Following The Cloud

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.

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.

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.

This sermon steps through the story of Paul in Philippi in Acts 16:11-40 and demonstrates how the Kingdom of God intersects with the Kingdom of Human Power Structures. What is the Good News in these difficult times?

The Apostle Paul wanted to visit Rome. He probably never imagined that he would have to first sit in jail for two years and then be carried there as a prisoner in order to fulfill this plan. Have you ever had plans disrupted? How do we deal with it when our life gets thrown upside down? Where is God in all of the chaos? This sermon explores those things as we look at Paul's story in Acts 25:1-12.

Saul encounters the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus and is blinded. Ananias encounters the risen Christ and is told to help Saul. Both men learn a new way to see in Acts 9:1-20.

How do you navigate conflict in the church, or in the world? What does love look like in a pandemic? The church in Corinth was riddled with conflict and arrogance, even around the topic of spiritual gifts. The Apostle reminds the church that each of us is one part a larger whole. He shows them the most excellent way....love. This sermon walks through 1 Corinthians 13 and explores what love looks like when the world is arguing over how to reopen in a pandemic?

Peter and John gain a new perspective as they encounter the man begging by the Temple gate in acts 3:1-10.