Nov. 14, 2006 - My husband's sermon on the Da Vinci Code

Posted in Sermon notes

A.                 I’m sure that by this time, you have all heard of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.  The book has sold more than 40 million copies and has been translated into over 40 different languages.  The movie brought in over $217 million in the box office (a little bit of which came from me).  It has been turned into a video game, and since the movie has just come out on DVD, people are again thinking and wondering about The Da Vinci Code.

B.                 While The Da Vinci Code tells an adventurous murder mystery thriller on the surface, the underlying message is clear: The Bible is incomplete and inaccurate.  The book asserts that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God, but was deified three hundred years later by Emperor Constantine; that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, who bore his child and gave rise to a prominent family line that is still present in Europe today; and that Jesus wanted Mary Magdalene to lead his church, but she was forced out by power-hungry men.  One of the characters in the book says, “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.”  Instead of a literal cup or chalice, the Holy Grail is actually Mary Magdalene and the “royal bloodline” of Jesus.  Leonardo da Vinci was supposedly one of the keepers of this secret and hid clues in his art.  And the Catholic Church, of course, is trying to keep this hidden from the world.  A lot of the ideas come from a 1980s book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail, whose authors by the way, tried to sue Dan Brown. 

C.                 You may be thinking, “So what?  The Da Vinci Code is just a fiction.”  Well, that would be fine and true if that’s what Dan Brown was claiming.

1.                  One of the first things a reader of The DaVinci Code will see as they open the book, is a page titled “FACT.”  Among the things on this page is a statement: “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”

2.                  In an interview with Good Morning America when asked: “If you were writing it as a nonfiction book, how would it have been different?”  Dan Brown responded:  “I don’t think it would have. I began the research for The Da Vinci Code as a skeptic. I entirely expected, as I researched the book, to disprove this theory, and after numerous trips to Europe and two years of research, I really became a believer.”

3.                  In another interview, Dan Brown said, “I wanted to write a book that while it entertained at the same time, you close that last page and go ‘Wow, do you know how much I just learned?  That’s fascinating.’ That is really what I set out to do.”

4.                  And polls have found that up to 60% of the people who read the book believe the underlying message about the Bible and Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

5.                  Dan Brown was recently named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine for a reason.  So, please don’t give me, “Chill out; it’s just a fiction.”

D.                 1 Peter 3:15 says, “...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”  We need to know, not just what we believe, but why we believe it—and we need to be able to explain it to others.  This is something that you need to be able to do in regard to The Da Vinci Code.  There are so many people out there who want to believe it and after seeing Dan Brown’s “Fact” page, they are gladly sold.

E.                  The catch phrase for The Da Vinci Code movie is:  “Seek the truth.”  And you know, that is very good advice and so that’s what I want us to do today.  Let’s take a look at some of the claims of the book and see how they stand up to the evidence.

To read the entire sermon click here

Sep. 20, 2006 - The Problem of Suffering

Posted in Sermon notes

Here is another Sermon by my sweet husband:

The Problem of Suffering

Intro:

1. Tragedy is constantly in the news. Every generation has its fair share of natural and unnatural disasters. We deal with emotional and physical suffering on a day-to-day basis, the innocent and the guilty, the young and the old, Christian and non-Christian alike. Grief, pain, heartache, disappointments, trials and tribulations, death and disease—are all a part of our existence.
2. Many through the ages have abandoned their belief in God because of the presence of evil, suffering, and death. In 1851, Charles Darwin rejected Christianity after the death of his daughter. Similar stories can be told of Mark Twain, Ted Turner, and on and on.
3. Many people choose not to believe in God because of the existence of suffering; it is one of the atheist’s favorite arguments against belief. 
   1. Their argument goes something like this: If God cannot stop suffering then He is not all-powerful. If God will not stop suffering then He is not all-loving.
   2. Here is a quote from H. J. McCloskey: “Evil is a problem for the theist in that a contradiction is involved in the fact of evil on the one hand, and the belief in the omnipotence and perfection of God on the other. God cannot be both all-powerful and perfectly good if evil is real.”
4. So, how do Christians reconcile the existence of suffering with the existence of an omnipotent and all-loving God? How can there be a loving God in charge of a universe full of sin, suffering, and death?
   1. First of all, such a statement recognizes the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. If God does not exist and we are here as a blind cosmic accident, then there is no such thing as right and wrong. It would be no more wrong for the innocent to suffer than for the ice to melt or the sun to burn. To use this argument is to admit that life is something special and that there is a standard of right and wrong, of good and evil.
   2. Second, we must get our answers from the Bible. 
      1. We can sit here all day and come up with hypothetical situations and “what if” arguments, but that doesn’t prove anything. Their problem is reconciling what the Bible says about God with what they see in the world. So the Bible is where we must go. 
      2. And the fact of the matter is, the Bible definitely affirms that God is all-powerful (Jer. 32:17; Lk. 1:37) and all-good and all-loving (Mark 10:18; 1 Jn. 4:8, 16) and that suffering definitely exists. The Bible never denies the existence of suffering or says something to the effect that only evil people suffer. What the Bible does however, is tell us how evil, suffering, and death came into the world and of the ultimate victory over it. But it has no problem reconciling the existence of God with suffering, and neither should we.

To read more click here

Aug. 21, 2006 - Does God Exist? (Sermon Notes)

Posted in Sermon notes

Here is the first installment of Sermon Notes (sermons from my sweet husband).  Hope you enjoy it.

Stacy

Does God Exist?

Introduction:

A. This is no trivial, insignificant question.

1. If there is no God, then there is no Supreme Being to which we must give an account—no Judgment Day, no heaven or hell. There is no right or wrong, no good or evil. We should live by the saying, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

2. But if there is a God—well, that’s a different story.

3. Are we an accident or the image of God? Are we without purpose or have an eternal goal? Do we live like an animal or like a child of God? In the end, is it dust or eternity?

B. This is what I want us to examine. Is it logical to accept the existence of an eternal Creator? Can modern science with its computers and rockets to the moon allow for such a notion?

C. There is a modern-day attack on all that Christians believe and we are constantly being told that it is science versus religion. Is that true or does science actually point to a Creator?

D. Now, obviously we can’t "prove" that God exists or doesn’t exist, since He is outside of the physical realm. What we can do is look at the physical realm and see what the evidence points toward. It is more like proving a case in the courtroom by presenting and examining the evidence and then coming to a conclusion.

E. It certainly is reasonable to suggest that if there is a God, He would have made adequate evidence available for us to believe that He exists. And that’s what Rom. 1:20 says: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

F. So I'm going to give you five arguments for the existence of God. Now, before we begin, I want you to know that I am not a scientist; I am a researcher. But even if I was a scientist, as always, you need to check it out for yourself.

To read the rest of this sermon, please click here

Aug. 21, 2006 - My Preacher man

Posted in Sermon notes

One of the first things I noticed about my husband was his ability to preach and teach God’s word. I still find it impressive and dearly love his dedication to knowing the truth. He will study for at least 20 hours when preparing a new sermon. He does not want to say what others think he should. He wants to please God and find truth through studying His word. I love this about him (did I already say that?). I don’t think I am biased in saying that he is one of the best preachers and teachers I have ever heard. Because of this I want to share some of him with you. I asked if I could put some of his sermons on my blog and he agreed. I hope to add new ones regularly. They are his sermon notes and I will leave them in outline form. I hope they are a blessing to you. I only wish you could hear him in person.

May I just say...we all need to check out the things we hear and read. No one will be able to stand before God and say, "but my preacher said....." My wish is that we will all strive to be truth seekers and study God's word for ourselves.

Sincerely,
Stacy