Stonebrook Church, Ames, Iowa, Sermons

We are continuing our series through the minor prophets this morning in Zechariah. Please turn there with me. Zechariah is the longest of the minor prophets. Same chapter count as Hosea, but more words. It has been called “little Isaiah” – because it picks up on many of the same themes and uses similar imagery.  The book is very complex and as far as an efficient summary and outline of the book as...

This Sunday we will look at the brief yet powerful prophetic book, Haggai. Through this man Haggai, God called his people to awaken from their slumber and do the work of rebuilding the Lord’s house, the temple. In spite of Israel’s dark history, the people responded quickly and obeyed the Lord by beginning the reconstruction. Yet just a month later, they began losing heart until the Lord spoke to...

1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. Zephaniah 1:1 (ESV) We know a lot about Zephaniah from this one verse! Zephaniah has the most complete genealogical listing of any of the prophets, and it’s here for a reason. He was the great, great, grandson of one of the few fait...

SERMON POWERPOINT Sunday, May 2, 2021  Brad Barrett Minor Prophets  Habakkuk’s Lament and Joy Slide (title) Two weeks ago my wife and I were at a retreat for pastors and their wives down in Des Moines at Living History Farms. During the worship time, one of the women in the music team shared a brief but intense story. Years ago during their church service, police came in and arrested her husband i...

In our series on the Minor Prophets, we will look at Micah’s words where he offers warnings of impending judgment for sin. But we will also find that he shouts words of hope of a coming glorious day of a Shepherd and Ruler from Bethlehem who is from ancient days. Who is like the Lord? For this Ruler, Jesus Christ, will bring security and peace to the earth at last in an eternal paradise, finally r...

Sunday, March 28, 2021 Brad Barrett Minor Prophets—Turn and Live! Obadiah—Comfort and Hope David, king of Israel, in 1000 B.C. said this, Psalm 13:1–2 ESV How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?…How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? What is David after? He is after justice. His enemies were triumphing over him, and he thirsted for justice. He wanted God to do something about it. Such c...

This week we will look at the book of Amos, the first prophet to the Northern Kingdom. The nation of Israel hid immorality, greed, oppression of the poor and weak, and many other sins behind a veneer if religious performance. The prophet calls them (and so, us) back to worship of the true God from the heart, evidenced by love for their neighbor and a passion for justice and righteousness.

When we think of judgment, we may think of criminals receiving judgement for crimes or we may think of others unfairly judging us for our choices, but what if we were to be immediately and fairly judged for our actions toward God and others? What sort of judgement would we receive? The prophet Joel warns of a Day of the Lord, a day of judgement coming for all, and Joel helps us understand how we s...

In a stunning word picture, Hosea under command of God marries a woman of ill repute in order to give a picture to the people of Israel of their waywardness towards the Lord. Adulterous Israel deserves justice. Yet we find in this remarkable book God appeals to his lost people to return to him and so live. We see the mercy of God triumphing over justice. From this story, we then make the connectio...

The mission of Jesus’s church is to bring glory to God by making disciples. Jesus taught us that unity is a cornerstone of this mission. Three enemies of unity are inaction, improper handling of disagreement, and false doctrine. This week we will examine the scriptures to find out how we can navigate disagreement well in the pursuit of unity and sound doctrine. And in so doing we will learn how to...

Sunday, February 21, 2021 Jude—Loved and Kept by God I remember once listening to some talk show, and the conversation was a discussion on what was better:  To love or to be loved.  I don’t recall their conclusion, but my Bible would say the place to start is to be loved.  Specifically, to be loved by God.  From his love for us flows our capacity to love him and to love others. 1 John 4 says, “We...

Do you ever think about why Jesus is taking so long to return?  Has that question ever caused you to doubt the truth and reality of the Christian faith?  Has that doubt ever led you to excuse your sin, because “maybe this all isn’t real anyway?” Have you ever had a hard time knowing how to answer a friend or acquaintance who brought up these questions?  In the final chapter of his second letter, P...

2 Peter 2:  Destructive Lies In the past few years, our society has had a barrage of claims about truth and lies.   #fakenews.  Claims about election fraud.  Websites are devoted to verifying politicians’ statements. We are left to wonder, Who is telling the truth?  Or more cynically, Is anyone telling the truth? Truth and lies are hard to sort out. Parents know this.  A fight erupts from two chil...

For the next several weeks, rather than a long walk through a single book of the Bible, or a thematic series, we’re going to take time to preach through some of the shorter books of the new testament. Two years ago we hit some of the shortest letters, 1, 2, 3 John – for the next five weeks we are going to cover 2 Peter, Jude, and Philemon. We’re starting with 2 Peter this AM and doing about a chap...

I. Introduction Today we are going to continue our mini-series on stewardship. We’re going to explore something that everyone in this room participates in, and will participate in — something that is so foundational to our existence that you literally can’t get out of bed without it. You can’t consume food or take a breath without it. It’s something that can be incredibly fun at times and incredib...

SERMON POWERPOINT Sunday, January 10, 2021  Brad Barrett Stewardship—Money Slavery.  What an evil sounding word.  We think of slavery in the United States in the 1800’s and before.  Oppressive.  Brutal.  Inhumane.  We might also think of human trafficking today.  People held against their will for unspeakable evil.  People owning people.  A verse I shared in my sermon 2 weeks ago has been ringing...

This Sunday is the second Christmas Sunday! We have four days left! Hooray! 🙂 Christmas is the time of year when we, in a special way, remember and celebrate the birth of Christ, and the beginning of his rescue mission to find and save God’s lost sheep.  We carried our Advent series topic, Rescues, on into Christmas as well, because what bigger Rescue is there than Christ’s rescue of us?  Last we...

We all experience moments in our lives where we need a fresh start. A new beginning. The gospel, the story of Jesus Christ, offers a new beginning unlike anything else, a fresh start on life where God forgives sinners and makes them brand new. New creations. How can we experientially walk in this new life?