Sermon Podcast

“It is All about Jesus”

March 4, 2012
Thumbnail image for “It is All about Jesus”

Colossians 1:15-16

1. Background…AKA history of Colossia

a. Roman roads

b. Rome brought peace.

c. Roman law brought equality.

Taken

February 26, 2012
Thumbnail image for Taken

Titus 1:1-4

Intro: In the animated film Despicable Me the main character, Gru, dresses something like an agent from Men in Black and lives in a mansion that looks like a haunted house, and takes pride in doing dasteredly deeds. He wants to be known as the worlds best bad guy, the greatest of the criminal or “not great”. I guess it’s funny because it’s so far from the truth. Ordinarily what we all want is to be liked, loved. He prides himself in being most despicable, and he practices being despicable everywhere he goes.

When Father’s Don’t Love their Children

February 19, 2012
Thumbnail image for When Father’s Don’t Love their Children

It seems like every book I’ve read and the differences between men and women has pointed out:

That men have a voracious physical interest in women while women…just don’t have the same testosterone levels driving them on.

That a lock of hair, a sultry smile, a little skin showing are all it takes to get a man’s attention, while women are drawn to conversation and sweet acts of kindness and prefer to be cared for and protected.

All the studies show it. All the experts know it. All the married people affirm it. But what do all the TV shows say? What do we see in the movies? What do the magazines sell you? The exact opposite!

Sanctified to Get Out of the Camp

February 12, 2012
Thumbnail image for Sanctified to Get Out of the Camp

Hebrews 11:23-28; 13:1-16

Guest pastor: Dave Veldhorst, our missionary to Thailand

Those Who Mess With God

February 5, 2012
Thumbnail image for Those Who Mess With God

Genesis 32

Intro: What makes you who you are? Some ethnic backgrounds have a practice of naming or at least renaming people according to things that are distinct about them. In our country the American Indian is known for this practice. It was celebrated in the movies, like Dances with Wolves. We may tend to name our kids according to ancestors, or movie stars, whereas an indian might name them according to something they like or saw recently.

Does God Deliver?

January 29, 2012
Thumbnail image for Does God Deliver?

Intro: I was young, innocent, infatuated with a short, blonde girl not altogether unlike my someday-to-be wife. Ah, but this was long before true romance. Anyway, I digress. Being the romantic type and also a happy Christian, when I came across a Mizpah coin, it struck me as the perfect thing. Here was a coin cut puzzle-like in half, each half attached to a chain. The coin as a whole read the loving verse “May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are apart one from another.” Wow, so heartfelt. So Kings English with “thee”s and “whilest”s. So much more than the common, “Yo! God Bless!” I bought it and gave half to the short blonde. It said it was 14k gold overlay, but when my half started turning green I didn’t care. This was romance!

The Baby Race

January 22, 2012
Thumbnail image for The Baby Race

Genesis 30

Intro: Last week I drove down the street of a mobile home park in Black Oak that was the scene of a news report not so long ago. A little boy had been kept in a dog cage for several years before eventually murdered. This was a case of serious abuse.

John was giving several of us local pastors a tour of Gary. Along the way he would stop and point out homes of people he knew, families most of whom had gone through deep tragedy. There lived Tony before he drowned. Andrew was shot right there. Greg was in trouble with a gang and that’s where his house used to be. His mom died in the fire. Cases of human abuse.

A Marriage that’s Not User Friendly

January 15, 2012
Thumbnail image for A Marriage that’s Not User Friendly

Intro: Of all the soap opera stories, this is surely one of them. Same guy marries two sisters, can’t make either one of them happy. Loves one and not the other. Tricked into bed and consequent marriage with one of them. Googoo-eyed over the other one. They fight behind his back. One is hard on the eyes (“weak eyes” probably means nothing striking, something prized in the East). The other is hot and curvy according to the biblical narrator. But the jaw-dropper little sister can’t have kids, the honor of the culture. The matronly older sister is a baby factory. If we learn anything here it’s never marry your wife’s sister!

Filling Your ‘Shared Folder’

January 8, 2012
Thumbnail image for Filling Your ‘Shared Folder’

Intro: Over Christmas break my boys and I went snowboarding. I learned some things snowboarding:

Falling down repeatedly gets old.

When you get older, you fall down more repeatedly than your children do.

The more you fall down, the more tired you are at the end of the run.

Ministry of Multiplication

January 1, 2012
Thumbnail image for Ministry of Multiplication