Grace City Denver

Message from Sam Sawyer on January 11, 2026

Everyone is a seeker. We're all pursuing something we believe will make us happy - will satisfy us. Many of our pursuits provide temporary pleasure followed by shame, emptiness, and more craving. Jesus invites us to a better pursuit. He calls us to seek God first as our sovereign King, our standard of goodness, and the Savior of our every aspect of our lives.

Message from Sam Sawyer on December 28, 2025

With generation after generation of God's people failing to keep the terms of their covenants with God, God promised a New Covenant. It would be enacted on better promises - and it would be unconditional. God would write his law on hearts, wipe away sin, give personal and direct knowledge of himself, and send the gift of the Spirit. Jesus ratified this New Covenant with his blood, so eternal salva...

Hundreds of years after the Exodus, the Israelites decided they wanted a human king just like all the other nations and kingdoms. After a disastrous few decades under their first king, Saul, the Lord chose the shepherd boy David to lead them. And God made a covenant with David that his throne would be established forever. By the end of the Old Testament, however, centuries passed without a king on...

After the Tower of Babel, humanity had again lost the plot of living as God's people in God's place under God's rule, receiving God's blessing. So God essentially rebooted the storyline with one childless seventy five year old pagan man named Abram. If he trusted and obeyed God, God would make him into a great nation, give him a promised land, and bless all the peoples of the earth through him. Wh...

Our true and lasting hope is rooted in the promised Seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, the last Adam who restores all that the first Adam lose.

When you move to a new area, what should you be looking for in a church? Given that a church is called and commissioned to help form you in the image of Christ, you must care about what a church believes and practices.

John concludes his Gospel with an unabashed purpose statement: he wrote these eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life so that others would believe in him and receive his gift of eternal and abundant life.

Peter had failed and everyone knew it. He had denied Jesus three times during his darkest hour. Even if he wanted to follow and serve Jesus, how could he? He was disqualified, right? Wrong! Jesus tracked him down, forgave him, and reminded him of his calling and commission.

The disciples knew the ethical teachings of Jesus, they’d seen his exemplary life, and they even knew (from Mary) that he’d been raised from the dead. But none of these things changed them . . . until Jesus came. His presence brought the peace, the pardon, the purpose, and the power they were missing.

It’s Sunday morning after Good Friday. None of the disciples are at the tomb, watching for Jesus to rise from the dead as he promised. But Mary goes to anoint his dead body with burial spices. The tomb is empty! Jesus is gone, but his graveclothes remain! What does Jesus do to prove to the original skeptics that he is indeed alive – and that everything has changed?

Even in the “passive” events of Jesus’ death and burial, God is working. His Old Testament promises and types are being fulfilled. A fountain of spiritual cleansing is being opened up. And Jesus is going into death and the grave ahead of us to fundamentally transform the nature of those things.

After a long leadup, Jesus is finally crucified outside the city of Jerusalem. His only crime, as indicated on the inscription above his head, is that he is “the King of the Jews.” This death is not a haphazard sequence of tragic events; rather, it is the fulfillment of the Law and prophets, orchestrated by the Master Storyteller himself. And when Jesus cried, “It is finished!” he meant it: salvat...

Pilate is caught on the horns of a dilemma. Though he’s pronounced Jesus innocent three times, the Jewish religious leaders relentlessly demand that he be crucified. Pilate can condemn an innocent man or lose his own job – and perhaps his life. In this intriguing story, the religious leaders are the real blasphemers, the governor is powerless, and the guilty is set free because the innocent choose...

The religious leaders have brought Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate, demanding his swift execution by crucifixion. In the ensuing power struggle, both the political and religious authorities reveal their hypocrisy and their lust for power. In stark contrast, Jesus reveals his real power, paradoxically, in sacrificial love. Which kingdom’s agenda will you follow?

After Jesus is arrested in the garden, he’s whisked away to an illegal trial in the middle of the night at the home of the high priest. While Jesus courageously affirms his public Gospel message and defends his disciples, Peter caves under the pressure of the moment and denies him three times.

The Last Supper has been finished. Jesus crosses the Kidron Valley with eleven of his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is the point of no return. Jesus knows full well Judas is leading the religious and political officials to this exact place to have him arrested. He’ll be dead within hours. What do we learn about the identity and love of Jesus through this story?

Too many people view the local church with an individualistic, consumer mindset: "What's in it for me?" But Scripture teaches that a sovereign God has placed you in his body to live out the ideals of unity-in-diversity and interdependence while pursuing the purpose of God's glory and the building up of the church.

The command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is a call to be devoted to him with all that we are and all that we have. Passive, lukewarm, culturally-accommodated living has no place in the Christian life.

Psalm 49 reminds us that wealth, status, and power cannot save anyone from death. Both the rich and poor alike will face the grave, and no amount of money can ransom a life. Those who trust in riches are ultimately fools, for their glory and possessions will not follow them. The wise instead put their hope in God, who alone can redeem from the power of death and give true life.

This Psalm about the city of Zion (Jerusalem) is really about the great King of the city, who is celebrated particularly for his sovereign protection. In spite of every advantage, the city failed to be "the joy of all the earth." But the King returned to his city, fulfilled its calling, and built a new holy city called "New Jerusalem."

Psalm 47 is a joyful call for all nations to praise God as the supreme King over the earth. It celebrates His power, His righteous rule, and His victory on behalf of His people. The psalm envisions all peoples uniting in worship, acknowledging God’s reign over every nation forever.

This is a royal wedding song celebrating the king and his bride. It praises the king’s majesty, righteousness, and victory, portraying him as a divinely anointed ruler. The psalm also honors the bride, calling her to leave her past and embrace her new royal identity. Ultimately, it points beyond the earthly king to a messianic figure whose throne is eternal.

This song proclaims God as a refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble, unshaken by chaos or catastrophe. It invites us to be still and trust that God is sovereign over all nations and nature, our fortress in every storm.