Sermon Series

The (Not So) Heroes of the Old Testament

Right now the movie industry is exploding with movies about super-heroes. It is a multi-billion-dollar industry, filled with exciting characters endowed with special powers who inevitably save the day at the last minute through fantastic feats of strength and courage. Many of these movies are delightful distractions, but I think they also play upon our secret hope for a “savior” to rescue this world from its current state of disarray.

But God does not use super-heroes. In fact, for most of the Bible, God uses not-so-heroic people to move forward the plan of salvation.

Last Lent, we talked about ordinary saints; people just like us – of limited capabilities, without world-changing gifts, who nevertheless make a profound difference through their love, compassion, witness, and simple kindness.

However, there is another Biblical character, as well as another side of ourselves; the ordinary saint is us at our best, helping others out of concern; but the Bible also shows that people of great, even profound, weakness, sin, and fear still have a crucial and primary role to play in the plan of salvation. These are people that God uses in spite of, or perhaps even because of, their faults. People like Jonah – who wanted no part in God’s plan to save those Ninevites because he wanted to keep God’s forgiveness for his own people – or Samson – a petulant bully who used his strength for his own entertainment.

Through these stories, we will discover it is not so much their faith in God, but rather God’s faith in them, that moves the plan of salvation forward.

Ordinary Saints

This Lent we are going to explore those characters in the Bible who don't take up more than a sentence or two, perhaps we don't even learn their name but, nevertheless, they made it into scripture. They are in and out in a verse but, when it was their time, they did the Lord’s will. Their acts were not extraordinary. In fact, they simply did the ordinary things you or I might do on any given day.
Through this series I hope that each of us might gain a better understanding of what it means to be a saint in the kingdom of God. It does not mean we are especially holy people. It does not mean we have extraordinary virtue or stamina. It means we have a holy God and, though maybe a simple one, we have a holy calling – to be of service to our God whenever we can, in whatever manner we are asked.
We shall discover it happens in the ordinary moments of life – by carrying someone’s burden a little way down the road, using your money to further a cause, helping a sick friend to get the care they need.
These are the simple acts of human kindness that have become a part of God’s Holy Word and that I suspect most of you do every day of your life and, when you do them in God’s name, you are a saint.

Sign Posts of Advent

We obey so many signs every day. Stop, Yield, One Way, and more. This year we are taking a looking at our Advent texts as various sign posts along the road.

Blest Be the Tie That Binds

A Sermon Series that is connected to the themes found in Rick Warren's "40 Days of Community Devotional Book".