Christ Presbyterian Church

This episode centers on Jesus’ baptism, emphasizing that God’s love comes before His call—Jesus is affirmed as beloved before beginning His ministry, showing we act from God’s love, not to earn it. The conversation explores how God’s love is relational and unconditional toward our identity, yet not the same as approving all our actions, highlighting the importance of repentance and ongoing forgive...

This sermon teaches that Jesus’ baptism was not about His need for cleansing, but about identifying with humanity so He could make all things right and bring us into His life. At that moment, God declares Jesus as His beloved Son before He does anything, showing that God’s love always comes before His call—a truth that defines our identity as well. The message invites believers to stop striving fo...

This episode of Pastor’s Cut reflects on a sermon about Naaman’s healing in Second Kings, focusing on themes of humility, obedience, and the transformative power of simple spiritual practices. The discussion explores theological perspectives on physical and spiritual healing, emphasizing faithful trust in God’s work amid both miracles and suffering. 

This sermon reflects on the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5, emphasizing that even a powerful and successful person could not overcome his deepest need for healing on his own. His eventual willingness to humbly follow God’s simple instruction reveals that true healing comes through surrender, trust, and God’s grace rather than human achievement or status. The message ultimately points to Jesus and ba...

This episode of Pastor’s Cut features a conversation about a sermon on Exodus 14, where God parts the sea to deliver the Israelites, illustrating how sin can both surround and pursue people like the sea and the Egyptian army. The pastors discuss how sin is not only personal wrongdoing but also a broken force in the world that pushes people toward needing God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ. Th...

Pastor Melissa Schaser preaches on the Israelites’ fear in Exodus 14 when they were trapped between the sea and Pharaoh’s army, illustrating how sin both blocks our path and pursues us. She explains that the Hebrew word "Yeshua" (deliverance) points forward to Jesus, who ultimately rescues humanity from the power of sin. Baptism is presented as a sign that believers belong to God and can...

On Pastor’s Cut , Melissa Schaser interviews Petey Crowder about his sermon on Noah in the “Through the Waters” series at CPC, exploring how the flood story reveals a grieving yet faithful God who confronts sin and ultimately promises to bear judgment Himself through Jesus. They discuss the theology and historicity of Genesis, emphasizing that the story primarily reveals God’s character, covenant...

This sermon explores the story of Noah and the flood in the Book of Genesis, emphasizing that it is not a children’s tale but a sobering account of a grieving God confronting the deep corruption of human sin. Rather than acting out of anger, God responds out of heartbreak, using the flood as both judgment and a means of purification, an “uncreation” that makes way for a new creation and covenant f...

In this episode of Pastor’s Cut , Melissa interviews Emily Hamilton about the inspiration behind the “Through the Waters” sermon series at Christ Presbyterian Church, which traces major water stories throughout Scripture to highlight the unity of God’s redemptive story and the meaning of baptism. Emily explains the many gifts of baptism—reminding us that we are created and beloved by God, cleansed...

Pastor Emily describes baptism as a gift from God, like a beautifully wrapped package containing many smaller gifts that remind us we are seen, loved, and claimed by Him. Reflecting on Genesis 1, she highlights how God brings order and life out of chaotic waters, offering a hopeful counterstory both to ancient Babylonian myths and to today’s pressure to create and define ourselves. Baptism, she sa...

On the Pastors Cut podcast, Joe McDonald reflects on returning to staff and preaching the final message in the “Invited” series, centered on Revelation’s closing invitation, “Come, Lord Jesus.” He shares how a vision of a diverse multitude worshiping Christ and the concept of “spiritual martyrdom”—a humble surrender of self so Christ can live through us—shaped his message and challenged listeners...

Pastor Joe McDonald reflects on meaningful invitations in his life and connects them to the Bible’s final prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus,” in Revelation 22. He explains that Revelation offers hope and assurance of Jesus’ promised return, not a timeline to decode. The invitation “Come, Lord Jesus” is both a longing for Christ’s return and a call to live as his witnesses in the world now.

In this episode of Pastors Cut , Petey Crowder reflects on his sermon about Hebrews’ invitation to “come boldly to the throne of grace,” emphasizing Jesus as both our great High Priest and King, whose primary mission is to save and reconcile us to God. He discusses common misconceptions about Jesus—reducing him to a social service provider, political culture warrior, power confronter, or personal...

This sermon centers on Hebrews 4:14–16, presenting Jesus as the great High Priest who fully understands human weakness and invites us to come boldly and honestly before God to receive grace and mercy. It challenges distorted views of Jesus by emphasizing that his primary work is healing human brokenness through his once-for-all sacrifice, not merely affirming us or fixing others.

This episode of Pastor’s Cut features host Melissa Schaser in conversation with Emily Hamilton, who reflects on her sermon from John 11 and Jesus raising Lazarus, emphasizing how Jesus is Lord over death and invites the community to participate in making space for new life. Emily and Melissa explore how spiritual growth often requires honest community, naming “grave clothes” that still bind us, an...

This sermon reflects on Jesus raising Lazarus to show that human beings are ultimately powerless before death, but God fiercely opposes death and has authority over it. By connecting this story to present-day suffering, it emphasizes that death is not just physical but a destructive power at work in the world, one that Jesus confronts with compassion and resurrection life. Jesus invites his commun...

This episode on Pastor's Cut centers on how recent violence and unrest in Minneapolis reshaped Petey Crowder’s sermon, calling the church to bring both personal and communal burdens to Jesus in a time of fear and anxiety. Petey and Melissa reflect on the church’s role as a discipling community that forms people to follow Jesus with humility, prayer, and love for all made in God’s image, rathe...

This sermon invites weary and burdened people to bring their struggles to Jesus, grounding that call in Matthew 11, where Jesus offers rest not by removing burdens, but by teaching a gentler, life-giving way to carry them. It emphasizes that Jesus’ “yoke” fits us well, relieves the crushing weight of shame, fear, and responsibility, and reminds us that we are yoked to Christ himself, who carries t...

Pastors Melissa and Carrie have a conversation about Sunday's sermon. Which challenged listeners to move from simply believing that Jesus is real to truly believing in Him with trust that shapes how we live, illustrated by the tightrope walker who invites someone to rely fully on him. It affirmed that faith is not a solo journey but a shared one, where the church functions like a rowing team—...

Pastor, speaker, and author of the book we gave our congregation on Christmas Eve, What's a Christian, Anyway?, Glenn Packiam, speaks. 

This episode of Pastor’s Cut features a conversation with Jonathan Hicks about his sermon on the invitation to “come and see,” highlighting how encountering Jesus naturally leads people to invite others through ordinary relationships like family and friends. The discussion explores fears around evangelism, emphasizing that the focus is on extending gracious invitations rather than controlling outc...

This sermon reflects on how the Christian faith becomes credible when the gospel is visibly lived out by real people, emphasizing Jesus’ repeated invitation to “come and see” as a call to experience Him personally rather than just intellectually. Through the story of Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael, the message shows how encountering Jesus transforms skepticism into belief and naturally leads p...

The episode explores our new sermon series on invitation, centered on Jesus’ call to the fishermen in Matthew 4. Pastor Petey reflects on what it means for both longtime believers and newcomers to continually lay down sources of identity and security to follow Jesus. The episode also includes church updates and a personal story showing how surrendering a good thing opened space for deeper faith an...

Pastor Petey preaches that invitations open us to new possibilities, and Jesus’ core invitation "Come, follow me" is an invitation to apprentice under Him by being with Him, becoming like Him, and doing what He does. Following Jesus means leaving behind familiar sources of comfort, identity, and control, not because they are bad, but because Jesus offers a life that is bigger in purpose...

Donation Drive & Mission Spotlight information: qr.link/TeJW4I This episode reflects on a sermon from Luke 2 that emphasizes the ordinariness of the shepherds and how God transforms ordinary people by sending them on mission. It highlights the shepherds’ two responses to Jesus’ birth: encountering Christ personally and then simply sharing what they experienced, without needing all the answers....