Sermons

I’m not the most thoughtful person at home.  Sometimes I’m very thought-less.  Sometimes I act in ways that are unthinking.  For example, each Friday I do my family’s laundry. I spend the entire day doing it, although I’m somewhat distracted by answering emails, doing administrative work, rehearsing Sunday’s sermon, and running errands.  Inevitably, when I go to put the laundry away, I put it in the wrong spot.  The result is that sometimes Jordan’s jeans wind up in Jacob’s closet, Jacob’s shorts wind up in my drawers, Kendra’s socks go to Jordan’s drawers, etc.  And for the rest of the week, each morning begins this way: “Chris, where’s my ___?  Where did you put my _____?  I can find my __________.”  In fact, it got so bad that one morning I was at the gym exercising.  And it felt bad.  I just didn’t feel right.  I felt, well, constrained.  I looked down, and sure enough, I was wearing a pair of my eleven year old son’s shorts.  I had put them in my drawer by mistake and in the darkness and sleep haze of the early morning I had put them on.  So, I’m not always very thoughtful at home.Read More »Catching Fire: A Word from the Spirit (Acts 15) Chris Altrock – November 11, 2012 – Sunday Morning Message

For a period of four years, 1,500 churches participated in a study designed to measure the spiritual growth of the members of those churches.  The study was called REVEAL.  It tried to identify what practice or habit led to the most spiritual growth in a congregation.  What was most responsible for leading people from just exploring Christ to being completely surrendered to Christ in every area of life?  Using the language of our current Sunday morning series, we might put it this way: What leads a church/ Christian to “catch fire”?  What makes the difference between a church/ Christian that is as cold as ice and one that is on fire and full of the Holy Spirit?  What transforms a person who just plays at religion to one who bubbles over with generosity, spirituality, integrity?  The answer from REVEAL was simple and surprising.  The one practice most associated with deep spiritual growth was this: reflecting regularly on Scripture.  The researchers put it this way: “If churches could do only one thing to help people at all levels of spiritual maturity grow in their relationship with Christ, their choice is clear.  They would inspire, encourage, and equip their people to read the Bible—specifically to reflect on Scripture for meaning in their lives.”[1]  They found that even if a person was involved in a small group, attending worship services and volunteering in a ministry, if that person wasn’t regularly reflecting on Scripture, that person wasn’t growing.  Simply put, Christians catch fire through regular reflection on Scripture. Read More »Catching Fire: A Book of the Spirit (Acts 28) Chris Altrock – October 21, 2012 – Sunday Morning Message