ARCC Sermons

The Pharisees came a long way to get into an argument with Jesus about the importance of washing your hands before you eat. What we see is a group of people who simply missed the point. It is a great irony that Jesus points out to us the life and freedom wasted when we believe life revolves around us. It is that heart attitude that leads men to create more and more laws and traditions out of arrog...

Scripture alludes to the fact that the disciples missed the point of the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Scripture says they missed the point because their hearts were hardened. Even in the midst of being a part of the most admirable tasks and ministry we are in danger of having hard hearts. We fall into this when we forget that the entire purpose of our life is to worship God. There is great...

The story returns to Jesus and his disciples. As they return from their mission Jesus invites them to rest, if only for a short while, before a ministry opportunity presents itself once again. Jesus has another opportunity to teach people the realities of the "true" Kingdom leading to freedom and peace and joy and direction for a lost sheep. We are also given a picture, through this amazing miracl...

An opportunity will always come to take sin to the next level. It's why we have to be about bringing the darkness into the light. We must be a people of repentance. Oh how our sin and flesh will betray us at every turn! Not only does our sin bring about bondage, but it leads us into more and more sin leading to disaster in our lives and the lives around us. It is crazy how our "small" sin can turn...

In the story of John the Baptist's death, we get a very unique view on the nature and the effects of sin. So often we see people living in sin and from the outside perspective all seems well as though they were "getting away with it". However, what we are able to learn from this story is that no matter what things look like on the outside, there are always consequences to sin. We can also see that...

There is no middle ground with Jesus. You are either following Him or you are rejecting Him. If you are a follower of Christ then scripture gives great pictures as to what that looks like both for our instruction and for our confidence. The fact is, WE WILL BE CALLED by God for His purposes to bring glory to Him and joy to all men. What we see is that the size or the significance of "the call" is...

After performing many miracles in the region of Galilee, Jesus returned to Nazareth with his disciples to continue his ministry. As he taught in the synagogue, the crowd turned from being amazed to being offended in a matter of minutes. What was it that Jesus said that offended them? Would we have been offended had we been there that day? As followers of Christ, our acceptance of Him and the thing...

Are your relationships, your opportunities, your fulfillments, your ministries, your job, your physical location, etc...(and the list could go on and on) due to your pursuit of Christ? OR, is your pursuit of Christ dependent upon your relationships, your opportunities, your fulfillments, your ministries, your job, your physical location, etc...? This makes all the difference in the world as to the...

So what could possibly cause Jesus to stop on the way to heal a dying little girl? The answer: A woman who had a sad misunderstanding of the point of Jesus. This woman who had suffered for so many years was understandably content with sneaking up on Jesus, touching Him, and slipping off into the crowd. The greatness of the reality of Jesus is that He would do far more than just heal her body, but...

So what happens when a man who is confined by time, consumed by time, or the lack of it, who is very aware that it is NOT his ally comes in contact with a man who has existed outside of time for eternity? Jesus transcends time. For Jesus, time is only relevant in that it gives a marker for when He decides to sovereignly carry out His purpose, desire, and will. Jesus is about to give Jairus a taste...

James tells us that even the demons believe in God...and shudder! So what is the difference between them and us? For a lot of professing followers of Christ in America there isn't much difference at all. In this story in Mark 5 we have a huge wake up call to those more concerned with posing as a disciple of Christ and actually being a disciple or follower of Christ. There IS a difference. Addition...

What do you do when faced with a God more terrifying than anything we could possibly be confronted by on this earth? What do we do when we realize we are in the presence of the God who owns it all and needs absolutely nothing from us? We worship and adore him because the God who does whatever He pleases is please to love us with an everlasting love that brings salvation and joy and hope and peace....

What we learn from these last two parables of Jesus about the Kingdom of God brings a great sense of reality to what is going on in most of our lives right here and now. We get the sense that the kingdom is going to grow from something very small and insignificant to something huge and very influential. The part that we don't want to miss is the part where Jesus says that he will accomplish it thr...

"What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight, what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs." We were created to proclaim. We are a people dying to say something and we just want someone, anyone to listen. We were wired this way and now Jesus is telling us that hearing and proclaiming is of eternal importance in the Kingdom of God. To have a relationship with Christ is to have some...

"The sower sows." In the parable of the soils we certainly get a bleak picture of those who are not a part of the Kingdom of God, but at the end we see Jesus speaking of what is in store for those who are a part of the Kingdom. If you are a child of God, then there is much to look forward to, much to strive for, much to glory in! Additional Scripture References: Colossians 1:5-6; Colossians 1:13;...

In Jesus' life we would often see him in the midst of bread or wine, sometimes even using them to convey a message. But what Jesus tells his disciples to remember when they take bread and wine is one thing: his sacrifice on the cross. Additional Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Luke 22:17-19

There have been and always will be consequences to our sin. These are never pleasant experiences to say the least. What if these consequences weren't God's wrath, but rather, His grace and mercy in bringing us back to Himself? What if His wrath was allowing our consequences to be the inability to recognize the sin in our own lives? We would be ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, bu...

One more time Jesus is inviting us to delve into His heart (the heart of His will) which usually means much conviction and change on our part...typically nothing to be proud of comes from this. However, great joy and communion with God typically does result. Do you trust Him? His "family" would. Additional Scripture References: Romans 3:10-18; John 8:42-44; Ephesians 1;6; Hebrews 12:1 Romans 12:1-...

The ironic thing about this passage is that the greater message here is about the FORGIVENESS of God. What we see in Christ's discourse on the "eternal sin" is a severe warning (gracious in nature) about the consequences of "un-forgiveness". The scary part of this is that Jesus (the evangelist) was preaching this message to those who would confidently assert their right-standing with God. Addition...

We begin to see Jesus draw the line between admirers and actual followers/disciples. What we see in this passage is a look to the "languages of salvation" that scripture uses. What we find when we take an honest look at what scripture defines as "salvation" is far more than just fire insurance. We must be willing to see if our assurances line up with what scripture says. Additional Scripture Refer...

The struggle for the human flesh is to accept the fact that our righteousness before God is based solely on His grace and nothing else. We see that there is a connection among true grace, servanthood, and true rest. Sabbath was meant for man. God's design was to give us a "rest" leading to a life pleasing to Him. Additional Scripture References: Exodus 31:12-18, 1 Samuel 21:1-9, Matthew 11:28

Today we celebrate the life and hope that we have because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have a loving, intimate relationship with the God of the universe because Christ made peace for us by the blood of His cross. Why would a king do such a thing? Additional Scripture References: Hebrews 1:3; Romans 8:7; Ephesians 2:3; 1 Corinthians 15:20-21; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:33; Ph...

The struggle for the human flesh is to accept the fact that our righteousness before God is based solely on His grace and nothing else. What Jesus was teaching the people was that because of such grace we now have the freedom to obey His commands that were meant for our joy and enjoyment of Him. Additional Scripture References: Exodus 31:12-18

The "reality of true compassion" is that we see the depth of our need...of our destitute...that it goes so much deeper than our physical issues. Praise God that Jesus loved us enough and had enough compassion to see much deeper than our physical need. Now we have an eternity, not just a lifetime! Additional Scripture References: Hebrews 1:3, Romans 10:14-15, Romans 8:18-25, Matthew 24:13

Jesus taught about life with original rather than derived authority. He didn't just clarify something that they already knew, or simply interpret the scriptures in the way the teachers of the law did. His listeners sensed somehow that he was explaining the story of their lives as the "author". Additional Scripture References: Acts 2:37, 1 Corinthians 2:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, Galatians 3:10, Gal...