Hoover Church of Christ Sermons

If you're following the church's Bible reading plan this year, you've just begun the book of Numbers, so you're about to read about a series of rebellions that culminate in an event at Kadesh-Barnea that seems to be the tipping point (the 12 scouts, Israel's disbelief, etc.). God turns them back toward the wilderness where they'll spend almost four decades. Our story today falls into this period of time–after the Kadesh rebellion and during the wilderness wandering. It's short, but

This is a familiar story to most Christians, and it's been preached many times over the years to help people realize how much Jesus cares about our attitude toward those who are disadvantaged. And that's certainly a needed emphasis. Tomorrow I plan to focus on an interesting nuance in the text, something that I've never thought that much about. For the most part, I'm going to ignore the last part of the story–about the ones who ignored the needs of

Most of us don't enjoy waiting, but it's interesting how God seems to think it's an important part of the walk of faith. How long did Abraham and Sarah wait for Isaac? Jacob waited for Rachel. Joseph waited for years in Egypt, and of course the Hebrews waited in slavery for 400 years. Throughout centuries of struggle, Israel longed for the anticipated Messiah. And we wait as well. In the text above, Paul says that “in this tent we groan,” and

Mark is a notoriously pithy writer who gets straight to the point and doesn't mince words. And yet he devotes twenty verses to this interesting encounter between Jesus and a violent, demon-possessed man that ends up with pigs diving into the sea. That makes us think that Mark thinks there's something important for us to see here. And there is. It's a story about demon possession, of course, but it's more than that. It serves as an illustration of how evil

What happens when we try to redefine good and evil on our own . . . when we live our lives “east of Eden”? After observing the Fall of humanity in Genesis 3, we don't have to wait long to see the effects on the human race. Cain–motivated by anger, jealousy, and fear–murders his brother Abel, and a disheartening trajectory is established. When you read the story carefully, you'll notice quite a few parallels with the Fall narrative (God's questioning,

Most of us appreciate power . . . geopolitically, we want our country to be strong; in our work life, we want our opinions and decisions to matter; even in something as trivial as sports, we want our team to dominate others–usually through some combination of strength, speed, and agility. In other words, we like power, because power gets things done. Israel, as you know, was looking for a powerful Messiah, a Davidic King who would follow in the footsteps

It almost sounds like Jesus is trying to discourage people from following him, doesn't it? And yet, of course, we know that he came to invite everyone to follow him, so we know he doesn't want to turn anyone away. So what's going on? There's a theme in Luke's gospel that comes into play here, I think. The paragraph we're studying tomorrow is at the beginning of a part of Luke that is often called The Travel Narrative or The

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you

On each first Sunday this year, I've been reflecting on different passages in Scripture where the theme of Renewal is emphasized. I'll continue that tomorrow. Everyone–regardless of his or her faith orientation–wonders about the afterlife. What happens after death? Is there a heaven? A hell? Will I simply cease to exist? What will the afterlife be like? Perhaps these questions become more vivid when life is hard, especially when we feel like our days on earth are numbered. Is this

When we suffer, we're tempted to question God's presence and sovereignty, even more so when the suffering is directly tied to our following Christ. Where is God? Does he know? Does he care? Why isn't he doing anything? Peter's response–as it so often is for him and other biblical writers–is to go to Jesus, specifically to his death, resurrection, and exaltation. There's a significant interpretive difficulty in this passage, and we'll spend a little time with it Sunday, but even

When the world gets darker, light is more easily seen. In our text for tomorrow, Peter seems to assume this: people who don't follow Christ will become curious about the source of our hope, and they will occasionally ask where it comes from. “I've noticed something different about you . . . you don't seem to be affected by life's difficulties as the rest of us are. How do you do that?” “How do you avoid getting caught up in

The theme for 2021 is “RENEW,” and we've been exploring some aspect of that theme on the first Sunday morning of each month. Tomorrow we'll focus on Paul's words to the young church planter, Titus, who was in a difficult environment on the island of Crete. Paul uses a quite powerful word in verse 5 when he writes that salvation comes about by the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word behind “regeneration” quite literally

Our theme for 2021 is RENEW, and on the first Sunday of each month, I plan to address a different aspect of renewal. This Sunday we'll focus our attention on a famous psalm of David. The background of Psalm 51 is his sin with Bathsheba and his being convicted of his sin by Nathan the prophet. [To appreciate the context and to get a feel for David's remorse, you might read the whole psalm.] David is devastated by what he's The post Renew a Right Spirit Within Me appeared first on Hoover Church of Christ.

Mark begins his gospel by making it clear who the subject of his narrative is: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). Near the end he includes this confession–from the mouth of a calloused, pagan centurion: “And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!” (15:39). And in all the chapters in between, he's concerned about The post Who Do You Say that He is? appeared first on Hoover Church of Christ.

Many folks in our congregation are reading through the Bible again this year, and most reading plans–including the one we invited people to join–spend much of January in Genesis. One thing that jumps out at me every time I read through Genesis is this: these people God called aren't particularly good people. I don't mean that they weren't at times characterized by faith or that they didn't grow in their faith. I'm just always surprised again at some of the things The post God's Broken Heroes appeared first on Hoover Church of Christ.

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As I've previously mentioned, in December I've deviated from the One Word devotional reading topics and have done something different. 2020 has been a hard year for many people, including many in our congregation. Anxiety levels for some people are higher than ever. Professional counselors are suggesting that they're receiving a record number of requests from people who are seeking help for various problems. For December I'm preaching a short series called, “Daily Practices for Anxious Times.” I sense there's a need for us to revisit The post Daily Practices for Anxious Times: Serve appeared first on Hoover Church of Christ.

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This week we enter a four-week stretch in the One Word devotional readings where we focus on the nature of salvation. These four themes are Justification, Propitiation, Redemption, and Atonement. Tomorrow we'll study the first of those–Justification–by using a story Jesus once told about two men who went to the temple to pray. One pleased God, and one didn't. The punch line is verse 14: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.” That The post This Man Went Down to his House Justified appeared first on Hoover Church of Christ.