Sermon Title: Recognizing JesusScripture: Luke 24:13-36 (NIV)“. . . their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” Luke 24:31Where do we get our ideas about God? And when we encounter a potential window into who God is, a potential window into what God is like, how do we go about evaluating what we think we see? Do we hold firmly to and apply our own categories, our own ways of thinking, whatev...  Read More

╬   Lord, we praise you for how you create and sustain all things through the intricacies of time and space and through the complexities of our lives. Not a hair falls from our heads that you do not know about. We have so much to be thankful for. Please forgive us when we lose perspective. Put your praise on our lips and in our hearts. Help us today to be a concrete reason that someone else praise...  Read More

Sermon Title: Finding Enduring SafetyScripture: 1 Peter 1:3-6 (NIV)Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hopethrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3Life. It is our most precious gift from God. I do not say “our most precious possession” for it is a gift which is, ultimately, not in our hands b...  Read More

Sermon Title: Finding Enduring PeaceScripture: Zechariah 9:9-12 (NIV)“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you.He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.”Zechariah 9:9 NLTAs we conclude our Lenten journey, on this Palm Sunday we enter Holy Week and prepare our hearts for the devastating...  Read More

Sermon Title: A Kinsman RedeemerScripture: The Book of Ruth (NIV). . . Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. Ruth 1:14. . . the LORD enabled [Ruth] to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. Ruth 4:13By the time one finishes reading Judges one has been confronted with a sometimes horrifyingly realistic description of the depravity and evil of which human beings are capable ...  Read More

Sermon Title: Leading from Grace AloneScripture: Ephesians 2:1-10 (NIV)“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” Ephesians 2:4-5      Love. Mercy. Grace.These three form the basis for understanding God’s movement toward us throughout salvation history. The first ten verses...  Read More

Sermon Title: Life without a KingScripture: Judges 19-21 (NIV) In those days Israel had no king . . .. In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right. Judges 19:1; 21:25Judges 19 through 21 speak loudly. In a painfully unpleasant text not easily ignored, three themes in the life of Israel stand out. Israel’s corruption is deeply and widely embedded throughout the who...  Read More

Sermon Title: Counterfeit GodsScripture: Judges 17-18 (NIV)In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. Judges 17:6In recent weeks we have seen external threats to Israel’s security and the leaders God raised up to rescue them. In Judges 17 and 18 the focus shifts to the internal state of the nation and the religious and moral decay that was weakening it from within. This week w...  Read More

Sermon Title: Fallen Hero – SamsonScripture: Judges 13-16 (NIV) “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Judges 16:28In today’s text, we consider the colorful life of Samson, another of Israel’s judges. Samson was born to Manoah, a man from the tribe of the Danites, during a period of Philisti...  Read More

Sermon Title: Look at the BirdsScripture: Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.   Matthew 6:33-34 Worry is the key word in this passage, occurring six times (vv. 25, 27-28, 31, 34 [2x])...  Read More

Sermon Title: Strong Faith, Weak TheologyScripture: Judges 10:6-12:7 (NIV)“We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” Judges 10:15We begin today by encountering the Israelites during another period in which they “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (10:6) by serving the deities of the peoples around them. For eighteen years, the text records, the Israelites were s...  Read More

Sermon Title: AbimelechScripture: Judges 8:28-9:57 (NIV)He went to his father’s home at Ophrah, and there, on one stone, they killed all seventy of his half brothers, the sons of Gideon. But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid.  Judges 9:5And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull.   Judges 9:53As we move to Judges 9, admittedly, much of the te...  Read More