Faith Speaks — Reverend Neil Taylor — Sermon Podcast

Read Luke 2:15-20 Christmas Day (Year A) A couple of Christmases ago, as a family, we vacationed in New York City the week before Christmas Eve. Up on 5th Avenue, right by the Rockefeller Center, there was a life-size Nativity Scene. As expected, it offers all the usual characters; however, if you looked closely, you could see that baby Jesus was chained and bolted to the ground, ensuring that no...

Read Luke 2:1-20 Christmas Eve (Year A) Luke’s literary masterpiece is “the Christmas Gospel”; even secular minds and hearts far from God are moved by its message. The imagery of families gathering the candlelight and carols all reach into lives troubled with pain and despair and offer the incredible promise of hope to people who may show up only once a year. How can this promise be trusted in a w...

Read Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:22-23 Fourth Sunday in Advent (Year A) “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Augustine of Hippo There is a great yearning inside every person to know God. From the very beginning, we were made to know God, and there is something in us that wants to know our Creator. We yearn to know that God has broken through into...

Read Isaiah 11:1-10 & Matthew 3:1-12 Second Sunday in Advent (Year A) Advent is a significant season. The Sundays in Advent become a microcosm of all of our Sundays — and, indeed, all of our days. The microcosm of Advent gives us opportunities to discern God’s call; to where we have left the path and to turn once again toward God’s vision.

Read Matthew 24:29-35 First Sunday in Advent (Year A) The most significant event in Bible prophecy is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It’s an event so significant that there are over 300 separate prophecies about it in the Word of God, making it one of the most crucial doctrines in the Bible: the key that unlocks the door to the future. No Christian can be considered to have a complete faith wi...

Read Luke 21:5-19 Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost (Year C) The big question from our gospel story is found in v. 16: Is it right to take risks for God's cause? It may not be right to risk much for personal prosperity or public prestige. Not every risk for God's cause is necessarily right, either. Jesus refused to jump off the temple, and Paul snuck out of Damascus in a basket to escape the gov...

Read Luke 20:27-40 Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost (Year C) Let me have a show of hands. Has anyone ever met a Sadducee? No? Me either And that’s not surprising considering that the last one died 2000 years ago. And even back then, there were never very many of them. It was always a very exclusive group akin to a club for the super wealthy. If you lived in Jericho, you were much more likely t...

Read Luke 19:1-10 Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost (Year C) Our text states that when Jesus visited Zacchaeus' house and Zacchaeus said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham." In that moment, Zacchaeus shows grea...

Read Luke 18:1-8 Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Year C) Many of the prayers we pray should not be answered because they are so shallow. If God answered every prayer the first time we prayed, we would quickly become complacent in our faith. And so, because God conditions His answers on our persistence, we realize how helpless we are and how totally dependent we are on Him for everything.

Read Luke 17:7-10 Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (Year C) Surrender to the Savior. The first step is to ensure that you are saved and surrendered. After you surrender, you will want to serve Him, not because you have to, but because you get to. You will live as a servant because you love Jesus as your Savior. Let’s make sure our time, talents, and treasures are at the disposal of the Master. C...

Worship Read Habukkuk 3:1-19 Join me for the third of a three-part sermon series on the Book of Habakkuk, a profound exploration of faith in the face of uncertainty. In our modern world, we often grapple with the same questions that Habakkuk faced—questions about justice, suffering, and the apparent silence of God in times of trouble. As we delve into this prophetic text, we will uncover how Habak...

Waiting Read Habukkuk 2:1-20 Join me for the second of a three-part sermon series on the Book of Habakkuk, a profound exploration of faith in the face of uncertainty. In our modern world, we often grapple with the same questions that Habakkuk faced—questions about justice, suffering, and the apparent silence of God in times of trouble. As we delve into this prophetic text, we will uncover how Haba...

Wondering Read Habukkuk 1:1-17 Join me for the first of a three-part sermon series on the Book of Habakkuk, a profound exploration of faith in the face of uncertainty. In our modern world, we often grapple with the same questions that Habakkuk faced—questions about justice, suffering, and the apparent silence of God in times of trouble. As we delve into this prophetic text, we will uncover how Hab...

Read John 3:30 The Journey Join me for the second part of a transformative two-part sermon series called "Forgetting You," based on the powerful truth of John 3:30: "He must become greater; I must become less” (NIV). In a world that often pressures us to focus on our desires, ambitions, and identities, we will explore the freeing journey of surrendering ourselves to God’s greater purpose. Together...

Read John 3:30 Second Place Join me for the first part of a transformative two-part sermon series called "Forgetting You," based on the powerful truth of John 3:30: "He must become greater; I must become less” (NIV). In a world that often pressures us to focus on our desires, ambitions, and identities, we will explore the freeing journey of surrendering ourselves to God’s greater purpose. Together...

Read Jude 1:1-25 How Should We Live In An Apostate World? “An Apostolic Postcard” is a unique four-week sermon series that explores the four smallest letters of the New Testament, which are essentially postcards: Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. These brief epistles, though short, are brimming with powerful messages of faith, love, and discernment that can profoundly impact and transform our li...

Read 3 John 1:1-14 A Story of Three Men “An Apostolic Postcard” is a unique four-week sermon series that explores the four smallest letters of the New Testament, which are essentially postcards: Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. These brief epistles, though short, are brimming with powerful messages of faith, love, and discernment that can profoundly impact and transform our lives today.   I inv...

Read 2 John 1:1-13 Balancing Truth and Love “An Apostolic Postcard” is a unique four-week sermon series that explores the four smallest letters of the New Testament, which are essentially postcards: Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. These brief epistles, though short, are brimming with powerful messages of faith, love, and discernment that can profoundly impact and transform our lives today.   I...

Read Philemon 1:1-25 “An Apostolic Postcard” is a unique four-week sermon series that explores the four smallest letters of the New Testament, which are essentially postcards: Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. These brief epistles, though short, are brimming with powerful messages of faith, love, and discernment that can profoundly impact and transform our lives today.   I invite you to join me...

Read John 17:20-26 The Sunday After Ascension — A Greater Glory Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus has been stiff-arming human popularity. Up until now, he hadn’t been ready to go big, but now he is. The moment has come for God to be glorified in Christ, Jesus’ relatively localized Palestinian ministry is about to step onto a cosmic stage through the Cross.

The Ascension is a central pillar of Christian doctrine, affirming Jesus' divinity and his role as Lord and Christ. The Ascension is also linked to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And so, we are in that time now between Ascension and Pentecost. The 10-day period we call Ascensiontide. For 10 days, God's people prayed for the promise of the Holy Spirit to come. For ten days, Jesus' disc...

Read John 14:21-31 The Sixth Sunday of Easter One of the most wonderful and sweetest things in the Bible is that just hours before Jesus' crucifixion, he was concerned for his followers' peace, joy, and faith. Think of it, He is about to be tortured to death with one of the most horrific means of torture ever devised, and his burden was to reinforce in the souls of his followers peace, joy, and fa...

Read John 13:31-35 The Fifth Sunday of Easter Sometimes, the most familiar passages in the Bible are the most challenging to preach. This Sunday’s gospel reading is a great example. It contains Jesus’ famous “love command.” It is one of the better-known passages in the Bible, and for that very reason, it is challenging. The passage is so familiar that most assume they know it before hearing it. Mo...

Read John 10:22-30 Fourth Sunday of Easter For the two and a bit years of the COVID-19 pandemic, I averaged roughly one funeral a month, sometimes two. I regret that experience because the congregation could not share in that ministry with me. Because I know that even today, some of you would not live the way you do if once a month you had to spend three or four hours writing a funeral meditation...

Read John 21:1-14 The Third Sunday of Easter Fishing, Breakfast, and the Care of Christ John 21:1-14 is a lot like a seven-layer bean dip because, on the surface, we have a very straightforward story: some disciples go out to fish; however, they don’t catch anything during the night. Then Jesus tells them where to find fish, and they make an enormous catch, and then they eat breakfast on the beach...