Sermons And Messages From Pastor Kal

All Saints Sunday is a time to remember those saints who have died and gone before us to be with the Lord. It is an opportunity to thing back to the faithful witness of all who demonstrated their faith by the way they lived. The are living in a middle time and we won't be here long, so we need to start living in God's future in the present with unconditional love and compassion.

174. - "That's Not Fair"

"Taxes" - October 18, 2020

Today's parable is the story of the wedding feast of the King's son. Many are invited, but not everybody accepts the gracious invitation. This is God's invitation to all people. He wants the wedding hall to be full, meaning that He wants all people to celebrate with Him and affirm our allegiance to Him.

"Where's The Fruit?" (audio) - October 4, 2020

"Doing The Work" (audio) - September 27, 2020

"That's Not Fair" (audio) - September 20, 2020

"Scorekeeping" (audio) - September 13, 2020

Matthew 18:15-20 Today's Gospel deals with the difficult topic of church discipline. Because the Christian Church is made up entirely of sinners, it is inevitable that we will at some time rub each other the wrong way. However, there is a Godly way to confront issues with another in order to have reconciliation.

August 30, 2020 - Matthew 16:21-28, "From Cornerstone to Tumbling Block" In the previous verses from last week, Peter makes a great statement of faith, but the verses show that he did not understand that Jesus was a suffering servant Messiah. Peter is like us in wanting the theology of glory, but Jesus give us the theology of the cross.

"Who Am I"? - August 23, 2020 Jesus asked the disciples who folks thought he was and then asked them who they thought he was. Peter makes a great statement of faith saying, "You are the Messiah, the Son of God". There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone. To know Christ is to do as He did.

173 - "Dream On"

"Wind and Waves" - August 9, 2020 Hailed as one of Jesus' most spectacular miracles, Jesus walking on the water is not the most important thing in this story. The ongoing miracle is that Jesus continues to reach down and deliver us as he did Peter when he was sinking. Peter thought he was safe in the boat, but he was actually safest when near Jesus.

"Catering for 5,000" - August 2, 2020 - Matthew 14:13-21 The story of the feeding of 5,000 must have been a favorite in the early church, because it appears in all four Gospels, which is rare. The story shows clearly the character of the disciples, the crowd, Jesus and God the Father. If we surrender what we have the Lord can make a lot out of it.

"Never Give Up" - Romans 8: 26-39 When things are going badly, don't ever give up, because God is still with you in the valleys of life and He is still working to bring something good out of a bad situation.

Matt. 13: 24-30, 36-43 Jesus warns against being too quick to judge people, comparing them to wheat or weeds. Some folks that look like weeds may actually be wheat. We need to let God sort it out and not us.

Matt. 13: 1-9, 18-23 Jesus always made up stories to help people think about things in a new way. The story of the sower of seeds answers the question of why some people grow in faith and some do not and why we need to keep sowing the seed of God's love anyway.

Jesus felt sorry for how burdened people were by their legalistic, nitpicking religious rules. His solution was that if you are going to be yoked to something (and you are), why not let it be with someone you enjoy, who is going to do most of the pulling - like the Lord.

Matt. 11: 1-19, 25-30 (This is an alternate Gospel lesson not listed in the Celebrate inserts) "Bad Company" There are a lot of dirty jobs in this world, but at Jesus time the dirtiest was to be a tax collector. The religious leaders wondered why Jesus hung out with this kind of people, but Jesus made it clear that he came to heal those who were sick, not those who were well. Jesus did not take shape from sinners, but gave shape to them.

Politicians today are always testing the winds to see what middle America will accept, but Jesus was no politician. He had an uncompromising message that was offensive to many people, because it went against the cultural currents of the day. Is there anything offensive and radical about our brand of Christianity today or are we just blending in with our culture?