Anthem Church

Though Judas’ betrayal was a form of apostasy, he certainly wasn’t the only betrayer of Jesus. As we look carefully at the Apostle Peter, we find a form of betrayal much more subtle and something we can identify with. Peter shows us two forms of subtle betrayals often overlooked: (1) when disciples rise up in the strength of their works or (2) when disciples lie down in the weakness of their faith...

“Our communion with God is greatly impacted by our inability to remember all that He’s done for us in Christ. Through the sacrament of the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper), Christ established an Ebenezer for this very reason. The Communion table reminds us of no less than three things so that our relationship with Him and others is brought into harmony as intended. First, we remember Jesus through our ob...

Following Jesus comes with a price, a truism often not communicated in the Gospel narrative. This cost involves the approval of people, the security of prizes, and the comfort of promises. For, in Christ, we are given absolute approval, assured security, and assuaging comfort. Jesus is the true and better Person, the true and better Prize, and the true and better Promise. The cost of following Him...

Eschatology is the study of the last days, the end of the end. However, our eschatology should serve to point us to the return of Jesus who will set right all that His elect have endured until that day. By enduring the present day, we are faithful to the last day, which will be the best day for those in Christ.

Life is in the Lord and death is the result of our rejecting the Him. The Lord has been patient with Israel, but they continue to reject him. Israel has failed to return to the Lord (repent). In Amos 8-9, the Lord gives Israel what they want; it is not God who abandons Israel, but Israel who abandons God and thus judgment. Israel will not escape it’s judgment. Yet, even with judgment comes a promi...

God established a covenant with his people. But they turned from trusting Him and began trusting themselves. This sermon explores God’s warning to Israel regarding self reliance, and how that warning is strikingly relevant to the Western Church.

What is just? This is a question we encounter in the everyday and in the abstract. In Amos we will discover that God’s very nature is what constitutes justice and righteousness, and that we as his people have a calling to join God in his mission of pleading for the poor and powerless.

Is God involved when bad things happen? Where is God when natural or personal disasters occur? This is a question that everyone has asked, and in Amos we find an astounding answer. This sermon explores why it is good news that God is sovereign even over tragedies, and how he sovereignly orchestrates all things so that we might return to Him.

Our cultures relationship to judgment is paradoxical. We say that we don’t want anyone to judge us, especially in regard to our personal behavior, and yet we create situations all the time in which we are put ourselves forward to be judged. Beauty patents, Reality TV shows, etc. all reveal our desire for someone else to tell us if we are worthy or unworthy. This sermon explores God’s fair and impa...

Living consistently is futile. We regularly fail to measure up to our own standard, never-mind the perfect standard required of The Law. Attempting to live a consistent life in our own strength according to our own standard proves us to be hypocrites, at best. In Christ, however, we are found consistently blameless and righteousness under The Law . . . all because of Jesus' consistent love of hypo...

God's plan from the beginning of time was to reveal His glory through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation of the promised Messiah, in so doing, revealing to us the character and nature of God. We invite you to stop speculating about Jesus this Christmas season, as the rest of the world does. God has replaced speculation with revelation for our salva...

Love is not an action as some would exclaim. Nor is it a feeling as most would live out. It is a Person whom we are made in the image and likeness of. Jesus is questioned about the greatest commandment and His response is an invitation to be loved by the one, true God of the Bible. What will you do with the King's love?

Worldview matters. It is the lens through which we interpret circumstances, relationships and the whole of life. However, our natural worldviews are all speculative formed by each and every one of our experiences. Enter Jesus, who seeks to replace speculation with revelation. To do so, we mustn't undervalue the Scriptures nor underestimate God's power. If you want to have a right worldview, so as...

In this passage the Pharisees and Herodians are sent to trap Jesus. They come with their best question. "Is it lawful to pay a poll tax to Caesar?" They believe if Jesus answers the question one way the spiritual leaders will have cause to seize Jesus; if he answers the other way, then the political (material) leaders will have cause to arrest him. Jesus' answer weds as one the spiritual and mater...

God the Father is like a patient landowner who sends his beloved Son to mediate reconciliation concerning our unpaid debt. God is patient and slow to anger, but we should not mistake his patience as perpetual nor his anger as mythical. After all, He is the Father of a murdered Son.

You are going to be in authority and under authority for the rest of your life. The question is will you be in authority or under authority the rest of your life? This week's sermon reminds us that only one authority is intrinsic while all others are delegated. Who is this one, true, innate authority? Listen and find out.

We all care about the Economy, because it affects our lives. But how does God’s economy, his way of managing, contrast with our way of managing our lives. Mark describes Jesus judgment of the temple system, and his subsequent discussion with his disciples about faith. This sermon explores how Jesus judgment of our ways of managing, and offers an argument for why the King's economy is much better t...

The mercy of God is meant to be deeply satisfying to the soul. So satisfying, in fact, that it should leave us wholly unsatisfied with where we’re at. In the person of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, we learn that seeing the mercy of Jesus is more than just with our bodily eyes.

In an upwardly mobile, ambitious culture, greatness is something to be achieved for many. However, the Biblical narrative suggests that true greatness is reflected not manufactured. In this sermon, all of our modern models of greatness are challenged and dismantled in favor of a wholly better model we were intended to reflect. In doing so, our measurements for greatness are intrinsically changed,...

In a time and context where divorce is common, covenant is foreign, and marriage is misunderstood, Jesus speaks a truism that is as hard today as it was when it was originally spoken. Though the Bible’s assertions about marriage (and therefore divorce) seem antiquated to our modern sensibilities and pursuits of happiness, they nevertheless are intended for both human and marital flourishing, ergo...

Jesus calls us not only to take sin seriously, but to regularly examine our lives for it. His warning to those who continually persist in sin is a stark reminder of how serious he takes it. So serious that he willingly and sacrificially gave his life for it.