Pastor Taylor Shippy's Sermons

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Jonah 1:1-3; Romans 12:1-8, 11 The reason Jonah is unique is not because of the fish; rather, Jonah’s just like almost everybody who has ever been called by God. So why’s he so special? I think the reason is that instead of wrestling with God about his calling like everybody else; Jonah instead epitomizes the opposite response. He immediately ejects ‘lock stock and barrel’ w...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - 1 John 2:18-27, 4:1-3; 2 John 7-11 Friends, as John says, the hour is indeed late. We are on the downward curve of history, heading toward the end of the age when God will make all things new! And the 'spirit of the antichrist' is out there, manifesting itself in people and systems, trying to deceive even us. How should we respond? What are we to do about these so-ca...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - 1 John 2:24-25; 5:11-13 If you’ve been around Church long enough, I’m sure you’ve heard of ‘eternal life’ before. In my opinion, many believe ‘eternal life’ is a gift we know we have, but we’ve come to believe that we can’t access or possess it… at least… not right now. We’re told about. Given clues and hints about. But we’ve accepted we can never fully enjoy it in this life...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - 1 John 2:7-11; 3:11, 16-19; 4:7-21 I think John would be saddened to learn that many of us know by heart John 3:16 but not 1 John 3:16. “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 Jn 3:16). N.T. Wright says, “Love incarnate must be the badge that the Christian community wears, the si...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - 1 John 1:5-2:2 Martin Luther once spoke of Christians as being " simul justus et peccator ," Latin for “at once justified and a sinner” or “simultaneously saint and sinner.” This is not a description of who we are before God; rather, Luther believed it was a description of the ‘both/and’ reality that characterizes the nominal Christian experience day-in and day-out...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - 1 John 1:1-4 4th Century Church Father, Gregory of Nazianzus, once said, "For that which He has not assumed He has not healed…” Today we explore the significance and implications that the Son of God assumed a full human nature while not ceasing to be God to heal fully human nature. The Son of God willingly took on our sinful human nature to redeem our human that He pron...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Luke 15:11-31; Galatians 3:36-4:7 Jesus once said to His disciples, “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me” (Jn 15:15). Late 19th Century preacher George MacDonald once said, “Those to whom God is not all in all, are slaves. They may not commit great sins; they...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 32:7-14, 30-34 The great Protestant reformer Martin Luther believed that the “word ‘priest’ should become as common as the word Christian” believing all Christians are priests. In other words, the new priesthood is a ‘priesthood of all believers.' If you and I are both priests, I think we got our work cut out for us. What if we took a page out of Moses’ playbook,...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 32:1-6, 15-24, 30-35

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 2:1-10 One of the greatest ironies of these stories is that God used the faithful actions of this anonymous woman, stuck in a story no one would ever want to be in, who simply did what was right for love’s sake in a time of so much darkness, in a season where God appeared to be all but absent, when evil appeared to be on top, God used her to unwittingly set into motio...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 19:1-8, 20:1-21 The Ten Commandments may be the most recognizable verses in the entire Bible. I mean… you can't get more iconic Bible imagery than the Ten Commandments. But in my experience, I find so many good Christian people ensnared by a misconception of what ‘Big Ten’ are supposed to do in our lives. I'm convinced that the source of our misunderstanding a...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 15:22-26 If you’ve ever read through the book of Exodus, you may have noticed a trend that emerges about a third of the way through the book. As soon as the people leave Egypt, after God rescues them, ‘saves’ them (cf. 14:30), God starts to test them. What does it mean when God tests us? What is God looking for? What are the purposes of God testing us? How do we get a...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 16:1-7, 13-17, 22-30 Before we get to Mt. Sinai, before it was ever codified into law, before it became chiseled onto those tablets of stone as one of the ‘big ten,’ Sabbath was introduced to the Israelites. Sabbath couldn’t wait til they got to the Promised Land. And apparently a part of slavery in Egypt was a lack of rest. There’s something critical to understanding...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 13:17-22 In Exodus Yahweh Himself is leading the people down a longer way through the wilderness. God, in His infinite wisdom, chose this more time-consuming, inconvenient route through the lifeless wilderness, risking Israel’s frequent groanings and rebellious tendencies, to form and shape His people into who He wanted them to be. To set them free from Egypt! It wasn...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - John 19:41-20:3, 11-18 G.K. Chesterton says, "On the third day the friends of Christ coming at day-break to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of a gard...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Luke 23:18-25 Good Friday 2023 Barabbas is the only person who ever lived who can say – literally – that Christ Jesus died for him. This criminal and murderer. He was given new life all because Jesus of Nazareth took his place and hung on his cross. For those who know what Jesus accomplished on the cross we realize that Barabbas’s story is our story. Our story mirrors… it pa...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Mark 11:1-11 Scholars tell us that likely the same day, possibly even at the same exact time, as Pilate is making his grand entrance through the front door, a humble Jewish rabbi, riding on a donkey, enters Jerusalem from the East, through the backdoor, with his ragtag group of reject disciples. So there wasn’t simply one procession into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. There were...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 According to Paul, apostles - those who are 'sent out' - are prone to accumulate thorns as they labor in the fields doing the Lord’s work. Thorns that are annoying and painful and also often reveal our weaknesses and shortcomings. It’s almost unavoidable. We attract them. They get stuck to us, and we often can’t get them off. But genuine apostle...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matthew 15:21-28 During this Lenten season, we have been exploring what it means to wrestle with God. We've referred to it as a crucible, a melting pot, a place where precious metals go to be melted down and purged and bonded and formed into something that is more precious. To enter the chambers of the crucible is to enter the ring with God and spar with Him. This mornin...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Mark 4:35-41

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Genesis 32:22-32 What if the reason God chose Jacob, the reason God never gave up on him or counted him out, was that Jacob was willing to fight back? That Jacob was up to the challenge and task of ‘dancing’ with God when God suddenly attacked. Could it be that our picture of faith is not necessarily wrong but just stale? What if faith is a willingness to participate in such...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Mark 6:45-52, 9:2-8 The more I read these two stories the more I see the Transfiguration happening not only on top of a mountain but also amidst a storm at sea. It's almost like we a Transfiguration appear at on ground-level not just above in the heavens where one expects to find God. God can be found in the chaotic storm... It’s as if you overlay the two stories on top of o...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Luke 15:11-32 Many of us have devised and attempted ways of relating to God that never fully satisfied that ‘itch’ to be with God. Like the sons of this father, we've pursued a life under or from and/or for God; however, none of those approaches ever satisfy us. They leave us empty, frustrated, or lost. Perhaps there is a different approach? One found in Christ, Immanuel, 'G...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matthew 18:21-35 There is a tragic irony in this parable, a deeper mystery Jesus wants us to wrestle with. How could one who experienced such forgiveness not reciprocate that same caliber of forgiveness onto someone else, especially to someone far less in debt that they originally were?  I believe Jesus is saying… If you want to be the first servant at the beginning of...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matthew 25:1-30 Believe it or not, the two parables I want to talk about this morning are not here to teach us only vigilance… They’re here to teach us hope… I was never taught confidence from anyone that talked about the End Times… I was taught only vigilance. But the odd thing was that same culture that ingrained in me vigilance undermined my confidence. Are you ready? Are...