Sermon Blog

In 1984, Bonnie Tyler, was “Holding Out For A Hero.”  How many of your remember that song, featured in the movie Footloose.  The chorus went like this (no, I am not going to sing it): I need a hero I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the end of the night He’s gotta be strong and he’s gotta be fast And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I’m holding out for a hero ‘til the morning light He’s gotta be sure and it’s gotta be soon And he’s gotta be larger than life, larger than life… In her music video that apparently has nothing to do with the movie, Tyler is under attack by three “evil” cowboys...and as she sings through the song, with an angelic choir singing backup, she waits, house burning to the ground, until her gun-toting hero shows up to save her. The Hebrew people were holding out for a hero too.  We have talked about it several times.  They were looking for that warrior…for a mighty “goliath-slaying-military-routing-death-dealing” king like David t...

  Remember with me for a moment.   Remember a time when you were alone.   There may have been other people around, but you were alone.   Maybe, if there were other people around you, you did not know any of them.   Maybe you were in a place that you hadn’t been in before.   Everything around you was unfamiliar.   You were lost.   Maybe that sense of being lost was not because of where you stood figuratively, but where your heart and mind stood.   Maybe it was fear that left you feeling alone.   You were scared because something had changed, and you did not know what that day or the next would bring.   Maybe it happened when you stood in a classroom for the first day of school.   Maybe it happened when you started a job with a new company.   Maybe it happened when your spouse was transferred and you walked in the grocery store in the new town.   Maybe…maybe…maybe…it happened standing in your living room after the folks...

Do you remember those days from elementary school?  The days from physical education, gym, or recess when it was time to play kickball, basketball, baseball, or some other team sport.  Two captains were selected and everyone else lined up and waited.  We waited for one of those captains to call our name.  With each round that passed, when we still didn’t hear our name called, we became more and more discouraged, perhaps our hearts and spirits a little more broken, as we were passed over time and time again. Maybe the feelings are fresher than our childhood days.  Maybe we have applied for a job or job promotion.  We have submitted application after application, résumé after résumé, and perhaps gone to interview after interview.  However, when the phone call, letter, or conference with our employer came, it has always been the same:  “We want to thank you for your interest in the position.  Unfortunately we had a lot of qualified candidates,...

If you are wondering why we are in Mark rather than Revelation, it is because we are pausing from our journey through Revelation to focus upon this Holy Week…upon the cross today and the resurrection next week… Michael Vick.   Star Quarterback arrested for Dog-Fighting.   Barry Bonds. Seven-time Major League Baseball MVP jailed found guilty of Obstruction of Justice.     Jeremy Mayfield.   Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Winner, banned indefinitely after testing positive for methamphetamine.   These athletes and their fans at some point were probably left shaking their heads, asking “What happened?”   As “hero’s” went very rapidly to “zero’s.” From the choir’s singing this morning, moving from “The Triumphant Entrance Medley” to “Written in Red,” and from our Scripture reading this morning…we witnessed a Biblical “hero to zero” story that probably left many of Jesus’ followers standing around with their heads spinning in confusion, wondering “what happen...

If you have ever watched the movie Transformers, you’ve seen Scorponok in the massive desert battle.   When I read the description of the creatures erupting from the fifth trumpet, this is the vision that comes to mind.   Scorponok was a scorpion-based evil Decepticon.   The creatures from the fifth trumpet are metal plated scorpion based locust.   Both images, though slightly different, offer a completely terrifying vision.   Could Scroponok’s design been influenced by this passage of Revelation?   I could not find anything to indicate that it was, but the image just proved fresh and just as terrifying.   Scorponok’s superior was Megatron…here we read that these locust based scorpions are not ruled over by Megatron, but by an angel from Satan’s realm…the angel was called Abaddon or Apollyon…translated as Destruction and Destroyer.   However, before I have us all expecting a Decepticon-like emergence of Revelation’s creatures, remember that what ...