Roseville Covenant Sermons

When you piece together the stories of the first Easter from the four gospels, you may notice that essentially no one that morning was instantly able to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. They experience bewilderment, curiosity, confusion, and fear... but not many immediately understood or even celebrated that Christ was risen. Each of the four gospels give us some unique details about th...

Historians have long wondered how Jesus showed up to Israel's capital one Sunday morning welcomed as a hero, only 5 days later to be crucified like a criminal. What happened in between Palm Sunday and Good Friday? To answer the question we'll need to dig into a complex religious-political situation of a raging culture war within 1st century Judea, provoked by the crisis of Roman occupation, that c...

Throughout our series in Luke for Lent, story after story has invited us to reflect on our theme: "change of heart." Whether it's a man who feels the need to build bigger barns to deal with the "problem" of his abundance, an upstanding religious man whose ability to part with his wealth stands between him and his own question of righteousness, or a "small" man who, though he is despised, rises to...

We all like a good redemption story, and followers of Christ are told to rejoice when a sinner repents (Luke 15:7), but sometimes it's hard not to be skeptical when a nasty scoundrel makes a sudden conversion to Jesus. We can probably think of more than a few examples where it seems a public conversion feels little more than a publicity stunt and doesn't seem to lead to meaningful transformation....

In one of the most provocative and difficult passages in the gospels, we meet a man who is both very wealthy and very righteous. He is generous, just, self-controlled, friendly, and honest. Yet when he asks if all this is enough to "inherit eternal life", Jesus tells him to sell every last thing he owns, give it to the poor, and follow him. The man's face falls, and he walks away disappointed at J...

This Lenten season we are examining Jesus' teachings about wealth, poverty, generosity and the behaviors of the Christian around their money and possessions. But behavior does not arise out of nowhere. Behavior stems from belief. What we believe about God and God's provision impacts how we give and save; how we spend and share. When Jesus was asked a question about dividing an inheritance, he star...

Repentance is a Biblical word that you'll find all across the scriptures and is central to the Good News of Jesus. It's the word the prophets use to invite change and transformation in God's people. The word in the New Testament is metanoia, which literally means "afterthought" or "changed mind." Repentance involves sorrow over our sins and errors, but it also invites us to look ahead to consider...

When I hear the word "rule," my mind often goes to the classroom, courtroom, or ball field. I tend to think of legal restrictions imposed upon us not to be broken without penalty. Yet the ancient meaning of the word "rule" isn't so much about restriction, but support. The old Latin word "regula" literally means "straight stick." A regula could be a cane you lean on to help you walk, or it could be...

One of the foundations of the gospel is that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection ensures a union to the life of God and no person or institution needs to stand in between you and your maker except Jesus Christ himself (1 Timothy 2:5). We sometimes call this our "personal relationship with Christ". But even though our faith is deeply personal, scripture simultaneously tells us our faith is not pri...

When I was young, I remember learning a song in Sunday School that went like this: "The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me! I stand alone on the word of God - the B-I-B-L-E!"  The tune was catchy and I suppose it could be credited for planting a seed in my young mind that reading the Bible was an important thing to do. What I didn't know is that cultivating rhythms of reading my Bible along wit...

We live with all kinds of biological necessities and forces of nature that impact how we live our lives and how we plan our days (think of sleep schedules, bathroom breaks, shelter from weather). Perhaps the necessity we order our lives around most is food. When will you eat? What will you eat? With whom will you eat? For most of us, this physical necessity anchors at least three points in our day...

Most of us know that the work of artists and craftsmen involves creativity, but equally important to arts and science is the practice of design. A creative idea alone doesn't always make for something beautiful to appreciate. The elements of design are careful decisions a crafter makes to serve the subject of the piece. A photographer uses focus and framing to emphasize the face of a model. A tail...

I don't like to be a pessimist, but I can't help feeling that more often than not there is a great "let down" in the days following Christmas. All the energy and excitement our culture puts into the anticipation of Christmas morning only sometimes lives up to the enormous expectations of happiness. Perhaps this is because we overly fixate on the event of the nativity but overlook the eternal reali...

From the RCC 2025 Christmas Eve candlelight Lessons & Carols

In today’s world, women are pushed up against two realities. The first is that they still often exist in the shadows of men. The other is that they are bombarded by messages of all kinds about how to live: messages about power and rights and bodies. Secular voices on these matters stand in stark contrast to how scripture invites women to be in the world. Yes, there are power scales to be balanced,...

Surveys tell us Americans are steadily losing trust in institutions like government, media, education, and (near the top of the list) "organized religion." This isn't new. The Bible tells more than a few stories of corruption in the temple & priesthood. This includes the days that Jesus was born into. First century Jews not only longed for political revolution to overthrow the Roman occupation...

The final book of the Old Testament was written around 400BC—words of the prophet Malachi. Following Malachi, we don’t have any prophetic Biblical writings for the next four centuries. Sometimes Christians will then describe John the Baptist as the prophet who breaks the 400 years of silence. But chronologically, the first person in the New Testament described as a prophet is actually Anna, a wido...

The story of Joseph may live only as a musical drama with a flashy coat in some of our minds, but in the biblical narrative, Joseph’s story takes up 13 of the 50 chapters of Genesis. And there is far more to this tale than mere teenage jealousy between brothers. The story of Joseph takes us deep into the heart of a decades long family conflict that illuminates the effects of sibling rivalry and th...

Consistency is one of the main things we look for in honorable people.  Will they do what they say they will do? Do their behaviors resemble their values? One of the repeating themes in the stories of Genesis is that our protagonists are sadly quite inconsistent. There is a tragic irony that on one page of the Bible a character can be noble and courageous, and then on the very next page they make...

There is a cliche that is often true: silence speaks volumes. In last week's scripture we read of a profound encounter Jacob has with God. Yet as we turn the page in Genesis, the Almighty seems absent from the story that follows and its effects are chilling. We read a dark tale from the next generation of Abraham's family: a daughter is assaulted, a father is silent (negligent), brothers become du...

Last week we met a character in Genesis with an unflattering name. The name Jacob means, "supplanter" and it rhymes with words like "heel-grabber" and "trickster". His name resembles his conduct. Jacob is a scoundrel who extorts and deceives (Genesis 25 & 27). Following this he spends 20 years living as an exile in a strange place, and becomes the victim of another's trickery! (Genesis 29-31)...

There are few things in life that can get as complicated and messy as family. Our relationships with parents, siblings, spouses, and children are some of the most important we'll ever have, but they are the ones most fraught with discord. The book of Genesis is full of these kinds of stories and this week we'll look at one of the most famous: the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob & Esau (Genesi...

Here in chapters 21-22 of Genesis we get to some of the most troubling passages in the book: two stories of children endangered by adults. In chapter 21 Abraham and Sarah send the firstborn (Ishmael) out to the desert to die. In chapter 22 it appears for a moment God asks Abraham to offer the second born (Isaac) as a sacrificial offering. In both situations, God intervenes to prevent the death of...

My mom was a teacher for over 30 years before she retired two years ago. Throughout my childhood I heard about the collective bargaining that went on between her teacher’s union and the schools as salaries, benefits, and school calendars were negotiated. As we continue on in our Genesis sermon series, we’re continuing to look at the Sodom and Gomorrah story through Abraham’s eyes (Genesis 18:16-33...

Sometimes words and names have the ability to generate an immediate connotation. For example, simply saying “Sodom and Gomorrah” likely conjures up images of fire, sulfur, violence, sexual sin and maybe the odd ending of a human being turned into a pillar of salt. The mere mention of this city can be used as shorthand for wicked living or warnings to steer clear of serious punishment exacted by Go...