A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “The Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’   He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’   The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’” (Genesis 3:9-13). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! If you read the theme of today’s message, you might have wondered: Stewardship? What does that have to do with Lent? Or the temptations in the garden or wilderness? Did Pastor decide it’s time for stewardship emphasis? No, this is not part of a special emphasis. As I was reminded at a stewardship conference our circuit sponsored a few years ago...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! There are two subjects that many pastors hesitate to deal with in a sermon—sex and money. Not so with the Apostle Paul. In his first letter, Paul warned the Corinthians: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulter...

This sermon is adapted from a stewardship sermon series written by Reed Lessing, "Parables and Possessions." Click here to listen to this sermon. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?   And when did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me’” (Matthew 25:34-40). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus ...

This sermon is adapted from a stewardship sermon series written by Reed Lessing, "Parables and Possessions." Click here to listen to this sermon. Our text for today is Matthew 25:14-30. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! You had one job . That’s the name of a website featuring people who had one job but didn’t do it right. One showed a sign in a dollar store: “Open 9 days a week.” One shows the refrigerated dairy case stocked full of fruit juice . You had one job. That’s the big idea in today’s parable. And what’s that one job? Know the generosity of Jesus. Know the generosity of Jesus, not just with my head but with my heart. Not just with my mind, but with my emotions. Not just with my mouth but with my bank account. That’s the huge idea in today’s parable that teaches us about money management. Know the generosity of Jesus. Let’s take a look. First, The Financial Model. It’s all a gift. Jesus says, “ For it will be like a man goi...

"The Parable of the Dishonest Steward" by Eugene Burnand Click here to listen to this sermon. [Jesus] also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Ta...