Tipping Sacred Cow

In order to make up for my lack of posts I am uploading this past Sunday's message. We discussed what is likely the most practical letter in the Bible - 1 Peter.  The letter answers a lot of important questions, the most crucial being, "How should Elect Exiles (Royal Refugees) live in a world that is not their own?"  I hope you enjoy.    

The community where I am called to serve has had a devastating 2016. I say this due to the fact that since the beginning of the year five teens have chosen to end their lives. This has both rocked the community as well as brought the issue of teen suicide to the collective attention of my city. Naturally, when tragedy such as this happens we begin to ask questions... "Why did this happen? What can we do to prevent this? How can I help?" These questions are natural and necessary, and can pop up in conversations when you least expect them. Take for example the monthly radio interview I do with our local Christian radio station. Every month I come in and give a brief 10 minute description of all the upcoming events at our church. We typically begin with pleasantries and idle chitchat before I move on to my list of events. This time I was hit with a more serious question about the issue of teen suicide. I took some time to speak to the topic, and then moved on to my list. I didn't give the interview much thought until a local pastor called me and explained how thankful he was for everything that I had said. I can only assume that my response helped - at least for him - answer those natural and necessary questions everyone has been asking. You can find the audio for that interview at the bottom of this post. Before you give the audio a listen, please understand that I generalized my comments. Although I understand there can be chemical and biological factors that cause depression, I did not specifically address those. Nor did I address the need for support programs or seeking the help of trained professionals. What I did do was give an answer for what the church can do. Can the church create programs, train counsellors and engage in community youth events? Yes and amen it can. However, as the unique body of Christ, the primary thing we can do is utilize the spiritual gifts and tools Christ has given us to use.  We can pray, and we can share the hope of His calling and the riches of His glorious inheritance. Feel free to listen and maybe place your comments below.

To make up for my lack of updates I have taken the liberty of posting a sermon I delivered at Life Church. In the sermon I cover Acts 4:32-5:11. Some of you may recognize this as the location of the Ananias & Sapphira story. I discuss what the issue that lead to their death (and it may not be what you were thinking) and how we fall into the exact same sin today. I apologize for any substandard illustrations, I was running on a few hours sleep.  I pray something in this message blesses you.  Enjoy.  

To make up for my lack of updates I have taken the liberty of posting a recent sermon I delivered at Life Church. It happened to be a service in which we were baptizing a group of new believers. What better time could there be to talk about our identity in Christ than right before a bunch of baptisms?  The scriptures used in the sermon were Col 3:1-3 and Gal 2:20.  Enjoy.

Biblical Masculinity: The Church Needs Men   Today I am posting a message I gave a few years back about Biblical masculinity.  I hate to say it, but one of the most endangered animals on the planet is the Godly Man.  One of the reasons for this is the confusion surrounding what it means to be a man, in particular what it means to be a Godly man.  This is a topical message, so those of you that lean toward exegetical preaching (I am totally with you on this) be warned.  My main scripture is 1Cor 16:13-14.  I hope you enjoy.  

Is There Life After Death?   This is Tipping Sacred Cows fist podcast.  What I will be covering the ever popular question, "Is there life after death?"  Feel free to check it out if you are interested in hearing the answer, or if you simply make fun of my first attempt at podcasting.  In either case I hope you enjoy. Scriptures covered:  Job 14:14, Matt 25:46, Luke 16:19-21, Heb 9:27