Sunday Sermons

“To Know Christ and To Make Christ Known.” This is our primary goal as a church. We also declared seven values to show us what this will look like and to know who we want to be as a church. The third value is prayer. We want to be a prayer-dependent church, making it a first response rather than a last resort. Our passionate and humble prayers display our dependence upon him. We want to ask boldly...

As we come to the conclusion of John 6, we read two wholly different responses to Jesus’ hard words spoken in the previous section (6:24-59). Some who identified themselves as disciples (or followers other than the Twelve) of Christ decided to turn back and no longer walk with him (vs. 66). To them, Jesus’ words landed like death. Sadly, we read similar accounts today—from celebrities down to our...

You need to know where you’re going in order to get there. The crowds were looking for Jesus, but somehow lost track of him. Upon finding them again, their motives are quickly revealed by Jesus: they simply got hungry again and wanted him to feed them. Was this what Jesus intended? Did Jesus simply want us to come to him to fill our bellies? No way. Jesus repeatedly declares that he came to give l...

After making a compelling argument for why he is the true source of life, Jesus withdraws to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, only to be followed by a large crowd. Despite seemingly going away from them, Jesus proceeds to feed the crowd of about five thousand with minuscule morsels of food. Then he withdraws from the disciples only to come back to them in a most miraculous way. We can’t help...

To this point in John’s Gospel we have been presented with the various answers to the question, “Who is this Jesus?” In the second half of chapter five, we are brought to a decision point. Will we side with the religious leaders who see Jesus and his claim to be equal with God (5:18) to be blasphemous? Or will we side with Jesus’ own testimony about himself? This question is one we will continue t...

Most Christians will readily agree that Scripture plays an integral role in the Christian life. It is the very word of God! It is profitable for teaching us truth and correcting falsehood. It provides the necessary instruction for living out our faith on a daily basis. This is why our worship gatherings are saturated with Scripture and why our groups are committed to teaching Scripture. We also be...

Waiting is hard. Whether you are waiting for your food order to be completed or if you are waiting to overcome a sin struggle, waiting isn’t easy. Many of us are eagerly waiting to see the quarantine mandate lifted! Life in this world is filled with the desire for what is next, often looking forward to something in the future. The hope of Easter brings with it an anticipation of the future as well...

When things aren’t going how we want, we want to point a finger at God, putting him on trial. When we see pain, suffering, and hardship in the world, people often choose to 1) blame God, 2) deny God exists, or 3) ignore God entirely. In John 5, Jesus dispels these responses. We can’t blame God because the “Father is working” in the world (v. 17). Nor can we deny God exists, for his work is restori...

What if Jesus had never performed any miraculous signs… would you still come to him? For many in John’s Gospel, this was the main draw to him. They wanted (maybe even needed) signs to give him any honor at all. And yet the honor they gave wasn’t true honor. It wasn’t faith that would bring life. However, this wasn’t always the case. In this passage we meet a man who needed life, but not for himsel...

The question of satisfaction can be thrown at us in many arenas. Were you satisfied with your shopping experience? Complete this survey for a chance to win a gift card. Were you satisfied with your dining experience? Leave a review online. Satisfaction at a consumer level will vary from person to person. But what about at the spiritual level? Are you ever really satisfied? Too often the answer is...

After the significant conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, the story turns back to John the Baptist. His disciples notice that people are starting to go to Jesus. How does John respond? Is he jealous? Is Jesus his rival? Not at all. John’s role was to point people to Christ. For John, it isn’t about his popularity or his significance. His witness has been consistent: “I am not the Christ, but...

One of the Bible’s most beloved and well-known verses comes from this passage. A secretive meeting by night between a teacher of Israel and the Son of God. Nicodemus wants to understand how Jesus is doing these signs, yet Jesus exposes him to a greater truth—in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God, one must be born from above. Jesus explains that it can be done by God alone; this is why he se...

John’s Gospel continues revealing Jesus to us. So far we have been told: Jesus is the eternal Word that was with God and also is the eternal God; he then took on flesh to dwell among us (1:1-18). Jesus is then declared the “lamb of God who takes away sin” by John the Baptist, who redirects his own followers towards Jesus (1:19-51). Jesus goes public, performing his first miracle at a wedding and d...

At the beginning of the year, we discussed our “recalibrated” core values. These didn’t represent major directional changes for us as a church but merely adding clarity to what we truly value as a church. Throughout the year we will do a deeper dive into each of these values. This week we highlight the value of gospel. We want to be a gospel-centered church and bring the gospel to bear on all of l...

Here we see the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry and the first “sign” that John records Jesus doing. The purpose of the sign is to reveal Jesus’ glory so that the disciples might believe (2:11; See also John 20:30-31). How does wine at a wedding do that?! It’s all about symbolism; Jesus reveals himself here as the true Bridegroom who is going to bring about something new and better than ever f...

John (the author) is still just beginning to introduce us to Jesus by telling us the story of John the Baptist. John the Baptist helped prepare the way for Jesus, both by pointing away from himself and pointing us to who Jesus is (the lamb of God, the Son of God, the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, etc.). Jesus, in turn, points people to himself, as he confronts our expectations and lays cl...

This week we begin our new series, “Down to Earth” through the first six chapters of John. Here in this introduction, John tells us why we should pay attention to who he is telling us about. John is introducing us to the Word - the One who existed from all eternity past, who created heaven and earth; the One who stepped down from heaven to earth in order to make God known to us. This One came to u...

Every one of us has values that shape the way we make decisions and navigate relationships; they inform what we see as treasure or trash. However, for many of us, they remain invisible or unspoken. As we take this month to recalibrate as a church, we want to think together about the values that shape the kind of people we want to be and the kind of church we want to be. Last week we began with (1)...

Everyone of us has values that shape the way we make decisions and navigate relationships; they inform what we see as treasure or trash. However, for many of us, they remain invisible or unspoken. As we take this month to recalibrate as a church, we want to think together about the values that shape the kind of people we want to be and the kind of church we want to be. Over the course of the next...

As we begin a new year (and a new decade!) we are taking the month of January to “Recalibrate” together as a church. We want to think together about where we are headed both personally as individuals and corporately as a church. After discussing “the one thing” upon which we must focus—that is, to know Christ—we turn to the one activity that rightly follows from knowing Christ: we make him known t...

As we begin a new year (and a new decade!) we are taking the month of January to “Recalibrate” together as a church. We want to think together about where we are headed both personally as individuals and corporately as a church. In order to do that effectively we need to be able to answer the question, “What is the one thing we all need to give ourselves to?” Thankfully, we are not left in the dar...

Message from Pastor Chris Amundson on December 29, 2019

Our Portraits of Grace series concludes with the story of Mary.

This Advent we are looking at the very first Christmas passage in the bible: Jesus’ family tree (Matthew 1:1-17), which highlights five women, whose surprising inclusion in this tree serves to highlight God’s grace. This week we look at the story of Bathsheba.

This Advent we are looking at the very first Christmas passage in the bible: Jesus’ family tree (Matthew 1:1-17), which highlights five women, whose surprising inclusion in this tree serves to highlight God’s grace. This week we look at the story of Ruth, a widow from Moab that entrusts her life to the LORD and pledges her life to care for her mother-in-law who has also been widowed. How will they...