Sermon for September 6th, 2026
Matthew 7:7-29 (NT p. 7)
7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10 Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
13 ‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15 ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.
21 ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” 23 Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”
24 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’
28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Higher Education, Part VI
Right now is a very important time in our culture: College football season started this week! I'm reminded of the story of Bubba and Tiny--two college football players at Texas A&M University who had failed their agricultural engineering course three times in a row. Finally, their professor told them that if they didn't pass the final exam, they couldn't play in the big game, and certainly wouldn't graduate. He sat them down in a room, just the two of them, handed them each a piece of paper with one fill-in-the-blank question, and then left the room. Before he left, he said "you have exactly one hour to complete the exam."
Well Bubba was already pretty nervous, but when he flipped over the piece of paper and saw the question, he turned white with terror. The question read: "Old MacDonald had a _________. I did mention this was an agricultural engineering exam, right? After staring at the question for a few minutes, Bubba looks over at Tiny with a helpless expression on his face, and asks Tiny for the answer. Tiny looks back at Bubba and says, "You sure are dumb, Bubba. Everyone knows that Old MacDonald had a farm."
Relieved, Bubba says "Oh yeah--Now I remember!" He begins to write the answer on his paper, but then pauses. He turns to Tiny again and says, "Tiny...how do you spell farm?"
"Geez, Bubba--You're even dumber than I thought! Everyone knows farm is spelled E-I-E-I-O!"
Fortunately, their professor was an Aggie, too. Bubba and Tiny both passed the test, graduated with honors, and went on to distinguished football careers playing for the Dallas Cowboys.