Category Archives: Sermons

The Giver

Posted on July 31, 2019 by salooper57

The singer Carolyn Arrends was warned by her friend not to make a purchase that seemed to be too good to be true. She ignored him and suffered the consequences. Then she began avoiding him because she didn’t want him to know what she’d done. She started thinking of him as someone who was against her, not for her.

The same thing happens between us and God. Our idea of him gets distorted. We start to see him as against us, not for us; as a taker, not a giver.

But God is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31-39). He is not just a giver, he is The Giver.
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The God Who Feeds the Ravens

Posted on July 16, 2019 by salooper57

Hypocrisy and greed are responses to a real problem: fear. Hypocrisy is the pathological response of a malfunctioning soul brought on by the fear of what people think of us. Greed is the response of the soul to the fear of not having enough. Hypocrisy and greed are ways of self-medicating. They alleviate the fear problem … for a while.
But hypocrisy and greed are only temporary fixes; they are stop-gap measures. And, unfortunately, the temporary fix makes the long-term solution less likely. Continue reading →

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PARTY-PLANNER: The Joyous God

Posted on July 9, 2019 by salooper57

God is not only a planner; he is a party planner. He is the party planner. He loves a good party. Continue reading →

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The Family Business: Doing the Work of God

Posted on July 2, 2019 by salooper57

How often we … miss what is happening around us. Because we don’t see it, we think nothing is happening, that God is on break. But Jesus helped us to see that his Father is working all around us, all the time. Continue reading →

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Jesus Reveals God: Father

Posted on June 17, 2019 by salooper57

http://lockwoodchurch.org/media (Listening time: 26:47) My wife Karen became a mom before I became a dad. At least, our awareness of parenthood happened at different times. She became a mom on the day she learned she was carrying a child. I … Continue reading →

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What Jesus Revealed About God: God is Light

Posted on June 13, 2019 by salooper57

http://lockwoodchurch.org/media (Listening time: 25 minutes) The most religious thing I heard when I was a boy – and I heard it often – was from my mother: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” I hardly thought about God at all but, … Continue reading →

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The Lord’s Supper: What’s It All About?

Posted on June 4, 2019 by salooper57

http://lockwoodchurch.or/media (Listening time: 24:27) When the 14th century theologian and Bible scholar John Wickliffe said the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper remains bread and wine even after it has been consecrated, the pope labelled him “the Master of … Continue reading →

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Take Advantage of Second-Chance Opportunties

Posted on May 23, 2019 by salooper57

I wonder what the failure rate of Jesus’s people is? My guess would be 100%. The question is not whether we will fail but what we’ll do after we’ve failed. Because of God’s grace, there is an “after.” Continue reading →

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Key # 2: No Turnovers (listening time: 22:19)

Posted on May 14, 2019 by salooper57

http://lockwoodchurch.org/media Families can allow “turnovers” – losses of opportunities that take away their chance of achieving something for God. In this sermon, we learn five causes for “turnovers”: when we get lazy; when we’re just going through the motions; when … Continue reading →

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Return to Sender (James 5:13-20)

Posted on May 1, 2019 by salooper57

http://lockwoodchurch.org/media In James 5:13-20 we see that the life that is “finished and whole” (James 1:4) is one where God is our center. Whatever’s going on at the periphery of our lives – whether really bad or really good, calm … Continue reading →

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