Julian's Sermons

  If a Christian has never dedicated any serious time to knowing God through His Word, their life will not look any different from an unbeliever’s. When this is the case, we miss out on all the blessings that come with Christian maturity. I want to show you that at times, the consequences of immaturity are serious. In the first message, we looked at potential consequences on our wellbeing. We saw that immature Christians may practice a false religion, they struggle to trust God in hard times, and when things get hard, they are more likely to turn their back on God. In this message, we will first see why we need the Bible to grow in our faith, then, we will look at the cost of Biblical indifference on our relationships. First, we see that the Bible is spiritual food. I know an older gentleman who says he is a Christian. However, he refuses to talk about the Bible because there are so many opinions on every topic, he does not want to have any arguments. To avoid conflict, he says ...

My Journey : I started following Jesus at age 20. First, I read through the Bible, then through the NT many times. The OT did not make much sense to me. In seminary, my OT professor kept telling us the only way to understand the whole Bible was to read it cover to cover, over and over again. I started doing that. As I read through the Bible, I became convinced that the Bible was a unified book. I also became convinced that to live the Christian life well, we needed more than a list of instructions to live by. We needed an intimate relationship with God. We need to become familiar with the story of God’s relationship with his people and see that he wants that relationship with us. We need God’s story to become our story. Rather than living our lives and seeing how God fits, we need to look at God’s story, God’s will for the world, and make his plan, our plan. If we know and love God, he will guide us in every decision, so we no longer need a list! Our devotion to the Bible: Do you k...

It is perfectly fitting to end the Gospel of Matthew to begin the New Year. The word “commencement” means “beginning” or “start.” Yet, we hear commencement speeches at graduations. I thought it would be better to have commencement speeches to begin the school year. But, I misunderstood graduations. Graduations mark new beginnings. Students are sent into the world to apply what they have learned. This is what the Great Commission speech is. We close the book of Matthew, but we begin a new year reminded of God’s marching orders. You cannot be a Bible-believing Christian and not be familiar with this passage. It would be like being a proud American who cannot recognize an American flag. In Matt 28:16–20, Jesus gives us, his followers, our marching orders. The Great Commission is the reason Jesus is delaying his return. We have one job to do. We are to make disciples of people of all ethnicities. I expect every follower of Jesus to already be familiar with this text, or start becoming fami...