St. Pete's on Repeat

Do you have a price tag? What would it take for someone to buy control of you? We like to think of ourselves as our own masters, but the Bible reveals the grim reality of the chains we were born into. The good news is those chains don't hold us anymore. Listen to this week's sermon to hear about the price Jesus was willing to pay—all to set you free and become your Lord and Redeemer.

If God created a perfect world, then why do we experience the hardships and heartaches that are so common to modern life? In a word, the answer is "sin" - both the first sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and our continued sin. What may be even more impressive than God the Father's creative powers, though, is his compassion. Listen to this week's sermon to hear how your Heavenly Father fix...

Are you thirsty? Do you feel a gaping void in your life? Are there things that drive you to your knees in despair or cause you to clench your fists in frustration? There's nothing wrong with having a need. Where the trouble can arise is what we do to try to quench that thirst. On Pentecost Sunday, we consider Jesus' own promises of rivers of living water that will flow within us because of his Spi...

What do you do when you feel like you have no hope left - when the doctor says the "C" word, or when you just want to withdraw from the world? Revere Christ as Lord in your heart. It sounds simple, but it's a bit more complicated (and even more of a blessing) than at first glance. Listen to this week's sermon to hear how keeping Christ as Lord means a world of difference during suffering.

There are few pictures of Jesus sweeter than as your Good Shepherd, but what makes it really beautiful is how he fends off danger with something as simple yet powerful as his voice. Listen to this week's sermon to hear how your Good Shepherd keeps you safe and gives you life to the full.

Are you missing some hope? It's only been a couple weeks since Easter, but I bet it didn't take long for the excitement to fade in favour of life's daily to-dos and disappointments. Where do you go to find some hope again? As the two disciples on the way to Emmaus learned, hope is closer than you think. In fact, hope is walking right beside you. Listen to this week's sermon to learn where to find...

The last time that Jesus was called a king, Jerusalem was stirred too. Herod was so outraged, he ordered the murder of all the baby boys in Bethlehem. Had it not been for divine intervention, Jesus wouldn't have lived to see the age of three. 30+ years later, Jesus is called a king again, and the results are eerily similar: the city is stirred, murderous plots arise - only, there would be no divin...

What if? It's a question often asked in regret, out of fear... or after a close call. Asking it can even make us sweat when we consider just how narrowly we escaped utter disaster. In Psalm 124, David asks us to imagine a terrifying alternate reality—and to remember who rescued us from it.

Death is the great equalizer. No one escapes it. It awaits us all. The question isn't what we should do about it, but how we can come to grips with it. Jesus showed his glory on the day he raised Lazarus from the dead, which not only teaches us about his power over life and death, but also teaches us how we can approach death with joyful sadness. Listen to this week's sermon to hear how you are of...

Are you happier as a Christian than you would be otherwise? Thanks to Jesus, yes! But are you also sadder as a Christian? That's probably true, too. Psalm 126 helps us understand why—and reminds us that God has a plan for our tears.

Where is God when bad things happen? Why do bad things happen at all? Jesus gives an answer: "These things happened so that the works of God might be displayed." Yet, far from being self-serving or aura-farming, these works are displayed not just to Jesus' glory but for your eternal good. Listen to this week's sermon to see the Light of the World revealing the purpose for his coming.

There's a reason people say, "Don't make promises you can't keep." Because broken promises often lead to broken trust and broken relationships. Have you kept all your promises to God? More importantly, has God kept all his promises to you? The psalmist helps us answer the question: Can we count on God to keep his promises?

What would you want to drink after eating a cookie? How about after spending a day out in the winter cold? Or maybe (wishful thinking?) after an hour mowing the lawn in the heat of the summer? Not all thirst is created equal. There are specific things we crave to quench our various thirsts. What do you crave when the consequences of your actions catch up to you? What do you crave when the circumst...

Grace is good. But we need more. Where do we turn for help with more than just a guilty conscience? Where do we turn for help? The psalmist directs us to lift our eyes higher than the mountains to our powerful and present God.

What has been the lowest point in your life? What can you do when you're in those kinds of moments? You can do what the psalm-writer does: call on the Lord for mercy. Listen to this week's devotion to hear how he answers.

Have you been watching the Winter Olympics lately? It's always amazing to see what world-class athletes can do. But maybe it also leads you to wonder how much (or how little) of it you could do. Could you take a pair of ski jumping skis and take the leap off the 140m ski jumping tower? Probably not... In this week's Gospel, Matthew shows us a world-class performance by Jesus, only in this case, it...

Which do you think is harder - moving forward knowing that difficult times are ahead, or moving forward not knowing anything about what's waiting for you? Jesus knew he had hardship and the cross waiting for him at the end of his life. But it was precisely that his resolute spirit to complete his mission that earned his Father's praise on his Transfiguration day. And thanks to it, we don't have to...

Are these dark winter mornings making it hard for you to get out of bed with a smile? Do you fantasize about escaping somewhere warm and sunny, where your problems melt away? Listen to this week's sermon to hear about how even on the gloomiest mornings, you have a reason to rise and shine—because the Son shines on you.

What's on the top of your Christmas wish list this year? Is it just another entry in a long list of gifts that scratched an itch for a while, but sits gathering dust somewhere now? Listen to this week's sermon to hear about the only thing that can give you lasting satisfaction forever... and why you should be careful what you wish for.

Do seasonal tidings of joy sometimes feel superficial to you? Does "Christmas cheer" seem like little more than wishful thinking? Optimism and happy thoughts may be all nice and rosy, but if that's all Christmas is, it doesn't fix the real problems in our lives. Listen to this sermon to find out how Jesus gives us so much more than just a rosy outlook—he gives us a new reality.

Do you ever find yourself on a project that requires a complete do-over? Tear it to the studs before you rebuild it? God did with the people of Isaiah's day, and you could make the case that he needs to do the same with us every day. Listen to this week's sermon to hear how it's actually good news to know that as our Judge, Jesus needs to expose our sin, so that he can forgive it.

Expectations can set you up for either delight or disappointment. Sometimes the best gifts are things you never put on your wish list. Other times, the unexpected gift is the last thing you would have picked out for yourself. Listen to this sermon to find out how Jesus gives us something far better than what we expected—and shows us just what to expect from him in the future.

Have you ever heard the phrase "too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good"? That's what Jesus was warning his disciples - and us - about in Luke 12. Listen to this week's sermon to hear how you can do both - be heavenly minded AND be of earthly good - by God's power.

What do you do when it feels like the world is ending? Are you a worrier? A fixer? A fighter? Many strategies can bring some comfort, but none of them can stop the world from falling apart around us in the end. Thankfully, Jesus tells us all we have to do: Stand. Listen to this week's sermon to learn how you can stand firm even when the world is ending.

What does it mean to be blessed? We might think of being well off and well-fed, being loved and having reasons to smile. Yet Jesus calls us blessed when we are poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted. Listen to this week's sermon to find out how you can be all those things and yet truly blessed.