Archives: Sermons

Having a Certain Faith (Luke 1:1-4)

How many of you know your name and birth date? Are you sure about that? A woman in her 20's also recently found out that her name was spelled differently than she's always spelled it. She was applying to get married, and saw on her birth certificate than her name was spelled differently. She asked her parents, and they said that they changed their minds about how they wanted to spell her name after the birth certificate had already been filed. So which was her actual name? The name she's always gone by,…continue reading →

How to be Thankful (Colossians 3:17)

Thanksgiving is, of course, the day that we set aside in our culture to be thankful. I think it's odd that we often have to remind ourselves to be thankful. It ought to come very natural to us, right? We all know it feels good to be thanked for the good things we do. We all know that the people around us serve us in many ways throughout our lives. So we ought to naturally respond with thankfulness when we receive good things. But that doesn't always happen. We often feel entitled. Like…continue reading →

Don’t Go With the Flow (1 John 5:18-21)

This is now the last sermon in our series through the book of 1 John. How should we sum up this book? We might sum it up with a reminder to abide in Christ (1 John 2:28). Or maybe we'd sum it up with encouragement to practice righteousness (1 John 2:29). Or maybe we'd conclude it up with an admonition to love our brothers (1 John 4:7). All of these were reoccurring themes throughout the letter. But John concludes his letter by going in a different direction which we might not expect. I…continue reading →

Don’t Go With the Flow (1 John 5:18-21)

This is now the last sermon in our series through the book of 1 John. How should we sum up this book? We might sum it up with a reminder to abide in Christ (1 John 2:28). Or maybe we'd sum it up with encouragement to practice righteousness (1 John 2:29). Or maybe we'd conclude it up with an admonition to love our brothers (1 John 4:7). All of these were reoccurring themes throughout the letter. But John concludes his letter by going in a different direction which we might not expect. I…continue reading →

Name It and Claim It (1 John 5:14-17)

I might begin by warning us not to take the sermon title too far, but I'm going to let it stand for now. There are certainly ministries which revolve around this idea. But more often than not, we don't fall victim to this way of thinking. Our problem is usually the other way around: we have not because we ask not. So I just want us to be encouraged this morning to pray. Pray for that which you think you need. Pray for that which you don't necessarily think that you need, but…continue reading →

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say, Say It Anyway! (1 John 5:6-13)

This advice I've been giving you for the past few months has always sounded backwards at first. Today's advice is no different. How do we usually hear this advice? But this morning I'm going to challenge that advice at least to some degree. The problem with that advice is that we're encouraged to evaluate our message based on how the person we're talking to will receive it. But sometimes the message we need to bring isn't the message someone wants to receive. The message we need to bring people is the gospel. And…continue reading →

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say, Say It Anyway! (1 John 5:6-13)

This advice I've been giving you for the past few months has always sounded backwards at first. Today's advice is no different. How do we usually hear this advice? But this morning I'm going to challenge that advice at least to some degree. The problem with that advice is that we're encouraged to evaluate our message based on how the person we're talking to will receive it. But sometimes the message we need to bring isn't the message someone wants to receive. The message we need to bring people is the gospel. And…continue reading →

Get Rich Quick (1 John 4:17-21)

We're warned over and over in life to be skeptical of easy solutions. There are so many get rich quick schemes to avoid, right? I had a friend who tried to get me sucked into one while I was in college. I went with him to an informational presentation that was supposed to be a great employment opportunity. By the end of the presentation, I had no idea what they were selling, or what service they were providing, only that they wanted me to give them $200 so that I could then get…continue reading →

Don’t Fear the Consequences (1 John 4:17-21)

What are you afraid of? It seems like everyone fears something. Our fears often change over time. Children are often afraid of the dark. Teenagers are often afraid of rejection. Adults are often afraid for their children. But sometimes what we fear stays with us all of our lives. No matter how old you get, it seems that people are always, at least to some extent, afraid of consequences. And clowns. A survey of 250 children ages 4-16 showed that children are almost universally afraid of clowns, and as many as 1 out…continue reading →

Don’t Fear the Consequences (1 John 4:17-21)

What are you afraid of? It seems like everyone fears something. Our fears often change over time. Children are often afraid of the dark. Teenagers are often afraid of rejection. Adults are often afraid for their children. But sometimes what we fear stays with us all of our lives. No matter how old you get, it seems that people are always, at least to some extent, afraid of consequences. And clowns. A survey of 250 children ages 4-16 showed that children are almost universally afraid of clowns, and as many as 1 out…continue reading →