Sermons by John Nuxoll (Page 3)
From Past Regrets to New Beginning
New beginnings give us an opportunity to start fresh, make new friends and bring new energy into our lives. But how do we begin something new when our hearts and minds are so easily drawn to what went wrong in the past? How can we overcome regret to enter into what God has for us next?
Letting Go
Change is supposed to be a part of life. But that doesn’t mean letting go of what came before is easy. And matters only get worse when whatever is next fails to meet our expectations. How can we navigate change and enjoy what’s next when it’s so hard to let go? It turns out that one of the most mysterious books of the Bible, Ecclesiastes, sheds some light on that question.
Forgiving Your Enemies is Good for Your Soul
Common things like nature, travel, and even ice cream can bring us an appreciation for God and spiritual rest. They are good for the soul. But as crazy as it might sound, could an uncommon, seemingly impossible command from Jesus to love our enemies be the same? It just so happens that Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies wasn’t just a command, it was also an invitation to experience personal well-being.
Ice Cream is Good for the Soul
Who doesn’t love the simple pleasures of life? A soft pillow. Ice cream on a warm summer day. Yet one doesn’t experience the fullness of life through overindulgence or materialism either. They don’t feed the soul. So how can earthly pleasures be any spiritual good? We’ll take a look at Psalm 16 to answer that.
Faithfulness for the World
We all have special responsibilities and roles we are called to fulfill. But sometimes when something doesn’t go as expected—especially when we lose something—it’s tough to keep going. Is there a life that can be enjoyed when so much in our lives can be taken away? And can that life be good for those around us too? Revelation 13 sheds some light on that.
Messy Mission
Church, like family, can be messy. And as church grows and changes, the mess sometimes gets messier. What’s true in the church is true of all of our relationships. If we can’t avoid the mess of relationships, is there a way that we can write a new story for ourselves and the people around us by confronting our fears in the middle of the mess? It turns out that one of Jesus’ most famous stories from Luke 15 sheds some…
The Resurrection and the Life
Have you ever felt like God was passing you by on the way to someone else? Chances are if you’ve ever watched God bless your friends but have unanswered prayers of your own, you’ve felt overlooked by God. It turns out, as the story of Lazarus reveals, sometimes God is working with our story behind the scenes in ways we would have never imagined.
The Bread of Life
C. S. Lewis said: “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” If that’s true, could the desire that’s meant to be satisfied in another world be tasted and experienced in the present? And could we experience that kind of life every day? That’s the question Jesus answers in one of his most controversial messages found in John 6:25-71.
The True Vine
Unconditional love is one of the most prized and beautiful virtues. It gives life to those who receive it and life to those who give it. It’s also substituted for easy alternatives like people-pleasing. And there is no truth, joy and life in any of that. So when people-pleasing threatens to prevent us from enjoying love as it was meant to be, how can we mind the kind of love that gives us life? A message from the life of…
From hostility to Grace
When we’ve been wronged by someone in a personal way, it’s hard to overcome the shame that comes from a loss of agency. And that makes forgiveness or restoration all the more difficult. It makes bitterness and pain hard to beat. How can we continue to be life-giving and relationally healthy when inevitable wrongs rob us of something as important as dignity? Some ancient wisdom from the letter to Colossians sheds some light on that.
From Insecurity to Hospitality
Insecurity may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think about the barriers to building and maintaining a healthy community. But how many times do we hesitate to invite people into our homes because we’re afraid our kids will disobey or they won’t like our cooking? How often do we resist talking to new people because we’re worried about saying something silly or maintaining small talk? Hospitality is life-giving and it helps us to be better…
No Words (Christmas Eve Message)
When we have certain expectations and the result goes a different way, we look for a place to put our disappointment and often deflect it onto others. Sometimes, we’ll even blame God. If God is in control, why wouldn’t we expect the world to go a certain way? Bad things happen. So how can we know that God hasn’t let us down? That may be the very question that was on a young teenage girl’s mind as she and her…