Carlton Landing Community Church Sermons

In the final hours of Jesus's life he goes up to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Even as his disciples are falling asleep, Jesus is in agony, wrestling with his Father in prayer, arriving at the conclusion, "your will be done." Like the other events of his final week, Jesus is living out a parable for us that explains his death and his resurrection. He is teaching us obedience and submission to...

On the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus gathered his disciples for a final meal. Gathered around the table, Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples and instructed them to share this meal when they gathered together. How should we celebrate communion today? What does it mean for us when we take the bread and the cup? This celebration is a tangible reminder of Jesus's death and resurrection, t...

On the night before he was crucified, Jesus gathered his disciples for a Passover meal. Without a servant in the room, Jesus humbled himself to wash the disciples' feet. In doing that, he showed them the kind of death he would die and the kind of lives they should live.

On Monday of Holy Week, Jesus walks by a fig tree that is not bearing fruit and curses it. The disciples are shocked, but later in the week, Jesus explains this living parable. Jesus is showing them something important about his death; that he is the only way to salvation and the only way to transformation.

During Jesus's last week on earth, he was very intentional with his time. Starting at the triumphal entry, Jesus carefully prepared his followers so that they would understand his death and resurrection. The first thing he did was go into the Temple to clear out the livestock and money changers. Jesus wasn't just losing his cool, he was showing them what his death was going to achieve and the kind...

The parable of the prodigal son is one of the greatest stories ever told. In the parable, a younger son takes half of his father's possessions and squanders them in the far country. When he returns, he expects to be taken in as a hired hand, but his father welcomes him back as a son. But this father had two sons, and each one serves as an example for us. One was lost near, one was lost far, but bo...

We know the apostle Thomas as a doubter, but that's not the whole story. After the resurrection, Thomas has his doubts, but Jesus draws near to him, invites him to investigate his doubts, and calls him to believe. And he does! Thomas's story is one of growing stronger through doubt, and it is an example for us of how Jesus treats doubt: kindly, patiently, and calling on us to believe in him.

Peter was always the one speaking first, stepping out, and taking the leap of faith. When a storm came up on the Sea of Galilee, Peter was the one who stepped out of the boat to walk on water. In this encounter, we learn how to handle doubt in the Christian life and how to trust Jesus in the storm. 

1 Kings 19 is one of the most pitiful scenes in the Bible. After a mountain top experience just before, Elijah runs for his life into the wilderness. There's hardly a more acute scene of doubt in the Bible. But in this moment, God draws near to Elijah, shows him his glory and gives him a vision of true spiritual power. 

The Transfiguration may be the most important event in Jesus's life that no one ever talks about. In a strange event where Jesus transforms in glory, Moses and Elijah appear, and he tells everyone not to talk about; what should we take away from this story? There is so much we can learn about waiting and glory, worship and longing. Jesus shows us that though we suffer today, we await glory tomorro...

There is no person in the Bible we know quite as well as Jeremiah. His life, struggles, and prophecy are on display for 50 years and we see him consistently follow God under challenging circumstances. In what might be his greatest act of faithfulness, he buys a field for $17 that the Babylonian army is currently camped on, as an act of trust in God's plan. There's a lot we can learn from Jeremiah...

Jonah is the story of the Bible's worst prophet, going to the worst city, preaching the worst sermon, and everyone gets saved! But what do we make of Jonah? He was battling doubts about God's goodness, and his story gives us an opportunity for faith. 

Doubt isn't always intellectual; often, it's emotional. Can we trust that God is good? Does he have a plan for us? Joseph was a person who had every reason to doubt God's plan, but he trusted God all the way. We can learn to trust God in seasons of doubt by looking at his life.

The first temptation reveals the very nature of all temptation: can we take God at his word? When Adam and Eve sinned, they made an exchange, God's word for theirs. Tempted by the enemy, they doubted God's Word and his goodness. Like them, we are tempted to do the same. For this very reason, Jesus was tempted and showed us the way to remain faithful in seasons of doubt.

Doubt and faith are not opposites. Through the Bible, God meets his people in their doubts and invites them to draw closer to him. In this story of a father who comes to Jesus, doubt is a gateway for a deeper understanding of Jesus. His prayer is a pattern for us when we have questions; "I believe; help my unbelief!"

Are we living in a post-Christian world or a pre-revival world? Throughout history, God's pattern has been to revive his church and awaken his people. In the story of Nehemiah, we see the pattern of revival among God's people and we look ahead to our own day and long for God to revive us again.

Above all, more than anything else, Jesus prays for unity. In fact, he prays that it would be the way that all people would know his disciples - by their unity. Studying this part of the prayer, we learn how to be unified in the church and how to showcase the amazing love of God for his people.

The disciples were not a star-studded bunch. They were slow to grasp what Jesus taught, and scattered in the hour of need, but Jesus never gave up on them. He spent some of his last hours on earth praying for them, asking God to finish the work he started. Of all the things they needed, Jesus thought they needed a little bit more prayer. Jesus prays the same things for us today, and we can be enco...

Jesus's prayer in John 17 is the greatest prayer in the Bible. What can we learn from it? Starting with the opening line, we learn to pray two prayers perfect for any situation: glorify your name and help me know you.

In the gospels, Jesus is often praying but we seldom get to hear what he says. But on the night before his crucifixion, John records Jesus's longest prayer in the Bible. What did he pray that night? What can we learn about prayer from listening in? In this study of John 17, we learn from Jesus's prayer in his final hours on earth.

The final message of Revelation is simple: Jesus is coming soon. Will you be ready? All of the Bible showcases the neverending love of God, and the final chapter gives us the encouragement we need to be ready when Jesus returns.

In the final vision of Revelation, we see the end goal of all things. Jesus is making all things new. He will right every wrong, wipe every tear, and bring us into the perfectly heavenly kingdom of the Father. All suffering and death will pass away and heaven and earth will be one in the New Jerusalem.

The greatest event in all of history will be the second coming of Jesus Christ. This future event, foretold almost 2,000 times in the Bible, is the source of our hope, now and forever. In Revelation 19, Jesus returns to judge the world, save his people, and fulfill the promises of God. It is a source of joy for believers and an anchor for our faith in what's to come. 

At the 4th Lausanne Congress, believers from across the world gathered to plan, discuss, and encourage the Church to complete the Great Commission. In 1974, Billy Graham and other leaders called together the global church to continue the work of evangelism. Fifty years later, the Church is growing across the world. Kirk Humphreys attended the Lausanne Congress in Seoul and brings an update for the...

By Revelation 14, we haven't seen the Lamb in 7 chapters. Where is Jesus during all the chaos? He's with his people, and he always will be. The middle section of Revelation presents us with a striking contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the dragon. The beasts force us to consider who we will worship. But the Lamb shows us that God will always be among his worshiping people.