Sunday Sermons

In our passage this week, Paul concludes his letter to the Thessalonians with final instructions. For the last couple chapters, Paul has been discussing how the Thessalonians can live lives that are pleasing to God (4:1). Now, he wraps up this discussion with a string of imperatives (see vv. 13b-22 and 25-26 in particular). And while this may seem like a disjointed list of imperatives at first gla...

In our passage this week, Paul turns from discussing the fate of the Christian dead to the fate of the Christian living. Since the Thessalonians were fully aware that the Day of the Lord was inevitable, yet unpredictable, Paul moved to discuss his primary concern: That they prepare themselves. Knowing ahead of time that this Day would come, they could prepare themselves like an owner of a house wo...

In our passage this week, Paul turns to address the Thessalonians’ concerns about their brothers and sisters in Christ who had died. Not wanting them to grieve as those who do not have hope, Paul holds up the Coming of the Lord as the source of that hope. And his message to them is the same as it is to us: As you grieve, encourage one another with the hope that the Lord is coming. Jesus will come...

In our passage this week, Paul begins to discuss the main content of his letter. Bookending the passage with the exhortations to walk and to please God (v. 1) and to walk properly before outsiders (v. 12), Paul implores the Thessalonians to do so more and more (v 1, 10). And he gives them three pictures of how to do so: Abstain from sexual immorality (vv. 3-8), love one another (vv. 9-10a), live q...

In our passage this week, we find that Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy have been torn away from the Thessalonians, a church they love deeply. And although they tried, again and again, to return to them, their plans were thwarted. As the passage proceeds, we can see Paul’s deep love for the Thessalonians as he sends Timothy to exhort them in their faith and as he expresses his most profound wish for th...

In our passage this week, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful that the Thessalonians received and accepted God’s Word. Now this Word was at work in the believers, even in the face of great suffering and opposition. Considering this suffering and opposition, Paul encourages the Thessalonians to keep doing what they’re doing: Do not let go of this Word. Do not be moved. The suffering they were...

In our passage this week we are presented with a clear picture of the way Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy set out not just to preach the gospel, but to put it into practice before the young believers in Thessalonica. The witness of the gospel isn't just in their words, but is in their deeds, or the way they conduct themselves. And this gospel living required complete sacrifice. As Paul writes in verse...

This week we begin our series in 1 Thessalonians. The church in Thessalonica was one of the first churches to be formed in Europe during Paul’s second missionary journey. You can read about it in Acts 16 and 17. Paul and his fellow missionaries only spent a few weeks with these people, but the powerful effect of the gospel of Jesus was evident. As we read of the report that Paul has received about...

This week we come to the end of the story of Abraham. At 175 years old, it tells us that “Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man, full of years, and was gathered to his people.” By any measure, Abraham had lived an incredible life. God chose him to make an eternal covenant promise, that he would be the father of a multitude of nations, and that his offspring would possess...

In the passage this week, we see God remain faithful as the promise begins to be passed from Abraham and Sarah to the next generation in Isaac and Rebekah. We last left Abraham purchasing a field and a cave to bury his beloved Sarah but also gaining his first bit of real estate in the land God had promised Him. Now, with Sarah gone and Abraham continuing to age, Abraham sends his servant to find a...

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on April 17, 2022

In our passage for Palm Sunday, we’re looking at a few verses from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi to encourage them in their faith, and more specifically to help them grow in their Christ-likeness. One way Paul talks about this is when he says that we are to have the same mind as Christ. And he goes on from there to explain that the mind of Christ was no...

As we are nearing the end of the story of Abraham, this week we read of the death of Sarah, his wife. The journey of Abraham and Sarah began back in chapter 12, and since then we’ve seen quite the drama unfold as God is working in them and through them to fulfill His promises. Now as we come to the end, we find that even in death, God’s promises are still being fulfilled. For the first time, Abrah...

In the passage this week, God puts Abraham’s faith to the test. Everything we’ve seen Abraham go through, all his failures and successes, have finally brought him to this point. His son Isaac, the child of promise, has been born. And in a dramatic twist, God tells Abraham to take the son that he loves up to the mountain and sacrifice him. It’s a horrifying request, one that none of us could imagin...

This week in the story of Abraham, the Lord makes good on His promise, and Sarah has a son, Isaac. It’s the fulfillment of a promise that first began back in chapter 12, when God said He would make Abraham into a great nation. That promise was then clarified in chapter 15, when God promised Abraham that his very own son would be his heir and would lead to innumerable offspring. Finally, in chapter...

In our passage this week, after witnessing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham and Sarah leave their home by the oaks of Mamre to journey south, sojourning in Gerar. Afraid for his life, Abraham once again puts Sarah's life at risk by calling her a sister. As a result Abimelech, the king of Gerar, takes Sarah as a wife. However, God is not about to let the parentage of the promised son,...

The passage this week is a big one as we read the story of God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. God comes to visit Abraham in the form of a man along with two angels. They are on their way to the cities of the valley, Sodom and Gomorrah, to “see whether [the people] have done altogether according to the outcry that has come.” God has seen the injustice of the world. He knows the abuse and wickedn...

This week in the story of Abraham, thirteen years have passed since the misstep with Hagar in chapter 16. While it seemed like Abram had yet again put the covenant and God's plan in jeopardy, here God makes clear He is not about to let human unfaithfulness derail His plan to bless the world through Abram. In fact, God makes a point not just to renew His covenant, but to expand it. He renames him A...

What is the distance between us and God? This is the question on the mind of the writer of this psalm, as they ask in verse 5, “Who is like the Lord our God?” Imagine the whole universe, every star and planet, every atom and molecule. God reigns over it all and sees it all from His throne above the heavens. There is no one like our God. He is beyond comparison. And yet He is not distant. He is not...

This week in the life of Abraham we read a story that, while discouraging as far as human faith is concerned, it is in fact greatly encouraging regarding God’s faithfulness. Still without an heir, Abram’s wife, Sarai, tells her husband to take her servant Hagar as a wife, that she might bear him an heir through whom God’s promise might be fulfilled. How often is this the case that we take matters...

In our passage for this week, Abram (who has not yet been named Abraham) has an intimate encounter with God Most High. In a conversation with God, Abram asks about the fulfillment of the promises God had made to give him lots of offspring and land. Up until this point he didn’t have any children, and he didn’t own any land. Would God come through and fulfill these promises? Abram doesn’t seem too...

In our passage for this week, Abram makes a daring rescue of his nephew Lot, who was taken captive after a great battle between many kings. Upon his victorious return, Abram is met by another king, one of peace and righteousness, named Melchizedek, who we are told is “priest of God Most High”. This mysterious priestly king then confers on Abram a blessing, which serves as a reminder of God’s power...

This week in our series on the life of Abraham, we read about a family separation that comes from a consequential choice. When strife grows between Abram and his nephew Lot over grazing land for their herds, Abram graciously defers his right to the land, giving Lot first choice of it. While Lot’s choice, as we will see in the weeks to come, has grave consequences for his family, Abram remains fait...

Psalm 141 is a song of lament, a cry to God for help. And as is often the case in the psalms, it is a cry for deliverance from evil. But what’s unique about this psalm is where it locates that evil. So often we see evil being an outside force that’s trying to get in. But in verses 3-4, David is praying that God protect him from the evil that comes from within him. As you study this psalm, think ab...

The story of Abraham, formerly known as Abram, begins with a direct command from God: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you,” (Genesis 12:1). That command and Abraham’s willingness to obey are just the beginning of God’s plan to redeem a people for himself, a plan that would ultimately be fulfilled through the death and resurrection of Jesu...