Emmaus Road Church | Fort Collins, Colorado

Sermon Scripture: Luke 2:1-20 The truth that we celebrate in Christmas is that the light of the world has come. Jesus Christ, our messiah, our savior is born. This is why candle light is so important at Christmas. These lights proclaim the THE light has come.

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25 For most of us, love has become whatever makes us happy in the moment, whatever we enjoy most, whatever we want more of in our lives. But, the love that entered the world in Bethlehem bears little resemblance to our casual affections or our Hallmark expectations. The love of God is a challenging thing to wrap our minds around and it becomes the spiritual work that...

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12 When we think of peace, or keeping the peace, we think of maintaining civility, not rocking the boat. But if we're honest, this peace feels less like shalom and more like a ceasefire, a fragile truce held together by what we're all agreeing not to say. This week, as we light the candle of peace, we're going to discover that God's Peaceable Kingdom w...

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79; Colossians 1:11-20  When the early church began shaping how this season of Advent is observed, they weren't preparing for opening presents in a few weeks, they were reorienting themselves to welcome the long anticipated kingdom the Messiah had demonstrated and promised was coming again soon! We are people of memory and people of future hope, standing in the pres...

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79; Colossians 1:11-20  We all know the anxiety of a sleepless night that seems to have no end. We rehearse over and over the relief we will feel when the long dark finally comes to an end. Perhaps we will even lift our voices up in praise just as the prophet Zechariah did after nine months of silence. Today, as we observe Christ our King Sunday and hang these greens, w...

Sermon Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25 In 1956, C.S. Lewis wrote one of the most vivid, joyful, achingly beautiful descriptions of heaven ever put to paper. In post-war England it immediately resonated  with so many readers eager for a new prophetic imagination.  We see similar visionary work throughout scripture, perhaps nowhere more clearly than in the book of Isaiah. In chapter 65 the prophet is art...

Sermon Scripture: Luke 20:27-38 In today's scripture, a group of religious elites approached Jesus with what seemed like a theological puzzle, but everyone could tell the question was a trap. They weren't seekers of wisdom. They weren't students eager to learn. They were hunters, and Jesus was the prey. But Jesus took their carefully constructed snare and turned it into a door. A door...

Sermon Scripture: Luke 19:1-10 We have climbed ladders of success, accumulated achievements, built platforms, only to find ourselves perched somewhere high and isolated, straining to see something real, something that makes us feel less alone. In spite of our striving, we are not finding the satisfaction our souls long for. We hunger for restoration to the peace we all want but cannot seem to gras...

Sermon Scripture: 2 Timothy 4 Have you ever read a letter written by a departed loved one? Their memories come flooding back, and suddenly the paper and ink feel sacred, more than just words on a page. Their voice seems to reach across time, alive again in the words they left behind. That is what reading 2 Timothy 4 feels like. Today, as we honor those who have guided and shaped us, it feels right...

Sermon Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 How often, when we open Scripture, do we feel like we’re just wandering through empty ruins? We explore a landscape that feels old and strange, collections of odd stories, confusing poetry, and names that feel like tongue twisters.  But then, somewhere in the midst of that apparent ruin, we catch movement and light beneath the surface. We sense a presence and s...

Sermon Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:1-15 Sometimes we just want to feel sorry for ourselves. Our circumstances are hard, we didn’t get the promotion, another unexpected bill, someone treats us badly, or we are just really dreading doing the thing we know we should be doing. The books of 1st and 2nd Timothy are chocked full of encouraging pep talks aimed precisely at those of us who feel this kind of wei...

Sermon Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-14 This Sunday we reflect on God’s call to live with confidence and courage in the gifts He has entrusted to us. Instead of a traditional sermon, our service will weave together scripture reading, reflection, testimony, and prayer—inviting each of us to see how God’s Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline is at work in our lives. Join us for a time of worship th...

Sermon Scripture: 1 Timothy 4 We live in a world where ideas and beliefs are valuable commodities and our loyalties and attention are being pulled in many directions.  In 1st Timothy chapter 4, Paul urges Timothy—and us—to discern carefully when we are being pulled in directions that do not align with Christ. Additionally we are encouraged to train ourselves in faithfulness to the life and teachin...

Sermon Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 There is no question that the cultural, political, and spiritual environment in which we currently live is tense and complicated, and speaking directly into this angst, scripture provides a frustratingly simple solution. It gives us a method, an action, a prescription that not only leads to common peace, but produces lives that are marked by quiet godliness and di...

Sermon Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 This Sunday we begin a new series called Great Hope from 1 & 2 Timothy. In his first letter, Paul writes to his younger friend and ministry partner, reminding him that God’s mercy is greater than failure, and His Kingdom is built on trust. Paul himself was once “the worst of sinners,” yet Christ entrusted him with the gospel, overcame his past, and turned hi...

Sermon Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 John Wimber once said that Faith is spelled R-I-S-K, and nowhere is that more true than in our finances. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul reminds us that generosity isn’t a matter of waiting until life feels secure, but of planting the seeds we already hold in our hands.  This week we explore the practical side of giving: when to begin, where to give, and how much ....

Sermon Scripture: Luke 12:13-34 Jesus warns that bigger barns and fuller accounts cannot save us, because what we keep we eventually lose, and what we freely give away is what we end up keeping.  Today we’ll remind ourselves of the freedom that comes by living generously. Then we will learn about how the early church lived this out and ask ourselves how our own daily practices of generosity can le...

Sermon Scripture: Luke 12:35-48 In Luke 12, Jesus reminds us that all we have belongs to God. This week we’ll explore what it means to live not as owners but as caretakers—entrusted with God’s abundance to do good and to bless others. Stewardship is a way of life that teaches us to breathe in God’s generosity and breathe out blessing.

Sermon Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-11, 17-19 When we live generously through our giving, we participate in God’s very nature of abundance, life, and joy. Today, we turn to the next theme in Jesus’ teaching on generosity where we are warned to guard our hearts against greed.  We live in the most affluent generation in human history, yet so many of us are wracked by fear, worry, greed, and unsatisfied...

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24 As Americans, we live in a nation that was founded on three ideals: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—and yet, ironically we are one of the unhappiest nations in the world. It turns out that many of the things that we think will make us happy, actually don’t. And “the good life” we’re all searching for is often found in the places we least expect. Acts 2...

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 27:45-46, Psalm 22 We often think of memorizing scripture as something we did in Sunday School as a kid. Something we have outgrown. But what if memorization isn’t something you grow out of, it’s something you grow into.  When we hide the words of Scripture in our hearts we carry them with us in a way that allows them to become breath in our lungs, strength in suffering,...

Sermon Scripture: Luke 4:1-13 This week, we’ll explore what it means to truly study the Bible—and why it can sometimes leave us feeling unsettled. While Scripture can be sweet and comforting, it can also challenge us deeply, especially when it's misused or misunderstood. We'll reflect on Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, where both he and the devil quote Scripture—but with very differen...

Sermon Scripture: Joshua 1:7–8, Psalm 1:1–3, Revelation 10:8–10, Luke 24 We live in a world bursting with information, yet we are growing less and less literate in the deeper sense—not in our ability to decode words, but in our ability (or willingness) to sit patiently with them. We are spending less and less time receiving from the written word and allowing it to shape us. This week, we turn to t...

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 5:17-19 The Bible is complicated. It is quoted in wedding vows or wielded in political battles, stitched into funeral prayers or painted onto protest signs. Its stories have enchanted us and challenged us. It has been our answer book for life, our defense in culture wars, and if we’re honest, our stumbling block due to some of its more confusing passages. Over the next fo...

Sermon Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1–14 Naaman was a powerful commander, but no amount of fame could cure the illness he carried. His healing didn’t begin with a wondrous sign—it began in the intimacy of community with the small voice of a servant girl. This Sunday, we’ll explore how God’s faithfulness often shows up through unexpected people and shared connections. In a world that prizes independence, t...