Heritage Sermons

1 Peter 5:8-11 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Peter is not wrong. The devil is real and he is a real threat. In fact, he is the threat behind every other threat. Peter has told us how to treat our enemies here, with gentleness and respect. But that is not what we owe to the invisible Enemy behind all unofficial and official persecution of Christians. When it comes to the devil, we are not respectfu...

1 Peter 4:19 | Annual Pulpit Swap | Brad Baugham "Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me” (John 16:32). As John wrote these words as an eyewitness some decades later, the scene would playback for him like a final recorded voicemail from long ago. It’s a haunting message...

John 16:28-33 | Annual Pulpit-Swap | Brad Baugham "Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me” (John 16:32). As John wrote these words as an eyewitness some decades later, the scene would playback for him like a final recorded voicemail from long ago. It’s a haunting messag...

1 Peter 4:19 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Suffering. Slandered. Insulted. Maligned. Tested. These are some of the words which Peter uses to describe the life of one chosen by God who is living on this earth. We’re not home, and we feel it. Our time on our pilgrimage is not comfortable, and our response to these trials is far from easy. But the apostle offers us grace for the road and peace for ou...

1 Peter 5:6-7 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Peter knows his readers well. Because he knows himself well. That's why he turns now to the matter of anxiety. Or, rather, anxieties. In a simple sentence he tells us where to go and what to do with all of our anxieties, every single one. This is not a set of instructions we were expecting. But it is exactly what we need to hear right now and until we ar...

Revelation 21:1-8 | New Years 2022 | Drew Hunter The story of the Bible tells us the true story of our world. It's the story of God's unfolding plan to bring his people out of their exile from his presence and into the joy of his everlasting presence. In this sermon we bring our series, Out of Our Lonely Exile, to a close and turn our attention to our true and final home. Listen in as guest preach...

Matthew 2:13-15 | Christmas 2021 | Trent Hunter We've heard that Jesus' coming fulfilled prophecy. But have you ever read one of these fulfillments and wondered if the Bible wasn't a little too generous in making these connections. Even worse, that the Bible merely claimed Jesus fulfilled prophecy but in many cases it's just fanciful thinking. In this sermon we come to the hardest passage in the N...

Isaiah 52:13-53:1-12 | Christmas 2021 | Abe Stratton How will God bring His people home? That’s the question of this sermon as we continue our series Out of Our Lonely Exile. Christmas is approaching. Excitement is building. However, as Christmas heightens our joy and anticipation, it also deepens our sense of loss and longing. Ever since God evicted our first parents from the garden because of th...

Genesis 11:1-9; 12:1-9 | Christmas 2021 | Trent Hunter To be in exile means that you are not in the place you most long to be: home. In this week’s sermon, we answer this question: How do exiles get home? Our text shows us that there is only one way home; and as we will see, it has everything to do with Christmas.

Genesis 3 | Christmas 2021 | Trent Hunter We are all lonely exiles here. Part of what it means to become a Christian is to understand this simple truth. This world for all of its wonder and beauty is ultimately a corrupted place because we are a corrupted race. With this sermon we begin a five-part series, Out of Our Loney Exile, a title that takes its cue from the song, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel....

1 Peter 4:12-19 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Peter is not unsympathetic with his readers' troubles. He calls these troubles, "fiery trials." Insults for Christ's name are painful. It is a grievous thing to lose standing in the community for Christ. But these are no surprise and they are no reason for shame. Rather, they are a reason for rejoicing and giving God glory. Easier said than done. So, h...

1 Peter 4:7-11 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter The end times scare many of us. Not even because we're afraid of what may happen, but because we're afraid of topics that are confusing or known for conflict. That's not at all what Peter has in mind for us when he begins our passage, "The end of all things is at hand" (1Pet. 4:7). Those words are supposed to fill us with encouragement and energy for th...

1 Peter 4:1-6 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Peter has encouraged us greatly. But that doesn't mean we have an easy road ahead. There is a kind of encouragement that says, "Hey, everything is going to be alright." And the there is the kind of encouragement that says, "Hey, everything is going to be alright, so get in there and fight." Peter has been encouraging us, in part, so that he can call us t...

1 Peter 3:8-22 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter In this sermon we come to a dreaded passage. This is a passage that calls us not to return evil for evil but to bless those who persecute us instead. This sounds perfectly like something the Bible should say to us, but this is no easy command to obey when it's our turn. What do we need when our government, our bosses, and our spouses are evil toward us?...

1 Peter 3:7 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter In our previous sermon we considered Peter's words to wives, to submit to their husbands as holy women who hope in God. In this sermon we consider Peter's words to husbands to live with their wives according to knowledge and to honor their wives as the weaker vessel. What on earth does that mean? Whatever it means, Peter didn't feel like he had to explain....

1 Peter 3:1-6 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Our great and merciful God has shown us mercy and he extends his mercy to others through our good deeds. This is certainly true in the most intimate of our relationships: marriage. But what about those instances where a woman is converted but her husband is not? It is in these marriages where the Lord is often pleased to show the greatness of his mercy t...

1 Peter 2:18-25 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter We are now several sermons into the body of Peter's letter and the meat of his instruction to believers. This week we consider what it means to do good in the sphere of vocation, especially under difficult authorities. The first century context was quite different from our own, owing to the secondary effects of the gospel manifest in how workers are tr...

1 Peter 2:13-17 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter We are now several sermons into the body of Peter's letter and the meat of his instruction to believers. This week we consider what it means to do good in the sphere of vocation, especially under difficult authorities. The first century context was quite different from our own, owing to the secondary effects of the gospel manifest in how workers are tr...

1 Peter 2:11-12 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter If you've ever been in a foreign country, you know the feeling of being out of place. As strange as the people and their customs may have been to you, you were just as strange to them. This experience of foreignness provides a helpful analogy to us as we seek to live faithfully as Christians in a world that is not our home. In this sermon we enter the...

1 Peter 2:4-10 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter We come this week to a controversial topic, God's sovereign choice of his people. But Peter doesn't seem to think this truth is a problem. In fact, he seems to assume that the message of God's choosing is a comfort for his readers. For Peter's first readers, rejected and attacked, indeed it was good news to know that as far as heaven was concerned they...

1 Peter 1:22-2:3 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter After overwhelming us with a declaration of our hope, Peter moved last week to his first of two exhortations, an exhortation to personal holiness. This week we move from the personal to the corporate with an exhortation to sincere and brotherly love. Here in this command is the heart of the church. What is it, where do we get the capacity for it, and...

1 Peter 1:13-21 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter In this week's sermon we move from the initial declarations of the letter to exhortations. Peter has filled us up with a living hope. Now he calls us to live by and according to that hope. In short, he calls us to be holy as God is holy. Holiness is on hard times. Some get excited about a sermon on holiness because of what they think everyone else need...

1 Peter 1:10-12 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter Elect exiles need to hear about this glorious future, make sense of their difficult present, and rejoice in the privilege delivered to them by a glorious past. It's that third area—the past—to which Peter sets our attention this week, with the hope of stirring our affections for God and his praise in the midst of our various trails. The gospel is a thi...

1 Peter 1:3-5 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter In this text, Peter moves from speaking about our future to our present, from future glory to our present grief. But our present griefs, so we will learn, are not merely something to bear up through but to rejoice in. We can rejoice in our trials because they purify our faith.

1 Peter 1:3-5 | Elect Exiles | Trent Hunter What is the first thing that elect exiles need to hear? We might answer that question in all sorts of ways. On the one hand, we should know, for we're the ones away from home. On the other hand, God knows our need better than we do. The first thing we need to hear is a word about our future.