by Steve Thomason | Mar 26, 2021 | sermons2021
A lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son. These are three parables that Jesus tells in Luke 15. He told them in response to the criticism he received from the religious leaders. They scorned him for hanging around with tax collectors and sinners. This sermon looks at these stories from the perspective of the older brother. He resented the “lost son” and didn’t thing he deserved to be found. How often do we feel that way about “those people?”
by Steve Thomason | Feb 10, 2021 | sermons2021
Where do we meet Jesus? What happens when we meet Jesus? This sermon uses the story of Jesus calling Simon and the fishermen in Luke 5:1-11 as a way to explore these questions. Jesus often meets us in our ordinary places, and wants to turn them into something extraordinary.
by Steve Thomason | Dec 12, 2020 | sermons2020
It is the second week of Advent. This is a season of waiting as we “Prepare the Way” for the coming Messiah. It is usually a season where we talk about how important it is to slow down. We focus on practices that will help us to not be distracted by all the glitz and...
by Steve Thomason | Nov 17, 2020 | sermons2020
This sermon explores the vision Isaiah had in Isaiah 6:1-8 and the three responses it evoked in him. It also connects Isaiah’s context to our own context in 2020. Isaiah’s vision came in “the year King Uzziah died.” It was one of “those years.” That was the year the Assyrian Empire began its invasion, and things went from bad to worse. We’re not having a great year in 2020 either. See how the new perspective Isaiah gained in this vision can evoke the same three positions in us and bring about the healing we need.
by Steve Thomason | Nov 5, 2020 | sermons2020
How quickly they forget. The children of Israel had just be miraculously rescued from slavery in Egypt. God spoke directly to them from the mountain and entered into a blood covenant. They were to be God’s treasured possession among all nations, God’s holy priesthood. They simply had to keep their end of the covenant.
They didn’t last 40 days before they turned to the status quo and crafted a Golden Calf.
This sermon explores how we, too, are regularly tempted to turn away from the wild claims of God’s love for the whole world and hunker down into our familiar safety zones.
by Steve Thomason | Sep 22, 2020 | sermons2020
Abram began to doubt God’s promise. God took Abram under the night sky and said “count the stars” that’s how many children you will have. Abram’s “Amen” needed reassurance. He said Amen and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
