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

  • God Meant it for Good

    Text: Genesis 50:15-21

    15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (ESV)

    Don’t you love this text? The background, of course, is a long story, but it includes Joseph’s brothers plotting to kill him and then changing their mind and selling him into slavery. The years that followed included many ups and downs for Joseph, but by the time of our text Joseph has risen to an incredibly high position in Egypt — one which God used to save all of Joseph’s extended family. Now, Jacob, the patriarch, has died, and Joseph’s brothers are worried that Joseph will now pay them back for everything they did to him. Joseph’s response is one of the most remarkable in all of scripture: “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” From his vantage point Joseph was able to look back at all the suffering and see how God had used it to save his family and to do so much good.

    This applies to us in so many ways: bad stuff happens in the world, and sometimes it happens to us, and we wonder if God is there and if so, what he’s doing. Joseph sees God’s purpose, and he helps us to see the many ways which God might be using the bad stuff in our world to bring about good. After all, if he can take the most wicked act in all of history — the murder of God on the cross — surely we can trust him with the evil we see in our lives.

    32 min
  • When a Christian Sins Against You
    Text: Matthew 18:15-20
    If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (ESV)
    Everyone’s familiar with the story Jesus tells about the shepherd going into the wilderness to save the sheep who wandered, but what if the sheep doesn’t want to come back? The text above–which we’ll study Sunday–immediately follows the story about the sheep, and I think it’s here so that we can see the biblical tension between grace and discipline. God goes to great lengths to bring his wandering children back to him, but some of them stubbornly resist his pleas. What then? Craig Keener writes: “By holding discipline and grace in their proper tension (with a greater but not imbalanced emphasis on grace), Matthew summons the church to practice tough love.”
    31 min
  • The Gifts of Grace
    We present our bodies as living sacrifices to God (what we studied last Sunday), but what does that mean? Specifically, does it have any meaning within the body, the church, in our relationships with one another?
    Paul explores this in the verses immediately after the text from last Sunday. In order for us to be living sacrifices, Paul encourages us to use the gifts God has given us. Paul mentions several gifts: prophesying, serving, teaching, exhorting, contributing, leading, and extending mercy. Sunday we’re going to encourage our congregation to examine the ways which they’re using their gifts to his glory. God has gifted everyone–how are we using it?
    47 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.