All the Sermons

Matthew 18:2-5 My little granddaughter Maddie, is the perfect child. I don’t mean perfectly well behaved. I mean perfectly well rounded in all the characteristics of being a child, you know how they say, “When she is good, she is very, very good, but when she is bad…” But mostly, she is a real cutey! For one thing, she loves to help out around the house. It makes her feel important. I have found that the simplest little thing that I could easily have done myself brings her great joy to help with. So one day I picked up a hair band, light as a feather, and instead of putting it away myself, I asked Maddie to help me. She was glad to help. She stepped right up and took that hairband and was happy to put it where I showed her it should go. It doesn’t work the same if I just tell her to clean up. She already likes to set the table for dinner. She can pull the silverware drawer open all by herself and get the forks we need. One fork for each trip to the table until there is one by ...

Matthew 13:44-46 Seriously now, can you think of anything, anything at all, for which you would sell everything you already own to have what you found in a field or an oyster? There is probably nothing in this world that is worth that! We already know money can’t buy me love! And if you sell your house and all your food and your car and all your clothes, you will be in no position to go and buy the treasure! You would have to have it sent. But now you have no address. You sold your house! You have no place to put whatever it is you might buy for everything you own. Even if it might have fit in your pocket, you don’t have any pockets anymore! If you did this thing as literally as Jesus put it, you would be starting over from scratch, like being born naked into the cold cruel world with no parental support system to give you your first clothes. With nothing to your name but the one lonely treasure that you of course refuse to part with now that you have it, how are you going to get ...

Matt. 20:20-28; Luke 22:24-30 "Great service pastor! I’ve heard that a lot, especially after funerals and yes on Sundays too. I appreciate the kind words and it makes me feel good. But it takes many servants to produce a good service, and I am not really in charge of it all. I am mostly responsible for the message and prayers, but the music, the bulletin, the decorations and lights, the carpet the pews and everything else in here come from other people, who either provided it years ago or like Lynn and Kathy and the rest of the band, do it every week. I don’t really want all the credit for a good service. You know what’s funny to me now that I got to thinking about these things this week? If I ever serve someone, you know, do them a favor, help them out or give them a ride, they say “Thank you.” But they never say, “Great service!” Waiters, waitresses and pastors hear the words, “Good service.” On the other hand, I myself have taken to saying a particular thing when I noti...

Now you can liste to it here: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=88c27f9fb53689a7!1181&authkey=!AGfYJZlXbP5INFI&ithint=folder%2cmp3 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Today we begin a new series on sayings in Scripture that seem backwards or upside down from common sense. Sometimes people have said that when Jesus came in to the world, his surprising teachings turned the world upside down. The reality of course is that the world has already been upside down because of sin for a long time and that Jesus’ contrary sounding teachings actually would turn the world right side up. It is the sinners who have been contrary to God’s wisdom that try to keep the world in its upside down, alienated from God condition. We begin the series with a message about God’s love. I saw a cartoon strip recently in which a young man prays for God’s protection, and as he gets up off his knees a pebble hits him in the back of the head. He cries out in pain, “Hey, God, why?” Then he turns around and sees...