In Sermons: showing 1-15 of 39

The Great Thanksgiving

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Nov 27, 2024

As Christians, we walk in the beauty and glory of God's great love and mercy in Christ. What better reason could there ever be to thank God with all of our hearts, and with our very lives themselves?

"The Great Thanksgiving" Psalm 100 I once heard a pastor tell the story in a sermon of something that happened when he was visiting his brother in Florida. While there they decided to go deep-sea fishing on his brother’s boat. But after they were several miles out at sea and well out ...read more

Godly Ambition

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Mar 27, 2024

The nature of the Church, consists of a 2000-year-old chain of disciples who live their faith devoutly and inspire others to do the same. And every one of us is meant to be a link in that chain, for our own lives to carry and pass the torch of God’s love in Christ.

Godly Ambition 2 Timothy 2:1-7 Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin spent ten years researching and writing a book on Abraham Lincoln’s White House years (Team of Rivals). She says she was surprised, through studying his life and character, to discover one quality in particular that stood out as ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:1-7

Love Conquers All

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Nov 27, 2023

The love of God overcomes fear if we choose to open our hearts to its supreme reality. The greatest source of blessing and peace we can ever know is found in trusting in his love.

A pastor shared the story of going deep-sea fishing in Florida with his brother when their boat lost all of its electronics, including the communications and GPS functions. They were out of sight of land, and since it was an overcast day there was no way for them even to tell east from west. ...read more

Scripture: Mark 5:21-43, 1 John 4:16-18

Our Spiritual Family

Contributed by Jim Keegan on May 25, 2023

Jesus created the Church as the spiritual family we all need on our faith journey. And just as strong families are the building blocks of a healthy society, our spiritual families are equally foundational to living a richer life in the Kingdom of God.

(Read text.) A true story: a missionary was under house arrest in China when soldiers came one day and said, “You can return to America.” As he and his wife were celebrating, the soldiers added, “But you can only take 200 pounds with you.” They had lived there for several years with their two ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 12:46-50

Time Is Sacred

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Mar 13, 2023

We as Christians march to the beat of a different drummer, and that’s also true in how we relate to the spiritual dimension of time.

Ephesians 5: 15-17; Colossians 4:5 It was a tradition for the faculty of a southern seminary to meet together every morning before their 8 am classes for a time of Bible study and prayer. These sessions were scheduled to conclude by 7:55 at the latest, in order for everyone to be on time for ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-17, Colossians 4:5

Blessings In Disguise

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Jan 18, 2023

Hand-in-hand with God’s blessing there is always testing to deepen our bonds of intimate love and trust. Those two forces work together for our good.

We see in this familiar passage two of the foundational stories of the Gospel: Christ’s blessing by God, followed very closely by his temptation. These are also the two universal realities of the spiritual life: both blessings and trials. After his baptism, Jesus saw the Spirit descending on ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:28

Grace And Peace

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Jan 3, 2023

Paul begins every one of his thirteen letters with these words of blessing: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s arguably the greatest of all the biblical benedictions, but it goes mostly ignored.

Franklin Roosevelt was greeting guests at the White House one evening as they came through the reception line. He disliked this ritual, however, since everyone always spoke their rehearsed lines without actually listening to what was said. So, feeling mischievous that evening and to test his ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:4-8, Romans 5:1

God Is Love

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Oct 19, 2022

God wants us to live in the blessing, joy and peace of knowing that we’re his beloved children.

1 Corinthians 4:3-5; 1 John 4:9-18 (selected verses) I spent a summer while I was in seminary as a student minister at Acadia National Park in Maine, where I was assisted by a young volunteer named Martha. Martha was an old soul, wise beyond her years. I say that because during that summer ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 4:9-18, 1 Corinthians 4:3-5

In This Together

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Sep 30, 2022

We need each other in order to become whole and to live in the fullness of God’s blessing.

In May of 1953, two men became the first in history to summit Mount Everest: Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper and explorer, and a man named Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide from Nepal. Hillary’s name remains famous for this inspiring achievement, but how many of us remember Tenzing Norgay? ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 17:8-13

The Fear Of God

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Aug 11, 2022

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” as the Book of Proverbs stresses repeatedly. May we seek to live as God-fearing people who humble our hearts in reverence of His glory and live in faithfulness to His will.

The year was 1845. A man named Carl Steinman was fascinated by volcanoes, and going against the advice of his guide, he ventured to the edge of a dormant volcano while visiting Mount Hecla in Iceland. Although it had last erupted over fifty years earlier, the guide noticed there had been ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:12-13

Strength In Service

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Jun 24, 2022

God has blessed us with the gift of masculine strength--not only physically, but with a crucial moral and spiritual responsibility--to be used only and always in the service of love.

You may have seen the maternity shirt that says, “A man did this to me, Oprah.” Men are responsible for a lot of things that determine the kind of world we live in, for better or worse. This morning, Father’s Day, I’d like to highlight the “better.” (I’ve never understood why someone would ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

The Great Adventure

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Mar 18, 2022

The Christian life is as good as it gets, with its promise of greater love, joy and peace. Those rewards, and more, are there for everyone who actively follows Christ and lives their faith in the spirit of the great adventure it was always meant to be.

Philippians 3:10-14 In the 1980’s a Californian named Larry Walters, a 33 year old truck driver, rigged 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair and then had two friends untie the tethers from the bumper of his Jeep. Expecting it to drift gradually up and away, instead he streaked into the ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 3:10-14

Blessed With Every Blessing

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Mar 2, 2022

We’re thoroughly blessed and cherished--absolutely, unconditionally and infinitely--by God, the great Lover of our souls. What would your life look like if you lived believing that wholeheartedly?

Henri Nouwen, the late Dutch Catholic priest, had a very interesting life and ministry--teaching courses on spirituality at Harvard and Yale, spending a year at a Trappist monastery, serving as a missionary to the poor in South America, and finally, coming home in the closing chapter of his life ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-8

The Law Of The Harvest

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Oct 12, 2021

The good seeds we plant, through our thoughts and actions and habits, will bear fruit through the faithful blessing of God. He’s more than ready to do his part, if we’ll only do ours. That’s “the law of the harvest."

Retired Admiral William McCraven was a Navy SEAL for 36 years, last serving as commander of US Special Operations. He describes the SEAL version of basic training, and some of the life lessons it taught him, in a book he’s written called “Make Your Bed.” Here’s what he says about that simple ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:7-9

Children Of Light Series

Contributed by Jim Keegan on Aug 16, 2021

May God help us to see the darkness of lust for the deadly sin it is, and to reclaim our innocence as the children of light, in all goodness, righteousness and truth.

Ephesians 5:1-12 A national conference of church youth leaders was held at a hotel in the Midwest several years ago. At first the hotel manager was impressed by the friendly Christian witness of his guests, and he interacted very openly with the conference organizers as they shared their faith ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:1-12