All the Sermons

Ephesians 1:11-14 Listen Link:     http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw Today we celebrate God’s goodness and gracious provision! This text gives us some assurances of both our salvation and the real presence of the Holy Spirit infused into our very being. Can I tell you what it was like for me as a young lad? I was very bright in school, but not much of an athlete. I spent a lot of time in books and not much time on any ball field. I didn’t really like gym class. I was kind of awkward out there. Worst of all, in grade school and junior high, you don’t get much sympathy from your classmates for being a dork. I could do ok as an individual with physical exertion. For example, in third grade, I was the only one of the boys in my class who could climb the 15-foot rope all the way to the ceiling. I was really proud of that accomplishment because none of the bigger, tougher, more athletic boys could do it. They were so impressed they couldn’t cont...

John 20:19-23 Listen Link:     http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw Singer song writer, Jason Grey, has written a song called “The Sound of our Breathing.” I want to read you some of what he has written about why he wrote that song. Take a breath and breathe it out.  Do it again, slowly, and try to mean it.  Breathing – of all things maybe we take it most for granted. Do we ever wonder why we are built this way, this soft machine of ours always pumping oxygen in and out? In sadness, we breathe heavy sighs. In joy, our lungs feel almost like they will burst. In fear we hold our breath and have to be told to breathe slowly to help us calm down. When we’re about to do something hard, we take a deep breath to find our courage.  When I think about it, breathing looks almost like a kind of praying. I heard a teaching not long ago about the moment when Moses had the nerve to ask God what his name is.  God was gracious enough to...

John 14:15-27 Listen Link:  http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw Just imagine for a moment that you are back in grandma’s house or great grandma’s house, whichever applies so that all you see for communication is a dial up telephone. But this is time travel, so while you’re there, you excitedly try to tell a younger great grandma all about the wonders of the future and you try to describe a cell phone to her. Cell phones do so much more now than regular phones could ever do. They take pictures. They play music and games. They have apps that do all kinds of useful things. It could be so confusing for grandma to try to grasp it all. But at least it still makes phone calls, so there would at least be common ground and a starting point. A lot of modern Christians might believe the disciples may have felt a bit like grandma when Jesus started talking to them about the Holy Spirit. As we look at Jesus’ words of instruction in John 14:15-27 we see that Jes...

Revelation 19:4-10 Listen Link:  http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw We have come to the end of our project to read the whole NT in 40 days. How many of you managed to keep up and get it all done? Go ahead raise your hands so we can celebrate! I love weddings! Didn’t we just celebrate a wedding about a month ago right here? I want to do more of those! But the wedding I am really looking forward to is the one in which I am not the pastor or the officiant. I am really looking forward to the one in which I am a member of the bride! But why do we call the church the bride of Christ? It is because Jesus said so. It was in Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34-35; and Matthew 9:14-15 that Jesus first called himself the bridegroom. All three of these gospel passages are recounting the same conversation. It says there that “John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the...

Mark 11:1-11 Listen Link:  http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw Well good morning. It’s Palm Sunday. We know what that’s all about, right? Jesus comes into the city of Jerusalem riding on an untamed donkey. The disciples and other believers welcome him, waving palm branches and rolling out the red carpet, sort of, by laying their cloaks on the path in front of the donkey. The Pharisees and other unbelievers don’t welcome him and try to get him to stop the celebration and the loud cries of Hosanna that make this procession more like a coronation ceremony. What more is there to say about this? It is such a familiar story. So today I will move through the text and pick out a few details that may have slipped by in times past but at the end I will draw us into a deep truth that may challenge us to accept Jesus’ ways just as much as the Pharisees of old were challenged when they encountered Christ. But if you will hear the message of faith, you will be b...

Matthew (Yes, the whole gospel! My congregation read it this week.) Listen Link:   http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw It was the final examination for an introductory History course at the local university. Like many such freshman courses, it was designed to weed out those new students who weren’t really college material, having over 500 students in the class! The examination was two hours long, and exam booklets were provided. The professor was very strict and told the class that any exam that was not on his desk in exactly two hours would not be accepted and the student would fail. Half an hour into the exam, a student came rushing in and asked the professor for an exam booklet. "You're not going to have time to finish this," the professor stated sarcastically as he handed the student a booklet. "Yes I will," replied the student. He then took a seat and began writing. After two hours, the professor called for the exams, a...

I didn't have a sermon last week because we had the children do a skit. We recorded it for video and I am still working on providing it. Nehemiah 9:32-38 Listen Link:   http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw Now you need to know what was in this agreement (mentioned in the reading). Nehemiah 10:30-39  “We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons. “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts. “We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals; for the...