First Pres Colorado Springs Sermons

Depression, like anxiety, can be a serious mental and emotional disorder. It can be a cause to reach out for help and bring a professional into your life. If you are looking for help, we have a Counselors Coalition. Remember when you are sad, or even if you are walking through a long season of depression, coming to terms with your emotional health as a part of your life that doesn’t sit right all...

Sometimes smart people do dumb things; wise people do foolish things; good people do bad things; godly people do sinful things. The older I get, the more tempted I am to think that God may just be done with me. Will God really forgive me AGAIN? When you fail and fall into sin, it is time to turn toward God, not away from God. You need humility and forgiveness, not shame and guilt. God will forgive...

I do love that phrase, “an ever-present help.” What does it mean to be ever-present? That’s more than just present. Can I believe that God is ever-present to me in my life? In times of joy and laughter, God is there. In times of distress, God is there. When I’m thriving, God is present. When I’m active in sin, God is even there. Sometimes we fall fearful. Sometimes we burn with anxiousness or even...

When you get a bad deal, or something comes out in your life unfair, it can turn your heart away from God. Why would God let this happen to me? Doesn’t God care that I am being treated this way? The Psalms are the prayerbook of the Bible, and in many ways a wonderful guide to the range of emotions we experience in life, and in our life with God. Psalm 73 is a guide for us. How can we navigate thos...

Walking With Jesus begins when you put your faith in Him and believe. It doesn’t just change your mental landscape. Belief in Jesus is not just one more idea to add into your conception of the world around you and the life you lead. Putting your faith in Jesus is the opening of a door and walking through, a commitment of your whole life into His hands, a stepping out on the water from the boat. Th...

Have you ever had the experience of showing a friend around town who comes from another place? All of a sudden, you see everything through his or her eyes. It all seems new and fresh! Walking with Jesus has a way of making all things new. The light of Jesus shines on all we see. Embrace the newness of life by Walking with Jesus. Speaker: John Goodale

There seems to be so much power in those words, “Follow me,” from Jesus. Never does it read, “So the person said to Jesus, ‘OK, I’ll think about it. I’ll get back to you.’” No. It is always just as it is for Matthew here. So he got up and followed Him. Matthew was leaving a lot behind. It was a radical and transforming decision to stand up, walk away from his past, and begin walking with Jesus. An...

Who has the authority to forgive? A judge can expunge your record. A principal may be able to erase your demerits. Usually, the person you wronged has to offer and provide forgiveness if you want to be forgiven. Who can forgive sin against God? Only God. In this moment, Jesus claims the authority to forgive sins. The man had a problem with his physical body. Jesus gave him the ability to walk. But...

Know that God is our Savior (v 35). How? In Jesus Christ. Jesus has come near to save. Jesus has delivered us among the nations. Keep the fires alive. Keep the honor and reverence and worship alive. Let’s be serious about our salvation. Let’s be serious about our relationship with God. Jesus gave His life to save us. Honor the Lord. Fear the Lord. Worship the Lord. Jesus is our Savior. What is you...

God is worthy of praise. It is right to give Him thanks and praise. It is good for you to worship the Lord and to take pause to remember all that God has done for you. Remember His covenants. Remember the answered prayers. Remember how God has moved from generation to generation. We sing and celebrate the faithfulness of God today in our moms, kids, grandkids, graduates and more. Lift God higher a...

Is it really necessary to spend so much? Is it really appropriate to make such a big deal of worship? Is it worth the cost of bread, cakes and dates for every citizen? David is extravagant in celebration of the Lord. In fact, David lets his passion go and dances in the street before the ark in the presence of the Lord. His wife didn’t like it. But David told her, “I will become even more undignifi...

It wasn’t a problem of making too much of God; it was a problem of being too familiar with God. When I was a child, God seemed very distant and frightening. I was relieved by Jesus’ teaching to pray to God as Abba, Father. I was relieved to see how Jesus wants to call us friends (John 15:15) and wants to walk intimately with us. But have we lost something of the reverence? Not a distant fear of an...

This is one of the stranger moments in the Scriptures. What was so wrong with trying to steady the ark and keep it from falling? Did this man really need to lose his life for this error? Nevertheless, this is how the life of Uzzah came to a sudden end. Lives end suddenly in all kinds of ways, and those of us watching should try to learn what we can in our confusion and grief. David did learn. He w...

The high priest, Caiaphas, had no idea what he was truly saying. John points out the irony in John 18:14. But the truth of it remains. Jesus, one man, has died for the many. Jesus has paid the ransom price to bring the disobedient nation, the people of God, into eternal life in God’s Kingdom. On this Sunday after Easter, we celebrate that eternal life is welling up within us if we have faith in Je...

This is the story of Lazarus. Before Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, He called His friend Lazarus out of the tomb and back from the dead. Lazarus came out with his graveclothes still on. Jesus commanded those around him to unbind him and let him free. Jesus has granted us new life; we act as though we are still dead. Jesus has gained us forgiveness; we act as though we are still condem...

Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday humbly riding a donkey. But His presence turned a walk through a gate into a parade into the city of God. The people could see something of His glory, enough to make them sing and shout. How do you see the glory of God? It will remain hidden to you until you believe. We want to see in order to believe, but some things you have to believe in order to see. Je...

Why? If only. When we are hit with unexpected tragedy and loss, we ask why. No matter how much you expect it, the loss of a loved one leaves a great hole and causes us to ask why. It is OK to express our disappointment and pain with God. If only you, God, would have cured the cancer, stopped that drunk driver, turned the heart of my wayward child… But God didn’t. Mary, so close to Jesus in Luke 10...

This is an “I Am” statement of Jesus. One of the seven “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John, and one of the most powerful! There is no use pretending that Jesus never claimed to be God. “I Am” is the name YAHWEH (cf. Exodus 3:14). And who is Jesus? Jesus is the resurrection. The promise of life after death and the restoration of all things all hang on the person of Jesus. Jesus is the life. Ete...

We are so often bound by fear of what may happen to us in the worst case. The disciples were scared that the enemies of Jesus would capture Him. Jesus responds that His day is not done; He has a full "day" of work to do and it will not come to an end until his "hour" is come to be lifted up and draw all people to Himself (cf. Jn 12:32). Jesus is at peace walking in the light. C...

Lazarus was sick, and would die. But Jesus says his illness would not end in death ultimately. He knew He had the power to raise Lazarus up again. But there is a sickness that leads to death. Sin. We are all subject to it. It binds us and captures us. How can a kept person be made free? Speaker: Tim McConnell

We do not rejoice in ourselves, or in our position, or in our capabilities, or in our good fortune. We rejoice in the Lord always. If you believe in Christ, then you are “in Christ.” In union with Christ, we rise. Our lives are not our own. We belong to Christ and we receive His eternal life as we rise in Him. Take Joy. Wherever you are and whatever you are suffering, from there you can, in Christ...

It is easier to move through struggle and trial when you know there is an end on the horizon. Paul knows there is an upward call in his life. He knows that Christ has won a place for him in heaven, in the eternal kingdom. It is an upward call—not so much because it exists up in the clouds as that it lifts our heads. Jesus ascended; we will too. Forward into God’s eternal world-put-right. That give...

Friendship helps us find joy in the midst of sadness and trials. Friendship is no small thing. Paul names two friends, Timothy (“I have no one else like him.”) and Epaphroditus. Paul finds relief in thinking of these friends in his suffering. He is blessed by their presence and shares in relationship with the community through them even when he is himself imprisoned and separated. Take joy in frie...