Sermon: Cultivating Contentment

“Cultivating Contentment”
(November 15, 2009) Too often, we buy into the idea that something– money, success, stuff, food, can fill the empty feeling inside us. The truth is that we will always have a sense of being incomplete without the deep peace of God, the One for whom we yearn. Perhaps our feeling of discontent [...]

Sermon: Wisdom, Vision, and Finance

“Wisdom, Vision, and Finance”
(November 8, 2009) In this sermon, we take a more practical look at some of the ways to curb our prodigal nature (our wasting and spending). But for any of these practical things to matter, we need to first know what our vision is. Like the prodigal child, when we have no [...]

Sermon: When Dreams Become Nightmares

“When Dreams Become Nightmares”
(November 1, 2009) We think we want to live the “American Dream,” but we see that all too often and far too easily, this dream becomes an unsustainable nightmare. That’s because it is a false promise, that money– the love of it, the protection of its bottom line– is what will make [...]

Sermon: My Ways are not Your Ways

“My Ways are not Your Ways”
(October 18, 2009) Often, we attribute to God human-like attributes: not just flesh and hair and gender, but limited loving, justice, or forgiveness. God reminds us that especially when it comes to provision, new life, and forgiveness (which we might just sum up as grace), God does not fit inside [...]

Sermon: Live Out Loud

“Rethink Church, Reboot Church: Live Out Loud”
(October 11, 2009) We conclude the sermon series examining the practices of the early church in Acts 2:42-47, using their example as a starting point for ways we might not only rethink church but “reboot” it by going back to the beginning. The early church did indeed preach the [...]

Sermon: Every Meal a Celebration

“Rethink Church, Reboot Church Every Meal a Celebration”
(October 4, 2009) We continue the sermon series examining the practices of the early church in Acts 2:42-47, using their example as a starting point for ways we might not only rethink church but “reboot” it by going back to the beginning. This week, we find that [...]

Sermon: Everything In Common

“Rethink Church, Reboot Church: Everything in Common”
(September 20, 2009) We begin a sermon series examining the practices of the early church in Acts 2:42-47, using their example as a starting point for ways we might not only rethink church but “reboot” it by going back to the beginning. We learn in Acts 2 that the [...]

Sermon: Crumbs of Grace

“Crumbs of Grace”
(September 6, 2009) We discover in this passage–one of my favorites!– something wonderful about God’s grace: that it is poured out even and especially on those most broken, most desperate, most in need of blessing. We also discover something true about ourselves and who we are to be as a church: we are [...]

Sermon: Just Do It

“Just Do It”
(August 30, 2009) It often seems that churches are all talk and not enough action, and the author of the letter of James urges the Christians of his time and ours to ‘be doers of the word and not hearers only.’ We must remember not only that we hear the Word– and by [...]

Sermon: Careful what you wish for

“Careful what you wish for”
(August 16, 2009) When presented the opportunity to ask God for any blessing imaginable, King Solomon asked for the wisdom to rule well, demonstrating that he was willing to let God work in him rather than expecting God to work to change the world around him. What we wish for– [...]