Pastor David Keuss - Hope without Compromise

     Recently, I came across when looking for a sermon illustration, a story of the Top 10 worst NFL fumble situations in history. The article covers some classics. Here is that article . An example many remember is the 2006 fumble of quarterback Tony Romo with the Dallas Cowboys. A divisional round was very close and the game was within just one point. That is when Romo fumbled the ball from a snap and the Giants benefited from it. Oops. This is not to pick on Romo, he had lots of great plays too (most will admit). But he didn't always measure up, despite the practice, coaching, and need to do so. People are like that before a completely holy and perfect God (Romans 3:10; 23). The wages or earnings of people, it is spiritual death, Romans 6:23. But there is good news. It's all about Jesus, not you.       What I find wonderful to remember for the Christian person, is you cannot fumble your salvation if you have placed saving faith in Jesus Christ. When...

        When you go to work, it may feel like it is definitely not in God's presence some days. Certainly not every or perhaps most workplaces do not feel like God's presence. However, we do serve the Lord wherever we are, for His purposes, Acts 17:22-33 as Paul explained to the Athenians at Mars Hill (a place you can still visit today in Athens).         When you set about serving the Lord, even in a challenging environment, there are times it is clearly God's will (without denying there are places that you should not be). Take the situation of the people of Israel who lived in Jerusalem around the time of Haggai the prophet. They had come back to the Promised Land to settle it and rebuild the Temple. They set up their own homes. But they didn't get far enough along to reestablish their habit of worship and the worship center, the Temple there. They only had a foundation and a makeshift altar. That wasn't the plan, to stop there.  ...

       The Lord is interested in helping you to get back on track. It's no secret many in our time have fallen out of their walk with the Lord. But in the Bible, we see a picture of hope in return to walking with the Lord. There's a picture of this in Israel's return to the Promised Land. In the Old Testament prophet Haggai, we find an amazing picture of God's mercy and long-suffering with the Israelites who returned to the Promised Land. Some 20 years earlier or so, they had returned from the lands of the East to the area of Judea, and specifically to Jerusalem. What made this significant is the blessing to rebuild the Temple, that went with it. The Persian King Darius continued to endorse that plan.        What's amazing is that Israel returned to the Land, but did not initiate building the Temple once again beyond just the foundation work. The building structure of the Temple remained undone. Generations before, they had all built the first Tem...

       When it comes to the Christian life, a lot of people try to pit certainty versus faith, as though you could. But that is not God's calling upon you or me. In fact, we must see that God gives us certainty various ways, that go with faith. As St. Augustine helpfully said long ago, "Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand." So we find something of a reminder in Luke's Gospel, chapter one on this.        Here's what Luke says in chapter one: " Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,   just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.   With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,   so that you may know the certainty of the things...

As you wake up, especially on the Lord's Day, it might be that you are opening your Bible and listening to the heart of your Father in Heaven on those pages. You might be on a Bible reading plan or at least have some strategy for reading. One day you might be in Isaiah chapters 44-45, hearing what God said through that prophet of old. One of the wonderful things you'd discover is a very high view of God in the life of Isaiah. He was one who knew his own limits, Isaiah chapter 6. Recall that he overheard this powerful song, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory." That heavenly scene put his own views into perspective. Can I be very up front with you now? We all need that. You need that reminder, I do, we all do, regularly, weekly, even daily. Otherwise, we get prideful. God > Me. That is what Isaiah 44-45 reminds us and reminded the original hearers of too. To God's people, by implication we are all asked as well to ...