Sermons by Pastor Gawel

1120 of 23 items

Innocent in God’s Sight

Life Guide King Darius the Persian and his buddies, the Medes, forced toppled the Babylonian Empire after which time he appointed 120 satraps over his new kingdom with 3 administers over them. Persian government, Persian rulers, you’d think. But Daniel, the Israelite, was one of the three and the one Darius’ planned to place over […]

God Gets Personal

Life Guide What are you all about? How would people know? Maybe you make it obvious by looking the part of whatever it is you’re into, superfan stuff. You tell people up front in detail, so much detail, all the detail. Or, maybe you play close to the vest and let people get to know […]

You! Yes, you!

“Who, me? Couldn’t be!?” Remember that song? “Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?” Classic. It was such merriment to sing that as a kid of a certain age and get a chance to accuse someone of stealing the cookies right out of the jar! Excitement! Getting to deny that you stole the cookies […]

Just Ask

If God appeared to you in a dream extending the same open ended offer he did to Solomon, what would you ask for? This hypothetical opportunity serves as spiritual Rorschach test. Dr. Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychologist, put his artistic side to work and started using images like [these] to help identify and analyze what […]

The Struggle and Relief

We say, “The heart wants what the heart wants,” to justify being drawn to things, to people, to relationships, which are just toxic. “We’re not compatible, no good for each other. But hey, the heart wants what the heart wants!” Sometimes, the heart totally gives in, loses itself to another person, to a bad situation […]

The Shepherd’s Heart

You might think Moses would have responded differently after all that happened during his time as Israel’s leader. Time after time, God showed his power and timed after time, Israel grumbled, disobeyed God, and hated Moses for telling them what God said. You’d think Moses would maybe say something else when God showed him Canaan, […]

Going Forward

Do you ever find yourself wondering what things would have been like had that one thing gone differently? Maybe you feverishly wish this, but always to no avail. Spending time in that thought zone isn’t beneficial. It’s better to resolve to walk God’s paths going forward in saving grace rather than linger in regret and […]

To and From the Empty Tomb

A very different mindset exists between the yawning person lacing up their shoes for a casual trot and the person stepping into the blocks at the Olympics. A very different mindset exists between the professional runner and the person who is running for their life. This level of urgency is not relatable for most of […]

God’s Work Revealed

What’s a mirage? Usually something someone sees in the desert when longing for water. Off in the distance, there is a pond, a small stream, water, so the person runs to it and diving in, realizes it’s sand. Sometimes, they give way to the mirage and dig frantically at sand hoping beyond desperation to find […]