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

  • Walking with Abraham: Faith, Not Sight

    Broadly speaking, we look at the world in two ways: by sight and by faith. Looking by sight is viewing the world around us in an unspiritual way–the way most of the world looks at things. So we make decisions based on what makes us most comfortable, what’s the easiest, what will bring the most immediate and greatest pleasures, etc.

    Looking by faith is looking at the world through a spiritual lens. We look beneath the surface to the true essence of things–the way they really are. We look beyond the temporal to the eternal, beyond the mere physical to the spiritual.

    Our text gives a clear example of both: Abraham trusted God, so he was willing to give Lot first choice on which land to inhabit. When you live by faith, you become open to risk . . . you know God controls the future.

    Lot, on the other hand, looked around him and saw what everybody could see: the land to the east was well-watered and prosperous and offered him the greatest chance of living the good life with prosperity and success.

    Which kind of life are we called to live? Which approach offers the greatest hope?

    We’ll consider this story and those questions on Sunday.

    34 min
  • Walking with Abraham: A Wrong Turn South

    It’s a good thing that we don’t always get what we deserve, isn’t it? And it’s a good thing that God’s carrying out his plan doesn’t depend on our doing what we’re supposed to do.

    Here’s a true statement that should bring us joy: God is faithful . . . even when we aren’t.

    In the first part of Genesis 12 God called Abraham and promised to use him to make a huge difference in the world, with the culminating promise that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed. After receiving this promise Abraham’s very first action was to leave the land God had promised him and travel down to Egypt where he promptly brought plagues on the people there. Instead of bringing blessings, he brought plagues.

    An inauspicious beginning to Abraham’s walk with God, no doubt.

    And yet at the end of the story that we’ll study tomorrow, God has protected and blessed Abraham, in spite of the patriarch’s poor choices.

    One of the takeaways for us is that this is the kind of God we serve: a God who blesses us in spite of ourselves. He’s faithful, even when we aren’t.

    The Bible is a book filled with stories of faithlessness on the part of God’s people, yet God accomplishes his purposes anyway. Ultimately, God faithfully offers himself to bless the world. The sacrifice of Christ is the most beautiful expression of faithfulness that we’ve ever seen.

    God is always faithful to his promises. He’s a God who accomplishes his purposes . . . even when we (like Abraham) don’t act as we should.

    28 min
  • Love Your Enemies
    It’s hard to love people who make us angry, isn’t it? And the people with whom we disagree on very fundamental things, like God, morality, and good and evil.
    And people who have hurt us or our families, or who make life difficult for us at work or school. Or people who talk about us behind our backs.
    The list could go on, I suppose.
    Jesus says to love even them. Especially them.
    Part of what makes us different from those who don’t follow Jesus is that we try to follow his spirit of selfless love, of loving the unlovable . . . the “Father, forgive them” kind of love that he extended to the people who nailed him to the cross.
    Perhaps no command he gave is harder, and maybe no command is more important in our world that needs so desperately to see a Jesus kind of enemy-love.
    28 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.