Renew Covenant Church Sermons

Galatians 4:4-7 NIV 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made...

The Angel Gabriel visits Mary and reveals something that will change her life forever.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am no...

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 Common English Bible Version For the music leader. Of the Korahites. A psalm. 1Lord, you’ve been kind to your land; you’ve changed Jacob’s circumstances for the better. 2 You’ve forgiven your people’s wrongdoing; you’ve covered all their sins. Selah 8 Let me hear what the Lord God says, because he speaks peace to his people and to his faithful ones. Don’t let them return to fool...

Isaiah 64:1-9 1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! 2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! 3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4 Since ancient times no...

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him...

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole count...

16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of ox...

1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I kno...

“When we see suffering, do we draw closer to it? This would be compassion”

Luke 5:36-38 36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new win...

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Jesus is the outlier in whom there is new life. What does it mean to be 'broken' upon the rock? We have a natural resistance to vulnerability and to change, and yet the path to transformation is found as we are broken upon Jesus. Pride and stubbornness, on the other hand, make us hard and brittle, so that we become crushed by outside forces, even those that are good and life-giving.

This Sunday's lectionary Gospel text is timely given our country's current context of protest and disdain for this protest, ie., NFL players/Trump. Jesus has just cleansed the temple and now occupies it in protest of the corruption/injustices rampant in the temple religious system. The Chief Priests and Elders of the people have come to challenge his authority: "By what authority [what right] are...

Jesus responds to the religious leaders' challenge with a parable about workers in a vineyard.

Matthew 14:22-33 Jesus is inviting us to get out of the boat and come to him . . . but just because Jesus is calling you out to him, doesn’t mean the storms will stop.

Matthew 14:13-21 Jesus has compassion on the crowds and commands the disciples to feed them opening the opportunity for all to witness his miracle of abundance.

James 4:13-15 John 14:15-20; 25-27

Conversation #6 in the Tangible Kingdom Series. Bill Strunk discusses how we are a community of apprenticeship. Luke 5:1-11

Judges 6:11-16 & Luke 19:1-10 We Live out and invite in . . . conversation #5 of the Tangible Kingdom series.

I Peter 4:8-10 || Hebrews 10:24-25 || Colossians 3:12-17 We Practice Community.

We continue our series in the Tangible Kingdom as Claire discusses "The Gospel." We embody the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 and John 1.14 A part of living into the tangible kingdom is that "we are incarnational."

God calls us to leave our worlds so he can send us to advance His Kingdom

God and His Kingdom is best reflected in the diversity of His children, and so at Renew we value ethnic/gender/age diversity and seek to reflect it