May 29, 2016: Don't Waste Your Life

Luke Series

Text: Luke 12

You may know John Piper's famous admontion: don't waste your life. That concept is prominent in this Sunday's passage, as our Lord gives a stark word to unbelievers and gentle encouragement to His disciples. We'll draw fresh direction and encoruagement from familiar words; five phrases to be exact.

May 22, 2016: The 'H' Word

Luke Series

Text: Luke 12:1-7

Hypocrisy. It goes hand in hand with legalism, at least by my observation. Evil bedfellows. Both suck the life out of all involved and are certainly not what Jesus had in mind when He ushered in the new covenant. Grace is the antidote, and grace is the foundation of the Gospel. Like the Pharisees, we can drift in our religion away from grace and miss the heart of God. Our passage is a reminder not to do that, as well as a wonderful reminder to reverence God and remember His tender care for us.

May 8, 2016: Restless Spirits and Passive Pursuit

Luke Series

Text: Luke 11:14-26

Undoubtedly this is not your normal Mother's Day passage. It's intriguing and actually has great personal application to our lives and in particular, our children's lives. The restless spirit which has been ejected from a man grabs some of his cronies and returns. This passage serves a strong example to press on in the Lord and fill our minds with godly things and not be idle or passive in following Christ.

May 1, 2016: Religion Gone Wrong

Luke Series

Text: Luke 11:37-54

We're going to bounce around a bit in Luke 11. This here is one of my favorite passages, because it displays a side of Jesus that most people miss. It also directs us to the true nature of religion and the heart of the Gospel. It is a dramatic exchange, but upon careful consideration, it yields a LOT about the human heart and God's grace. One the one hand, the Pharisees and scribes were exposed for their hypocrisy. Yet, the original intent of their "religion" was to safeguard God's laws. Over time it was corrupted by the natural deceit of the human heart: performance based religion.

Religion Gone Wrong

April 17, 2016: Gospel Flow

Luke Series

Text: Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10 introduces a new focus to previous discourses: keeping the law (being good) won't gain you eternal life because it's an impossible feat. In chapter 10, this crushing truth is nestled in between two not-so-new truths: the reality of Judgment Day and the consistent teaching to love others well. We'll tie all this together and focus on the essentials of the Gospel. I'm not going to preach on the law as I mentioned last week, I've switched direction.

Gospel Flow

April 10, 2016: He Stands Alone

Luke Series

Text: Luke 9:28-36

This is the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses (law) and Elijah (prophets) appear with Jesus, glorified. Peter offers the usual discombobulated babble you would expect from him. Soon enough though, the two disappear and only Jesus remains. As great as the law and the prophets stood in the minds of the disciples, they fade away before the power and presence of Jesus Christ. This will lead into a sermon next Sunday on the purpose and role of the law in the life of the believer today.

He Stands Alone

April 3, 2016: Bigger than That

Luke Series

Text: Luke 8:40-56

We've just celebrated Easter, the resurrection. It's easy to loose our focus on the power and hope that the Gospel brings. I know many of our people are walking through tough stuff and I don't want them to become weary in doing good or faint in petitioning God for big things. He's able. When Jairus' 12  year old daughter - his only daughter - was dying, he threw himself at Jesus' feet. After an interruption, someone told Jairus his daughter had died. "Don't bother the teacher any more." How sad. Hope was lost. How many of our people grow weary of doing good in their messy situations? How often do we grow weak in prayer? How often do our people quietly throw in the towel and walk away? God can do anything. I hope to revive our people through this message to not give up and persevere through times, even seemingly hopeless situations.

Bigger than That

March 27, 2016: So What?

Luke Series

Text Luke 7:36-50

A Pharisee invites Jesus over for dinner. When a city woman hears about it she shows up and her brokenness is on full display. She wets His feet with her tears, wipes them with her hair and kisses and anoints them with perfume. Quite the contrast to the self righteous Pharisee.

So What?

March 20, 2016: When Faith Fails

Luke Series

Text: Luke 7:1-23

Next week we'll celebrate a dead man walking. Luke provides three successive demonstrations of the power of God, and the corresponding faith of those involved. The Gentile Centurion would not even have Jesus under his roof to heal his dying servant. When hope had passed, Jesus raised the widow's son from the dead, but she had not requested this of Him. With these and other events captivating crowds, John the Baptist languished in prison and openly questioned his confidence in Jesus. Though an abundance of convincing evidence was right under his nose he could not see it, for he was weak. We'll look at both the Centurion's and John's faith, because b/c there's a little bit of both in each of us. Life has that effect on us. What's important though, is the object of our faith...that's where we draw strength. After all, next Sunday, we celebrate a dead man walking.

When Faith Fails

March 13, 2016: A Jet Tour From Genesis to Revelation

Luke Series

Text: Luke 24:25-27

Well we've asked people to really dig into the Word. One thing that was enormously helpful to me when I was younger was to read a book which painted the big picture of the Bible for me. I gained an understanding of how each book and character fit together. This big thick book became less intimidating. I'll walk us through the narrative, covenants, principles, and timeless truths of God's unfolding drama of redemption.It is my hope that people will be inspired to dig deeper themselves.

A Jet Tour From Genesis to Revelation

March 13, 2016: A Jet Tour From Genesis to Revelation

Luke Series

Text: Luke 24:25-27

Well we've asked people to really dig into the Word. One thing that was enormously helpful to me when I was younger was to read a book which painted the big picture of the Bible for me. I gained an understanding of how each book and character fit together. This big thick book became less intimidating. I'll walk us through the narrative, covenants, principles, and timeless truths of God's unfolding drama of redemption. it is my hope that people will be inspired to dig deeper themselves.

March 6, 2016: Discipleship

Guest Speaker - Mark Whitacre

It's the third month of the year, so time for my third vision piece for DBC. This Sunday we will hear Mark Whitacre direct us to the Word and speak to the importance of personal discipleship. Someone invested in him and changed the trajectory of his entire life. His undercover work with the FBI during the ADM scandal was the inspiration for the major motion picture, "The Informant." The three topics you will hear me talk a lot about this year are:

1. Digging into the Word.

2. Loving people. Loving everyone, well.

3. Personal discipleship opportunities.

Discipleship