Sermons on Red Letter:

Are You A Church Builder?

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

The work in Christ’s church will not get done in a hurry. We don’t even have a target date for completion. But this is what makes the difference for our church building: It’s the work of our Lord! It’s the church that Christ bought with his precious blood.

Are you a church builder? Do you see it as your responsibility to serve the church of Christ? To strengthen it, and to grow it? You should, because that’s the calling given to you by the Lord God! Sometimes we like to leave church-building work to the experts. We leave the physical aspects of the ...read more

Scripture: Ezra 6:13-22, Revelation 3:14-22, Haggai 1:3-11

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

Educated Love Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 17, 2021

If we link love and learning we will have life with a capital L, for it will be the abundant life Jesus came to give us. Educated love will love according to priorities.

The best of Christians make their share of mistakes, but John Turner was apparently trying to get a large portion of his quota of mistakes out of the way all in one day. John was a conscientious pastor who got to his church early one Sunday morning, and he discovered that he had left his sermon ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:1-11

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

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

Good Out Of Evil Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 19, 2021

The key to being an optimist is having the patience to wait and see what God will do with your negative experience. We so often jump to the conclusion that bad stuff is just that, and that alone.

Luther Burbank, the world famous scientist, worked for years to try and develop a black-petaled lily. He had several thousand experimental lily plants in his laboratory. A sudden cloudburst let loose a flood of rain that they were all washed away. William Stidger tells of sympathizing with ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:12-26

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

Church And State Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 23, 2021

What separation does mean is that all true religious faith is a matter of free choice, and so no state power can ever be rightly used to enforce faith or any religious conviction.

Until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, the abuse of power will be a major cause of human suffering. When the country of Chad in Africa became independent in 1960 the Christian missionaries were delighted that the first President was a Baptist. Tambolboye was ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:1-15

God Is Love Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 25, 2021

We are never nearer God than when we love, and we are never nearer to being what he wants us to be than when we love.

Tolstoy wrote a story called "Where Love Is, God Is." It is about an old cobbler named Martin who lived alone. One night as he read the story of Jesus visiting the Pharisee, and the poor welcome he received, he prayed that the Lord would visit him. In his sleep he heard a voice saying, ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 4:7-8

The Feeling Fine

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 26, 2021

Everything we do aids the health of body, mind and soul. It all ties in to the two great commandments of loving God with your whole being and your neighbor as yourself.

A farmers son, who was about to begin his studies at medical school said, "Dad, when I get to be a doctor, I think I'll specialize in obstetrics." The old man shook his head and responded, "Likely you'll be just wasting your time son. Chances are, soon as you begin making ...read more

Scripture: 3 John 1:1-8

Ruin Without Remedy Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 27, 2021

The unforgivable sin is not a sin you can stumble into accidentally, or perform in ignorance. You can blaspheme God and Christ in ignorance not knowing what you are doing, but the unforgivable sin is a sin done with clear and certain knowledge.

A certain seer warned Caesar to be on guard against a great peril on the day of March which the Romans called Ides. When the day came and Caesar was on his way to the senate house he greeted the seer with a jest, and said, "Well, the Ides of March are come." "Aye," said the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 3:22-30

Pants, Boats And Other Weird Requests Series

Contributed by Fr Mund Cargill Thompson on Mar 27, 2021

Is God asking you to do something unusual? How would you know if God was speaking to you? Has he perhaps already asked you to do something? What did he ask you to do? How did he speak to you? Have you begun it yet?

.................................................................................................................... At first glance it appears to be a crowning symbol of obnoxious rock star excess, yet a closer look reveals a deeper story about how a band used a tiny candy to alert them to major ...read more

Scripture: Mark 11:1-11, 2 Kings 5:11-12

Denomination: Anglican

Educated Love Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 1, 2021

Paul is not knocking the love of the Philippians. Kindergarten love is not bad, but it is no place to level off and be content. A child who does not progress beyond kindergarten is greatly handicapped, and so is the Christian whose love does not abound more and more in knowledge.

The best of Christians make their share of mistakes, but John Turner was apparently trying to get a large portion of his quota of mistakes out of the way all in one day. John was a conscientious pastor who got to his church early one Sunday morning, and he discovered that he had left his sermon ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:1-11

Good Out Of Evil Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 1, 2021

Paul never dreamed that his days in prison would be days God would use him to let his light shine through all of history because of the epistles he would write there. We should pray, "Lord this is a bad day I am having, what good can you help me make of it for your glory?"

Luther Burbank, the world famous scientist, worked for years to try and develop a black-petaled lily. He had several thousand experimental lily plants in his laboratory. A sudden cloudburst let loose a flood of rain that they were all washed away. William Stidger tells of sympathizing with him ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:12-26