Coram Deo Church Sermons

Every human being understands the longing to be seen. As Curt Thompson says, “We are all born into this world looking for someone looking for us.” In this sermon, we explore Psalm 80 and its plea to God: "let your face shine that we may be saved." We discover how longing for God's face to shine upon us finds its perfect, saving resolution in the ultimate Shepherd and True Vine, Jesus Christ.

One of the biggest problems in the world is the problem of "us" versus "them". Our human tendency is to respond to injustice by seeking retribution against our enemies. In this sermon, we explore Psalm 79, written after enemies had destroyed Jerusalem. The Psalm shows us how shifting our gaze from “them” to “us” to "you, O God" empowers us to seek justice while also loving our enemies.

It's easy to present a curated version of our lives. We often go through the motions, aiming our devotion at worldly idols and missing the profound grace given to those who stop pretending. In this sermon, we explore Psalm 78 and how being ruthlessly realistic about our hearts and lives is the only way to experience the relentless mercy and transforming grace of God.

Every human being has troubles. And sometimes our troubles overwhelm us. We live in a culture that encourages us to turn inward and endlessly process our troubles, yet this self-focused rumination often distorts our theology and leaves us doubting God's goodness. In this sermon, we look at how Psalm 77 calls God’s people to shift their gaze from their own internal pain to God's steady faithfulness...

Whether we admit it or not, every human being is prone to fear. We often let the fear of what others think or of what we might lose shape our decisions and responses. In this sermon, we explore Psalm 76 and how cultivating a right fear of God is the only way to stop fearing everything else.

Whether it be graduation, tax day, or an important holiday, human beings intuitively understand what it means to live in light of a coming date on the calendar. In Psalm 75, God declares that he has appointed a day when he will judge with equity. In this sermon, we explore how living backward from the certainty of Judgment Day sets us free to walk in humility and hope.

Every human being wants a framework for a good life, often reducing faith to simply being a moral person, holding the right beliefs, or belonging to a community. But when our willpower fails or our doubts creep in, these superficial definitions leave us exhausted. The gospel subverts our striving by inviting us into a deeply personal union with Christ, where our old, corrupted self is crucified so...

Familiarity with Jesus is not the same thing as following Jesus. Human beings love what is familiar. But familiarity can lead to complacency and apathy. The people of Jesus' hometown missed the miraculous power of God because they couldn't see past the ordinary carpenter they grew up with. In this sermon, we examine three ways to reject Jesus and what it means to actually receive his gracious auth...

Every human being is a disciple or a learner, constantly shaped and trained by the culture around us — from the algorithms on our phones to the expectations of our family of origin or careers. True discipleship, however, requires actively submitting ourselves to the training of Jesus, allowing him to shape our understanding so we can bring out the treasure of his truth to a hungry world. In this s...

Being in the church is not the same thing as being in God's kingdom. Everyone sorts. Whether it’s laundry, your recycling, or the people you spend time with, most of us have a deep-rooted instinct to sort the things in our lives. Through the parable of the net, Jesus warns that this period of grace will eventually give way to a final sorting. In this sermon, we explore the importance of responding...

The kingdom of heaven is irresistible to those who find it. We all seek something — a career, a relationship, or status — that makes life's sacrifices feel worthwhile and brings us joy. But when we glimpse the incomparable value of Jesus, "selling everything" no longer feels like a sacrifice; it becomes irresistible. In this sermon, we examine the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of g...

Jesus invites us into a life of hopeful realism. To be human is to wrestle with the presence of evil in a world we wish were different. We often feel an urgent pressure to "fix" the world by taking matters into our own hands. Yet Jesus, through the parable of the wheat and weeds, offers a path of hopeful realism. In this sermon, we explore the nature of hopeful realism as the kingdom develops from...

A fruitful life comes from standing under the word of God. Every human is listening to someone or something. And how we listen to the word of God makes all the difference. In this sermon, we explore Jesus' famous Parable of the Sower, which shows what happens when the seed of the gospel lands on the soil of our hearts. In this parable, Jesus teaches that a fruitful life comes from standing under t...

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the ground of all Christian hope. Because Jesus conquered death, we will too — that's the conviction that has unified and strengthened Christians around the world and across the ages. In this Easter 2026 sermon, we examine what 1 Corinthians 15 reveals about the implications of Jesus' resurrection.

How should we relate to Jesus? Not by holding out or cleaning up, but by drawing near. Not everyone who knows ABOUT Jesus knows Jesus. It's possible to be religious, to know the Bible, to participate in church activities — and still remain outside God's family. In Matthew 12, religious leaders demand signs from Jesus, yet they miss what's right in front of them. In this sermon, we explore three di...

Neutrality is not an option. Neutrality about Jesus is impossible. Every human being wants to keep their options open, to stay uncommitted, to avoid making ultimate decisions. But in Matthew 12, Jesus heals a demon-possessed man and declares that whoever is not with him is against him. In this sermon, we explore the inescapable reality that because Jesus is King, neutrality is not an option — we m...

Coming to Jesus means repenting and resting. Freedom and authority seem like opposites, but they're not. We assume that submitting to a master means losing our freedom, yet the opposite is true. In this sermon, we explore how, because Jesus is Lord, we can live in freedom — not freedom to do whatever we want, but freedom from rules that crush and harshness that destroys.

Coming to Jesus means repenting and resting. Every human being is weary. We carry burdens we were never meant to bear: the weight of performance, the exhaustion of trying to prove ourselves, the endless striving for approval. In this sermon, we explore how Jesus offers rest to the weary — but receiving that rest requires repenting of our pride and trusting in him alone.

Jesus both subverts and fulfills our expectations. To be human is to have expectations about how we hope life to go. Even John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, has expectations about who Jesus is and what he should do. In this sermon, we explore how Jesus both subverts and fulfills our expectations, and why that is good news.

The essence of mission is putting Jesus first. Every human being longs to live with a sense of purpose or mission. But it can be easy to get caught up in strategies, methods, and outcomes while losing sight of the mission. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out his disciples with sobering warnings as he calls them to mission. In this sermon, we explore how the essence of mission is not success or safety,...

Christians are a going people. Every human being longs to be part of something bigger than themselves. In Matthew 9:35-10:15, Jesus looks at the crowds with compassion and sends his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom, thus calling them into a vast and compelling mission. In this sermon, we explore how God’s people are to be a "going" people, sent into the world to further Christ's cause.

Faith looks to Jesus when despair would be easy. We often think of faith as something we must work up or conjure within ourselves. But what if faith is actually a response to being pursued? In Matthew 9:27-34, we read about Jesus healing two blind men who persistently pursued Him, followed by the healing of a mute man who needed to be brought to Jesus by others. In this sermon, we explore the beau...

Faith looks to Jesus when despair would be easy. Every human being faces moments of despair. In Matthew 9:18-26, two people approach Jesus in despairing situations: a synagogue leader whose daughter has died and a woman who has suffered for twelve years. In this sermon, we explore how faith looks to Jesus even when despair would be easy.

Jesus has come to set people free. Many people think following Jesus means adding more rules, more obligations, more religious performance to an already exhausting life. In this sermon, we explore how Jesus doesn't patch up our religious systems; he offers us something entirely new: freedom from sin, separatism, and scrupulosity.

What you need in your life is not less authority, but good authority. We live in an age that's deeply suspicious of authority. Yet every human being lives under authority of some kind; whether it's our own desires, cultural pressures, or destructive forces beyond our control. In this sermon, we explore the truth that what we need is not less authority in our lives, but good authority — and Jesus i...