Tag: Sermons

The Problem with Pleasure

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This week we begin looking together at some of the places in which we seek meaning for our lives. One of the biggest areas is in pleasure of one kind or another. The allure of pleasure–you pick your pleasure–is obvious. It feels good. Who wouldn’t want that? But, the question we have to face down is this: Does it deliver on its promise? Keep reading as our series, Finding Meaning, continues.

The Problem with Pleasure

There are some things people enjoy that require…training to be able to actually enjoy.  Fine art is one of those.  I haven’t quite developed enough of a taste for it to be able to enjoy it as thoroughly as others do who have.  There are folks who can go to an art museum and have their spirits fed simply by what they see there.  I can’t do that.  I have, however, had the opportunity to develop a taste for classical music.  While I don’t do it all that often—I mostly listen to news, commentary, and preaching—I genuinely enjoy listening to classical music and from multiple different genres (did you know there were multiple genres of classical music?).  There are some pieces that feed my spirit in a way few other things in this world do. 

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We’re for Them

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This past Sunday we took a look at the final piece of our identity as a church. We are a place designed by God to reach out into our community to advance His kingdom. God made us like this because He is for our community. He is for your community too. The church is to be for the world because our God loves the people in it. Keep reading to find out more.

We’re for Them

I’m not totally sure if they still do them nowadays, but a few years ago both Lowe’s and Home Depot had kids build days one Saturday each month.  The projects were usually pretty cheesy, but for the boys they were a lot of fun.  It was fun for us to get to see their excitement.  The setup was pretty much the same at both stores.  There were several makeshift tables composed of upside-down buckets and 8-foot shelf boards.  There were a couple of folks at a check-in table taking names and handing out the build kits.  Then, you spread out at one of the work stations with a pair of safety goggles and got to work.  The kits themselves were generally simple enough and with pretty clear instructions.  All the pieces were pre-cut and all the nail holes were pre-drilled.  You just followed the instructions and let the kids bang away with the little hammers they provided. 

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Connecting Like Jesus

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This week we kicked off a brand new series taking a fresh look at who God has designed us to be as a church. The message is focused on our church, but the ideas apply to every church and every follower of Jesus. Who did God make you to be and how can you become more that person? It starts with connecting with people. Jesus was a master at that. Learn more here about how He did it and how we can join Him in it.

Connecting like Jesus – John 4:1-26

Our culture is a maze of contradictions.  Think about it: We have never been more connected in terms of technology and social media than we are right now and the webs are getting tighter and tighter all the time.  Movies like Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Gene Hackman that envisioned a slightly futuristic reality in which the government can track every single movement we make is now not only completely true in terms of what they can do, it’s actually even more true now than it was then.  Social media and other tech giants are working on algorithms that not only know where you’ve been, but attempt to predict where you’ll go next in order to allow advertisers to even more closely and personally target their efforts. 

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Building on the Right Foundation

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Happy New Year! As we begin this new year, let’s take a few minutes to take stock of our lives and the job we’re doing at building them. Are we building on the kind of foundation that will last and carry us into the future, or are we building on something that’s going to give us trouble down the road? In this message we glean some of the wisdom of Jesus and His brother, James, to give us some guidance on getting this right.

Building on the Right Foundation

When Noah was a baby, he liked to shove balls around the house like any little boy does.  Well, the house we happened to be living in at the time was actually really good for this.  If you went to the little hallway right in the middle of the house and rolled a ball toward the bathroom door, just as it got to the door it would slow down…and start rolling back toward you.  The house came equipped with its own automatic ball return.  It was like living in a bowling alley!  We just had to set him in the floor there with a ball and he could entertain himself.  It was great!  Well…sort of. 

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The Life of a Servant

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What does it mean to serve the Lord?  Have you ever really thought about that?  Followers of Jesus are told we are to serve Him, but we don’t often think about the details.  As we continue our series, The Characters of Christmas, Mary’s story gives us a pretty comprehensive picture.  Check this out to see what the picture of serving the Lord looks like.  

The Life of a Servant

So, last week we looked at the story of Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah that his barren wife would conceive and give birth to a son.  In this, we saw that God’s promises are not fulfilled solely by the boldly miraculous or the faith superheroes, but instead, are made manifest when God moves in the lives of people very much like you and me. I have to think that the story of Zechariah’s encounter with Gabriel in the Temple would have spread pretty quickly. I mean, as far as we know, God had not spoken in a public way to His people in about 400 years at that point. Let’s be honest: We have trouble imagining 400 years period.  Four hundred years is just about how long there have been permanent, successful colonies of Europeans in North America.  Jamestown isn’t that far from here.  You can go up to Williamsburg and see the remnants of that very first settlement in 1607.  It’s a pretty neat museum and recreation. 

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