May 24, 2015 Sermon

"Come Find Peace"

I don’t think you saw many smiles on the faces of the disciples during Holy Week. They knew that the Jewish leaders had it in for Jesus. Who knew what they had up their sleeves? Jesus cleansed the temple one last time, overturning the tables of businessmen and disrupting one of their most profitable days just before the Passover. Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness and love had clashed time and time again with the demands of the Pharisees. On top of it all, Jesus told them that he would be leaving soon. What would they do? What did the Son of God have in mind for their future? How would they cope?

Ever find yourself in the same boat? Not sure of what the future holds and worried about the present? Maybe these thoughts are racing around in your brain. "How am I going to make it financially this month? How can I afford to fix the dryer? What is my daughter doing dating that guy? How’s that going to work out? Is my job secure? Will my health improve?"

Don’t you wish you had a stop button for these upsetting thoughts, this lack of peace? Ah, but you do! Our Savior Jesus Christ comes to us today in His Word and invites us to "COME, FIND PEACE." Come, and find the peace prepared by Christ for you. Come, and find the peace the Holy Spirit gives to you through God’s Word.

May 17, 2015 Sermon

"You Are My Witnesses"

We’re so used to having options and choices in our lives, aren’t we? When you go to a restaurant, you get to choose from a menu. When you buy a car, you get to choose what options you will buy. If you purchase a suit, you get to choose the color and the size. You get to choose what goes in your house. You get to choose where you go on vacation. We’re so used to having choices in our lives that we often can’t comprehend not having those choices.

As Christians however, there is one area where we don’t have a choice. That’s in the area of talking about our Savior, or as some will call it, witnessing. That’s not optional. Jesus states this very clearly in our latest disciples directives when He says "YOU ARE MY WITNESSES." He reminds us today that the Holy Spirit prepares us to speak, Jesus commands us to speak and people need to hear our voice. Yes, it’s true. You are Christ’s witnesses here on earth. Speak up!

May 10, 2015 Sermon

"Love As Jesus Has Loved You"

When you walked into church this morning, how many of you were aware that today is the 6th Sunday of Easter? Ok, probably not many of you. How many of you were aware that today is Mother's Day? It's a national holiday. We celebrate mother's and God's gift of mother's to our families.

It's only fitting that we have in our gospel lesson a fitting portion all about love. Jesus' command to us is to "Love One Another."

This is the second in our Sermon Series titled "Disciple's Directives." They are short statements and encouragements from Jesus to his disciples. When life gets hectic and we can at times miss the big picture, we need those encouragements to keep the main thing the main thing.

In our lesson today, we hear Jesus say, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Think about that for a moment. We think about love in these ways and think of how someone may give his life for someone else, much like Jesus did for you and me. But we can also think about it in another way how someone might live for someone else as a mother would do for her children and for her family. Think about the mom who wakes up in the middle of the night when the kids have a bad dream. Or the mom who wakes up early and goes to bed late to get the lunches packed for school and everything ready for that day or the next. Think of the mom who is there for you when your two to fix that cut or scrape by putting a bandaid on; or when your 22 and is there as a shoulder to cry on. When we think about moms we think about love and certainly the sacrificial love that he speaks of here. We want to think about the encouragement that Jesus has not just for mothers, but for fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and for everyone of us. Jesus' command is simple - "Love Each Other as Jesus Has Loved You."

May 3, 2015 Sermon

"The Connected Branch Bears Much Fruit"

It’s slowly starting to warm up and everything around us will soon be green. Isn't it nice to see green in the spring? Green is a sign of life. While everything outside might seem dead in the winter months, spring rain and the warming temperatures bring back those plants and trees to life. The green that you see outside is a sign of life.

In our gospel lesson this morning, Jesus uses the picture of a vine and its branches that are full of life when he says in our lesson – “I am the true vine…you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Jesus uses this picture of himself as a vine to show us a powerful lesson about life. For example, we see all sorts of green outside now, but among the green are dead plants. You’ll do your spring clean up and cut back those trees or shrubs or may even get rid of some of them completely so that life can continue to grow. It’s how we keep things healthy and green. Jesus teaches us that spiritually speaking - it is a matter of life and death. In order to stay alive spiritually – to be a fruitful branch in his kingdom – is that we must remain connected to him. This morning we’ll want to consider how “A Connected Branch is a Fruitful Branch.”