College Wesleyan Church Sermons

Emily Vermilya - Matthew 19:16-22; Hebrews 11:1-3;6. So often, as we grow in our walks with Christ, we ask God to increase our faith. We desire to see evidence of God at work around us so that we have greater assurance and reason to believe in his authority and power. But the author of Hebrews tells us that faith comes before proof—that it grows in the absence of something, rather than just in its...

Steve DeNeff - Ephesians 4:17 -5:2. As disciples we are called to “learn Christ,” which involves more than merely accepting him. To learn Christ requires a process and curriculum for “putting off” the old self” and “putting on the new self” the one we were created for in the first place. This looks different for each one of us. For some, it involves “speaking truthfully” instead of lying. For othe...

Rev. Steve DeNeff - Jonah 1:3:1-2. When God calls us into redemption of the world, we sometimes don’t like what we’re called to do, but if we obey Him we will find that God has gone before us, that His grace is more generous and patient than we thought, and that the life we saved was actually our own. Didn’t Jesus say something like this? “He who loses his life, for me and for the gospel, will sav...

Rev. Ethan Linder - Daniel 3:1-30. Most of us admire Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for their courage; but behind their courage is a value that keeps them standing tall. This is more, then, than a story of how to stand up in a moment of decision; it’s also a reminder that obedience might cost us all we have. This sermon will examine that tension and help us understand explore what kept these thre...

Steve DeNeff - 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4, 8-11, 16-24, 32-37, 40-50. It’s been said that you can’t have the right friends if you don’t have the right enemies. In this popular story, we are called to confront our enemies in the Name and power of God. But our posture is not one of anger or violence, but one of humility and complete trust that “God will hand our enemies over” in His time and in His way. Our...

 Eric Crisp  - Ruth 1. What do we do when life has become “bitter” for us or, worse yet, it seems that “the LORD himself has raised his fist against us?” The book of Ruth gives us a snapshot of one seemingly insignificant family during the days when the Judges ruled in Israel. God seems silent and for Naomi and Ruth, the future looks bleak. But Ruth and Boaz show us how living in the freedom of an...

Rev. Steve DeNeff. Exodus 1:6-11a; 2:23-3:12. The success of any venture is disproportionate to one person, to the one who is called. But what if that person doesn’t feel called? What if they’re not very good at the thing God calls them to do? Many of us have been in that place and some are in it now.  “Fake it till you make it,” is the most common approach. But here is a better one: Take off your...

Rev. Steve DeNeff -  Genesis 37:1, 3-11.  In between the dream and the reality is a long and barren stretch known as “middle time,” where old dreams go to die. Somewhere between the “already” and the “not yet” is a valley fraught with temptations to compromise or to despair. But to those who hold onto these God-given dreams, God will open new horizons beyond our imagination.

Steve DeNeff - Genesis 22:1-18.  Have you ever wanted something, more than anything, only to get it and be asked to lay it down again?  “Take your son, your only son whom you love . . . and sacrifice him there (on Moriah),” (Gen. 22:2). This unspeakable ask, from God to Abraham, to sacrifice the very thing God gave us is at the core of our faith. It is something God himself has done (see John 3:16...

Rev. Alex Mandura -  Genesis 9:8-17. Noah and The Flood. For many of us, we know the story, we learned about it in Sunday School. And yet for others they know it only from the people who are debating the historical facts in the public square. In both these cases, the purpose for telling this ancient story gets submerged. Craig Bartholomew wrote “A major feature of any story is its central conflict...

Rev. Matthew Beck - Genesis 1:26-31.  Henri Nouwen said, "One of the tragedies of our life is that we keep forgetting who we are.” How do we find ourselves again? We re-collect our stories by recollecting the Story of God. In other words, we remember by retelling. The overarching narrative of Scripture and the individuals stories in the library of the Bible, answer our most foundational human ques...

Rev. Emily Vermilya -  Acts 2:42-47. The book of Acts is filled with stories of grandeur—healings, revival, and an assortment of overt demonstrations of the power of God. These accounts, like the momentous and extraordinary experiences of our lives today, are significant to our understanding of God and the story he is unfolding. But what of the seemingly “lesser” moments of the life of the 1st Cen...

Rev. Eric Crisp - Acts 2:1-21. The story of Pentecost reminds us of the promise of Jesus to empower his followers with the power of the Holy Spirit. Often, however, we either doubt that this power is available for us or we try to manipulate or form the Holy Spirit for our own purposes. But Acts 2 also reminds us that the Spirit shows up and forms us, not the other way around. This sermon will expl...

Rev. Steve DeNeff - John 20:19-23    

Steve DeNeff - Revelation 1:12-18. "Stuck on the island of Patmos on the Lord’s day.” That’s how John describes himself moments before he encountered the risen Lord.  Patmos was a kind of Alcatraz for the Romans – a place where prisoners go and are never heard from again – but as John stands on the shores, contemplating his grim future, he turns around to see “the Living One...(who) was dead and b...

Steve DeNeff - Acts 22:2-21; 2 Cor. 5:16-18. Salvation is often portrayed, in evangelical circles, as the acquiescence to a series of good beliefs – Jesus died, Jesus rose again – but the resurrection reminds us is that Easter is, at its core, about a personal encounter with One who is alive and active in this world. Saul (turned Paul) was one who came late for Easter, who was “abnormally born,” a...

Steve DeNeff - Matt. 27:57 -61; John 20:10 -18. Anyone who has attended a funeral knows how solemn, and sometimes devastating a moment that can be. So Mary has come to the garden to pay her respects and finds, to her amazement, that Jesus’ body is gone. There can only be one explanation: someone has stolen it. But this is no ordinary funeral. On Easter, things are not as they seem. This is a diffe...

Ethan Linder  - John 20:24-29. When we come to church, we often hear people saying (like the disciples did), “I have seen the Lord!” while others, like Thomas, find ourselves farther from belief than we wish. This can produce isolation, shame, and unworthiness that propels us from the community of faith. This sermon will work to unravel some of that shame and doubt while exploring what happens whe...

Rev. Steve DeNeff - Luke 22:24-34; 1 Peter 1:3-5. Most of us have too high, too ambitious an opinion of ourselves – “even if all the others fall away . . . I never will” (Matt. 26:33) – which makes failure doubly hard for us. But the living Christ has a very different view of us, both before and after we fail, so he is never surprised and he is never finished. In fact, he still prays for us. For a...

Steve DeNeff - John 11:17-27. For many, Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and the anticipation of our own someday. Like Martha, many of us have confined the resurrection to a day in the future when we will rise from the dead (John 11:23-24), and it is that as well. But the resurrection is a reality that we can live in now, for Jesus says, “I am the resurrection…” and he said it befo...

Steve DeNeff - John 13:18, 21-38. In the middle of his last meal with his disciples, Jesus predicts that one will betray him and another will deny him. He is right both times. We have all experienced the sting of betrayal or rejection, even from those closest to us. But in between these, Jesus offers a better way to respond: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Said, as it was, in...

Steve DeNeff - John 13:18, 21-38. In the middle of his last meal with his disciples, Jesus predicts that one will betray him and another will deny him. He is right both times. We have all experienced the sting of betrayal or rejection, even from those closest to us. But in between these, Jesus offers a better way to respond: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Said, as it was, in...

Rev. Eric Crisp - John 13:1-17. Just before the Passover, Jesus gathered his disciples for their last meal together. In this solemn act, found only in John’s gospel, he “got up from the table, took off his robe and wrapped a towel around his waist,” (NLT). Then, after washing their feet he said, “Do you understand what I have done for you . . . I have set you an example.” This example has to do, i...

Rev. Emily Vermilya - John 12:34-36. When the crowd protested Jesus’ promise that the Messiah would die (“be lifted up”), he encouraged them to follow and he warned them to remember that they would not always have the choice: “Walk in the light before darkness overtakes you.” After this, he hid himself. To many, this was an exchange between Jesus and his inquisitors. But what if it is more? What i...

Rev Steve DeNeff - John 12:27-33. As the Greeks appear, Jesus sees forward into his impending death and it is as though two roads appear, one called “Save me from this hour” and another called “Glorify your Name.” Jesus himself appears standing at the fork, where the roads diverge, and from here he says, “Now my heart is troubled and what shall I say?” There is, in every person’s life, at least on...