Aletheia Church, Providence RI

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.

What do you do when there’s a big gap between the person you think you should be and the person you are? That gap is called shame, and handling the wrong way will lead us to self-hatred or arrogance. But there’s a better way, a way to be healed of our shame.

You might not think of yourself as an angry person, but we’ve all been angry at someone. Relational anger is a big deal, and if we mishandle it, Paul says we give “an opportunity to the devil.” But there's a better way—a way made possible by the gospel.

Anxiety is something we all experience. Yet just because it’s a normal experience, the Bible says we don’t need to remain consistently anxious. In this sermon we look at where anxiety comes from and how to ensure that it doesn’t stick around.

In this week between teaching series, we look at an interesting question: Why do people seek after things they don’t need? When talking to a group of philosophers in Acts 17, Paul says that God made everything but doesn’t need anything. This amazing biblical truth can change everything you think you know about God.

As a church we want to see our city and New England changing to look more and more like the kingdom of God. But how does that happen? And what’s our part to play? In this sermon, we look at what it means to walk in the good deeds God has prepared for his people.

What makes Christianity different to every other faith system in the world? In a word… grace. In this sermon, Pastor Justin explores how grace subverts all our expectations, and how we can bring the good news of grace to others.

The gospel is good news because it’s a solution to a problem. If you don’t understand the problem, the solution won’t sound like good news. In this sermon we take a deep dive into the problem the gospel addresses. What we discover is that the problem is worse than we ever imagined.

The songs we sing say will shape the lives we live, because songs carry wisdom. But not all wisdom is worth its salt. God has given his people the gift of wisdom songs so that his wisdom shapes their lives most.

Why would the psalmists write songs about stories from Israel’s history for people to sing? Today we’re looking at psalms that recount Israel’s history. These psalms of memory show us the importance of singing about God’s faithfulness to his people over the generations.

Some psalms in the Bible are characterized by exuberant praise. Others are characterized by lament. These songs are surprising, raw, and make you wonder if they should even be in the Bible. These songs teach us how to respond to pain, that we can turn to God in these moments rather than away from him.

Praise is singing characterized by joy and exuberance. It’s also accompanied by hand-raising, hand-clapping, and dancing. What is praise all about, and why do God’s people do it?

Marriage can be a coin with two very different sides — joy on the one side and pain on the other. The biblical teaching about marriage isn’t ignorant of the pain but rather goes to the source of the pain and redeems it.

All parents have a picture of a preferred future for their children. How do we know we’ve got the right picture in mind? In Deuteronomy, Moses preaches to the Israelites, showing them how to pursue God’s picture for their children.