Heritage Sermons

1 Peter 1:1-2 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Most of us get a lot of junk mail, the kind of mail that messed up your perfectly good day. Or at least your goal of cleaning out your in-box. Peter's letter is not that kind of mail. It arrives to us in a hard day for Christians. With this sermon we will open this letter and read Peter's greeting, a fitting way to begin a season of life together through...

Ephesians 6:13–18 | The Armor of God | Abe Stratton We made it – in our final sermon of the Armor of God series we examine the armor which Paul describes in Ephesians 6. It was important for us to look at all the other ideas first so that we have an understanding of what Paul tells us to do in this famous paragraph. What is this armor? How do we take it up and put it on? And how often should we do...

Ephesians 6:10–18 | The Armor of God | Abe Stratton When you are confronted with an overwhelming situation or a powerful enemy, it’s easy to be paralyzed. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t get through this. I’m not strong enough.” Coming from our last sermon in this series, we could be discouraged by considering the odds we’re up against. So we need help. We need strength. We need power to resist...

Psalm 121:5 | A Bible Verse We Need Right Now | Trent Hunter In this sermon we will meditate on a short and beautiful promise from Psalm 121:5, "The Lord is your keeper." This is the kind of assurance we always need, but perhaps especially during especially hard times. If the Lord is not bringing you through great difficulty right now, be assured that many of your brothers and sisters are in just...

Ephesians 6:11–12 | The Armor of God | Abe Stratton The previous sermon saw Paul’s words to the Ephesian believers echoed in Isaiah 59. There God rouses Himself for war, arms Himself for battle, and brings deliverance to His people. However, we know that evil has not yet been fully eradicated from our world or from us. Paul knows it too. He warns us that there is still a lion on the loose—a roarin...

Isaiah 59:14–21 | The Armor of God | Abe Stratton This is the first of four sermons on the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18). There are probably a variety of ideas which enter our minds when we hear that phrase. What was Paul talking about when he encouraged the Ephesian believers to put on the whole armor of God? What is the armor, and how do we put it on? If the stakes are as high as Paul indicates in...

Mark 16:1-8 | The Path | Trent Hunter We come to the end of Mark's gospel, and to a new beginning. In fact, Mark intends his entire gospel account as a beginning of the rest of Jesus' story and of ours. He began his book with the words, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," and he ends his book with the resurrection of Jesus, the firstborn from the dead for a whole new cre...

Mark 15:42-47 | The Path | Trent Hunter As we come to the final two sermons in our series through Mark's gospel, we linger on the burial of Jesus. The death and burial of a loved one brings with it a sense of finality. In this sermon our text is a similarly sober moment in which we watch different parties respond to Jesus' death, one whom we've met before and one new character.

Isaiah 52:13-15 | Missionaries | Mark Hansen When we think of passages outside of the Gospels that teach us about the suffering of Jesus for us, one of the most loved is Isaiah 53. But due to chapter divisions in our Bibles, what we don’t often see is that Isaiah 53 is a poem—which actually begins in 52:13-15. In this sermon we’re going to slow down and look at these 3 verses.  They’re packed...

Mark 15:33-41 | The Path | Trent Hunter Through Mark's gospel and especially in the telling of Jesus' passion, we have been presented with the responses of different characters to him. As we have gotten closer to Christ's death, the responses have become increasingly hostile. In this sermon we meet a different response from a least likely character.

Mark 15:16-32 | The Path | Trent Hunter We have been slowly approaching the moment of Jesus' crucifixion and with this sermon we come to that moment. Interestingly, when we think of the crucifixion we think of the physical suffering. It was a moment of great physical suffering. But the emphasis of Mark in this account is different if we slow down to contemplate his account. Mark highlights the moc...

Mark 15:1-15 | The Path | Trent Hunter Crucifixion was not something first century Romans talked about, at least if they were being polite. It was gruesome. It was an unspeakable terror to behold. It was also the guarantee of peace throughout the Roman world. With this sermon we begin a new day in Mark's gospel, the day of Jesus' crucifixion. On this day we will meet several characters who teach u...

Mark 14:66-72 | The Path | Trent Hunter We come this week to that famous moment when the rooster crowed a second time, indicating that Jesus' words to Peter were right. He indeed would fall away and deny his Lord three times. What should we hear in the sound of that rooster? This isn't just a story about Peter, but a story about Jesus and what it means to follow him as a disciple on the path of th...

Mark 14:53-65 | The Path | Trent Hunter Jesus has been handed over. He is now among his enemies. It's night, it's cold, and he's on trial for his life. With this sermon we will linger on the event of Jesus' trial before the Jewish authorities. We'll see Jesus respond with silence, and we'll see him respond with a full confession. We'll see our Lord suffer for us a verdict of condemnation.

Mark 14:43-52 | The Path | Trent Hunter In the garden Jesus was alone with his Father and the disciples were sleeping. With this sermon, Jesus will be alone in a different way when the disciples flee. The scene of Jesus' arrest is violent in more than one way, represented by clubs and swords and a kiss on the cheek. Here in this moment between Jesus' ministry and his passion we see both our Lord a...

Ephesians 1:3-14 | God the Father | Dan Cruver In this sermon we hear from Ephesians 1:3-14. Even with just a cursory reading of Paul’s words to the Ephesians here, it’s nearly impossible to miss how incredibly generous the Father is to us. But what can easily be missed if we are not careful is how the Father’s generosity actually relates to and interacts with all the commands found in the second...

Mark 14:32-42 | The Path | Trent Hunter On our path to the cross we have seen Jesus pray twice now. This week we will hear him pray as we meet Jesus and his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane for a brief calm before his arrest. What are we to learn through this encounter for the path we walk in following Jesus?

Exodus 15:1-21 | Songs of Redemption | Trent Hunter When the Lord saved his people from Egyptian slavery, he saved them to sing. In this sermon we will hear a song preached, the first song of redemption from Exodus 15. This song was written by Moses and his sister, Miriam, and it was sung by the Israelites on the occasion of their deliverance through the Red Sea. This beautiful song which recounts...

1 Peter 1:20-25 | Easter 2021 | Trent Hunter What does the resurrection actually do? Christians down the ages have confessed faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We believe that it happened and that this truth is precious. But when the writers of our New Testament letters bring up the resurrection, surely they want us to believe it. But that is not the more specific purpose the...

Mark 14:12-31 | The Path | Trent Hunter Everything Jesus is doing at this point in Mark's gospel is moving us directly to the crucifixion. In this passage, Jesus makes meticulous plans for a meal he intended to share with his disciples, a meal that would tell them all they needed to know about his death and their need for it. There are some unexpected guests at this meal. Listen in to find out mor...

Colossians 1–4 | The Glorious Mystery | Abe Stratton Paul wrote to a little church 2,000 years ago—a little church which was being told that they needed to experience something in addition to Jesus. That kind of message continues to crop up today: “You need something else. You’re deficient unless you’ve done [fill in the blank].” As the Colossians needed to hear Paul’s answer, we need to hear it a...

Mark 14:1-11 | The Path | Trent Hunter This world is filled with beautiful things, from stars to trees to sunsets. In this sermon we will witness the most beautiful thing in the extravagant worship of one woman before Jesus. She made what on all human accounts should be considered a bad decision. She was foolish. She was not considerate of those in need. But of this woman, Jesus said, "She has don...

Mark 13 | The Path | Trent Hunter Mark 13 is a very difficult chapter in our Bibles. This is true for various reasons. In the first place, this chapter speaks of the handing over and killing of Jesus' followers. But this passage is also difficult for several curious statements. In fact, for some this chapter confirms the truthfulness of the Bible, but for others it offers an easy attack on Jesus'...

1 Peter 5:1-5 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter What more can Peter say to help our church along to faithfulness in an age of trial and tribulation? We've received great encouragement and hope. We've been instructed on what we should expect, suffering on the way to glory, just as it was for Jesus. We've been comforted by the promise of vindication. In this week's text, Peter speaks to us all about a p...

Romans 15:14–24 | To Magnify His Mercy Among the Nations | Matthew Ellison What is your life's ambition? This sermon is the second in our short series, To Magnify the Mercy of God Among the Nations . We are joined by a guest and friend of our church, Matthew Ellision. Mattthew preaches from Romans 15:14–24 concerning the singular ambition of the Apostle Paul, who wrote, "I make it my ambition to p...