Sometimes we silence ourselves and feel like our voices don’t matter.  We may even feel like we don’t have a voice.  Zechariah was silenced, but sometimes Advent calls for us to speak and maybe even to shout about wh...

How do you feel during a pause?  Do you always try to fill the silence?  What are we afraid of?  What do we think we will find in the silence? When Zechariah was told by the angel that Elizabeth would becom...

Today as we light the first of the Advent candles, we’ll consider Jesus as the Light of the World. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, ...

How do you define home?  A residence or a house?  They say “home is where the heart is” which gets at something more: where we belong, where we can be honest and real.  In John 15:1-8, Jesus says “live in Me… Ma...

John chapter 14 starts with a mood of anxiety, but Jesus responds with words of comfort and promise.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me… I am the way and the truth and the l...

Crisis moments are never convenient.  In John 11, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus about their brother Lazarus- “Lord, he who you love is sick.” Jesus loves Lazarus and his sisters and Lazarus is very sick, but Jesus waited ...

Who do you follow? When we follow someone, we need to be discerning.  In John chapter 10, Jesus uses the metaphor of the sheep and a shepherd:“I am the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the ...

Jesus’ “I AM” statements are poetic declarations, helping us know who He is.  In John 10:7, Jesus says he is the gate for the sheep and whoever enters through Him will be saved.  Before this in John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind.&nb...

One of the ways God has revealed himself to us is through a litany of names and titles throughout scripture. These names and titles work together to give us glimpses of who God is.  We’re starting a new 7 week sermon seri...

In the 1720’s, a young educated man in Europe named Count Von Zinzendorf encountered a painting of Jesus by Domenico Feti that posed a question.  In Latin at the bottom of the painting, the question was “I have done this for you- what have...

Christians around the world face significant challenges and persecutions to gather and worship.  Today, we’re looking at the Freedom Path of the Baptist World Alliance’s 2033 Movement.  In the USA, we live with a remarkable am...

We all desperately need connection with those around us yet we are on a trend to more and more social isolation.  Across the board, Americans report having fewer and fewer friends.  The impact of loneliness on mortality has been found...

Sometimes we have expectations of people, but we experience hypocrisy- the outside doesn’t match the inside.  This can happen to all of us- we can have high ideals but we can give in to sin and temptations.  This wee...

We need hope more than ever.  How does hope spread? From the time of Jesus until now, it has spread from life to life, from story to story.  In Acts 1, Jesus tells the disciples that they will ...

What if we had an important letter from home but we never bothered to open it?  The Bible is God’s love letter to us!  Are we reading it?  Are we committed to God’s word? Jesus’ Great Commission tells us to “Go a...

There’s never a bad time to set a good goal. Goals really can move and change us and challenge us.  Over the next six weeks, we’re going to be talking about goal setting, aligning ourselves with the Great Commission and the Ba...

We are all prone to procrastination, but sometimes it helps to think through tasks and create smaller, achievable goals.What unfinished task has God given us? In Matthew 28:18-20, we find The Great Commission: “Jesus came a...

We are like sheep and Jesus is like the shepherd.  We wander off the path a lot because we are prone to sin and this is why we need a shepherd.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  Psalm 23:4 says “Even though I walk t...

What does Psalm 23 mean to you? It’s a psalm of God’s protection, care and provision.  Sometimes we can slide into feeling like we can provide for ourselves.  Sometimes we’re too proud or too distracted to reali...

This week, we are considering what the Bible says about Hell and judgement.  Of the 23 times Jesus mentions it,  Hell is most often spoken of regarding the need for repentance. Universalism is the idea that everyone goes ...

What is our vision and idea of heaven?  Many pop culture misconceptions about what heaven is can flood our imagination, but what does Jesus say about heaven? In the Gospels, heaven is mentioned 126 times.&n...

Last week’s sermon was about how God interrupts his people as individuals to call us into deeper trust.  This week, we look at the church and see how disruption is a consistent part of our story.  The Body of Christ ...

Nobody likes to be interrupted. Interruptions remind us that we’re not in control.But one thing we see clearly in Scripture: God interrupts.From creation, to Joseph, David, the disciples, and ultimately the Incarnation—...

Listening is essential to our relationship to God.  The Hebrew word for listen is SHEMA.  In Hebrew culture, there is an expectation to respond to what one hears.  It was a listen AND obey scenario.  Listen AND act.  In...

Let’s start with what the Kingdom of God is not.  It is not any modern nation, not Republican or Democrat.  It is not Christian Nationalism. We don’t build, bring, or extend the Kingdom of God.  But instead: <...