Category: Sermons

The Picture of Forgiveness

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We are continuing today in our series, The Beauty of Forgiveness. So far along the way we have talked about the fact that we have forgiveness available to us in Jesus and that forgiveness comes naturally to God. Today we are reflecting for a bit on just what it means that forgiveness comes so naturally to God. And we are doing this through the lens of a passage that isn’t one we might normally turn to for help with…well…anything. Yet every word of the Scriptures is useful for making us over in God’s image, including this one. So, let’s dive in and see just what God plans for when given the chance.

The Picture of Forgiveness

Do you remember the Disney movie, Meet the Robinsons? It was one of the few Disney animated films that came out after they started working with Pixar. It’s about a boy named Lewis who gets caught up in a time-traveling adventure to stop a dastardly villain from rewriting history. The villain in the film—at least the human villain; the main villain turns out to be an evil AI program that wants to turn humanity into its slaves— turns out to be Lewis’ roommate from their orphanage, Goob. At the pivotal moment of the story, Lewis stays up all night working on a big science fair project. His late hours keep Goob from getting any sleep the night before a big baseball game. Because of his exhaustion, he falls asleep in the outfield and misses a critical fly ball that would have sealed the win for his team. Missing it made sure they lost, consigning him forever to a life of shame. Rather than moving on, though, Goob just stews in his anger and resentment toward Lewis until they form a deep-seated hatred and bitterness. This basically stunts his emotional and relational development. Years later, he happens upon an opportunity to go back and get revenge, which is basically how the whole story gets set into motion in the first place. To put all that in other words: Goob planned for vengeance.

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Scholar signs parchment reading “PACTUM Anima Mea Felicitas Perpetua” while a darkly dressed man points beside him; “H. HAUST” appears below.

It’s Not What You Think

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Well, given that I’ve posted the previous two parts over the past couple of Fridays, I thought I would complete the set today. We’ve been taking a fresh look at a series on marriage I preached several years ago called Marriage Myths. In each part of the series we unpacked a different myth that our culture often tells us about marriage. Along the way we discovered why the truth is so much better than even the grandest fiction our culture can devise. In this final myth, we’re actually covering ground I covered more recently in the marriage series I preached just a few weeks ago. Marriage isn’t about happiness. Not primarily anyway. Let’s talk about what it’s really about instead, and why that’s better.

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The Source of Forgiveness

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This week we are continuing our teaching series, The Beauty of Forgiveness. Last time we talked about the fact that when we sin, we can go to Jesus to receive forgiveness. This week, with the help of another psalm of David, we are going to explore why exactly that is the case. What is it about Jesus that makes Him the best place to go for forgiveness when we have fallen into sin. The answer has everything to do with who He is. Let’s take a look!

The Source of Forgiveness

In the opening of the second chapter of his international bestseller, The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins offered up a description of God that was intended to be provocative. I wonder some if his position hasn’t softened a bit in the years since given some of the public comments he has made recently—including describing himself as a cultural Christian just last year—but at the time, he gave word to something that a whole lot of folks were feeling. Many still do.

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Bride and groom playfully pull a rope during their wedding ceremony while guests cheer.

Whole and Fair Aren’t the Same

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I’ve got another blast from the past for you today. This one is the next part of the marriage series we pulled back out of the mothballs last week. We live in a culture that highly values equality and fairness. That commitment plays itself out in just about every area of our lives including our marriages. Marriages are supposed to be equal relationships of equal partners, right? Well, it depends on what you mean by equal. In this message we are going to do a deep dive into equality, talk about the kind of equality that does and doesn’t exist in marriage, and set our sights on something entirely higher than that (and far more consistent with the teachings of the apostles) as the goal we should be striving for together. Let’s take a look.

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The Cry for Forgiveness

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This week we are kicking off a brand-new teaching series. For the next few weeks we are going to be looking at forgiveness. We’ll explore this important idea from a variety of different angles including our cry to God for it, where it comes from, how it works, and what it looks like when we have received it. If forgiveness is something you need more of in your life – whether offering it or receiving it – this is series you won’t want to miss. We’ll start today with a look at the natural cry for forgiveness found on our lips when we have sinned in some way and broken a relationship. Guiding us in our journey will be David’s writings in Psalm 51. Let’s dive in.

The Cry for Forgiveness

When I was little I watched a lot of TV. It was mostly cartoons. There aren’t too many cartoons I didn’t watch growing up. That was before they started making adult cartoons, so I wasn’t really in much danger in that regard. I loved cartoons. I still do. Because of this, when I occasionally stepped out of line, one of the pressure points my parents could use as punishment was to take away TV for time. I remember one time when I had lost the privilege of watching TV for a week. I don’t have any idea what I had done, but I’m sure it was something that more than warranted the punishment. 

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