Sermons on Attitude Or Aptitude:

Legalism Versus Love

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 13, 2021

We are in a world of great religious competition. We will all tend to follow one of these two strategies: The legalistic or the loving, the rule book power, or relationship power.

We live in a world where competition is a master motive. When the news reach Russia in 1945 that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Stalin ordered secret scientists to find a way to catch up to the U.S. Andrei Sakharov was only 24 years old then, but his brilliant mind was ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:20

Turning The Other Cheek

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 13, 2021

The religious leaders of the world can quote their wise and holy men in ways that show they too have many of the values of the Sermon on the Mount. But they have nothing to match the teachings of Christ on the love of one's enemies.

Almost everybody agrees with the Sermon on the Mount in general, but almost nobody can agree to the specifics of the last part of chapter 5. Even Nikita Krushev, an atheist, when he was the leader of Russia, could say he agreed with the Sermon on the Mount, for even in Russia they do not consider ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:38-48

The Hard Work Of Trust

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

God teaches us to trust in him and in his Son our Saviour. God tells us that anxious care and bitter sighing won’t help. Discontentment will get us nowhere, but only humble trust and steadfast faith.

Have you ever felt like complaining against the LORD? Maybe you’ve prayed and prayed, but the answer that you wanted hasn’t come. Or you don’t like what God has brought into your life: lots of disappointment, lots of frustration. Or maybe you look at all the wickedness in the world, and you fear ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 10:26-39, Habakkuk 2:2-4

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Break Up The Fallow Ground!

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

Getting baptized on your head must have an impact on your heart. If you’ve been baptized, God calls you to put off the old nature and its sinfulness, and to put on the new. There’s no salvation without a change of life, no redemption without repentance.

There once was a book-burning in the palace of Judah’s king. A scroll-burning actually, but the idea is the same. For the LORD told Jeremiah to take a scroll, write on it everything He’d said—and then to have that scroll read before the king. So that’s what Jeremiah did. He wrote down God’s words, ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 3:1-25, Jeremiah 4:1-4

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Great And Awesome Day Of The Lord

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

Our life should be all about living in expectation for Christ's return. Praying for the end. Working for the kingdom. Making sure that we’re at peace with God, and at peace with each other.

If we ever have questions about the end of the world and about what will happen when King Jesus returns in glory, we turn to the book of Revelation. There in that last book of the Bible, there’s much about the end-times: signs and wonders, disasters and persecutions, and the Lord Jesus coming in ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:14-24, Joel 2:30-32

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Love Does Not Envy Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 17, 2021

I envy, but love does not, and so only as I and love become one can envy be eased out of my life. It may not be easy, but we must work at it.

Sometimes the best way to say what something is, is to say what it isn't. If a child asks you what a smooth surface is, you would probably say it is a surface with no bumps and no rough spots. Bumps and rough are not what smooth is, but what smooth isn't. It would be hard to describe what ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4

Legalism Versus Love Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 17, 2021

We are in a world of great religious competition. We will all tend to follow one of these two strategies: The legalistic or the loving, the rule book power, or relationship power.

We live in a world where competition is a master motive. When the news reach Russia in 1945 that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Stalin ordered secret scientists to find a way to catch up to the U.S. Andrei Sakharov was only 24 years old then, but his brilliant mind was ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:20

The Power Of Praise Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 18, 2021

Praise keeps us power oriented, but lack of praise leads us to be problem oriented. When we do nothing but focus on problems we tend to be led downward to pessimism and discouragement.

Sometimes we take the wisest man in history too seriously. Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun, and those who take this as the last word can become pessimistic. What is the point of being an explorer if there are no new continents to be discovered. The poles have both been reached, ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 149:1-9

The Physiology Of Praise Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 18, 2021

Body involvement in worship is a subject we do not often think about, but the Bible is full of it.

It was before my time, but I remember my parents talking about going to see silent movies. The movies made no sound, but according to Sam Levinson in his book Everything But Money, the audience made plenty of sound. As the hero and the villain shot it out, each firing two thousand shots without ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 47:1-9

Persistence In Praise Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 18, 2021

In the literature of success the theme you will confront most often is the theme of persistence. The athlete who didn't have a chance, but who by perseverance and persistence became the best. The Bible is loaded with this theme as well.

Captain Eddy Richenbacker was in an airplane crash in Atlanta and was rushed to the hospital. He was going in and out of consciousness. It was thought that he would not survive. The most famous radio commentator in the U.S. then was the late Walter Winchell. He said in his broadcast, ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 13:15-21

The Praise Of Laughter Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 19, 2021

The Bible links laughter to joy and to feasting, and these are both vast subjects in the Bible, making laughter a major aspect of the godly life.

Have you ever praised God for the enjoyment of laughter? Some of the greatest of God's people have. When Theodore Cuyler, the American preacher, visited the great London preacher, Charles Spurgeon, they told each other the crazy things that happened in their respective ministries. They ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 126:1-6

Paradoxical Partners Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 19, 2021

You cannot be a good Christian, and a truly loving Christian, if you do not feel hate for that which is the enemy of love.

A truck had run off the road and crashed into a tree forcing the engine back into the cab. The driver was trapped in the twisted wreckage. The doors were crushed and bent out of shape, and he had his feet caught between the clutch and the brake pedal. To make matters worse, a fire started in ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:9

The Paradox Of Pleasure Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 21, 2021

The paradox of pleasure is that the pursuit of pleasure can lead you to the pit of hell, or to the pinnacle of heaven. It is life's most dangerous or delightful path to travel.

Alexander Selkirk was one of those men who always had to learn the hard way. The records of his church in Scotland show that he was disciplined several times for causing trouble in the church. In May of 1703 he said good-bye to all that, and at age 27 went off to sea. He tried to run things on ...read more

Scripture: Esther 2:1-4

Learning To Listen Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 22, 2021

Listening to God's Word brings us into the kingdom, and it is by listening to it that we grow and become sanctified. That is why Jesus says to the churches in Revelation over and over, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches."

Benjamin Franklin decided to take stock of him self one New Years, and try to figure out why he seemed to alienate people, and why he lost friends so easily. He discovered that one of his major flaws was that he was not willing to listen to others. He had all of the answers and was arrogant. ...read more

Scripture: Acts 22:1-22

Freedom To Change Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 22, 2021

There is no book of the Bible more filled with change than Daniel. It contains 14 references to Hebrew words for change, which is more than any other book.

The War of 1812 is called the war nobody won. It was a very costly war for both United States and Britain, yet it was a war that accomplished nothing, and should never had been fought. In fact, the entire war was fought after the reason for it no longer existed. France and England were at war, ...read more

Scripture: Daniel 2:1-23