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Brad's Sermons |
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| Author: | Brad Miller | Created: | 10/30/2007 2:53 AM |  | | Archive of BCC Sermons by Brad |
| Sunday January 24, 2010 "Honoring the Gift" 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11 | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2010 1:24 PM | |
| One day a few years ago my mother and I were sitting in the kitchen talking. We were talking about when my brother and sister and were young, reminiscing about things we had done, laughing about trouble we sometimes got into. It was a chance for me to ask a question I was really curious about.
“How,” I asked her, “did you and Daddy manage to make us all feel special, all feel loved, and all feel like we could do what we wanted to do, without a hint of favoritism?”
My mother did not hesitate for a second. “Oh, it was easy to not play favorites and to make each of you feel special, because the three of you were so different! You needed different things, you excelled at different things, you had different personalities, so there was no worry about treating you “the same”. The fact was, you weren’t the same, so we didn’t have to treat you the same!”
"You all had different gifts,” she continued, “So the best thing we could do you was to encourag ... |  | |
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| | Sunday January 17, 2010 "Where to Start?" Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22 | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2010 1:22 PM | |
| Have you ever been so ready for something to happen, but weren’t sure where you were to start to make it happen?
The people who knew John the Baptist were ready. They were ready for something, they just weren’t exactly sure what it was they were ready for. They were ready for the appearance of a messiah, a messiah that would lead them out of the oppression that they felt on a daily basis. They were ready to be able to fully and completely live out their religious and civic desires.
Oh, they were ready.
They just didn’t know where to start.
They looked at John the Baptist, and they wondered, “Is this where we start? Could John be the messiah?”
I’m not sure whether the question “could John be the messiah?” is a hopeful question or a question that is filled with some trepidation. The same question might be asked differently: “You don’t really think John could be the messiah, do you?”
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| | Sunday January 3, 2009 "Beginning Again" John 1: 1-18 | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2010 1:19 PM | |
| Sunday January 3, 2009
“Beginning Again”
John 1: 1-18
As we move through the Christmas season – and no, Christmas is not quite over – we have lots of opportunities to reflect on everything that has gone on over the past few month. The things we have talked about in worship and in our bible study classes; the gatherings with friends and families; the gifts exchanged; the relationships renewed; the stresses and strains that come with all the activity.
We have spent the better part of Advent and Christmas doing our best to reconnect with “the reason for the season” and celebrate the amazing story that surrounds the birth of Jesus. But, still somehow, we get to this point as Christmastide begins to wind down and the question still lingers: “What was that all about, anyway?”
The writer of the Gospel of John gives us a resounding, emphatic answer. John’s eloquent reply nearly thunders across the centuries: “In the begin ... | | |
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| | Sunday December 20, 2009 "Daylight Again" Isaiah 9:2-7 | |
| By Brad Miller on12/23/2009 12:11 PM | |
| The prophet Isaiah had seen darkness.
Isaiah, son of Amoz, prophesied in the latter half of the eighth century BC and witnessed the rise of the second Assyrian empire. Under the aggressive policies of it’s king Tiglath-pileser III, Assyria eventually conquered or annexed much of Syria and its neighbors, including the kingdom of Israel and it’s capital. In opposition to the growing Assyrian presence, Kings of the region formed a coalition to resist the encroaching empire and to fight together. King Ahaz of Jerusalem refused to join in the fight and was immediately overrun by this new coalition.
Rather than wait for God’s promised deliverance, Ahaz sided with the Assyrians and became a protectorate of Assyria. But this meant bowing to the dictates of Tilgath-pileser and led to the wholesale deportation of Israelites into forced exile.
This is what darkness meant to the people of Isaiah’s time: total domination by the Assyrians and strai ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 29, 2009 "In Those Days" Jeremiah 33:14-16 | |
| By Brad Miller on12/2/2009 9:28 AM | |
| Advent can be a strange time.
Advent is part of our Christmas celebration, yet it is something completely distinct and different, too.
Advent is about preparation, but it is not always clear what it is we preparing for.
Advent is firmly rooted in future, yet cannot be fully appreciated unless we can position ourselves in the past.
Advent is about celebrating what is to come, even though it already HAS come.
Advent is about taking comfort it what HAS come, and preparing to be surprised by what we already know.
Yes, you could say that Advent is a confused and confusing time.
And nowhere is that confusion more acutely felt than in the Jeremiah passage we heard read this morning.
But before we get to Jeremiah’s confusing times, let’s think a bit about our confusion with Advent.
Advent is the beginning of the ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 22, 2009 "Alpha and Omega" Revelation 1:4b-8 | |
| By Brad Miller on11/23/2009 4:07 PM | |
| Today is Thanksgiving Sunday and one of the things that I am most thankful for is the opportunity to be here at Brookhaven in ministry with each and every one of you. And I want to make that clear: we are in ministry together. That means we face the tough times together and celebrate the good times together. We welcome new babies and new friends into this fellowship together and we say goodbye to old friends together. We join together in prayer to strengthen not only ourselves, but also all those who we know need God’s presence. We learn together. We laugh together. We cry together. We live our lives dedicated to spreading God’s word and doing God’s will, together.
So, together we gather to give thanks. And it starts with a simple question: what are we thankful for? I know some of the things I am thankful for: I am thankful that I grew up with loving parents and an active and vital church and neighborhood family. They have all had a hand in helping to shape who I am, and for ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 15, 2009 "Becoming Hannah" 1 Samuel 2: 1-10 | |
| By Brad Miller on11/17/2009 9:23 AM | |
| The scripture this morning is 1 Samuel 2: 1-10, but we need some context before we get there.
Here’s how I remember the story:
There was a woman named Hannah who was married to a man name Elkanah. But Hannah wasn’t Elkahnah’s only wife. He had another wife named Peninnah. Here is what distinguished Hannah from Peninnah. First, Peninnah had children, while Hannah had none. Second, Peninnah was not a very nice woman – taunting and ridiculing Hannah whenever possible – all because Hannah had no children. Somehow, in Penninah’s mind, that made her better than Hannah. And apparently, Hannah thought so, too. She let Penninah’s ridicule and provocation get to her, and so she became depressed and spent a large amount of time, weeping for her affliction.
The third thing that distiniguished Hannah from Peninnah, is that their shared husband, Elkanah, loved Hannah best. Whenever they ate the meal following the sacrificial ceremony of blessing ... | | |
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| | Sunday October 18, 2009 "Risky Business" Luke 4:18-19 | |
| By Brad Miller on10/21/2009 4:29 PM | |
| This faith stuff is very definitely risky business.
Look at our messiah if you have any doubts about that. Fully divine, fully human, he walked among the people of Israel and Palestine and taught and lived and ministered and preached. Then he died because of what he had dared to say and do.
The example of Jesus is one that we must take to heart if we are to understand the notion of risk taking, because his life and death are the very definition of risk taking. Stepping out in faith to do God’s will and to serve God’s people. Moving beyond one’s comfortable existence and putting one’s very life at risk.
Jesus’ ministry in it’s broadest sense was a ministry of service. Service to all of humanity by providing a link to a relationship with God. Service to those sick and suffering he met along the way by providing healing. Service to those who were the outsiders by providing hope. It is the hallmark of his ministry and as the church ... | | |
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| | Sunday September 20, 2009 "Draw Near to God" James 3: 13 – 4:3, 7-8a | |
| By Brad Miller on10/12/2009 10:18 AM | |
| As we continue our study of James, we look back to the lessons of the last to weeks: James proclamations that how we live our lives matters and what we say and how we say it matters.
Today’s scripture continues in this vein, but here, James begins to move toward helping us understand exactly what it is we should do to live the Christian life. This is especially welcome in light of the passage last week where James is so clear about we are NOT to do, but a bit less helpful in helping to define what we are supposed to do, and how to do it.
In this passage, James is stepping away from his diatribe style and moving instead into what Biblical scholars call an interrogatory style. In short, it means he is framing his advice by raising questions and providing answers.
The first question James raises is “Who is wise and understanding among you?”
If we were to look around this sanctuary this morning, each of us could come u ... | | |
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| | Sunday September 13, 2009 "Godspeak" James 3:1-12 | |
| By Brad Miller on9/16/2009 2:54 PM | |
| Last week, we spent some time looking at James, the brother of Jesus, and his views on living the Christian life through good works. Good works that glorify God and that make our faith come alive for all to see. The message of James was not that faith is unimportant. Rather it was that stepping out in service because of our faith was something that Jesus instructed us to do on several occasions. To James, and to Jesus, how we live our lives, the actions we take, the lives we touch, are all important testimony to our faith.
In this weeks scripture, we see James addressing something similar. Whereas last week we heard a resounding “how we live is important” this week the message is only slightly altered. This week James wants us to see that “what we say is important.”
It’s easy to understand that if we put our faith into action and do our best to help those who need assistance, people will take notice of that and when we do it all to God’s glory, people will ... | | |
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