GracePoint Sermons

The Apostle John gives us a project in today’s passage: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” The last part of 1 John 1 spelled out a hard truth about sin – human beings have a sin-problem that cannot be ignored or denied. Now in the first part of cp. 2, John tells us what to do about it. In addition to confessing it and receiving forgiveness (1 John 1:9),...

There are a lot of ideas out there about sin. Some deny it. Some hide it. Some even claim sin doesn’t exist. But what’s the truth about sin? What should we actually believe? This sermon sets out to answer this question by working through 1 John 1:5-10. These verses assert that our view of sin doesn’t begin with humans or society, but rather with God’s own character. He is the One who defines what...

“We are writing these things,” John says, “so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:4). That statement gives us a clear look at the purpose of First John as we begin a twelve week study through this letter. In this first sermon, we cover some basic background information about First John. We then consider the three most important themes of this letter, and finish up with a quick explanation of t...

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man” Blaise Pascal famously wrote, “which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.” Jesus Himself says pretty much the same thing in John cp. 6. John 6 may be one of the most theologically dense chapters in the gospels, but its core message is a simple one: Jesus is the only one who can...

“The light shines in the darkness,” it says in John 1:5, “and the darkness has not overcome it.” In this post-Christmas sermon, we explore what this means for us as we confront the darkness of fear. Our courage comes in knowing that the One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas is the same Savior who is with us in the storms.   

In one of Jesus’ earliest sermons, He announced that God had sent Him to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and release for the oppressed (Luke 4:18). That is the fourth “reason for the season” we're going to consider in this Advent series. Hebrews 2:14-18 shows that Jesus was born not only to destroy the power of the devil, but also to deliver all those who are held captive by the power of sin.

Understandably, most people don’t like to think about the devil at Christmas. We would much rather celebrate the Prince of Peace than dwell on the Prince of Darkness. But according to the Bible, one of the main reasons Jesus was born was directly connected to the devil. This sermon focuses on what that reason is and why it matters to us today.

Most people appreciate a good rescue story. There’s nothing quite as heart-warming as a story about a hopelessly lost person who gets rescued from danger. In this Advent series, we are answering the question, “Why was Jesus born?” In this second sermon in the series, we learn that the birth of Jesus was a Divine Rescue Mission in which the God of Creation came to earth to save spiritually lost peo...

We like to remind ourselves this time of year that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” And indeed He is! This Christmas, we are digging a little deeper into what that means by exploring the reasons Jesus was born according to the New Testament. In this first sermon in the series, we explore what Jesus meant when He told Pontius Pilate that He was born to bear witness to the truth.

The best stories are the ones where the heroes finish the journey. No one wants to read a book where the main characters give up half way through and go home! We want the heroes to make it all the way to the end. We are going to talk about how to do that in this last Ephesians sermon by focusing on the closing words of the letter. In the last four verses, we discover two resources that we have to...

As we get close to the end of Ephesians, a question surfaces in our minds. The question is, Where do we go from here? We've learned that God wants us to live in a manner that is worthy of our calling. But how do we do it? Where are we going to get the strength to live the way Jesus calls us to live? The answer in Ephesians 6:10-20 is that we need to suit up in God’s armor and stand strong in God’s...

Work and home… home and work. The two are closely connected for many people, especially these days. Perhaps that’s why Paul moves from the marriage relationship in Eph. 5:22-33 to a discussion of work and home in Eph 6:1-9. This sermon focuses on how to walk in a worthy manner before the Lord in the important areas of work-life and home-life by examining how God wants children, parents, workers, a...

Over the years, many a love song has been composed in answer to the question, “What would you do for love?” Ephesians 5:21-33 answers that question by directing our attention to the life-giving music of humility. In this sermon, we focus on the role of humility in a Christian marriage and explore what humility looks like for wives, for husbands, and for both.

The second half of Ephesians focuses a lot on how we walk: Now that Jesus has saved us  from spiritual death, God wants us to make every step count for Jesus in this life. That’s why we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Eph 4:1) by walking not as the world walks (Eph 4:17) but rather walking in love (Eph 5:2) and walking as children of light (Eph 5:8). Now in this sermon’s passag...

Do you consider yourself to have good “fashion sense”? How about your spiritual fashion sense? How’s that?? That’s the focus of the next passage in our Ephesians study. In Ephesians 4:25-32, Paul expands on the clothing metaphor from vv. 17-24 to show what it looks like in practice to “put on the new self” (vs. 24).

Fashion-conscious people like to say that “the clothes make the man.” But according to Ephesians 4:17-24, it would be more accurate to say that the man makes the clothes. In this next Ephesians passage, we learn that the inner transformation that takes place when we are born again necessarily leads to an outer transformation in the way we live. Those who have been inwardly transformed by Jesus Chr...

What should the church be doing to help people grow in spiritual maturity? That’s the question we tackle in this sermon from Ephesians 4:7-16. In this passage, the Apostle Paul takes us through the process and the product of spiritual maturity. We will consider both in turn and apply them to the contemporary church.

The second half of the Epistle to the Ephesians begins with a command to “make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3 NLT). Given some of the things the Apostle Paul wrote about the work of Christ in chapters 1-3, this is no surprise. In this sermon, we begin our study of what it means to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1). As...

Welcome to GracePoint Church! On September 12, 2021, the Atlantic Evangelical Free Church launched the public face of our new name. In this inaugural GracePoint sermon, Pastor Don walks us through the Five Core Values of our church by examining the first local church, the congregation of Jerusalem in Acts 2:42-47.

The book of Proverbs makes it clear that God cares about how we work. Whether it’s a warning to slackers (18:9), a promise of reward (22:29), or advice on ordering priorities (24:27), the Lord takes a personal interest in how we do what we do in the workplace. In this Labor Day weekend sermon, we focus on two ways the Lord wants us to approach the work that we do.

“How should we live when we live in times like these?” We’ve been asking that question of the book of Zephaniah in this four part sermon series. In this last sermon in the series, we focus on the role of God’s promises. The answer Zephaniah gives us in his final words is that we should celebrate and rest in the promises of God.

Sometimes following Jesus feels like cheering for the visiting team in the home stadium: No matter how polite you try to be, it is obvious to everyone you don’t belong there. That’s how it is for Christians. With every passing day, it becomes increasingly obvious that followers of Jesus are different from the rest of the crowd. In this sermon, we explore the Biblical principle of the faithful remn...

The world is filled with injustices great and small; that much is given. The question for Christians is, What do we do about them? It seems clear from the Bible that followers of Jesus have a responsibility to right the wrongs in our own sphere of influence; as it says in James 2:26, “faith without works is dead.” But what about the injustices that are beyond our control? The ones that we can’t do...