Aletheia Church, Providence RI

We're all going to face discouragement. We're all going to have moments of failure. We have to pre-decide to have an eternal perspective. Just like the Apostle Paul, we must fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. We must pre-decide to persevere.

What kind of people do we want to become? In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he discusses the transformative power of love and how it should permeate every aspect of our lives, shaping our actions and attitudes towards others. Listen in and learn how we can live a life led by love.

We're faced with many decisions that need to be made each day. In this sermon, we take a look at the life of Daniel to see how he consistently made good decisions. We find that consistent faithfulness is the key to long-term fruitfulness. If you want to be fruitful, where do you need to be consistent?

Making good big decisions in life often begins with making good small decisions. It’s true with health, with money, and, more importantly, with following Jesus. In this first part of the series, we’re looking at one of the essential pre-decisions—pre-deciding to resist temptation.

Happy Easter! On Easter Sunday we celebrate the historical fact of Jesus’ resurrection, but have you ever wondered why God chose resurrection? In this sermon, we look at the spiritual perspective of Jesus’ resurrection. In his resurrection, God exalted Jesus to a position of King of kings. 

Have you ever asked, “What is God’s plan for my life?” The Bible gives a clear answer to that question—God’s plan is for his people to be priests. Unfortunately, the job of a priest is less familiar for us than it was for the original hearers of the New Testament letters. But by looking at Jesus’ work as our great high priest, we start to grasp what it means to be his priestly people.

Prophet, Priest, King — these three “offices” of Christ help us understand what it means to be God’s people. The Bible speaks about Jesus as the Great Prophet and we, his prophetic people. How do we live out our calling as his prophetic people? That’s the question we explore in this sermon.

The book of Isaiah ends with a vision of new heavens and a new earth from God for his people. What’s there? What’s not there? How should this vision impact the way we live today? In this sermon we look to answer those questions and see how the vision of God’s new world points us to the hope we have in Jesus.

At the end of Isaiah 59, God promises to put the Spirit that’s on Isaiah intro a generation of his people. Isaiah lived by the Spirit in his day, so what does it look like to live by the Spirit in our day. In this sermon we look at questions we should ask of a prophetic, Spirit-empowered generation.

The Israelites were in geographical, but all humanity is in spiritual exile. We try to deal with our exile through life hacking and technique, but God has a better answer—the Servant. The Servant is the true answer to our exile, and in this sermon we explore what the Servant does to end our exile.

From chapter 40 onward, Isaiah’s message is addressed to God’s people after the exile. But God wasn’t done with his people. God’s discipline was carried out in love, and his message to the exiles is one of comfort. In this sermon, Pastor Steve Cabral shows one of God’s major promises to his people—his presence.

Every now and then, a story is inserted into the poetry of Isaiah that acts like evidence for the message. This week’s story is about King Hezekiah. He faced odds that were totally against him, but it turns out chance and odds don’t apply to those who are called to trust God.

A “woe” in the Bible is an expression of dissatisfaction, anger, and sadness from God. In Isaiah 28, God’s woe is directed at the leaders of Judah who have chosen to trust political alliances rather than God. God’s woe against them shows us just how fragile and damaging self-reliance is, as well as what God has done to offer us something better.

How do we measure holiness? Many people think that morality is the measure of holiness. That’s certainly part of it, but Paul describes a holy life as one that pleases God. He also describes where we get the power to live that kind of life.

How can a holy God be around an unholy people? In the Bible, when unholy people get around the presence of a holy God, they die… unless there’s atonement. In this sermon, we explore what the atonement sacrifices from the Old Testament point to, and what it means for how people approach God.

How do you feel about God’s plan for the future—scared, excited, indifferent? However you feel about it, we can’t ignore it. This future hope that God has given is meant to revolutionize how we live in the present.

When Gabriel announced Jesus’ birth to Mary, he addressed her as “favored one.” What God does for Mary is a small taste of what he does for the entire world through Jesus. In this sermon we look at how God’s favor impacts Mary, because that same favor is available to everyone who believes in Jesus.

What’s your biggest financial fear? According to the author of Hebrews, that fear will keep you from doing what God wants you to do with your money. The answer is simple yet profound: God is our helper.

God is a giver. In this first week of our Big Give teaching series, we look at God’s first gift—life itself. What kind of life has God given us? What response is required of us?

Those who love the lofty city with its promises of immediate gratification await God’s judgement. In contrast, those who remain faithful to God will reap the rewards of the heavenly city. God’s message through Isaiah tells us that what we love today, what gives us joy and pleasure, reveals where we live.

Chapters 13–23 are full of judgment passages against seven different nations. The passage addressed to Egypt makes the target clear—pride. God confronts their pride, yet judgment is the very instrument God uses to transform Egypt into a worshiping nations. In this sermon, we explore what Egypt’s story has to do with us.

We all have our coping mechanisms, and so did Ahaz. When Ahaz ruled Judah, he faced a threat from surrounding kings. God sent Isaiah to tell him that he didn’t need to fear, only to trust. Ahaz chose to trust in something other than God. We face the same choice and the same outcomes.

God promised to transform Judah from something rotten into something beautiful. But how? Instead of getting the “how” we get to the “who.” God promises to use Isaiah in the transformation process. Isaiah’s call informs the call of every disciple of Jesus, and shows us how God uses us in his plan to renew our world.

We kick off season one of a series in Isaiah this week. The first chapter introduces us to the book as a whole, and what we see is a promise of transformation for Judah. It leaves us with the question: How will this Judah become that Judah? And that question leads to other questions: How will this church become that church? How will this me become that me? Isaiah 1 points us to the answer.

Sadness is a fact of life for everyone. But sadness doesn’t need to lead to despair. In this sermon, we look at how the Scriptures equip us to deal with the reality of sadness by hoping in God.