Heritage Sermons

James 5:19-20 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter James has written his letter with a central driving concern: to see wanderers brought back to God. He has been kind and he has been severe. He has addressed us as beloved brothers and he has called out our spiritual adultery. In all of this he holds out the prospect of God's forgiveness and grace. James 5:19–20 b...

Matthew 28:20 | The Sign of Baptism | Trent Hunter Baptism is an act of obedience. That is true. But what if I told you that baptism is also a sign of a new life of obedience? Would that sound like a contradiction? Didn't Jesus die because we don't obey? Yes. But he was raised so that we would walk in newness of life. Obedience has a bad wrap. That Jesus came that we might be obedient to h...

James 5:13-18 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter In James 5:13–18 James turns his attention and ours to the matter of prayer. God wants to hear from us in every circumstance of life—when we're suffering and when we're cheerful. We need him when we're suffering, lest we turn against him in bitterness or from him in despair. We need him just the same when...

James 5:7-12 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter James began by speaking of trials, the need for endurance, and reward that awaits those who wait for the Lord's coming. Now, in chapter 5:7–12 he returns to these themes as he brings his letter in for a close. James understands full well the difficulties that his readers face for Jesus' name. He minimizes none...

Psalm 1 | Jim Knauss The turn of the calendar brings new goals, ambition, and hope. We look to the new year with wide eyes as we commit to new ways to bring about our desired end goals. Perhaps we get a gym membership, start a Bible reading plan, or maybe we pick up the phone to reconcile a relationship that’s been neglected for far too long. As we begin new paths in a new year, let us look to the...

Matthew 2:13-23 | The Birth of Jesus Christ | Matt Jackson This sermon brings to a close our study of the first two chapters in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus the King’s origin story. In the passage before us, Matthew 2:13–23, we will watch as God preserves His Son from the Satanic fury of a false king. And as we move through the text, we will see a common pattern in the story of redemption unfold: fligh...

Matthew 2:1-12 | The Birth of Jesus Christ | Trent Hunter Jesus is heaven's greatest treasure for the world. He is also the greatest threat to this world's kings and kingdoms. No surprise, then, that "king Herod" and kings today plot against God's anointed and those who take refuge in him. In Matthew 2:1–2 we witness how Jesus' birth was received. No one had a better birt...

Matthew 1:18-25 | The Birth of Jesus Christ | Jim Knauss While we might say that every birth is a miracle, something different, something truly miraculous happens in the birth of our Savior. More than just the eternal Son's entrance into his creation, the story of his conception and birth is pregnant with meaning that we must not miss. As we learn in Matthew 1:18-25, the son of Mary will be a...

Matthew 1:1-17 | The Birth of Jesus Christ | Trent Hunter This sermon begins a four-part preaching series through Matthew 1–2, The Birth of Jesus Christ. The story of Jesus' birth begins with his backstory, his genealogy. Genealogies are important for a variety of reasons. In the case of the Messiah, genealogies give us confidence that he really is the One. Specifically, that he is the great s...

1 Peter 3:18-22 | The Sign of Baptism | Trent Hunter The sign of baptism pictures our union with Christ in his death and in his resurrection to newness of life. This is the heart of the Bible's story and our story as Christains. But it is not the beginning of the story, nor is it the end. When Peter wrote to first century churches concerning the sign of baptism in 1 Peter 3:18–22, he said bapt...

Romans 1:21 | Trent Hunter For Chistians, our thanksgivings are not just echoes of God's goodness to us in creation, but of God's grace to us in redemption. In sin all humans suppress the truth of God's benevolence in our unrighteousness. But because of God's grace, we have stopped that foolish project in order to acknowledge we are recipients of great gifts from a good and graciou...

James 5:1-6 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter James 5:1–6 brings us to James’ sharp condemnation of the worldly rich who oppress the poor. He is not writing as to be heard by them but, rather, to be heard by the church, thereby to comfort the church and warn believers against envying the rich. The rich unbelievers who harm the church have made a grave miscalculati...

James 4:13-17 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter This week we come to an especially memorable passage in James’ letter, 4:13–17. Here James offers us a memorable line to speak as we make our plans: “If the Lord wills…” It's a misused phrase, sometimes to bless our own plans and at other times as a mindless mantra. But far worse, we neglect to acknowledge the Lo...

James 4:11-12 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter We have all heard the expression, "who are you to judge your neighbor?" But perhaps not in the right context or from the right motive. This week we come to a short passage in James' letter that addresses a very great problem: the problem of defaming speech. James has helped us with our speech by showing...

James 4:4-10 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter James has addressed his readers as “brothers” and “dear brothers.” Now, in James 4:4–10, we come to the heart of the book with this dramatic accusation: “You adulteress people!” The division between believers is owing to a division within the members themselves, and this division is rooted in a division between the pe...

James 3:13-4:3 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter James picked up his pen to write because of his great concern for the churches in his day. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but you would not know it by looking at some of these churches. But James is not without encouragement. He writes in 3:13–4:3 to commend the peacemakers among us, to show us where peace comes, and...

James 3:1-12 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter Now it's time for James to talk to us about our tongues. The tongue, of course, is just a figure of speech for speech itself. As we've said, James is intensely practical, but that doesn't always feel good. Here in James 3:1–12, Jesus' brother applies Jesus' words about the words that come from our...

Matthew 9:35-10:15 | Harvest: GO Week 2023 | Jason Read It isn’t always good news when a kingdom gets a new king. Will he be benevolent or tyrannical? Will he be wise or foolish? Does he desire peace or war? The Gospel of Matthew tells us that a new king and his kingdom have come. But who is this king and what is he like? Matthew 9:35-10:15 shows us this new king is compassionate, and his compassi...

Amos 9:11-15 | Harvest: GO Week 2023 | Trent Hunter Speaking for myself, I don't spend too much time thinking of where food comes from. If you're like me, we are the exception. Amos' vision of a new creation is one of incredible bounty and beauty, flowing and overflowing with food and drink. The best part? We get to enjoy this as recipients of God's grace, for he will include some...

James 2:14-26 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter James 2:14–26 is the most theological section of James' letter. Perhaps no surprise it is also the most controversial. James, at one point, appears to directly contract the Apostle Paul on the heart of the gospel? I'll say the quiet part out loud: does James even understand the gospel? A faithful reading of t...

James 2:1-13 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter It is a contradiction with Jesus' kingdom and God's very nature for God's people to show partiality. What is partiality? Partiality is making value judgments about one another based on appearances, based on worldly advantage. This sin plagued the churches to whom James wrote. We do well to study his rebuke...

James 1:26-27 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter It runs in the family. We all know that phrase. And we all know what it means. It's true that children display characteristics and traits that reflect their parents. This is true of God's children as well. They know and reflect the Word and ways and love of their Father in heaven. That simple truth will go a...

James 1:19-25 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter Anger is a real problem. It looks different for each of us. Some of us are venters burning off our anger with many words while others are volcanos that erupt after a long period of build up. There are many other unproductive ways to handle our anger. In the moment we feel justified and righteous in our anger, but wit...

Psalm 97:2 | Guest Speaker | Andy Naselli The world has taken the Bible's word, "justice," and redefined it by attaching certain adjectives before it such as reproductive or racial or social. In order to evaluate those definitions, we need to answer a more fundamental question: What does God mean he uses the word justice in the Bible? In short, justice is getting what you deserve and...

James 1:12-18 | Undivided: Grace for Change from the Book of James | Trent Hunter Each of us has a love/hate relationship with temptation. On the one hand, we have been down this road before, reaping the consequences of the sins we willingly commit. On the other hand, we are going down this road again because somehow we actually believe the promise of sin over the reality of sin's consequences...