Sunday Sermons

We have now arrived at the anticipated moment that all of history has been building up to, the return of Jesus Christ in glory. And this passage describes it in clearer detail than anywhere else in Scripture. We see heaven opened up and the King of Kings return to judge the world in righteousness. Though we may expect an epic struggle with such an event, Revelation 19 tells us of something a littl...

The beginning of 19 presents to us a view from heaven of the celebration over God’s judgment of Babylon. This is followed up with an announcement of a marriage feast to happen soon. This text shows us that a new reality is upon us. The old is passing away and the new is about to come. The goodness of this news is dependent on the object of a person’s worship.

Last week, we got a vision of a prostitute riding the beast. In chapter 18, John is made privy to a detailed word on what will truly become of her. This is a passage that continues to show us what the final judgment of all things will look like. Babylon is fallen. And with it, we see a very sharp contrast in the reaction to this news; depending on the perspective it comes from.

As we continue in John’s vision in chapter 17, his attention is now drawn to a woman. But this woman is very different from the one in chapter 12. This is a fantastically repulsive picture that actually causes John to marvel for a moment. Though this part of Revelation is, again, chock-full of difficult imagery it is important for us to understand what is being said here since it helps us further...

In Chapter 16, the hour of judgment has come. And the image in which we see it here is with seven angels pouring out the seven bowls of God’s wrath. Each bowl seemingly more intense than the last. But its in the contrasting responses over these things from heaven and on earth where we truly see the difference between those who stand with the Lord. and those who stand against him.

In chapter 15, John sees another sign. It is a moment of final preparation before the final judgment comes down. And the reaction that John sees in this moment is one of praise and worship to the Lamb. This new mini-series within our walk through Revelation marks out the final death throes and destruction of the world system as we know it. It is dark, but it will bring us to the doorstep of the gl...

After a mountain-top vision from the text last week, John now gives a startlingly dark description of what awaits those who reject the living God and worship the beast. This week’s passage contains probably the most explicit reference to the nature of God’s wrath in all of the scriptures and so it is rightfully met with a sense of trembling. But ultimately, this is a word to encourage the saints t...

This week, we are back in the book of Revelation and walked through the first five verses of chapter 14 together. This chapter comes on the heels of John’s visions of the two beasts that make war on the saints cause those who do not worship the image to be slain. But chapter 14 opens up with a vision of pure joy and hope for God’s faithful. It is a vision to give God’s people the encouragement to...

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on April 9, 2023

A king is coming for his people and he will set up a city and kingdom unlike any before. This was true in the days of Zerchariah and it still remains true for us today. We just have more information now. Palm Sunday is the recognition that Jesus has always been the king that his people have been waiting for. He has come to us already, but will come again to finish the job completely.

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on March 26, 2023

Last week in Chapter 12, we saw the dragon, Satan himself, thrown down from heaven and begin his great war on those who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Now in chapter 13, John sees the infamous beast rise from the sea. There is a lot of confusion about this beast. But if we read carefully, we can come away with a clear sense of what God is revealing to us about the nature of evil and the hope we h...

In Revelation 12, we begin a new sequence of visions, following the seven trumpets. The Apostle John sees two great signs in heaven: a woman giving birth to a son and a great red dragon. And he witnesses a great battle that rages in heaven and on earth between the dragon and those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. As you study this section further, remember that...

This week we finally come to the seventh trumpet. Like the seventh seal that was opened in chapter 8, this final trumpet blast serves to symbolize the end of God’s judgment and the beginning of the new order of God’s kingdom. Verse 15 sums this up when it says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” That describes the f...

Last week in chapter 10, the Apostle John, the author of Revelation, received a commission from God to “prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” Now in this vision, John receives a measuring rod to measure the temple of God and those who worship there. Then he is told about the two witnesses and what will happen to them. This whole scene takes place in the context of the s...

In this week’s passage, we find ourselves at a break in the action. The opening of the seven seals gave way to seven trumpets. The first six trumpets have been blown, bringing about the judgments of God upon the earth and the hardened hearts of those who refuse to repent. Now, before the seventh trumpet is blown, just as we saw before the seventh seal was opened, John is shown something special. B...

In this sermon, Pastor Mike walked us through the first six ‘Trumpet Judgments’. In this passage, we are given a continued picture of the sovereignty of Christ as well as the instability of this world. In true apocalyptic form, we get to clearly see just how foolish it is to place our faith in this present order of the world and that true security can only be found in the Lamb who moves these even...

This Sunday, we jumped back into the book of Revelation by looking at 8:1-5. In this short passage, we have a continued vision of God’s throne room as there is a preparation for judgment in the blowing of the seven trumpets. It is a unique passage where we get to see how God responds to the prayers of his suffering people.

In this final week of our series on the local church, we look at the idea of membership. We highly value church membership here at Grace, but what about it makes it so important? In the sermon this week, Pastor Mike drew out the principles of church membership from Philippians 3 and showed us that our relationship and responsibility to each other is deeper and more profound than we probably though...

We have now reached week 4 of our series on the local church. Jumping off from Matthew 20, Pastor Mike shared a Christ centered view of leadership when it comes to the oversight and carrying out the work of the local church. Just like so many other aspects of the Kingdom of God, the function of church leadership differs greatly from the values of the world. But it serves to magnify the Lord greatl...

In this third week of the current series on the local church, Matthew Lautz shared about the centrality of worship in the life of the believer. But specifically, the centrality of worship as participants in the body of Christ. Though the gathering of believers on Sunday is something that we may take for granted at times, it is far more crucial in regards to God’s glory than we may understand.

We are now into the second week of our month-long series on the local church. This is a chance for us to take a step back and think through our life as a local body in a biblical, yet practical and strategic manner. This Sunday, Pastor Mike walked us through what this looks like in the area of stewardship. What we have been given and the way we use it is an essential part of our lives as followers...

Message from Pastor Chris Amundson on January 1, 2023

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on December 25, 2022

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on December 24, 2022