JR.'s Sermons

When do we take the Bible literally? Do we have to believe the whole thing is literal truth? We dive into the book of Jonah for an example of how to read the Bible while taking genre into account. How can reading literarily - not literally - help us know God better?

How many of us don't read the Bible because we find it too intimidating? Psalm 119 is a love letter to Scripture - and in its verses we find a Bible that's approachable and transformative. So how do we read the Bible to be changed?

What is the Bible? What does it mean to say the Bible is inspired? Far from being a divinely dictated book or a book of theological but human reflections, the Bible is both: a fully divine and fully human book. What does that mean? And how does the Bible help us know God better?

Reason is an important source of knowing God, but it has its limits. Unfortunately, we too often treat God as a puzzle to solve rather than a mystery in which we can trust. What's the difference between God and a murder mystery dinner? That answer is surprisingly important to our faith!

For over 400 years, Christians have had a difficult relationship with science. Too often, we treat science as an antagonist to faith. But if science is a tool we developed to know the natural world, then science is a pathway to know the one who made our world. How can we have a faith informed by science?

Learning to think like God is no small task. But Paul challenges us to have the same mind as Jesus. So how does Jesus see the world, and how can we learn to think like him?

Christians often treat Reason as an enemy of faith. From science and philosophy to psychology and questioning, we demonize those who use their minds as opponents of faith. But Jesus commands us to love God with all our minds. So what does that look like? How can Reason be a path to a deeper relationship with God?

What good are denominations? Are they just markers of our inability to be one family? Or are they more like siblings in God's family? We explore our denomination, the Church of the Nazarene, and how it helps us know God better.

What does it mean to be a church? For Jesus, it wasn't about buildings and activities, but a people gathered around a single purpose. So how does being the Church help us know God?

For many, tradition can be a dirty word. But to be part of the Church means we're part of a global family that shares our experience of God with each other. How does this global family help us know God better?