Drawing Near
Psalm 27:1-6
Mark 12:28-31
Hebrews 10:19-22
I was reading about a father who was also a pastor and who asked the third-grade class to draw a picture of God. His daughter, who was in that class, showed her dad her picture: “I don’t know what God looks like,” she said, “so I just drew you, daddy, instead.”
It has been said that “a […]
Judge Not
Listen to Sermon Audio
Matthew 7:1-5
John 8:1-11
In this passage from John’s gospel, Jesus was practicing what He preached in Matthew’s gospel. “Do not judge others, or you will be judged.”
I shudder when I read that because it is so easy to do exactly what Jesus said we should not do.
Let’s face it, judging others is a natural human trait. At one time, making quick judgments made the […]
Surely the Presence
Listen to Sermon Audio
Matthew 18:20
I Corinthians 10:16-17
I had been teaching my three-year-old daughter, Caitlin, the Lord’s Prayer for several evenings at bedtime. She would repeat after me the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. I listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed, “but deliver us […]
Forgive and Forget?
Listen to Sermon Audio
Matthew 18:21-35
Mother Teresa once said, “If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.”
Bill Moyers said, “In marriage every day you love and every day you forgive. It’s an ongoing sacrament, love and forgiveness.”
Oscar Wilde said, “Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.”
Nelson Mandela said, “Resentment is like drinking poison hoping it will kill your enemies.”
Dispelling Forgiveness Myths
Listen to Sermon Audio
Matthew 18:21-22
Romans 12:9-21
Although we have taken a couple of breaks, for the past 6 weeks, we have been considering the grace of forgiveness. I believe that forgiveness is the most important subject in the Bible. To be sure, God’s forgiveness of us is the big picture of the entire Bible. And once we are forgiven we know that we are to extend the […]
Mom’s Highest Calling
Listen to Sermon Audio
Acts 16:1-5
II Timothy 1:1-10
On a hot summer day, two Jehovah Witnesses stopped their car in front of a farmhouse in Montgomery County Alabama and started up the path through a gauntlet of screaming children and barking dogs. When they knocked on the screen door, the woman of the house who was on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor stood up, brushed […]
Overcoming the Tough Forgive
Listen to Sermon Audio
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Luke 22:14-20
We’ve been talking about forgiving others. We’ve noted that although forgiving others can be very difficult with God’s help it is possible.
One of the things concerning forgiveness that we haven’t touched on yet, and it is one of the most difficult aspects of forgiveness, is forgiving ourselves.
I have a hunch – no not a hunch, I am certain there […]
Forgiveness How To’s
Genesis 50:14-21
Ephesians 4:25-32
A little boy was sitting on a park bench in obvious pain. A man walking by asked him what was wrong. The young boy said, “I’m sitting on a bumblebee.”
The man urgently asked, “Then why don’t you get up?”
The boy replied, “Because I’m hurting him more than he hurt me!”
How many of us handle forgiveness like this little boy? For some reason, we prefer to endure pain and bitterness for the sadistic satisfaction of believing we are hurting our offender more than he is hurting […]
To Forgive or Not
Listen to Sermon Audio
Luke 17:3-4
Colossians 3:12-17
A long time ago, in a land far, far away; two loving grandparents used to stop and pick up 3 brothers and 2 of their cousins on their way to Sunday School. On the way, my cousin Rick began to argue with my brother Tom about something. And as we were getting out of the car, Rick tried to shut the […]
Hope Resurrected
Luke 24:13-35
I Corinthians 15:1-7
Did you hear the story about a little boy who came home from school to find his pet German Shepard, Rex, with the neighbor’s dead pet rabbit in his mouth? Now, this German Shepard already had a bad rep in the neighborhood. So the ingenious young man, not wanting anything bad to happen to his dog, buried the rabbit in a nearby field. Then he went to the local Pet Store and purchased a similar looking rabbit and carefully placed it back in the neighbor’s rabbit […]
Forgiven Forgive
Matthew 18:21-35
Luke 23:32-38
Winston Churchill and Lady Astor were not great admirers of one another. She once remarked to Churchill at a party, “Sir, if I were your husband I would put poison in your tea.” To which he replied, “Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.” Publically humiliated for the last time, Lady Astor vowed she would never forgive.
The issue of forgiveness touches us almost every day because we are Christians. And because we are, we value the ideal of forgiveness. We believe in the value […]
When God Seems Silent
Psalm 22:1-8; 23:1-6
“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1).
Most of us know that the Psalmist wasn’t the only one to utter those despairing words. Most of us know that as He hung upon the cross, Jesus quoted Psalm 22 when he too cried out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1a)
To be sure, Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm. We refer to it as such because it vividly pictures the passion of the Christ: […]