bpchurch Sermons

There's been a lot of talk lately about student loan forgiveness. Most people would be very grateful if a debt they struggled under was suddenly forgiven. What if a friend paid off your mortgage? Would you love that person more than another friend who just picks up the tab at dinner?

In Luke chapter 7, Jesus reminds Simon (and us) that when someone has been forgiven much, that normally love much - it shows. This Sunday we'll talk about ways that we show love and the way we can grow love.

What does it mean to turn the other cheek when you've been given a slap in the face? If someone wrongly would take my outer coat, why should I give my clothes as well? If a robber demands my phone, should I also offer him my smart watch?

Luke 6:20-36 includes some difficult commands, which are hard to understand and which can easily be mis-applied. But Jesus does call us to live very differently from what would normally be expected, and doing so can enable us to uniquely show something of the kindness and mercy of God that people around us need to see. This Sunday we'll consider how we might live out these principles in practical ways.

Peter steps into doing what Jesus says even when it doesn't seem to make sense. In what way do you need to follow the Lord's will instead of your own understanding?

Lesson #2 in our course studying 1 Corinthians, we work through chapters 2-3. Unfotunately the recording dropped out 15 minutes befroe the class ended, so we don't have the end of the discussion on chapter 3

Luke 4:16-37 is a tale of two towns: Nazareth and Capernaum. It is also a tale of two servants: Jesus and you. Jesus said: "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the gospel..." Could you say that? Sure, you and I are not Jesus, but is the Spirit of the Lord upon you? Are you empowered and enabled, even filled with the Spirit to be God's messenger of the gospel to others?

There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and temptation. Temptations are common to humani-ty, and even Jesus was tempted in the same ways we are, just without sinning when tempted. Luke chapter 4 can be a very practical and a very encouraging passage. We will see something more about Jesus, and we also will learn some things about ourselves. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can have victory in temptations, and Jesus shows us how.

After we get past the wonder of the nativity (hopefully we never do), we start to wonder, what was parenting Jesus like? Did he cry? Did they have to change his diaper? Did he say "No!" a lot when he was two? Did they have to correct him, or did he correct them?

We are not told a lot about Jesus' childhood, which makes the one story Luke gives us all the more significant. It does tell us something about Jesus' parents, but it also has much to tell us about parents, and growing up. Let's talk about it on Sunday.