Preacher of Habit

Sept. 14, 2019              The First Miracle John 2: 1-11              Last week we began a sermon series on select miracle stories of the Bible, and each week we’re looking at a story of God breaking into a life or situation that seems less than ideal and doing a new thing. And my hope is that these stories will inspire us to embrace a faith that believes God  CAN  do the impossible. Last week we looked the Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones, a story of hopelessness and despair. Today we turn our attention to Jesus’ first public, the story of Jesus turning water into wine.  Would you read with me?  So, confession time: I believe this is the first time I’ve ever preached on this passage. Ten years’ worth of preaching and this is my first go-round. And I think I know why. I’ve always struggled with it. So naturally, I’ve tr...

Give God a Chance Sept. 8, 2019 Ezekiel 37: 1-14 July 20, 1969 was a monumental day for the world. On that day 50 years ago, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. With one small step, the world was instantaneously opened to new possibilities and new frontiers. A decade earlier, when President Kennedy cast his vision of space exploration, there were those who sneered and jeered and said it was impossible. It could never happen. But it did . The unthinkable, the impossible, the inconceivable happened. There was a lot of attention paid to this event this summer, and rightfully so. It was a wonderful achievement for humanity. Some may even call it a miracle, which got me thinking: Whatever happened to miracles? Whatever happened to the type of faith that expected God to show up and do the impossible? So for the next several weeks, we’re going to explore some miracles stories in the Bible, stories that will reintroduce us to the power of God. If you have your Bibles with you… If y...

A People Who Serve Sept. 1, 2019 Scripture: Acts 9:1-15, 1 Corinth. 9: 19-27 Today we’re concluding our series called, “This is Us,” where we’ve been looking at three key words that define the type of church and the type of disciples we believed God has called us to be here at Lakeside. Three weeks ago, we talked about the desire to be a people who know God. God has designed us to be in relationship with him, and we shouldn’t settle for anything less. Last week, we talked about love, and how God has called us primarily to be a people of love . We wrap up today with the word serve . You might remember in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus once said he came not to be served, but to serve. And he invites us to the same way of life. As the “hands and feet” of Jesus, and as people who want to be like Christ, we are called to serve. Would you read with me… A young church planter took his team to a local restaurant, week after week, to meet new people, dream of ministry possibil...

August 25, 2019 This Is Us: A People Who Love  Scripture: Matthew 17: 34-30  Last week we began a sermon series called This Is Us, and during this series we’re exploring three core words that define the type of people God has called us to be at Lakeside. We wrestled last Sunday with the idea of knowing God, setting aside some time to be present with God and to learning how to trust Him. But knowing God is only half the story, because if we know God, our lives should begin to take a new shape, the shape of love. If you have your Bibles… I smiled a few night’s back when our youngest daughter, Carmyn, pulled up beside me and asked if we could read a story. I love those moments. And so I quickly said yes and thought that this would be like any other night- I would do the reading and she would do the listening, because that’s how we’d always done it. But my assumption was wrong. Before I could grab the book, Carmyn turned to a page and began to read…at least that’s ...

Aug. 18, 2019 This is Us: A People Who Know  2 Peter 1: 2-13 Well friends, as we head into our message this morning, I wanted to take a moment to briefly reflect on Pastor Tim’s impact. Just last week, Pastor Tim was standing to read our first Scripture at the 10:30 service, full of the same joy and energy we had come to expect of him. But on Tuesday, God called him home. As I talked with people throughout the day, they all said the same thing about Pastor Tim—he was an encourager, a blesser, someone who lived his life in purposeful and meaningful ways. And most importantly, he lived his life with one goal in mind: to help people know Jesus. When news of Tim’s passing reached our ears, I called the staff into the office and shared that moment with them, and interestingly, Cindy had just started working on Pastor Tim’s review of a book called, “Knowing God.” And Pastor’s Tim’s final sentence pointed us to Philippians 3: 10, which paraphrased, says this: “I want to know...

Message Coming Home: Finding More Than Enough  Scripture: John 6: 1-13 Today we are concluding our “Coming Home” sermon series, where we’ve been asking the question, “What do we find when we come home to life with Jesus?” I hope you’ve been able to pick up on some of the themes that drive my heart, themes like love, life and purpose. And I hope these themes will come to define our season of ministry together. But before we put a bow on this series, we have one more gift to discover: what God gives us is more than enough. I invite you to read with me… I was about 10 years old when I was asked to think about going on my first mission trip.  My parents had been on previous trips, but this time they thought it would be good for the entire family to travel and serve together. Now, I had a profound list of interests as a 10 year old, but suffice to say, helping others wasn’t one of them. I was a backyard kickball star and could outrun anyone in a good game of Captu...