Daniel - No Compromise

Pastor Dan's sermon from 10/26/2008
Scripture Reference: Daniel 1:1-25
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Phillies and 9:15am

Well, I wonder what the Phillie effect will be on the 9:15am service? Especially since as I write this the Rays just tied the score on an errant throw from home to third base. Hopefully our eyes won't be puffy from tears but rather from lack of sleep. God bless you all as we get ready to worship in a few hours!

1:49am update: Looks like the puffy eyes will be from lack of sleep. Just make sure your not listening to a sermon by Reverend Sheets or Pastor Pillow...see you at 9:15am! Go Phils!

No Compromise

This week, I will begin a series on the book of Daniel. Daniel is a book that has caused a lot of controversy over the years. It is a prophetic book with historical narrative. It records some of the greatest stories of the Babylonian exile yet points to the future of the Last Days. The Lord has led me to preach through this book because one of the overarching themes in the prophet's book is that the Kingdom of God will prevail--no matter how dark the world gets.

I think this is a message that we need to hear today. Our world is a very dark place in many respects. The future is uncertain, people are tired of rhetoric, there are wars, famine and epidemics and we need hope. Our hope can only be found in God's Son, Jesus Christ. This is the message of Daniel.

This week, I will be preaching from Daniel 1:2-23. We will take a look at how a few of God's people had the chance to escape the darkness of a defeated Jerusalem. They had the chance to start their lives over in the royal courts of Babylon. All they had to do was make a few small adjustments in their practices and faith and they and their families would be set for the rest of their lives. They just needed a little bit of a compromise.

What we end up seeing is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in the desert. All he had to do was compromise just a bit and he could avoid the Cross--or so that is what Satan would have him believe.

I can't help but think that we too will have a chance to compromise. We have a chance to compromise our world view, our pocket books, our morality and our belief system. Will we bow to the pressures of the world or will we come lay our burdens down at the cross of Christ and show no compromise?

Read Daniel 1:1-23 as you prepare to take this journey with me each Lord's Day.

Evangelical Mythos Part 3 - Clubhouse or LifeHouse?

Pastor Dan's sermon from 10/12/2008
Scripture Reference: 1 Timothy 2:1-10
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What's Our Role?

It's official--the world is really messed up. Russia is resurging, Iran wants another holocaust, America and the free world can't fix their financial woes and so the beat goes on, and on and on. If you watch the TV for too long you might work yourself into a panic. Yet as a supposed Great Depression 2 looms, life continues to move along at pretty much the same pace. People are still going on vacation, improving their homes, buying new cars and the beat goes on and on and on.

The world feels panicked and many are losing hope. What is the role of the church in all of this? We are to be a lifehouse. In order to be a lifehouse we have to lay our own concerns and comforts on the line and extend the life preserving Gospel. In other words, our first concern cannot be our retirement plans, bank accounts or luxuries--our first concern must be in the fact that the world is lost and that they will be looking for hope in dark times. We have an opportunity to be a lifehouse in much the same way that Joseph was a lifehouse in the midst of great famine in Egypt.

I completed a two part series on Evangelical Mythos this past week and I am planning on taking us through 1 Timothy 2:1-10 for at least this week as we take a look at how we can be a lifehouse, how we can rearrange our thinking and how we can be effective witnesses of the lifesaving Gospel that our dark world needs to hear.

Evangelical Mythos Pt. 2 - Bootstrap Faith

Pastor Dan's sermon from 10/5/2008
Scripture Reference: Ephesians 2:1-10
Click here to listen.