St. Pete's on Repeat

There is a big difference between what the world considers to be wise, and what God calls wise. Listen to this week's sermon to learn more.

You can't exactly hear faith by using a stethoscope, or see it by scanning your body with an MRI machine. But God has given you tools to assess the vitality of your faith. Listen to this week's sermon to find out whether your faith is dead or alive, and what you can do to resuscitate it.

What is your wealth worth to you? Is it a safety/security thing? Is it a status symbol? Is it a way for you to do the things you love to do? Those are all very common ways to view the value of worldly wealth. The problem is that's not the value God places on the wealth he gives you. Listen to this week's sermon to hear the true value of what God gives you, and how you can use that wealth wisely.

Do you believe in Jesus? If someone challenged you to prove that, how would you? James offers one option: Do what God says you should do! James isn't writing a blueprint for how to get to heaven. He's not suggesting that we can earn God's love. He's laying out a blueprint for how to live the Christian life here on earth, and showing us how we can show gratitude for God's love. And it all starts wi...

There is only one story about Jesus between the ages of 1 and 30. It's from the time that Jesus was still a pre-teen boy. What do you suppose a prepubescent Jesus would have spent his time and energy on? The same thing every boy (and girl... and man and woman...) should be doing - studying God's Word! The truth is, young or old, lifetime Christian or new convert, we don't always hunger for God's W...

The pandemic has taught us many lessons. One of the most vivid and important is the truth that although we can work from home and video conference our family members even from quarantine, there is no replacement for getting together in person. It is nothing short of a gift from God - a gift that we celebrate today in all its forms, but especially the togetherness we enjoy in worship, community and...

What's the difference between living a God-LIVED life, and living a God-LOOKING life? Ultimately it comes down to the heart. God doesn't want us to be Christians, to go to church, to give offerings, to be kind to strangers because we're supposed to. He wants us to want to do those things because we love God. God wants our heart. And God speaks to our heart through his Word - his living and endurin...

What happens after we die? There is a lot of speculation, but it's impossible to know since we can't exactly ask anyone who's gone through it. But we can ask God and he has a lot to say. Listen to this week's sermon to hear the hope that you can have in the resurrection of your body and life everlasting.

It's easy to praise God the Father for what he's done. All you have to do is look out the window and marvel at his creation! As Christians, it's even easier to focus on the work that Jesus did for us. We're called after his name, after all. We wear his cross on necklaces and t-shirts. Jesus is central to everything we believe and do. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, doesn't get nearly as much a...

Do you know what happens to racehorses that can't race anymore? Sadly, it's estimated that as many as 10,000 get sent to the slaughterhouses every year. But thankfully, there are people who love horses! There are entire organizations dedicated to rescuing these creatures that had been condemned. You were a lost and condemned creature once too. Not because you couldn't win the Kentucky Derby, but b...

How did God go from seeing all that he had made and saying that it was very good, to saying of his creation, "Cursed are you..."? The answer is found in Genesis 3 and it explains not only the brokenness of the world we live in today, but also the character of God our Father. Listen to this week's sermon to learn more.

Where did this world come from? Where do humans come from? What difference does it make? Listen to this week's sermon on the First Article of the Apostles' Creed to hear how your Heavenly Father's work of creation thousands of years ago makes a world of difference for you today.

Who am I? Whether you're writing up your social media profile, or lying asleep at night in the middle of an existential crisis, defining your identity can be complicated. We're not any one thing. We're a combination of our relationships, responsibilities, and characteristics. It's complicated, but that's what makes us unique. God is complicated too. And while we can't plug him into an online perso...

3,000 years ago, God brought a valley full of dry bones back to life by having a prophet speak to those bones a special word from God. Today, God breathes life into your lifeless bones the same way. He sends someone to speak to you a special word of God, and then he breathes his Holy Spirit into your heart so that you may believe and live. This Pentecost Sunday, rejoice in the who and the what of...

Are you happy? Ask me five minutes from now and my answer might be different. Is your joy complete? I'm not sure I ever fully feel that way. And yet, that's exactly what Jesus says he has for you - complete joy. Listen to this week's sermon for 2 keys to a joy filled life from Jesus' own mouth.

Here's a challenge for you: Try to inflate a balloon using nothing but your hands. Can you do it? Why not? That's what it's made for! It's literally designed to be inflated! So why can't you do it? Because you need a source. The same is true for Christians. You were created to do something. God made you and molded you to have the capabilities and qualities that you have. But apart from Christ, you...

Fairy tales like The Three Little Pigs are meant to be cautionary tales about things like laziness. When Jesus calls us sheep and warns us about wolves prowling around his flock, he has a more serious danger in mind. Listen to this week's sermon to find out who the "Big Bad Wolf" is and why you don't have to be afraid of him.

Peace be with you. That's what Jesus said to his disciples the first time he met them after his miraculous resurrection on Easter evening. That's what Jesus gave them in answer to their fear, guilt, confusion, aimlessness, and loneliness. That's what Jesus gives you too for all those same emotions and more. Listen to this week's sermon to hear how Jesus gives you peace today.

Are you looking for hope that stands firm in the face of pandemic, unrest, insecurity or worry? Listen to this Easter sermon to learn how the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives certain hope for uncertain times.

Do you think things would have been different if the people had known what Jesus did? Do you think the disciples would have been so quick to get him that donkey if they had known it would carry him to the city where he would die? Do you think the crowd would have paraded with him if they had known that Jesus would be dead and in the grave already by that same time the next week? Maybe they would h...

What does Jesus have in common with a kernel of wheat? How does loving your life run you the risk of losing it? Would you rather have 1 marshmallow now or 2 in 10 minutes? Listen to this week's sermon to find the answer to (most of) those questions and to hear how in God's eyes death = glory.

The Bible likes to talk about sin and grace, but what does it have to say about sin and snakes? In this introduction to maybe the most well-known passage in the entire Bible, Jesus wants you to know what makes him like a snake, and why that's a good thing.

For centuries, Europe was the center of Christianity. Today, many of its most beautiful cathedrals stand empty and unused except maybe as a museum or historical landmark. Of course, Christianity is not completely dead in Europe, nor is Europe the only place where places of worship have forgotten their purpose. Many churches nearer to home have become little more than social halls, community servic...

What does it mean that Jesus is your Saviour? Your Saviour from what? Student loans? Cancer? Toxic relationships? No. Jesus is your Saviour from sin. He didn't come to sit on a throne and spoon feed you caviar and champagne. He came to die on a cross for your sin. Similarly, Jesus doesn't call you to live in luxury, but to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him, even sharing in his suffe...

Can you say, "No," to every temptation? I can hardly say, "No," to the ice cream in the freezer I know I don't need to eat! If we don't have the willpower to deny ourselves desserts, what does that say about the deeper spiritual temptations we give in to every day? The good news, though, is that you don't have to be perfect. You just have to be penitent. This week's sermon explores the temptation...