“Persistence Pays” is a sermon interpretation of Mark 7:24-37.  The persistence of the Greek woman pays off!  She has a sick kid and she will not give up until she gets help.  Any parent can relate to the determination of getting help for one’s child.  
It is that kind of persistence that is needed in [...]

 
Where is God revealed?  Where does God hide…  the joy of children, nature, the cross of Christ?
One of the first lessons that grows out of this parable is the awareness that our God, the true God, the one God who created the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who raised Jesus [...]

Theme:  God has given everyone a cluster of gifts and talents.  God’s gifts are always generous regardless of the size.
Here in my hand, I have a bare stem from a grapevine; it has three grapes on it.  You know when you see this stem that it is an anomaly.  You know something is wrong with [...]

 Jesus liked to tell stories or parables from real life. Jesus never quoted the religious philosophers of the day nor the leading rabbis from the temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus chose the stuff from everyday life. composed his memorable stories.
Weddings were part of every day life. Weddings were familiar territory. Everybody loved weddings and everybody [...]

Theme:   Just as there is fake jewelry, Jesus says there is “make believe” faith too.
Hypocrite. We all know the word, “hypocrite.” What is a hypocrite? A phony. A two-faced person, pretending to be a friend but is really an enemy in disguise.
A hypocrite is a pretender, pretending to have love for you [...]

You will notice that these doors are essentially useless without the two hinges, one on the top and the other on the bottom of the door.  Without the two hinges, this door just doesn’t work; it isn’t very useful; it doesn’t do what it is supposed to do.  For these doors to operate correctly, they [...]

“Render to the Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” 
It’s still a long time until April 15th and I don’t mean to remind you of that prematurely but did you know that April 15th is not only income tax day, it is also the day the Titanic [...]

Theme:  Finding excuses to avoid fellowship with God.  
First and foremost, the purpose of this text is to be aware that to be a Christian is like being invited to a wedding feast.
People are always making excuses why they do not want to be part of God. People are always making excuses why [...]

Theme:  Paying the rent by living a moral, righteous life.
What did Jesus mean by this parable that he told against the Pharisees?
The renters were the Pharisees who didn’t want to pay the rent and acknowledge that God was the owner of the vineyard and expected a rent payment. The Pharisees [...]

Theme:  Jesus desires a “change of heart” in making a difference in a messed up world.”
We all have had these experiences, where the promises far exceeds the performance, where people say “yes” too easily and then don’t follow through.  Isn’t it aggravating when people say, “Yes, yes, we’ll do it!” and then don’t follow through.  [...]

Jesus’ parables are never about church. Not one parable of Jesus is about church. Not one parable is about candles, canticles or choirs. Not one of his parables are about preaching, pews, or processionals. Jesus’ parables are from everyday life. They are from the market place, the farm, the family. Well, today’s parable is about [...]

Jesus came to teach us the language of love, and the language of love is always the language of forgiveness.
Jesus came to teach us that we are called to forgive seventy times seven, infinitely. Jesus came to teach us to break our cycles of revenge. Jesus came to teach us to forgive [...]

The word, “church,” is a very common word used by the Apostle Paul, but in the four gospels, the word, “church,” occurs in two places.  Here in the Scripture passage for today from Matthew 18, and from a few weeks ago, in Mathew 16.
The Greek word for church is “ecclesia” which means [...]

 Simon Peter had the right answers, the right theological answer, but he didn’t understand. He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” but he did not understand about the way of the cross and what it meant for his life.
Simon Peter had half of the story right. Part of being [...]

I would like to talk about keys.  See in my hand, a key from my key chain. Keys are so important to our everyday lives… as are key chains. Many of us adults have a key chain. In fact, having a key chain is a sign of becoming an adult.
Doesn’t it frustrate you [...]