October 4, 2015 Sermon

"The Recipe For A Healthy Diet"

When was the last time, or how often do you find yourself looking at the nutrition facts on the back of the label of whatever it is you’re eating? What do you notice about what you’re eating? You notice the healthy things that you should be eating – proteins and the like. Or you’ll notice the things you shouldn’t be eating too much of – sodium or fats. You read through the labels b/c you want to know exactly what you are eating. You want a healthy diet – and not a diet full of junk foods.

Imagine you walk into the doctor and you told him what you were eating and what was in your diet, and you said, “Doctor, I’ve found the perfect recipe for a healthy diet. My diet consists of a cup of water and a whole lot of salt.” The doctor would be thrilled to hear the first half of your recipe for a healthy diet. In fact, he’d tell you don’t stop at just one glass of water – be sure to drink a lot more. But when you tell him about the salt, he’d get a funny look on his face wondering what you’re talking about. Salt in large quantities is not good for us. It raises blood pressure.

Did you know that was the exact recipe for a healthy diet that Jesus gave to his disciples and that he shares w/ you and me this morning? You see, Jesus cares about our diet to maintain physical health, but he’s even more concerned about us having a spiritually healthy diet – and what that looks like. In verse 41 a few lines down in our lesson, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”   And then in the very last verse, verse 50, Jesus says, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” 

The point that Jesus is making this morning that we want to well remember is that in order to have “The Recipe Of A Healthy Diet”, we need to have a cup of water to keep the parts of your body; and we want to have a lot of salt to keep peace in the body.

September 27, 2015 Sermon

"Who Is The Greatest?"

When I was a kid we would play a game called king of the mountain.  We did it during winter because we needed a mountain of snow to do it.  The object of this game was to stay on top of this snow mountain.  Players in this game would try to knock the current king down and take their place as the new king.  Whenever a new king would take his place at the top they usually shouted out with joy that they were the greatest.  However, their excitement was short lived as they eventually were thrown down the snow pile and had to start from the bottom. 

This mentality of wanting to become the greatest is something that doesn’t end in childhood.  Unfortunately, greatness in the eyes of the world is one of those things that are here today and gone tomorrow.  For a brief moment in time the rich, powerful, famous and influential have risen to the top of the mountain only to fall from greatness unremembered. 

As we know all too well greatness is an elusive thing.  People from every generation forget.  No matter the great things humans accomplish in this life they are often forgotten at some point.  So "Who is the greatest?"  This morning Jesus answers that question for us here in Mark...

July 26, 2015 Sermon

"God Builds His Church"

One of the channels on TV my wife and I find ourselves watching is Homes and Gardens – HGTV. There are a lot of shows on this channel that involve the buying, selling and building of homes. Flip or Flop and Property Brothers are two such shows that take older homes and completely renovate them – b/c there is a character flaw in the house that the owner doesn’t like or for potential profit. You get to see many aspects of building or renovating a home from start to completion of the project. And it gets really interesting when they start the renovation process and find mold or asbestos or termites – that cause them to spend a great deal of time and money to fix.

Home building and renovating pique our interest b/c it just may be that we have a fascination and desire with homes we live in or dream of living in.

This morning, the apostle Paul uses the image of construction and building to tell us how “God Builds His Church.” He tells us how God’s Word is the foundation with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone; and that we as believers are the church.

July 19, 2015 Sermon

"Are You Ready For This?"

Right after high school he enlisted in the Marine Corps. His dad had been a Marine and his uncle had served in the Air Force. Over the years they had mentioned boot camp once or twice, but never in any detail. He was a pretty good athlete in decent shape. He had seen movies that showed a few clips about boot camp. The recruiter had kind of glossed over it, so he wasn’t real sure what all went on. A few weeks before he went to camp, his dad sat him down and told him in detail. His dad had made it through boot camp and he wanted his son to succeed, too. He listed the physical challenges and the emotional stresses that he would endure. "Are you ready for this?" he asked his son.

Being a Christian in today’s world is not an easy thing. We’ve been called by God to be His ambassadors, calling people to repentance and to believe in Jesus. It’s not going to be a cakewalk. The devil and his allies are going to mount daily attacks on our faith. "ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?" Trust the Lord to care for you, but also trust the world to attack you.

July 12, 2015 Sermon

"Celebrate God's Grace In Times Of Trouble"

For many athletes, Olympic and others as well, discouragement can become a big obstacle in their path to finishing their race. There are many stories of athletes who have been faced with a medical issue while they are training, or even during competition. Many times it is a physical ailment or a diagnosis of a medical condition that threatens to halt their training. At other times, and because of the time and energy they have placed into their training and sport, mental health can become a factor as well. But I would imaging, and judging by comments you’ll hear from many of them, discouragement is perhaps the greatest obstacle of them all.

Discouragement is something that you and I know about very well. We may not be training for the Olympics, but we are faced with the struggle of discouragement at many times in our life. When we hear the diagnosis from the doctor, when a relationship is on the rocks, when we’re struggling in school – discouragement can become a big obstacle that is difficult to overcome.

In our second lesson this morning, the apostle Paul was discouraged. But as we’ll hear, he had something to overcome discouragement – something that you and I have, too – God’s grace. In fact, we want to be encouraged by God’s Word this morning to “Celebrate God’s Grace In Times Of Trouble.”

July 5, 2015 Sermon

"I'll Wait...For The Salvation Of The Lord"

How good are you at waiting? When it comes to the good things in life, we can’t wait to get to it – like the day of our retirement or the birth of a child or grandchild and we’re like a kid on the 4^th of July waiting for the fireworks. But then there are the things in life that we do not look forward to – like our gospel lesson, where there is a sickness in the family. We’re like Jairus and pleading with Jesus, “Please, don’t let my little daughter die.”

We all face difficulty, trouble and sorrow in life. What are we to do about it? At times we find ourselves complaining – about the taxes we have to pay, the economy, our health, in a relationship or in a marriage. Whatever the case is, may we all say with the prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations 3 – “I’ll Wait…For The Salvation of the Lord.”

June 28, 2015 Sermon

"Why?"

Curiosity is a very powerful thing. Curiosity is arguably one of the strongest traits that the Lord created and placed inside the mind of the human race. Curiosity has caused discoveries of many kinds. Columbus was driven by curiosity. Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawkings were driven by curiosity. We want to know the reasons. We want to know the answers.

How many of us, especially parents, have heard the question "Why?" How many of us wish we had the answer when someone asked us "Why?" How many of us have asked the very same question when bad things come into our lives? Perhaps all of us.

This morning we meet a man called Job, a man who also asked the question "Why?" Why did things, bad things, happen to him? "WHY?" Job found out that man can only ask, and only God can answer.