a number of competitive matches with a recurve bow.  As I competed in these matches, my goal was to get first place.  Most of the time my goal wasn’t close to achievable, but there was one time.  I was at the peak of my archery skills and I knew that I was having a good day.  As the m...

Genesis 25 records for us the story of Jacob and Esau.  I’m sure most of you are familiar with the plot.  Esau was the firstborn and thus in line for the birthright from His father Isaac.  His younger brother Jacob plotted to steal the birthright and their Father’s blessing, and tricked Isaac into bestowing it on Himself rather than his brother Esau.  After this, Jacob fled for his life and from h...

The story is told of a little boy who built a sailboat. He built the sail and had it all fixed up, tarred and painted. He took it to the lake and pushed it in hoping it would sail. Sure enough a wisp of breeze filled the little sail and it billowed and went rippling along the waves. Suddenly before the little boy knew it, the boat was out of his reach, even though he waded in fast and tried to gra...

Have you ever seen something so beautiful, so stunning, so breathtaking, that you just had to stop and take a look? Maybe the leaves turning in the Minnesota Fall. Perhaps you’ve traveled to the mountains out west and the closer you get, the more stunning the view becomes. Or you are up in a plane and fly over something fantastic and you just have to look down and enjoy. We’ve all had experiences...

The story is told about a pilot who always looked down intently on a certain valley in the Appalachians when the plane passed overhead. One day his co-pilot asked, “What’s so interesting about that spot?” The pilot replied, “See that stream? Well, when I was a kid I used to sit down there on a log and fish. Every time an airplane flew over, I would look up and wish I were flying... Now I look down...

Surgeons have incredible skill.  I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it before, but it takes great skill to be a surgeon.  You have to have a steady hand and be able to keep your cool under pressure.  But sometimes surgery is necessary—maybe you’ve had one before.  Sometimes the best option is to open up and look inside and get to work.  I brought with me something to illustrate this—the gam...

One of the most fascinating human organs is the brain.  The brain weighs around 3 lbs, it’s just under 6 inches long, and it makes up 2% of a human’s body weight.  The brain is really a tiny part of our anatomy when defined by size and weight, yet we tend to think our brains are larger than they really are.  Ever meet someone who thought this—a know it all?  Some people seem to think their brains...

If you’ve been a parent for any length of time, or maybe you’re not a parent but you’ve spent time around kids, you probably have learned a couple of things.  Obviously, you learn how to change your share of diapers.  You’ve learned how to burp a baby. If you have girls with long hair you’ve learned how to do hair, which isn’t a great feat for most women, but for someone like me who has little exp...

If I were to come to your house—let’s say you invited my family over for dinner.  And we pulled into your driveway and walked up your sidewalk and came to your front door, what would I do?  The first thing I would do would be to knock on your door.  You would here this “knock, knock, knock”.  Or maybe I’d ring the doorbell, or use the door knocker.  I used to think door knockers were for rich peop...

One of the clearest signs that someone owns a dog is this little device—a retractable leash. If you’ve ever used one, you know how it works: the dog has freedom to wander a bit, but it never leaves the control of its owner. The line may stretch, but there’s always a limit. And when the dog strays too far—or when danger comes—the owner pushes a button and reels it back in. What a fitting picture of...

One of the most obvious indications that someone is a runner is the shoes.  You can tell a runner, often times, by the shoes they wear.  I used to do a lot of running, not as much any more, but I was really into running shoes.  I can tell the difference between brooks, saucony, hoka, and altra without too much difficulty.  Running shoes are designed for running.  But often times you can really tel...

Have you ever played hide and seek with a young child? It is quite fun. Maybe you have young children, or grandchildren, and kids enjoy playing hid and seek. The problem is, they are often not very good at it. Right? They just don’t get the concept. Maybe they go and get in their hiding spot and you would hear them giggling. Or they hide, but only partially. They might hide their heads, or hide th...

Can you remember when the reality of suicide first touched your life? I remember where I was when I first had the reality of suicide touch my life. I was in 4-5 grade . . . We’ve all been touched by those who have felt those types of things; maybe you’ve even felt them yourself. But it is what we do when we have those types of feelings, when we reach the point of utter despair, that becomes incred...

In his famous novel “The Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens contrasts the cities of London and Paris. Written during the French Revolution, the novel describes the stark contrast between these two large cities based on how the residents experienced the revolution. Paris was in the grip of the revolution, and was marked by violence, mob rule, and mass executions. The tale shows the horror of a so...

They thought it was just kids playing pranks, but it turned out to be an angry 72 year old man, instead. From 2003-2005, a number of former teachers and school admins in NY reported a rash of vandalism at their homes. They would wake up to punctured car tires from roofing nails scattered across their driveways… and garage doors & mailboxes splattered w/paint. Some victims complained of being h...

Have you ever been treated unjustly? We live in a world today that is hyper vigilant for justice. Every wrong committed needs to be righted. And oftentimes we seek for a sense of vindication for the wrongs that have been done to us. This isn't a bad desire necessarily, but it can easily lead us to try to provide our own vindication from our wrongs rather than trusting God to set things right i...

Have you ever felt alone? I mean really alone? . . . You might be able to resonate to this feeling of aloneness—of being alone. Sad to say, this is the state of many men in our world today—alone. God has a special mission for men in the church, but manhood is in a state of flux . . . Why? Much of this is the fact that men are alone. Sure they have wives, families, even male friends, but despite al...

I don't know if you've ever done any boating, but I enjoy being on the water. This week Emily and I were reflecting on how, before we had children, every summer we would go out to the Stillwater area and go canoeing on the Saint Croix River. There was always a great time of adventure and navigation. But have you ever had a less-than-desirable experience on the water? The type of scenario t...

Jealousy. It’s been around since the beginning of time. One could argue that was the root of the original sin with Adam and Eve in the garden—being possessive over what God had told them they couldn’t have. This emotion is what eventually led Cain to murder his brother Abel. We see the caution in the 10 commandments to not covet something that is not yours. Covet means to desire something you don’...

Have you ever tried to develop yourself in any particular sort of way? One thing potential employers look for oftentimes is the ability to develop new skills. They like to see attempts to learn something new, take a class, get a certification of some sorts. And often times, if an employer can see that you are trying to better yourself by developing more specialties in your field, you will be more...

Have you ever done a job halfway? Maybe you did most of what you should do, but you missed a step? There are consequences to not following instructions completely, some bigger than others, but consequences nonetheless. Can you think of some things where not following instructions might cause some issues? . . . This concept translates very specifically into the spiritual realm. It is possible to be...

Heartache. We’ve all faced it at some point. If you haven’t yet, you will. When a family member takes his or her last breath; when the doctor gives you the news you didn’t want to hear; when you get the phone call late at night that there’s been a horrible accident; when the doctor says you’ve lost the baby. We all can relate to the feeling of heartache. Deep dark despair. It’s part of our human e...

The event made headlines all across the country. How could something like this happen? 13 people dead, 145 wounded; what went wrong? What I am referring to is the collapse of the I-94 bridge in 2007. Our state was devastated. People marveled at the amount of times they had driven over the bridge, and now it had suddenly fell. This was Minnesota’s third busiest bridge, carrying 140k vehicles every...

I’d like to ask you a question this morning, a question that is debated, and depending who you ask you’ll get a different answer. So here it goes: how does one measure health? Everyone has a slightly different metric that is used to measure health and the condition of one’s body. . . All sorts of ways to determine health and well being and whether someone is in a good position physically. But what...

We live in a world that is based on truth and facts. But truth and facts need verified. We like to have evidence. We like to see proof that something is real, that a statement is accurate, or that we can rely on the information we’ve been given. Think about some scenarios in which is is important to have proof . . . It’s clear that we live in a world of evidence and proof. We don’t want to believe...