Ex 3:1-12

In a culture shaped by outrage and division, this sermon invites us to rediscover the God who hears our cries and teaches us to see the humanity of those we’re tempted to reduce or dismiss.

In Exodus 2:23–25, we meet Israel in the long night of suffering—centuries ofoppression, unanswered prayers, and wordless groaning under Pharaoh’s cruelty. Though time hasbrought no relief, Moses assures us that God has not been absent or indifferent. God hears thegroans of His people, remembers His covenant promises, sees their affliction, and knows themintimately. This passage reminds us that waiting is not abandonment and silence is notforgetfulness. Ultimately, this hope is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who entered into our suffering,cried out in the darkness, and delivered us from our greatest enemies—sin, death, and evil.Because of the cross, God’s people can endure the many days of groaning with the comfort thatGod is with us, for us, and moving us toward redemption.

Moses had everything the world could offer—power, privilege, and comfort—yet in Exodus2 we see him make a costly choice: to identify with God’s suffering people rather than enjoythe fleeting pleasures of Egypt. This message explores what happens when obediencedoesn’t go as planned, when sacrifice leads to loss, and when faith feels misunderstood andunrewarded. Through Moses’ failure, flight, and unexpected contentment in the wilderness,we discover how God reshapes our hearts, exposes false hopes, and points us to Jesus—thegreater Moses—who willingly bore the reproach of the cross to rescue sinners. This sermoninvites us to ask: Is Christ truly our greatest treasure?

In a world that constantly pressures us to compromise, God calls His people to courageousobedience. From the faith of the Hebrew midwives to the desperate hope of Moses’ mother,Exodus 1–2 shows us what it looks like to fear God more than kings, to let go of control, andto trust the Lord with what matters most. Ultimately, this story points us to Jesus—the Onewho let go of everything to cling to the Father and save us. This message challenges us tostop making excuses, to trust God in the face of temptation, and to follow Christ no matterthe cost.

Why does suffering come even when we are trying to obey God? In Exodus 1, God’s people do exactly what He tells them to do—and find themselves enslaved, oppressed, and afflicted. As Pharaoh tries to crush Israel and stop God’s promises, something unexpected happens: the more they are oppressed, the more they multiply. This sermon explores the clash between human evil and divine purpose, showing us not only what suffering can do, but what it cannot do. Ultimately, Exodus points us to the cross, where God once again uses evil’s darkest moment to accomplish His greatest promise. If you’ve ever wondered whether pain means God has lost control, this message invites you to see suffering through the lens of God’s unstoppable faithfulness.

In John 6:66–69, many turn away from Jesus when his teaching becomes difficult,but Peter responds with a confession that stands at the heart of the Christian faith: “Lord, to whomshall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The words of Jesus are unlike any other wordswe hear because they carry divine authority, perfect wisdom, deep compassion, and saving graceand truth. Jesus does not merely speak about life; he IS the Word of Life who gives eternal lifethrough his sacrificial death and resurrection. Though his words confront our sin and demand aresponse, they are accompanied by the Holy Spirit, who sustains our faith and draws us to Jesus.In a world full of competing voices, this passage calls us to remain with Jesus, trusting that onlyhis words can truly give life.

In a culture driven by "my truth," as well as the church often saying, "What this means to me," Jesus came into this world to bear witness to the truth. Listen and hear how the gospel shapes how we define and interpret truth.

Much of the joy of Christmas is the experience of waiting being done. In an incredible text, packed with the anticipation of God's salvation coming to console his people, Simeon finally lays eyes on the God-man, Jesus Christ. Listen and hear how the gospel gives us faith to wait for the joy we will one day see face-to-face.

In a world filled with confusion about who God is and what He is like, this episode invites us to look where God Himself tells us to look—at Jesus. Drawing from John 12 and the Christmas story, we see that clarity about God is not lacking; God has revealed Himself fully in His Son. Jesus is the light who came down, not to judge the world, but to save it—descending from the highest glory to the lowest place so that sinners could come to Him just as they are. This message exposes our tendency to climb ladders of performance and self-righteousness and calls us instead to let go and behold the gloryof God’s grace revealed in Christ. If you long to truly know God and find what is finally enough, this episode will lead you to the beauty, humility, and saving love of Jesus.

Everyone is chasing the “good life,” but Jesus tells us where it is truly found. In this sermon on John 10:10, we explore our deep longing for abundance—and the hired hands we mistakenly follow in hopes they’ll give it to us. Whether it’s success, money, relationships, or the fear and shame that keep us hiding, none of these can protect us from the wolf or satisfy the desires God placed in our hearts. Only the Good Shepherd can. Jesus knows us fully, loves us completely, and laid down His life to free us from shame and give us a joy thatdeath itself cannot take. This message invites you to stop chasing counterfeit sources of life and to rest in the unfailing, abundant love of the Shepherd who will never let you go.

John 6:37–40 proclaims that Jesus came down from heaven on a divine rescuemission—not merely to give an example or offer the possibility of salvation, but to actually savesinners with certainty and secure their eternal life. We all long for comfort but will we find it inhuman effort or in Christ’s sovereign grace? True assurance cannot be found in our own attemptsto reform but only in Jesus’ promise that he will never lose those the Father has given him and willraise them up on the last day. Therefore, the heart of Christmas is the comfort Christ brings toundeserving sinners, offering full confidence of salvation to all who trust in him.

In this message, we explore Paul’s final words in 2 Corinthians and his surprising list of commands—which begin with “Rejoice.” Far from burdening us, God’s commands reflect His loving heart and His desire for our joy, peace, and restored relationships. Paul shows that the strength to obey does not come from within us but from the God who gives what He commands. Anchored in the grace of Jesus, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit, we discover that Christian joy can survive sorrow, Christian love can mend brokenness, and Christian community is a gift purchased by Christ Himself. This sermoninvites you to rediscover the beauty of the Trinity and the transforming power of God’spresence in everyday life.

In a culture that constantly tells us to fight for ourselves, protect our image, and chase the things that prove we matter, Paul offers a radically different path—one that leads not to sadness, but to joy. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 13:6-10, this sermon explores the burdens of self-centeredness and the misery of envy, while revealing the surprising happiness found in humility and other-centered love. Paul’s joy didn’t come from being strong or admired—it came from seeing others flourish. And that kind of freedom is only possible when the limitless love of Christ controls us.

We often hear Paul’s call to “examine yourselves” as an invitation to be harder on ourselves— to dig deeper into our failures and shortcomings. But what if that’s not what he meant at all? In this powerful sermon from 2 Corinthians 13:5–10, Pastor Tim reminds us that self- examination isn’t about seeing how sinful we are, but about seeing who is in us — Jesus Christ. When we learn to look inward and find Christ instead of condemnation, shame loses its power, and the gospel takes its rightful place at the center of our hearts. Come be reminded that in Christ, your sin no longer defines you — your Savior does.

In 2 Corinthians 13:1–4, Paul delivers a sobering warning—but not one meant to shame, rather to save. In this sermon, we explore why God’s warnings are actually acts of grace, how church discipline protects rather than punishes, and what it means to live in repentance and belonging to a faithful church family. Like a siren before a storm, God’s warnings are meant to draw us to safety in Christ before it’s too late.

Have you ever tried to help someone only to be accused oftrying to take advantage of them? Despite all that Paul had done forthe Corinthians, they continued to demonstrate their distrust byfalsely accusing him of things. Nevertheless, Paul responded to them by spending and being spent for their souls. In this message, we will consider what it looks like to gladly invest in the eternal souls of others and how we are able to continue to love even those who have turned against us.

It is very natural to try to mask our insecurities with accomplishments. What happens when our reputation is challenged? Is being in Christ enough? Listen and hear how the gospel frees us to find all of our worth in the person and work of Christ.

Paul believed that in the midst of his weakness and suffering that God wanted to meet him in a special way. This changed the way Paul understood his suffering. Now, instead of seeking to avoid hisweakness at all costs, Paul sought to connect with his Jesus in it. Inthis message, we will consider what it would look like to follow Pauldown this perilous path and fellowship with our savior in the midst of our weakness.

Have you ever begged God for something only to hear him say no? In 2Corinthians 12 Paul pleads with God to take away a terrible thorn inhis flesh, but God chose not to. Instead he made Paul a promise. Apromise that he continues to give to his people whenever he says no tothe thing they are asking for. If you have ever heard God's no thenyou will need to make sure to remember the promise that comes with it.

Have you ever found that your love for someone ended up bringing suffering into your life? In this passage Paul reveals that the greatest suffering in his life flowed from his love for others. And yet instead of trying to hide his heartbreak or pull back in order to avoid letting it happen again we find that Paul actually boast about the pain that love had brought into his life? What did Paul understand about love and about suffering that allowed him to keep his heart open despite the pain that he knew it would inevitably cause?

How do you respond when you try and do something good and end up experiencing opposition or suffering for it? In this sermon we will compare the different ways we often respond to suffering and the way Paul chose to respond to the suffering that he endured.

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Whose approval are you really looking for? Yourself? Others? A voice from the past? We are often tempted to compare ourselves with others in an effort to find something in ourselves worthy of commendation. Yet, when we do so we stray from our gospel hope in Jesus Christ. There is only one place where commendation is certain, and the approving face of a loving Father is sure to shine. We find the commendation of our Lord by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. In Christ, you have all the approval and commendation you’ll ever need so you are free to live a hidden life of love and humble service toward others without comparison.

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What happens when the joy of our salvation encounters the extreme brokenness of this world? In this message we will see how the Gospel enables us to have a joy so great that it overflows in a wealth of generosity even in the worst of circumstances. How is that possible? That’s the question this sermon will address.

Can you imagine a relationship where conflict could be dealt with in a way that actually made the relationship even stronger? What would it take for something like that to be possible? In this sermon we will look at how the Bible calls us to respond to relationships where our sin has caused a rupture. Reconciliation is possible even for the relationships that we have broken but repentance will be necessary. In this passage we will look at what repentance looks like.

As far as friendship goes, where does it rank amongst the different types of love? In an age where friendship is declining, where people are more easily offended than ever, is friendship something we are all longing for? Listen and hear how the gospel forms us into friends of Jesus and friends to one another.

Pursuing reconciliation is hard, especially with those who have hurt us. In this passage, Paul models for us what it looks like for the offended party to pursue reconciliation. Everything about what Paul does in these verses appears risky and unnatural. And yet the closer we look at this passage, the more it becomes clear that Paul was simply trying to treat the Corinthians the way that Jesus had treated him. The hope is that this message will remind us all of the way our Savior has treated us and open our hearts to grow in the way we treat each other.

Sometimes God gives us a glimpse of something so great that we fear. Some may try to convince us that we should give up faith because it is too good to be true, or that we should be afraid of something so magnificent. However, godly fear doesn't drive us away from God but to him. It is this fear of God that brings holiness to completion in our lives driving us to respond to the promises and presence of the living God by drawing near to the Lord Almighty. He is our joy. He is our peace. He is our fear.

How do you keep your heart open to loving people after having it broken? In 2 Corinthians 6:11-13, Paul responds to being hurt by the Corinthians by telling them that he is going to keep his heart wide open towards them, regardless of the suffering it may lead to. Where does Paul find the courage to keep his heart open to people who have hurt him? And why does Paul believe that keeping his heart wide open is so important? In this message, we will explore the essential connection between love and vulnerability. We will also see how seeking to limit our vulnerability will ultimately restrict the love we can both give and receive.

The promises of God to his people and the presence of God with his people set them apart as the temple of the living God. Therefore, those who trust in Jesus are called not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. They are a new creation and are called to live out their new creation identity in union with Jesus Christ.

One of the hardest things to deal with in any relationship is coming to the realization that you love the other person more than they love you. Often, our first response to this realization is to pull back and seek to even the imbalances of love by loving less. In 2 Corinthians 6:11-13, Paul highlights the imbalance in love between himself and the Corinthians, but then he models for us another way to respond. In this message, we will consider why Paul’s response is so beautiful and how he was able to do it.

Suffering changes us. Suffering can make us angry and bitter as it hardens our hearts, or it can soften us by growing our patience and genuine love for others. Paul believed that the way God used suffering to soften him and increase his patience and genuine love for others commended the Gospel message that he proclaimed. In this passage, we will discuss some of the things that motivated Paul to endure amid great affliction.

When you picture God watching you mess up, what sort of face is he making? All of us have images of God that come to mind when we think about Him; the question is, are the images that come to our minds biblical? What about beautiful? Is the God we picture when we are going through difficult times a God that we find beautiful? In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul will tell us some of the things that make our God so beautiful, and he will seek to shatter some of the distorted images of God that we have projected onto Him.

2 Corinthians 5:17 makes the bold claim that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation! Then you might wonder, "Why don't I feel more like a new creation?" Listen to hear how this new identity in Christ assures us of his great love for sinners like us and empowers our transformation to be more like Jesus as we die to self and live for Christ.

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For most people, the heaviest thing they have ever endured in their life has involved suffering. The loss of a loved one, the betrayal of a friend, the rebellion of a child, or perhaps the death of a dream, but here Paul describes the heaviest suffering you can imagine as light. How can Paul possibly say that with a clear conscience? That is one of the questions we will consider in this passage.

What compels us to persevere in loving hard-to-love people and to share the gospel with people who openly resist it? The Apostle Paul was compelled to preach the gospel and proclaim the praises of God in the presence of others, and his motivation for doing so is found in our passage today. May we also be a people who cry out with the Apostle Paul, "We also believe, and so we also speak!"

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Shame flows from the feeling that we are not enough. It finds its power in the fear that our flaws will be exposed and inevitably lead others to abandon us. In this message we will consider the antidote to shame and to help us do that we will look at Peter and they way the risen Jesus rescued him from his shame.

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In this second sermon on beholding Christ's beauty, we will contemplate how that beauty leads to a changed life. Using Paul's statement in 3:18, we will look at Revelation 1-3 through that lens. Listen and hear how Christ's beauty transofrmed churches in the first century and continues to do so today.

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In this passage, Paul reminds us just how serious a thing it is to dwell among immortals and seek to point them to Jesus. But who is sufficient for such a massive calling? Paul helps us answer this question by exposing some of the false places we look for confidence and then showing us where it is that our ultimate sufficiency is to be found.

We are all drawn to beauty. In a sense, beauty transforms us all. For followers of Jesus, this means that true transformation can only happen by beholding the pinnacle of beauty. Listen and hear how the gospel transforms us by beholding.Thanks!

One of the things that makes sharing the Gospel so difficult is the prospect of being rejected. Often, we spend a lot of energy trying to discern if people are ready to hear the Gospel or if they will be offended by it or if they are going to shut us down. We love sharing the Gospel with people who want to hear it, but we don’t see much good in sharing the Gospel with people who don’t seem very open. In this passage, Paul shows us that we are to share the Gospel without being controlled by how people respond. You see, the seeds of the Gospel were always intended to be planted in fields of rejection.

Have you ever felt called to do something good for the glory of God only to find that something came up and ruined your plans? Why? Why does God allow the good plans that we have to fall through? In this message, we will consider how God wants us to respond when we find ourselves standing in the rubble of our broken plans.

Paul was more like you and I then we might think. In 2 Corinthians we see that Paul was overwhelmed, he struggled with despair, he experienced fear and anxiety and there was even a time where these things kept him from preaching the Gospel. Paul was a lot like us. And yet he was also different. What made Paul different was the way that he honestly shared his weaknesses and was not afraid to talk about his struggles. In this passage we will see how the Gospel sets us free to be honest, even about the things we are ashamed of.

Forgiveness is hard, even when the person who hurts you repents. In fact, often it isn’t until they repent, that we begin to realize that we are not quite ready to forgive them yet. Sometimes sorry just doesn’t seem like enough. In this message we will see how Paul calls us to respond when it doesn’t feel like sorry is enough.

Do you find yourself more likely to engage in conflict in order to pursue justice or to avoid conflict in order to protect yourself? Here we find that Paul shows us a third way. He spares the Corinthians justice, and yet he engages with them in a way that brings him a lot of pain in the hopes that God would use it to bring them to the joy that can only be found in repentance. Where did Paul learn this sort of love, and what gave him the courage to walk it out?ReplyReply allForwardAdd reaction

Conflict has been the source of some of our deepest wounds. So how are we supposed to respond to the people who have hurt us? Is there a way to engage in conflict that doesn’t end up rupturing our relationships and leaving us to lick our wounds alone? In 2 Corinthians Paul is going to model for us how to engage in healthy conflict with people who have hurt us. In this passage he will teach us about the danger of judging motives and arguing with people in our minds. In its place, Paul will call us to look for ways to spare our opponents and work with them for their joy instead of grasping for control in order to get justice

All of the promises of God toward us are Yes in Jesus Christ, and so through Jesus we respond with our Amen to God for his glory. An Amen we proclaim with our words and demonstrate with our lives. A life lived with integrity and faithfulness founded upon God's gospel promises and dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul was so overwhelmed that he found himself despairing of life itself. But instead of hiding it or pretending that he was OK, Paul decided to be honest about his condition. In doing so, Paul showed us all that the church is the one place where it is OK to not be OK. He also shows us that God has a purpose for our fears and anxiety, a purpose for our despair and depression, a purpose for all of the things that overwhelm us and cause us to despair even of life itself.

If God is the God of all comfort, then what does it mean that we are suffering? Does it mean that something is broken between us and God? Not according to Paul. In this passage, Paul describes his suffering as “sharing with Christ in his pain” and describes the way that our God is able to comfort us even in the midst of our greatest suffering.

The Word of God is powerful enough to transform the unrepentant and hard-hearted into thriving and beautiful new creations. Listen and hear how the gospel can truly transform the most cursed things into the most God-glorifying things.

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It is not uncommon for people to project the way others are treating them onto God. We assume that if our parents are sick of us or if our spouses find us difficult to be around, or if our roommates don’t enjoy us anymore, then God probably feels similarly. But the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. You see, when it comes to love, our God isn’t anything like us. When it comes to love our God is a natural. You see, God is love, and all love comes from him, and anytime we end up getting love right, it is because God loved us first. These are some of the things we will talk about in this message.

There is a difference between being hungry and lost and being hungry while waiting for food you know is on its way. When we know that food is coming, the hunger that was once so frustrating can be transformed into a reason for joy. In this message, we will discuss how hope can infuse joy in the midst of our hunger.

Often, in the midst of suffering or personal failure, it is not uncommon to begin to wonder if God is really for us. Throughout the Old Testament, we see that from Adam on, even the best of people had times when they felt like God was against them. This war with God came to a climax when God sent his Only Son only to watch people murder him. In this sermon, we will discuss how it is that we often function as if we are at war with God, and we will discuss the peace that Jesus came to offer us. Our hope is that by the end of this message, we will find ourselves overwhelmed with the reality that our God is really FOR his people.

What makes hope so important? And how are we supposed to keep ourselves from losing hope in a world of disappointment? These are a few of the questions we will try to answer in this Christmas message about hope.

Gratitude isn’t just something God commands in order to ensure that he gets the credit he deserves, gratitude actually enables us to slow down and extract more joy from the good things that we have been given in life. In this message, we will discuss some reasons for gratitude that remain true in both the best and worst times of our lives. Ultimately, the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever, and that is something worth being thankful for!

What in the world does the future have to do with mission? How should the future promises of God change the way we love our neighbor? Listen and hear how the wonderful realities of us one day seeing Jesus face-to-face changes the way we proclaim the gospel in the present.

Fretting and fear lie to us about our God. They say that our suffering is evidence that God is against us. In this context the command to, "Delight yourself in the Lord" seems like an impossible ask because you will never delight in God if you don't believe he is for you! Instead, you will fear and fret. But the good news of the gospel is that God is for you in Jesus Christ, and he is totally committed to your everlasting joy and peace.

Summary: There are evil people in this world with massive amounts of power, influence, success, and prosperity. So, how are we as Christians to respond to this fact? How are we to live in the "already / not yet" of Jesus' Kingdom? Psalm 37 helps us navigate the temptations we face because it is honest with us about the difficulty of living in this present evil age, but is committed to help us live in light of the future realities promised to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ and his coming eternal Kingdom.

More than ever, we are being discipled by a culture of hurry and distraction. However, God created a world where rest was a built-in rhythm necessary for all humans to flourish. Listen and hear how the gospel frees us from building an identity in anything other than Christ.

Is your prayer life as messy as your real life? If not, why? What parts of your life are you holding back or shoving down or cleaning up before you bring them to God? Over and over again, we see the Psalmist showing us what it looks like to bring our real, unfiltered selves into the presence of God, even when our real selves happen to be a mess. In this sermon we will explore some of these things a little deeper.

We talk a lot about “how to become a Christian?” or “how to live the Christian life?” but in this message, we are going to take some time to think about the “why.” What is it that ought to motivate us to follow God? As we look at 2 Kings 13 we will consider 4 different motivations for being a Christian in order to see which one is big enough to keep us following God all of our life.

How would you respond if you looked into the future and perceived a new political leader coming to power that you knew for certain was bent on bringing untold suffering on you and the ones you loved? This was the position Elisha found himself in here in 2 Kings 8. However, Elisha is not the only one who finds himself facing an enemy that is stronger than he is and bent on bringing him harm. Paul tells us that, as Christians, we too find ourselves in a similar situation. In this message, we will consider one of the ways that the Bible calls us to respond to it.

What do we do with our regrets? And how does the promise of restoration deal with all that we end up missing out on in life because of the things we have lost? In this passage, the author of 2 Kings writes to a people who have lost everything and are struggling with regret. He gives us a glimmer of hope and helps us see why we should continue to wait for the LORD even in seasons of significant loss.

Sometimes, what makes God’s promises seem difficult to believe is how big they are. In the midst of terrible loss, it can be hard to believe that God has a plan to use even loss for our ultimate good. In the midst of deep loneliness, it can be difficult to believe that God is with us, and in the midst of inexcusable failure, it can be hard to fathom that he continues to enjoy loving us. These are some big promises, and in this passage, we will consider some different ways that people respond to things they consider too good to be true.

Description: Psalm 23 is a well-known Psalm about God as our Shepherd. With lush imagery about green pastures and waters of rest, it is no wonder it's a favorite of many. But what happens when we find ourselves in the valley of deep darkness? Listen and hear about the good news of a Shepherd with his people in the darkness, using it all to help us better know him.

ave you ever found yourself asking, “Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” It is a question born out of pain and disappointment. A question that comes when we don’t understand why God isn’t fixing something that we care about and we don’t know why. For any of you who have ever wondered, “Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” this sermon is for you.

Summary: Sin is a failure to believe in God's promises to us, God's presence with us, and God's power for us. When we fail to believe the gospel, we blindly give into the temptations to grasp for control, to be lured away by the enticements of the world, or to give into fear and despair. And so, the constant refrain of scripture is to repent and believe the gospel - to turn away from that which has stolen our gaze and to fix our eyes of faith once again upon Jesus so that we might see with a right perspective.

Have you ever really struggled to forgive someone because you didn’t think they deserved it? Have you ever tried to extract from someone just a little bit of the pain that their sin had caused you? Have you ever hidden your failures in order to feel superior to someone else? If you find yourself resonating with any of these questions, then this sermon is for you.

All of us have people in our lives who we find difficult to love, but what do we do? How do we love people who have hurt us? In this message, we will consider God’s love for his enemies and how it can enable us to love the people in our lives who we find difficult.

Have you ever tried your best at something only to find out that it wasn’t enough? That is a tough feeling, isn’t it? That feeling that comes over us when we realize that we are not good enough. In this message we will see why it is that we work so hard to be enough. We will also discover how it is that God has chosen to deal with the areas in which we have fallen short.

Have you ever tried to help someone and ended up doing more harm than good? Have you ever found out after the fact that you had deeply hurt someone? How does the Gospel help us deal with the harm we may unwittingly cause? Is there hope that harm can be healed both for ourselves and for those we have hurt? These are the questions we will consider in this passage.

In a world where nothing feels safe, how are we supposed to protect ourselves from being crushed by disappointment? How can we open our hearts to unfiltered joy when happiness often feels like a setup for heartbreak? These are just a few of the questions we will consider in this sermon.

Have you ever heard someone share a miracle story and wondered, “Why did God answer their prayer for a miracle and not mine?” In this passage, we will consider the purpose of miracles and how we are supposed to deal with the difficult times when God says No.

Where do you turn in the midst of a crisis? Do you turn to God or do you double down on your own wisdom? If you do turn to God, do you turn to him in humility to ask for help or in frustration to blame him for everything that is going wrong? And how do you respond when the crisis is over? Do you continue to live in dependence upon God or do you drift back into self-reliance until things fall apart again? In this passage we will be reminded of just how desperately we need God’s help and why we can trust that his help will always be there for us.

On what do you place your confidence? Whether we like to admit it or not our confidence is often misplaced in things that are fleeting. Elisha teaches us that for those who follow the LORD, the foundation of our confidence is the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God. The Word of God alone is always true and always accomplishes the purposes of God. Jesus Christ died and rose to ensure that his Word will overcome all opposition and his promises to us are certain.

Anyone who has ever been discipled knows how God can give you respect and admiration for the one who discipled you. But what happens when God calls that person elsewhere? Should you find someone else to disciple you? Should you disciple others? Listen and hear how the gospel forms us into men and women who count the cost of following Jesus and call others to follow him with us.

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What does the call of Elisha have to teach us about the call of God to each and every follower of Jesus Christ? Have you counted the cost? Is following Jesus worth it when it leads to a life of service and sacrifice? Elisha's call reminds us that "God is my salvation." Jesus answered the call of God perfectly so that he could now call us out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

How do you respond when someone points out an area in your life where you were wrong? Do you get defensive? Do you return the favor and point out all of the areas where the person who corrected you has fallen short? In I Corinthians 16:10-11 Paul calls the Corinthians to welcome Timothy’s correction rather than despising him for it. In this message we will consider what it might look like for us to apply this advice towards anyone who chooses to correct us out of love.

What do you do when you work really hard to put together a plan only to find that nothing turned out the way you expected it to? It can be hard right? Now what about when your plans involved a relationship? When our relationships don’t go the way we planned we often find ourselves feeling lonely and heartbroken. In this passage we will see how Paul responded when his relationship with the Corinthians didn’t end up going the way he planned it to.

What is it that makes money so attractive? Is it the freedom and the control that it offers? Is it the security it gives in the midst of all the uncertainties of the future? Or maybe it’s the comfort and pleasure that money promises? In this message, we will compare the promises of money and the promises of the Gospel and find that, in the end, Jesus is better. Lastly, we will consider what it would look like to live as if Jesus and not money were our greatest treasure.

If you have a worldview "under the sun" it seems like everything is vanity and a striving after wind. That is certainly how life often feels. Our labor is not always fruitful or lasting. Hurt, disappointment, unmet expectations, lost dreams, and failure are part of our shared human experience in this fallen world. However, the gospel flips all of that upside down! Jesus has been raised from the dead and so we have the assurance that in the Lord our labor is not in vain!

Have you ever longed to see death destroyed? Think of all of the havoc death has wreaked and the pain that it has caused. Well in I Corinthians 15 Paul points us towards a day where death will be no more. A day where the one who seemed to swallow everything in his path will be swallowed up in victory.

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Have you ever wondered how it could be possible for bodies that are buried and decay to ever be raised to life again? The idea almost seems inconceivable. And even if it were possible, do we really want to be stuck in our bodies forever? These are a few of the questions that Paul addresses in these verses. Let’s see what he has to say.

How do we deal with the tension between the reality of death and the promises of resurrection? What does it look like to grieve in hope? How can facing death give us a greater appreciation for the resurrection? How does distancing ourselves from death end up distancing ourselves from the depths of God’s love for us? How does Jesus show us what it looks like to cling to the promises of God without denying the reality of death?

Paul tells the Corinthians that if we have put our hope in Christ for this life only then we are above all the most to be pitied. Why does he say that? In this message we will consider what it was about Paul’s life that would lead him to make this statement and we will consider what it would look like for us to imitate him in this even as he was imitating his precious Savior. We will also rejoice that Christ has indeed risen again from the dead proving that there is nothing to pity about a child of God.

Have you ever forgotten something that turned out to be pretty important? In this passage Paul comes to remind the Corinthians about what really matters. Here we find an amazing summary of the Gospel as well as a reminder that God’s grace isn’t just for good people but it extends to even the worst of sinners.

Have you ever felt stuck in some area of your life and begun to doubt that there was any way you were ever going to change? Have you ever had someone give up on you and begun to think that maybe they were right? If you have then you are not alone. In the Gospels we read the story of someone who had failed so terribly that he must have wondered if there was any way that Jesus could ever truly restore him. Well in John 21 the Risen Jesus pursues Peter and shows us that the grace of God is able to restore even the worst of failures!

Why did Jesus welcome the praise and coronation of those that he knew would abandon him, deny him, and betray him less than one week later? Because Jesus came to save sinners! Jesus alone is worthy to do it. For everyone who confesses their sin and cries out to Jesus, "Hosanna! - Save me!" - then Jesus will bring you through the tribulation of this life and shelter you with his presence for all eternity.

Some verses are hard to understand. In I Corinthians 14:34 Paul writes that “Women should keep silent in the churches.” What does Paul mean in this verse and how does it relate to I Corinthians 11:5 where Paul seems to approve of women praying and prophesying? In this message we will take a deep dive into two different ways to interpret these verses and consider how we might apply what we learn to the service.

Were headship and submission a part of God’s good plan for husbands and wives before the fall or are they actually the result of sin? If they were a part of God’s good plan then how is it fair that husbands get the role of headship while wives are called to submit? These are just a few of the questions we will consider as we try and discern the roles that God has called both men and women to play in the home.

Why do you go to the church service? Are there things that you are hoping to get from it that you don’t think you can get anywhere else? How important do you think your presence there is? In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul answers many of these questions by telling us what he wants to see take place at the gathering. In this chapter we soon realize that we are more needed then we are aware of while at the same time being more needy than we ever imagined.

The gift of tongues has been the source of a lot of confusion, disagreement, division and hurt among Christians. There are some who view tongues as the ultimate sign of one’s spirituality, while there are others who believe that it is a form of paganism that has crept back into the church. Given the massive gap between these two positions, what are we supposed to do? Are there things that we can all agree on? Are there ways that we can seek to understand those that we don’t agree with? And what might it look like to love one another across some of our differences? These are some of the things we will address in this message.

In I Corinthians 14 Paul commands the Corinthians to “Earnestly desire the Spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” But what exactly does that mean? Is this something we should still be doing today or was this just for the early church? Christians have answered these questions differently throughout the years and in this sermon, we will take a look at what both Cessationists and Continuationists have to say on this topic. After considering some of the common ground we will talk about what it might look like for all of us to grow in our awareness and dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

What do you think Heaven will be like? How will love be different there then it is here on earth? What impact should the fact that the other gifts will pass away while love will never end have on the things we prioritize here on earth? These are just a few of the questions we will be discussing in this sermon.

How does love respond to all of the obstacles that come against it? Here in I Corinthians 13:7 we see that love "bears all things" in order to keep on loving. That means that love knows no excuses? But how can love keep loving in really difficult situations? And what does that even look like? These are some of the questions we will consider in this message on I Corinthians 13:7.

Rejoicing at wrongdoing is the opposite of love and it robs us of true joy – a joy that is found in the love of God for sinners and a love that rejoices with the truth. Jesus embodied this perfect love and truth for us so that we might be forgiven, healed, and empowered to love others with the love that God has shown to us at the cross of Jesus Christ.

How do you respond when people sin against you? For most of us our first response to being sinned against is anger. But Paul tells us that love is not easily angered. And how do we keep people who have hurt us from hurting us again. Well for most of us we keep track of what they have done in order to protect ourselves from being hurt. But Paul tells us that love keeps no record of wrong. In this sermon we will consider what love does with our anger and how it is possible to truly forgive those who have hurt us deeply.

As Paul continues his description of what love is and is not, he comes to this little phrase, "love does not insist on its own way." In a world where we are constantly making decisions, how do we live in a way that considers more significant than ourselves? Listen and hear how the gospel fixes our eyes on the God who didn't insist on his own way for his own glory and our good.

There are times where you and I read God's word in the morning and then find that by the end of the day we can barely even remember what it is that we read. In this message we want to talk about what it looks like not to merely read God's Word but to truly engage with the living God through his Word. It is our prayer that this year all of us would truly get to know our great God better as we encounter him more in his word.

What are you ultimately living your life for? Would your daily rhythms and habits demonstrate that or something else? Listen and hear how the good news of how bright our future is gives us the grace to wait upon Jesus in ways that demonstrate that he is our greatest treasure.

Around Christmas time it’s not uncommon for us to do everything we can to ignore the darkness in this world in the hopes of enjoying the holidays. Of course we often find that trying to ignore the darkness leaves us feeling a little bit alone. But the truth is that Christmas has never been about ignoring the darkness or pretending that everything is OK. No, Christmas has always been about a light that shines so brightly in the darkness that the darkness cannot overcome it. In this message we will learn more about who this light is and how he came to save us.

What happens to the promises of God when we mess up? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you ever done something you never thought you would do and then found yourself wondering if God’s promises could possibly still be true for you, after all that you have done? In this message we will look at King David and consider what happened to the promises of God when he failed miserably.

One of the great blessings of life are the relationships that God gives us. And yet one of life’s greatest tragedies is the way that distance and sin and death come and separate us from the people that we have grown to love. Of course these broken relationships and the pain that they bring us are only a shadow of our broken relationship with God and the suffering that it leads to. So what do we do? In this message we will look back at the priests in the Old Testament and consider how God used them to foreshadow an even greater priest and the way that he would come to reconcile us back to God and to fix all that we had broken.

Long ago God promised Moses that one day he would raise up another prophet like him from among his brothers. The New Testament tells us that Jesus is that better prophet and that he has come from God to reveal to us the very heart of the Father. In this message we will consider what Jesus shows us about God and why it is so important that we Listen to him!

The LORD God will save a people for himself through his chosen Messiah Son and so we put our faith in him alone to save us from all that we have broken.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “Your life would be so much bigger if your self was smaller in it.” Here in I Corinthians 13 Paul beckons us to leave our own little worlds behind and embrace a life that desires and delights in the good of others. In this message we will consider the dangers of pride and all that our God has done to rescue us from it and set us free to enjoy a life of humble love.

Have you ever had someone tell you about something really good in their life, but for some reason you didn’t feel very happy about it? Envy is the distress that we feel over someone else’s success and it is something that all of us deal with. However, most of us are better at seeing envy in others than we are in ourselves. In this message we will look at the ways that envy often disguises itself as a desire for justice and we will consider some helpful ways to fight against it.

What is Love? In this message we will consider two attributes that Paul believes are absolutely vital to love. Love is patient and love is kind. While all of us are familiar with these words, we will be taking a closer look at what they really mean as well as considering why we sometimes find them so difficult to live out. We will also consider some of the ways that our God has been patient and kind to us.

How do love and sacrifice go together? Is it possible to love without sacrifice? What about sacrificing without love? If sacrifice is necessary to love, then how can we know for certain that it will be worth it? These are a few of the questions we will address in I Corinthians 13:3.

As hard as you and I may try to use our unique giftedness in order to find our significance, the reality is that no one has ever truly found the significance they craved through the exercise of their gifts. No one, ever. In I Corinthians 13:1-2 Paul tells us why it is that we will never find the significance we crave through the exercise of our gifts but he also goes on to tell us the surprising place that it can be found. That is what this message is about.

As we look deeper into this reality that we are all given individual gifts but function as one body, we must figure out how to avoid pride and envy, boasting and jealousy as we live together as the family of God. Listen and hear how the cost to Christ to give us these gifts actually unifies us in his own goal and purpose of giving his body these gifts.

As a church how are we supposed to view those who are different from us? Do we conform in order to try and fit in? Do we divide in order to find people who are more like us? Do we compare and compete or do we simply try and ignore our differences in order to avoid conflict? In I Corinthians 12 Paul uses the analogy of the body to show us a better way to deal with our differences.

How can you tell if the Holy Spirit is present at a gathering or even in your own life? Are there certain spiritual gifts that prove the presence of the Spirit? Are there things that should cause us to wonder if he is present? In I Corinthians 12:1-7 Paul lays out some criteria for discerning a true manifestation of the Holy Spirit. He also lays out a few basic truths about the Spiritual gifts that he doesn’t want the Corinthians to be confused about. While there are still a lot of things that Paul has yet to explain in this message we will try and lay out a few of the things that Paul wants to make very clear about the gifts of the Spirit.

Every week we gather together as a church family and one of the things we do when we get together is we receive the Lord’s Supper or sometimes we call it communion. But why do we take the Lord’s Supper? What does it mean? What actually happens when we take it? And who exactly is it for? And of course there are lots of different ways that people take communion so why exactly do we do communion the way we do? Well these are some really good questions and tonight we will seek to answer them from I Corinthians 11.

We live in a culture of gender confusion. How many genders are there? Does your biological sex determine your gender? How important is it to maintain gender distinctions and what are you supposed to do if there is an incongruence between your biological sex and your internal sense of self. In I Corinthian 11 Paul answers some of these questions for us. However, even after we answer these questions, we still need to figure out how we are supposed to treat those who see things differently. We will end the sermon by considering that question.

What do we do with the pieces of our life that don’t seem to fit together with what we believe about God? What do we do when something we feel deeply seems to contradict what we have been taught about God? What do we do with our “Why’s”? In Psalm 22 we see David wrestling between the way that he feels and the things that he believes about God. In this passage he will guide us on what to do with our unanswered questions.

In the Transfiguration God pulls back the curtain just a little bit to give us a glimpse of who Jesus is so that we can have confidence through life’s often difficult pilgrimage that he will satisfy and exceed all our greatest expectations. Jesus is the Lord of Glory, the living God who comes to save his people in the most inconceivable way – by laying aside his glory and ultimately by laying down his very life to save sinners.

How do you continue to follow God when you lose someone who has faithfully taught you what he is like? That is the question Elisha finds himself facing in II Kings 2. Knowing that Elijah is about to be taken up to heaven Elisha is faced with the difficult prospect of going on without him. However, before he leaves Elijah gives Elisha the chance to make one last request of him. What would he ask for? What would you have asked for? Will Elisha get his final request answered? These are some of the questions we will look at in II Kings 2.

Throughout the Bible, fire is often synonymous with God's presence. In this passage, we read of God sending fire on some people in judgment, while not sending it on others. Listen and hear how the Gospel transforms the fire of God from something consuming into something redemptive.

What will keep us faithful like Naboth when opposition arises or suffering comes? Future rewards alone will not be enough for us to persevere as sojourners in a hostile world if we have not and are not tasting the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior through an active fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is with us and for us in the midst of suffering. Your suffering with Christ is never meaningless. Your suffering is always an opportunity to draw near to Jesus as he draws near to you.

What makes you sorrowful? In this passage we learn of a prophet so saddened by God's name not being worshipped that he wishes he could die. Listen and hear how God's character is meant to move people from darkness to light and how the Gospel is about God's character putting on a face.

Many times it is easy for us to pray when we are in need. But what about when we already believe what God has promised? Why pray if we know God will do what he has promised to do. In this sermon we will learn from Elijah that the evidence of humility are prayers of desperation, no matter what the situation. Listen and hear how Elijah is a sign pointing towards the one who prayed the most humble prayers of desperation...for us.

The LORD’s triumph over Baal is really a triumph over the human heart – a heart that is set againstGod – mute, blind, deaf and dead to the love and truth of God. On Mount Carmel the righteous judgment of God came down from heaven, but it came in a way that not only demonstrated his power but in a surprising way that poured out grace upon his enemies. As Elijah intercedes for the people before God, we find that the LORD is a God who turns hearts back to himself. The love, grace, and atonement found in Jesus Christ alone is foreshadowed in this triumphant victory of the LORD over Baal and over human rebellion as he grants salvation through judgment.

In this sermon, we see Elijah confronting Israel and its leaders for limping between different gods. In a pluralistic culture like ours, having multiple opinions and not being dogmatic is seen as a virtue. Listen and hear why it is so important to get right who the Lord is and what he has done.

We fight against a real and powerful enemy. All the forces of darkness are assembled against Jesus' church but the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We worship the LORD of HOSTS! He must win the battle! So, live a life of repentance free from teh need to shift blame because you trust in the finished work of Christ upon the cross. Boldly proclaim his message of good news and courageously serve him even in the most difficult of circumstances knowing that he loves you, and he will conquer evil for all time in the battle to end all battles when he returns.

God hates death and is willing to go to great lengths to destroy it. In this sermon,God sends Elijah to demonstrate that God is sovereign over death and idolatry, using his prophet to foreshadow what his own Son will one day do to defeat sin, death, and Satan. Listen to how the Gospel changes everything!

There are times when the problems of life can seem absolutely overwhelming. Times where our circumstances can become so bleak that we find it difficult to believe that God is really for us or that his promises could possibly be true. In this story we will find that even on our darkest days the promises of God are always bigger than the problems of this life. Not only are his promises always bigger than our problems but in this story we will come to see why it is that we can trust our God even when we have no idea exactly how he plans to keep his promises.

Who is God and who gets to decide? Elijah comes to confront the culture of his time declaring, "The LORD is God!" This news confronts, but it also gives hope. The LORD remains faithful even when we are faithless so as long as his good news is proclaimed there is opportunity for repentance and faith in the true and living Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus alone gives life!

What does it look like to glorify God in the mundane aspects of everyday life? How do we eat or drink or feed the kids or commute to work for the glory of God? In this message we will consider what it looks like to glorify God in both the good and the bad circumstances of our everyday lives.

We live in an un-nuanced age. Anytime a complicated or controversial topic comes up often people lean forward and listen for certain catch phrases so that they can categorize each other in one of two sides and either agree or disregard. But in I Corinthians 8-10 Paul deals with controversy by taking a humble, complicated, and nuanced view that ends up showing both sides where they are partially right and partially wrong. In this passage we will consider what we can learn from Paul about how to deal with conflict and how the Gospel frees Christians to disagree with each other in a way that is very different from the rest of the world.

What does idolatry have to do with people who are fully aware that idols are nothing but a block of wood? What is the significance of the Lord’s Supper? And why does God call himself a jealous God? These are some of the questions we will seek to answer this week as we look at I Corinthians 10:14-22.

There are very real dangers and temptations as we sojourn through this world. Paul warns us from Israel's wilderness wanderings that there are "No Gimmes" and "No Excuses." Yet, there is hope for sinners - God is faithful! This is the good news that forms our identity in Christ and gives us motivation to eagerly pursue him.

Even though Paul knew that he was free from all he willingly chose to make himself a slave to everyone in order that he might win more people with the Gospel. Where did Paul get such a passion for the lost? Why did Paul believe that it was necessary to make sacrifices in order to better proclaim the Gospel? And what does all this have to do with us? These are just a few of the questions we will try and answer in this message.

In I Corinthians 9 Paul goes to great lengths to stand up for his “right” to receive financial support from the church. However, where most people stand up for their rights in order to exercise them, Paul stands up for his right only to lay it down again? Why? What could possibly entice Paul to joyfully lay down something he clearly had a right to?

How do you view Christian freedom? Do you think of it as the right to do what you want or do you see freedom as the opportunity to consider the impact your choices might have on the weak? In I Corinthians 8, Paul shows us which one he chose and why he thought it was so important.

Knowledge puffs up. In this passage Paul argues that it is possible to have good theology and to speak true and accurate things about God without ever really knowing him. So what is the difference between this imaginary knowledge of God and true knowledge? In this passage Paul warns us about the danger of having an imaginary knowledge of God and he gives us a picture of what true knowledge looks like.

Sometimes marriage seems like it will fix our loneliness and longing for intimacy. However, Paul urges the Corinthians that are single to stay fully devoted to the Lord if they can. What if the intimacy we all long for, singles and married, is found in the person and work of Christ? And what if that same intimacy is something we will enjoy for all eternity? Listen and hear how eternity shapes the way we singles can love for the glory of God.

What if Jesus didn’t really rise again from the dead? Have you ever thought about that question? In I Corinthians 15 Paul gives us a picture of what life would be like if Jesus didn’t rise again. It’s a pretty bleak picture and it's meant to wake us up to just how important the resurrection really is.

How many of you find that your joy in life seems to rise and fall with your circumstances? How many of you feel like “If only ____” would happen then everything would be better? In I Corinthians 7:17-24 Paul addresses our slavery to our circumstances and calls us to embrace the freedom that Jesus came to offer. If you are wondering how such freedom could be possible then this message is for you.

What does the Bible teach us about the purpose of marriage? What is Paul’s view of divorce and how does understanding the purpose of marriage help us make sense of his position? And what about those who have been divorced? What hope does the Gospel offer them and what healing can they find in Jesus' steadfast love? These are some of the questions we will consider in this sermon as we take a closer look at I Corinthians 7:10-16.

Anyone who has been married for long knows that sex isn’t always something that you and your spouse see eye to eye on. In fact, for many couples, sex can be the source of some significant conflict. In I Corinthians 7:1-5 Paul discusses the topic of sex in a way that helps us understand why it sometimes leads to conflict and how it is that this conflict might be resolved.

Most people are aware that the Bible prohibits sex outside of marriage, but what is often less clear is why. Why does God put so many restrictions on something that people desire so deeply? For many it can begin to seem like God might be holding out on us. But in this passage Paul shows us that God has actually offered us something far better than sex and its actually sexual immorality, and not God, that threatens to keep us from what we truly desire.

A false view of freedom and spirituality will lead the church to adopt the same ethics as the surrounding culture where the free expression of inward desire is celebrated. Paul points us to the resurrection of Jesus to transform and renew our hearts and minds and give value to our physical bodies. He directs our love and all of who we are away from self and turns it to God and to others so that we may experience and live out of the true freedom that is only found in Jesus Christ.

Our culture tells us that the path to meaning is through the free expression of our desires, unless of course, those desires end up being harmful either to ourselves or others. In I Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul warns us about the danger of following many of the desires that our culture has deemed safe. In this passage we will see both the danger and the ensuing shame that comes from following our desires, as well as the redemption from shame and the freedom from our enslavement that the Gospel comes to offer us.

How are Christians supposed to respond when they have conflict with other Christians? Are we supposed to respond just like the rest of the world or is there a way to respond to conflict that is distinctly Christian? In this passage Paul lays out two right ways and two wrong ways for Christians to deal with conflict.

In this passage Paul tells us that another purpose of church discipline is the protection of the Church. After calling the Corinthians to live out the identity that God has given them in sincerity and truth Paul ends this section by giving us a few more details about the process of church discipline. In this message we will also consider the terrible carnage that has been left behind when this passage has been abused and we will talk about how our God has chosen to respond to it.

The Church is a family and one vital aspect of any healthy family is discipline. In this message we will discuss the purpose of church discipline and why it is that we often find ourselves so resistant to it. We will also consider the posture of church discipline which Paul tells us is mourning.

In this sermon, we see how Paul continues to address and correct the Corinthians infatuation with eloquent speakers. While some of them have become arrogant towards Paul, his way of corrective discipline is with a fatherly gentleness that calls them to imitate the heart of Christ that Paul himself is imitating. Listen and hear how the Gospel forms us into gentle people.

The way up is down. That is what Paul is trying to help us see in this passage. And in order to make that argument Paul uses biting irony to help wake us up from our infatuation with the things of this world and to call us to follow him as he follows Jesus down the way of the cross. In this message we will see why Paul’s call is so extreme as well as what makes it worth the tremendous cost.

Pride is a problem that all of us struggle with. In fact, the less someone struggles with pride, the bigger their problem actually is. Fortunately, in I Corinthians 4:7 Paul uses three diagnostic questions to attack the very roots of our pride. So for all us who happen to know some proud people, this message is for us.

Did you know that our attention is the most valuable resource that we have? And yet the truth is that we often give it away for nothing. In this text Peter tells us that we would do well to pay attention to God’s Word as if it were a lamp in a dark place. But it’s hard isn’t it? It’s hard because we live in an age of distraction. In this sermon we will consider why it is that we are so prone to distraction. We will also consider why it is that God’s Word is truly worthy of our attention and what it might look like for us to give our most valuable resource to the one who is most valuable.

How is it possible to die in peace? I think many people assume that when death comes, they will somehow find peace and yet the reality is that most people go through life grasping at control and struggling with fear and anxiety when even one of the things they love are threatened. How could we possibly imagine that we might be ready to lose everything in death when we still haven’t figured out how to live in peace with the ordinary losses of life? In this passage Simeon shows us the secret to dying in peace which, we will find out, also happens to be the secret to a life of peace.

Have you ever felt like you just didn’t belong. It’s hard, isn’t it? In this message we will consider what the Christmas story has to say about rejection and our longing to fit in. Specifically we will consider why it is that the only person who got to choose when and how he was born chose to be born in a stable and laid in a manger.

How do you respond when God says yes? How do we avoid becoming so enamored with his gifts that we allow them to distract us from the giver? Specifically, what does it look like to separate the gift of forgiveness from the God who offers it to us? In order to help us answer some of these questions Zechariah comes to remind us not only what we have been saved from, but what we have been saved for.

Sometimes we can get so used to the narratives about Jesus coming into the world that we lose our wonder and awe. In Luke 1, Mary and Elizabeth will demonstrate how marveling at who God is and what he has done is intimately intertwined with humility. Listen and hear how the Gospel moves us from mystery to marvel.

The reason we often struggle to believe God’s promises isn’t because they aren’t enough to give us hope in the midst of this broken world, our struggle is that they often seem too good to be true and too big to be possible. So what are we supposed to do? How can we learn to trust in promises that clearly exceed anything we could hope to deserve and how are we supposed to believe God’s word when we cannot imagine how he could ever bring it about? These are the questions that Luke comes to answer in tonight’s passage.

Oppressive, barren, and silent darkness provides the context for Christmas. In the midst of dark days we can be tempted to doubt the promises of God. Yet, into this darkness the Lord sent his angelic messenger to bring good news of God's faithfulness to fulfill his promised salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful One who never doubted the word of God his Father. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, the Word made flesh. He came to tear down the curtain so that doubters like us may enter into his presence now and forever!

Most of us find that we care far too much about what other people think about us. Now our culture thinks that the answer to this problem is to say, “As for me it is a very small thing what anyone else thinks because I know that I am good and I love myself and that is all that matters…” But is what our culture tells us true? Are we the judge? Do we get to give the ultimate verdict on our lives? And is relying on our own feelings about ourselves really the only way to stop being controlled by what others think of us?  These are some of the questions that Paul comes to answer for us in I Corinthians 4:1-5.

In this passage Paul shows us the folly of boasting and the wisdom of recognizing our utter dependence upon God. He argues that when we boast we actually rob ourselves of all that our God has offered us as a free gift of grace. However, if we are willing to depend upon him, we will find that “All things” have become our servants to be used by God for our ultimate good.

In this passage Paul blows us away by telling us that the local church is actually the inner sanctuary of God’s temple because the Holy Spirit has chosen to dwell in our midst. He goes on to warn the Corinthians that God will destroy anyone who destroys his temple. In this message we will consider the implications of this passage including both the protection and the warning that it comes to offer. We will also consider the amazing reality that this passage was written by a man who had once made it his mission to destroy the church.

Have you ever wondered how Judgment Day informs how you do ministry? Most of us have rarely thought about that, but for Paul it mattered greatly. Listen and hear how the Gospel transforms the way we do ministry in light of Judgment Day.

In a culture that favored public speaking, the Corinthians began dividing over their favorite pastors. In our culture today, with innumerable podcasts, videos, and social media posts, we aren't too far removed. Listen and hear how the Gospel directs the glory we long to give to others to the only one who actually deserves it.

The wisdom of God hidden from the world is the magnificent grace of God freely given to us in Christ Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, and so we depend upon the Spirit applying salvation through the gospel to have the mind of Christ.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed with the call to tell others about Jesus? Have you ever felt weak or afraid of being rejected or looking foolish? If you have then Paul wants you to know that you are not alone. In I Corinthians 2:1-5 Paul tells us that he felt weak and afraid and was filled with much trembling when he arrived in Corinth. However, Paul’s response to these feelings might surprise you. In this passage we will see how Paul responded and why he chose to respond that way.

What if where you are right now, in terms of earthy categories, was as good as things ever got for you? What if the current state you find yourself in was the place that God desired to be with you for the rest of your life? If that were the case do you think that his love would be enough for you? In this passage Paul reminds the Corinthians that God’s love for them has never been dependent on their earthly status and that what he has given them in Christ is enough.

Evangelism can be really hard. Often the fear of rejection or even of looking foolish to others keeps us from sharing the Gospel. We want to share the Gospel, but sometimes our inability to figure out how to make the Gospel sound attractive to others keeps us from sharing it. But what if the Gospel wasn’t supposed to be attractive to the values of this world? What looking like a fool was meant to tell us more about the person who is rejecting the Gospel than the person sharing it? And what if God has designed the sharing of the Gospel, with the rejection that often comes with it, to do a transforming work in the one sharing it and not just in the one hearing it? These are some of the questions we will consider in this message.

We live in a time where people are very quick to divide over conflict and all of us are familiar with the pain that comes when people we love choose to part ways with us over a disagreement. Sadly this conflict isn’t just something we face in our culture but its something we experience within the church as well. In I Corinthians we see that we are not the first to experience significant conflict within the church. Here Paul comes entreat us to remember that we are on the same team and to seek to mend the relationships that have been torn apart by sin. Paul goes on to give us three different arguments for unity and what we will find is that these same truths can also be used to comfort those who are dealing with the pain that conflict and division within the church can cause.

The Corinthian church was a mess. They were tolerating sexual immorality, they were suing each other, they were getting drunk on communion, some were teaching that there is no bodily resurrection and they were using the spiritual gifts God has given them to make them feel superior to others. It was church filled with conflict and compromise. And yet Paul calls them “Holy” and declares that Jesus will sustain them until the end, guiltless on the day of Christ Jesus. How can Paul talk like this to a people that were so sinful? Why did he feel like this was the best way to address them? In this sermon we will seek to answer these and other questions.

Where do you seek hope in the midst of suffering? Often when things get difficult we seek hope in convincing ourselves that it isn’t our fault. We defend or justify or compare our involvement to others believing that the path to hope lies in our innocence. But Psalm 106 comes to show us another way. In Psalm 106 we find that as crazy as it might sound, the path to hope actually lies through confession. If you are wondering how that is possible this sermon will seek to answer that question.

How can the Psalmist call us to serve the LORD with gladness? In verse 3 the Psalmist explains that the reason he calls us to serve the LORD is because he is the God who made us. But how can he ask us to serve him with gladness? In verse 5 the Psalmist argues that the reason we can serve the LORD with gladness is because he isn’t just God, he is also good. In this sermon we will see how God’s greatness and his goodness combine to make praising him both the natural and the most enjoyable response we could have to encountering his glory.

We live in a culture that has done everything it can to distract itself from death. It says, “Since there is nothing that can be done to stop death, what’s the good of thinking about it. In Psalm 90 we are given an alternative to ignoring death. Here Moses writes to a people surrounded by death and his advice for them was to learn from it. Learn to number your days; learn to fear God more than people or circumstances; and learn that even in the darkest and most hopeless circumstances your God is able to satisfy you with his steadfast love and bring true joy and gladness into your life.

Every week millions of people around the world gather together in local churches to worship the God of the Bible. Throughout history and in many places to this day, Christians have been willing to make great sacrifices, many have even risked their own lives in order to be a part of these weekly gatherings. But why? What is the point of God's people gathering together each week? How important is it? How should you and I think and feel about gathering together? What priority should we give it in our lives? Tonight we are going to look at Psalm 84 as well as some other Psalms in order to try and answer some of these questions.

Have you ever found that your feelings were unfolding faster than you were able to process them? Have you ever cried out to God for help and felt like there was no answer? Have you ever tried your best to follow God only to have everything come crashing down around you? Have you ever been vulnerable and then had your weakness used against you by someone you trusted? If your answer is yes to any of these questions then Psalm 69 is for you!

Every human since the beginning of the world has longed for justice and peace. In Psalm 72, we have King David praying that his son would be the one to bring justice and peace forever. Listen and hear how the Gospel is about the King of kings who would fulfill all of King David's prayers at great cost to himself.

Have you ever felt yourself surrounded by what if’s. Your mind races, your body tenses as your thoughts take you down a spiral of worst-case scenarios. In Psalm 56 we find that we are not alone. David, the great warrior who once defeated the giant Goliath finds himself alone and afraid. In Psalm 56, David tells us how he responded to the fear and anxiety that he felt rising up within. In his response we can find hope for our own fears and freedom from the crippling grip of our own anxieties.

Pride is subtle and sneaky. It can infect our thoughts in ways we do not even realize. It leads to restlessness and discontentment with our circumstances. Psalm 131 gives us hope! Psalm 131 is God's word to us to lead us out of ourselves to rest in the loving arms of our Lord. It illustrates a heart that is humble, satisfied, and at rest. Jesus offers us this heart today through the good news of his humble sacrifice to save prideful and anxious sinners like you and me.

What do we do with our sin? When denying it and justifying it and explaining and excusing it don’t seem to be doing the trick. When we realize that hiding it doesn’t make it go away and distracting yourself from it only leaves us feeling empty? In this message we will look at Psalm 51 and find that it was written specifically to show sinners what they are supposed to do with their sin. If you have ever found yourself feeling dirty and ashamed and you just want to feel clean again, this Psalm is for you.

Forgiveness can be hard. In Genesis 50 Joseph explains how he was able to forgive his brothers even after all they had done to him. In Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers we catch a glimpse of God’s amazing forgiveness of us and we also find some practical help for how we too might learn to forgive those who have sinned against us.

We don’t talk very much about death do we? In tonight’s message we will consider why thinking and talking about death is so important. We will also consider some questions like: what does a good death look like? How does someone make sure that they are ready to die? And how should Christians respond to the death of our loved ones? These and other questions will be addressed as we look at the death of Jacob and see what we can learn from it.

In this text Peter exposes our toxic cravings and how Jesus purifies us and gives us new craving for Him.

Are there still consequences for forgiven sin or are grace and consequences meant to be mutually exclusive? In Genesis 49 we see that even for God’s people there are consequences for sin and those consequences don’t just impact the people who commit the sin. However, as we follow the story of Levi we will see that the consequences of sin, both the sins we commit and the sins that are done against us, are able to be redeemed!

There is something powerful about people’s last words. Here in Genesis 48 Jacob’s dying words are meant to teach us how to live. In them we learn about the importance of gratitude and we are reminded of how God has chosen to interact with his people. Jacob reminds us that we have a shepherd who will never leave us and that he is able to redeem his people from all evil and those two truths are meant to radically impact the way that we live.

In Genesis 47 the Egyptians joyfully gave Joseph everything they had in exchange for food so that they might live and not die. This got me thinking, “If we could only rightly grasp all that Jesus has saved us from, we too would joyfully let go of the things of this world in order to cling more fully to the one who offers us eternal life.” In this message we will consider what we have been saved from and the price that our savior paid to do it. My hope is that we too would join the Egyptians in declaring to Jesus, “You have saved our lives, may it please my Lord, we will be yours forever…”

After Jacob found out that Joseph was alive, you would think he would be overwhelmed with joy. What we actually find out in Genesis 47 is that sorrow and darkness have shaped Jacob in a way that makes joy seem foreign. Listen and hear how the Gospel changes us to be honest about sorrow but also frees us to experience joy.

When faced with a fork in the road we often think we have to choose between obedience to God OR our own happiness because we cannot imagine how God could accomplish both. However, the paths of obedience and blessedness are not two different paths. God comes to remind us that the path of faith and obedience is the path of greatest blessing and happiness. The God who raises Jesus from the dead is worthy of trusting with our future happiness even when we don't understand or when he intentionally leads us down uncomfortable and even painful paths to get there.

Tonight’s story is one of paralyzing fear that turned into hugs and tears as forgiveness is offered and estranged brothers are reconciled together again. It’s the story of prayers being answered in ways that exceed anything anyone could have ever asked or imagined. It’s the story of a numb heart being revived when a father realizes the son that he thought was dead was actually alive and he was going to get to see him again before he died. But even better than all this, tonight’s story is just a shadow of a far bigger story with an even better ending that you and I have been invited to be a part of.

Relief, it’s something all of us long for. Relief from guilt and shame; relief from the insidious fear that perhaps our God is against us; relief from the sorrows that we bear and the pain that we carry. In this passage we will get to see both Joseph and his brothers find relief from some of their greatest burdens. In their story we will not only see that relief is possible, but we will also find out exactly where it can be found.

Like all of us, Jacob struggled with letting things in this world become more important to him than God. Over and over in Jacob’s life we see that he looked to a person to give him what only God is able to give. But God did not let Jacob live comfortably with his disordered love, but instead he pursued him, often through disappointments, in order to bring him to the place where he was finally ready to look to God as his only hope. In God’s pursuit of Jacob we get a picture of the way our God pursues his people in order to loosen their grip on the things of this world and put their trust in him.

Sometimes the brokenness of this world can seem overwhelming. Sometimes loss can seem irreversible. Sometimes even the promises of God seem unable to bring us the comfort we long for. What then? In John 20 we encounter a woman who was so overwhelmed with grief that she had lost all hope of things ever getting better. But Jesus was not content to leave her in her despair. Instead, we will see how the resurrected Jesus comes to offer comfort to his people even in the midst of their darkest nights.

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We are a people who are haunted by the sins and the sufferings of our past. But what are we supposed to do about that? What do we do with the things we wish we could forget, but can’t? The memories that seem to spring up uninvited and often end up controlling us in ways that we know are unhealthy. Tonight we are going to look at a family that is haunted by a tragic event that took place over 20 years earlier. An event they all wish they could forget, but can’t. And in this story something happens to each of them that triggers their memory of the past. And in the midst of the many unhealthy responses to the past that we will see, there is one that I believe offers us hope and direction for dealing with the sins and the sufferings in our past.

Have you ever begged God for something that you knew was good, only to have God say no? Have you ever pleaded with God to let you keep someone that you loved dearly, only for him to take them away? Why? For 13 years Joseph asked God for good things and over and over again God said no. In Genesis 41 we finally see why. My hope is that in understanding why God said no to Joseph, we will get a better understanding of why he sometimes says no to us as well.

Disappointment and self-pity are two things that most of us are pretty familiar with. But what do we do about them? In tonight’s message we will see how Joseph was able to endure terrible injustice without falling prey to feeling sorry for himself. We will also consider what it is that God wants to say to us in the midst of our disappointments.

Temptation is something that can feel inescapable, and if we are honest, hard to resist. In Genesis 39 we will see that Joseph resists temptation because he is driven by something more than just resisting. Listen and hear how the Gospel empowers us to resist sin and live for the glory of God.

Some of you have endured some dark things in your lives that continue to haunt you with questions. You find yourself wondering, “Where was God when all this was happening?” “Did he see?” “Does he care?” “If I told anyone, would they believe me?” “Is it possible for God to use someone as broken as I feel right now?” And some of you haven’t just endured some dark things in your life, some of you have been so impacted by the pain that you have gone on to hurt others as well. Now a whole new set of questions arise. “Can I be forgiven?” “Will this terrible cycle ever be broken?” “Is it possible for someone to know everything about me, all my darkest secrets, and still love me?” In Genesis 38 we will get a glimpse into the darkest closet of both a victim of abuse and a perpetrator of abuse and we will get to see how God responded to the different questions that haunted each of them.

Have the devastating consequences of sin ever made you wonder if God would still keep his promises? Have you ever encountered something so broken that you questioned if it could ever truly be restored? In Genesis 37 we witness firsthand the devastating consequences of sin as we see Jacob clinging to the blood robe of his beloved son and refusing to be comforted. From his perspective it seemed like the promises of God had failed. But was he right to trust what he saw with his eyes more than the promises of God?

The story of Genesis 37:1-11 is the story of a Father’s favorite Son who was chosen by God to rule over his brothers. But the reason this story was written down is because it was always meant to point us forward to an even greater Father who had an even greater Son whom he chose to rule over his people. In this message we will show the stark contrast between Joseph’s pride and Jesus’ humility.

The book of Colossians ends with a list of names. Each of the people that Paul mentions has a unique story. In this message we will consider the story of four of these men and what it can teach us about faithfulness, redemption, forgiveness,. and the power of prayer. As we consider the way the Gospel transformed each of these individuals, we will have an opportunity to remember the influence the Gospel has had on our story as well.

How are Christians supposed to interact with those who don’t believe the things that we believe? In this passage Paul gives us three components to sharing the Gospel. What we will find is that while many of us are naturally better at one of the components, all three of them are vital if we are going to faithfully share the good news of the Gospel. In this message we will see why they are all necessary and how it is that we can grow in the ones that we are weak in.

Sharing the Gospel with others is hard. Most of us wish we talked about Jesus more than we do, but find that our fears or weaknesses often keep us silent. So what do we do? How do we overcome our fears and our weaknesses? Where do we find the boldness to talk about Jesus even with those who may not want to hear about him? These are just a few of the questions we will try to answer in this message.

For a lot of people, work seems like a necessary evil to survive. What if it wasn't always that way and won't always be that way? Would that change how we work in the present? Listen and hear how our work can have dignity, cultivation, and excellence because of the Gospel

Power has a tendency to change people, often for the worse. Now the reason this is important to note is because all of us have been given a certain degree of power. In this message we will consider two different ways to use the power we have been given. Will we use it gain control in order to protect our vulnerabilities or will we abandon control and instead seek to use our power to love others and protect their vulnerabilities. Power for love or power for control. In this message we will consider where it is that we learn to use our power for the sake of love and how it is that we are able to abandon control even when it inevitably leaves us very vulnerable.

Some estimate that nearly half of the population in Paul's day were slaves. Many of these slaves had no rights, received no compensation for their labors and were often the victims of sexual exploitation. Here in Colossians 3 Paul takes a moment to address these slaves personally and in his words we get a glimpse of God's heart for them. A heart committed to reminding these slaves of the dignity that they had because they were created in the image of God himself and the love that was demonstrated to them when the creator of heaven and earth chose to take on flesh and come near to them in the form of a slave.

Why should I pray? Does God really listen to me? Looking at the importance of the role of prayer in a Christian's life through the example of Christ and his followers.

The overarching storyline of the Bible is about One God who is on a mission to bring people into his family. The Bible ends with a massive feast where Jesus, God in the flesh, feasts with his people. So what are the people who are part of God's family supposed to do until then? Feast! We are called to feast with those who do not know God and introduce them to the One who considers sinners his friends. Listen and hear how the Gospel empowers us to continue God's mission by feasting together.

All of us have put our trust in things that have eventually let us down. We are familiar with disappointment and the regret that comes with it. Often this regret leads to shame as we begin to wonder if perhaps it’s too late. But Christmas is about the day the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared in order to free us from our shame and rescue us from regret. It’s not too late! In fact no one who puts there trust in this Savior will ever be put to shame!!

The Bible calls us to wait quietly and eagerly and patiently upon the Lord, but that is far easier to said than done. How are we supposed to wait quietly without growing anxious? How do you wait eagerly without grasping for control? How do you wait patiently without eventually giving in to despair? These are the questions we will seek to answer in this message…

How do you respond when faced with a crisis? When your desires come under threat? When faced with a crisis do you seek God in order to receive more of him or do you simply go to him to get what you want? Whatever struggles you face remember the promise of Christmas – that God through his Son Jesus Christ has defeated our greatest enemy and has given us the sure sign of his salvation in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s people will wait on God’s victory and hope in God With Us. When the crisis comes – stand as the defiant remnant of God’s people and say to your enemies – sin, death, and evil – “You will come to nothing! You will not stand! For God is With Us!”

In the book of Isaiah, we read about God's own chosen people refusing to wait upon God. Instead, they seek protection from one of their enemies. As crazy as it may sound, we aren't much different. Waiting is hard for us and it often exposes what we truly believe about God. Listen and hear how the Gospel comes to comfort and empower those who will turn to God alone in times of waiting.

What is shame and why do we resort to it so often with our children? What’s the difference between punishing our children and disciplining them? How can we find freedom from the shame we carry and help make our home a place where our children feel safe? What do we do when we fail to be the parents we know we should be? In this sermon we will seek to answer these and other questions that parents may find themselves asking.

Often children find themselves feeling like everything truly important and significant is reserved for adults. Children can’t drive or work or make major decisions or vote and that’s why it’s easy for children to be constantly looking ahead, waiting to reach the next milestone in order to finally feel like they can do something meaningful. But Paul comes to remind us that God has invited children to do the most significant thing in the entire universe.

Marriage can be hard. Fortunately, God has not left us to navigate the difficulties of marriage on our own. Instead, he has given us very specific instructions for what marriage is supposed to look like and the roles that he has called both the husbands and wives to play. Unfortunately, God’s instructions about marriage don’t make it any easier. Instead, what they do is show us that despite the difficulties our God has designed marriage to be good and beautiful and more than worth any sacrifices that it will inevitably require. Ultimately, we will see that God has designed marriage to be a reflection of the Gospel and he has given both husbands and wives an exalted role to play.

There is something about the combination of story and song that is able to drill truth deep down into our hearts. You can probably think of times in your own life where a song has impacted you in a way that words by themselves may not have. That is why in this passage Paul calls us to sing to one another as one of the means of drilling the word of Christ deep into our hearts.

Anxiety, that feeling of dread that comes over us when we realize that we are not in control and we think of all the terrible things that might happen. The truth is that our anxiety shouldn’t surprise us. Anxiety is the natural response of people who were made for Eden but can’t seem to find their way back. But in Colossians 3 Paul offers us an alternative, the peace of Christ. In this message we will consider how it is possible to experience true peace in a world full of anxiety.

No one will disagree with the statement that we should "put on love." However, often when we pursue love from the world's perspective we find that it leads to division and disappointment. In fact, self-centeredness often lies at the heart of what we call love. So, what makes Christian love - love that springs forth from a new identity in Christ - different? Jesus shows the heart of God in his self-giving love for sinners. When we are satisfied in his love we are freed to love others with the same self-giving love.

What is forgiveness and how is it possible? How do you forgive someone who has deeply hurt you? How do you forgive someone who keeps repeating the same old sin? How do you forgive someone who does something completely inexcusable? How do you forgive someone who does something that you know you would never do? In this message we will seek to answer these and other questions related to the very difficult but beautiful call to forgive one another the way Jesus has forgiven us.

Compassion, kindness, humility and meekness, these things sound great but the truth is that there are many times that we find them very difficult to actually practice. In this message we will look at what each of these attributes look like and what can make them difficult for us to actually do. In the end we will see that before we can ever truly demonstrate these things to others we must receive them ourselves. Fortunately, there is one who has demonstrated each of these things towards us if we are only willing to receive them.

Anger. Anger occurs when we say “That’s not right and it matters!!” Anger is our natural response to displeasure. In others, anger often seems irrational, overblown, and terribly destructive, but in ourselves, anger feels justified, reasonable, and the only option if we want to have any hope of seeing justice done. In this message we will ask ourselves “What makes me angry?” and “How do I respond when I get angry?” We will consider why it is that our anger often goes wrong and what alternative there might be to responding to the brokenness of this world. In the end we will see that taking off our destructive anger is possible because our God has given us something far better to put on in its place.

What is sexual immorality? Who gets to answer this question and on what basis do they get to make that decision? In this sermon we will discuss what the Bible teaches us about the one who designed sex and the purpose that he designed it for. We will also discuss what makes sexual immorality so bad and why it often comes with so much shame. Lastly, we will consider the depths of God’s love and the price that he paid to free us from our sexual past and wash us white as snow.

Over the past year people have become more and more aware of just how unstable the things of this world are. Of course this growing awareness has led to a growing sense of worry and anxiety. Things we once trusted to keep us safe no longer seem as reliable as they once did. In Colossians 3 Paul calls us to stop trusting in the fleeting things of this world and to set our minds on things above. One of the things Paul wants us to set our minds upon is the reality that we have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. The reason Paul wants us to think about that is because it means that we are safe. For all those whose life is hidden with Christ in God there is no longer anything in the universe that can ultimately harm us. In this sermon we will consider how our lives might be different if we would set our minds more fully on the things above.

In Colossians there were some teachers who thought that they had discovered the secret to experiencing the presence of God. Because of this they became puffed up and looked down on those who did not share their experience. In this sermon we will talk about the danger of allowing our knowledge of the Bible or our experience of God to lead us to feel superior to others. We will also look at the true path into the presence of God and talk about how it crushes our pride and keeps us humble.

One of Satan’s weapons of choice is shame. The Bible calls him the accuser and he loves to hold our sins over our head and remind us that we are not enough. He whispers that if anyone knew the things we had done there is no way they could ever truly love us. But in Colossians 2:13-15 Paul tells us how our God has disarmed the accuser by cancelling the massive debt that we owed at the cross. In this message we will discover the connection between the forgiveness of our past sins and freedom from slavery to sin in the present.

The book of Colossians lays claim to a glorious picture of Jesus that is meant to spur people on to daily worship and adoration. However, sometimes we are quick to look to our own daily disciplines and human traditions to give us confidence before God. But Paul takes the Colossian church back to the moment they first believed in the person and work of Jesus and commands them to trust in that same person and work day in and day out. Listen and hear how the gospel is such great news that we never have to move beyond it.

You and I will become like whatever we give our attention to. Knowing this Paul tells the Colossians that he toiled and struggled in order to proclaim Christ to them so that they might behold him and become more like him. This raises the question, “What are you giving your attention to?” Knowing what is at stake are you and I willing to toil and struggle for our own soul in order to make sure that we are giving our attention to beholding the one who is truly worthy.

I think most of us wish we were more bold in talking about our faith with others. However, many times we find ourselves holding back because we are not sure how talking about Jesus will be received by those around us. But what if suffering or even the fear of suffering didn’t hold us back from sharing the Gospel? How would that change our lives? In this passage Paul comes to shift our view of suffering from an obstacle to be avoided into a means of proclaiming the Gospel to be rejoiced in. It sounds crazy, right?

In this passage Paul reminds us that the most broken relationship we have ever experienced was with the most important person we have ever known and it was 100% our fault. Nevertheless, Paul tells us that we have a savior who has reconciled that broken relationship in his body through his death! Let that sink in, the most broken thing in all of the universe has already been fixed! You could summarize all of this by saying that you and I have been more wrong than we have ever realized and yet we remain more loved than we could ever imagine. In this sermon we will talk about what it means to be wrong and loved and why that truth can sometimes be difficult to swallow.

Just like the Colossians we live in a world that is constantly trying to dethrone Jesus in our lives by deceiving us into prioritizing other things. Into this world Paul broke out into a hymn proclaiming the preeminence of Jesus in all things. Jesus is preeminent in everything good and beautiful because he is the one who made it. But he is also preeminent in all of the broken because he alone is able to fix it through the blood of his cross. In this message we will consider what it would look like to give Jesus the preeminence in everything in our lives both the beautiful and the broken.

How often do you think about pleasing God? Many people rarely think about pleasing God at all, while those who do think about pleasing God usually find themselves feeling pretty discouraged at how far short they fall. In Colossians 1:9-14 Paul reminds us of the importance of pleasing God, while still finding a way to encourage those who are despairing over their sin. If you have ever wondered how to honestly seek to please a holy God without being crushed by your failure then this sermon is for you.

Sometimes people are hard to love, especially people that we have tried to love only to be let down by. In this sermon we will consider the way Paul continued to love people even after they had hurt him. We will also talk about the Colossians love for “all” of the saints and what makes that kind of love possible.

In a world full of temptation where each of us have experienced our fair share of sin and failure the last few verses in Jude are meant to overwhelm God’s people with encouragement. There is one who is bigger than any temptation and he is able to keep his people from stumbling. Not only is he bigger than our temptations he is stronger than our sin and he promises to present his people blameless in the presence of his glory. These truths are meant to overwhelm us with joy and move us to give God the glory, majesty, dominion and authority that he deserves.

There is a final judgment coming for all humanity. When we become aware of people that are deceived by false teachers, what is our typical response towards them? Do we protect ourselves from them or do we show them mercy and remind them of the Gospel, praying God saves them from the judgment to come? Listen and hear how the Gospel reminds us of what we were once like and why ungodly sinners need the Gospel just as much as we once did.

In Jude 8-13, Jude exposes that the people who have crept in unnoticed among the church are false teachers. The way to know them is by watching their lives. They all have an imbalance that says one thing but does another. Listen and hear how the Gospel confronts and comforts our own imbalances in this life.

Often times the warnings in Scripture of God's righteous judgment against the ungodly can be terrifying. As Jude calls us to battle to contend for the faith we come to realize that the enemy is within the gates - not only in our midst in the church - but within our very own hearts. What, then, is our only comfort in life and in death? That we are not our own, but belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is our only refuge, our only comfort. Jude fortifies the faith of true believers with this comfort as he calls us to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Having received mercy, peace, and love from God through Christ, we offer him to those still in need of a refuge.

Have you ever come face to face with a brokenness that was your fault? Genesis 35 tells us how God responds to the mess that Jacob and his family found themselves in because of Jacob’s compromise. In this passage we learn that no matter how long you have run or how far you have fallen it is never too late to repent and come back home. Home to the God who loves us and gave the son of his right hand as a sacrifice for our sins.

In Genesis 34, we see two examples of the abuse of power. Sadly, it is the victim of the abuse that is left silent and in need. Listen and hear how Jesus comes to demonstrate an other-worldly power that draws near to the abused and offers hope for abusers.

In this moving account of reconciliation between two brothers we are given a front row seat as to what God is like and how he responds to all those who turn to him in repentance.

Most of us have had times in our lives where we longed for reconciliation with someone we had wronged. We find a time to get together and we tell them we are sorry for what we did and then we wait. Will they welcome us back or will they keep their distance? In Genesis 32 Jacob seeks reconciliation with the brother that he had wronged and we wait to see how he will respond.

How do you respond to conflict? In this passage we get a play by play view of how both Laban and Jacob responded to a major conflict between them. As we look at each of their responses and consider why they did what they did I think we will be able to learn a lot about ourselves. Ultimately we will see how the Gospel is meant to change the way we approach conflict.

All of us long for success in the things we care about most. However often we fail to take seriously the danger that comes with any success. In this message we will talk about two of the most common dangers that success brings with it and how the Gospel gives us the truths we need to navigate our way through these dangers.

How do you respond when you encounter a brokenness that you can’t seem to figure out how to fix? In this passage we will witness a number of common responses to the broken things in our lives before we will finally see the one place where we can find hope.

All of her life Leah had been forced to live in her sister’s shadow dreaming of the day that she would find a husband who loved her and finally be free of the comparisons with her sister Rachel. But that day never came. Instead, they both end up marrying the same man and Leah finds that her husband loves her sister far more than he loves her. For years Leah does all that she can to try and earn her husband’s love, but nothing is ever good enough. In fact every time she gets her hopes up they are met with crushing disappointment. If you have ever found yourself dealing with disappointment then this sermon is for you. Find out how Leah delt with the devastating disappointment in her life and where it is that she finally found the love she longed for. In the end you will find that the hope she found is just as available to us as it was for her.

After receiving an incredible vision and promise in Genesis 28, Jacob continues his journey to find a wife in Genesis 29. We may expect a drastic life change after such an incredible vision but what we find is Jacob still being like Jacob. In a dark tale of deception, we find that we all are like Jacob and often are disillusioned by misplaced hopes. Who can we look to finish the transformation in us that God began? Listen and hear how the gospel answers that questions and shows how true change happens.

Loneliness is a condition that all of us have faced at various times in our lives. In Genesis 28 Jacob finds himself totally alone as he flees the home that he loved in order to escape the anger of his older brother. In the midst of Jacob's loneliness God appeared to him in a dream and revealed himself to be exactly what Jacob needed at that time. In this story we will see some amazing truths about God, and with Jacob, I believe we will find that the God who has revealed himself to us continues to be exactly what his people need today.

Can you imagine the hopelessness that Jesus disciples felt the day that he was crucified? In all of the world there was nothing that could ever come close to replacing what they had in Jesus. Some of you are familiar with this type of feeling. The fear that something you lost will never be able to be replaced and that things will never get better. This Easter I want us to consider the words of comfort that Jesus offered to his disciples during their season of loss because I believe that these same words continue to offer us comfort today.

Life is full of crossroads. In Genesis 27 we will look at three different people who all find themselves at very different crossroads. I believe that as we look at each one we will find that we have been at these same crossroads before. But instead of just telling us which path to take God has given us this story which takes us down the different paths so that we can see where they lead and better understand the way we should go.

How many times have we tried to be someone we aren’t in the hopes of gaining the love and acceptance that we long for? In this story Jacob longs for his father’s blessing, but he thinks the only way to get it is to pretend to be his brother. Of course, by pretending to be his brother, all he does is confirm his true identity. He is Jacob, the deceiver. In this message we will find that there is hope even for deceivers like Jacob, but only if they are willing to stop running and acknowledge the truth.

Have you ever found God’s promises hard to believe? In Genesis 26 we will look at the life of Isaac and consider some of the situations that can make God’s promises hard for us to believe. In each situation we will consider whether or not God can be trusted to keep his promises, even then.

Why would someone sell the most precious possession in the world for a bowl of soup? From the outside it seems crazy until we contemplate how many times we have traded things of eternal significance for a few moments of pleasure. And for those who are disciplined and have learned to control their feelings and find yourself looking down on people like Esau, you too will find that you are represented in this story.

In Genesis 25 we learn that Abraham had 8 sons, but only Isaac received the blessing. Then Isaac has twins, but before they were even born God declared that only one of them would receive the blessing. All of this leads to the question “On what basis does God pass down the blessing?” With the help of Romans 9 this message will seek to begin to answer that question.

Have you ever felt like you were missing something that you desperately needed? All of us have things that we want that we don’t have, but sometimes there are things that we feel like we desperately need, and yet we still don’t have them. So, what do we do? How are you and I supposed to respond to our unmet needs? In Genesis 24 Abraham we encounter a massive unmet need and we get to watch how Abraham and his servant respond to it. I believe this text has a lot to teach us about what it looks like to trust God and why it is that he can be trusted even when we feel like there are things we desperately need.

Every year over 800,000 healthy little babies are killed by doctors in office buildings just around the corner. These babies have no voice and are in desperate need of a refuge if they are going to survive. Alone, afraid, often pressured by a boyfriend or parents many compassionate mothers feel like they have no choice but to end the life of their baby. These mothers need a refuge. They need to know that they are not alone. And for those mothers and fathers who have chosen to have abortions what they soon realize is that their need for a refuge doesn’t go away with the baby, it only grows. Sad, depressed, often overwhelmed with shame these women and men need to know that despite anything they may have done there is one who loves them and offers them the forgiveness that they long for. His mercies are new every morning even on mornings after you have done the unthinkable. In this sermon we will see that there is a compassionate Father who offers to be a refuge for each of the different groups mentioned here as well as for anyone else who finds themselves overwhelmed by the brokenness of this world. We will also find that this Father is able to restore all that our sin has broken, even the things we thought were lost forever.

Wounded people are often the ones who go on to hurt others. Most of us just don't know what to do with our pain and our desire for justice often feels overwhelming. But what if there was another way? What if you didn't have to be controlled by the wrongs that people have done to you? That's what Joel 3 is about. It's about God's promise to get justice on behalf of his people and the freedom that is meant to give us.

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As the Day of the Lord has broken in throughout the book of Joel, we realize that the people would be devastated. Yet, as we get to 2:28-32, we see that God is not just promising to restore the physical devastation but also the hearts of his people. Listen and hear how God is making all things new, starting with the hearts of his people. He truly is the God that gives hope to the hopeless.

How are we supposed to understand times of unprecedented suffering? Does God have a purpose behind it? If there is a purpose behind seasons of terrible loss then how does God want us to respond to it? And is there hope for what has been lost? These are just a few of the questions that we will address in Joel 2.

We are living in a season of tragedy and loss and the question that must be addressed is “How should Christians respond to this season of suffering.” Fortunately, the book of Joel is written to guide God’s people in how to respond to seasons of unprecedented catastrophe. In chapter 1 we will learn how to cry out to God in Lament bringing the real us into the presence of the real God.

As we begin a New Year it is good to reflect upon what God is calling us to in the days and months ahead. In John 8:31-32 Jesus tells us the Characteristics of those who truly follow him. True disciples 1)Abide in Christ’s Word 2) Know the Truth 3) Are set Free from sin to truly follow Christ.All these characteristics are ultimately centered on who Jesus is and what he has done for us in the gospel. 1) He is the true Word in which we abide as our life source. 2) He came full of truth and grace and so we find both in him alone 3) The Son is the one who sets us free from sin to truly follow him. If the Son sets you free you will be free indeed. Abide in Christ through his word this year! He is truly worthy to be followed!

In John 1:14-18, the Apostle John alludes to God revealing his glory, character and presence to Moses in Exodus 33-34 to describe Jesus taking on flesh and dwelling among his people. As 2020 comes to a close, we must ask if God's revelation of himself is enough to sustain us in our waiting. Listen and hear how John 1:14-18 is great news for all those who will listen.

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All of us have things that we hide. We hide because we are afraid that if people really knew us they wouldn't love us. However, the problem with hiding is that it condemns us to live alone with the parts of us that are most broken and in need of help. But what if there was another way? What if the light that we fear didn't come to condemn us but to love us? In this message we will see that when the light of the world came and exposed our darkness he did it to rescue us not to reject us. We will talk about what it looks like to live in the light and the freedom that can only be found in being known and loved by our great savior.

One of the hardest identities for God's people to live out is our identity as witnesses, sent by God with the message of reconciliation. In this passage we will look at the man that God sent to make his Son known to the masses and I think that we will find him to be an excellent model on what it means to live out our identity as a people sent by God to be his witnesses in the world. If you have found yourself struggling to live out your identity as one sent by God I hope this message will encourage you.

Who is God and what is he like? John seeks to answer this question for us by saying, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God?” But what does this mean? How can someone be with God and still be God? Why does John call him the Word? And what does any of this have to do with us today? In this sermon we will seek to answer these questions and show why these truths are so vital for our lives today.

What exactly is the glory of God and why is it so special? If it is so special why do we often find ourselves more focused on other things? These are just a few of the questions we will try and answer in this sermon.

When it comes to the mission of the church to advance the gospel, there have been countless methodologies prescribed throughout church history. As helpful as those may be, the mission of the church is impossible without the Holy Spirit. Listen and hear how the Holy Spirit empowers us to treasure Jesus and call others to treasure him as well.

Why are we here? What is the ultimate purpose of our lives? When Jesus came to earth 2000 years ago he came with a clear purpose. Over and over in the book of John he talks about not doing his own will but the will of the one who “sent him.” When Jesus found himself at a crossroads he would always go back to the will of the one who sent him to make his decision. And then in John 20:21 Jesus said to his disciples “As the Father sent me, even so I am sending you.” In this sermon we will discuss what it means for us to be sent by Jesus to finish the work that he began. We will also talk about some of the obstacles to living this sort of way and what Jesus has given us to help us overcome those obstacles.

This message is about a family that has existed for all eternity and a Son who was loved so perfectly by his Father that he gave his life so that he might share that love with sinners and see them adopted into his family. Now I know that not everyone has good associations with family, but in this message we will talk about how God’s family is a place where we can find healing from the wounds our nuclear families may have left us. We will also talk about what a privilege it is to be a part of the family of God and why it is so important that we prioritize it in our lives.

We live in an age where division over disagreements can be seen everywhere you look. In a culture where unity is cheap, superficial and fragile the Bible tells us that the church is supposed to be different. This sermon will address why the unity of the church is far more important to the witness of the Gospel than what candidate wins the election. We will also talk about how Christians should respond if the candidate they vote for doesn’t win. In an age of division the church has been given an amazing opportunity to show off the power of the Gospel by living out our identity as a family even if we don’t agree about everything.

In an age of distraction how can you and I learn to Treasure Christ above everything else? In this message we will talk about why it is that we find ourselves so easily distracted and what God has done to grab our attention so that we begin to love the most the one who is most worthy of our love.

When we view the Gospel in a man-centered way we stop being formed BY it and instead we use it as just another tool for our own self-fulfillment, self-help, and to achieve our own social ends – and the message becomes – “God is good. We’re all good. Let’s just feel good and do good.” – THIS is a total distortion of the true Gospel. The Gospel is the good news that God, the Holy and Righteous Author of life, looked upon a rebellious people with love and sent Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, into history to reconcile a people to himself by living a perfectly righteous life, dying on the cross for our sins, and rising from the dead conquering sin, death, and evil so that all who believe in Jesus will receive new and eternal life by his grace and have everlasting joy in his Kingdom.

Loneliness is something each one of us has felt. We feel it when we are abandoned by a friend or rejected by a family member; we feel it when a child moves out or a loved one passes away; we feel it when we thought we found the person who would take it all away, but somehow it remains. In 2 Timothy 4 Paul experiences deep loneliness. He has been forsaken by a friend, deserted by the church, and harmed by an enemy all as he sits chained in a dungeon waiting to die. However, as lonely as Paul feels he finds strength in the reality that he isn’t really alone and never will be again. This message will look at where Paul found hope in the midst of his loneliness and how we can find it as well.

In a world that calls us to follow our desires and avoid suffering Paul comes to offer us something worth suffering for. Paul describes the Christian life as a fight and a race but then he tells us what it is that makes all the sacrifices involved worth it in the end.

What exactly is preaching and why does Paul think it is so important. Not only will we answer these questions but we will see that this passage doesn’t just apply to pastors, it applies to all of us.

In 2nd Timothy 3 Paul lays out two very different paths to follow in life. One is flexible morphing to make room for whatever our hearts desire. This path has the appearance of godliness, but it denies its power. The other path is lined with suffering and persecution and it requires us to depend upon the power of God for our very survival. This sermon will show us which path Paul chose and why we would be wise to follow in his footsteps.

In 2 Timothy 3 Paul warns Timothy about the danger of false teachers who have the appearance of godliness but deny its power. In this message we will consider a few of the different ways that we are tempted to settle for the appearance of godliness and deny the true power of God’s grace. Specifically we will talk about the danger of making the confession of our sins into a form of godliness and the danger of presuming upon God’s grace while continuing to live for ourselves.

Do you love God? A lot of people reading this will probably say “Yes.” But in 2 Timothy 3 the question isn’t “Do you love God? But “Do you love God the most.” In this passage Paul lays out the danger of disordered love where we find ourselves loving good things more than the God who made them. In this sermon we will talk about how to tell what it is that we love the most. We will also discuss how we can find freedom from the disordered loves that are constantly trying to suck us in.

Within the context of the local church, there will be some that are under Jesus Christ as their Master, while others are under the evil one as their master. The way Paul commands Timothy to talk to these opponents, can also teach us how to correct our opponents in such a polarizing culture. Listen and hear how the good news of a gentle and lowly Savior creates in his followers a gentleness that mirrors the gentleness of Jesus.

Paul applies how the Gospel and endurance apply directly to our words. There are some in the Ephesian churches who will use the word of God and the Gospel to give life to others, while there are some who will use their words to spread false teaching and death. Listen and hear how the Gospel frees us from irreverent babble and spurs us on to gospel proclamation for the glory of God and the good of the church.

Due to Paul's impending death, he wants to prepare Timothy and all whom he disciples into a life of endurance that leads to seeing Jesus face-to-face. How does endurance happen in the Christian life? It happens by remembering Jesus and the gospel that cannot be bound. Listen and hear how remembering Jesus is the heartbeat of endurance.

One of the things that Christians often find themselves wrestling with is how does God’s law and obedience and effort relate to God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. Is the primary message of the Bible “Just Believe” or is it more a call to “Radical Discipleship?” In 2 Timothy 2:1-7 Paul helps us get a better understanding on how God’s grace and hard work are supposed to relate. We will also see how Paul tries to help us better understand the Christian life by comparing it to the life of a soldier and an athlete and a farmer...

In 2 Timothy 1:8 Paul calls Timothy not to be ashamed of Jesus, but rather to join him in suffering for the Gospel. How does this verse apply to us today? Should we really be suffering for the Gospel today in America? In this sermon, we will discuss if suffering for the Gospel is really necessary or not. We will also talk about what our motivation for not being ashamed of the Gospel should be and if the suffering that comes with it is really worth it.

Today, just as in Paul’s day, two forms of power vie for our attention. The world holds out a power found in strength that offers us control so that we can avoid suffering and gain significance. But in 2 Timothy Paul shows us another way. Here he offers a power found in our weakness for the sake of love. Rather than avoiding suffering this power enables us to endure it and instead of seeking its own significance this power enables us to consider other people more significant than ourselves. While on the surface the power that this world offers appears far more attractive in this sermon we will see that true freedom comes when we embrace the power of the cross.

2 Timothy is the last letter we have from the Apostle Paul. He wrote it from an underground dungeon with chains around his wrists as he waited to be executed. The letter contains his last words to a man he often referred to as his beloved son. In this introduction, we will see how it is that someone stuck in a dungeon can be filled with gratitude and how someone who saw themselves as the worst of sinners could face death with a clean conscience. We will also see the vital role that God has called each of us to play in passing our faith down to others.

The Psalms were written for a year like 2020 because they give expression to our many different emotions – our highs and our lows – our confusion and our confidence – our anger and our love – our deepest sadness and highest joys. The Psalms legitimize our emotions. The Psalms remind us that our emotions are a gift from God and rightly understood they lead us to the Creator and Redeemer of our emotions so that they can then be used to glorify Him in all of their great variety. Listen to hear how Jesus gives us hope even when we are feeling overwhelmed.

I know the topic of white privilege isn’t something you would expect to hear about in a sermon but over the past week, I have found that God has used this precise topic to give me a better understanding of the Gospel. In this sermon, I hope that you will come along on that journey with me. In the end, we will consider different ways that we might lay down privilege in solidarity with those who are suffering as well as ways that we might take up privilege in order to leverage it for the sake of others.

Is it right to confess the sins of our fathers? We see Nehemiah and Ezra and Daniel and the Psalmist doing it, but still, the practice seems strange. I mean do we really need to be forgiven for things we have never personally done? In this sermon, we will look at what the Bible teaches about the corporate confession of sins both past and present. We will also seek to apply that teaching to the long history of racial injustice that has plagued the church in America.

As we consider the tragic murder of George Floyd and the massive impact it has had on our black brothers and sisters will we listen and lament the racial divide in our country and all of the pain and suffering it has caused? Psalm 22:24 reminds us that our God does not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted. The question we will address today is will we join Him in sitting in solidarity with the suffering. One day our God is going to come and wipe every tear away which means that if we are ever going to weep with those who weep, now is the time.

Our world is in the midst of civil unrest, racism, and injustice. What is our role as followers of Jesus and how do we figure out what to do? It may sound odd but we need to learn from the trees. Listen and hear how the Gospel and trees creates a people whose allegiance causes them to bear fruit for the King.

No matter how happily settled you and I maybe each of us knows that deep down inside something tells us there has to be more. C.S. Lewis called this longing our inconsolable secret. In this sermon, we will consider what it is that we are ultimately longing for and how it is that we might one day experience the satisfaction we are seeking.

All of us have a deep longing not only to be loved but to be enjoyed and appreciated by the people we esteem the most. Growing up we quickly learn that if we want to get the love we seek we need to be good. But what happens when we realize that we are not good enough to get the amount of love we need to be happy? In Psalm 32 David answers this important question for us.

Most of us find ourselves fluctuating between feeling like things are under control and being happy and being overwhelmed because we realize how little control we actually have. Back and forth we go between feeling confident in our plans and feeling anxious about things we can’t control. But In Psalm 28 David comes to show us a 3rd way. He begins by reminding us all how little we really do control but instead of being overwhelmed with anxiety David says, “My heart trusts in God and I am helped.” In this message, we will consider what it would look like for us to relinquish control into the hands of our God and rest in his ability to care for us.

What is Jesus doing right now? We talk often about how Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the grave, but what is he doing right now? In Psalm 20 we will take a closer look at what Jesus is doing up in heaven today and the impact that ought to have on our own lives.

Many of us have trusted God to protect the things in life that we loved the most only to realize that he doesn’t always do it. Why? Why doesn’t God always protect the things we love the most? And what are we supposed to do with all the insecurities that come from realizing that God doesn't always protect the things we care about? This message comes to help us understand how we can still trust God and live securely even when he doesn’t always protect the things we really love.

At this point most of us probably find ourselves longing for things to go back to normal. We feel like strangers in our own world and we miss the way things used to be. Abraham and Sarah were very familiar with these feelings. For over 60 years they wandered together as strangers and foreigners waiting for God to give them the land he had promised. Today we are going to talk about the temptations they faced as they waited and see what it was that enabled them to trust God while feeling like a stranger in the world. I believe that the things we can learn in this passage could be really helpful for all of us as we learn how to navigate these strange times.

Living without answers to our most agonizing questions is hard; obeying God in the midst of these questions is even harder, but that is precisely what Abraham does in Genesis 22. In this passage, we will see what it is that we need to know in order to be able to obey God even when we don’t understand what he is doing or why he is doing it. For those of you who feel paralyzed by the unanswered “Why’s” in your life this message is meant to redirect your heart from the answers you long for to the person who holds them all in his hands. It is my prayer that we would all see that knowing the one who has the answers is far better than knowing the answers themselves.

Easter just doesn’t feel like Easter this year, does it? But today, despite all of the fear and uncertainty in the air, Easter has come and that is a reason for celebration. You see the reason we celebrate Easter has never had anything to do with our present circumstances; the reason we celebrate Easter has everything to do with something that happened 2000 years ago. In this sermon, we will see how Jesus' death and resurrection from the grave ought to impact the way that we approach these uncertain times that we find ourselves living in.

This current season with COVID-19 has stripped away a lot of things we depend on. Will we respond in clinging to new ways to try to earn God's approval or will we learn to receive His promises by faith in Jesus. Listen and hear how the Gospel from Genesis 21 can teach us to receive his promises with joy.

During this time of uncertainty as fears and anxieties creep up on all of us, one of the questions we find ourselves facing is “Can God be trusted?” Satan wants to do everything he can to use the negative circumstances in our lives to chip away at our faith in God. In Genesis 20 we find that Satan successfully uses this strategy on Abraham in order to get him to doubt the promises of God. As we look at this story of Abraham’s failure we will find that we are not alone in our fear and anxiety, however, as we look at God’s response to Abraham’s failure we will also find the answer to the all important question “Can God be trusted?”

We are living in a crazy season right now. Over the last week, it seems like everyday something significant in our lives has changed. Things that we have always taken for granted have been stripped away in an instant and as our losses begin to stack up we find ourselves wondering how we are supposed to respond. In this message, we will look at how two different men responded to the catastrophic losses they experienced. In the end, what we will find is that how we respond to our losses can make all of the difference in the world.

We are living in a unique season. There is an eeriness in the air and uncertainty abounds. Things that we have taken for granted like sports and concerts and schools are now being canceled. In this message, we are going to look at Genesis 18:16-33 and consider what it would look like to apply the truths in this text to the way we respond to the Coronavirus. Ultimately my prayer is that each of us would respond to this virus by drawing near to God through Jesus Christ knowing that he and he alone is able to save us to the uttermost.

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How do the promises made to Abraham relate to the New Covenant promises made to Christ's church? In Jesus all of the promises of God are fulfilled making the New Covenant unbreakable! Received by faith these promises produce a newness of life.

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We all need someone "out there" looking for us. Jesus is not only the God who sees you but the God who took on flesh so that you could see him. Jesus looked to a darkened sky and cried out to a God who never responded. God forsook his Son so that he could Hear us and bring us to See him for all eternity.

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Sometimes it is really hard to believe the promises of God. What happens when we fail to live according to them and choose to go our own ways...again and again? Genesis 13 teaches us what it looks like to live by faith and not by sight by returning to the God, who makes the promises, again and again.

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In a culture full of self-help remedies, we are more and more aware that we need help. This has been the curse of being human in a fallen world for centuries. Can real change ever happen, and if so, where do we start? Listen and hear how the good news of what God has done in Christ can not only help us, but it is powerful enough to give life and beauty to dead and cursed things.

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Matthew 1:18-25

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We lost a precious baby this week. Murdered before his first birthday. Confusion, sadness, anger and regret all swirl around in our hearts and minds. Where do we go from here? There are no easy answers, no helpful tips, no road map to help us navigate this dark and uncharted place. But there is a guide. There is one who has gone down into the grave and come back again. Mark 16:1-9 tells us about Him and I believe His story has something to say to us. I believe that Jesus resurrection from the dead offers hope in the face of death, redemption in the face of sin and regret, and peace even as the questions swirl and the pain remains.

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Researchers say that loneliness is at an all-time high despite more ways than ever to build relationships. This isn't new. The people of God have been longing for a place to find relationship since the Garden of Eden. Listen and hear this odd story about a naked young man and the Gospel can comfort the lonely.

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Those who have experienced the Holiness and forgiveness of God will naturally call to taste and see that the Lord is good. Followers of Jesus are happily pursuing holiness and calling others into it along the way. Listen and hear how the Gospel frees us of our fear of man as we long to please God above all else.

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When you read about Jesus last night on earth one of the things you find is that he spends much of the time comforting his disciples. But who comforted Jesus? As he prepared to drink the bitter cup of God’s wrath against our sin who was thinking about his suffering and offering him words of encouragement? I think Mark gives us a hint in this verse. The last thing Jesus did before he left the upper room was sing a song with his disciples. Wouldn’t it be amazing to know what song Jesus sang and see if God might have used that song to encourage his Son when he felt all alone? Well because it was the Passover we actually do know what song Jesus sang that night and in this message we will see how God ordained this specific song for this special night to comfort his Son when no one else would.

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In Mark 13:32-37 Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to come again and he calls them to stay awake. Part of staying awake means longing for Jesus return. In this sermon, we will consider why it is that we often find ourselves longing more for the temporary things of this world than for Jesus return. We will also see why it is that we can know with absolute certainty that Jesus is truly going to come again and when he does it will be the greatest thing that has ever happened for all those who have put their trust in him.

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In Mark 13, Jesus is preparing his disciples to be ready for coming persecution. While there were implications specific to Jesus' disciples, he also calls the reader of Mark to understand that they need to be ready for the Second Coming of Jesus. Listen and hear how the gospel encourages us to be ready for the return of Jesus.

In Mark 13 Jesus alerts His disciples to the persecution that is coming for those who have chosen to follow Him and he warns them about seeking to escape it by following false Messiahs. Instead, Jesus calls His disciples to rely on the Holy Spirit and to endure all the way to the end. Instead of being alarmed by persecution Jesus tells his disciples that God intends to use persecution to be the very means by which the Gospel goes out into the world. In this sermon we will see how God has used persecution to spread the Gospel both in the book of Acts and throughout church history. My prayers is that God would use this sermon to lead all of us to become more dependent upon his Spirit and more bold in our proclamation of the Gospel to others.

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There are crossroads that each one of us will face throughout our life. Will we seek to do large things in famous ways as fast and efficiently as possible or will we be content to do small, mostly overlooked things, over a long period of time and to love doing them because we are doing them with Jesus. In this message Jesus warns us about the danger of seeking our glory here on earth. Instead Jesus shows us another way, and in the process demonstrates why He and He alone is worthy of the glory that we often find ourselves running after.

In Mark 12:28-34 Jesus summarizes all of the law and the prophets in a few short verses. What a gift! In this message we will consider some of the obstacles that keep us from following these two great commandments. At the end we will talk about how God’s amazing love for us in Christ offers us all that we need to begin to rightly order our own love and apply Jesus great call to our lives.

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We live in a very politically divided time and those divisions are often just as apparent in the church as they are in the world. Many Christians have responded to the political climate of our country in one of two ways. Either they have chosen to withdraw from politics or they have picked one of the two political parties and embraced their agenda even though it has meant sometimes having to look the other way on matters to which Christians out to object. In Mark 12:13-17 Jesus comes to offer us a third way. My prayer is that God would use this message to unify his people under the good rule of our great King and that we would find that his love for us is able to overcome the political divide of this and any other age.

In Mark 12:1-12 Jesus tells a story about the patience of God and the way the religious leaders had abused it. Essentially this text is a warning. It’s a warning not to presume upon God’s kindness or misinterpret his patience for permissiveness. You see as patient as our God might be this story reminds us that there is a day of judgment coming. In this message the landlord’s son comes to each of us and begs us not to neglect the great salvation he came to offer by presuming upon God’s patience but rather to let God’s patience lead us to repentance.

Sometimes we allow things in this world to become so important to us that they begin to become a part of our very identity. Sadly, whenever something becomes a part of our identity we often find it very difficult to listen to feedback in that area. In Mark 11 Jesus challenges the religious leaders about something that was very important to them and we find that they were unable to genuinely consider his critique. By watching how the religious leaders respond to Jesus challenge we can learn a lot about ourselves and the ways we often respond to criticism. The message concludes by seeing how Jesus continues to challenge us even today whenever we allow anything other than his glory to become preeminent in our lives.

In Mark 11:20-25 Jesus reminds his disciples that God is able to do the impossible and he calls them to ask him for anything, believing that they will receive it, and he will give it to them. Some of you may have tried this. Some of you have asked God for the impossible and truly believed that he would do it, and yet nothing happened. And the truth is that hurts. It hurts to believe that God is going to do something impossible and then find out that he doesn’t. So what do we do? Do we stop asking? Do we keep asking but no longer really believe its going to happen? What are we supposed to do with all the impossible things we long for when praying about them often only leads to pain? These are some of the questions we will try and answer in tonight’s sermon.

In this passage we see Jesus curse a fig tree and it raises all kinds of questions. In the end though we realize that this passage really isn’t about the fig tree, it’s about us. So what are we supposed to learn from this surprising passage? In what ways are we like the fig tree? And if we are like this tree what do we need to do to ensure that we don’t receive the same curse that fell on it? Lastly, what does all of this have to do with Jesus cleansing of the temple and how should we apply that to our lives today?

Ruth 4 describes the costly faith of Boaz seeking to redeem Naomi and Ruth. The other redeemer in the story concludes that Ruth and Naomi are not worth his time, but Boaz is willing to redeem them at all costs. All of this is pointing forward to Jesus, the Redeemer who was willing to give it all to redeem the widow, the outsider, and all those who would believe in Him. Through the cross and resurrection, Christ is quilting together a patchwork of redemption that will result in his eternal praise. Through doing this, he proves to be the worthy treasure that is worth any cost to us.

How do you respond to loss? In Ruth 3 we see someone who is well acquainted with loss vulnerably open herself up and lay her heart at the feet of Boaz? How did she do it? Where did she find the courage? What gave her the confidence to risk everything after she had already lost so much? And how would Boaz respond? Was it worth it? And what does this story have to do with us today? Are there things it can teach us about how we ought to respond to the losses in our lives?

In Ruth 2 we are welcomed into the story of Boaz welcoming a Moabite outsider into his field. He protects her provides for her, and associates himself with her by feasting with her. Listen and hear how the gospel is the great news about the Lord of the Harvest who invites sinners to feast with him as a family.

In Ruth chapter 1, we are invited into a story of sorrow and tragedy. Yet, despite such hardship, we see a God who is with His people every step of the way as he directs every single second of history towards its intended destiny. Hear and see how the Gospel invites us into a life where we can trust God in bitter suffering and unmeasured delight.

Waiting can be hard for us. The command to wait is the second most used command in the Bible. If God sees waiting as a good thing, why do we struggle to wait? Listen and hear how the first appearing of Jesus creates in us the ability to wait for his second appearing with eager expectation.

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Have you ever found that your circumstances made it really hard to believe some of God’s promises? Well you certainly aren’t the first person to feel that way. Consider Joseph, his fiance is pregnant and all that he knows for certain that he is not the father. And then an angel comes and calls Joseph to trust God and take Mary as his wife anyway. That would be hard. In this sermon we will see that just like Joseph the hardest thing God is calling us to do this Christmas is to trust him. We will also see that because the Christmas story is true and God really did come in the flesh you and I have all that we need to trust God even against the most impossible odds.

In Matthew 1 Jesus shows that there is room in his family for outsiders. In a male dominated culture Jesus made room for women, in a Jewish culture Jesus included foreigners and in an honor/shame culture Jesus welcomed the sexually exploited. Matthew's genealogy is Jesus way of saying to each of these groups "I see you, I know your stories and you matter to me."

The crowds in Mark 11:1-11 declare Jesus to be the Messiah and worship him as their true king. Nevertheless, five days later when Jesus stood on trial before Pilate these people who once threw down their cloaks in front of him where nowhere to be found. What happened? Why was their loyalty so light and their faith so fickle? This is a question each of us needs to ask because the last thing we want to do is to follow in their footsteps.

We know that God is good to unworthy sinners but how does feel about being good to us? Does he like it? Is he just going through the motions? Is he biting his lip in order to get through it? Does God enjoy being good to people who don’t deserve it or is he just doing it because its right or because he made a promise? In Jeremiah 32 God confronts his people with how unworthy they are but then he tells them that he loves them anyway. In fact in verse 40 he promises not to turn away from doing good to his people. But then in verse 41 he tells us how he feels about being good to his people. I can assure you what he says in this verse will blow you away.

Jesus was on his way to do the most important work ever accomplished on this earth. He was headed to Jerusalem to give his life on the cross when a poor blind beggar began to call out his name. The crowds tried to silence him because they knew that Jesus was focused and that he had more important things on his mind. But they were wrong; Jesus stopped. On his way to Calvary the Son of God stopped to take care of a poor blind beggar along the way. Not only does Jesus heal this poor beggar but he uses him to show us things about the discipleship that neither the crowds nor the disciples have yet been able to grasp.

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If your anything like me then you probably don’t enjoy people talking to you about money. There is just something inside me that assumes the other person is somehow trying to get something for themselves. But Jesus is different. Jesus is the one person that you can know for certain when he talks to you about money his heart is for you more than it is after your money. So, knowing that Jesus loves us deeply and he doesn’t need our money I think it would be good for us to take some time and listen to what he has to teach us about this often sensitive topic.

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Have you ever felt like something is missing in your life? In Mark 10:17 a rich young man runs up to Jesus because he feels like something is missing in his life. Now you would think that Jesus would tell this young man that following him was the one thing that he was missing. And of course you would be right, but that isn’t all Jesus tells this man. We talk a lot about needing Jesus but in this passage Jesus makes it clear that it is not enough to simply know that you need Jesus. In this passage Jesus calls this man to trust that He is all that this man needs. Its not enough to know that you need Jesus, until you believe that Jesus is all that you need there will always be something missing from your life.

In Mark 10:13-16 Jesus is indignant at his disciples because they believe that some people are more worthy of His time and attention than others. He goes on to make it clear that our entitlment doesn't just hinder other people from heaven, it actually hinders us! You see there is actually a right and a wrong way to recieve Jesus's love! In verse 15 Jesus calls us to receive his kingdomn like a little baby. This message tries to understand what that would look like and the joy that it would bring.

Divorce is so common that it has affected nearly all of us in some way and yet it is also so painful that it never affects anyone without leaving scars. In Mark 10 Jesus discusses this painful and controversial topic by going back to Genesis and reminding us about the way God designed marriage in the first place. Ironically what we find is that built into the very fabric of marriage is grace to help those who are currently married as well as to offer healing to those who have been painfully affected by divorce. After talking about the way that marriage is meant to reflect Jesus love for his people we will seek to apply these truths to singles, to those who are currently married, to those who have been the victims of divorce, to those who have gotten divorced when they shouldn’t have, and we will conclude by addressing the scars that are left on children whose parents have gotten divorced and the healing that Jesus offers to them.

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We often look back to the “glory days” of our past, or to the future with idealistic hope, leaving us unsure what to do in the present. In Haggai 2:1-9, God comes and speaks to a mixed community of people wondering what to do in the present. Listen and hear how the Gospel comforts us and drives us to be strong and work for the glory of God.

If someone were to ask you what your purpose in life is, what would you say? In Haggai 1, God's people are sent back home from exile but rather than fulfill their mission, they seek their own glory. Listen and hear how the Gospel changes our priorities to making God's glory our purpose in life.

We live in a world of ever-increasing anxiety. Psalm 27 shows us that David believes seeking the beauty of the Lord is a grace of God to quiet our anxiety. Listen and hear how the Gospel reveals the face of God that frees us to fix our eyes on the beauty of Christ rather than anxiety.

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