Sermons

  • Genesis 1:1-5 The Beginning (Kegel)

    In the beginning, God created…what a majestic statement that makes of God’s love and care, God’s control and power. Not everyone agrees with our faith in God’s creation. Do you remember Carl Sagan, the astronomer?

  • Genesis 1:1-5 Light to Find Your Way (Wagner)

    One night a shower of meteors fell from the sky. My friend was frightened, but I said, "Let us not mind the meteors, but let us keep our eyes on the stars." (Abraham Lincoln)

  • Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 Something From Nothing (Donovan)

    Out of nothingness, God created everything. Out of our nothingness—out of our most terrible experiences, God can create something good in our lives.

  • Genesis 1:1 – 2:4 The Creator Loves Pizzazz (Kegel)

    There should be no conflict between science and religion. Science can tell us the HOW but not the WHY of creation. Our faith assures us that behind the “how” is a loving God who creates the world and all that is in it out of love.

  • Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a, Trinity Mystery (London)

    This is Trinity Sunday. This is the time when we proclaim loudly and clearly, that we believe in One God in three persons, not three god’s pretending to be One.

  • Genesis 1:26-31 The Printed Image (Donovan)

    In Latin, the phrase is Imago Dei, “In the Image of God.” Imago Dei: we are created in the image of God––in his own blessed image, he fashioned us. We look like God.

  • Genesis 2:18-24 Loneliness in Paradise (Donovan)

    This text presents a beautiful, idyllic image of marriage. But we have lots of people in the congregation who do not have beautiful, idyllic marriages.

  • Genesis 2:18-24 Alone No More (Wagner)

    No sooner did God put Adam in the Garden of Eden and it was determined that Adam could not live alone. “It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a helper,” God said. God realized that life can be very lonely without someone to share it with.

  • Genesis 3:1-9 The Devil Made Me Do It! (Donovan)

    God told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. Satan countered with a very simple lie. Satan said, “If you eat from this tree, you shall NOT die” (3:4). Just one word changed, but that one word made all the difference.

  • Genesis 3:1-9 Something Is Seriously Wrong (Anders)

    Something is seriously wrong! From the first page of the Bible to the last, the message is the same. Like Adam and Eve, we have let sin take us out of the Garden of Eden. We all live east of Eden.

  • Genesis 3:1-7 In a Mess, But Blessed (Gerhardy)

    When Adam and Eve heard God coming they hid among the trees, because they saw something bad about their nakedness. They had disobeyed God. The beautiful harmony that God had created was shattered.

  • Genesis 9:8-17 A String on God’s Finger (Donovan)

    You know what it is to travel with children. Just imagine traveling in a huge camper for months on end—with your children—all your in-laws— and their children—and all those animals. One of the first things Noah did when they got to dry land was to get drunk! Can’t say that I blame him!

  • Genesis 9:8-17 The Sign of the Covenant (Hyde)

    I always looked upon this story as depicting God’s impatience. “That’s it. I’ve had enough. Let’s have a little rain.” Peter looked at it differently. He said, “God waited patiently in the days of Noah…" Patiently?

  • Genesis 12:1-4 Go and Be Blessed (Kegel)

    Uprooting at age fifty isn't easy. But at least fifty isn’t seventy-five! That was Abraham's age when God called him to go with his wife and nephew from Haran to a new land.

  • Genesis 12:1-9 The Land To Which God Leads Us (Donovan)

    Imagine how difficult it must have been for Abram to leave his home and family. He didn’t even know his destination. He didn’t have a forwarding address. God would show him where to go, but did not reveal the destination ahead of time.

  • Genesis 12:1-9 The Great Escape (Wagner)

    By “going forth” as instructed by God, Abraham broke away from his roots and put his trust totally in God. He left himself no choice but to trust in God and to proceed with faith.

  • Genesis 15:1-6 The Lord Is Our Shield (Hoffacker)

    Faith sets us free from fear, the fear that rules in many places, but need not reign in our hearts. We can find, as Abraham did, that the Lord is our shield. Our reward, like his, will be great.

  • Genesis 15:1-6 Blest to be a Blessing (Kegel)

    Abraham had his doubts about God. His was discouraged in his faith. God might have said that he would have great reward but he was childless so where would all these descendants come from? He and his wife Sarah were advanced in age.

  • Genesis 15:1-18 Great Rewards—But Slow in Coming (Donovan)

    Abram was an old man. When he looked at the back of his hands, he saw dry skin with the lined look of old skin. When he drank water from a pool, the face that stared back at him was an old face.

  • Genesis 22:1-14 God Will Provide (Donovan)

    How could God order the sacrifice of Isaac—the son for whom Abraham and Sarah had waited for so long—the gift from God who had been born only after “it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.”

  • Genesis 22:1-14 Living Up to the Test (Wagner)

    I never liked exams. I am one of those people that has “test-itis” when it comes to taking tests. I didn’t look forward to finals week in school. I don’t like examinations by doctors. Do you have “test-itis?” Do you fear those moments in life when you have to make a decision?

  • Genesis 25:19-35 I Want It NOW! (Donovan)

    Jacob, was not very attractive. He was a Mamma’s boy; he stayed close to home. He wasn’t physically robust, like Esau. He wasn’t warmhearted, like Esau. He was a schemer and a cheat. But God chose Jacob. Why?

  • Genesis 25:19-34 Out Of The Stew (Strayhorn)

    Rebekah made it to the delivery room none too soon. The boys even fought over who would be born first. Jacob pushed and shoved trying to be first in line. Esau beat him to it but Jacob was born dogging his heals. His name, Jacob, even meant “heel.” That name sort of has a double meaning in our society.

  • Genesis 28:11-13 That’s the Way God Is (Gerhardy)

    I can’t explain it, but God showered outrageous blessings upon this mean unscrupulous low life. Jacob didn’t deserve it but that’s the way God is. He is gracious and merciful to the worst sinner.

  • Genesis 28:10-19 Does Your Elevator Go to the Top? (Wagner)

    Jacob’s elevator went all the way to the top. It appeared to him in a dream. What he saw was not really a ladder but a ziggurat, a large stairway extending into the heavens. For Jacob the stairway symbolized the presence of God, hope for the future, and that life would be a slow, hard, climb.

  • Genesis 28:10-22 A Staircase to Heaven (Donovan)

    I am surprised when God makes a covenant with Jacob, because Jacob is pretty much a scoundrel. But God didn’t rebuke Jacob. He didn’t tell him to mend his ways. He simply began to promise him blessings.

  • Genesis 29:15-28 Family Feud (Leininger)

    The woman replied, “my husband ran off with his floozy secretary. He didn’t want anything from our marriage – I could keep everything but the Corvette. He wanted me to sell that and send him the money. Which is precisely what I am doing. $100.”

  • Genesis 29:15-28 Veiled Insult (Butler)

    Sometimes life throws us curve balls that we had not been expecting, and when that happens, whew, we know for sure that our parents were right. Life is not fair at all.

  • Genesis 29:15-28 Family Feud (Leininger)

    The woman replied, “my husband ran off with his floozy secretary. He didn’t want anything from our marriage – I could keep everything but the Corvette. He wanted me to sell that and send him the money. Which is precisely what I am doing. $100.”

  • Genesis 29:15-28 Veiled Insult (Butler)

    Sometimes life throws us curve balls that we had not been expecting, and when that happens, whew, we know for sure that our parents were right. Life is not fair at all.

  • Genesis 32:22-31 Wrestling with God (Edstrom)

    Genesis 32:22-31 Wrestling with God (Edstrom)

  • Genesis 32:22-31 Wrestling with an Angel (Kegel)

    Trouble comes. I’ve seen bumper stickers with the same idea but a much cruder phrase. Whatever our preparations, trouble will come, often when we least expect it. People of an earlier generation often made plans and added two letters, d.v. – deo volente, God willing.

  • Genesis 32:22-31 Wrestling with God (Gerhardy)

    Jacob, son of Isaac was the sort of character that companies would love to have as one of their top executives. Energetic. Lots of initiative. Aggressive. Few scruples. Not one to take “No” for an answer.

  • Genesis 32:22-31 On Being Human (Wagner)

    Wrestling was a real challenge for me. I grew, not just physically but mentally too. Unfortunately in my sophomore year I got injured. That experience reminds me of Jacob. He wrestled too. And in the process he got hurt and acquired a limp. But Jacob was a changed person.

  • Genesis 32:22-31 To the Mat (Butler)

    Of all the characters in Hebrew scripture there’s no one more slippery than Jacob. While Abraham is revered as the father of a nation, we mostly remember Jacob for stealing things and, repeatedly, getting away with it.

  • Genesis 37:1-4, 12:28 Baby of the Family (Butler)

    I was not a stellar science student, but reading the book of Genesis reminds me of something I learned in physics class. Remember Newton’s third law of motion: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”?

  • Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 From the Pit to the Pinnacle (Anders)

    The Bible says, “Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.” I picture him as looking like John F. Kennedy Jr. –too handsome for his own good. But now Joseph is betrayed by his own brothers. He finds himself fearing for his life in the pit of despair. Can you identify with this sudden turn of events?

  • Genesis 50:15-21 But God… (Leininger)

    Christian therapist Wayne Oates wrote a book entitled Luck, A Secular Faith, in which he claimed that modern people no longer believe in a purposeful God. We believe in luck. Luck has become our way of explaining ourselves and what comes our way.