Sermons by David Jacobson
A Great Homecoming
On this joyous homecoming day I’d like to talk with you about perhaps the greatest homecoming in all of scripture. The reading from Luke is probably one of most famous stories in the Bible, and it’s frequently called the parable of the prodigal son. But the story comes from a context that we should remember before we dive into it. Jesus tells three parables about things…
Receiving the Kingdom like a Child
I’d like to speak to you today about “Receiving/Welcoming the kingdom like a child” from our Mark passage Now, anyone that was awake during the Gospel reading noticed that the first 75% of the passage was not about this topic. Jesus was talking about divorce. Nearly all of you don’t want to hear a sermon about divorce. I don’t want to preach a sermon on divorce. But Jesus…
Friendship with God: Part 5 (My Story)
Friendship with God
We’re in our 4th week of a sermon series on the book of James called “Friendship with God.” Have you heard of “the Five Love Languages?” The idea comes from a book by Gary Chapman, and it’s frequently used with married couples or couples about to get married. The basic idea is that everyone has one or more primary ways in which they receive love, and the person that…
Friendship with God: Part 3
We are in week 3 of our series on the book of James called Friendship with God. In this series we’re thinking about questions like “What if we’ve set our sights too low?” “What if our faith is deeper and more life-transforming than we’ve ever imagined?” “What if we are meant to live in deep friendship with God?” As most of you know, I’m a relatively new pastor. Just over…
Friendship with God: Part 2
We’re in week two of our series on the book of James, called Friendship with God. The premise of the series is this: Jesus isn’t just out to make believers, he’s out to make people who are actually friends with God. James pushes us to ask this question: what if our concept of faith is too shallow? What if we’re setting our sights too low? What if there is so much…
Friendship with God: Part 1
This week we’re beginning a five week sermon series on the book of James. The series is entitled Friendship with God. Series Background The title comes from two verses in the book of James that I believe are the theme of the whole book. The first is Chapter 2, verse 23, which says, “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to…
Anger
A Sermon on Ephesians 4:25-5:2 This week I encountered this quote from writer and preacher Frederick Buechner. “Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are…
David and Bathsheba
A Sermon based on from 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a I’ll love to tell you that I planned a 5-part series on the life of David and that we’re in week three of that series. The reality though is that for about 2 months I have been planning to go off-lectionary and preach a series on spiritual gifts. My hope is that we all might be able to see how the Holy Spirit has…
The Christmas Present
A Sermon for Christmas Eve, 2017, based on Luke 2:11-12 What is the worst Christmas present you’ve ever gotten? When I was a little boy, I thought that pretty much every Christmas gift that wasn’t a video game or at least a toy was the worst Christmas present I’d ever gotten. To shirts, I’d say “Why?” To socks? “Are you kidding me?” To a book? Well, it could be worse… (It…