Bbc Sermons

Like many things in the Kingdom of God, receiving honor works in a somewhat backwards way. To be honored, one must give honor away.  This might seem counter-intuitive to many in our world, but true servants, like the one we ordained this Sunday as a deacon, know that the most honorable people always put themselves last.

No question about it, this campaign season has been a doozy.  In fact, at times it's been downright disheartening.  Nonetheless, in the face of such discouragement, it can be helpful to remember that God has seen it all before.  Sometimes those reminders come from unexpected places (#hamilton), but history is clear—God is here, and that should influence how we respond to every discouragement we face.

Some of us go through life like a vampire—undead.  We're scared truly to live, and likewise we're equally as frightened of the prospect of dying.  Is this what God intends, or when Jesus tells us he offers "life to the full," could he be calling us to something more?

Summary: Most people would think Dr. Victor Frankenstein is hard to relate to—he's a mad scientist blinded by his desire to be like God.  But if we examine our human roots more closely, we might discover that, in many ways, we aren't all that different from him.  It's a scary thought, but scarier still if we don't take a moment to own our ungodly desire for divine power before it turns us into monsters ourselves…

Summary: On UNIFY Sunday, our two unique services come together for ONE service of worship.  In many ways, our services are not unlike our two unique stained glass windows, each one made up of beautiful, broken pieces that are ALL essential to the church as a whole.

Why did Jesus choose Communion?  He could have chosen any number of other ways for us to commemorate his life and sacrifice, but he went with a meal of bread and wine.  There are probably plenty of theological and symbolic reasons he did so, but perhaps a simpler possibility is that Jesus chose to give us Communion because of the sound that it makes. Listening Note: This sermon builds on a point introduced in a BBC original video; check it out here!

Hear guest preacher Dr. Barry Jones, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Campbell University Divinity School, as he helps us find truth for living in the greatest Mule Days story of all time—Balaam's Talking Donkey!

BBC members Margene Holak and Janet Matthews share messages that God has placed on their hearts for Women's Sunday.

Some of Jesus' words get repeated more than others.  It's easy to see why, of course; "For God so loved the world…" is a much happier thought than "whoever does not hate his mother and father cannot be my disciple."  But that doesn't mean the harder words aren't just as important.  In fact, sometimes a hard word is exactly what we need to push us from the edge of faith into the living water.

Sitting down.  It's a decision we make multiple times each day, so often that we usually don't even think about where we do it.  But in our Scripture today, Jesus reminds us that our faith should influence everything in our lives, including the way we answer one of life's most practical questions:Where do I sit?

No doubt about it, life's a marathon, full of sweat, cramps, and blistery tootsies.  Because of all those hurdles, a lot of people drop out.  But in the eternal power of God's love, we can find the strength we need to run with endurance; it rests not only within ourselves, but within those who are running alongside us. Listening Note: This sermon, like every sermon in our Olympic series, was preceded by an interview with Olympic puppet athletes; you can view today's interview with marathoners "Bliss, Teri, and Tootsie" here!

The sport of wrestling is a great metaphor for how we meet the struggles of life—we can either run, or stay in the ring and rumble.  Those are the same choices Jacob had when he was caught in a tussle with a divine opponent.  Through his example, we can find inspiration to take our struggles head on and refuse to let them go until they become for us a blessing. Listening Note: This sermon, like every sermon in our Olympic series, was preceded by an interview with an Olympic puppet athlete; you can view today's interview with wrestler "Greg O. Roman" here!

There's a lot involved in a relay.  You have to focus and maintain a tight grip on the baton in your hand, but also be willing to pass it off with grace when it's time to let it go.  It's the same way with church.  How can we care for the church and the traditions we love, yet hold them loosely enough to pass them on with grace to the next generation?  Perhaps an answer can be found in the Lord's Supper, which was a tradition that was passed down to Jesus, and that he has passed down to us. Listening Note: This sermon, like every sermon in our Olympic series, was preceded by an interview with Olympic puppet athletes; you can view today's interview with relay runners "Rudy, Seth, and Geaux" here!

Was David really an underdog?  Or is it possible that he was at an advantage solely because he was small?  The physical world as well as Scripture testify to God's knack for imbuing small things with tremendous power.  It's all a matter of compacting something grand and focusing it all in on one thing. Listening Note: This sermon, like every sermon in our Olympic series, was preceded by an interview with an Olympic puppet athlete; you can view today's interview with "Billy Bob 'B.B.' Gunn" at bensonbaptist.org/videos.

Swimming is a lot of work.  But it doesn't necessarily ensure that you get anywhere.  It's kind of like faith; we can spend all our lives spinning our arms, just going back and forth in the pool of Living Water.  Could it be that Jesus wants more for us than that? Listening Note: This sermon, like every sermon in our Olympic series, was preceded by an interview with an Olympic puppet athlete; you can view today's interview with "Michelle Felts" at bensonbaptist.org/videos.

No one tunes in to watch athletes training.  Similarly, no one recorded the 30 years of spiritual preparation that preceded the start of Jesus' ministry.  That means no one is going to care much about the "sweat" you put into your faith, either.  But is that why you do it?  Or do you do it, instead, because you love what you're training for? Listening Note: Included in this recording is audio of an interview Paul did with world class hurdler Kendra Harrison.  If you'd like to view the interview itself, you can find it at http://bensonbaptist.org/videos/.    

Caves get a bad rap.  Not to say it's undeserved, of course; the darkness that caves house can be frightening.  But if there's one good thing about darkness, it's that when you're in it, even the slightest light breaking through becomes undeniable.  Could it be, then, that God is calling us to "cave inward" into some of our dark places, examine the things that frighten us about ourselves, and invite God's light to illumine the caverns within so that we might be more fully who we've been made to be?   Listening Note: In the recording, you'll hear that there are supposed to be some slides that complement this sermon; we tried to upload them, but they were too big.  Feel free to imagine your own!

When does independence shift from being a blessing to being a curse?  Perhaps when it leads us to believe that being independent people means that we have no need for one another.  The reality is we are woefully dependent on the earth God has given us and the creatures who fill it, especially the human ones.

How hard is it to find a good father in the Word of God?  We try and find out in this Father's Day sermon, an interactive follow up to our Mother's Day crossword puzzle.  Be sure to download the puzzle from the link below to follow along as we perform a WORD search for the great fathers in Scripture! http://bensonbaptist.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Fathers-Day-WORD-Search-Puzzle.pdf