Hoover Church of Christ Sermons

Hoover Church of Christ Sermons

By Hoover Church of ChristReligion & SpiritualityChristianity
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Hoover Church of Christ Sermons episodes

  • What Was Right in Their Eyes
    To be frank, the book of Judges is one of the most discouraging books in the Bible. If you’re caught up with our Bible reading plan, you’ll finish Judges this Saturday, and you’ll probably be relieved in some ways. There’s a lot of evil in this book.
    If you didn’t know how things were going to go, you probably began this book with a bit of hopefulness. After years of waiting, God’s people had finally entered the land of Canaan and possessed it. Joshua had led the people decisively and faithfully. Things were on an upward trajectory.
    Only they weren’t.
    Do you remember back in Deuteronomy when God warned the people about Canaan? He had said that they would need to be very careful when they entered Canaan because the pagan people groups there would “Canaanize” them . . . in other words, Israel would conform their practices and beliefs to those of the idolatrous Canaanite nations.
    What we see in Judges is the exact fulfillment of God’s warning, summarized by the Scripture reading for this sermon: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25).
    What happens when people forget God and do things their own way? What happens when we follow our own wisdom apart from God’s revelation?
    To answer those questions, all you have to do is read Judges. It’s horrible, especially the last three chapters: selfishness, rape, mutilation, civil war, slaughter, more rape, . . . [And maybe, for a closer-to-home example, all you have to do is look around at our world . . .]
    In the sermon Sunday I hope to help us think about the story of Judges and what God wants to teach us in this book. It’s a negative book, but no story is ultimately negative when viewed through a gospel-shaped lens. Thankfully, we can read Judges from a perspective shaped by our commitment to Christ as King. There IS a King in Israel, and He is Jesus Christ, King of all kings.
    30 min
  • The Walls Came Tumbling Down
    After hundreds and hundreds of years and in spite of recent disappointments, the moment has come for God to lead Israel into Canaan, the land that he’d promised generations earlier to Abraham.
    Jericho stood before them, though, fully intent on resisting Israel’s attempts to take the city.
    Will it work? Will Israel succeed, or will they doubt God as their parents had done a few decades earlier?
    This is a story that has fascinated people for thousands of years. It’s been used in countless Vacation Bible Schools and Sunday School classes over the years because of the way that it dramatically illustrates how God works so powerfully when people trust him.
    Tomorrow morning we’ll explore this story and what it teaches us about the power of God, and also about our own faith. We’ll try to dig beneath the surface a bit and discern why God preserved this story for Israel and for us.
    Does God still tear down walls? If so, which ones, and how?
    32 min
  • The Kindness and Severity of God
    Is God kind or severe? Does he act out of love or justice? Is he patient or wrathful?
    Our congregational reading plan had us beginning with Deuteronomy on Thursday, and if we haven’t read the Old Testament in awhile, we’re probably a bit overwhelmed with how God presents himself to the Israelites. In fact, if I may say so, sometimes God seems a little harsh and demanding.
    We’re going to wrestle with this theme Sunday morning, considering how God is portrayed throughout Scripture. Our theme verse will be Romans 11:22 (“the kindness and the severity of God”), but we’ll actually spend most of our time in a couple of chapters near the end of Deuteronomy.
    As you probably know, God can’t easily be put into any of our neat little theological boxes. He’s not an either-or kind of God.
    36 min

About Hoover Church of Christ Sermons

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Our church family here is a loving, close-knit group of Christians trying our best to live for Christ. We’re not perfect, of course, but we’re striving each day to let God’s Word be our guide for everything we do—in everyday life, at work, at school, at church. . . everywhere. Many of us come from different backgrounds, and we work in various fields, but we share a common love for Jesus Christ and His church and look for opportunities to share that love with others.