I have added some new pictures to my gallery. Go to the link on the right that reads My Pictures.

This is my latest sermon.  It is the first in a sermon series on the last week of Christ before Easter.  It was on the Triumphal Entry.  It is  a narrative, first-person monologue told from the view of the owner of the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem on.  The theme of the message is Letting Christ Enter Your Life.  The outline followed the story.  I shared three groups of people who were there that day.  Those who fully supported Jesus as Messiah and sang praises to Him.  Those who were like the Pharisees and High Priest and opposed Jesus.  And finally, those who were in between and possibly influenced by one of the other groups.  The question was, which one are you?  Do you worship Christ as Savior, actively supporting Him or do you oppose Him and reject Him?  Or are you one of the mushy middle easily influenced by the crowd.

Ray VanderLaan is an expert in Jewish Culture, especially as it relates to Biblical Studies.  He has a web site called Follow the Rabbi.  Focus on the Family a few years ago did a video tape series called That The World May Know feature Ray teaching people about Jewish culture from the most significant sites in the Holy Land.  I have used this video tape series in my teaching ministry at my church.  Now I found this site and have added it to my list of favorite links.  Check it out.  It is very good stuff.

Here is an example of something that was very helpful in a recent sermon.  I’m preaching on Palm Sunday and the information on the background of how and why people layed down and waved palm branches while singing the Hallel, a song based on Psalm 118 which has the phrase “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”  This was a political and nationalistic celebration.  During the Maccabbean time a coin was fashioned with a palm branch on it.  People wave them to commemorate the redemption of Israel from Egypt.  During Jesus day they waved them to say we long for freedom from Rome.  So when Jesus entered on a donkey (a fulfillment of the Messianic Prophecy in Zech. 9:9) the people were saying that he would give them this freedom.

Some of this I knew.  But the part about the coin and the nationalistic symbol of the Palm branch I did not

Good stuff!!

Here is a link to my final sermon from Nehemiah.  It was entitled The Lasting Results of Worship from Nehemiah 10-12.  The main idea is that worship is not marked by emotionalism, visible or outward signs, or by how solemn and serious you are.  Rather worship, if it is sincere, wil have lasting results in our obedience to Christ.  You can listen to it here or go to iTunes and listen via the iTunes music store.