Sermons

God is fighting for His people. They could not fight for themselves, and they could not free themselves. If they were to be rescued, it would have to be God's work, in God's way, and in God's time. He had already unleashed the 10 deadly plagues and had begun pursuading Pharaoh to let the people go. Now, He will lead them out of Egypt...but direcly into a trap. They will be penned in with mountains...

God has begun the work of setting His people free, by unleashing ten deadly plagues on the Egyptians. The tenth and final plague is the most devastating of all as God sends His angel of death to kill the first-born sons and animals of every household. There is only one way to avoid certain destruction: A spotless lamb must be killed and its blood applied to the doorway. For those households, the a...

In Luke 4:14–30, Jesus publicly reveals Himself as the Spirit-anointed Messiah promised by God through the prophets. As He announces the arrival of God's Kingdom, He offers forgiveness, freedom, healing, and restoration to those who recognize their need. Yet many who heard Him were impressed by His words without embracing Him as their Savior. This passage reminds us that Jesus is not merely a grea...

Pharaoh has no intentions of letting the Israelites go. He will not cut them loose; he cannot let them be free. The status of his reputation and the advancement of his kingdom depend upon their slavery. If it were up to the Israelites, they would be stuck, completely incapable of liberating themselves. They have no resources and no strength to make their way out. God must intervene...And He will....

In hearing that the Israelites wished to break from their labors in order to worship their God, Pharaoh was incensed. Rarther than granting them freedom, he turned up the heat even more. Not only would they need to keep fulfilling their quota of work, going forward they would also have to gather their own supplies. He wouldn't let them go; instead, he commanded them to "Work harder!" The desperate...

The eagerly anticipated time has come for a showdown with Pharaoh. In Exodus 5, Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh to request permission to go into the wilderness for a feast unto their God. He immediately denies their request. He does not know their God and He will not allow his work force to be depleted for the Israelite people to have a holiday. Not a chance! He won't allow them to rest; they mus...

As Moses stands in the dust with God before the burning bush, he is vulnerable and exposed. In their interaction, God is revealing to Moses what he believes about himself, i.e. who he thinks he is, and what he believes about God, i.e. who he thinks God is. As the conversation proceeds, it becomes increasingly clear that Moses has some major misconceptions about Who God is and who he is. One of the...

Since there is a God, nothing is more important than Who He is and What He is like. In this part of Exodus, He introduces Himself to Moses personally as the great "I Am." He is the true God, the living God, the everlasting God, the One who always has been and always will be. He is the God who loves His people and is committed to their freedom. As Moses stands vulnerable and exposed before Him at t...

God met Moses in the dirt, where he stood with uncovered feet and an exposed heart. From a miraculously burning-and-yet-not-consumed bush, God spoke to Moses, declaring His faithfulness and plan to rescue His Hebrew people from Egyptian bondage. Moses had spent 40 years in obscurity in a place called Midian. Previously, in his younger days, he felt destined for a life of significance. He believed...

What do you have in common with Pharaoh? There is probably more than you realize. As he ruled over Egypt there were many things that had to go his way, or else! He was the most powerful man in the kingdom, but he was also the most insecure. He was the scariest and the most scared at the same time. We all have ways we want things to go in this world. If we're honest, we often believe we need things...

"We begin our Exodus series with a message entitled, ""Finding Your Place in God's Story."" We humans love stories. We love movies and books and plays. We are drawn to characters and plotlines. We are captivated by all different kinds of stories, war stories, love stories, funny stories, and even tragic stories. It is part of our being created in the image of God, the preeminant story teller. Huma...

This morning, the sermon was entitled Pressed Into Comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3–11), we saw that God—who is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort—does not remove pressure from our lives but uses it to transform us. Through seasons of deep distress and even despair, God exposes our self-reliance and presses us to depend on Him, the One who raises the dead. True comfort is not found in esca...

Because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, the deepest search of every human heart—for meaning, satisfaction, and life—is brought to an end in Him. While people pursue countless lesser “saviors” that promise relief but ultimately fall short, the resurrection proves that Jesus alone fulfills what we are truly longing for and accomplishes the salvation we actually need. This gospel was not unexpe...

This morning we observed Palm Sunday by considering the “Triumphal Entry” of Jesus, where He entered Jerusalem surrounded by excited onlookers, hailing Him as King. It was a sort of royal coronation as, in that moment, the people recognized His right to the throne of Israel. They shouted out with great enthusiams, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD; Hosan...

In a world filled with conflict, there is no shortage of blame. Each person is convinced of their own righteousness, yet only God is perfectly righteous and pure in His motives. While God may use human agents to accomplish His purposes, wherever people are involved, sin, selfishness, and brokenness are present. In such a world, the book of Jeremiah offers a wise approach to life: live life freely...

We live with a form of dual citizenship. Our ultimate reality is found in the eternal Kingdom of God, where Christ reigns and where righteousness, peace, and joy characterize life with Him. At the same time, we live in earthly societies that are broken, conflict-filled, and governed by imperfect human authorities. Scripture teaches that God sovereignly establishes governing authorities to restrain...

We are living in a society that seems more divisive and fractured than ever before...at least in our lifetime. All it takes is one scroll down our Facebook feed and we are reminded how polarized our culture has become, especially when it comes to politics. We scan our screens and we are barraged with political opinions and protests, as our friends on the left blast our friends on the right and vic...

As the author of Hebrews brings his letter of exhortation to a close, he ends with a wishful yet confident plea, like a prayer, that God will equip His people for the challenges before them. Contrary to what his readers may have been tempted to think, trusting in the simple realities of the Gospel—which he has unfolded for them throughout the book—provided their greatest security in an insecure wo...

In this message on Hebrews 13:15–19, Pastor Robert Clark emphasizes the call of Hebrews to place our full trust in Christ alone, without hedging our loyalties or diversifying our hope. The writer of Hebrews is utterly persuaded of the superiority, sufficiency, and singularity of Jesus—our once-for-all sacrifice, unchanging Savior, and secure hope in an unshakable kingdom—and urges believers to be...

Tucked within his closing thoughts for the Hebrews, the author includes another brilliant Gospel gem that highlights the uniqueness and value of fellowship with Jesus. Referencing Old Testament imagery of things like the tabernacle, the altar, the animal sacrifices, the priests, etc., he once again demonstrates how Jesus is the fulfillment of all those historic icons and practices. Specifically, h...

As the author closes his letter of exhortation, he gives practical instruction to his recipients regarding their treatment of one another, including their leaders. These rare and valuable messengers had preached the Gospel to them and led them away from lies into the truth. Their voices proclaimed the clear, unadulterated, life-giving message of God's grace--the only stengthening message (v. 9)--a...