Sound Words

Who is the real father?  How much did they cost?  Did you just go pick them out?  Have you ever asked parents who have adopted any of these questions or at least thought about asking them? Why do we respond to adoption so awkwardly? Fumbling around not quite knowing what to say or to ask.  Is it the right DNA and gene pool that makes someone a real parent? Listen as pastor David explains the apostle Paul’s battle with teachers hung up on DNA, gene pools, and ethnic identity in Galatians 3:25-4:11. If adopted sons of God cannot really call Him “Abba, Father” then we have no hope but since we can every orphan ought to have hope. 

We live in a generation of professing believers who have embraced a little Pharaoh Theology. God said “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28; 9:1) and “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward . . . Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” (Psalm 127:3, 5). Yet many believers do not celebrate and treat a full quiver as a reward. Far too often children are seen as necessary liability to carry on the family name but something you should not get carried away with.  Even more when children threaten certain comforts, like Pharaoh, many begin to think of God’s blessings as a curse.  Listen as Pastor David exhorts the Christian to reject such an ungodly way of viewing the gift of children.  

You’re in the supermarket and a little girl asks her mom for a sucker.  “No.”  The girl proceeds to entreat her mom with promises of obedience and arguments about the joy of candy.  Finally, she wins the day with a pouty lip and a feeble “please.”  We have no problem spotting manipulation when we see it.  Or do we?  Have you ever offered God more prayers, church attendance, or a moral life, if he would only change your circumstances?   In 1 Samuel 4, we find that God is not an object to be used.  Listen as Pastor David calls us to give up on our own efforts and trust God.

For God so loved the world… Does that statement make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck? Or do you associate John 3:16 with kindergarten Sunday School classes and signs at the Super Bowl? Often we think of this verse as a sentimentalized slogan for Christianity. In this sermon, Pastor David contends that God’s loving offer of salvation to a sinful world is a scandalous declaration from a Holy God. And God can use the same words that pass the lips of kindergarteners to humble grown men. Listen as Pastor David calls us to consider God’s message of hope to a condemned world.

Is the end of the world near?  Can you look at the newspaper headlines and discover when Jesus will return?  In Mark 13:28-36, Jesus warns his disciples not to use wars and earthquakes as barometers for calculating the day of his coming.  Christ tells us to view all upheaval in the world as a sign that he will come to consummate his kingdom and judge the world.  Listen as Pastor David calls us to live our everyday lives for Jesus at the End of the Age.

What drove men to crucify God’s own Son?  What caused the anger, the resentment, and the plotting against God’s King?  You must be thinking of some earth-shattering reason.  No one scowled at Jesus on the cross and accused him of making them feel too comfortable.  But don’t we make Jesus out to be a comfortable savior when we treat him as less than a radical revolutionary?  In Mark 12:1-12, we find that God did not send his Son into the world as one religious option for an improved life.  Instead, Christ stands as God’s final Word of salvation to a lost world.  Listen as Pastor David pleads for us to see Jesus as God’s Savior-King who conquered death on a blood-spattered cross.

Do you manage your sin well? Perhaps you envy what others have, but you keep those feelings out of plain sight. Maybe you struggle with lust, but you never tell crude jokes at work. In Mark 9:43-50, Jesus challenges us to view the fight against sin as a deadly battle, not a harmless flirtation. In fact, our unwillingness to put sin to death is nothing short of prideful rebellion against the Kingdom of Christ. Listen as Pastor David challenges us to offer our lives sacrificially in the service of King Jesus.

What if no one ever spoke to you?  How would that affect the relationships that you have?  Would your marriage and friendships suffer?  We need words to function in relationships.  In this sermon, Pastor David encourages us that the sovereign God of the universe has not remained silent.  In fact, even the judgment of God can be a gracious act.  A God who speaks to his people, whether in discipline or blessing, is a God who cares.  Listen as Pastor David explains how Christ has ended the silence forever.

When you hear someone mention the Kingdom of God, you might think about something powerful, majestic and overwhelming. It must be something huge that arrests the attention of this world. Our first instinct is not to point to a farmer throwing some seed on the ground, going to bed, and getting up morning after morning to see if anything happens. In Mark 4, Pastor David points out that much of our frustration about living lackluster lives comes down to an issue of trust. Listen as Pastor David calls us to trust a Savior who chose to conquer, not in a grand military campaign, but on a cross.

Do you want your next president to be a colossal failure?  Are you hopeful that he will break every one of those shining campaign promises and run this nation into the ground?  No, I didn’t think so.  Whatever you feel about the present candidates, you wish that someone would emerge as a strong and honest leader to serve the interests of this nation.  You want something to change for the better.  In I Samuel 2:11-36, Pastor David explains that God never fails to keep his promises.  No matter how badly the leaders of this world fail, God never quits working out his plan.  Listenas Pastor David calls us to remember that God has given Christ as the ultimate leader and the fulfillment of all the promises in Scripture.