WMBC - Sermons

Learning to Live Without Revenge

Growing up, I often heard adults say “The time should fit the crime.” Our idea of a just world is one in which those who hurt or wrong us get what they deserve. Jesus however tells us do not resist an evil person and do not seek revenge. Join us this Sunday as we unpack Matthew 5:38-42, and learn what it means to nonresistantly love those who hurt us, and in turn invite others to be transformed by the power of Jesus.

Learning to Live Without Lying

Simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no” – Jesus.  That all sounds quite simple, doesn’t it? But don’t confuse simple with easy; studies reveal that the average person speaks 1-2 lies a day, with 60% of us unable to get through a 10 minute conversation without lying. In the age of fake news, false promises, and there absolutely being no absolutes – how does the Good News of the Kingdom shape our promises? Let’s talk about it, see you Sunday.

Learning to Live Without Lust

Heads up parents! This week’s message will be focusing on sexual desire – good and bad. If your kids or pre-teens are in the service for the message, they will hear Jesus’s teaching on serious sexual topics.  Our society is obsessed with sexuality and lust. How often is sexual conquest the driving force behind the advertisements we see? How many of the songs you’ll listen this week are simply odes to lust covered in the veneer of love? How many sex scenes will we see this week in our TV shows? Have we become desensitized to the sexually explicit in our culture? YES. Jesus knew how important sexuality is, how it can destroy life or enhance life. Join us as we learn how to live without lust.

Things Aren't Always What They Seem

The things that we often assume Jesus to be saying are, sometimes, not at all what He is actually saying. The meaning can be quite different than what we assume it to be – quite different than what we’ve often been taught that it means. And a big reason for this is the culture and context into which it was originally spoken.  The original hearers would have understood what Jesus was saying by do not resist, turn the other cheek, give your coat, go two miles. The reality is, none of these statements are passive, none of them say, “give up” none of them are a charge to let yourself be walked over. Every single one of them is a non-violent way of confronting and dealing with the abuse that was rampant in that society. And everyone hearing Jesus say these things would have understood because they were a part of the culture and the context into which these things were spoken.

Learning to Live Without Anger

We live in a culture that in many ways celebrates anger – it is the performative emotion in the pursuit of social justice and societal change; we often use it as a virtue signal of our zeal for holiness. This Sunday, Jesus will teach us another way, why anger is so dangerous, and the high calling to live without anger. For Jesus, the Kingdom was not simply a nice idea, but a very real place – life with God, as God intended, a place where reconciliation reigns over rage.