Pastor Taylor Shippy's Sermons

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Luke 10:25-37 Many of us have heard this story before. It's one of Jesus' most well known parables. But I invite you to suspend your familiarity with this story and enter into the mystery what transpired on that road between Jerusalem and Jericho. The story was supposed to answer 'Who is my neighbor?' but Jesus will end it asking, "Who will be a neighbor?" Jesus will say rat...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, 47-50 I’m gonna lay ‘my cards on the table’ and suggest that the point of Jesus’ story is not to give us indicators of who are wheat and who are weeds, who are good fish and who are bad fish. I think we’re simply told how things are going to be until we know for sure who’s in and who’s out. This is the tension of the parable. The mystery of the parab...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - John 1:1-18 What do you see in the manger this morning? When you come to the nativity scene this morning, a place likely many of you have been before, perhaps a place nowhere more appropriate than on Christmas morning, what do you see this morning? When you look at the one laying in the lowly manger wrapped in swaddling clothes each year, what do you see? Or maybe the better...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matt 1:18-25; 2:13-15, 19-23 I find it fascinating that, unlike Luke, who begins his gospel about the Person of Jesus around Mary, Matthew kickstarts his Jesus story with a footnote. A footnote about a supporting character. A glorified extra. A background figure. A kind of minor character that gets mentioned when the credits roll, but no one seriously considers him central o...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Luke 1:8-23; 26-38 Christmas is ultimately a mystery. A virgin giving birth to a Son. A God graciously willing to take on human nature. No one can explain these mysteries; however, we can live into them. Perhaps God is not done giving humanity mysteries? Where were you when you received your mystery from God? And when you received your mystery… How did you respond? Was it li...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Micah 5:1-5a; Galatians 4:4-7 Waiting is hard. It is a realm of discomfort, uncertainty and even anxiety. A place where we’re given little to no control. A place that is disorienting and suffocating. A place where our vision of the future is clouded and foggy. A place where the presence of God is felt more at a distance and the sound of His voice is often muffled. It’s a pla...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matthew 24:36-44 Today marks the beginning of the Advent season but also the start of a new Christian Year. And historically but also traditionally, the church calendar doesn’t begin with the beginning but actually with the end! The anticipation and expectation of the consummation and culmination of all things. A day and hour that no one knows (Matt 24:36). A day and hour th...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Ephesians 1:15-23 This morning is Christ the King Sunday , the last Sunday of the liturgical church year which celebrates Christ's messianic kingship and sovereign rule over all creation. A time each year where we pause and specifically remember the stories and testimonies of the power of our God, the same God that is ruling and reigning in this world today, But Christ the K...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 5:13-20 I think I hear James arguing that Christians can offer each other something special to our spirituality and our faith that our relationships with God are unable to. Just like humans innately need connection with other humans to survive and thrive in this world, I think James argues that Christians need other Christians to contribute to our relationships with Go...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 4:13-17 Who controls your future? Who’s in charge of your Tomorrowland ? Who reigns in your Tomorrowland ? Is it God, you, or someone else? How are we to approach the future? Does God have a say in your future? James is inviting us to ask ourselves these questions as we contemplate this morning what it means to incorporate God into our plans for the future.

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 4:11-12 This morning James has a courtroom in mind. Not one happening on the ‘silver screen’ but one happening inside our hearts. And the folks on trial in our hearts aren't the usual sort of defendants… They’re our brothers and sisters in Christ. On the docket are folks who identify as Christians that we engage with, intersect with, live life with. We intuitively pros...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 4:4-10 Pastor James says that God takes our friendship with Him pretty seriously. What about us? On this Baptism Sunday, it is the perfect opportunity to consider the lengths God went to be in relationship and friendship with you. But while baptism is a public profession of faith in something God has done for us in the past, it is also a declaration of something we int...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 3:13-18 What if the problem isn’t that we won't find wisdom… But that we think we’ve found it… We think we’ve hit a vein, a rich source of wisdom from God… We think we’ve found God’s perspective of ourselves; on someone else; on the situation I’m in; on the state of the nation or the world. And that’s where Pastor James wants to have a conversation with us… James’ fixa...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 3:1-12 ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.’   The irony is the inverse of that statement is almost always the truth. It's far easier to heal wounds caused by sticks and stones than the damage caused by words. Pastor James challenges us to grasp the power our words have… What would it look like if you and I took our words more serio...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 2:14-26 Pastor James wants us to have a faith that works. Not that our faith is a result of our works; rather, our works are a result of our faith. What does your faith do for a living? How does it materialize in your life? Pastor James wants us to check to see if our faith has a pulse because faith without works is lifeless. 

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 2:1-13 In the words of Aaron Burn in Hamilton, "Love doesn't discriminate." Pastor James would agree. King Jesus decreed that we ought to love God and love neighbor. Citizens of Jesus' Kingdom out to love their neighbor else be caught red-handed being royal law breakers. 

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 1:19-27 James is pretty famous (or infamous depending on who you ask) for being a strong proponent of Christians being doers of the Word, not hearers only. But how do we be doers? How do we be doers of the implanted Word in us effectively? How do we 'do' the Word without it becoming legalistic or 'works righteousness?' Perhaps all it takes is just singing-along? 

Pastor Taylor Shippy - James 1:1-18 "Day-in and day-out Pastor James was dealing with the same trials as his people, not to mention his own. And perhaps because James has some experience with dealing with trials himself or pastorally caring for a church full of people facing trials, the first thing James decides to talk about… not just to his congregation but generally to all Christians scattered...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Isaiah 52:1-12; Romans 10:13-15; Mark 1:1, 16:15 For our final message in our summer series "Minor Characters: Major Message," we are looking at the life story of the gospel writer John Mark. His life is a bit of a mystery. His mention in Scripture is minimal. The church tradition surrounding him is scarce. Yet... he wrote a gospel. And perhaps we can too? Not with pen and p...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Acts 16:6-15 As we are nearing the end of our "Minor Characters: Major Messages" series, we take a look at the story and legacy of a purple cloth dealer named Lydia. She is not given a lot of screen-time (only being mentioned in Acts 16), yet her story and her impact on the Philippian church may be one that all Christians ought to pay notice to and emulate.

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Mark 10:46-52 We have only a few more sermons left in our summer series, "Minor Characters: Major Message." This week we are looking at a blind beggar on the side of the road outside Jericho. Scholars believe Mark has intentionally reserved this healing narrative for last. That Bartimaeus is the hallmark or paragon of faith and discipleship. Perhaps even Mark believes this m...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Ruth 1:19-22 This week's major message is from a minor character by the name of Naomi. Her story is one of tragedy, bereavement, emptiness, hopelessness, and ultimately bitterness. These are all realities that can still impact a person of faith's life. What do we do when our faith, our journeys with God, taste bitter? How do we respond when our faith is not always sweet? Per...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Numbers 13:25-33; 14:1-10 We are continuing on in our "Minor Characters: Major Message" summer sermon series. This week we look at the biblical, international spy Caleb. His defiance of the other ten spies' opinions about the Promised Land is something that all of God's people should pay notice of. His minor act of objecting  is actually a major message for us. How do w...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 31:1-11 Continuing through our series "Minor Characters: Major Messages," we arrive at a pair of individuals who few recognize. Their time in the spotlight of Scripture is brief, but they leave a worthy legacy in their wake. They are given the monumental task of building God's mobile home on earth, a replica of His divine heavenly temple. A daunting task for anyone, b...

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Exodus 18:1-27 As we are continuing on in our series "Minor Characters: Major Message," we will look at the person of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law and priest of Midian. His impact on the life of Moses and the life of the nation of Israel is significant; however, it can easily go unnoticed and unappreciated. Jethro was someone that Moses could lean on in times of trouble. Per...