Sermons

There is one critical element in the life of everybody that follows God. If you are a Christian this ought to be a massive element in your life.  The element is RISK. What’s risk?  One definition might be: Risk ways the chance of losing a valuable certainty against a valuable uncertainty.We live lives of risk.  Whether it is ordering food in the drive-thru or choosing a major in college we live lives of risk.

One of our members, Peder Swanson, guest preaches for us.

In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians Paul starts off by offering words of encouragement in the midst of persecution. He then offers hope in the resurrection of Christ and his second coming. He charges them to stand firm and requests that the Thessalonians pray for him. We pick up in 2 Thess. 3:5 where Paul says, 

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

What does it look like to allow God to direct your heart? Peder hopes that this verse would encourage you and remind you of the love that God has for you and how that love might shape your life.

Are you the kind of person who will be respected in 100 years. Are you making wise choices that will be respected in the future? Or, are you living for short term popularity and applause? 

As we continue our study of Ecclesiastes, Solomon lays out how we are tempted to live life for the here and now, to live life “under the sun.”  Life under the sun is life apart from God. But a life with God is a life beyond the sun.

Life beyond the sun should result in a changed life.

It is a life that is seldom comfortable, seldom popular, and increasingly selfless. Why would we want this life? Because a God who isn’t changing you is a God who hasn’t saved you. Are you living under or beyond the sun?

At least two-thirds of the Bible is about showing us our desperate need for Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament is pointing to that need. Ecclesiastes is no different in that Solomon doesn’t give us much hope of a life lived under the sun without God. As we read into Ecclesiastes 9, verse 7 offers us the hope that we can live with the approval of God in our lives. 

Imagine, in your life, if you could live with a merry heart. Imagine if you could go through life knowing that the one whose approval matters most, your Creator, your God, has stamped your life with the stamp of approval. Would this change how you live your life? How you do things is transformed by how you think and feel about life. 

Pastor Dan offers the challenge to us to:

Live FROM the approval of God the Father and not FOR the approval of man.

Have you ever doubted your faith?  Faith by its nature invites moments of questioning and doubt. Thankfully, the Bible invites these doubts on a consistent basis. And yet, while the Bible invites our doubts the Bible calls for decisions to be made. We have to make a choice. While many things in life are gray, the most important things are not. God wants you, in love, to make a decision on the important things.

The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.  -G.K. Chesterton