Misty Creek Community Church Sermons

JESUS IN THE WILD Part 4: The Jesus Revolution   Matthew 9:36 Recently, Karen and I watched The Jesus Revolution movie—a depiction of the Jesus Movement, specifically following the stories of Pastor Greg Laurie, Pastor Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee, and Calvary Chapel.  In the mid-1950s through the 1960s, society was unraveling spiritually, relationally, socially, and politically. On top of the grow...

JESUS IN THE WILD Part 3: FACING DOWN THE IF IN OUR LIVES Luke 4:3, 7, 9 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”  “If you worship me, it will all be yours.”  “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.” What is the last “if” you heard in your heart? If you were loved by God, you wouldn’t have this problem, i...

JESUS IN THE WILD Part 2 What is Your Identity as a Child of God? Luke 4:1 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”  Luke 4:1 Jesus’s experience in the wild in Luke 4 is different from suffering or even just temptation. Many of us were taught to conflate the two ideas of the wilderness an...

JESUS IN THE WILD PART 1: Tested, Tempted and Challenged  Luke 4:1–14 There is, perhaps, no more unusual story in the Gospels than the story of Jesus in the wilderness. We are led to Jesus’s baptismal waters in Luke 3:21–22. Then, placed between that mighty declaration of belovedness and affirmation from the Father and the launch of his Isaiah 61 ministry in Luke 4:14–21—Jesus is tested, temp...

"Beauty from Ashes" - 2/22/23 Ash Wednesday Service - Misty Creek Community Church

Love that Transforms (Transfiguration Sunday) 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 & Luke 9:28-36 In our reading from 2 Corinthians this Sunday, we get the notion from Paul that the glory of God is reflected, not seen directly. How true of life, that God’s surprises break out in the most unexpected ways and places: in that little moment where someone reaches out to you in a time of need (for those of you wh...

A note from our Worship Pastor, Doug Allen:  Come And See In the Gospel of John, you will find the account of Jesus calling Philip to follow him. Now Jesus would soon call Nathanael to follow him as well but not before something significant happened.   John 14:45-46 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets...

Is Your House in Order?  Matthew 25:14-30  In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus tells of a master who entrusts his estate and finances to 3 servants. He gives one 5 talents, another 2 talents and yet another 1 talent. Two of the servants put their master’s money to work earning interest and building his estate, while the servant with 1 talent buried his in the ground. When...

Teach us to Pray Part 3: A Nation Calls on the Lord Connecting with God Through Prayer Colossians 2:4-6, Luke 11:1-4, Romans 8:26 Several centuries ago, the famous Protestant reformer Martin Luther made a couple of interesting observations about prayer that are still helpful today.  Both of his observations are in the form of what prayer is not.   First,  prayer is not tel...

January 22, 2023 Sermon: Teach us to Pray Part 2: A Nation Calls on the Lord The Power of Persistence Luke 11:1-13, Luke 18:1-8 A hesitant driver, waiting for a traffic jam to clear, came to a stop on the expressway ramp. The traffic thinned, but the timid driver still waited. Finally, an infuriated voice came from behind shouting: “The sign says Yield, not give up.” The primary actors in Sunday’s...

Teach us to Pray Part 1: A Nation Calls on the Lord Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52 The phrase “thoughts and prayers” has been spoken, texted and tweeted countless times since Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on “Monday Night Football January 2.” One ESPN analyst took the phrase to heart Tuesday, praying for Hamlin on live TV. As Hamlin remains in critical condition, Dan...

Christ is our Living Hope Isaiah 43:18-19 & Philippians 3:13-14 There’s nothing quite like tearing off the last page of a calendar and turning to a new year. It brings a clean slate, offering a new start with fresh possibilities. New Year’s resolutions will abound. New habits will be attempted. Once again, we will aspire to put our best foot forward. But before we do that, let’s remind ourselv...

"What Christmas is Not" Christmas Day Sermon - 12/25/22 Misty Creek Community Church I pray that you have a blessed Christmas and may the revelation of Christ be manifest in your life and home in 2023. We are just a few days away from the celebration God’s greatest gift to the world. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” 2 Corinthians 9:15. Come celebrate the joy, love, hope and peace of...

"An Indescribable Gift" 2 Corinthians 9:15 Christmas Eve Sermon 12/24/22 Misty Creek Community Church I pray that you have a blessed Christmas and may the revelation of Christ be manifest in your life and home in 2023. We are just a few days away from the celebration God’s greatest gift to the world. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” 2 Corinthians 9:15. Come celebrate the joy, love, h...

The God of Peace! (The Fourth Sunday of Advent) John 14:27 and Philippians 4:6-7 Is this the season of Advent or the season of Anxiety? Are you anticipating the arrival of our Savior or are you anxious about all that the holidays bring?  What is peace? I have mostly thought of peace as the absence of something else, like conflict, strife, enmity, or war. I mostly think of peace as the absence...

The God of Joy! (The third Sunday of Advent) Luke 1:39-56 This passage in Luke’s gospel contains Mary’s song. It is one of the most famous songs in Christianity. It has been whispered in monasteries, chanted in cathedrals, recited in small churches by evening candlelight,  and set to music with trumpets and kettledrums by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is a song of joy, a song of praise!  Whe...

“When did Christmas get so complicated? Mark 1:1-8 When did Christmas get so complicated? Funny thing is, "Christmas" is still the same as it's always been, the celebrating of our Lord and Savior at His birth. Anything outside of that lies the complication whether in thought or deed! For many of us Christmas is about making lists. Checking them twice. Decking the halls. Dashing through the snow. W...

The First Sunday in Advent What is Advent? Advent is a season of the Christian year when we focus on the coming of Christ. It's a time of waiting, hoping, and getting in touch with our need for a Savior. It's a season of preparation for Christmas, much as Lent is a season of preparation for Easter. In some Christian churches, Advent is a time of fasting and repentance. In Advent we look back to th...

Post-Election Realities Ephesians 2:13–22 No matter the results of the recent election, the reality is that our world is divided by nations, ethnicities, skin color, languages, genders, politics, religions, economics, entertainment, sex, even issues of right and wrong and justice. Really, just about anything you can think of. While many within each of these groups—and many more who are outside tho...

True Freedom (Veteran’s Day Sunday) Romans 8:14-15 and 2 Corinthians 3:17 In our passage from Romans 8:14-15 we see that the Father's love is always making his power benevolent,  the Spirit sets us free (2 Corinthians 3:17) and brings us deeper into love. Having a Sabbath for example, is all about deepening in love as we refuse to be a slave to work and reorient our identity once again to sim...

A Biblical Response to Grief and Pain (All Saints Sunday) Lamentations 3:22-23 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 This Sunday is All Saints Sunday, we remember those who have served God on earth and now enjoy His company in heaven. This is not a day of sorrow, but a day of gladness, for we know that because Christ lives, we too shall live with the company of all those who are part of the f...

How He Loves You Luke 19:1-10 (Missions Sunday) Our story this Sunday centers around a man named Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector in Jericho. Tax collectors were hated by the Jewish community. They worked for the oppressive Roman government, and they often collected excessively high taxes. They gave the Roman government its required amount, then kept the excess for themselves. Tax collectors wer...

I’m Only Human Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said,  “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them . Genesis 1:...

Suffering in Silence Psalm 32:1-7 & Psalm 51:1-19  “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers and from that day on the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.” 1 Samuel 16:13 In 1 Samuel 16, we meet David. David is first introduced to us as a shepherd, the youngest son of his father, Jesse. We later discover that David is also a musician, singe...

What’s Next? (Part 3) Our Purpose, Vision, Mission, and Values Acts 2:42:47 We are in a three-part series called “What’s Next.” As a body of believers, we have made a commitment to be led completely by the Holy Spirit of God and we continue to ask the Spirit to give us God’s vision for the future of Misty Creek Community Church. We are thrilled to celebrate our three-year launch anniversary, to wi...