Sermon Video: In the Garden of Eden - Genesis 2:4-17

A look at the Garden of Eden from the perspective of what it would have meant to the ancient Israelites (it owes much to Professor John's Walton's, The Lost World of Adam and Eve), it isn't the same as what most of us were taught.  Adam and Eve are real people, but are they the only people that were alive at the time?  Also, why is the Garden a paradise, what makes it that way, and what does this have to do with human mortality?  The answers offered are not dogmatic, simply an attempt to understand this text as it was originally intended.

Sermon Video: "God is really among you!" 1 Corinthians 14:20-28

While the people of the Church might long for signs and wonders, for flashy manifestations of the presence of God among us, the Apostle Paul instructs the church at Corinth that such things are not what convinces the Lost of their need to accept the Gospel.  Signs might get people's attention (as it did at Pentecost) but it is the preaching/teaching/sharing of the Word of God that illuminates for people their need for repentance.  And while it church services will seem odd or confusing to non church goers who happen to visit, Paul cautions us that our activities cannot afford to appear crazy (for example through people being "slain in the Spirit" or wild predictions about the future or conspiracy theories), lest the Lost be repulsed by us, and not hear the Gospel.  Instead, our church services ought to be thoughtful, organized, and useful.

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Sermon Video: Honoring God through the House of the LORD - Haggai 1

What is the value of the place at which the people of God gather?  We know that the Church is the people of God, not the buildings they meet in or the institutions they create to organize themselves, but does that negate the value (spiritual, primarily, but also emotional) of the worship space of God's people?  The prophet Haggai was sent by God to the Jewish people returned from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem to reassert the need for God's people to rebuild the temple of Solomon that had been destroyed in 586 B.C.  Why did they need to rebuild the temple?  "so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored" (Haggai 1:8).  The place in which God's people meet to worship and fellowship is of immense value.  The returned exiles had neglected for rebuild the temple for 16 years and had thus incurred God's displeasure.  The place where God's people meet doesn't have to be fancy, it doesn't have to be costly, but it does have to function as a meeting place where the presence of God can dwell among his people.  Whether a church meets in a storefront, a simple brick building, or a massive cathedral, they ought to treasure that sacred space, honorably maintain it, and put it to the use intended by God as the Spirit of God dwells among them when they are gathered in his name.

To watch the video, click on the link below: