Bret Hammond

Thanksgiving is more than just a holiday. It’s the mindset God calls us to have. In fact, he commands it! In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, we’re called to “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God commands us to give thanks!

But how do we do that? How do we obey a command that goes beyond the circumstances we might find ourselves in? I believe God’s call to give thanks calls us to look beyond ourselves and into his purpose for our lives. In viewing it that way, thanksgiving is less about the moment (or the holiday) and more about the way we prepare ourselves for whatever circumstances might come at us.

https://www.brethammond.com/2019/11/a-tank-full-of-thankful/

I have a beautiful needlepoint of the Fruit of the Spirit that was given to me as a gift. It hangs on the wall in my office as a reminder of the wonderful lady who gave it to me and the character I aspire to as a Christian. The front is flawless, but—even though I’ve never seen the back—I know it is a mass of tangled threads and looks nothing at all like the carefully crafted handiwork on the front.

There is something of that reality in my final message on the Stranger Things from the Bible. We easily recognize the beauty of the Christmas season. The lights, colors, music, and temperatures make the approach and celebration of the holiday apparent to us. But a dragon seeking to devour a newborn? This is a tangled, messy image from an upside-down reality that is foreign to us and sounds more fitting for Game of Thrones than A Charlie Brown Christmas.

https://www.brethammond.com/2019/11/the-lady-and-the-dragon/

Being a Jewish Itinerant Exorcist was big money. It was something akin to “Uber for Demons,” or maybe “Demon Dash” instead of “Door Dash.” You see, if you had a demon problem, you would either have to head to the temple in Jerusalem, which was a long trip and a huge hassle; or you could take the problem to the local synagogue, which could be embarrassing. What could be done about a pesky demonic infestation? There’s got to be an easier way!

And so, there were semi-professional exorcists who could be called on to take care of the problem. They knew a few prayers and incantations and would do their best to remove your demon (or the next one’s free). Such were the seven sons of a high priest named Sceva. And as the story in Acts 19 shows, they weren’t very good at their job.

Read more about this message in my blog post here:https://www.brethammond.com/2019/10/the-seven-sons-of-sceva/

My third message from the Stranger Things from the Bible is the bizarre story of the transformation and humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar looks upon the greatness of his nation and basks in his own glory. Maybe it’s the influence of The Wolf Man, but I always imagine this story happening on a moonlit night. Soon, he transforms into a cursed beast and flees from his home.

Read the blog post that accompanies this sermon by clicking here:https://www.brethammond.com/2019/10/stranger-things-from-the-bible-nebuchadnezzars-humiliation/

The second story in our journey through the Stranger Things from the Bible takes us to 2 Kings and the wicked city of Bethel. It’s here that newly appointed prophet, Elisha, is verbally assaulted by youths and responds with a curse. God hears his “prayer” and promptly responds by sending two bears out of the woods to maul them.

Disturbing story? You bet! Stranger thing from the Bible? Of course! But it’s a lot of fun to preach!

This is one of those texts a lot of preachers don't touch. Aside from being a strange story, it's one that needs a lot of care, explanation and research. For a deeper dive on this text, check out my blog article here:

https://www.brethammond.com/2019/10/stranger-things-from-the-bible-elisha-and-the-bears/

Our Bibles are not the clean, happy books we think they are. They’re full of scary stuff. Yes, there’s faith, hope, and love in those pages; but look hard enough and you’ll find witches, ghosts, dragons and things that go bump in the night. The Bible is full of strange things . . . and even stranger things.

In 2016, I spent October, a month we normally look for ghosts and goblins, digging into some often ignored passages. I titled the series Stranger Things from the Bible after the Netflix series that drew us into the Upside Down. There’s much in the Bible that might also seem upside down.

The Stranger Things series, set in the fictional small-town of Hawkins, Indiana. Hawkins doesn’t feel all that far removed from our own small-town in Illinois. I felt the similarities and the callbacks to the heydays of the 1980s would go over well with our crowd. I also hoped that the strangeness of the stories would disarm my hearers and allow the punch of the message to surprise them.

And it helps that I love these weird Bible stories!

These stories might make us uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16), right? The Bible’s stranger things deserve our attention. We can gain much from these stories.

https://www.brethammond.com/2019/10/stranger-things-from-the-bible-saul-and-the-witch-of-en-dor/

I'm sure my count is off, but by my records, I've now preached something north of 1,500 sermons. The vast majority of those were written for the Kansas Christian Church, a church that challenged and encouraged a young man to preach again and again.

I was in junior high when the youth minister recruited three of us to help him preach a sermon one Sunday morning. I read my portion as fast as possible, knowing that the sooner I got done, the better for me and everyone else.

Then, as a freshman in Bible College, I was asked to come home to preach for a Youth Sunday. The night before, I tossed and turned and preached the sermon repeatedly in my head. That Sunday morning, the sermon took all of seven minutes, and I swore I'd never preach again!

Before we get to the messy goodbyes today, I can't help but commend Kansas Christian Church. Serving my home church for over two decades has been an honor, but our bond goes back further than that. We would be hard-pressed to name every soul who put us on this course together.

We could point to lessons learned in VBS fifty years ago, relationships built through youth groups, and families who brought an extra plate so the kid who came to church alone would have a place to sit during potlucks. We would point to those who thanked a nervous young preacher at the door thirty-eight years ago and assured him he did a fine job and they'd listen to him again.

And, from eternity's perspective, we would see the prayers of faithful saints who believed God could do more with a young man's life than he ever thought possible. And I know God continues to answer those kind of prayers.

In this, my final sermon at Kansas Christian Church, we'll pray a prayer we've been praying together for at least twenty-one years. I'm eager to share a message and a prayer with you.

A man once told me I was taking communion wrong. "It has to be one loaf," he said. "If it isn't, you're sinning." I countered by asking him, "What if it's a really big church? How do you make one loaf that serves a thousand in worship?" He explained to me that was why there shouldn't be any big churches. "A church should never be bigger than one loaf can serve," he said confidently.

I realized that's nowhere in the Bible! I also wondered if he had ever seen that episode of I Love Lucy where she bakes her own bread (if you know, you know).

In my years of faith, I've had communion with one loaf and multiple loaves. I've had unleavened bread, homemade bread, crackers, and croutons. I've had grape juice, wine, blackberry juice, and, one difficult Sunday, a glass of water. I've placed cracker crumbs on the tongues of the dying and given them a single drop of juice off the tip of my finger, reminding them of Jesus' presence and the nearness of his promise for them. "His body and His blood. Christ be with you."

I've come to believe there is only one essential element to the Lord's Supper, and it's not found in what's served on the table but who is encountered at the table. Oh, and sometimes there isn't even a table!

This message has been brewing in me for over thirteen years. In this passage, we meet Jesus at the table, and I'll tell you about another table where "a woman of the city" encountered Jesus. I'll also tell you about the long night when I learned a new communion song.

How far away is heaven? There are days when it feels very close, aren't there?

I've often returned to the words of the preacher Arthur John Gossip. He was about my age when his wife suddenly and tragically died. The following Sunday, he was in the pulpit, preaching a sermon he titled, "But When Life Tumbles In, What Then?" Given the freshness of his grief, he spoke words I've only begun to feel with my limited pain and perspective:

When we are young, heaven is a vague and nebulous, and shadowy place. But as our friends gather there, more and more, it gains body and vividness and homeliness. And when our dearest have passed yonder, how real and evident it grows, and near it is, how often we steal yonder.

I confess I didn't preach much about heaven when I was younger; it didn't seem important. But, over the years, as more and more friends have taken up residence in that "happy land, far, far, away," it's become a vital topic, and heaven has felt much closer. Wouldn't it be something if we could "steal yonder" and see what those who have gone on before us see? We would be amazed at how near heaven truly is.

Today at Kansas Christian Church, we'll do our best to "steal yonder" with John as he tours the throne room of God in Revelation 4. We will see both the strange and familiar on the other side of the sea.

I awoke yesterday morning to the news that Jimmy Buffett had died. I've long enjoyed his music, but more than that, I've always been struck by his ability to build community. There is no particular type of Jimmy Buffett fan ("Parrotheads," as they like to be known). Instead, you find people from every stripe of life: doctors, lawyers, truck drivers, motorcycle riders, preachers, and young and old alike!

I certainly can't justify all of Buffett's songs, but I maintain that there is something sacred about community. I can't help but consider the crowd at a Buffett concert and hear something akin to Acts 2, "Are these not Parthians and Medes and Elamites" . . . "and hippies and professionals and grandparents and grandchildren? We hear them all singing 'Cheeseburger in Paradise!'"

Early in Jesus' ministry, we find him already building community. Mark 2:2 tells us that, as he preached in a home in Capernaum, "many gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door." I've seen concert crowds packed in like that! Rather than be dissuaded by such a crowd, four desperate men chose to get creative to find a way to get their friend to Jesus.

Getting people to Jesus still takes some creativity on our part. In this message, we'll hear the story of these friends and how Jesus had a greater blessing in store for them than they could imagine. He still has unimaginable blessings for us!