Hope In Tigard: Recent Episodes
Pastor Paul Bourman
Hope Lutheran Church is a church located in Tigard, Oregon in Southwest Portland. The goal of these sermons is to bring you the hope that comes through Jesus alone. He is the source of real and true hope.
God is constantly sending things in our life. And in this case we want to notice how he sends people to come to us when we're in our own personal wilderness(es). This Scriptures open our eyes to the friendship that we truly need to stay strong in the Lord in this life.
1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
This Sunday at Hope we begin a summer sermon series on the 10 commandments. I'm so eager to be blessed by these commandments with you! But this first Sunday, we won't even begin with one of the commandments. We'll begin with Psalm 1.
The psalmist teaches us about life, making it all very simple. He's almost like the Mandalorian. Remember that show? Mando wouldn't take off his helmet- remember why? Because this is the way. That's what the psalmist says too. This is the way. This is the way to live.
The psalmist says that to us too. This is the way to live. And when you do, he says, you will be blessed, happy, strong, like a tree planted beside streams of water, bearing fruit in season! The only problem is that we don't follow the way. We're all over the map. Has anyone ever been perfect?
Only one has been perfect. Only one blessed man has ever lived. He never walked in the way of the wicked, never sat in sin with them, loved God’s word. How did he end up being punished like a wicked man? He ends up cursed on the cross. Why? To take our punishment. To be rejected and to take the judgment in our place. Why did he to it? To make us blessed. We are the righteous now in his blood. We are the righteous by faith in him.
Here's what the psalmist says, and here's what we're going to do in this sermon series: take your roots and sink them down into that word from God. It is not just a stream of water. It's like Jesus said- it’s streams of water welling up in you to eternal life. See what I’m saying? This is the way. Don’t lose it.
The early church must have been something to behold. Something so apart, so other from the way anyone else was living. In the days and weeks following Jesus' resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, those early Christians lived differently. Luke wrote about what that life was like in Acts 2:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Have we lost that? Are we, as a modern church, falling short of this church utopia? Should we, as Hope Lutheran Church, be on a quest for this? I'll give you my answer. No. And I'll tell you why. Because Jesus has risen from the dead. And so when he sees us, his church, he sees perfection.
Easter changes everything. It means that sin and death have no power over us, it means that since Jesus has risen, he will rise too, it means that since he kept his promise, we can know that he will keep every promise to us. Easter changes everything.
It even changes the purpose for our lives. Matthew wants us to see that. See, Easter wasn't the ending of his book. He wanted us to know that since Easter has changed everything, we now have a purpose to bring that Easter message to the world. It's a purpose that is a command and a promise. The command is that we go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. The promise is that he will be with us always to the very end of the age. Command and promise. We follow his command and we trust his promise.
You have a purpose. You have a mission. Jesus said so! Tomorrow we're going to talk about it. Read about it in Matthew 10!
Today, I'm going to leave it as simple as that, because I want you to hear about this mission!
This Sunday at Hope, we will look at the account of Jesus calling Matthew to be his disciple. It seems like such a simple event. Matthew is at his tax collector's booth. Jesus says: "Follow me." And Matthew does. So many questions come into my mind! Why does he follow Jesus with such little context? What is the significance of that for today’s Christians? How are we called? And what does that exactly mean?
This Sunday, we will examine the account of Matthew's calling to show Christians how they are called and what they are called to do. It's an empowering gospel note to leave us filled with the truth of Jesus- the only one who can forgive; the only one who can give us eternal life.
What is discipleship? Discipleship is letting Jesus be everything for you. May God grant that faith to us all for his name's sake.
If I hadn't told you, would you have known that this Sunday, we will be celebrating Jesus' baptism? I don't blame you if hadn't! But I am reflecting on the fact, this week, that this is something that we almost never give a thought to- the baptism of Jesus.
As I was studying this week, I found that the Sunday of the Baptism of Jesus used to be like Easter to the early church. Maybe like Christmas or Easter for us now. It was the Sunday that you just didn't miss. It was the sermon that you just had to hear. About the baptism of Jesus- that God anointed his Son with his Holy Spirit and with power to go out and save the people from their sins. It's certainly worth celebrating! And we certainly will. But why has the significance of this Sunday gone so far away?
I've got a couple ideas. Maybe it's just that everyone is holidayed out by this time of January. We've done Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and now we're done partying. Maybe that's way. Maybe it's that most people don't understand what baptism is really for (even most Christians!). Maybe I'll put the question to you- do you think we don't think about Jesus' baptism because we are missing just how badly we need it?
This Sunday, as we get into Matthew 3:13-17, we'll see our deep need for baptism, and even more, we'll see our Savior who came down into the water to save us from our need.
In the end, this Sunday isn't about our celebration of an event. It's about us seeing just how badly we need a Savior, and seeing just how saving that Savior is.
Every year, on the Sunday of Epiphany, the church across the world reads the same text. It's Matthew 2:1-12. It's a story that's perhaps familiar to all of us. It's the story of the Magi traveling from far away, following a start placed in the sky by God himself, to come and worship Jesus.
It's a story that's maybe so familiar that it becomes hard to learn from it, and hard to see it for more than just a story. Tomorrow, we'll see together why it is that it's THIS text that the church reads every year. It's because it's this text that unlocks the truth that Jesus is revealed as our Savior, our King.
It's 2023, and this is my first sermon of the new year. I'm excited about it. Did you work on putting together some resolutions for yourself? I’m going to add one to you. This year, never stop taking the journey to Bethlehem with the magi. There’s always more to learn from the word of God. This year, always hold to God’s eternal word, and not the wisdom of the world. This year, take the knee before your tiny king. There’s room for you there. I’m going to help you with that this year.
I want to announce to you today that from now until Easter this year, we will journey as a church through this gospel to see Jesus, God's own Son. We’re going to follow Jesus through the book of Matthew. We’re going to see what we see and we’re going to hear what we hear and we’re going to hold to it together with this great goal in mind. That all of us together might be called truly wise for salvation, through Jesus, God’s Own Son.
How will you enter the new year? I know that's a question that's all over the internet and social media. How can you reflect on 2022? How can you make a resolution that will last? How can you grow as you go?
There is a LOT to say about answering these questions God's way, through the Bible. And we're going to do just that tomorrow.
Tomorrow, our time together will look different, instead of having our normal setup, we will gather as a family of believers to have an engaging, thought-provoking, and applicable Bible Study, where we can work TOGETHER towards moving into a new year in Jesus' name. Bring your coffee mug, an appetite for some yummy treats, bring a pen, and be ready to apply yourself to this task.
We'll gather at 10am, and move into a one hour Bible Study together. The children will have their own Sunday School during this time as well!
Looking to get into the study for tomorrow? You can click here to look at our worksheet.
There is a lot in Isaiah 9:2-8 that just comforts me to my core. There’s the light that shines in a dark place- it gets me that I don’t have to be the light. That gets me right in the heart because as a pastor, I have the privilege of talking to so many people who are despairing in so many ways, and so this gets me- that when I read this text, I don’t have to be the light for anyone- I just get to see it and experience it.
And there’s the part in this text with the rod, and the bar, and the yoke- that part gets me right in the heart too because those things promise that God is going to take the things that hurt you and he’s going to shatter them. He’s going to take the things that oppress your mind and hurt you- he’s going to destroy them. That gets me.
And the four names for Jesus, they get me- that there are four. You know how usually, you have the law of three to express something so that it’s complete. Isaiah uses four because there is something about Jesus that is so majestic and so huge and unfathomable about what he means for your life that even four names fail to communicate who he is. And the fact that Jesus’ reign is going to go on and on forever, that gets me because I know that I am going to be with Jesus forever.
But of all the things in this text that get me- it’s the burning shoes in verse 5 that get me the most. The burning boots through which Isaiah is telling the people- you're not going to have to fight anymore. There's going to be a perfect peace.
It's the same for you and for me. We're going to be able to burn our boots. We're going to have perfect peace. And here's why:
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
Come home in your heart this Christmas. All the way home.
Isaiah 7:2-14. I’m guessing you’ve never heard that full story before. Give it a read before Sunday if you never have before. This isn’t an account that really fits into Sunday School curriculums. It’s not a story that Veggie Tales is going to make a movie about. Ever. And I get why. It’s certainly not child friendly. It’s not even all that compelling on its surface. I get that why this text doesn't get a whole lot of attention.
I can even understand that despite the fact that I think that this prophecy isn’t just a prophecy of the Christ, I think it is the most recognizable prophecy of Christ in the Bible. But still almost nobody knows where this prophecy came from. No one wants to tell this story.
Who wants to tell the story about a king who was such a bad man that he killed his own kids? He sacrificed them to other gods. That’s king Ahaz. Who wants to tell that story? The story where God's people are getting set to be sieged. The story where the fear is so palpable and real, that even the king is frozen with it.
I want to tell that story. You know why? It's real. This is a real story about real fear in real people, and it's a story where real hope breaks in. The hope of a savior. The hope of one who will be called Immanuel, which means: "God with us."
The book of Revelation is eye-opening. Its words are exciting, graphic, sometimes even terrifying as they describe a vision given to the apostle John as he sat in exile on the island of Patmos. In our text for Sunday John wrote about his vision from God: "Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea."
I think I can guess that your mind is immediately pulled to think about the new heaven and new earth- what it will look like, smell like, and sound like. But I think what's just as interesting here is what John says won't be there. The sea.
Will there be no sea because God isn't a fan of the beach? Or has some kind of aversion to salt water? No. See, the book of Revelation is filled with the literary device of symbolism. And here, the sea symbolizes separation. Separation- the final end of every human relationship. Even the best relationships marriages, friendships- they all end in separation. Until Jesus comes.
What John writes about for us is a future where there will be no separation for us. No separation from each other, yes. But so much more significantly, there will be no separation between us and God. And he will wipe every tear from our eyes.
And arrived will be the time when there will be such a deep and comfortable connection that God will look right into your eyes and suddenly the pain and the grief and the death will exit your soul in a rush of peace. Arrived will be the time when every sense of alienation will be replaced with a God who will love you, and know you, and appreciate you the way that so deep down and forever you’ve thought it could be and should be. Every tear will gone wiped away by the finger of God himself. A being who who is so much better than a soul mate. Our soul’s source. Our soul’s beginning. And our soul’s end.
My junior year of high school, I was part of a traveling choir. Our spring tour took us to the Southwest of the country, and for a day of fun, our director booked us a bus trip up to see the Grand Canyon. Only one problem - it was snowing. Halfway up we were forced to turn around after the bus slid backwards 20 feet over the snow towards a cliff. I remember feeling utterly helpless as we slowly slipped towards the edge. There was nothing I could do. The forces of nature are too far above what I can impact.
It’s that reality that Jesus wakes us up to in this Sunday's text. That there is a force way above us. That there is a voice and a call and a creative power that determines our eternal destination; where we’re headed at the Last Judgment.
It's outside of our control. It's too far above what we can impact. There is nothing we can do to get ready for the day of judgement. Jesus had to step in and do everything for us. And when I say everything, I mean everything.
That’s what Jesus’ cross is all about. It was there that justice was had for everything. On the cross judgment was rendered for all, and especially for you. So that you would never dangle precariously over judgement. So that you wouldn’t have to worry about the Last Judgment, but actually rejoice in it. So that you wouldn’t have to give up on this life thinking, “I’m toast. So that you can live.
Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Sola Scriptura
That's what we're about here at Hope. These are the hallmarks of what it means to be a Lutheran. These short statements describe the only things we need to answer the big questions of life. By faith alone(sola fide) God places the gift of salvation in our hearts. By his grace alone (sola gratia) God sent his Son Jesus to save us. And by Scripture alone (sola scriptura) does God reveal all of this to us.
This Sunday we celebrate a festival called "reformation." It's a day that remembers a German monk named Martin Luther as over 500 years ago he nailed a sheet of paper with 95 statements to the door of his church.
But I want you to know that as we celebrate reformation, we’re certainly not celebrating a man. We’re not celebrating his achievements, we’re not celebrating his courage, and we’re not celebrating his bravado. We’re doing two things. We’re stepping off life’s treadmill of trying to justify ourselves, trying to earn or figure out rightness and goodness for ourselves. And we’re praising a God who has done so much better than given us a list of things that we can do. He has given us himself. God’s justification is the end of trying. It’s the end of trying to make professionalism, parenting, beauty, or morality our crown. It’s time to stop trying and to start believing. It’s time to believe that Jesus truly is our righteousness, our life, and our crown.
I don’t think anybody comes to the end of their life and says, “Well, that happened just like I thought it would.” I, for one, won’t. A little over two years ago, I had never heard of Tigard. Now it’s my home. (And I wouldn't trade!) Ten years I don’t even think I would’ve guessed that I would be a pastor right now. I could go on and on.
Because life doesn’t lay out just so. It sometimes unfolds in the most unexpected ways and it can feel chaotic and confusing. Or, if you want to use the metaphor we’ve been using in this sermon series, sometimes the idea that’s packed in our invisible suitcase is the idea that my world is out of control.
That’s the world into which Paul steps with our Sunday text- Romans 8:26-30. It’s a world where emotionally sometimes down feels up and up feels down. It’s a world where events can seem so cruelly random and emotions can crest powerfully that even Paul admits that sometimes, “We do not know what we ought to pray for.” (v. 26) And it’s into those times and into those moments that Paul speaks a truth that he says, “We know.” (v. 28)
What do we know? "28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." How can you know that? I mean, really know that? How can you trust that it's true for you- that God has been working your whole life through for your good?
The answer is Christ. Christ, for whom God worked all of history- so that his own Son could die on the cross to take away the sins of the whole world, and your sins in particular. Know this! Trust this! Until you don't have to trust it anymore, because you will se it with your own eyes.
Here are some statistics. Anxiety and depression is the most common (by far) mental health diagnosis in America today. 1 in 5 Americans is seeking treatment for anxiety. 1 in 3 Americans recognized a downward turn in their mental health over the past 3 years.
Citing dry statistics runs the risk that we make anxiety all about someone else. It’s anything but that. It’s what Peter calls, “your anxiety” in our text for Sunday. Anxiety is having a list a mile long of present and future concerns that are yours. It’s the generalized sense that you get in your gut that something could go wrong at any moment. It’s anxiety that can come bunched and local, or general and ever-present. It’s the tenseness that comes after swirling fears take up residence in your heart. It’s the waves that roll over and emotionally squash you like a tank might - waves that can seem to have the power suffocate the life right out you. And it’s anxiety that has its roots in an idea that’s packed in our invisible suitcases – the idea that says, “God, you don’t care.” Bidden or unbidden, faith or no faith, anxiety comes after us.
Anxiety comes after us, and so Peter comes after anxiety. He says: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Maybe you're like me, and you find yourself doubting whether that verse can be real. Can you really ask off your anxiety? Is there really a way to be rid of it? I want you to be in church tomorrow so that you can hear the full answer.
Suffice it for now to say that Christ is more than capable of carrying your anxiety for you. He says cast your anxiety. Why? Because he cares for you. Know this. He has cared for you so much that he has sent his Son to die on the cross so that every care, every worry, every anxiety that comes, we can answer it, knowing that Christ on his cross has made our heavenly future sure.
One of the first books I can remember reading with my Mom was the classic: "The Little Engine That Could." Do you remember it? No other train was willing to take on the task. The little blue train was. It was difficult, but he repeated to himself in the rhythm of the track: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." And he did. This is one of the earliest memories I have of a story of human empowerment.
And there are so many of them! So many sports movies of teams winning when they shouldn't have, stories of people achieving their dreams while overcoming impossible odds, people even overcoming their bodies to do what they have to do. There are so many of these stories, because we need them. So many people just quit. We come to a life situation and we say: "I don't think I can." And we do this because what’s packed in our invisible suitcase is the idea, “I have no power.”
Paul crushes that thought in us with what he writes in Philippians 4. It's a verse you have maybe heard before:
"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."
But Jesus isn't to be treated like pixie dust to sprinkle over your life so that all your dreams will come true. that's not what Paul was teaching. In fact, he calls what he knows a "secret." Here's what Paul is teaching.
Christians aren’t little super heroes that leap from power to power and from joy to joy. We’re people who sometimes see astounding success and sometimes see soul numbing trouble. We’re people who sometimes find bright solutions and other times stare at a problem only to find more problems. But that doesn’t mean we need to carry around an invisible suitcase with the idea inside, “I’m powerless.” Because we’re not. And that’s not because we’ve got all the answers or have peppered enough Jesus onto every situation, but because come what may we’ve still got our glory, our peace, our everything, our Jesus. Or to say it like a man named Paul who lived a whole lot of this life said it: I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Are you a swifty? I know my fair share of them. A few years ago, they were everywhere! (By the way, a "swiftie" is a fan of country/pop star Taylor Swift) Arguably, her most popular song is called "Shake It Off." It's a great song! Dare I say brilliant? Part of the brilliance of the song is that she knows what she speaks to people. She talks about wanting to feel worthwhile and she gets vulnerable about what it's like when others don't think she is.
I think this illustrates the idea that we all carry around an invisible suitcase. And sometimes what gets packed into the suitcase is the idea: "I am worthless." And we desperately want to "shake it off."
John wants that for us too. He understands how many voices there are that try to assign value to us, whether they're outside critics, or whether it's our inner critic.
To all of those daily, loud voices John here adds another formerly unheard voice that’s also calling us something and also assigning us value. He adds the voice of God which says, “I want you to know the kind of value that I assign to you.” In doing so, he bursts onto the scene announcing a kind of value that surprises him just as much as it does everyone else, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we are called children of God!” (v. 1)
He's the only one who gets to assign you value, and he has. You are called a child of God! So unpack your invisible suitcase! Here's how: whenever a voice pops up saying: "You are unworthy," instead of believing it, silence all the other voices and listen to what God has said about you with all his divine authority. Look at Jesus and then say to yourself, "No, I'm worth him. I'm called Go's child."
Every time the Apostle Paul talked about prayer, he spoke powerfully. He never hedged about prayer. In Ephesians 6:18 he taught us to pray in everycircumstance. In Romans he taught us to be faithful in prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 he urges us to pray continually. Then, in our text for Sunday, he urges us to pray big prayers. Prayers for nations, kings and emperors.
I've known some true prayer warriors in my life, but if I look at myself, and as I hear from the people I serve, I know that our prayers, most of the time are seldom, are narrow, and are often small. Why is that? I did some research. The research found that for many people, during our time and throughout history, no matter if the person believes in God or not, people hold the belief that God only hears and answers your prayers if you are worthy of having your prayers heard.
I'm here to tell you that is 100% true. It is the prayer of the righteous person that God hears. So can you ever be sure that God hears your prayers? Or will you always have to wonder whether your life has been one that is worthy of being seen and heard?
In Christ, you can be sure that your prayers are heard. Here's how you can be sure:
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
The gospel is not a process. The gospel is a person. In Christ, your sins have not only been taken away, but Christ's righteousness has been added to you. In God's eyes, you are holy.
There’s something about Jesus. He could draw crowds to himself like he was a magnet. He could make prostitutes weep for joy. He made old cynical apostles coin new words just to talk about his grace. There’s something about Jesus that draws sinners to him.
It either does that or it makes you jealous at the attention he gets from sinners. This is what would regularly happen when Jesus was alive. People actually made up a tagline about him- Jesus had a tagline- you know what it was? Everybody said it about him! “This man welcomes sinners.” And what they wanted to do with the tagline, they actually wanted to destroy his brand. They wanted people to not go anywhere near him. Because he hangs out with sinners, so he must be the biggest sinner ever. It’s like they couldn’t even bear to say his name. So they just said: “This man… welcomes sinners.”
And it's a good thing he does. He welcomes us; sinners. We're about to begin a sermon series on the books of 1st and 2nd Timothy. Through these books we'll dig into what this is: the essentials of the gospel- that this man welcomes sinners. Even us!
For interactive Sermon notes, click here:
https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/42364/note-164211.html
This text dinged me up this week. It battered my conscience, it pushed my pastor's heart to the limits. It showed me how much I've fallen short. It's a text that is short and sweet. Give it a read:
Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Do you see her? The woman who gave everything she had? It dinged up my conscience. It pushed my pastor's heart. It made me realize that I can't preach this text without being a hypocrite. I can't hold a candle to her- her generosity, her trust, her boldness. I can't preach on this text- but I can let the widow preach.
I invite you to come hear her preach through actions tomorrow. Let her preach to you about what true generosity is. Let her preach to you about what it means to trust in Jesus with your whole self. Let her show you what her might truly is. Spoiler alert: Jesus truly is the widow’s might.
This is a sermon (and a sermon series) where Jesus teaches us about our relationship with our treasures and the blessings he has given us. He gives a rich young man, and us, a crucial lesson about what it is like to truly repent of both our vices and our virtues so that Jesus can be our everything- our Savior.
If you'd like to follow along with interactive sermon notes, click here: https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/42364/note-163734.html
Have you noticed all the traffic along highway 217 this summer? Along the entire stretch of the highway, there is work being done to make some more room for the future- which means for now, we're squished. This week, on 217, I got my first dose of Oregon road rage. One car didn't let another car merge, and the rage burst loose- there was shouting, there were rude signs out of windows, the whole nine yards.
It made me think of something. I've seen two lines merge into one line at Costco, but I've never seen road rage at Costco. Why is that? It's because when we're not anonymously and safely in our cars, we're forced to see each other as real people- people with feeling and emotion.
Our sinful natures are like that. At every opportunity where it doesn't cost us, we dehumanize people and we use them. They become wallets to be opened, bodies to be oggled, an obstacle to be overcome. Paul didn't go easy on us and that part of our sinful nature. He said this in Colossians 3:6- "Because of these, the wrath of God is coming." This is true.
What's also true is that that's why God sent Jesus. It’s why he sent his Son. God knew it was bad. He saw it clearly. That’s why he didn’t send us a teacher. We need a lot more than the right set of instructions. It’s why he didn’t set up a reform school. We needed a lot more help than a strict regimen. It’s why he sent us a Savior. He sent us a Savior who absorbed all the wrath that was looming. He sent us a Savior who took and took and took for all our taking. He sent us a Savior who was used and used and used for all our using. He sent us a Savior who for the first time in world history treated everybody like they were people.
And no, I didn't get off track here- this is still a blurb about how we can see people as real people. You know how that happens? It's counterintuitive (like the gospel always is!). You focus on the things above. You focus on Christ and what he has done for you in your every day life, and the people in this world will become less objects to be used, and more people to be loved for Jesus' sake.
I'll send you out with these promises of God:
Colossians 3:1-4 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. "
For this week's sermon notes click here! https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/42364/note-162640.html
Somewhere in this world there’s a teenage girl who feels like nobody sees her. She feels like she has to wear the right clothes so someone will. She also feels like she has to walk down the hall plastering a smile on her face; say the right things; and run in the right circles. She feels like she has to do that so that people will love her, respect her, and make her feel like she matters - or at the very least blend in enough so people don’t do the exact opposite.
Somewhere else there’s an unhappy employee. You know the kind. He’s shown up to work. He’s been loyal. He’s done his job and put in the time. He’s even gone above and beyond to get the recognition of his peers and supervisors. But he’s been passed over for every promotion. He goes home and he tries to pretend like it’s ok with him - that life is ok and maybe even good, but he can’t shelve his disappointment. He wonders what he can do to move on.
Somewhere else there’s a hurting woman. She is going to the office with the best of intentions. She is telling herself, “Today will be the day that I’ll put on Teflon and my co-workers won’t be able to hurt me. Today will be that day.” And then it isn’t. She knows that if she confides this to her friends that they might be catty and her husband - well - he doesn’t seem to notice her like he used to. She’s looking. She’s searching. She’s wondering how she can put her life back together.
Paul wrote for people like that. Jesus died for people like that. People who are hurting. People who are searching. People who are despairing.
But then he was alive again. His limbs moved with power. His frame stood upright and words came from his lips. Life came where there was once only death. That’s power. Paul talked about that power in the text that we'll look at this Sunday in Colossians 2: 7-15. It's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead raised you from the dead. And it's yours. You have abundant, spiritual power. You have power to live now. And I do mean live even in a world with sin and its effects.
That’s power for the teenage girl that’s out there - the same one walking down the hall trying to earn the respect and affirmation of her peers. It’s power that allows her to bury that old part of her that looks for the kind of affirmation and respect that comes from people. It’s power to rise with real spiritual light in her eyes and life in her limbs. It’s power that allows her to see that everything she is looking for is already hers. She has God’s respect, God’s love, and God’s affection. She has God’s fatherly eye, a refuge for her soul even as she walks down that hall.
It’s power for the unhappy employee. It’s power that is so great it allows him to slowly watch his hopes for status get crushed in the vice-grip of passing years and his career aspirations slip away even as others are promoted around and over him. It’s power to bury that lower spiritual plane and be resurrected to a higher one. It’s power to know what real status looks like and what a real promotion consists of. He believes that real status is what God considers him to be and that he already has the highest promotion anyone can get. He is a child of God.
That’s power for the hurting woman too. It’s power that actually bestows the coat of Teflon she’s always hoped for. She puts it on through the burial of her old self that was so interested in the notice and approval of people and the rising inside of her a person confident that she’s noticed by the one being that matters - her Savior. And not just noticed. Appreciated. Loved. Saved.
For access to interactive sermon notes for this sermon, click here: https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/42364/note-162059.html
Pastors have really big goals for their churches. As a church-planting pastor I know this all too well. Pastors want their churches to be vibrant, they want their churches to serve inside the church and outside, and they want their churches to grow. These are big, audacious goals!
The apostle Paul had even more audacious goals- not for the church as a whole, but specifically for the people of his church. You can read about his goals in Colossians 1:25-2:4. Take a look at these verses from this section.
“... so that we may present everyone perfect (mature) in Christ… so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding.” (1:28, 2:2)
Talk about ambitious goals! Paul wants to present everyone to God as mature Christians in Christ. He wants his people not just to have scraps of truth, he wants them to be rich in it. He doesn’t want them to have a partial, incomplete, half understanding of the gospel. He wants them to get it - really get it in a comprehensive way.
I'll tell you what. It’s no pie in the sky dream that God will bring us to complete knowledge. Christian maturity is not just some big, hairy, audacious goal that’s way out there in some kind of unknowable, possible future. The truth is that by the power of the gospel, that future is arriving right before our eyes, and it might be coming to you more immediately than you think.
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You might know this about me. I'm kinda a sports guy. I love following the teams that I cheer for, and I love following the engaging storylines around all of sports. But there's one thing I love more than anything about sports. I love seeing beyond the court and the field and into the mind of the athletes.
That's why when "The Last Dance" started streaming, I gobbled it up. Michael Jordan was the most iconic sporting person in history worldwide. He won title after title, and racked up record after record. But what this documentary revealed about him is something that surprised me-he had a drive for more- and it could never be satisfied.
We've all got this tug, this incessant need to be searching for more. It's something that we inherited from Adam and Eve. Paul talks about where that started: “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds doing evil deeds.”
That’s where we started, but that’s not where we are. That’s where we began, but it’s not where we’ve landed. Verb tenses matter. A lot. I was married is a whole different animal than I am married. I am 20 is a whole different ballgame than I was 20. You were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds, but aren’t anymore. The gospel has come to us. So that’s not our current condition. It’s our past one. It’s how we used to think. It’s not how we think now. We’re different. We’re new. We are reconciled.
Do you see what that now means? It means that the one thing that has the height, the depth, the power, and the magnitude to satisfy the human heart is now reconciled to do that. It means that the vicious cycle that Eve was the first to perpetuate has now effectively ended. It means that the hunt for something big enough, solid enough, and important enough to set our souls on is ours to have and to enjoy and to experience now and in eternity in Jesus Christ.
There are a few shows out there that I just can't watch. I can't watch scary shows, I can't do true crime. That stuff stays with me in the back of my mind for longer than I like it to. But there's another kind of show that I'll never try and dive into. It's the kind of show that requires you to dive heart and soul into the shoes of the characters. I can't do it.
There's one show, I think, that does that better than any show has done recently. It just had its finale recently. It's called This Is Us- the story of triplets who lost their father to a fire, and due to that loss have developed some really self-destructive habits. You almost get frustrated with the characters- who seem never to do the things that they know will be good for them. And I can't watch it. Not because it's not well done, not because I don't like the content, but because the show causes me to see myself in all of my flaws- the ways that I can never seem to do the things that I know are good. After all, this is us.
The Apostle Paul burst out like this, too, in Romans 7. He said memorably- the things that I want to do, I can never seem to do, but the things I don't want to do, these are the things I keep on doing. He's so frustrated with himself! You can count this for yourself, but throughout the chapter, I read Paul mention 39 times something to this effect: "This is me. I want to please God, and I try to, but I can't. And I try not to sin, but I always do. This is me."
He cries out to God: "Who will save me?" I think this cry is deep in all of us. We know that this is us.
39 times, Paul says: "This is ME." But then he closes in a really special way. With an incredible expression of relief: "Thanks be to God, who delivers US through our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul wants you to know that you're in on being delivered through Jesus. Paul wants you to know that through Jesus we are delivered, saved, redeemed, and loved- that this is us. Truly.
I’m going to ask you an important question here. It’s probably the most important question that I can ask you. Because the answer that is given has tremendous implications. It’s a question whose implications change the way you live your life, it changes the way you think, the way you move, the way you make decisions. It’s that big of a question that I’m about to ask you. You ready for it? What is Jesus for? Or to say it in different words- why did Jesus come into the world? What was his life about? Was it so that he could teach us how to live? Was it so that he could show us that he’s powerful enough to care for our needs? Was it so that we could have some proof that God is actually up there caring about us? What is the reason for the life of Jesus?
We’ve spent the previous four Sundays leading up to this point. We began by talking about the nature of grace- that God loves us with a love that is undeserved. We then talked about how that grace comes to us by faith in Jesus and by nothing that we have done. Then we talked about where that knowledge comes from- through only the Bible. And last week we looked at the beginning of sin and the beginning of God’s saving plan to cover our shame and to remove our guilt. This week, we continue on to look at the end and the fulfillment of God’s saving plan which is the life of Jesus.
Eve didn't have a word yet for what she felt that day outside the garden. All she knew is what she felt. How the snake had spoken, and she had listened. How she had reached out and grabbed the fruit. How the horror had spread across her heart as she realized what she had done. She didn't have a word for it yet. We do. It's called shame.
There are some shames that are inconsequential. There are some that are life changing. There are some shames that we bring on ourselves. There are some that we suffer at the hands of others. We all have shame. Because we all have sin. And we all know, just like Eve knew, that we need to be covered.
I want you to know this in your heart. You are covered. You are covered by so much more than the fig leaves that Eve covered herself with. You are covered with the blood of Jesus. Covered, redeemed, restored, not shamed, but glorified.
There are some times as a pastor where I have to stop and pinch myself. I look around at the people that gather together at our church, and my jaw hits the floor. I just marvel thinking about how much of a miracle it is that anyone is that anyone comes to Hope. I mean, why would someone come to this church? This is a church that doesn’t even have a building yet. We are meeting at the park for church this weekend! And you don't come to this church because we boast the city's most comprehensive programs. And you don’t come to this church because the pastor is wise or experienced or particularly charismatic.
And so I have to pinch myself as a pastor and recognize something: that people come to this church week after week for one reason- the Word of God. That’s it. It’s the Word of God. It’s full of God’s own words, it’s full of his heart, and it’s full of his power.
And why did God give you that word? So that you could know him- his saving love, his enduring mercy, his unending passion for saving people from their sins.
It's a tale as old as time. A song as old as rhyme. From the time of the first man and woman- Adam and Eve, there has been a battle for the heart of Christianity. Paul, the writer of the text that we'll be diving into this Sunday knew that. And he lived it. And he understood that it was a battle for people's souls. Will people rest their souls on Jesus, or will they rest their souls on something else? Will people remember that their salvation only comes through faith in Jesus, or will they revert to what comes naturally to humanity- that we need to do something to save ourselves?
For the church in Galatia, there was a time when it was the latter. You can read it in the text for Sunday, Galatians 3:1-9. As you read, you'll see that Paul dove head-first into the battle for Christianity. He would not let the people believe that they could get their righteousness from anywhere other than God.
I know it may be tough to hear, but my fear is that even in (and especially in) Christians, this thought is deeply ingrained- that being a Christian means being something and doing something- that the litmus test for whether or not you are a Christian is how you live and act. Being a Christian does mean living and acting differently, but this couldn't be further from what is true and saving.
The only truth that is saving is this: Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you from your sins. And this is a free gift to you that is received through faith. Rightness with God is yours- through Jesus Christ.
Understand the implications of that and revel in it. According to the gospel, you can’t be a better Christian. According to the gospel, you can’t be more holy. According to the gospel, you can’t be more perfect than what you already are. When you believe God, you get Jesus’ righteousness.
Maybe that matters to you today. Maybe it informs you. Maybe it thrills you. Maybe it finally helps you see that in Christ not only are there no skeletons in your closet, but there’s no closet either. You really are righteous before God because of Jesus.
This week, we unveil a brand new sermon series here at Hope. It's called "Safe to Hope- Unshakable Truth for an Unbreakable Hope." Over the next six weeks, we will be covering some the Bible's most foundational teachings through the form of narrative. We'll answer questions like: "What does the Bible say about sin and grace?" "How is it that someone gets saved?" "How can I know that any of this is true?" And more questions like these. These are the foundational truths of the Bible. When you understand these, then you are beginning to understand the love of God for you. When you understand these, then you will have a hope that cannot be broken!
Tomorrow, we'll take a hard look at one of Jesus' most well-known parables: the parable of the prodigal son. Give it a read in Luke 15:11-32. As you read, you'll see 3 distinct characters; 3 distinct characters that Jesus uses to teach us about what his kingdom is like. He uses the actions of the sons to teach about the reality of sin in all of us. And he uses the patient and enduring love of the father to teach about the grace- the undeserved love- of God.
There's an impressive number at the end of the text we'll be getting into this Sunday. The number is 3000. The context is this: It's festival season in Jerusalem. People from miles and miles around are gathered around to celebrate. Peter gets up and has his chance to preach to a huge crowd about his Savior Jesus. And 3000 people believed and were baptized. That's the impressive number right?
As a preacher, I've always had to stop and joke with myself about this, because I don't think any of my sermons ever have or ever will have the same effect as Peter's did on that day. Except this time, I wanted to think about it. What was the power that worked on that day? What was the power that made 3000 people jump into the church on that day?
The answer lies right in the text. You can read it for yourself in Acts 2:36-41. Did you catch what it was? I'll answer it in short here, and more at length on Sunday. The power that worked on that day is the same power that works every day in our hearts and every Sunday in our church. It is the power that comes from the cleansing cut of the law, and the healing word of the gospel.
Can I overemphasize this? I don't think I can. The SAME power that worked on the day of Pentecost is at work among us today. Let's celebrate that together.
This past Sunday, we celebrated one year of worship at Hope Lutheran Church. It has been so humbling and amazing to see God working in this church and through this church! That is worth celebrating!
But how do you celebrate? And what exactly do you celebrate? Do you celebrate numerical growth? Do you celebrate a journey? Do you celebrate specific events in the church's young history? I'll give you an insight into the say I've been thinking lately. How do you take a spiritual community at a key juncture and move them forward God's way? I chose to answer that question through the text chosen for tomorrow's message.
I could've chosen a psalm of praise, or a word of comfort, a message of togetherness, or a text of mission, but I didn't. I chose a text that tells the account of how a lot of people died, until they didn't anymore. It's from 2 Samuel 24. If you've never read it before, read it here. It's 2 Samuel 24:15-25. It's the story of how a lot of people died until they didn't anymore.
Here's my rationale. I picked it because I want you to understand that hope isn’t just a community that is about love, or just a place to be known, and this isn’t just a place where you can serve and be kind to others, this is a place where your death gets life. Here's what I'm hoping to show you tomorrow: this church is different than the temple, and it’s better than the temple. Because you get to come here and receive. Because the only thing those people did was wait for the greater David to come. You know what you get to do? You get to receive him now. You receive him. It’s what we do here.
I'd say that's worth celebrating! One year. A whole year of receiving EVERY WEEK, the forgiveness of God. And many more to come.
It's unbelievable, but it's not, really. David had become an adulterer. He had taken Bathsheba for his own, and to avoid being found he had Bathsheba's husband killed. David thought he had gotten away from it. He even thought he had come out of it looking better and stronger than ever. It's unbelievable, that he could do that. But it's also not.
See, there's something that we as human beings are really good at doing. We are really good at pointing out other people's scandals. We are so perceptive to evil when it's in someone else. But when it comes to ourselves, we can't see it. We don't see sin in ourselves, do we? When we sin, we generally don't call it sin in ourselves. We'd prefer to call it a mistake, an error, a failure, or a lesson. We can see it everywhere in the world, except in ourselves.
That's why God sent David his pastor- Nathan. And Nathan told David a story- a story about himself, so that David could see the evil that he had covered up in his own heart. You can read this in 2 Samuel 11.
If you have a chance, I urge you to read this text ahead of Sunday. See David's reaction to his sin being revealed to him. And read Nathan's response.
It's unbelievable. Truly unbelievable, that we have forgiveness of sins. From the sins that bother us, to the sins that we've hidden away so thoroughly that we can't even see them, we have forgiveness in Christ Jesus- through his death on the cross.
I want you to know this. You are forgiven.
I don't think any of you would disagree that we, as people, need friends. That's not news to us, right? Even before the COVID pandemic, there was an epidemic that medical professionals were beginning to recognize based around this: loneliness. Even before the pandemic, loneliness had become a health epidemic. You can guess what the COVID pandemic did to the loneliness epidemic. Do some simple googling and you'll see some scary stats.
God knows this about us. He knew it about David. Read through 1 Samuel 23:13-18. You'll see a David running from stronghold to stronghold running away from Saul, unable to find help or safety anywhere. Yet, you'll also see that Saul couldn't find him no matter how hard he looked. And we know why. God wouldn't let Saul find David.
But Jonathan did find David. And as a true biblical friend, Jonathan strengthened David in the promises of God. He didn't tell him any news of the world, or about his father, Saul's, whereabouts. He just reminded him of the things God had promised him. That's friendship- bound in the promises of God.
I wish I could promise that I will always be that friend for you. I'll try to be there in your wildernesses, I'll try with all my heart to love you perfectly in Jesus' name, but I know all too well that I won't be perfect. None of us can be.
But we do have a perfect friend. A friend who sought us in the wildernesses of our lives. One who pursued us at great personal cost to himself. One who teaches us and reminds us that everything is going to be so much more than ok. His name is Jesus. Can we revel in that together?
This week we are going to begin a new series at Hope. It's a series based on several of the events of David's life. Some of these accounts will be familiar to you, a couple of them, I think, may be completely new.
I'd like to give you an explanation for why we're covering David. it's certainly true that it's full of action and drama. (Just read the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45-54. ) I suppose that's a reason to study David! It's also true that David's life is a story of sin and grace. A story of a man who was sometimes incredibly faithful to his God, and at times incredibly unfaithful. Another very worth reason to dive in!
However, the reason that we are going to get into David's life is not to look at David and his life. We're going to look at God and our lives. Through each account we'll see one thing repeated over and over. God is working in our lives. For our good- our physical good and much more importantly, our eternal good.
Yes, I invite you to come and see David this Sunday, the man from Bethlehem who stood up to Goliath in the place of the Israelite army. Much more, though, I invite you to come and see Jesus, the man from Bethlehem who stepped into our place and won the victory over death forever.
There's so much heartache in this text. So much heartache, and so much grace. Give it a read through in John 21:15-25. You can see it in the fire reflected in Peter's eyes. Peter stood on the bank of the Sea of Galilee. I imagine that if you looked at him, you could see in his eyes that he was a million miles away- staring into a different fire on a different day- the fire where he had denied Jesus three times. There was so much heartache in Peter, and the way he had abandoned his Savior.
Jesus knew this. He pressed into the heartache. Just like Peter had denied him 3 times, he asked Peter three times: "Do you love me?" And Peter said: "You know I love you." And three times, Jesus commissioned Peter- "Feed my sheep."
Three times Jesus really was telling Peter- I know what you did, and I forgive you. Now come in with me to the mission closest to my heart.
There's so much heartache here, and so much grace. No matter WHAT it is, Jesus' forgiveness and commissioning of Peter shows us that you are forgiven, and you are given life and purpose. This is for you. This is the fire of the risen Christ.
The last chapter of the book of John often gets called the "Epilogue" of the book by Bible scholars. We've gone through this gospel chapter by chapter since Christmas. Every Sunday we've seen John presenting Jesus- his miracles and his teachings so that we may see him- God's true Son, and yet truly man. So that we could see him in his saving us from our sins.
Now we've seen Jesus rise. We've seen him proclaim his victory over not just his death but ours too. Now both we and his disciples are left with a question. Now what? We have been set free from sin. Now what? We will not die, but live. Now what? John's epilogue takes on that question. We'll cover this last chapter in two Sundays here at Hope.
This Sunday, I invite you to come and see a repeated miracle. It's almost a shot for shot remake of the moment that Jesus called Peter to be his disciple. You can read it in Luke 5:1-11.
You can see it click for John and for Peter in the account of John 21: 1-14. You can see the moment they recognized that it was Jesus on the shore, and that it was Jesus who would always be with them.
I invite you and urge you to come and see this. This Jesus teaching you how to put everything you've seen together, so that you can see- he is the God who will never leave you, and who will bless you and keep you, and who will raise you from death to life in heaven.
Can I ask you a challenging question? Why does it matter that Jesus rose from the dead? Why is it significant for the way that you live your life that Jesus is not dead, but is alive?
The answer is incredibly far-reaching and profound. John gives us a beautiful insight into what the resurrection mean for life. Give it a read in John 20:11-18. He shows us Mary. She's standing in front of the tomb. She can see that the stone is rolled away, and that the tomb is empty. She can even see that there are angels seated there. All the signs were pointing to the fact that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead just like he said he would.
And yet she wept. She had seen her Savior die with her own eyes, and she wept because her God was dead. She wept because she could only see grief for her life. I want to be crystal clear about this. I am not condemning grief. What I am wanting to do is mourn grieving. I want to mourn the ways that grief has a way of lingering with us. Maybe you can empathize. I think many of us can. Can you see why it matters that Jesus rose?
Keep reading. Jesus turned Mary's grief all the way around. And he did it with just one word. He said: "Mary." He spoke her name. And she saw him. She saw that he had risen. She saw that grief was not going to be the last word on her life. She saw that life had prevailed over death. She felt the joy bubble up in her heart.
Let's take part in that joy this Sunday. It's a joy that is for you. It's a joy that affects your every day. Won for you by Jesus on the cross. Confirmed for you when Jesus rose from the grave.
Every year during this week that we call "Holy Week," it strikes me how the crowd changed. On Sunday, when Jesus came into Jerusalem, humble, and riding on a donkey, the people took off their cloaks, and took palm branches, laying them down on the road to show honor to Jesus. They were shouting "Hosanna!" which is a phrase which expresses joy and praise.
5 short days later, these same voices are crying out: "Crucify him!" I ask myself- how does this happen? And along with that question- why does this happen?
The answer lies in the pages of the Bible. This Sunday we took the time to read the passion history through the eyes of the gospel writer Luke. We walked with Jesus as he came into Jerusalem, as he walked through Gethsemane, as he was put on trial, and as he was put on the cross.
This podcast episode is a short devotion that was preached after reading Luke 19:29- Luke 23:43. If you have the time, read these words- the words that record what Jesus did for you. Remember his love for you, his passion for saving you. See your Savior, Jesus, on his most humble, yet most glorious day.
I think one of the hardest things to do in studying our Bibles is to put ourselves into Jesus' shoes. It's hard, but I'll ask you to try here. See Jesus as he prays to his Father to take the cup of wrath away from. Think of everything you know about the relationship Jesus shares with his Father.
From all eternity Jesus had enjoyed had the perfect relationship with his Father. He had been loved and affirmed. So much so that the Father had boomed from heaven about it three times while Jesus was on earth. Their relationship was perfect, their communication was perfect, they showed their love perfectly for each other.
And Jesus prays like that in perfect petition. He prays not my will, but your will be done. He says, Father, I love you more than I love myself. Think about that. Try and put yourself into Jesus' shoes in that. Why?
Because then maybe we can appreciate what it must have been like for Jesus when his Father said no. The Father said no, here. And Jesus knew that. How did he know it? Because Judas walked up. And when Judas walked up, Jesus knew his prayer had been answered with a no. And so he gets up and says, enough. Let’s go. Here comes my betrayer. And he takes his desire for the cup to be taken away from him and he perfectly submits it to the Father that he loves. Think on this. The Father said no to his Son Jesus. The Father didn’t spare his Son. Why? Because the Father wanted to spare us.
Think on this as you prepare your heart for Sunday. Write in your heart and mind. This is the love with which you are loved. This is the passion that is for you. The Father said no to his Son, so that his wrath could be satisfied and he could say yes to you. This is the Father’s love for you. And this is Jesus’ love for his Father and his love for you. That Jesus drank the cup of wrath so that each one of us might do nothing else but drink the cup of salvation. This is cosmic God-sized passion. Poured out for you. Drink that in today. Drink in that salvation. And the passion of God for you. Drink it in.
On the day before Jesus died, John tells us that Jesus' heart was troubled. Can you imagine why? Even so, just like last week, we can see that Jesus' heart and mind is with his disciples. He's comforting them.
He knows that he won't be with them any longer. He knows that they can't follow. But he wants them to know that they will not be alone. And so he tells them: "to the one who obeys my teaching, my Father will send you another advocate, to help you and be with you forever." This is the Holy Spirit.
This Sunday, you can look forward to comfort. And you can look forward to teaching, as we get into the work of the Holy Spirit and what he does for our hearts to comfort us and to point us to Jesus.
Here's the joy of it. All three parts of the Triune God are here. The Father is here, Jesus his Son is here, and the Holy Spirit is here. All for one purpose. What is it? Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give you. That's the promise of God.
It's a vivid picture. It's the day before Jesus is going to die. He knows it, even if his disciples don't know it yet. He know he's about to suffer. He knows he's about to die. But John tells us what's on his mind. "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."
He's not stuck on the suffering, and he's not stuck on the death. His mind is on the love that he has for his disciples. And in that love, he gets down on his hands and knees and washes his disciples feet. What is he really doing here? He's illustrating the gospel.
He's illustrating the gospel, that he himself, the King of Kings and Creator of the world, was about to humble himself to die on the cross for the sins of the world.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. That's you. Jesus has washed you clean.
There's something so relatable about the text we're going to be looking at in this Sunday's text. Something that I wonder if many of us, even all of us have felt. There's a group of people that want to see Jesus. That's all they want. Just to see him.
Give it a read, if you have a moment. It's John 12:20-36. Jesus responds to the request for the people to see him almost with frustration. He says: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." And then his Father replies.
Did you know that God spoke from heaven in this moment? There was a booming voice that everyone around could hear. It said: "I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again." The people had heard the voice of God. But they didn't hear it. Not really. John records that the people there "said it was like thunder" or that an angel had spoken to Jesus. The people heard the voice of God, but Jesus never came out to see them. In fact, John says that Jesus hid himself away from them.
See, this is what I think is so relatable. We want to see Jesus, right? I think most any person, if they knew that they could see Jesus and his glory, would take the opportunity to see him. We want to see Jesus, and we even look for him in our hardest moments, but it seems like he is hidden away from us.
Where can you look to see Jesus? Look at the cross. Jesus himself said it. "The Son of Man will be lifted up. (He's talking about the cross.) And when I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself." Look to the cross. He's not hidden there. He's there for all to see. He's there, paying for our sins.
Come and see him.
Caiaphas was the High Priest at the time when Jesus died. He was the supposed mastermind of the scheme to get rid of Jesus and have the people on their side. He was a schemer. He schemed to have Jesus killed, and it worked. And that bothers me. You can read about his scheme in John 11:45-53.
It bothers me because it pokes at the traumas and hurts in our own life experiences. It reminds me yet again that it looks like evil wins in life. And that stings. It feels like that’s all the world is- a place where evil wins. It seems like evil even won against Jesus! He did end up being killed didn't he?
That’s why we need to truly see the schemer. And when I name “the schemer” you should know that I’m not referring to Caiaphas. He’s actually not the Big Schemer in this story. Caiaphas’ scheme got trumped. Caiaphas said: “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (v. 50) Do you see it? He didn’t know what he was saying, did he? He said that it was best that one man should die for the people. Caiaphas unwittingly and unintentionally shared the gospel. He said: the whole nation shouldn’t get placed on the eternal trash heap. Just one man should. One man for the world. The just for the unjust. The Son of God in place of guilty sinners. One man should take the punishments. One man should suffer in our place. Better he should die for us than we should die in our own place. Caiaphas wasn’t this history’s greatest schemer. God was.
And you can see what that means for you, right? God is so big and so wise that he schemed the savviest schemers to proclaim his gospel and carry out his plan. The only thing left is to trust that in our lives.
This Sunday at Hope, we gathered together for a congregational address. We called it the State of Hope. This is the past, the present, and the future mission of our church. God bless it! Listen in to this story!
Can I be honest with you? I've preached a version of this sermon before. It was at a point in my life where I wasn't sure what I was doing or where I was going. I wasn't sure of my identity. I wasn't sure who I really truly was. And this text from John 10 was a huge comfort for me.
Read through it if you have the chance. Jesus' identity is there. He says: "I AM." I am the Good Shepherd. Did you catch your own identity there? If Jesus is the Good Shepherd, then you are the sheep.
And there's so much in that metaphor. I could talk about how sheep are wanderers, they're followers, and they put themselves willingly in dangerous situations. There's a lot of truth in that for us isn't there? But as a sheep who has Jesus as your shepherd- what else is true? You have one who lays down his life for you. And you have one who leaves the 99 to come after you. And you have one who will not leave you when things get tough, but will protect you in every situation.
There's rest in that identity. There's rest from the stress of needing to give ourselves identity on our own. There's rest in knowing that the big question of our lives is not "Who are you?" It's "Whose Are You."
At first, I was stumped by a couple aspects of this miracle in John 6:16-24. It's a short account, and compared to what we've gotten used to with John, it's pretty sparse in detail. Jesus' disciples are out on the water, doing all they can to row their boat to the other side of the sea in the midst of a huge storm. Jesus comes to them walking on the water, and they are afraid. He says: "It is I, don't be afraid." They welcome him into the boat, and immediately their boat is at the shore.
I was stumped first about the point of the miracle. Normally, in a miracle, Jesus does something for someone. He gives them food or drink, he gives them health, he gives them sight, he even gives them life. But here, he doesn't seem to be doing anything for anyone. So why did he walk on water? I was stumped by that.
I was also stumped about why the disciples were afraid. I mean, sure, this was out of the ordinary, but they were with Jesus. They knew that Jesus wasn't with them and was intending to catch up with them. They had seen him do so many miracles already, and we don't see them being afraid at those times. And by this time, they had already seen Jesus calm a storm on this very sea with just his voice.
So what is this miracle about? Jesus wanted his disciples to see him walking on what was troubling them, calmly, authoritatively, definitively. And Jesus wants us to SEE him doing this- walking on the wind and the waves. Walking on, trampling over, stomping on whatever the winds and waves of our lives are. He wants us to see that he has already walked into the storm of sin, and has trampled it- calmly, authoritatively, definitively.
I pray that you see this. My pastor’s heart longs for you to see that today. Because when you see that Jesus has walked all over your sin, that’s when the wind and the waves around you are going to be nothing to you. When you see the power of Jesus to walk on the wind and the waves- when you see his power to save that is so outside your own, that’s when the storm starts to look like a light Portland drizzle. That’s when instead of worrying about the storm, you start to worship in the storm. You worship your Lord, the one who tramples your uncertainties, and everything that troubles you and frightens you.
After missing last Sunday, we'll take a second shot at this text from John 6:1-15. Watch out, I had another full week to think about this! Ya know what I thought about? I thought about the fact that John tells us that Jesus was testing his disciples. He already knew that he was going to feed all those people with a miracle. But he gave the disciples that task first.
It must have seemed so perplexing and impossible. Jesus lays the responsibility on the disciples to come up with enough food to feed those thousands. And they were in the wilderness, on the side of a mountain. There's no Fred Meyer, there are no resources, there is no way that they can physically do it. I wonder what it was like for them to look at each other, frustrated that Jesus was putting this on them.
I'm sure you've felt that weight, that frustration before. You wonder why God has given you such an impossible task, and why he hasn't given you the tools to do it! See, I think Jesus wanted the disciples to feel that weight for a second, and I think he wants us to feel it too. He wants to teach us where to look when we need help. Or to put it in the context of this miracle- when we need "helpings."
Can I give you a little teaser of what's coming this Sunday? It's a miracle of incredible proportions. Or maybe more aptly, it's a miracle of incredible portions. Jesus feeds 5000. And he feeds us. Can we get excited about that? We can!
This is an episode from our sister podcast "That We May Believe." Please use this podcast to prepare your heart and your mind for what's coming in the sermon this Sunday as we take on John 6 together!
I want to be like Jesus. In a lot of ways. I wish I could know God and his Word perfectly, I think it would be great to be able to heal people, and walking on water would be great. What I’m talking about here, though is that I wish I could be a lot more like Jesus, and the way that he knows people’s hearts better than he knows themselves.
He knew the Samaritan woman's heart in John 4. And he put on a masterclass of leading her to find something out about herself- that she has a deep spiritual thirst. It's a thirst that's foundational to all of us. A thirst for love, for acceptance, and for security. It's a thirst so many of us try to quench in ways that are destructive. But you knew that already. So how do we quench that thirst?
Jesus leads us, too, to learn about ourselves, our spiritual thirsts, and the ways that we go about quenching them. All so that he can really, finally, truly be the one who gives us something real to drink.
It's that thirst that Jesus wants to quench for us. And he came to earth to quench it. For this woman, too, he broke geographical, cultural, racial, and gender barriers so that he could give this woman a drink of living water. The kind of water that when you drink it, you will never be thirsty again.
Do you know the name Nicodemus? I want to introduce him to you. John does too. He's an important character in John's gospel- he appears there three times, and yet he doesn't appear at all in Matthew, Mark, or Luke's gospel. Why?
We gotta remember that John is writing his book at a much later date. He's looking out at young Christians, he's seeing their struggles, and he sees the history of Nicodemus's life as a way to minister to their struggles- our struggles.
In the sermon this Sunday, I'm going to attempt to preach not just on one text, but on three. Give them a read if you have the chance! John 3:1-15, John 7:45-52, and John 19:38-42. What you'll see there is a man who grows in faith. You'll see his inner battle- the way that he weighs in his mind the risk and reward of following Jesus vs staying as he is.
Come and see this. It was recorded for me and for you. To be confronted with its truth. Confronted, yes, but altogether comforted. There's a reason that perhaps the Bible's most famous verse comes through this account.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This Sunday we get to take in a well known account. It's the account where Jesus turns water into wine. Except, there’s a much bigger picture here. And you can see it in the countdown in John 2:1. Or I suppose it’s a count-up. Because this is the only time in John’s Gospel where he counts up to anything. This indicates to you that the thing that’s coming next is a really big deal. John wants us to know that this is a huge event that you just have to know, or you don’t really understand Jesus. There’s a bigger picture here in this sign.
And he does call it a sign. He doesn’t call it a miracle. This isn’t just a display of divine power. This isn’t just power, this is a sign. And what does any sign do? It points you to something. It’s a sign that is meant to show you something even more profound about what Jesus is supposed to mean for you.
So what is it that we're meant to learn about Jesus here that is so monumental for our lives? I'll give you two things here. First: Jesus cares about the little things. There was a lack of wine at the wedding and Jesus cared about that. He cares about your "little" things, too. Bring them to him! Second: Just like Jesus told Mary that his hour had not yet come, please know that yours has not come yet either. Your best hour, your heavenly hour is still coming.
A baby's first words are so precious. A parent looks forward to those words, wondering what kind of person their child is going to be, wondering what is in their little heart. First words are important.
That's why I took note of the first words of Jesus that John recorded in his gospel. Do you know what they are? You can see in John 1:38. "What do you want?" Jesus asked this question to two men who would be his first two disciples. "What are you seeking?" There's such depth in this question.
What are you seeking in your life right now? Do you seek security? Health? Certainty? Direction? Identity? Peace? Legacy? The list could go on. We are all seeking something. Do we ever truly find what we seek?
John records Jesus repeating this question two more times through his gospel book. Except, there's a small change. Instead of "what" do you seek, it changes to "whom." Jesus. The only one who gives us so much more than what our hearts desire.
I encourage you to put your trust in this. That everything you want, everything you seek- God offers so much more. Jesus says that later in chapter one. God offers you so much more than you seek.
The Bible is the most precious book ever written. In it are words that give light and words that give life. Every single word on every single page has incredible value for us both in our lives on earth and our lives in heaven. And yet, it’s a book that many find difficult to pick up and read, and even more difficult to take to heart. In this podcast series, two pastors from across the country will teach and model a Bible Study method to give you tools and confidence as you open your Bible and read for yourself. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
It’s a big day here at Hope, we’re going to be wrapping up Christmas and putting a little bit of a bow on it, we’re going to be looking ahead into the new years, and we’re starting a major sermon series going Sunday by Sunday through the book of John. It’s a big day at Hope, and we’ve got a much bigger text. We’re starting at the beginning of John, I’ll ask you to revel in these words with me.
Every year around Christmas, we read the same pieces of the Bible. We read from the prophets who spoke about Jesus, we read about the manger, we read about Mary and Joseph, and we read about the angels who appeared to the Shepherds.
A mentor pastor taught me something really good about studying texts like these. I'll share it with you. You can play the "How would I have written this?" game. How would you have written about the angels who appeared? To whom would they have appeared? Where would they have appeared? Probably not to shepherds in the middle of nowhere.
So then, in God's story, the most perfectly told story, why did he appear to shepherds? These hardened tough men at the lowest rung of society? These were men who were stooped around the fire, wishing and hoping for the world. But God didn't give them the world. He have them something greater. He gave them the creator of the world. Jesus.
What are you hoping for this Christmas? Look no further. God has given a gift that is greater than we could have hoped!
I haven't gotten past the first 11 words of this week's text from Luke 1:46-56. Here are the words that I'm stuck on: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God." I haven't gotten past those words yet. I just can't get my heart past them. And I'm not sure I want to.
It's a paradox. It doesn't really make sense. We can't make God greater can we? No. We can't make God greater by praising him just like we can't make the ocean greater by praising it. It's a paradox.
What Mary is showing us by pushing into the paradox is that the only thing that we humans can do with God is come more in line with his reality. All we can do is see him for who he actually is. Right? For example, that’s what worship is- worship is thinking on the Lord in a way that makes him as big for us and as glorious and as powerful and as wonderful as he actually is. And when we do that- when we magnify God in our hearts- that’s when we get that thrill of hope.
Let's magnify the Lord in our hearts. Make him the greatest things in our hearts, and watch how every other worry becomes small.
There's reality in the account of Mary. So much reality. I'm not sure we often see how real it is, though. Imagine the last time you looked at a Nativity scene. What did Mary look like? Serene, at peace, full of wonder, right? She got there, but she didn't start there.
This Sunday we will study together the words from Luke 1:26-45 where Mary is told by Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Savior. Give it a read if you have a moment. You'll see a Mary who is troubled in her heart. She's so young, and she's finding out that her whole life is going to be radically changed. And she has no say in it. She is an achingly real Bible character. And what I hope to do this Sunday is to make that real for you.
Why? Because you are achingly real, too. Just like Mary. And you have a real life, and just like Mary, you have questions about your life. God, how is this gonna work? How is this possibly good for me?
Here's what we will see together: Jesus doesn’t just come as Savior. He comes as God. And as God he doesn't ask for permission to come into your life. And he does not ask permission to eradicate death in your life. He doesn’t plead with you to let him forgive sins. He just does it. He doesn’t beg to deal with the hurts and brokenness in your life. He just does it. That’s the rule and reign of Jesus.
There are so many miracles in this Sunday's text from Luke 1:5-25. There's the appearance of Gabriel, there's the miraculous conception of John in the womb of Elizabeth. But I think that the most significant of this miracles might be the silencing of Zechariah.
He had gone through so much life- praying prayers, and never seeing them answered. He had grown tired, and he had grown uncertain that God really does answer prayer. You can see this reflected in his question to God's representative- Gabriel. He asks: "How can I be certain?" That's when God silences Zechariah. For nine months. So that he could watch his wife's womb grow with life. So that he could get quiet with the truth that God answers prayer, and that God keeps his promises.
Let's get quiet like that this Christmas. Quiet with God's promises. Quiet as we see life, and hope growing.
Every day I drive out of the driveway of my neighborhood, and I take a right, and I go past the Dutch Bros shack. And it still absolutely boggles my brain. There is always a line circling all the way around the shack, through their parking lot and out into the road. Every single day. And it doesn’t matter the time of the day or the night. 7 pm. People need their coffee! The line is always there. People need their coffee. Why is that? I tell you what, it’s not because of nutrition. And it’s probably not even because you’re tired. It’s because you want to experience the joy of being human. You wanna take a deliciously sugary cup of coffee and let your taste buds experience that. That’s one of the joys of being human in God’s world. To receive his gifts in a body. To touch, to taste, to hear, to see.
This Sunday's sermon takes a look at a Gospel text- Luke 20:27-40. There we will see a God who is greater than logic, greater than reason, greater than we can possibly think or imagine. Great enough that he raises even our bodies so that we can taste, see, know that he is good.
It's probably one of the most revered unwritten rules of our time. "Thou shalt not judge anyone else." Don't get me wrong, there's so much good in that. There's huge value in empathy, in walking a mile in each other's shoes, and in constantly remember that we do not know what's really going on in each other's hearts. It's right that we shouldn't judge each other.
This Sunday, though, my goal is to get you excited about judgement. God's judgement. The Bible teaches us that Jesus is going to come back a second time and he's going to judge us. And he wants us to be excited about that. Is that possible? Yes!
Every so often what we need to do is we need to stop. And we need to realize. And we need to take a deep breath. Because we need to see that this is it.
What we are going to dig into this Sunday in Ephesians 2:1-10 is a word of God that has been parsed and preached and analyzed and analogized, poeticized, and prayed over. This is it. This is the heart of the Gospel. This is the centrality of Christ. The epicenter of grace. This is law, this is gospel. This is anthropology, this is theology, this is soteriology, all these high concept words trying to teach us what we have on our hands in this text. This is it.
I’ve only got one goal for this sermon. My goal is to amplify the grace of God in your heart. Today, my challenge to you is to open your heart to this text- take it deeply into your heart and let your love for God and his grace grow. This is it. This is the heart of everything that Jesus died to give you.
You have lived your whole life with a thought. It’s a thought that you had as a little kid that made your heart hurt. It’s a thought that as a teenager made you constantly be checking yourself in the mirror. It’s got you always asking yourself- am I likeable enough? It’s the thought that has you curating your online profile- that has you constantly stressing about moving forward career-wise- it’s that heaviness on your heart. The thought that has pushing in your home and family life to be better- because of this thought. The same thought that I think Simon and Garfunkel were singing about when they sang “Hello darkness my old friend.”
You know what the thought is? It's this. I'm failing. I'm failing, and I can't fix it.
In the face of this thought, Paul gives us the comfort that is part of the beating heart of Christianity. It's this comfort- that through faith, God has given you the gift of righteousness. Righteousness!
If you're struggling with this thought, my prayer is that this Word of God gives you what you need to call it out in yourself when your sins start to bother you and eat at you. Recognize that thought and meet it with the truth of God’s Word. By grace through faith alone- you are forgiven. By faith alone- Jesus’ righteousness is your righteousness. Sola fide right? Through faith alone- Jesus’ righteousness is yours.
Have you ever heard this phrase before? "Solus Christus." It's a Latin phrase that speaks to the history of the church all the way back to Jesus' time. It means "only Jesus." Jesus is the only one who could live perfectly, die on the cross, and rise from the grave. Only Jesus.
Over time, the church lost touch with that truth. The way to Jesus began to be taught as "Jesus and....." Jesus and what you do for him, Jesus and your good works, Jesus and some extra penance is necessary to be saved.
In stepped a monk named Martin Luther. He rediscovered in the Bible the truth that we have been saved by grace alone, that we have been given that gift through faith alone, and that this is revealed to us through the Bible alone. The result was a Reformation.
Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone. These are things that keep us centered on Christ ALONE. Join us for the next three weeks as we dig into these three biblical truths as we seek to anchor ourselves straight into Jesus.
You have a family. And every family has baggage. It was always taught to me that “Every family has issues.” And I’ve seen in my life how that’s true. You probably have too. Jesus did too. I don't know if we think about it all that often, but Jesus had a family. And his family had baggage. You can see it in the text we're going to study this Sunday in Matthew 12:46-50.
We all long for an eternal and loving family. A family without baggage. We long for that. We do not have it yet. This Sunday's sermon explores where you might be in relation to family and puts into your hands a family that will ALWAYS be there to love you.
You have a family. And every family has baggage. I want you to take the teaching of this text to heart. You’re going to be able to take it to heart if you take it personally. Take it deeply personally. This is a deeply healing piece of scripture here. Because Jesus shows us a family that is undying and indestructible. It's here. Underneath Jesus' outstretched arms.
Why doesn't God just give everyone a sign? A bright message in the sky that proves beyond a doubt that he exists. If you're like me, then you've had that thought.
The answer to that question exactly lies in this Sunday's text. You see, the Pharisees wanted to see that sign. They wanted him to show beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the Messiah. But... he already had. In their presence, he had healed people miraculously, driven out demons, taught with authority, and had forgiven sins.
And yet- Jesus gives them, and us, a sign. Not the sign in bright blazing letters across the sky, but the sign of God's Son rising from the dead on the third day.
There's a miracle at the beginning of this Sunday's sermon text in Matthew 12:22-29. Jesus drives a demon out of a man; a demon that was causing the man to be blind and mute. Can you imagine? Blind to every physical input around him, and unable to give any verbal output. It was as if he was trapped in a prison the size of his own body. And Jesus drove out that demon.
We all have inner demons. There are some, however, that are more covert than others. This Sunday's sermon discovers the ways in which the inner demon of pride blinds us and mutes us to real living. More importantly, this Sunday we will see the incredibly healing truth of how great our pride is in Jesus. He is our crown. Jesus is our crown, and our only pride.
The pastor who mentored me was and is a hard worker. He's a guy who will have an email in your inbox at 4am and will respond to your message after 10pm. He works hard, and he taught me how to work hard, too. But there was something that I have always appreciated about him. He made sure that I knew- if you're going to work hard, you're going to need to rest hard. Take a break!
That's a biblical teaching. Did you know that? It's called the third commandment! Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. Take a break. Rest in Jesus.
This week we begin a new sermon series called "SCHOOLED." For the next four weeks we will look at teachings from Jesus in Matthew chapter 12.
Here's the first teaching. While you rest, God goes to work giving you more spiritual rest than could ever imagine possible.
I like to think I was blessed with a fairy tale love story. I met my wife, Charis, standing in the registration line in high school. I followed around with her on campus all registration day, asked her to homecoming, and the rest is history. I think God knew I would need her! We dated for 8 years before we got married, but before my Dad would give me his blessing to even propose to her, he wanted me to read a book- it was called "The Meaning of Marriage" by Tim Keller. I recommend it to anyone who would like to read a Biblical perspective on marriage.
Why that book? Because it tells the story of the true meaning of marriage. Just like our text for this Sunday. Now, I want to give you a couple notes for tomorrow, and a couple ways I'd like you to prepare.
Ephesians 5:22-33. This is a difficult text. I'm not preaching on the chosen text because it makes me happy to do so. I wouldn't even say I'm excited to do it. And that's weird for me. What I am is determined. Why? On the God side, it's because I made an oath to him on my ordination day that I would teach all of God's Word. I am honoring him in doing this. We all do when we preach or receive what he says faithfully. On the congregational, receiving side of this, though, I can add this: often, the most difficult things in life are the very things that are most necessary and saving. This is one of those things.
Why this kind of introductory comment? Read the chosen text from Ephesians. I want you to know what's coming. I'm guessing you'll know what will be difficult immediately. Also, I was hoping you could get a sense of my tone and approach on this. I plan to be honest: to God, about this Word, about our life today, and about the questions that I sense you will bring with you to worship - all of it. It is my prayer that, by the end of it, we'll be wrapped up in the mystery of a God who loves us so.
Have you ever thought about the human heart? You probably have. I didn't do very well in high school biology, but I still remember that the heart carries vessels in it. But have you ever thought about your heart like this? That your heart IS a vessel?
I think we actually use this language a lot. That if we're feeling tired, it's time to "fill ourselves up."
We've got lots of ways of filling ourselves up- filling ourselves with energy again. But how do you fill up your heart- your spirit? Here's how- be filled with the Spirit. Come, be filled with the Spirit.
What words should we use? Words are to pastors what the law is to police officers, and what coding is to programmers. Words are a pastor thing. They’re my craft. Everything I do, I do with words. I don’t use any other tools.
They’re a pastor thing, but they’re not just a pastor thing. Every time that you use words, they matter. Oh man, do words matter. Words can make your day in a second and wreck your month in a moment. Words alone can leave you crying in the dark, and lift you higher than you've ever been. Words have built nations, and words have torn nations to shreds. Words matter.
So, what words should you use? Paul has principles for us to use to guide our words in Ephesians 4:25-5:2.
I’ve got two reasons that we need to sit up and listen to this Sunday's text (Ephesians 4:17-5:2).
Here's the first reason. Paul insists that we listen. He doesn’t do that very often. He insists for the Ephesians. He insists on it as a spiritual authority in their lives, as someone who had been their personal pastor for 3 years. He insists on it.
Second reason to take the teaching of these verses to heart is that this is about your life. It's about your life with God.
There's a call in this text to live this life- the life of God. It's a life like no other. Listen in!
Over the past year I’ve met a lot of people. I’ve entered into relationships with them and I’ve done my best to keep relationships with them, and as I grow to understand people's lives, do you know what I'm seeing? Division. More and more of it. Maybe you've seen it too. Maybe you've felt it yourself. It has been bothering me and making me sick to my stomach to see the ways that divisions are rising and cutting people off from one another.
As I think about this division that I see and that you see, I’ll tell you what. I’ve been praying a lot about this week’s sermon.
You see, what we have on tap this Sunday in Ephesians 4:1-16 is a teaching on unity. How do we do get unity? How do we, as a church, be unified when even the rest of the church and the rest of the world is breaking apart? How do we do this? How do we stop from being what Paul says we can be sometimes- infants tossed back and forth on the wind and the waves of the times? How do we do this? How do we be what Paul calls us to be? This strong church that grows up into Christ where the wind and the waves beat against us and we don’t move because we are so unified. How do we do this? Paul gives us three answers. I'll give you the spoiler. Boil the three answers down and you'll see- it's a call to grow into Christ!
What if there was no Barnabus? If there were no Barnabus, then there would be no Antioch church. And if there was no Antioch church, then there would be no missionary journey to the Gentiles. And if there was no missionary journey to the gentiles, then there would be no mass conversion of the gentiles in the first and second century. And if there was no mass conversion in the first and second centuries then there would be no Christianity for us. That’s just one way that I can pull on the threads of history to show you the absolute centrality of this man named Barnabas.
We could look at it a different way. We could say if there was no Barnabas there would be no Paul, and if there was no Paul there would be no missionary journeys, and if there was no missionary journeys there would be no Romans, or Galatians or the rest of the New Testament. And if there was no rest of the New Testament, there would be no Christianity for you.
I want you to meet Barnabas today. Listen in for this encouragement from God's Word!
Wow is this Sunday's sermon text a timely one! (But isn't every Word from God?!?) This Sunday, we take up one of Scripture's great teachings on reconciliation. Are you ready for that?
Here's the background. What we find in Ephesians 2 is an incredible example of sin's power to take anything that God gives us- our intelligence, our looks, our success, our social position, even our race- and to weaponize it to despise and hate those without it. The Ephesians were looking down on those without the law. "We're better than you. We have the law!" The law with its commands and regulations became a way for "law-having/keeping Jews" to look down on and be hostile toward Gentiles. It was so bad Paul called the law "a dividing wall of hostility." (Eph. 2:14) Jews and Gentiles needed reconciliation. Walls needed to be broken down.
Here's the good news: God has put all hostility to death on the cross of Jesus. And have you ever noticed this about Christianity? That life begins in death? That when Jesus died, he rose again? That in his death, our life in heaven was assured for us? Listen in!
How do you start a church? That’s one of the big questions that I’ve been wrestling with over the last year- ever since my family and I arrived in Tigard. How do you start a church? That’s the one big question. And there are so many smaller questions that go into answering that big question. Where are we going to worship? How are we going to differentiate ourselves from the other churches in Tigard? What’s our youth ministry going to be like? What’s our worship and music going to sound like? What’s our building going to look like? How do you meet people in a pandemic? How do you start a church?
The Bible has an answer for that big question, and that answer lies in our text for today. Listen in!
Acts 2:36-41
This text is a very famous text. As far as I’m concerned it’s probably the best text in the whole Bible for explaining the differences between Christianity and the religions of the world. Every single other religion on earth is built on the idea of human achievement and working to obtain some kind of salvation. Not Christianity. It’s by grace. It’s God’s doing. It’s God’s work. Can you get excited about that? You can!
There are times where it’s good to mince words. When we want to be as direct, and simple and clear as possible. Like in a moment of intensity when efficiency is the thing most needed. Or in a moment of care when you want to fit everything you feel into those three famous words: “I love you.” Then, there are times that we can’t help but wax eloquent.
You know what that feels like, right? When you come home after landing your dream job and you can’t stop yourself from describing every little detail of that job to anyone who will listen. Or when you come home with your brand new puppy or kitten and suddenly every conversation eventually works its way around to how cute they are. There are times that we can’t help but get long winded!
When you first look at this Sunday's text in Ephesians 1:3-14, your first reaction might be that your eyes cross and a lot of it goes over your head. The apostle Paul, the writer of this book, is kinda known for that. He packs a lot of meaning into all of his words, and he uses a lot of words. There are 202 Greek words in our text for today, and it’s all one sentence. I’ve been having my news producers teaching me how much they can fit into 25 words of text. How much do you think Paul was fitting into this 202 word sentence? Paul was waxing eloquent about something. He’s waxing eloquent in praise.
Listen in! We'll join together in seeing the reality that Paul sees in Jesus! It's a reality worth praising!
Can you think of any differences between the states of Oregon and South Carolina? I think you probably can! One is Southeast America, one is Northwest. One has palm trees, one has pine trees. The list could go on! There are a couple things in common, though. One similarity is that no matter how different the states can be in geography, population, politics, or any other measuring statistic, people face the same struggles. Another similarity is that in both of those states are churches that share the same heart- the heart of peace and hope in Jesus.
This sermon podcast is the recording of a sermon preached by Pastor Paul Bourman at Peace Lutheran Church in Aiken, South Carolina. 7 years ago, they named themselves Peace Lutheran Church based on Romans 5. Only a few months ago, we named our church Hope Lutheran Church based, again, on the words of Romans 5. This wasn't a coincidence! Listen in to hear this heart!
Romans 5:1-8
Why do we sometimes not pray? Why do we sometimes refuse to pray for ourselves? Why is it that sometimes when we do pray we pray prayers that are completely sanitized? Listen in as Job raises his complaint to God powerfully and as he does, learn from him about how to lament and grieve over our pain with God. In so doing, Job shows us how to see our lives through the lens of Jesus. This is a sermon for all of us!
Job 16:7-21
It wasn’t all that long ago that we had to decide what to call our church- what captured the heart of Jesus in a way that people of today could grasp. We came up with a few ideas that we tossed around and tested. You see where we landed. We landed on Hope. And we did it because of this- because the most important result of Jesus’ work for us is one word. It’s confident hope for eternal life with Jesus. It’s real hope that sin and its consequences will never bother us again. It’s hope in bad times. It’s hope in good times. It’s the ultimate, unending, unbreakable sense that everything will finally be way more than just ok. We exist as a church to preach that truth right down into your soul so clearly and so often that we drown out the other preacher in your heart. Even when everything else seems hopeless. Maybe even especially then. So that even there and then when I come up to you and say, “We have hope in Jesus” you get what that means. It’s not a wish for you to feel better, for you to be happier, or less anxious. It’s a statement of confidence in Jesus for this life and for the next. I believed, therefore I spoke: "My hope is in Jesus."
2 Corinthians 4:13-18
This Sunday's sermon marks the beginning of a new series called "Anchored." Today we anchor and rest in Jesus. So many people are feeling spiritually exhausted these days. This sermon encourages you to remember to rest in Jesus. Remember that you have been saved from the grip and slavery of sin. Remember Jesus to Rest in Jesus.
This sermon is based on Deuteronomy 5:12-15.
See God today. Truly see him. See his glory, his holiness, and his perfection. See also his mercy and love. See his son Jesus. You know him. You’ve celebrated his birth at Christmas, you’ve remembered his death, you’ve celebrated his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Now see him as the one who changed your status in the presence of God. Whose life was worthy of standing unashamed in God’s throne room and whose death covers over your multitude of wrongs. See him as the innocent sacrifice who gave himself up to remove your insufficiencies, your shortcomings, your faults, anxieties, and fears. Are you seeing this? This is the heart of God. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty who makes each of us holy, holy holy.
This sermon is based on Isaiah 6:1-8.