Sermons

When our focus is riveted to external standards we position ourselves toward self-righteousness and distance ourselves from the things that really matter to God.

When do interruptions become opportunities and how can we learn to recognize them? Why is setting aside our own agenda a prerequisite in discerning such teachable moments?

No matter what our status in life we all have a common enemy – death! But are we to salute death and knuckle under to its ghastly verdict? Only when we refuse to believe in Him who conquered this enemy!

What happens when a marginalized woman goes head to head with a high ranking official – both vying for the touch of Jesus in the most desperate of circumstances? What are we to learn from the way Jesus handled this interruption?

So much is wrapped up in a name! Identity – Purpose – value – direction. So much can be learned from Jesus’ encounter with the demon world and a man whose world got turned right side up.

Christians today still struggle to balance a seemingly unresponsive God with the overwhelming storms of life. At the end of the story the disciples were terrified for a very different reason.

Mindlessly marching through the mundane while thinking that God is pleased frequently misses the heart of God. What probing insight did Jesus hope to evoke in his hearers by contrasting healing and killing?

Would this question help us recognized the wrong headed ideas we have about who God is and how he works? What core values is Jesus challenging by asking this question of the Teachers of the Law? How does it challenge our values?