Sermons from 2017

Sermons from 2017

Overshadowed

A Sermon for December 24, 2017, based on Luke 1:26-38 Have you ever found yourself in way over your head? I know this is probably silly compared to some of your experiences, but it felt like a really big deal to me at the time. I played trumpet in the band in middle school. As we were all headed to high school the next year, we were supposed to go at a particular time to…

Testify to the Light

A Sermon for December 17, 2017 based on John 1:6-9 When I was in middle school, our family had a vacation. At some point we made our way to a cave– we’ve been to several caves, but I can’t remember which one it was. We entered the cave via an elevator, and our guide promptly led us to a rather large open area. We spent a few minutes looking around, with the guide…

Get Your Feet Wet

I’d like to speak this morning from the title: Get your feet wet Last week we spoke about Joshua, and how one thing that set him apart for leadership of the people of Israel was that he was filled with the spirit of wisdom. Wisdom was a primary trait that was going to enable him to lead the people out of the wilderness where they had been wandering for 40 years and into…

Walking on water: Reflections from a first-timer

Walking on water: Reflections from a first-timer A Sermon for August 13, 2017 on Matthew 14:22-33 Thanks for inviting me here this morning. This really is a very interesting building you have here. We don’t really have anything like it where I’m from. Sometimes we meet in people’s houses, but a lot…

Kingdom Identity, Kingdom Walk

A Sermon for August 6, 2017 on Genesis 33:22-31 and Matthew 14:13-21   The disciples are ready to send the crowds away. Presumably they don’t want the hungry crowd to turn into a hungry mob. But Jesus quite casually suggests that the disciples don’t need to send them away. “You give them something to eat,” Jesus says. The disciples don’t have much to give. They’re…

But what about suffering?

A Sermon for July 30, 2017 on Romans 8:18-39 We’ve arrived in the last section of Romans 8. We’re at the climax of chapter 8– the climax of the climax of the letter. These are some of the most beautifully composed truths in the whole New Testament. Paul, the writer of the letter, is bringing everything that we’ve talked about over the past 6 weeks together. The big…

The Witness of the Spirit

A Sermon for July 23, 2017 on Romans 8:14-17 What evidence is there that God exists? Although some people take the existence of God for granted, for other people it’s not quite so simple. Broadly speaking, there are two types of evidence. The first is objective evidence. An example of objective evidence would be something like the historical evidence for God raising Jesus…

Life in the Spirit

A Sermon for July 16, 2017 on Romans 8:1-11 How do you form a child who will live a good, moral life? I imagine that the vast majority of parents at some point ask themselves this question. What can you do? Well, there is obviously a place for rules. Black and white look a lot more gray up close than they do from a safe distance. In the heat of the moment, rules can be an…

Jekyll and Hyde

A Sermon for July 9, 2017 on Romans 7:14-25 We’re continuing in our sermon series on Romans. We’ve been talking about the amazing grace that God’s give to us. God’s ability to bring about complete transformation in someone’s life. We’ve been talking about that fancy word justification. And last week we added to it another fancy word: sanctification. I guess we’re just…

The Journey of Sanctification

A Sermon for July 2, 2017 on Romans 6:22 We’re continuing our series on the book of Romans in the second half of chapter 6. And over the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at images that Paul uses to describe this fancy word: justification. If you’re going to substitute one word for justification, the best word is probably pardon. But how does that play out and how does…