In Sermons: showing 1-11 of 11

The Most Important Things

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 23, 2017

Love is the highest priority in our life because God is love. We must remember that it is God that defines and demonstrates what true, godly love looks like

I have been spending a lot of time lately reflecting on the nature of love. There are those that define love in so many ways. There was a time when I would have automatically thought of unbelievers as being the ones who have all of these various ways of defining love. But I have come to realize ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Jesus Is Immanuel

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 23, 2017

God no longer comes near through a burning bush, tabernacle, prophet, or vision. He has come near through Jesus, who is God in the flesh, in order to reconcile us to him so that we can serve him and also carry the message of reconciliation to others.

Have you every heard of Heavenly beans? Little Carried thought that this time of year was for heavenly beans because people sing about it everywhere. The song, Silent Night, that ends with the line, "sleep in heavenly beans." Was her favorite song. Carrie's brother corrected her. He said, "do ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Who Is Jesus

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 23, 2017

Many people have opinions about who Jesus is, but opinions are just that . . . opinions. What really matters is what the Bible tells us about Jesus.

Many, many people have heard of Jesus. But many people really do not know who Jesus is. Was he some ancient sage? Was a he merely a religious teacher? Who is this Jesus? Many have an opinion about Jesus. But do you know how much my opinion is worth? It is worth no more than your opinion. In ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Caricature Or Reality (Part 2)

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 23, 2017

God is holy, not a commodity. Even though Joy is appropriate and even instructed, God must be approached with reverence before joy

Last week we saw that the number one characteristic of God is that he is holy. We need to understand this about God so we can make sure we are worshipping him and not some caricature of him we have made up in our mind. Do you know what a caricature is? We usually think of it as a picture, such as ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 6:1-23

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Caricature Or Reality (Part 1)

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 23, 2017

In order to pray, worship and serve God effectively, we need to understand who he is. This begins with an understanding that he is first of all holy. Only when we get a handle on his holiness can everything else fall into place.

Do you know what a caricature is? You see them all the time when you pick up a newspaper. You often have political cartoons where the details are not true life representations. Prominent features are often exaggerated and non-prominent features are diminished or eliminated altogether. If you go to ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-5, Isaiah 6:11-27

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Intense Love Of God

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 11, 2017

The model for what it means to love can be found in God, who describes his love toward us as a man loves his wife, and as a parent loves his child. But the most vivid expression of God's love is in the cross.

Intro: 1. If you had to describe love, how you would describe or explain it? a. People have various images, explanations, etc. b. Wildflowers, a mountain, a story that does not end, song, etc. 2. Poets, songwriters, and authors have explored this for centuries 3. If want grow in love, ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 11:1-11, Hosea 2:1-23

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Godly Perspective On Wisdom And Strength

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 11, 2017

The true definition of wisdom and strength does not come from the world, but from God, whose foolishness is wiser than mans, and whose weakness is stronger than the strength of men.

Paul spends time defending his ministry. Evidently there were eminent "super-apostles (2 Cor 12:11), who were sharp in every way. Paul was unimpressive and even contemptible in comparison. These other leaders apparently had letters of commendation (2 Cor 3) which was impressive, they ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:3-4

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Reflections On The Love Of God

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 11, 2017

The Love we share with one another in our marriage relationships is of God. It is God (not Hollywood) who defines, demonstrates, and instructs us on love, whether it is romantic love, or brotherly love.

You probably are acutely aware of all the pink and red decorating many of our stores in the month of February. I have been thinking a lot about what it represents, and what we can learn. It occurred to me that many of us preachers will preach timely messages on Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:21-32

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Outside Of The Box

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 11, 2017

The Bible is our standard and is what defines our freedoms and boundaries. It is important to spend generous amounts of time in the word in order to grow in knowing God and how God want us to serve him

In a conversation, someone posed an interesting and much needed question to me. "Is it wise to think outside of the box?" There are many, including myself, who have used this phrase. Wisdom would seem to dictate that this, like many other things, should have a caveat to it. Many things pressed to ...read more

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Our Creed

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 11, 2017

It is important to realize that the authority for our faith is from the Lord or our faith, Jesus Christ. Our focus is ultimately not on a creedal system, but upon Christ, whom we follow as our Lord.

Studying the history of creeds is interesting. The earliest creeds arose in reaction to heretics who were teaching heresy concerning the nature of God and Christ. They served to unite the church in sound doctrine against false teaching. When the church and government became fused, resulting in the ...read more

Scripture: John 5:39

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Untended Fires

Contributed by John Telgren on Feb 11, 2017

It is important to tend to your spiritual health or you can get burned out in your faith.

"Untended fires soon become just a pile of ashes." I came across this quotation some time ago and it always resurfaces in my memory when we go camping and make a campfire. The last time we went camping was in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We built a nice warm fire in the cool of the evening ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:6

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ