College Wesleyan Church Sermons

Steve DeNeff - Isaiah 35:1-8a; Luke 4:1-13. In the wilderness Jesus is tempted by the devil but he doesn’t go there alone. He is “led (imperfect tense) by the Spirit.” Strong families go into hard places together. They support one another and remain present and faithful until the time is over. These bouts with the wilderness only make them stronger.

Steve DeNeff - Isaiah 42:1-4; Luke 3:21 -23a. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, before he has accomplished anything, he is baptized and the Father pronounces a blessing over him, saying things about him that every person longs to hear. Against a culture of criticism and contempt, strong families use language that blesses.

Steve DeNeff - Genesis 12:1-3; Luke 2:41 -52. In this rare episode of Jesus’ childhood, he reveals that his agenda is to re-establish the Father’s house, an extended family of God. This is great news for people in our day, especially those seeking a new or stronger family.

Alex Mandura - 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 & John 1:1-18. There are many things we have not liked about this last year, and it's not a bad thing to want the days ahead to look different. However, as we look to scripture and the Incarnation itself, it gives us eyes to see our present moment through a new lens and move forward with anticipated hope.

Larisa Levicheva-Joseph - Matthew 1:18 -25; Luke 2:21 -38. Our God is the one who knows the whole story, we are simply in the middle of it. However, God is inviting us to participate with him in it. The question is, how will we respond?

Steve DeNeff - Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; 51:4-6; Luke 2:8-14. On the night he arrived, God introduced us to a different savior and a different kind of salvation that was unlike any we’d known before. This salvation - from God - is as hard to comprehend in our day as it was in theirs, even for Christians who, for the last nine months, have been looking elsewhere. But how, exactly, is God’s salvation so diff...

Beau Hamner - Isaiah 12:1-6. Joy is not found in the absence of pain, discomfort, and suffering. Rather, joy is found in the contentment with what is to come.

Matthew Beck - Luke 2:8-15, Isaiah 9:1-7. The good news of Advent, foretold in Isaiah’s poetry and found in the angel’s announcement to the shepherds, is not a passive peace or shallow Shalom, but nothing short of the full redemption of all humanity reconciled to God and the restoration of all things. While we might settle for an absence of conflict or peace of mind, God wants to give us peace on...

Steve DeNeff - Job 14:1-2, 7-10, Isaiah 11:1-5, 10, 12, 16. In Advent we wait in hope for God to break in upon us with something new, something beyond our power to do. This newness is rooted in God’s own activity and is embodied in the earthly, human form of Christian community.

Steve DeNeff - Ephesians 3:14-19; 4:1-6. On the hidden potential of conflict, or how our differences make us stronger.

Rev. Steve DeNeff - Ephesians 4:7, 11-16. On the right use of talent, or how the Body of Christ shows us what our gifts are.  

Steve DeNeff - Ephesians 3:14 -19; 4:1-6. On the hidden potential of conflict, or how our differences make us stronger.

Beau Hamner - Luke 14:7-14. In these two seemingly insignificant parables, Jesus instructs us how we are to position ourselves at His “table,” while also giving us guidance as to who we are to invite to join us there.

Steve DeNeff - Ephesians 2:1-6, 13-22. He himself is our peace who has made the two one… for through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” In Christ, we are not “separate but equal;” we are “different yet one.

Steve DeNeff - Matthew 16:13-20. The life expectancy of a church is about 70 years. How does one, like CWC, live for 125? There are many reasons but the most significant is that they are able to sustain the Founder’s vision and passion. Ours is the promise of Christ to build a colony of heaven at the gates of hell.

Ethan Linder - Mark 4:13 -20, 30-34. When Jesus is pressed to explain what the Kingdom of God is like, he comes up with a perplexing analogy: the force powerful enough to overtake the Roman Empire, to outlast the powered-up kingdoms of the world is… a seed, some dirt, a shrub. The most effective communities, Jesus seems to think, are those who can say “yes” to God’s invitation to do things that--t...

Matthew Beck - Acts 18:1-4, 18-19, 24-26. The brief cameos of Priscilla and Aquila in the drama of church history move the plot forward in significant ways and further the Gospel's reach. They turn their displacement into missions. Their business funds the Jesus movement. Their home becomes a place of worship. In short, they add to everything they touch and everyone they encounter. This is the hea...

Steve DeNeff - Ephesians 1:15-23. Christ is the Center of every Christian community and that community is the portal into Christ. They are not the same - Christ and His Community - yet we can’t get into the One except through the Other, nor into the Other except through the One. But what, exactly, is that community? And what are we doing to help each other find Christ?

Eric Crisp - Ephesians 1:2, 15-23; 4:4-6. If Christ is present in the world through His Body, the Church, then why are so many today devoted to one more than to the other? If the Church is truly the Body of Christ, there is no other way to belong except together. It’s all or nothing! So what does this mean for the way we practice our faith?

Steve DeNeff - Belonging - Ephesians 1:3-11, 22. Most of us have a deep longing to belong to another person or community but it’s often for our own sake. Paul describes a different kind of community and another way of belonging. In the Church, our community begins and continues in what Christ has done to both of us, whether we know it or not.

Steve DeNeff - Second Conversion - Acts 9. In the famous story of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, there were two encounters that changed Saul’s life. One was with Jesus himself. The other was with Jesus’ people. Both were essential to Saul’s conversion. Yet we speak of one more than the other. In this intro to the fall series, Me-to-We, we’ll look at 4 characters that God brings into ou...

Dave Ward - It Is What It Is - Titus 3:1-8. There is a brokenness to our world. This brokenness is not just something that exists “out there.” If we look carefully, that brokenness is in here. It is tempting to ignore it or resign ourselves to it, saying “it is what it is.” God’s amazing grace gives us another way forward. For anyone needing a second chance, a new start, this is the best news poss...

Jeff Clark - Building from the Rubble - Nehemiah 1:1-4, 2:1-18; 2 Corinthians 10:3-18. Paul says, “it is not the one who commends himself who is approved but the one who is commended by the Lord.” But many of us find our ordinary lives messy from forces that are beyond our control. What new potential might emerge if we humbly lived fully surrendered to Christ in the sphere of service God assigned...

Steve DeNeff - The Greatest of These… - John 15:7-14; 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a. It is common to hear people speak about love. We search for it but too often it eludes us. The Christian vision of love is more powerful and practical than almost everything we’re hearing. And it is within our reach. At the peak of Peter’s list of virtues is love - for those inside the Church and those outside as well- bu...

Ethan Linder - By Design - 1 Corinthians 10:23 -11:1. Many of us want lives that are more expansive, whole, and free; but it’s not as easy as wanting it (otherwise everybody would live that way). In this passage, Paul invites us to examine the structure of our lives, and how we can partner with God to build lives that are “constructive,” not just to us, but for others.