Sermons on Luke (Page 3)

Finding the Heart of God

David Clark, minister of Central Christian Church in Beloit, WI was invited to speak at Lincoln Christian University in 2007 during a conference “Leading your church to be a missional community”
David was told to share his story of how the church grew from the hundreds to the thousands. David said that people would normally come to him and asked him about his success. He said that he just broke himself before God. “Brokenness is good because only broken hearts find the heart of God.” “You know what happens when you get a heart well broken and it melts with the heart of God, you get a heart for lost people.” David Clark
David told the story of how he got broken before God, the leadership team and then the whole church and this was the reason why they were being missional in their community.

Jesus The Friend of Sinners

We everything that is going on in our world today, wars, hate, discrimination, etc. It’s evident more and more that our world needs Jesus, his touch, his love and compassion in order for it to eliminate hate and animosity from our midst. Think about it, if we treated each other the Jesus way this world would be better. People who came in contact with Jesus were never the same; their lives were transformed. We need transformation in our lives, but we are seeking in the wrong places.

Help Why Am I not Growing

Very often we wonder why some people grow faster than others; or why there are some who hardly grow in their faith. Scripture tells us why some people mature and others don’t. We have read that story many times; but I think we don’t see ourselves in it when we read it. It’s been around for two thousand years now. Wouldn’t you like to know what keeps people from growing? Why some grow at a faster rate than others? Jesus tells us the reason using a very common illustration. Farming or gardening. You know that a seed will not grow the same way on any soil in which you plant it. The condition of the soil is very important; it will determine the productivity of the seed. So also the condition of your heart will determine your growth.

Jesus Is Alive

It must have been an awful weekend for the apostles and followers of Jesus; their leaders got arrested on Thursday evening and then nailed to a cross on Friday afternoon. This was a horrifying weekend for followers of Jesus. Their hopes and dreams were shattered by a cross. Jesus was the one they thought would restore the kingdom to Israel, their expected messiah. Jesus had told his followers that they would fall away because of him. “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered” (Matt. 26:31; Mk.14:27; Zech.13:7). This is exactly what happened when Jesus was apprehended; his followers abandoned him. Fear and insecurity had gripped them. They chose to hide and they would lock the doors for they were afraid, they would be hunted down for being followers of Jesus. The death of Jesus was a shocker to them; they didn’t expect it nor did they want it. The news of the resurrection was also a shocker for Jesus’s followers. They didn’t expect Jesus to rise from the dead either. If they had expected it, they would have gone home thinking “ok Jesus, see you in three days.” They had forgotten Jesus’s words to them about the resurrection. Every time Jesus spoke of his death, he also emphasized raising up on the third day.

A World Rocking News

On September 11 2001 most of us got up and went about our business, school, jobs, etc. Our president had gone to a school to help promote reading when his meeting with the students got interrupted by a secret service agent who leaned over his shoulders and whispered “A plane just hit the world trade center.” That news rocked the world of many people. Our country hasn’t been the same ever since. Some information, messages or news tend to carry huge implications to our lives. They can really affect our lives. The visit to the Dr. as you wait the test results to find out you have a terminal disease. A shooting at the school where your kids attends. Sudden death of a love one in a car accident. These things are shocking, disturbing to your ears.

A Compassionate Father

A young woman at a Bible study had the toughest time viewing God as a father. Her earthly father was abusive and was never in her life. She didn’t understand a father’s love because she didn’t receive love from her biological dad. I explained to her that God is the ultimate Father; that our earthly fathers would do well to emulate God. God is not like our earthly fathers but our earthly fathers should be more like God. There is a story in the Bible that illustrates to us the kind of Father God is.