Sermons from Christ Presbyterian Church in Burke, VA

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached on the growth of the early church in Acts 9:31-43, showing how fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit worked together to build up the saints. When Peter healed the paralyzed Aeneas in Lydda, the whole town turned to the Lord. When Peter raised […]

This past Lord’s Day, Ruling Elder Scott Hatch walked through the conversion of Saul in Acts 9:1-30, one of the most dramatic turns in the New Testament. A man bent on destroying the church is confronted by the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and transformed into one of its greatest witnesses. Hatch traced […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow opened Acts 8:26-40, the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, to show how God directs His servants down unlikely roads to reach unlikely people. Philip’s obedience took him to a desert highway, where he found a court official puzzling over Isaiah 53 with no one to explain it […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached on the strange conversion of Simon the magician in Acts 8:9-25. Revival breaks out in Samaria, a place no one expected, among people no one expected, as Philip preaches Christ and the Spirit confirms the work through the apostles. Yet Simon’s story is a sobering warning: he believed […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached from Acts 8:1-8 on the inseparable tension of lament and joy that marks the Christian life. The passage opens in grief: Stephen is dead, Saul is ravaging the church, and believers are scattered across Judea and Samaria under fierce persecution. Yet what looks like catastrophe becomes the very […]

This past Lord’s Day, Rev. Charles Garriott, Founder and Executive Director of the PCA’s Mission to North America’s Ministry to State, preached from Psalm 69:1–3 on the theme of pursuing peace in the midst of overwhelming distress. The psalmist’s cry from the deep waters is the cry of every believer who has known the weight […]

On Ascension Sunday, Pastor Harlow preached through Acts 7:54–8:1, tracing three reactions to Stephen’s testimony and death: the fury of the crowd, the faith of Stephen, and the response of Jesus from heaven. As the stones fell, Stephen looked up and saw what his killers could not — the Son of Man standing at the […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached from Acts 7:1–54, where Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin and delivers one of the most sweeping surveys of redemptive history in all of Scripture. From Abraham to Joseph, Moses to David, Stephen traces a single thread through the centuries: every covenant, every deliverer, and every prophet pointed forward […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached from Acts 6:8–15, taking up the remarkable detail that those who looked at Stephen in the council saw his face “like the face of an angel.” Paired with the Old Testament reading from Exodus 34, where Moses descended from Sinai with his face shining from his encounter with […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow continued the Acts series with a look at the early church’s first internal crisis. In Acts 6:1–7, a complaint arises among the Hellenists that their widows are being overlooked in the daily distribution, and the apostles respond not with defensiveness but with wisdom, identifying the problem, proposing a solution, […]

Pastor Harlow opened Acts 4:32–5:14 to show that the early church was made up of real people whose hearts were either being shaped by grace or hardened by deception. The generosity of Barnabas illustrated what it looks like when the Spirit of God forms a community around the needs of others, while Ananias and Sapphira’s […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Mark Moore, Deputy Wing Chaplain at Joint Base Andrews, preached from Psalm 85, tracing the psalmist’s journey through three movements of faith. The Sons of Korah begin by remembering God’s past forgiveness – He covered their sin, withdrew His wrath, restored the fortunes of Jacob – and that memory becomes […]

This past Resurrection Sunday, Pastor Harlow preached “The Empty Cell” from Acts 5:12–42, drawing a vivid parallel between the empty tomb and the empty prison the risen Christ left behind him. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead sent an angel to open locked doors and return the apostles to the temple courts, […]

On Maundy Thursday, Pastor Harlow preached from 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, returning the congregation to what Paul called “of first importance”: the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for sinners. These two verses are not a starting point to move past but the message the church must keep coming back to, the very foundation on which […]

On Palm Sunday, Pastor Harlow preached from Acts 4:23–31 on the prayer of the early church following Peter and John’s release by the Jewish authorities. The congregation gathered, reported what had happened, and lifted their voices together to the Sovereign Lord, their prayer shaped at every point by the words of Psalm 146, Psalm 2, […]

This Lord’s Day, missionary Tom Mirabella, serving in Chiba, Japan with Mission to the World, preached from John 21:1–21 on failure, hope, and the restoring grace of the risen Christ. The disciples had returned to their boats — back to what they knew — and caught nothing, until the voice on the shore directed their […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached from Acts 3:1–26 on the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate and the proclamation that followed. The miracle was not accomplished through Peter’s own power or piety, but through faith in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Author of life whom God raised […]

This Lord’s Day, Pastor Hasler opened Acts 2:42–47 to examine what the life of the early church actually looked like. Luke’s snapshot of the Jerusalem believers reveals a community shaped by the apostles’ teaching, bound together in fellowship, sustained by the Lord’s Table and prayer, and marked by a generosity that flowed from genuine faith. […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow opened Acts 2 to show how God’s ancient promises find their fulfillment in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. What the prophets foretold and Israel waited centuries to see, God delivers on that morning in Jerusalem, just as He said He would. Peter’s sermon, anchored in the […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached from Acts 1:9–26 on the ascension of Christ and what it means to wait for His return. After Jesus was taken up into heaven, the angels’ message was clear: this same Jesus will come back, and that promise shapes everything about how His people are to live in […]

This Lord’s Day, we started a new series on Acts. Pastor Harlow preached on Christ’s ascension and the kingdom He establishes through His people. In Acts 1:1-11, Jesus spends forty days with His disciples after the resurrection, preparing them for their mission and promising the power of the Holy Spirit. Rather than restoring an earthly […]

This Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached on Psalm 62, where David calls God’s people to find their rest, refuge, and salvation in God alone. In a world that tempts us to trust in power, wealth, and the approval of others, this psalm points us to the only secure foundation for our souls. David reminds us […]

Due to inclement weather, Pastor Harlow prepared a special devotional on Psalm 127 for home or private worship, exploring the difference between flourishing and frustration. The psalm teaches that without the Lord’s blessing, all our building, watching, and working amounts to anxious toil. Through four spheres of life – temple, city, workplace, and home – […]

This past Lord’s Day, Pastor Hasler preached on the call to worship found in Psalm 103. David’s hymn of praise reminds us of God’s many benefits: He forgives our iniquities, redeems our lives, and crowns us with steadfast love and mercy. As we remember who God is and what He has done, we are compelled […]

This Lord’s Day, Pastor Harlow preached from the closing verses of Luke’s Gospel on how believers are called to respond to the risen Christ. In Luke 24:44-53, Jesus opens his disciples’ minds to understand how all Scripture points to him and commissions them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all nations. Before ascending to heaven, […]