Real Peace. Real People.

The parable of the Sower and the Seed shows us how recklessly God scatters the Word in his world. He is willing to share the Word with anyone and everyone. The outcome of that sharing, however, is not always what we would like it to be. This week, we examine why we can have confidence in the all-powerful Word, even when we don’t see the results in front of our eyes.

Paul was tired and he knew you would be too. When we talk about the struggles of life, often we find ourselves looking outside ourselves: health issues, financial problems or entities of this world trying to lead us into sin. But today, I submit to you that it is even more important to understand the internal struggle better than all of those that happen on the outside. Let’s walk through the sinful struggle we all deal with and the comforting solution that Paul delivers to us and the end of the reading.

God pretty explicitly calls for the Christians priority list to go as follows: 1. God. 2. Everything else. It seems bold, especially when you consider all of the things and people that fall into second place on the list. Your spouse, your kids, your siblings, your friends… everyone. But instead of looking at this as a difficult command from God, perhaps we should see it differently. In this sermon, we explore how loving God (who loved us first) above everyone else causes us to love everyone else even better.

Preaching the Word isn’t easy. That’s not a new thing. Paul tells young pastor Timothy that preaching the Word is sometimes fun and exciting. At other times, it’s difficult. The words get stuck in the back of our throats and it feels like it’s easier to just say nothing. In our sermon, Paul gives us encouragement not to regard ourselves in the way that the world sees us and instead turn to the Word and allow it to speak for itself.

If I told you to describe the Holy Trinity, would you be able to? When we talk about the Trinity, we find our brains being twisted into knots… and for good reason! When we try to describe the indescribable God of the universe, there are going to be some moments when we throw our hands up and say “I don’t get it!” so instead of getting stressed out trying to fit God into our brains, we simply listen to what he says about himself and repeat it. This is how we understand God… we listen to him.

If God was only willing to carry out his work through flawless people, not much would get done. Therefore, God in his perfection chose those things that were imperfect to carry out his work. What incredible grace God displays when he says “I’m willing to use you!” to each and every one of us. In this sermon, we explore how God used Moses, a flawed servant, to carry out some pretty significant plans for his people.

We all know that person in our lives. He or she is that person who doesn’t seem to have an off switch. If you ask them to do something, they will do it to the fullest, wildly exceeding expectations. In so many ways, you could look at this Ascension account as the end of Jesus’ work. He had wrapped up Salvation for all of mankind… that seems like he’s done his fair share of work. Yet, in the Ascension story, we see how he just keeps working. Let’s explore the type of work he is carrying out for you and through you.

If you look around this world, you see a lot of worship. A TON of it, is little more than self-worship. And those forms of worship promise happiness and satisfaction that they just can’t deliver. In our reading for today, see how Paul presents an alternative to a people whose worship lives are a bit of a mess. He gives them something better. He gives them someONE better.

Jesus declares, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” What does this mean for us? What does it mean for our friend down the street who doesn’t know her Savior? In this one verse, Jesus brings a stark warning to humanity while also delivering an invitation that includes the entire world.

There are times in which it feels as if we are “on our own” in this life. Psalm 23 speaks to that feeling. As he writes, you hear the confidence of King David as he speaks truth about life and death that stands the test of time. Jesus is our Good Shepherd and because of that, we have a peace unlike any other.