Call to Confession

Luke 8:9–15

Luke 8:9-15 

English Standard Version 

  This passage is a reminder to all of us:  faith is not supposed to be easy.  We often buy the idea that faith should be easier, and that we're messing up somewhere along the way.  The reality is that faith is hard, and Jesus never portrayed it as something easy.  The world is aligned against us -- we have so many competing priorities, so many other things that cry out for our attention, many of them seeming more urgent than faith.

  And yet, Jesus says -- hold fast.  Hold fast in an honest and good heart, and be patient, and fruit comes.  If you plant an apple tree, you don't walk outside the next day and expect apples.  It takes time.  When you plant tomatoes, you don't hope for homemade salsa the next week.  It takes time.  In the same way, when we follow Christ, it takes years and decades for the Holy Spirit to root in our hearts and for fruit to be displayed to the world.  Hold fast, Christ says, and trust in God with patience in our hearts.  Do not give up.  

Sermon on Ephesians 2:1-10 (February 1, 2026)

Luke 8:4–8

Luke 8:4-8 

English Standard Version 

  Do you ever wonder how many different sermons have been preached on some of the more famous passages of Scripture?  For 2,000 years, the church universal has been teaching on the same passages.  There must be millions of sermons on some of these readings!

  When I read this passage, I used to get caught up in trying to decide what type of soil I was, and how I could do a better job of being the right soil.  And I still believe that we ought to do whatever we can in our power to be more receptive to the Word of God.  May the Word fall into our hearts and take root, transforming the way we live and the way we see the world.

  May we also read this passage and be amazed at the abundant love of the sower.  I was watching a show about farming where they talked about the cost of seed -- so the farmer wants to be careful about where the seed is used to ensure value is received the cost of the seed.

  Here, the sower throws seed everywhere.  Seed falls among the thorns and on the path as well as in the good soil, and it says a lot about the way that the sower is willing to put the seed in lots of places in hopes that it will be received.  God sends the Word out, and doesn't strictly reserve the Word for certain places -- the hope is that the Word will find every corner of the world, and that everyone would hear the Good News of the Gospel.  That is the kind of sower we worship -- one who reaches out to every human heart.