College Wesleyan Church Sermons

Steve DeNeff - John 13:1-17. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves; each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others… Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

Steve DeNeff - John 8:1-11. “Do not repay evil for evil; if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone… be patient, bearing with one another in love… Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another; forgive, as the Lord forgave you… Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed… (and) remember this: Whoever turns a sin...

Steve DeNeff - Matthew 7:24-29. “I am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another… Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ… and let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom… set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith...

Steve DeNeff - Matthew 9:18-26. “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another… Don’t grumble against each other or you will be judged, for the Judge is standing at the door… Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing… Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess… and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. D...

Steve DeNeff - Luke 5:27 -32. “Live in harmony with one another. Don’t be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position… Do not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another… Instead, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another… accept one another, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God… be devoted to one another in brotherly love (and) h...

Steve DeNeff - John 17:20-26. In Jesus, God’s solution to a universal problem is a particular person and not just a person but a people through whom God will bless the earth. These people live with God and God lives through these people in ways that are peculiar, yet attractive to the rest of the world.  Jesus, the Son of God, is the whole Church in the shape of a single person. What if a whole co...

Eric Crisp - Luke 2:41-52; Colossians 3:1-3, 12-17. Many live life without noticing the absence of Jesus. Others notice Jesus’ absence and, as they begin to look for him, wonder why he isn’t there. We rediscover Jesus, however, when we are in the Father and about the Father’s business, dwelling in the word of Christ and putting on love, peace, and thankfulness.

Steve DeNeff - Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-14. For many, the shift from Slave to Child is only self-actualization. They celebrate the privileges of a firstborn, yet forget their commensurate responsibility. Like Jesus, we are the Presence of God in this world. We live in the Father for the world. That is why Jesus’ birth and ours is “good news of great joy to all people.”

Emily Vermilya - John 1:1-2, 10-14; Colossians 2:9-10. When asked what God is like, most will say that He is “love” but do we know what this means? Jesus said, “The Father loves the Son” (John 5:20) and he prays “that the love you (the Father) have for me may be in them,” (John 17:26). In fact, the love of the Father for the Son and for us is the same love to the same degree. Just as the Father lo...

Steve DeNeff - John 1:1-2, 10-14; Colossians 2:9-10. For many, their humanity is a weakness: “I’m only human,” they say to excuse their last failure, yet the more of these failures they have the less human they become. What if Jesus, and not somebody else, is the measure of our humanity? What if God took on our flesh so that we, in our flesh, can be like God? But how? In his humanity, God makes de...

Steve DeNeff - Hosea 11:1-4, 8-11; Luke 1:26-32a. Fatherhood is an idea that many today find repulsive because it stirs up images of male dominance, of abuse or neglect, and so much of it is for good reason. Yet God is a Father and that’s how He wants to be known. What if fatherhood properly understood is the cure for fatherhood properly condemned. The relationship that Jesus had with his Father i...

Steve DeNeff - Acts 1:4-8; 11:19 -26. Organizations are often attracted to the obsolete, to things that should have worked but did not, to things that were once productive but no longer are. Then something happens - something unpredictable and unwelcome - that forces us to re-examine our assumptions, methods and goals. It’s a moment that calls us forward, from Jerusalem to Antioch, and if we go Go...

Emily Vermilya - Deuteronomy 6:1-25. The mission of God is timeless and unchanging. His "faithfulness continues from generation to generation,” (Ps. 119:90). Throughout the bible, we read of the home serving as a primary place of disciple making—a place where faith is birthed, scripture is revered, and discipleship is prioritized. The gathered church, then, serves as a supplementary disciple-makin...

Steve DeNeff - Mark 3:7-16a, 19b. As we discussed last week, we live in a time of unprecedented change. Traditions, values and mores that have governed our lives for years are met with suspicion from a public determined to “do what is right in their own eyes.” Even the institutions that have stabilized us in the past are, themselves, weakened by internal conflict and impotence. One of those is the...

Emily Vermilya - Isaiah 43:15 -21. We are people of ritual and routine. We like what's known—the things we can predict and plan for. We like to presume that the good things we have known and been a part of in the past will continue in the days ahead. But the story of God is filled with examples of the Lord disrupting the norm for the sake of doing something greater…"a new thing." And while neither...

Steve DeNeff - Genesis 25:5-11; Hebrews 11:8-16. Toward the end of life we wrestle with our horizons, with our limitations, and we are tempted to become cynical or even to despair. It feels as though we “did not receive what was promised; we only saw it and welcomed it from a distance,” (Heb. 11:13). Our hope is in knowing that we have always been only a part of a story that is much larger than us...

Steve DeNeff - Gen. 15:9-18; Heb. 6:13 -19a. Our image of God is most evident when we pray. What do we sound like? Who do we think is on the other end? Somewhere along the way, we go from “Our Father” to “Dear Lord.” We go from saying what is on our hearts, to saying what we think he wants to hear. What if praying could be simpler, more natural and engaging? But how? In his conversations with God,...

Dave Ward - Genesis 18:1-15. What is my disposition? What is the condition of my heart? “All the days of the oppressed are heavy,” says Proverbs, “but the cheerful heart has a continual feast,” ( 15:15 ). The heart of a slave can be timid or pessimistic because she worries that God and the world are laughing at her (Gen. 18:12 -15). But a child of promise believes that God and the world are laughi...

Rev. Steve DeNeff - Genesis 17:1-7, 10-11; Romans 4:7-13, 16-17. Why do I do what I do? What is my relationship with the law? To a slave, freedom always means the end of whatever is holding him back, whether it is bad (like the prodigal) or good (like the elder brother). But children obey the promise, not the law. They obey because of what they are (sons or daughters who share the Father’s image)...

Steve DeNeff - Genesis 15:1-6; Romans 4:18 -24. How do things get done? Who will be responsible for me? Even though we speak of providence and faith, we often worry and work as though we were on our own. We get trapped in a golden cage, enamored by our success and validated by others’ approval. But a child’s life is different. She lives into the promise, instead of apart from it, always supporting...

Rev. Steve DeNeff - Genesis 15:1-6; Romans 4:18-24. Who will take care of me? How will I be safe? Life is uncertain and most of it falls between the answers. The slave seeks certainty and control, but the child leaves what is obvious and secure and walks into the unknown. Like Abraham, we are called to “go to a place . . . even though we do not know where we are going.” We are called to live in be...

Rev. Steve DeNeff. Isaiah 41:8-10; Galatians 3:6-9, 16, 26-29. Who is God? And who am I in relation to that? There are many ways to apprehend God but three of the most common are as a seeker, or as a servant, or as a son or daughter (child). Of these, the child is the most important and the most preferred but it’s elusive. Many Christians speak of it, but live most of their lives as a servant. Lik...

Steve DeNeff - Eph. 1:15 -19, 3:16 -19; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9-12; 2 Thess. 3:10 -13; 1 Thess. 1:11 -12. We talk a lot about spiritual growth but what, exactly, is it? How do we know if we’re growing spiritually. Using the letters and the prayers of Paul, we’ll identify seven areas of growth that happen in a believer’s life between the time they become a Christian and the time they leave this worl...

Lenny Luchetti - Luke 15:11 -32. Throughout the Bible, God removes barriers that separate people from him, from each other, and from life needs. We see this especially in the life and teaching of Jesus, specifically in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15). The church is an extension of Jesus’ ministry. Or are we? Do we possess the empathy that ignites in us the compassion, courage, and commit...

Steve DeNeff - 2 Timothy 2:1-7. Proverbs says that “the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,” ( 11:30 ) meaning that the life of one good person is multiplied a hundred times in the people around them. So Jesus and Paul both tell us to reproduce ourselves in others who, in turn, will do the same with people in their own community. This sermon will focus on how living things reproduce, each af...