Category Archives: Sermons

The Light of the World, John 8:12 (video)

Posted on July 31, 2026 by salooper57

The Christian life was never about God making you more successful or more comfortable or healthier where you are. It is about taking you where you can be what you were made to be. Continue reading →

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Come, Eat, Believe and Live (John 6)

Posted on July 22, 2026 by salooper57

The first people who heard Jesus speak those words didn’t understand them either. Yet what is at stake here is life, a kind of life we don’t automatically possess but that will fulfill us as human beings… Continue reading →

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Jesus: The Bread of Life (1) – John 6

Posted on July 16, 2026 by salooper57

It was a magical, Hogwarts School of Theology kind of teaching, but you can see where the idea came from. The rabbis believed that eating the manna would make people deathless, and in Isaiah, what does God do at the Great Banquet? He takes away death forever. Continue reading →

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Jesus and the Samaritan Woman – John 4 (a Sermon)

Posted on July 7, 2026 by salooper57

Relations between Jews and Samaritans were so bad at the time Jesus met the woman at the well, a Jew would insult another Jew by calling him a “Samaritan.” When some angry men called Jesus a devil-possessed Samaritan, it was the meanest thing they could think of to say. Continue reading →

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Reason to Rejoice: Jesus, Genesis 1, and John 1

Posted on June 17, 2026 by salooper57

While we were talking, some noise and commotion caught our attention, and we looked up to see about 20 Senegalese men pointing at us and shouting the same word over and over. Continue reading →

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The Interactive Story (Luke 5:27-29)

Posted on June 10, 2026 by salooper57

Life is absurd for everyone who refuses to merge his or her story into God’s story. If your storyline is not woven into his story, then all the suffering and loss – and even the happiness and success – are meaningless. Continue reading →

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When Christ Appears (“When” Is the Wrong Question)

Posted on May 27, 2026 by salooper57

I no longer debate such things, but back then, I did. I was armed to the teeth with prooftexts, like some kind of eschatological Rambo, ready to blow holes in your rapture and millennial theories, while you ran for cover. Continue reading →

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The Church Avoids Division (Acts 15)

Posted on May 21, 2026 by salooper57

That disagreement could have divided the church and derailed the faith. But problems, when faced in appropriate ways, can lead to even more success, and the church faced this in an appropriate way. Continue reading →

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The Conversion of St. Paul (Acts 9)

Posted on May 13, 2026 by salooper57

He layers the events of our lives with meaning. He infuses them with potential. He transforms them to bring good, even when we cannot see it, even when we have no idea of what he is about to do. Continue reading →

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Pentecost: What Does It Mean? (Acts 2)

Posted on May 6, 2026 by salooper57

Jesus’s tomb was a womb and hidden within that womb was the life of the world. The earth quaked on that first Easter morning because it was in labor! Continue reading →

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