Sermon Archive for older sermons
After the tragedy of the first five verses, we’re hoping for something more uplifting. But between the weeping, the leaving, and the bitter words, it seems that we’ll not find them in the rest of chapter 1. Yet, perhaps grief is not all there is. Perhaps, at the end, grief gives way to grace.
Stories don’t have to be lengthy to be meaningful. Sometimes, a few pages or even a few words speak volumes. That is true of the first 5 verses of Ruth. They are brief, but they tell a meaningful – and tragic – story. But the point of the story is not to elicit sadness, but…
You’ve likely heard something like, “Nice guys finish last.” And in addition to hearing it, you’ve probably seen or experienced it. Sometimes, it seems like the wicked are winning. If you’ve felt that way, you’re not alone. Psalm 73 shows us that Asaph also felt that way. But in the face of this perceived reality,…
Psalm 24 seeks to orient us properly to who God is, so that we might respond appropriately. Indeed, once we see Him as the Psalm declares, there is only one proper response. Come and hear how we must respond to God.
These days, you often hear that we live “in uncertain times.” And though one could argue that “uncertainty” has always been with us, a global pandemic and political instability on an international scale only exacerbate our concern. In the face of such things, can we have any certainty? Is there any assurance that lasts? In…
In Matthew 10:16, Jesus tells His disciples to be “wise as serpents, but innocent as doves.” Sometimes, we focus on the latter and forget the former. In the opening of John 4, John calls the church to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” He is calling the church to wise action,…
In 1 John 3:4-10, John addressed the difference between those who are the children of God and those who are the children of the devil. This week, he continues with that theme. But rather than speaking generally about it as “sin,” vs. “righteousness,” he speaks specifically about it as “hate” vs. “love.” The mark of…
In the previous passage, John marveled at the love of God that would see us become “children of God.” In this passage, John presses into the fact that being children of God gives us a new nature – a nature that must take on the characteristics of the Father and His Son. John says very…
In this brief section, John wants his readers to know that they can be assured of their being in Christ. His previous identification of the antichrists ought not to unsettle them, but to exhort them to lean more intently (and intensely) into the One who knows them and Whom they know. They can do this…
In his first letter, John has a goal to identify the people of Christ and what differentiates them from those outside of Christ. He’s talked about walking in the light, confessing sin, and loving our brothers. In this section, he examines the habits of those who are opposed to Christ, and then identifies the church’s…