Sermons on Culture (Page 6)
A Day of Justice & Peace | Micah 4
I want you to imagine a single day of perfect justice and peace. What would that be like? All the wars around the world would cease. All the jails and prisons would empty. It would be a boring day on Wall Street. Washington DC would be quiet and Hollywood would be clothed. All the abortion clinics would offer care for pregnant moms without offering abortions. The homeless would be fed and clothed and have a warm bed to sleep in. …
Just Power | Micah 3
When you think of “power” what do you think of? The pink energizer bunny? Your local power station? Powerade? Maybe you think of superheroes and villains each have a power they can wield to either help or hurt humanity. Maybe you think of your boss or the President. Each one has power. What is power? Is power the strongest person in the room? Is power violence? Power can mean a lot of things but when I say power today I’m…
Justice Served | Micah 2
What is the greatest commandment in the Bible? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt 22:37) What is the second greatest commandment? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:39) So the greatest commandments are “love God” and “love others.” What is idolatry? Idolatry is when we break the first and greatest commandment. It’s when we love anything more than God. Our sermon series is God of Justice.…
Why Micah? | Micah 1
Did you know? “When the Library of Congress in Washington DC was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century, prominent religious leaders, after considering notable quotes from all known religious literature, chose Micah 6:8 as the motto for the alcove of religion.” The inscription reads, “What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Chances are that most of us have heard verses from Micah, such as this promise…
Commissioned for the Frontline | Matthew 28:16-20
Chris Lake, Executive Director of the Vere Institute, explains the frontline ministry calling Jesus gave us at the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20. You can watch or listen to the sermon and check out the slides below. You can watch the full service on Facebook, which includes our commissioning of our church members for their frontline ministry, or you can watch the sermon only on YouTube.
A Theology of Work | 1 Corinthians 10:31
This is the second sermon in a series in which I will share some of what I am learning at the GCTS Ockenga Fellows retreats. The program exists to help the church bring about renewal and transformation to our culture. Our first session was on the Great Awakening and Ministry in New England and the second session was on Business & Work. We read two books for this session: Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work by Timothy…
An Immigrant Story | Ephesians 2:11-22
In seminary they taught us to preach a passage like it’s written. So if you’re preaching a narrative like a parable or story of Jesus’ life, you should try to tell a story. And when you preach one of Paul’s letters that tend to be more logical and reasoned, you should make a more logical and reasoned argument. But rules are made to be broken, especially if you think the Lord is leading you in another direction. So today I…
The Certain Gospel: Where Jesus Stands Politically | Luke 20:20-26
Today I’m going to preach one of those sermons that I hope you will talk about on the drive home or at dinner afterwards with your family. Today I’m preaching on politics. I didn’t choose this topic because I thought, “You know what would go well with my son’s baby dedication? Politics!” No, I chose this text a while ago. Now this isn’t the first time I’ve preached on politics, but I think it’s good to have a refresher before…
The Certain Gospel: Pray for Justice | Luke 18:1-8
Does prayer work? When you’re going through something and you ask people to pray for you, does it matter? Does it help? Maybe you’ve seen this meme on Facebook about the uselessness of prayer. “I named my cats ‘thoughts’ and ‘prayers’ because they’re useless.” I actually think that’s pretty funny, but it’s sadly popular because people believe it. Prayer doesn’t work. Maybe some of you were on social media after the recent Parkland Shooting and you saw this meme showing…
The Certain Gospel: Do Not Be Afraid | Luke 12:32-34
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The unit of thought starts at verse 22 and maybe as far back as the…
The Certain Gospel: Jesus Cares | Luke 4:14-30
Jesus cares. Jesus cares about the poor. He cares about those who live on welfare, those below the poverty line, those on Medicaid, those who will never live in Westford unless it’s in low-income housing. He cares about the rural white poor and the inner city black poor. Jesus cares about prisoners. He cares for those behind bars, not just the innocent ones, but the guilty ones too. Jesus cares for felons, for violent offenders, for white-collar criminals, for sex…
The Certain Gospel: A Knock on the Door | Luke 2:1-21
Last year Monica and I traveled to my hometown of Estes Park Colorado for the Holidays. It’s known for being the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. A lot of people visit there in the summer, but only about 10,000 live there year-round. Many who grow up there leave when they graduate high school. Estes doesn’t have corporate jobs. It doesn’t have a great school district. It has lots of elk and lots of tourists, nothing special ever seems to…