Jude 1:8-13 I want to propose something to you that will sound pessimistic at first, but if you will stay with me to the end of this sermon, I believe you will leave not only challenged, but hopeful.  So here is what I want to propose to you this morning: There is a fierce battle in our world, nation, state, and city over the souls of men, women, and children everywhere between the forces of good and the forces of The post “Contending for Reality” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jude 1:5-7 There are three stories we need to get into that Jude references, to do that, I will forgo a formal introduction.  What I will say to set up my message today is simply this: There is a very real and present danger that threatens Christians that has existed since Satan enticed Adam and Eve to sin in the Garden.  The same dangers that God’s people faced in the days of Noah are the same dangers Christians faced in The post “The Danger of Forgetting Who God Is” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jude 1:1-4 Can you imagine growing up with Jesus?  When it came to his hometown of Nazareth and his family, Jesus said: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household” (Mark 6:4).  There is good reason to believe Jude, which is short for Judah, who was the half-brother of Jesus because of his relationship to James.  In the gospel of Matthew, we are told that people listened to Jesus The post “Contending for What We Can Never Lose” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jude 1:1-4 First, why a sermon series on Jude and why spend so much time in an epistle that is only one chapter with 25 verses?  For starters, it is because we believe the Bible is the Word of God, and that it is fully inspirited by the Holy Spirit who superintended the personality and language of individuals to reveal His will to mankind in all matters upon which the sixty-six books that make up the Bible touches upon.  Because The post “An Introduction to Jude” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

The post “Our Great God and Father” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Samuel 15:1-35 Have you ever heard of the book or movie titled, The Stepford Wives?  In the movie, Walter and Joanna Eberhart are the newest residents in a suburban neighborhood in Stepford, Connecticut after deciding to relocate their family from New York City with the loss of Joanna’s job as a television producer.  At first, Stepford seems to be the perfect place to reconnect as a family.  However, it becomes apparent to Joanna that the women in Stepford are The post “Faith, Doubt, and the Holiness of God” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Genesis 15:1-16 There is a question I have been asked multiple times throughout the years related to God’s command to destroy certain people groups, the question is typically worded in this way: “If the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament are the same God, then why did he tell the Israelites to kill and destroy whole villages, including children?”  According to the United Nations, the definition of a genocide is the deliberate intent to destroy (in whole The post “Did God Endorse Genocide?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Timothy 2:11-3:13 Truth be told, this is not the first time I have addressed what the Bible says about the role of women in leadership, but it is the first time since I was called by the elders and congregation of Meadowbrooke to serve as your pastor.  To my knowledge, this is the third time in my 19 years serving as a teaching pastor that I addressed the role of women in ministry, and for the most part, what The post “Where are All the Women Pastors?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 8:18-30 Grief.  Why preach on this subject on Mother’s Day of all days?  For starters, women in childbearing age are more prone to depression than men, and according to PsychCentral, are twice as likely to battle depression than men.[1]  There are many factors for this that we do not have the time this morning to address, but besides the genetic, biochemical, and situational dynamics that factor into depression in mothers, mothers tend to find their sense of purpose in The post “How Can Faith Survive a Flood of Grief?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 12:1-8 On March 26th, I preached a sermon titled, “Where are All the Dinosaurs?”  In that sermon, I tried to summarize the first six chapters of Genesis to show you how things went from bad to worse the moment Adam and Eve sinned and rebelled against God in the Garden when they ate the fruit God told them not to eat because of their belief and desire that if they did so, they would be like God (see Gen. The post “Who is the Helper and Why Does it Matter?’ appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Good morning, everyone, glad you are here. Welcome to those watching online. If you are watching, I hope you’ll come worship with us in person, because it’s always better in person. But either way, I’m excited to be speak to you today! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Dan Nelson. My wife Melody and I have been at Meadowbrooke for 12 years. We have 3 daughters, 2 sons-in- law, and 2 grandsons. I was a pastor in The post “Do We Really Need to Talk About Money in Church?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Ephesians 6:10-20 When you think of spiritual warfare, what comes to mind?  Dr. Jerry Rankin once served as a missionary in Indonesia and recalls a time when he was asked by his Muslim Sudanese household helper and friend to visit her home to pray for her daughter who had become demon possessed.  Dr. Rankin and his wife agreed and upon entering the home, found their friend’s daughter tied to a bamboo bed with disheveled hair, torn clothes, and snarling like The post “Spiritual Warfare and the Enemy’s Schemes” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Luke 16:19-31 C.S. Lewis said of the doctrine of hell something I myself also feel: “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason.”[1]  For some, if hell does exist, then it is only reserved for the really bad people.  The post “Did Jesus Believe in Hell?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 What is the cross to you?  Historically it was the most brutal and inhumane form of capital punishment invented by the Persians and perfected by the Romans.  An ancient Jewish historian called crucifixion, “the most wretched of deaths” (War VII, 202ff.) and rightly so, for the victim was hung naked to a cross fastened with nails in both his hands and feet.  This mode of death was a slow, extremely painful suffocation.  The nails not only pierced The post “What if Jesus Never Rose from the Grave?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:39-46 I want to visit two places in Scripture this evening for reasons I believe will be clear once we read them together.  The first passage is most likely an early church hymn that Paul inserted in his letter to the Philippians as an illustration of what humility in its most ultimate and purest form looks like. Some know it as the Carmen Christi or more commonly understood as the “Hymn to Christ as God” which is The post “The Glory of the Garden” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

John 17:1-5; Genesis 1:1-2; & John 1:1-5, 14 On the Day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter delivered a sermon that marks the birth of the Church (see Acts 2:14-36).  The first 300 years of the Church’s existence, She experienced the worst of the Roman Empire as it sought to destroy through its laws and violence, which only served to grow it.  One of the early church fathers who lived in the middle of the worst of those years under the The post “How Can God Be One and Three?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Genesis 1-6 G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a storyteller.”  I want to tell you a story.  The story I want to tell you is one that many of you already know or have seen or read a version of it.  It is a story that is also our story; it is the story of Beginnings, and we find it in the first book of The post “Where are All the Dinosaurs?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Ephesians 5:15-21; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Colossians 3:12-17 The post “What are We Singing and Why?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jeremiah 9:23-24; 2 Timothy 3:16-4:2 To begin, I want to share with you the risk in preaching a sermon series like this.  The risk is that I will say or teach something that you do not agree with or that you do not like because it challenges assumptions you have about the Bible that have never been challenged.  This is part of the reason some of my pastor friends thought it was risky of me to follow through with this The post “The Bible Says What?” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 7:28-29; John 1:1-5, 9-14 I was so tempted to conclude my sermon last week with a poem that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote while in prison one month before his execution, which was ordered by Adolf Hitler for Bonhoeffer’s involvement in a failed assassination attempt on Hitler’s life.  In light of the time we have spent in the Sermon on the Mount, I would like to share Bonhoeffer’s poem with you: Who am I? They often tell meI stepped from my The post “Something Greater – Epilogue” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 7:24-27 What is this final paragraph in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount about?  Is it about two foundations or is it about two types of builders?  Some who have preached on this passage, emphasized the foundations that the builders used to build their houses on.  However, it seems to me that if we are going to consider these verses within the context of the three sets of comparisons that precede it, this final paragraph in our Lord’s sermon appears The post “Two Types of Builders” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 7:21-23 Of all the things that Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, what he says in our passage today is the most frightening.  How can a person who prophesied in Jesus’ name, cast out demons in Jesus’ name, and did many mighty works in Jesus’ name one day stand before the Jesus they called “Lord” only to hear from his lips: “I never knew you; depart from me, you worker of lawlessness?”  How is that possible?  What The post “Two Types of Christians” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 7:15-20 What or who comes to mind when you hear the words “false prophets” or “false teachers”?  Do you think of Jim Jones who founded the People’s Temple, which grew to about 3,000 people.  Jones began as a Pentecostal minister, but over time rejected Christianity as we know it and claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, Vladimir Lenin, and the Buddha.  Jones eventually convinced his congregation to move to what he called Jonestown in Guyana in an effort The post “Two Teachers” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 7:13-14 We now find ourselves in the final section in the Sermon on the Mount.  If there was any question whether or not Jesus’ sermon is for the Christian… today, what Jesus says in conclusion to his sermon is unmistakable.  If the Sermon on the Mount was a series of ethical statements to be lived out in a future kingdom, then there would be no need for Jesus to say what he says in verses 13-27.  There are four The post “Two Roads” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 7:7-12 As you have heard me say repeatedly, the Sermon on the Mount is not something Jesus preached to the world, but to the Christian.  The Sermon on the Mount is also the center of what it looks like to be Jesus’ disciple; our Savior’s sermon is not a set of ethics for the future nor is it a list of unrealistic expectations Jesus had for his followers.  In his little book, What if Jesus Was Serious, Skye Jethani The post “The One Who Will Not Turn Us Away” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 7:1-6 On March 22 last year I took time during two Sundays to answer a series of questions submitted towards the end of my sermon series, Christians Say the Darndest Things.  One of the questions that was asked was the following: “What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘Judge not, that you be not judged’?  Are Christians allowed to judge others?  Are we allowed to speak against immoral behaviors?”  When I received the question, I was so thankful that The post “Masquerading in Holiness” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:25-34 What is anxiety?  Anxiety is the body’s response to fear, tension, or worry.  Symptoms of anxiety include an increased heart rate, higher than normal blood pressure, physical tension, sweating, insomnia, and depression.  The brain is designed to handle certain stressors for a short period of time and will release cortisol and adrenaline as a way to prepare your body to fight or run from the danger.  The body was not made to be in a constant state of The post “Despair and the Mind” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:19-24 I heard someone use the phrase, “Monkey Trap” to describe the method used to capture monkeys, so I did what many of us do when we need to learn something… I went to YouTube and typed “Monkey Trap.”  To be clear, I had heard of the phrase before and understood what it meant, but I never looked for a video that actually showed how it worked.  One of the videos that was listed showed a man put something The post “Treasures of the Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Luke 2:8-20 Story is a part of the DNA of every single human being.  The reason why we love to both tell and hear stories is because we live in one.  Every culture has a story to tell and within every human being living in that particular culture communicates by telling their own story.  Jerome Bruner, the father of cognitive psychology, believes that storytelling is hardwired into our psyches and the chief reason why we learn to speak. Bruner further The post “We Need A Champion” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:13 There have been people in my life who have had a significant influence upon me spiritually that are no longer walking with Jesus.  I can still see their faces and when I think of some of these people, my heart still aches over the sense of loss I feel over their departure from the faith.  My guess is that you may be able to think of those in your life who have walked away from the faith.  Then The post “Lead Us Not into Temptation” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:9-13 If you have a cat or have been around cats, then you are familiar with the care they take in how they walk. They move in a cautious or stealthy way (see sermon video for clip), sometimes with confidence and sometimes with fear. There is a verb in our English language used to describe a person who behaves in an overly cautious way out of a fear of what to do or a fear of taking a stand The post “Forgive Us Our Debts” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:9-13 Of the six petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, the fourth petition is the one that you may be tempted to think least about: “Give us this day our daily bread…”.  Compared to the rest of the world, most Americans do not worry about where their next meal is coming from.  In fact, the top five things Americans worry about are financial instability/crisis, political instability, future pandemics, global warming, and war.[1]  However, few Americans worry about where their next The post “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:9-13 We now find ourselves at the third petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Remember that this petition, like the one that preceded it, serves the first petition to honor the Lord’s name as holy.  When we pray, we pray: “Your kingdom come, for the hallowing of your name.”  In light of his coming kingdom, we consider another important petition that ought to be included in our prayers: “Your The post “Your Will Be Done…” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:9-13 When I began this sermon series, I said that I believe that when Christians find their moral center, then perhaps we will begin to experience the kind of transformative power the Church in Acts experienced in the first century in our day today.  I told you that the Sermon on the Mount is the center that we Christians are called too.  The Sermon on the Mount is a picture of what discipleship really looks like.  There are only The post “Your Kingdom Come…” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Luke 12:13-21 Good morning Meadowbrooke, I’m Dan Nelson and I get to be your guest preacher this morning. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been around Meadowbrooke for almost 11 years, first as an attender, then on staff full time as the executive pastor, then part time, then as an elder. I came off the elder board at the end of September, and now I serve as a member of the welcome team, and I work with The post “What Fills Your Barn” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:9-13 In 1968 Irving West got into a fight at a high school carnival in Westminster, Maryland.  When a police officer seized West, he snapped, “Get your g-damn hands off of me.”  The next day, a judge sentenced West to 30 days in jail along with a fine for disorderly conduct.  What surprised West was not the fine and 30 days in jail for his conduct, but the additional 30-days in jail with another fine tacked onto it for The post “Hallowed be Your Name” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:1-9 I thought about this day a lot over the past four weeks and how I should approach it.  Over the years I found that the best way to serve the people God has called me to serve as their pastor is to show them the God of the Bible.  I am struck by the irony that today is the first day we begin a deep dive into The Lord’s Prayer which is something I planned on doing from The post “Our Father” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:1-18 Our world is hungry, and what I mean by world is people.  The world is hungry for happiness, it is hungry for satisfaction, it is hungry for new experiences, it is hungry for pleasure.  People move from one relationship to another thinking that will satisfy.  They move from one job to another hoping that it will help bring them closer to financial freedom with the thought that it will bring the satisfaction they long for.  People make decisions The post “A Hunger for God” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:43-48 I read a story about C.S. Lewis’ response to criticism he received that a Dr. Normal Pittenger published in a 1958 issue of the Christian Century.  The criticism Pittenger had was that C.S. Lewis did not care much for the Sermon on the Mount.  Lewis published a response to Dr. Pittenger, which I think you may be able to relate as I am able to relate to Lewis’ words: As to “caring for” the Sermon on the Mount, The post “The Divine and The Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:38-42 If there was a passage that rubbed against the grain of our impulses, I think Matthew 5:38-42 is one such passage.  Think about it, what would your first response be to someone who walked up to you and back slapped you?  If you saw Will Smith slap Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards Ceremony, you may have wished that Chris slapped him back.  After the attack on September 11, 2001, Toby Keith released his song, “Courtesy of The post “Justice and the Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:33-37 Think about some of the idioms we use to stress our truthfulness or intention to keep a promise.  When I was child, I used the phrase, “Scout’s Honor” even though I never belonged to the Boy Scouts.  The origin of the phrase is rooted in the high standards once associated with the Boy Scouts; to use the phrase was to indicate your intention of keeping a promise or to tell the truth.  Another idiom used in association with The post “Character and the Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:31-32 I grew up in a broken home, but before I was born, my father vowed to my mother certain things.  He vowed that he would remain committed to her for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, that he would love and cherish her and that death would be the only thing that could separate them.  My father did not keep his vows; he tore my mother apart with ugly and The post “Marriage & the Death of a Covenant” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:31-32 What is the consensus about marriage in America?  Is it still considered sacred?  In some ways, the answer is still “yes.”  It would especially seem sacred by the average American in light of the 2019 Real Weddings Study that revealed the average wedding costs is $33,900 (engagement ring include).  Rest assured those of you who are not yet married, for the average cost of a wedding in Wyoming is about $19,800 (engagement ring not included).  Statistically speaking the The post “Marriage, Divorce, & the Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:27-30 Matthew 5:27-32 is a great example for why expository preaching is something that is needed and good for the Church.  I say this because in all honesty, preaching on anything related to sex, or that addresses divorce, are probably the most uncomfortable subjects for me to preach on.  The only other subject that is as uncomfortable for me to address as a pastor is the subject of money.  I also recognize that sex and divorce have brought so The post “Adultery & the Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:21-26 If there is a scripture passage that is timely and speaks into our experiences today, it is Matthew 5:21-26.  When I started this sermon series back in May, I introduced to you a diagram Jim Belcher used in his book, Cold Civil War.  For Belcher, the center of his diagram is a political ideal where love of neighbor and the value of human dignity are foundational.  What we have seen over the past decade is four different political The post “Murder in the Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:17-20 When I first applied to attend Philadelphia College of the Bible (PCB) in 1993 (now Cairn University), I had to sign an agreement form agreeing that I would abstain from alcohol while a student (which I believe to be a good rule).  Not long before my acceptance to the college, all students had to agree to a list of standards; there were ten, now there are currently seven every student must agree to follow.[1]  Permit me to share The post “Law and Love” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:13-16 Would you agree with me that we are living in a day and age filled with great tension between what we hope is possible versus what we think is impossible?  It seems to me that every age that has preceded us: like Modernity that included the Renaissance (14th Century), the Enlightenment (17th Century), and now Postmodernity, has offered an answer for how society and our world could experience human flourishing and happiness.  Out of Modernity came communism and The post “Salt and Light” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:1-12 How do you know that you are a Christian?  This is a good and healthy question that you may have never asked, that you have been asking, or that you have recently asked.  I assume that some within the hearing of this sermon have asked this question because this sermon series has caused you to ask it.  Some of you may now be confused or even may be questioning as to whether or not you are a Christian.  The post “How Do I Know That I Am a Christian” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:10-12 Robert Sandeman (1718-1771) was a Scottish Pastor who held to the view that only a mental understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus for sinners was enough to save a person’s soul.  In Sandeman’s words, “bare assent to the work of Christ is alone necessary.”  What Sanderman meant by these words is that so long as a person intellectually acknowledges that Jesus died for his/her sins, then that person can know for sure that he/she is forgiven The post “Joy Through the Fire” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:9 I read a statement on a marque in front of a church building in Cheyenne that read: “What the world needs now is love sweet love.”  Although I think I understand the motive and intent of whoever thought to put those words on that church’s marque, love sweet love is not the remedy for a world filled with violence and war.  In a Time Magazine piece titled, “The World’s Biggest Problems are Interconnected.  Here’s How We Can Solve The post “Ambassadors of Peace” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:8 Today, I would like to point out the “elephant” in the room of the Evangelical Church in America.  The elephant in the room that I am thinking of is the metrics that we use to measure success when it comes to the Christian life.  It is not a problem that exclusively belongs to the church in America, for it is very much a part of our culture, but I want to identify what the problem looks like in The post “In Pursuit of Purity” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:7 Have you ever stopped to consider that throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John who present for us a particular view of the life of Jesus, show us a boldness, authority, and fearlessness of our savior until Gethsemane?  Hours before his crucifixion Jesus prayed in the place known as Gethsemane where he experienced great distress for the first time in his life: And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the The post “Generous Mercy” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:6 Can I tell you a story?  As many of you know, I participate in Ride the Rockies last week.  Every day was challenging but not once did I feel that my life was in danger until the last 15 miles of our 388 miles of cycling.  Let me put in context why I felt safe for most of my ride.  Ride the Rockies was very well supported.  There are police who patrolled every route to make sure all The post “A Desire to be Satisfied” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:5 What does it mean to be meek?  Meek is a word we do not hear or use all that often anymore.  Maybe the reason for its little use in the English vocabulary is because it is not something that is highly valued in America.  What we value is strength, boldness, and courage.  We value ingenuity, skill, tenacity, and determination.  These values are not necessarily bad, but meekness is not a character trait one might see in the hero The post “A Posture of Humility” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:4 While in my 20s and attending Bible College, I read a book by Ravi Zacharias titled Deliver Us from Evil.  In his book, Zacharias shared the story of Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.  I have not read Oscar Wilde’s story nor have I seen its screen adaptation; however, Zacharias’ retelling of the story stayed with me since I read it over twenty years ago.  Wilde’s story is of a very handsome man whose The post “A Heavy Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 5:1-3 We have been through a lot over the past three years, haven’t we?  In just a short time, we experienced a Pandemic responsible for the death of millions, racial tensions so divisive that some are afraid to even mention what they believe or feel out of fear of what label they might receive, inflation is on the rise, another national recession appears to be immanent, the threat of a World War III seems more real than ever, and The post “Empty Hands” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Acts 2:42-47 Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is that the Christian lives his/her life in the awareness that he/she is always in the presence of God.  What compels the Christian to turn his/her face towards God is, in the words of J.I. Packer, the “tremendous relief in knowing that God’s love to me is based at every point on the prior knowledge of the worst about me.” The four characteristics of the first The post “The Church We Long to Be” (part 2) appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Acts 2:42-47 What we learn from the Bible and history is that the first century church turned the world upside-down.  Four vital characteristics enabled the church in Acts 2:42-47 to become an unstoppable force resulting in God-shaped transformation in the communities that surround her.  I believe that if you devote yourself to the same four things that the first century Church devoted themselves to, you will experience the kind of vibrancy and life God wants for you and this church The post “The Church We Hope to Be” (part 1) appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Mark 15:42-16:20 I read a quote from R.C. Sproul some time ago that affected me; here is what the quote said: “Unbelievers can tolerate Christ only as long as he is stripped of his real identity.”  If Jesus was simply a moral teacher not unlike Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, or the Dali Lama, then there is nothing really all that offensive about Jesus because we can accept the things that we like about Him and discard what we do not The post “The Resurrection” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

There is no associated manuscript with our Good Friday Sermon. There is associated audio if you would like to listen to our sermon from April 15th. The post “Seven Things Jesus Said from the Cross” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Mark 14:32-52 Some time ago, I read an interesting perspective that I had not heard before on what it must have been like for Jesus to enter Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion.  We call this event, Palm Sunday.  The people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem understood it to be his triumphal entry to finally reign as the promised messianic king who would crush Rome and any other opposition that threatened the Hebrew people.  Here is what I read that The post “The Shadow of the Cross” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Q: 1. What does the Bible say about tattoos, and is it okay for Christians to get them?  A passage in the Bible that some Christians who believe tattoos are immoral to receive will often cite Leviticus 19:28 which states: “You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.”  The context of Leviticus 19:28 is how the Hebrew people were to live distinct lives that honored Yahweh amid a culture The post “Q & A Sunday” Part 2 appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Q: 1. C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity that if you can love at a standard equal to your peers, then you are not being charitable enough. Does scripture support this? Yes.  The definition of charity is this: “Generosity and helpfulness towards the needy or suffering.  Benevolent goodwill toward the love of humanity.”[1]  When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul The post “Q & A Sunday” Part 1 appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 God has gone through great lengths so that you can get to know Him and to understand who He is!  There are two types of ways God has revealed Himself and made it possible for you to know Him; one way is known as “general revelation” and the other way is known as “special revelation.”  General revelation doesn’t give you all the information needed to know God; it is simply enough information provided given to everyone for the The post “Our God is Awesome” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 John 3:1-10 This is the last statement we will be considering in our series.  I do have one final message to wrap this series, “Christians Say the Darndest Things” up, but its purpose will be to appropriately conclude this series in a way I hope will be helpful.  If you have been listening closely to each of the sermons in the series, each message was meant to build on the sermon that preceded it.  “God helps those who help The post “We are All God’s Children” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Peter 1:3-12 Angels are amazing and powerful creatures!  There are different types of angels with different ranks that serve God and the rest of his creation.  Angels are not separate from creation but are a part of it, and when God created them, He created so many that the only number given is “myriads of myriads” (Rev. 5:11).  They are individual persons who are intelligent beings like us, they experience different emotions like us, and they can make their The post “Heaven Gained Another Angel” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Revelation 1-22 There is no manuscript available for this sermon. If you would like to access this sermon, please view it on our website or facebook page, or listen to the audio available here or through our podcast streaming. The post “Behold the Lion, the Lamb, and the King” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Hebrews 5:11-14 I would like to share some statistics with you that may or may not surprise you.  Did you know that in a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 65% of adults in the United States identify as Christian, which is down compared to the 81% identified as Christian in 2001?  To break that number down for you, of the 65% who identified as Christian, 43% identified as Protestant while the majority identified as Catholic.  Here are some more The post “I’m Not Being Fed” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jeremiah 17:3-18 I have heard the phrase, “follow your heart” more times than I am able to count.  The concept of following your heart has been expressed in many different ways.  Another way you can say follow your heart is, “Follow your dreams.”  I think when some people encourage others that they can do whatever they set their mind to is just another way of saying, “Follow your heart.”  Kidadl is a website platform developed for the purpose of providing The post “Just Follow Your Heart” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Timothy 6:3-10, 17-19 In a study published by GoBankingRates on what Americans worry about most in life, it revealed that one in four Americans said money was the thing they thought about most daily; another one in four Americans spent most of their time thinking about work.  The study revealed that this was pretty consistent across the age groups with the exception of young adults (18-24yrs) and seniors (65+).  Young adults worried about their love life slightly more than The post “Money is the Root of All Evil” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Luke 13:1-9 Is it true that bad things happen to good people?  Are you a good person?  According to a recent poll in America, 3 in 4 Americans believe they are fundamentally a good person. 4 in 5 believe humanity is inherently good.  46% believe they are better than everyone else they know. 62% agree that anyone can become a better person. 43% believe they’re doing all they can to improve. 70% of evangelicals agree that people are basically good. The post “Bad Things Happen to Good People” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Job 42:1-6 I have read that the philosopher Aristotle believed that there were two certainties in life: first, the universe is always changing, so that what is today is never the same tomorrow.  Secondly, that everything that happens to you today is turning you into the person you are becoming.  Although Aristotle was a pagan who did not know the God of the Bible we read today, he was able to see that there was purpose and meaning in life.  The post “Everything Happens for a Reason” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

2 Corinthians 11:21b-33; 12:8-10 Are you familiar with the poem: “Footsteps in the Sand”?  There is no real consensus as to who authored the poem nor is there any consensus regarding the date it was written.  Based on the little evidence that is available, it is possible that it was written as early as the 1800’s, but it didn’t receive much attention until after it was formally published in 1978.  It has been used across denominational lines, been included on The post “God Will Never Give You More than You Can Handle.” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 5:6-11 I read a story this week about a Caelie Wilkes who wouldn’t let anyone care for her “succulent” plant.  Succulent plants require a lot of water.  This presents a unique need which only a handful of other plants also represent.  So, what does this have to do with Caelie Wilkes’ succulent plant?  Caelie Wilkes was so determined to maintain what she believed to be a perfect plant that she would not let anyone else water the plant because The post “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Luke 12:22-34 Last year at this time I thought that there was a good chance that the pandemic would be behind us.  Maybe we are entering an endemic?  Who knows what things will be like next Christmas.  Just about everything on TV and what I find on social media reminds me of some of my favorite demotivational posters.  I would like to share four of them with you: What Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 12:32 is his encouragement The post God Gives… His Kingdom appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

John 14:15-31; Acts 2:1-13 The Holy Spirit is the most abused, neglected, and misunderstood person in the Church today.  He is abused as a means to sensationalize charlatans through the manufacturing of miracles for their own personal gain.  The Holy Spirit is neglected in many of our evangelical churches in exchange for programs and projects as the means for church growth and personal transformation because we believe that we are more than capable of accomplishing the mission Jesus gave his The post God Gives… The Holy Spirit appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Hebrews 1:1-5 I want to fill your head with some random facts that I learned this week, and I will leave the fact checking up to you: Some cats are allergic to humans. The apple pie is not really American. The national animal of Scotland is… the Unicorn. The 100 folds in a chef’s hat represent 100 ways to cook an egg. The largest known living organism is an aspen grove in Utah. Facebook has more users (2.89 monthly) than The post God Gives…. The Son appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Genesis 1:1; Psalm 100 Who is God?  There are well over two thousand recognized deities that have been or still are worshiped today.  The quest for that answer is not just an important question, it is the most important question anyone could ever ask.  A. W. Tozer said it well when he wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.  The history of mankind will probably show that no people The post God Gives… Himself appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

James 4:1-3 Good morning saints! Good morning sinners! So – Has anyone here ever been angry? Really? I didn’t think Christians got angry. Remember the TV series The Incredible Hulk? It ran from 1978 until 1982 and starred Bill Bixby as David Banner, and Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk. Most of the time Dr Banner was a nice guy. But when someone got in his face – and it seemed to happen every week – he would utter those famous The post I’m Angry appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Psalm 23 Edward Sheeran is one of the world’s best-selling music artists of our time with more than 150 million records sold worldwide.  He has a total of 43 singles and five albums he has recorded and two of those albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.  As a child, Sheeran sang at a local church choir, learned how to play guitar at eleven, and started writing his own songs while in high school.  The post Visiting Hours appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Psalm 112 Jordan Davis was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on March 30, 1988.  He grew up attending church at an early age where his mom played piano in a Southern Baptist church.  In one interview he said that he grew up attending church at least three times a week, twice on Sundays and once on Wednesday nights.  His EP, released in 2020, includes a song titled “Church in a Chevy”, a song about Jordan’s faith and how God is not The post Buy Dirt appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Psalm 16 Ryan Tedder, the front man and co-founder of OneRepublic, is the genius behind most of the band’s success.  Tedder was raised by extended family that consisted of missionaries and pastors, and it is through his upbringing in the church that his musical roots can be traced; in fact, one of the songs released on a previous album is about his grandfather titled, “Preacher.”  Having learned to play piano at just three years old, his love for music only The post Run appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Psalm 87 Janelle Monáe was born in Kansas City, Kansas on December 1, 1985.  She grew up in the Baptist church where her family also performed as musicians; it was in the church that Monáe learned to sing.  Her mother worked as a janitor and motel maid while her father was a truck driver.  When Monáe was only five, her parents divorced and sometime later, her mother remarried a postal worker.  Monáe has released 3 albums, 20 singles, and 18 The post Turntables appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

The post The Kinsmen Redeemer appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Brokenness in Christ The post Men’s Breakfast Sermon appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Psalm 66 The song “I Need You” was released on January 22, 2021 and has been described in one review as a song that, “brings radical joy to the moment.”  The review, written by Aarya Kaushik for The Harvard Crimson heralds Jon Batiste’s “I Need You” as a song arriving, “In a time of such extreme social isolation, it is a beacon of hope, heralding a brighter future.”  Jon Batiste grew up in a Catholic home surrounded by Jazz and The post I Need You appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Psalm 25 Alecia Beth Moore was born September 8, 1979 and grew up in Doylestown, PA and took on her stage name, Pink, when she was only 14 years old.  Her parents separated when she was 9 years old and she lived with her mother, who she had a terrible relationship with during her teen years.  The day that her father left, Moore wrote a poem that she later released as a song titled Family Portrait when she was 21; The post All I Know So Far appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Psalm 4 Justin Bieber is considered the prince of pop as well as the king of teen pop and is worth an estimated $285 million dollars.  He was discovered after his mother posted some of his songs on YouTube and by the time he was only fifteen years old, he had his first #1 hit with the debut of his song, “One Time.”  Bieber’s three most popular songs of the more than 70 he has recorded include “Baby” (2010), “Despacito” The post Holy appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 12:1-13 We started our sermon series in Daniel right around Valentine’s Day; and by the conclusion of this sermon, I will have preached 21 sermons on a book that has helped me work through my own anxieties concerning all that has happened, is happening, and will happen in my life and the world I live in.  I started preparing for this series on Daniel last August while on vacation in Idaho.  My hope was that when I finished the The post The End will be the Beginning appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 11:36-45 How will the world end?  Who is the antichrist?  When will Jesus come back again?  These are three questions that Christians have been asking for centuries.  There have also been all kinds of predictions for the way the world will end.  Who can forget Y2K and the fear that all computers would shut down once we crossed the threshold of a new century known as the year 2000.  Harold Camping, the president of the Family Radio Network, predicted The post The End is Near-ish (Part 2) appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 11:2-45 People do weird things during pandemics or other national crises; one thing that we do is stockpile.  The top items that people cleared off the shelves were fruit and vegetable seeds, dumbbells, treadmills, yeast, gaming consoles, facemasks, and booze.  Some other items that people confessed to purchasing because of the pandemic that I found to be a bit strange, include: Canned Quail Eggs in Water Anti-aging face masks Roller Skates Scented Candles Toilet Paper A Bidet for the The post The End is Near-ish (Part 1) appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 10:1 – 11:1 What I am about to say is serious, it is real, and it may seem scary to some of you.  From the opening pages of the Bible to its final chapter is a story about a grand and glorious God who rescues and saves lost sinners.  In the first two chapters, it begins with a beautiful creation that includes the creation of man and woman in the image of God; in the final two chapters of The post War in High and Low Places appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jeremiah 17:5-10 The post “The Perfect Cure” appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 9:20-27 One theologian said of Daniel 9:24-27, “The prophetic message Gabriel brought from the throne of God to Daniel is perhaps the most important not only in the Book of Daniel, but in the whole Bible.”[1]  Commentators have said that Daniel 9:24-27 is “…the ‘key’ to prophetic interpretation. Others have called it the ‘backbone’ of prophecy.[2]  Yet, Daniel 9:24-27 is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult passages to deal with in the Bible.  The early church father The post Freedom from the Darkness 2 appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 9:20-27 Have you ever heard of the year of Jubilee?  The year of Jubilee is an important and sacred year that God commanded his people, Israel, to observe every seven cycles of seven, which was 49 years.  Every seven years there was to be a year’s rest for the land of Israel, but every 50th year was to be a year of rest and redemption.  The year of Jubilee required that all prisoners, all captives, all debts be released The post Freedom from the Darkness appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 9:1-19 Why was Daniel in Babylon?  The obvious answer is that God is sovereign, and in his sovereignty raises up kingdoms and brings kingdoms down.  The major theme of the book of Daniel is the sovereign might of a good God who works out his will for his glory and the good of his people.  However, what was it that eventually caused Daniel to be carried off from his homeland to a foreign land?  He spells it out for The post A Plea in the Darkness appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 8:1-27 William Cowper’s masterful poem-turned hymn, God Moves in a Mysterious Way, has been a source of comfort to me over the years, especially during seasons of pain and confusion.  Over the course of four months, our son Nathan was hospitalized with COVID, my mother almost died, and a dear friend of mine suffered critical head injuries recently.  It has been the first three verses in Cowper’s poem that I have thought most about over the past four months: The post Behind a Frowning Providence appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 7 When she was 18 years old, Joni Eareckson Tada went swimming with some friends in the Chesapeake Bay.  Joni was healthy, active, and had what appeared to be her whole life a head of her.  What she did not plan for was on that same day, she would end up a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down.  Joni decided to dive into the Bay but misjudged the shallowness of the water and suffered a fracture between the fourth The post The Kingdom of God is Our Inheritance appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 7:15-18 In Daniel 7, the prophet had a dream given to him by God that Daniel described as terrifying and dreadful, which greatly alarmed him to the degree that his color changed.  Two times in the chapter, Daniel said that the dream alarmed him and filled him with anxiety.  However, there are four references to our victory at the demise of the kingdoms of this earth, the great beast, and the antichrist that served to remind Daniel and all The post The Kingdom of Heaven is Real appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 7:15-28 The post The Triumph of Good Over Evil appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 7:1-14 The post Order Out of Chaos appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 6:16-28 The post The One True God appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 6:1-18 The post A Hunger for God appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 4:10-17 The post Weighed in the Balance and Found Wanting appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 4:10-17 The post The Unfettered God appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 4 This has been a crazy couple of weeks for our family.  The last time I preached was on Easter Sunday, and in my sermon, I talked about one of the many promises of the empty tomb which is the reality that because the tomb is empty, we know that suffering, disease, and death have a shelf life.  I also mentioned that since my mother received back surgery to correct a disk that was pinching one of her nerves The post The Good News of a Sovereign God appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Acts 1:1-11 Good morning! I’m so thankful to have you all here with us this morning. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Justin Kennett and I am an elder here at the church.  I know many of you know this already, but sadly today is my last Sunday at Meadowbrooke because God has called my wife and I back to California where Alyssa has started a wonderful job and God is using me for full-time The post The Great Commission appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 7:13-14 The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is said to have been founded by Abu Musab al Zarqawi in 2004, although it did not go by that name until 2013.  At its height, ISIS was able to take control and hold about a third of Syria and nearly half of Iraq.  The goal of ISIS was to establish Sharīʿah, which is the law of Islam for Muslims.  Because Islam believes Jesus was only a prophet and Mohammad their The post The Day Death Died appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Mark 14:32-52 When we behold Golgotha the day Jesus died, we see evil at its worst.   Jesus, an innocent man, was sentenced to death in the most humiliating and horrific way.  All throughout Jesus’ life, people were trying to kill him.  When he was a toddler, Herod had all the children two years old and younger murdered in Bethlehem to keep Him from growing up.  When one reads the four Gospels in the Bible, we learn of many attempts made The post The Day God Died appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 3 The irony of the third chapter in Daniel is that even though Nebuchadnezzar had a prophetic dream that Daniel was clearly able to interpret without the king ever making know the dream (see Daniel 2), is that instead of worshiping the God who revealed the coming kingdoms, he built a statue to be worshiped instead.  It was clear that the point of the prophetic dream that God gave to king Nebuchadnezzar was that there was only one God The post Faith Before The Fire appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 2:21-35 There is a story about a man named Alexander, whose dream was to see the revered King of his homeland.  On rare occasions the King would parade through different villages.  Early in this man’s childhood, he remembered such an event that he had missed… he was determined to not allow such an opportunity to slip by again. Years passed and the fondness that Alexander had as a young boy for his king only grew with age.  On a The post The Destiny of Kingdoms appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 15:14 The post Full of Goodness appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 2 Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard, believes that the reason why Americans are smiling less and worrying more and why happiness is down and sadness is up is not because people do not have enough money, but because people are more uncertain about the future than ever before based on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.[1] Because of this, depression in America is on the rise. Gilbert said of his findings: “An uncertain future leaves us stranded in an The post The Reign of God and Empires appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 1:8-21 Let me state two very important truths that will help you understand the book of Daniel a little better, and make a little more sense of what is happening around you.  The Bible claims from the very beginning in its first chapter that you are a human being who is made in the image of God.  The Bible also states from the very beginning in Genesis 3 that there is an enemy who absolutely abhors you because you The post Identity and the Spirit of the Age appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Daniel 1:1-7 There is a series of Marvel Comics that I enjoyed reading as a kid and now an animated series is in development by Marvel Studios titled, “What If…”.  The upcoming series, “explores what would happen if major moments from the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe occurred differently.”  A popular Amazon Prime series, The Man in the High Castle, like Marvel’s “What If…” series, explores what it may have been like if the Axis powers of Nazi Germany The post The Judgement and the Kindness of God appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Hebrews 10:19-25 On January 8, 1956 Peter Fleming (27), Jim Elliot (28), Ed McCully (28), Roger Youderian (31), and Nate Saint (32) were speared to death on a sandbar called “Palm Beach” in the Curaray River of Ecuador while trying to reach the Waodani with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nate Saint’s sister Rachel and Jim Elliot’s widow, Elisabeth, made contact with the tribe resulting in many of the tribe becoming followers of Jesus; this is a picture of two The post Developing Healthy Followers of Jesus Christ appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Philippians 2:1-11 I read a true story this week about a wife who stabbed her husband because she found a bunch of pictures on his phone of her husband with a younger woman she did not recognize.  Listen to how the online news blog, The Star, reported the story: A confused and enraged wife stabbed her husband after seeing photos of him with a younger woman, who turned out to be herself from back then.  The suspect attacked her husband, The post How Should We Engage Our World With the Gospel appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Corinthians 9:19-27 We live in a troubled world; everyone knows it, the movies portray it, and our latest elections were shaped by it.  This is nothing new, for generation after generation has experienced this since the dawn of civilization.  The cause of humanity’s ills has received countless hypotheses of its origins from as early as Socrates to Oprah.  The remedies for the human problem is offered from a smorgasbord of ideas… just take your pick from a line of The post Why Engage Our World With the Gospel appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Ephesians 3:14-21 Last week I gave you seven reasons from the Lord’s Prayer why we must pray as a community who have been saved by Jesus and called into his mission to make disciples of all people.  Here are the seven reasons I gave: We must pray because God is our Heavenly Father. We must pray because God is God. We must pray because God’s kingdom is coming. We must pray because it is God who provides for our needs. The post Where We Belong – Part 2 appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 6:7-15 A vision statement describes the goal of an organization; our vision statement as a church family is the following: “We exist to develop followers of Jesus who prayerfully engage their communities with the gospel.”  The way you get to your vision statement is by implementing your mission statement; our mission statement is virtually the same with the exception of one word: “We aim to develop followers of Jesus by prayerfully engaging our communities with the gospel.” Where we The post Where We Belong appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Isaiah 9:6-7 There are two words I want you to think about this evening.  The first is “Violate” and the second is “interrupt.”  To violate something is to break or fail to comply with a rule or formal agreement.  To interrupt means to stop the continuous progress of an activity or process.  Those are the two words that come to mind when I think of 2020.  Those are the two words that come to mind when I think ethnic tension The post Unto Us: The Prince is Given appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 11:11-19 What person in your life “gets” you?  What I mean by that question is this: “Who is it in your life and world that you look forward and long to spend time with?”  Who is it in your life that loves and accepts you for you?  Some of you may have had that someone in your life who you thought was that one person you were convinced accepted and loved you for you.  Now that person wants nothing The post Unto Us: A Friend is Given appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Luke 5:27-32 Early this week, GALLUP reported that, ‘Americans’ latest assessment of their mental health is worse than it has been at any point in the last two decades.  Contributing to the decline is not only the pandemic, but the recent election and race relations in our country.  Jobs have been lost, businesses continue to struggle to survive, and the future remains uncertain.  A year ago, things seemed to be going well for our country, but our confidence and security The post Unto Us: The Priest is Given appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Unto Us: A Shepherd is Given is a sermon preached at Meadowbrooke Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming by Pastor Keith Miller The post Unto Us: A Shepherd is Given appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

John 1:29-34 One of my favorite movies and stories is C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  After entering a magical wardrobe that transported the Pevensie children into the world of Narnia where it was winter, but never Christmas, due to the curse of the white witch for the last 100 years.  But after Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy enter Narnia things begin to change, for an ancient Narnian prophecy said that before Narnia would be delivered from The post Unto Us: A Lamb is Given appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Luke 1:39-45 We live in a world that attributes worth on a person based on what that person is able to do.  The Bible attributes worth on a person based on who that person is.  Our world treats personhood as something completely different and separate from your physical body.  In other words, the physical body is expendable because it is only a bundle of nerves and no more than a machine.  The body’s worth is determined by personhood; this is The post Unto Us: A Son is Given appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Exodus 33:12-34:9 I don’t know about you, but a little stability would be nice.  Everything around me seems to be in flux.  Think about what life must have been like for Moses and the Israelites (the Hebrew people); not long before Exodus 32, Israel experienced one of the greatest events in history with their miraculous delivery from the powerful clutches of Pharaoh out of the slavery of Egypt into a freedom promised to Abraham and their forefathers.  Moses and his The post The God Who Goes Before His People appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Isaiah 48:9-11 Albert Einstein once said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”  John Calvin spent a lifetime working to help others see the beauty of the glory of God as it is revealed in the Scriptures.  He The post Here I Stand: The Glory of God Alone appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Matthew 16:13-20 Thomas Cranmer was born on July 2, 1489.  He died nearly five months after he watched his friends Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley burn to death at the stake for his role as a protestant against the Roman Catholic Church and as the archbishop of the Church of England (Anglican Church).  Like his friends, it is believed that Cranmer also attended the White Horse Bible study that shaped his thinking that salvation was by grace alone, through faith The post Here I Stand: Christ Alone appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Galatians 2:15-21 After the death of William Tyndale, God began to stir in the hearts of those in power. Even though King Henry was partly responsible for the execution of William Tyndale, he approved an English translation of the Bible. While the Spirit of God was moving throughout all of Europe through the Reformation, he was doing the same in France through men like John Calvin and monarchs like Queen Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1548). The reformation was birthed in Germany, but it spread The post Here I Stand: Faith Alone appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Timothy 3:16-17 The post Here I Stand: Grace Alone appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Timothy 3:16-17; Isaiah 66:1-2 There was a time when the Church forgot the Christianity of Jesus and the Apostles in the name of religion. Eventually this led to rampant immorality, abuses of power, and the fleecing of entire communities of people who wanted to be good Christians, by those in positions of authority in the Roman Catholic Church.  The authority of the Pope and the Church in those days replaced the authority of the Bible.  For the first 500 The post Here I Stand: One Book appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

1 Corinthians 13 The post Faith Hope Love appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Jeremiah 9:23-26 The post Boast in the Lord appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Zephaniah 4:14-21 How do you think God thinks about you?  How does the holy, all-powerful, all-knowing God feel about you?  My goal is to give you something to hold onto as we experience another divisive election season, continued civil unrest, and any anxiety you may be experiencing about an uncertain tomorrow.  What I want to say in this sermon is like the epilogue of a great story; Romans was the great story we concluded last week; however, my sermon today The post The God Who Sings appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 16:17-27 In 2018, The New York Times published an article titled, “Scott Hamilton Was Demoted as an Olympic Broadcaster. Don’t Feel Sorry for Him.”  Throughout the 80’s, all that Hamilton knew was winning.  In 1981, Hamilton won the National and World Figure Skating Championships and then won his first gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.  After a long career as a figure skater, Hamilton was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.    When asked during an interview The post Faithfully Enduring a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 15:1-13 Sin vandalizes peace.  This is what we are seeing in our nation and in our world.  I read a quote from Voddie Baucham that gets to the heart of the real issue we are experiencing in our country, Baucham said the following: “We are not seeing terrible things in our culture because we vote the wrong way, we are seeing terrible things in our culture because men love darkness rather than light.”  Think about that quote for a The post Hope in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 14:1-18 I read an article the other day titled, Too Many Pastors are falling on their own Swords, which was published just this past week.  I want to read to you a portion of it not because I am your pastor, but because of what it says. I was on a Zoom call recently with 10 pastors across three denominations, when one of the participants shared a struggle with suicidal thoughts in these challenging days. By the time the The post Living for What Matters in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 13:8-14 The average person lives 78 years, which is a total of 28,488 days.  Of our 28,488 days, we sleep 8,541 of our 28,488 days away leaving us with only 19,947 days on earth awake.  So, how does the average person use his/her average number of days on earth?  5,300 days are consumed watching TV and/or playing video games.  3,988 days are consumed with work. 1,305 days are spent with training and education to make you a better employee The post Living Well in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 13:1-7 By the time Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, it was around AD 56-57.  He most likely had already experienced his first of several imprisonments by the time he wrote his letter, and he certainly had experienced his share of harassment and physical abuse at the hands of people in authority.  During his lifetime as an Apostle, Paul had experienced the reign of three Roman Emperors, of whom none were friends of the Church; and of which The post Respect in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

John 2:22-3:17 The post Nic @ Night appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Ephesians 4:1-3 The post How to “Unfollow Jesus” in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 12:1-2 Do you know what the number one complaint among millennials is according to Tess Brigham, a millennial therapist?  After more than five years of meeting with patients between the ages of 23 and 38, the reason most of them keep coming back for help is because they said: “I have too many choices and I can’t decide what to do.” The fear that brought them into Brigham’s practice had to do with making the wrong choice.  Brigham has The post Transformed in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 11:25-36 There is a lot of talk about being “woke” today.  To be “woke” is to be “aware of and actively attentive to import facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).[1] The phrase “stay woke” describes a state of being self-aware while questioning the dominant paradigm while striving for something better.  I believe that the phrase “stay woke” is gaining popularity today not only because of the death of George Floyd, but because at the core The post The Riches of God in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 11:1-24 Nationalism, according to Anthony Smith, is the “ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and identity for a population which some of its members deem to constitute an actual or potential ‘nation.’”  A person’s “national identity” flows from his or her sense of belonging to a state or nation.  One’s national identity flows out of language, cuisine, and skin color.  The positive expression of a person’s national identity is patriotism where a person’s national and civic identities The post The Kindness of God in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 10:14-21 The post Good News in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 10:1-13 I want to tell you two stories; one story I heard over ten years ago, and the other story I read this week.  Both stories are true and happened during the Tsunami of 2004, and both stories put what has been happening in our nation and the world in perspective for me.  The first story is about ten-year-old Tilly Smith and her family who I learned about in Heath Adamson’s book:  The Sacred Chase.  Two weeks before their The post How Should We Live in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

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Romans 9:14-29 Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), who was caught and sent to a German concentration camp for her involvement in hiding Jews from the Nazis in her home, gave sage advice that would do us all good to heed:  “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed.  If you look within, you’ll be depressed.  If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.”   Like many of you, I am not sure what to believe from the media these The post Saved From Shame in a COVID-19 World – Part 3 appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 9:6-15 The post Saved From Shame in a COVID-19 World – Part 2 appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 9:1-5 How many of you remember falling on the pavement when you were little and receiving road rash?  How many of you had a parent who insisted on making sure that your road rash was cleaned and that the best way to clean it was with rubbing alcohol or peroxide?  What hurt more: receiving the road rash, or receiving the alcohol or peroxide to clean the road rash?  After my crash on June 21, 2017, I received road rash The post Saved From Shame in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 8:18-29 Oprah Winfrey once said that, “There’s no greater gift than to honor your life’s calling.  It’s why you were born and how you become most truly alive.”  Now, just so you all know, I do not believe that Oprah is the greatest source for spiritual advise, but her statement about purpose reminded me of a group of men who met for breakfast and, during their time together, the topic of retirement came up.  A man in the group The post No Condemnation in a COVID-19 World – Part 2 appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 8:1-17 Most of the sermon I have preached have been sermons written and preached to my own heart.  The legacy I hope to pass down to my children and my grandchildren are the collection of sermons that I have preached and tried to apply to my own life.  Occasionally, I am motivated to write a sermon for a person or for a group.  This is one such sermon.  I understand loss.  I understand the pain that is experienced when The post No Condemnation in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 7:14-25 I want to spend our time this morning by simply introducing Romans 7:13-25, by giving you two simple points as they relate to our lives and why we celebrate communion.  So let me begin, first, by stating that there are two different views concerning who it is the apostle Paul is writing about in Romans 7:14-25.  Some believe that Paul could not possibly be talking about his experience as a Christian, so they conclude that Paul was really The post Empowered by Jesus to Live in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 6:1-14 On April 6th Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Bollea) posted something on his Instagram that shocked many.  His comments drew praise from some and criticism from others.  He said: In three short months, just like He did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, “you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I The post Forgiven to Live in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Ephesians 4:11-13 The post All Grown Up appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Live Online Easter Service The post The Victor is Alive! appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Good Friday Service The post Reconciled From a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.

Romans 4:13-25 Everyone has expectations. Some expectations are legitimate, such as the expectation that my furnace will do its job during the cold nights of winter and heat my home.  Another expectation that I have, that I feel is legitimate, is the expectation that when I go home to eat my lunch that the food on my plate was not poisoned by my wife.  A not so legitimate expectation to have is that Cheyenne weather will be consistent during the The post Justified to Care in a COVID-19 World appeared first on Meadowbrooke Church.