The prophet Jeremiah was called to follow Christ down a difficult road. Four decades of preaching fell on deaf ears. No one listened. No one responded. He was hunted by the authorities and hated by his own friends and family. He was not allowed to marry. He was forbidden to be a part of the life of the community either in the joy of its feasts or the sorrow of its funerals. His life would be a living sermon, declaring that God has also withdrawn from the life of the people. How far will Jeremiah follow? What about you? How far will you follow Christ? He offers grace and mercy freely. But it is a costly grace. It bids us to come and die. Is there a place where you say, “here but no further?” Listen as we examine Jeremiah 16 and consider the costs of God’s call to follow.
Category Archives: Sermons
06/14/2020 | “When God Disappoints” | Jeremiah 15:1-21
Have you ever felt let-down by God? Have you been disappointed when He seemed deaf to your prayer, unconcerned about your trials, and unappreciative of your obedience? How will you respond? How will you move forward in following Him when he seems to have become an adversary? Listen as we examine Jeremiah 15 and observe Jeremiah’s struggle to come to grips with a God who seems to have let him down.
06/07/2020 | “Crisis Management” | Jeremiah 14:1-15:4
Jeremiah was called to a ministry of crisis. From his calling to his conclusion, Jeremiah’s life and ministry was one of sorrow and struggle. He was a man of great faith in the midst of a faithless generation, called to preach judgment to his beloved people. But as we read through Jeremiah’s preaching, as well as his emotional confessions and lamentations, we see a man who was,never a dispassionate observer of his nation’s sufferings, but entered into the anguish of the people and suffered with them.
By observing his struggle, the Lord sets before us warning and direction as we wrestle with God’s chastening. What will God’s refining work provoke in us? Bitterness? Accusation? Presumption? Growing hardness? Faith and repentance? Lustrous silver? Or only dross?
Listen to “Crisis Management” as we examine Jeremiah 14 and consider how the prophet’s lament in a time of crisis warns and instructs us as we respond to God’s refining work.
05/31/2020 | “Asking for a Friend” | Psalm 122
In our idiom, “asking for a friend,” is a euphemism for our own concerns. But when it comes to Christian prayer we are called to ask boldly for others through the ministry of intercession. Listen to “Asking for Friend” as we consider Psalm 122 which calls us to pray for the sake of our brothers and to intercede for the church, the world, and our neighbors.
05/24/2020 | “Grace and Gratitude” | Psalm 107
Is your life characterized by thanksgiving, or better yet, thanks-living? Have you learned to receive everything – the good and the bad, the joyful and the sorrowful – with thanksgiving? Our redemption is manifest chiefly in a grateful heart. What does your life declare of thankfulness to God? Listen as we examine Psalm 107 and consider the promptings, the pattern, and the practice of giving thanks and living thankfully.
05/17/2020 | “The Next Step” | Psalm 130
It is God’s kindness in Christ that invites us to confess and find forgiveness and release from the Gordian knot of guilt. Have you learned to confess? Is confession a regular feature of your prayer life? Or have you tried to find every other way to rid your self of that one dark blot, that no soap or good works can wash away? Listen as we examine Psalm 130 and consider the next steps in our fellowship with God expressed through confession of our sin.
05/10/2020 | “Into His Presence” | Psalm 113
How do you appear before the Lord in prayer and in worship? We are warned in Scripture not to appear casually or carelessly before our God. God loves to receive his children, but he has established the approach – an approach clearly revealed in Scripture, and especially in the Psalms. Listen to “Into His Presence” from Psalm 113 as we consider how we are to approach our God in worship and in prayer.
05/03/2020 | “Ascended into Heaven” | Luke 24:50-53
Every week millions of Christians profess their faith together in the Apostles’ Creed. Among its central doctrines is a profession that Jesus “ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Yet many have never considered why this is such an important doctrine. Listen as we examine Luke 24:50-53 and consider the hope and comfort we receive from the Ascension.
04/26/2020 | “New Normal” | Luke 24:36-53
As we encounter the Lord’s disciples at the end of the Gospel of Luke, we find them facing a radically new normal. Jesus, their master and teacher, has finished His redemptive work. As He is preparing to return to the Father, He is preparing them to pick up where He left off. Jesus meets the disciples on the first Easter night, he comforts their fears, calls them to take their part in the story of redemption, and promises them His ongoing presence in a radically new and powerful way. The end of the gospel is only the end of the beginning. Listen to “The New Normal” from Luke 24:36-53 as we examine how we are to live facing our own “new normal.” Get the Order of Service.
04/19/2020 | “In Plain Sight” | Luke 24:13-35
The story of Jesus on the Emmaus road is remarkable. Included only in the Gospel of Luke, it is a recognition story, instructing and encouraging us in the hope of seeing the Risen Christ. Two disciples have Jesus right in front of them, yet they do not recognize Him for who He is. What about you? Have you recognized the Risen Christ ? Join us for “In Plain Sight” as we examine Luke 24 and consider our how we too can see the Risen Christ. Get the Order of Service.
Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 