Category Archives: Sermons

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01/09/2022 | “A Fleeing Prophet and a Sovereign God” | Jonah 1

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Jonah was greatly concerned over the condition of his people. He exercised his calling zealously. Yet in the book of Jonah, he receives an unexpected calling. He is called to speak God’s grace and mercy to the enemies of his people and his God. Nineveh is a wicked city at the heart of a wicked empire, proverbial for its rebellion and sinfulness. But one great theme we see in Jonah is God’s mercy to the Gentiles. Christ would come as the Savior of both Jew and Gentile a promise given even in the Old Testament to a pagan world.

God commands Jonah to go: “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah …, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.’” Jonah goes immediately, but not to Nineveh. Jonah knows God’s gracious character and sees God’s gracious plan. And it is not what Jonah wants. So Jonah flees from God, the Ninevites, and his calling. But God is sovereign. It is God’s will, not Jonah’s, that is the last word. God is not finished with Jonah. In His sovereignty, He pursues him, and He shows mercy. Mercy that comes through discipline. Along with the wicked Ninevites, Jonah is shown the grace of God. Believer, the God who is sovereign in salvation in this book is also sovereign over your salvation. If you are His, it is because He has pursued you and brought you to Himself. Joining this Lord’s Day as we examine Jonah 1:1-16 and consider the fleeing prophet and the sovereign God.

01/02/2022 | “Profiling” | John 1:19-34

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‘Going viral’ used to be bad. Now it is the goal of aspiring influencers. Being noticed is what we want. Social media profiles are fiction vs bio. But what of your spiritual profile, your faith and life. Are you WYSIWIG? Or is your profile fictional?

In John 1, religionists came to view John the Baptist’s profile.  But John’s concern was not who he was, but what he was – a witness.   What mattered most what not what John’s life said about John, but what it said about Jesus.  What about you?  Join us as we examine John 1:19-34 and consider what it looks like to be a witness.

12/26/2021 | “The Wrong Question” | Matt. 2, Micah 5:1-6

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On the surface, the wise men and Herod ask the same question.   But closer examination reveals a subtle difference.   The wise men ask, “where is he, that we may worship him?”  Herod asks, “where is he, that I may manage him and preserve my own autonomy?”   All men ask these same questions.  Believers seek him to worship him.   Skeptics seek him to manage, discredit, and remove him from his place in their lives.   What about you?  What is your question when it comes to Jesus?   Listen as we examine Matthew 2 and Micah 5:1-6 this week and consider the difference between these questions.

12/24/2021 | “Lessons and Carols”

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The story of Christ’s coming is the most dramatic story ever told. While it reaches a beautiful high point with Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, there is much more to this story – a story with origins in eternity past and implications in eternity future, a story of epic failure and dramatic rescue, a story that reveals a God quite different from the one our fears imagine. Come and experience the rest of this story in God’s own words and in song as we share in An Evening of Lessons and Carols.

12/19/2021 | “Graceful Receiving” | Luke 2:8-20

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Mama loved to see gifts joyfully received. In the same way, God delights in our gratitude for His grace. No story reveals this like the shepherds in Luke 2. These unlikely converts were first to hear of Jesus’ birth. No one gave them anything. But God gave them everything. Their joy is the joy of the hopeless finding hope. Do you have that joy? God offers a great gift. Will you receive it? Listen as we examine Luke 2 and hear of a “great joy will be for all the people.”

12/12/2021 | “Who Are You?” | Isaiah 9:1-7

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When someone mentions Jesus, what comes to mind?  Religious revolutionary? Social justice warrior?  Ethical teacher?  Failed Zionist leader?  Founder of a yet another world religion? Who is this Jesus?  For many it is a caricature, influenced by pictures you have seen or by clichés which permeate our cultural ideas of “the historical Jesus.”  Or perhaps you remember him from a collection of anecdotes or parables you heard as a child in some Sunday School.

Who is Jesus?  Our nativity scenes portray only Jesus’ humanity.   But in the OT Jesus is called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Think you know who Jesus is?  Listen as we examine Isaiah 9:1-7 and uncover Jesus full identity as “the only Redeemer of God’s elect… who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.” 

12/05/2021 | “So Much More” | Isaiah 7:1-17

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Christmas often leaves us looking for something more.  Expectations are high, but our celebrations rarely deliver.  And even when we take to heart Linus’ words that Christmas is about the birth of a Savior, we are left wondering what type of Savior He is.  Is He a mere teacher, who increased the demands of the law from mere outward conformity, to the perfect obedience of heart, mind, soul and strength?  Is He a mere example, come to demonstrate to us how to love and sacrifice for one another?  Or should we look for something more? 

In Matthew 1, Joseph wrestled with the revelation of Mary’s pregnancy.   How should he respond?   What was to become of her?  And what about the child?  In a dream, an angel of the Lord points him to Isaiah 7:14, the promise of Immanuel.  And while Mary’s honor is vindicated, but this promise means much, much more.  They are given to reveal to Joseph and to us, that this child is much more than a mere human.  Or our catechism says, he is “one who is a true and sinless man, and yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is at the same time true God.”   This is the only type of savior we should seek.  The doctrine of the Virgin Birth is not meant to tell us about Mary, but about Jesus.   The grace that is ours in the gospel is much more than we imagine or expected.  Listen as we examine God’s promise of Immanuel in Isaiah 7:1-17 and consider how God’s gracious promise points to something much more than we hope or imagine.   

11/28/2021 | “The Everlasting King” | 2 Samuel 7:1-14

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As a boy, the Sears and Roebuck Catalog opened up new worlds of Christmas possibilities and gave substance to my letters to Santa.   While aware of its dangers, my parents also understood it power to guide expectations.   Before the catalog arrived, they would talk up the ideas of what they planned to give.   Then when it arrived, they used the catalog to reinforce their ideas either by confirmation or contrast.  Our parents gave us what was best for us, but they also wanted us to rejoice in receiving it.  

Our heavenly Father is like this.   He wants us to rejoice in receiving His gifts.  The history of redemption is the epic story of God giving His greatest gift to beloved children, but not before teaching us to expect and desire what He plans to give.   From Genesis to Revelation, God trains our expectations and creates our desire for the Savior He offers.  What type of Savior are you looking for?   Someone to save you from your circumstances?  Or your feelings?  Or your past?  Or you fear of the future?   Or one who is much more – an everlasting and eternal King who gives everlasting life.   Join us as we examine 2 Samuel 7:1-14 and consider how God’s promise to David reveals Jesus as our Everlasting King.

11/21/2021 | “Coal and Switches” | Genesis 3:1-15

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My father had a flair for the dramatic.  Every Christmas Eve, he would conduct his man-on-the-street interview with us, always wrapping up with the devastating question, “Have you been good this year?”  Of course, I always tried to answer a confident, “Yes.”   But in the quiet of my mind and the long night, conscience began to do its work.  Had I been good?  Had my merits exceeded my demerits?  How good did I need to be?   These days the darker side of Santa is rarely discussed – the vindictive, cold, works-based side of Santa Claus that delivers the punitive gifts of a lump of coal and a bundle of switches to bad children.  On my bed, I pondered the question, “Had I been good?” 

A man once came to Jesus and posed the same question, but concerning for a more serious outcome.  “Good teacher, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus reply was devastating.  “Why do you call me good, no one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments!”  How good do you have to be ‘good with God?’   Well if it is up to you, you have to be perfect.   Who can make a claim to this kind of goodness?  The Bible tells us that “no one is good, no not one.”  But it is in that same context that we are told the good news that the judgment of God is not the last word.   There is no hope for bad children with Santa, but with the eternal God, sinners have hope.  For Jesus said, “the one who comes to me, I will never turn away.” Listen to “Coal and Switches” from Genesis 3:1-15 as we consider the judgment and grace of God in Christ.

11/14/2021 | “In-Between” | 2 Corinthians 5:1-9

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Have you curated your funeral playlist yet?  If not, let me encourage you take some time to look at what the scripture says about life after death – both for the believer and the unbeliever – so that every part of our funeral service can bear witness to the goodness of our God and the truth of the gospel.  But what does the Bible say?

While the Bible speaks about life in the New Heavens and the New Earth, very little description is given to the time between death and the resurrection and return of Christ.   Theologians refer to this time as the Intermediate State.   Some hold this is a time of unconscious soul sleep, others that it is a dreary dream world of souls in limbo.  Still others view this as a time of probation with a second chance for those that either did not hear the gospel or rejected it in this life.   But the Bible soundly refutes all these ideas and gives us a much better picture of a life absent from the body, but present with the Lord.  Listen to “In-Between” as we examine 2 Corinthians 5:1-9 and consider life after death.