Sermon Video: Finding a Wife for Isaac - The Faith of Rebekah, Genesis 24:28-61

 

After God's providential choice of Rebekah to be Isaac's future wife is revealed to Abraham's servant through his faithful prayer in the first half of chapter 24, the narrative shifts its focus to the potential bride herself and her brother Laban.  They now need to be convinced to also follow God's leading.

After hearing the whole tale from Abraham's servant, Laban steps aside by embracing God's choice of Rebekah.  But then something happens, a delay is requested, and the pivotal moment rests with Rebekah: Will she choose to go this day to a new land to marry a man she has only heard a report about, or not?

Rebekah chooses to live by faith, puts her trust in the LORD, and thus becomes a part of Abraham's larger covenantal story.

Sermon Video: Finding a Wife for Isaac - the Faith of Eliezer, Genesis 24:1-27

 

The unnamed servant of Genesis 24 (we will assume him to be the same servant as in Genesis 15, Eliezer, for simplicity's sake) plays a key role in the transition of the covenantal promises of God to Abraham to the next generation of Isaac.  It is Eliezer's faith that the LORD chooses to use to guide him to the selection of Rebekah as Isaac's wife.  He steps out in faith by praying for guidance, God delivers it.  

This serves as a powerful reminder to us that God's will is unfolding around us each day, we are called to participate in it by faith.

Sermon Video: The Supporting Cast at Advent: The Shepherds - Luke 2:8-9,15-17

 

On that blessed Christmas morn, as the newborn baby Jesus lay in the manger and Mary and Joseph marvel at what has happened in their lives, the angelic host appears to the shepherds in the surrounding hills and proclaims the birth of the Messiah. The angels get a lot of attention, and rightly so, but what about the shepherds? What were they thinking that night? God chose these ordinary men to be the first witnesses, and the first evangelists who would share the Good News. A reminder to us that God still works through ordinary people like you and me.

Sermon Video: The Supporting Cast at Advent: Anna - Luke 2:36-38

 

After Simeon's bold prophecy about who and what this child will be, Luke follows up with the shorter story of Anna, focused not on her words but her noteworthy life up until this moment. As a prophet, and a widow of over 60 years whose entire life has been spent here at the Temple worshiping for decades, Anna commands respect. She would have been known to the priest, Levites, and Jerusalem residents as a constant presence in this sacred space. So, when she speaks up to also confirm that this is the Lord's Christ, people will listen.

Sermon Video: The Supporting Cast at Advent: Simeon - Luke 2:25-35

 

After the shepherds and the angels had paid their visit on the day of Jesus' birth, Luke offers a look at two individuals led by the Holy Spirit who play an unexpected visit to Jesus when Mary and Joseph bring him for the first time to the Temple in Jerusalem. The first of these two is a "righteous and devout" man named Simeon. To him was given an incredible gift by the Holy Spirit: certainty that the Messiah would arrive in his lifetime. In the end, Simeon was in the right place at the right time to meet the baby Jesus because he had been a willing servant of the Lord, a reminder to us of how much God can use those who humbly seek him.

Sermon Video: The Supporting Cast at Advent: King Herod - Matthew 2:3-8,13-18

 

Often forgotten amidst the joy and celebration of Christmas, King Herod attempting to thwart God's sending of the Messiah from its starting point by murdering the newborn king.  The evil that controlled his heart is a powerful reminder of why humanity need a spiritual solution to our woe, not a political one.

sermon video: The supporting cast at Advent: The Magi - Matthew 2:1-2,9-12

 

We all know about the central characters in the story of Christmas, but what about those "cast" by God in a supporting role?  This 5-part series starts with the Magi, they're familiar enough to us, but what's the heart of their story?

sermon video: Faithfulness in Evil Times - Habakkuk 1:12-2:20

 

What can the righteous do in evil times when justice is hard to find?  Be faithful.  In this world we will always see evil appear to win, good appear to lose, our answer can only be: live by faith.

Sermon Video: Where is God when evil happens? - Habakkuk 1:1-11

 

Living in the midst of a people who had failed to live up to the covenant but instead embraced violence, the prophet Habakkuk asks an age-old question that falls under the theological umbrella called the Problem of Evil: Where is God when evil happens?

God chooses to answer Habakkuk by telling him that he is far from inactive, he is in fact raising up the Babylonians to act as the instrument of his wrath.  

In the end, the full answer to the prophet's question that will one day be revealed with the Advent of the Messiah is that God indeed has a plan to overcome evil, one that all who accept Christ by grace through faith can be a part of.

Sermon Video: All Kinds of Prayers- Ephesians 6:18-23

To close his letter to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul encourages them to bring, "all kinds of prayers and requests" to God.  With that in mind, as followers of Jesus we have a host of things to pray about and for in our conversations with God.  These include those who share the Gospel (i.e. pastors, missionaries, evangelists, apologists) as well as the concerns that are near and dear to our hearts, including our family and ourselves.

In the end, pray and keep on praying.

Sermon Video: The Full Armor of God - Ephesians 6:10-17

Before concluding his letter, the Apostle Paul offers an extended military metaphor about spiritual warfare.  We learn that our enemy is not other human beings, but rather the schemes of the Devil and his minions.  Against such foes we don't need the weapons of man, but the armor gifted to us by God: truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God.

Our call, in this fight, is to stand firm.  Stand where we have been planted by the Lord.

Sermon Video: Serving Wholeheartedly in Tough Situation - Ephesians 6:5-9

 

The last group to be addressed by Paul after wives, husbands, fathers, and children, are slaves and masters.  The message that Paul has for them spells out a principle that is equally relevant in our era's employees and employers: treat the work you are doing as if it was for the Lord.  When we do this, we not only treat other people, whether they are customers or co-workers, as if they are Jesus and worthy of kindness and respect, but we treat the work itself as if it has dignity and purpose even if that would be otherwise difficult for us to recognize. 

God cares about every worker, and God cares about the work that we do.  Our whole lives belong to God, including our careers.

Sermon Video: A Household in Harmony: Parents and Children - Ephesians 6:1-4

Speaking to both children and their parents, the Apostle Paul gives timeless direction that is as applicable to Greco-Roman world of the 1st Century, as it is to our own post-modern Western culture.  (1) Children need to obey their parents, (2) parents need to not exasperate (frustrate) their children.

In this case Paul embraces the time-honored tradition of parental authority because it is the right thing to do.  Human nature requires it, kids need guidance.  However, this isn't a heavy-handed dictatorship that Paul is advocating, the command to fathers (mom isn't exempt) to not make this process difficult for their kids reminds us that all of us have value in God's sight, men and women, adults and children.

Our culture may be very different from that of the Ephesians, but these truths remain timeless.

sermon video: Christ and the Church - Ephesians 5:29-33

In the beautiful conclusion to his analogy between Christ and the Church and husbands and wives, the Apostle Paul emphasizes what we already know from history: Christ loves the Church as much as he loves himself.  In fact, there is no relational love that can surpass the love of Jesus Christ for the Church, not even that of a husband for his wife (or a parent for their child).  God's love for us, in Christ, is perfect in every way.

Our response, then, as we seek to be Christ-like in our discipleship, is to recommit to loving our spouse as we love ourselves.

 

Sermon Video: Husbands, love your wives - Ephesians 5:29-33

In a stunningly powerful analogy, the Apostle Paul tells Christian husbands that they are to love their wives, "just as Christ loved the church."  Since we know that Christ loved the Church perfectly and self-sacrificially, the bar is set higher than we could imagine.

The only way to live up to it (while depending on the power of the Holy Spirit) is to love our wives as we love ourselves.  Indeed, Paul tells us that loving your wife IS loving yourself.

Sermon Video: Submission for Christ - Ephesians 5:21-24

The Apostle Paul lays the foundation for a discussion about specific commands that apply to segments of the Church (wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters) by laying a foundation of mutual submission "out of reverence for Christ."  Given that we must all submit to each other to imitate the servant's heart of Jesus, what then does Paul ask of wives (the focus of these 4 verses)?

How we understand Paul's command that wives submit to their husbands often says more about our cultural setting than that of Paul.  Rather than uplift or tear down an American cultural understanding of gender roles in society (or idolize a rose-colored vision of the 1950's), our key task is to embrace the goal/purpose that Paul's instructions had for the church at Ephesus: peace within households.

What this will look like within any given marriage is something the Holy Spirit can help that husband and wife understand as both seek God-honoring choices.

Sermon Video: Sing and Make Music to the Lord - Ephesians 5:15-20

After warning disciples of Jesus that they need to make "the most of every opportunity" through wise living because the "days are evil," the Apostle Paul transitions naturally to our need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

How then do we embrace our connection to the Spirit of God?  One key way is through worship, particularly worship through music and song.  So, whether you like to sing or not, whether you can carry a tune or not, sing to the Lord!

Sermon Video: Children of Light - Ephesians 5:8-14

Light vs. Dark imagery is very common in the Bible.  In fact, when seeing a vision of God, or meeting an angel, the text typically describes the scene by reference to dazzlingly bright light.  The Apostle Paul utilizes this analogy often, telling us that we were in darkness but now have seen the Light of Christ.  Here in Ephesians, however, Paul goes a step further.  He proclaims that we WERE darkness but now in the Lord we ARE light.  It isn't about the place, but the person.  God's power not only transforms this world, it transforms human beings.

As Children of the Light, we now must embrace goodness, righteousness, and truth.  Additionally, we cannot have anything to do with the deeds of our former darkness, instead we must expose such deeds that the light may continue to overcome evil.

Sermon Video: Not Even a Hint Among Us - Ephesians 5:3-7

After telling us that we need to imitate Jesus by walking "in the way of love," the Apostle Paul now reminds us how incompatible that calling is with continuing to live in sin.  As such, Paul reminds us that "even a hint" of immorality, impurity, or greed is too much for God's people.

Sermon Video: Walk in the Way of Love - Ephesians 5:1-2

 

Imitate God. That's a directive that prompts many questions in response. The Apostle Paul has one particular aspect of God's nature and actions in mind: Love. We are to love others like God loves us. It's that's simple, and that daunting.