This sermon was given on July 24th, 2016 as a part of a series through 1&2 Samuel at Glory of Christ Fellowship.  The sermon text was 2 Samuel chapters 11&12.

I was offered to fill in for our preaching pastor for a Sunday when he was on vacation.  The way it worked out, it just “happened” to be the Sunday that would cover the account of David and Bathsheba;)  It was a bit intimidating initially, due to the content and also being such a familiar passage. But, as usual, I was incredibly blessed in my time diving into the text.  The biggest take-away for me was how serious discontentment really is, it doesn’t immediately seem like that serious of a sin, but I think the account of David and Bathsheba helps us to see that discontent is definitely nothing to “snicker”at.  It’s a familiar story but, as with all of God’s Word, we can never “mine” it all – there’s always more to learn and apply, and that was definitely the case for me with this message!

You can download the message here (just right-click and choose “Save link as…”).

This was a Palm Sunday message on March 20th, 2016 at Glory of Christ Fellowship. I had the privilege of preaching on Palm Sunday two years in a row:)  I decided to continue in Luke chapter 19 where I left off on Palm Sunday of 2015. The focus of the previous year’s message was mainly to understand the context and setting of the Triumphal Entry whereas this message had more of a focus of application to us with regard to Christ’s second coming.

You can download the message here (just right-click and choose “Save link as…”).

This was my fourth sermon at Glory of Christ Fellowship on July 26th, 2015.  I was offered to preach and was able to pick a text to preach from.  This topic of the message is on suffering.  Like many, I’ve been through some difficult trials in my life (most significant was losing my wife and unborn son in a car accident), and I have received so much comfort from God through His word, through the His Spirit, and through His Church.  My desire for this message was to be able to encourage others with the encouragement and comfort that I have been so blessed with (2 Cor 1:3,4).  The text I chose was 2 Corinthians 4:7-18;

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

You can download the message here (just right-click and choose “Save link as…”).

This was my third sermon at Glory of Christ Fellowship on March 29th, 2015.  This was a Palm Sunday message that focused on the narrative of Christ’s triumphal entry in the gospel of Luke (Luke 19:28-40).  It was such a blessing to really meditate on text and the context of this high-point in Christ’s ministry on earth. This was the first sermon where I was given a text as opposed to picking one.  I am very blessed to serve with a great preacher that really takes seriously the way you handle the Word of God in developing a sermon and also the indispensable role of prayer throughout the process.  He (Charlie Handren) wrote a book (Preach the Word) on preaching I had the privilege of reading through and interacting with him on to develop a process of starting with a text and developing a message that honors the word and makes prayer a priority.

You can download the message here (just right-click and choose “Save link as…”).