Sermons

May 12 – Did God Really Say That?

Should the way of Jesus be the only real choice for us? Is it bad for us to believe Jesus and also have a plan “B” in case His way doesn’t work? We must wrestle with how the idea that following Jesus just until His way doesn’t “work” undermines and dismantles our faith.

May 5 – In Case You Missed It… God Provides!

We say that God provides. However, when we say that we are not talking about a type of providence where we are merely passive observers to the work of God. God provides in, through, AND beyond us.

April 28 – God, When the Trouble Comes

It can be hard to walk with others when trouble comes. If we do walk with others then, we will get to join them in praising the God who saves.

April 21 – The Faithfulness of God to the Faithful

It is tempting to us to turn God’s promises of faithful love into bumper stickers about protection as if God works like a deflector shield. The truth of God’s faithfulness through the hard times is much more profound than that.

April 14 – The Need for Mercy

April 7 – 3 Kings and a Prophet

March 31 – The Picture of Our Risen Lord

A picture is worth a thousand words. God paints a picture with words through John  to capture our imaginations. God’s picture is the glory of our risen Lord.

March 24 – The Cross Defeats Despair

We try so many things to fill the void in our lives. Activity, substances, and even righteous acts do not fill that void. Jesus does! Scripture(s): Hebrews 10:1-25

March 17 – A Prophet Approved

Faith can seem like a profound leap. It can make us nervous. God does not leave us alone in our faith. He comes alongside us and shows us why we can trust Him.

March 10 – The Mantle is Passed

In Elijah’s final days, Elisha shows us key choices that the faithful follower of God consistently makes. These choices reveal to us where we need to focus our attention.

March 3 – Watching and Learning

There are two ways to learn the important lessons God is teaching us. We can pay attention to God’s Word and God’s people OR hard experiences can teach us in painful and costly ways. Elisha’s early ministry urges us to learn from the former.

February 25 – The Call of Elisha

Following God and Jesus is straightforward when the voices around us support it. When urged to deepen our walk or when the voices around us tell us faithfulness to Jesus doesn’t matter, we find in those moments that following Jesus is a surprising struggle.

February 18 – Remember This…

Paul’s final letter challenges us with this question – Why do you say that you follow Jesus? Are you running from something? Or, are you running to the One who is truly glorious?

February 11 – The Heart of the Faithful Christian

As we come to the end of Paul’s letter to Timothy, we see a man who believes that he will leave this world very soon. He is ready. He is not ready because his body is weak. He is not ready because he is sick of the world. He is ready because His heart is like Jesus.

February 4 – We Need Support?

How do we see Paul? Powerful? Aloof? If Paul is a giant in the faith, would it surprise us to discover that he needed his family of faith?

January 28 – Leaving a Legacy

Paul declares that he has “fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith.” If you were at that place, what one thing would you want your family and friends to know about the faith you have in Jesus?

January 21 – Embrace the Call

When a church isn’t sure that it is what it wants to be, that is a stressful time. When a church pushes against God’s call, true peace cannot be found.

January 14 – Trust the Bible, Find Life

Jesus has offered us true life in Him. One of the struggles of living that true life is how often we trust our own feelings and experience rather than His teachings. Yet, He still tells us to trust Him first, last, and always.

January 7 – Where Good Character is Needed

Paul concludes the second chapter of 2 Timothy urging followers of Jesus to live in such a way that they have nothing to be ashamed of. This week he reveals why such character is needed. It is needed precisely because such character will not be valued.

December 31 – Resolved to Shine for Jesus

As we think about what we have learned this last year, are we resolved to shine for Jesus? Let’s think about our resolution to shine for Him this week.

December 24 – Mary, What Did You Know?

We see the love of God come down in Jesus. Mary’s song of praise reminds us of God’s great love!

December 17 – Joy Inexpressible

Joy is a movement of the soul. Joy is the soul declaring that something is so significant to us that it changes our entire understanding of life. Jesus is that joy.

December 10 – The Promised Peace

Peace means to be at rest. We need to be at rest between us and God. We need to be at rest between us and other people. We need to be at rest inside ourselves. Who can do such a feat? Jesus.

December 3 – Where is Your Hope?

The complete confidence that someone has because of the power and character of God is called hope. We have this hope because we have seen God work. We have this hope because of who God is. Our hope can rest in Jesus.

November 26 – What to Do With Wealth

When we think about blessing, we don’t often consider how wealth reveals what is already in our hearts. So, what are we doing with the wealth that we have now? Are we rich toward God?

November 19 – Being Thankful Rather than Just Doing

When we talk about doing the will of God, we tend to think of activities. We rarely think about our character as the will of God. Even less, do we think about a heart that is thankful.

November 12 – Unashamed Workmen Live Unashamed Lives

How do we make ourselves into vessels of honor? How do we make ourselves useful to Jesus?

November 5 – Disciples Let the Word Speak

Unfortunately, in our ME obsessed culture, we are always asking how things affect US. When we study the Bible we need to ask a different question.  Only then will we hear accurately what God has to say

October 29 – A Gospel Worth Proclaiming

Paul repeatedly says that he is sharing ‘his gospel’. What was Paul’s gospel? What is yours?

October 22 – Mentoring: A Modern Word for Discipleship

We are called to make disciples. To do so means that we reach out to someone else and walk with them. Walking with others in this way is called mentoring. It is also called discipleship.

October 15 – Committed to the Gospel

Paul has urged us to know that believing in Jesus is worth it. Now he turns his attention to how we can show that we know it. We show our confidence through the clarity of our message.

October 8 – Embrace the Foolishness of Being a Christian

There are two types of shame spoken about in the Bible. We talk often about the shame connected with failure. However, we are even more familiar with the feeling of shame that comes with being made to look like a fool.

October 1 – Faith Passed On

Jesus talked compared our life of faith to a person who has treasures to share. Have you thought about what those rich in faith share with you? Their lives are worth learning from.

September 24 – The Church’s Commitment to the Word

What makes a church noble? The answer may surprise us. We are told in the Psalms that we should love the law of God. The New Testament church that was called noble was the church that was committed to the Word of God. Is that us?

September 17 – Sin and Restoration in the Body of Christ

When we talk about sin we are tempted to focus on the failure. However, life rarely ends with such failure. Life goes on. Life usually has opportunities for change, growth, and success. It is this hope in the work of God that brings us to Jesus. It is this hope in the work of God that makes us believe that He will work in us when we fail too.

September 10 – The Saints Suffer

September 3 – Conflict and Need in the Body of Christ

Life in the church is still life in a broken world. God doesn’t take us out of the brokenness. He gives us tools and attitudes that express to one another the grace we have all received from God. This grace allows us to hear one another, reconcile, and walk forward together in hope.

August 27, 2023 – Character of the Church

There is no critically cowardly careless church!

August 20, 2023 – Baptism – An Outward Testimony of an Inward Transformation

Water is important to life. It keeps most of God’s creation alive and healthy. It is also an important symbol of life. Clean water speaks to us of a clean and pure life. This is the statement that baptism makes.

August 13, 2023 – The Call to Share

Pastor Alex opens up the Word of God to urge us to consider how we might be a part of Jesus’s Great Commission. What will be your part?

August 6, 2023 – Those With Whom God is Pleased

Often, even Christians will praise non-Christian character traits.  Think of the harsh Christian who can put that lost person in their place. We envy their supposed boldness.  Or, we think that being cunning is better than being innocent.  We must be very careful that we do not let the ends justify the means, and in doing so negate what Jesus has taught.

July 30 – Jesus Shares the Gospel

After Nicodemus came to Jesus, Jesus began one of the most important teachings of the New Testament. Jesus teaches the New Testament in miniature. Jesus tells him the good news. (sound quality is a little diminished because we were outside)

July 23 – Circumstances, Faith and Answered Prayer

The hope in the struggles of life is not just that Heaven is coming for us. The hope in the struggles of life is also found as we embrace a God-focused and God-character-trusting view of those struggles.

July 16 – Walk Together On Purpose

Wanting to urge your fellow Christian to walk more like Jesus must come from a love that has earned the opportunity to do so. It also must come from the hope of what Jesus has said – that He wants to do so much more in each of our lives than we ask or imagine.

July 9 – Does God Want Me?

We may not always realize it, but we have a deep need to be accepted. People use their work to prove their worth. They use their relationships to let them know they are worthy. Ultimately, people want to know if they are forever accepted by God.

July 2 – Can I Be Trusted?

We don’t need to verbalize the promises of love. However, our everyday interactions with fellow Christians should communicate clearly that we can be trusted with their heart.

June 18 – The Christian Heart: Bending Toward One Another

What does it mean to regard each other as more important than us? What does it look like? It looks like a person holding someone else up when they are too weak to stand on their own. It looks like that all the time.

June 11 – Living in Grace – A Life of True Conviction

Many times people associate the word ‘conviction’ with words like ‘strident’ or ‘unapproachable’ or ‘angry’. All of those words describe a person’s character. We are encouraged to have conviction. We are told that those other words should not really be a part of our character. Christian convictions must be different.

June 4 – Living in Grace with Others

Have you shared grace with others?  No, this time we are not talking about witnessing.  This time I am talking about living with people in grace.  Not judgment.  Not legalism. Not criticism.  Grace.

May 28 – The Good Debt

The Bible talks about love in a peculiar way. God invites us to see love as a kind of debt. It isn’t a debt we want to be rid of. It is a debt that we want to always have hanging over our head.

May 21 – Letting God Be in Charge

How big is your God? Is He big enough to change how you see yourself?  Is He big enough to change how you see your family? Is He big enough to change how you see your government?

May 14 – Authentic Love

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” Sounds easy, doesn’t it?!

May 7 – Eccentric is Normal

Do Christians understand that we are to be a peculiar people? What will make us peculiar?  Because our thinking is to be completely different!

April 30 – Overcome by God’s Mercy

When we ask questions we discover things that we miss in simple reading. As we think about Paul’s declaration of praise this week, the congregation discusses together what questions Paul’s praise brings to mind. In the discussion we discover the glory of the God who shows us such mercy.

April 23 – The Promise Keeping God

Our God is a promise keeping God. We believe this rationally, but do we believe it the way God’s people in His word believe it? It was their bedrock when times were hard. It was their unshakable truth when life was confusing. It is an essential part of stepping out in faith. God keeps His promises!

April 16 – The Test of the Christ-like Heart

Paul’s hope in God’s sovereign plan was not based on bravado or self-confidence. Faith in God is just that. It is faith in God. The proof of our faith is a strange one – humility.

April 9 – Why Does The Resurrection Matter?

When we come to the week Jesus died, we focus much on the details. We think about the suffering. We think about His sacrifice. Yet, the early church believed so strongly in the importance of the resurrection that they changed the day of worship because of it. Why is the resurrection so important?

April 2 – The Cross of Christ

Pastor Alex tells the story of the cross from Psalm 118 and Isaiah 53. We know that Jesus came to die. Do we know why? We know that it was God’s plan that Jesus die for us. Do we know how He felt about Christ’s death?

March 26 – The God-Trusting Heart

What attitude do you expect from people who say, “God is in charge. People are selfish both by accident and on purpose. Judgment is coming, and we keep resisting God?” Can you believe that the attitude is hope?

March 19 – When God Says Hard Things

When thinking about what God is doing in our lives we must spend time considering God’s purpose. We must spend enough time thinking about His purpose that we embrace that purpose as our own. His purpose is to reveal to His loved ones His glory.

March 12 – Don’t Give Up on Them

When we try to understand what God is doing in the lives of difficult people, it can be tempting to look at a couple of pieces of information and jump to conclusions. However, the Christian’s call is to see life and the people in it as Jesus sees. We must understand life using truth rather than personal experience.

March 5 – How Will They Hear?

February 26 – God’s Greatest Gift – Jesus!

How does one become a Christian? In a question and answer format, Pastor John shares with us a key scripture that explains just that!

February 19 – The Failure of Effort

There are two difficult heart questions for Christians to answer. The first is the question of evil: “If God is so good and powerful, why is there so much evil in the world?” The second is the question of good people: “Why do good people ignore and reject Jesus? We examine the second question this week.

February 12 – A Powerful Mercy

What is the natural result of sin?  The natural result is death and separation from God. How can we escape the natural course? We escape only if someone intervenes.  That someone was and is God.

February 5 – Mercy and Compassion

January 29 – Wants & Truth

When it comes to salvation, many struggle facing reality.  Many run from salvation believing that they will be all right in the end.  Many ignore the truths of Jesus in the vain hope that there will be a plan B. The child of God hears the call of Christ’s truth.  They don’t just hear it for themselves.  They hear its call to everyone.

January 22 – Conquering in Christ

What leads to living a defeated life is not just our struggles or our failures. We all have those. What leads to a defeated life is a lack of certainty about who is on your side. If we can’t be certain that God will ALWAYS love us, then there are all sorts of circumstances that can knock us down.

January 15 – Praying with Confidence

When we pray, we can get caught up in theology and words. Yet, the prayers of God’s people in His word don’t look like that. They are passionate pleas to a loving Father. They pray like that because they remember how God has loved them.

January 8 – The Power for Living: The Resurrection!

‘Out of death,’ was more that a spiritual idea for Paul. The promised resurrection of the body to match the spiritual resurrection that salvation brought gave Paul great confidence. Does it give you the same confidence?

January 1 – Anna and Simeon Lead the Way

Click below for more previous sermons!

Sermons of 2022

Sermons of 2021

Sermons of 2020