Sermons from May 2019
Jacob’s Ladder
Jesus Christ meets our most basic human needs. We need companionship (we don’t want to be alone), we crave security (we don’t want to feel vulnerable), and we want a home–somewhere to belong (we don’t want to be rootless). When God comes to Jacob, the patriarch is a fugitive who is alone and vulnerable. He’s been told by his parents to leave home–to leave the land of Canaan–and go about 450 miles to the northeast to find a wife. On…
It Cost Everything
This chapter is an odd and interesting conclusion to the book of Samuel. Chronologically, it almost certainly belongs to an earlier period in David’s life, so the author probably intended for it to be a kind of summary of David’s life. In a similar way to last week’s text (Psalm 51), David shows an attitude of remorse–probably the reason why God blessed him with a kingdom that would survive his death. But the focus here is on God, who does…
Have Mercy On Me, O God
Psalm 51 is one of the most famous of all the Psalms, perhaps because we’re drawn to the emotional rawness and vulnerability that it reflects. According to tradition, David wrote this psalm after Nathan had come to him and convicted him of the sins he had committed against Bathsheba and her husband, but especially against God. We’ll reflect Sunday morning on what this Psalm teaches us about the ugliness of sin and what it does to us. We’ll think about…
How is Our Culture Affecting Us? “That We May Be Like All the Nations”
We’re about to send six high school graduates off as they begin the next phase of life. Their lives will change significantly as they experience the world without being watched as closely by their parents. So I planned this sermon with them in mind. As the sermon developed, though, I became more convicted that it is a message that everyone in our congregation needs to hear. The temptation that affected Israel in Samuel’s day–to allow the spirit of the age…