Feb 9, 2025
Sermon: Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Matthew 4 & 6.13: With this petition, we're drawn into facing the wrestling of the life of the discipleship. After recognizing our grace we've given, now we must traverse the life toward God's glory and face the devil's advances against us. This draws us closer to God as we recognize the challenge we face, but turn to the greater power we have in God.
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  • Feb 9, 2025Sermon: Lead Us Not Into Temptation
    Feb 9, 2025
    Sermon: Lead Us Not Into Temptation
    Matthew 4 & 6.13: With this petition, we're drawn into facing the wrestling of the life of the discipleship. After recognizing our grace we've given, now we must traverse the life toward God's glory and face the devil's advances against us. This draws us closer to God as we recognize the challenge we face, but turn to the greater power we have in God.
  • Feb 2, 2025Sermon: As We Forgive Our Debtors
    Feb 2, 2025
    Sermon: As We Forgive Our Debtors
    Matthew 6.12-15: Today we look at the second part of v. 12 in regards to forgiveness of debts. The forgiveness we receive from God calls also for us to live into our forgiveness of others. Forgiveness rightly understood cannot be understood apart from the cross of Christ and the hope of the coming kingdom. And it is a lifelong process to grow into and that is why Jesus puts it in the prayer, so that we continually come back to the well of grace to strengthen us to forgive others.
  • Jan 26, 2025Sermon: Forgive Us Our Debts
    Jan 26, 2025
    Sermon: Forgive Us Our Debts
    Matthew 6.12, Revelation 5: We look at the first part of the forgiveness part of the prayer. The spiritual logic or movement of the prayer moves it ever more deep into our hearts. If we long for the kingdom to come, it must first come in us. And the way that the kingdom comes primarily into our world is by way of salvation via God's forgiveness in Christ. We must relish the Lamb that was slain and recognize our own need of grace in order to have the kingdom grow in us that we might do God's will.
  • Jan 19, 2025Sermon: Give Us Today Our Daily Bread
    Jan 19, 2025
    Sermon: Give Us Today Our Daily Bread
    Proverbs 30.7-9: The request "Give us today our daily bread" comes from this passage in Proverbs. The prayer is to focus our hearts on the contentment in the provision of the Lord. It is a call to focus our hearts and minds first on his hands and not our own as he provides all to us. This guides us to patient living and seeking not the riches of this world, but the heavenly bread of Christ that secures us for all eternity.
  • Jan 5, 2025Sermon: Our Father in Heaven
    Jan 5, 2025
    Sermon: Our Father in Heaven
    Matthew 6.5-15: We begin a series on the Lord's Prayer as a way to give solid footing for the year ahead. Our focus today is on the opening section, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." Jesus teaches us the basics that lead us upward to the throne of the Father. He is available to us in our need. May we keep reaching out more and more to him to find stability in life.
  • Dec 29, 2024Sermon: Put It Into Practice
    Dec 29, 2024
    Sermon: Put It Into Practice
    Philippians 4.8-9: As we come to the conclusion of Paul's instruction in these verses, we turn from thinking to action. "Put into practice", Paul says. The mind work we do should lead to obedient action and imitation of Christ. And then, both our mind work and obedient action work back and forth to grow us in maturity in Christ.
  • Dec 22, 2024Sermon: Whatever Is Excellent
    Dec 22, 2024
    Sermon: Whatever Is Excellent
    Matthew 1.18-25: Whatever is excellent speaks to high moral virtue or a high heroism and extreme eminence. In Joseph, we see an example of a man dedicated to pursuing the most excellent, even though it brought potential great cost. As he considered what is excellent, it brought him to follow the higher law - that of faith-filled dedication to God. It raised him to a new level of himself, one that anticipated the gift of what Jesus would be for him and for the world.
  • Dec 15, 2024Sermon: Whatever Is Admirable
    Dec 15, 2024
    Sermon: Whatever Is Admirable
    Luke 1.5-25, 57-66: To attend to that which is admirable is to recognize greatness and give deference to it. It is to recognize to be careful with one's words as one approaches God. It is a recognition of his greatness and sovereignty which leads us into the peace of God in Christ. The story of Zechariah's encounter with the angel Gabriel helps us understand this.
  • Dec 8, 2024Sermon: Whatever Is Lovely
    Dec 8, 2024
    Sermon: Whatever Is Lovely
    Luke 1.5-17: In thinking on whatever is lovely, our attention might not be drawn to John the Baptist. He is somewhat of a rough character, yet he is one who 'calls forth love', which is what lovely means. John's whole mission is to 'call forth love' from God's people to God and his ways. His own devotion is significant to call people to that which is rightly to be most lovely - which is the glory of God we know in Jesus Christ. This was John's mission - that Jesus might become more, and that John might become less.
  • Dec 1, 2024Sermon: Whatever Is Pure
    Dec 1, 2024
    Sermon: Whatever Is Pure
    Luke 1.26-38: As we go through Advent, we're tying in the remaining virtues of Philippians 4.8 to a character in the Christmas story. As we consider what is pure, we turn to Mary, the mother of our Lord as her example of purity exemplified in her willing service to the Lord.