Sermons on The Big Story (Page 3)

Sermons on The Big Story (Page 3)

The Big Story of the Bible can be divided up into four parts: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.

Art & Beauty | Philippians 4:8

When Monica and I are on vacation we spot a contemporary art museum and I always say, “Hey, we should go check that out!” And then when we do go, I always hate it. I’m like, “What is this?!” So I’m preaching on art and beauty today… Let’s pray. I was sitting in one of my classes in seminary when a student raised his hand. I didn’t know this student very well. He was hipster; he wore a beanie to…

A History of Fire, Wind, and Smoke | Acts 2:1-13

What would you do if all of a sudden I yelled, “Fire!” Would you stop and look around to see what I was talking about? Would you just get up and run out of the building? Would you try to locate the fire-extinguishers? Or maybe you’d grab a pack of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate for s’mores. What would you do if one Sunday you walked into this room and it was full of fire, wind, and smoke? Would you…

Wonder Woman | Proverbs 31:10-31

Do you remember when the movie Wonder Woman came out in 2017? Wonder Woman featured a strong, noble, courageous, sometimes insecure, but ultimately heroic female super hero, the Amazon warrior Diana Prince. When this movie came out it inspired little girls everywhere.  Right after this movie released in June 2017 this little girl was dressing up as Wonder Woman with a huge grin. She didn’t care it wasn’t Halloween or that it was summer. She was Wonder Woman!  This little…

The Wise Choice | Proverbs 9:1-18

Sometimes it all comes down to a single choice. You ever watch that old gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? It finally got cancelled this summer but the concept was pretty simple. The original gameshow host Regis Philbin would ask a contestant trivia questions. The questions were pretty easy at first but they got progressively harder and harder. But that also meant that each question was worth more and more, ranging from $100 to $1,000,000. If you answered all…

Peace That Lasts | Proverbs 3:13-35

Do you sleep well at night? No? Anxious? Worrying over something or someone? We all need peace. We need a peace that lasts. Proverbs connects wisdom with peace, but also something else… the tree of life.

The Certain Gospel: How To Survive The End Of The World | Luke 21:5-38

What’s your worst fear when you’re a child? Quicksand. There’s nothing like quicksand to strike fear in the heart of a child. I can’t wait to tell Elijah about quicksand. This week I came across a wonderful game published in 2001 called The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game. It teaches you how to survive bad things that can happen. So I thought, let’s play a little game today. Let’s see how well you would do surviving some worst-case scenarios. I thought…

The Certain Gospel: Wait… What? God’s Storyline | Luke 5:17-26

When you expect one thing and God does something completely different, remember God is telling a bigger story than you can ever think or imagine. Watch, listen or read this sermon on Luke 5:17-25 by Mark Pender. Click “Save” to download the pdf manuscript. Church Service You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube. Sermon Slides

Pray with your eyes open | Psalm 19

When I sat down to write this sermon, I looked out the window and the urge to write the sermon left me because it was so beautiful outside. The birds were chirping, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and it felt like spring had finally arrived. I got a powerful urge to go outside and spend a few moments enjoying the sun, and the sky, and the birds before writing my sermon, and so I did, and it…

The Certain Gospel: Get Your Go Bag Ready! | Luke 12:35-48

Christians believe that one day Jesus is going to come back. We believe his return is going to be unexpected, surprising, and everyone will see it. Today’s passage explains how to prepare for that day. That got me thinking about other times in life where we prepare for someone’s arrival, but we don’t know when they are coming. And of course that reminded me of our upcoming baby’s arrival. Our care provider has given us a due date of Saturday,…

What We Believe: Heaven | Revelation 21:1-4

When you think of heaven, what do you think about? Our popular conceptions of heaven are usually a bit weird, and a bit boring, and are more influenced by film, television, and culture than the Bible. Did you ever watch the 1969 movie The Littlest Angel? An eight-year old shepherd boy from Biblical times dies and goes to heaven, only to discover, heaven is really boring and serious. Everyone wears robes, which are a light shade of pink, and spend…