Sunday Sermons

This week we continue our sermon series on the last book of the Bible: The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Although its imagery may be confusing and the theories surrounding it may be distracting, this is actually a book about discipleship. Its purpose is to motivate and equip us to be mature disciples of Jesus Christ—to be faithful witnesses like Him. Last week, we were reminded to focus our attentio...

This week we begin a new sermon series on the last book of the Bible: The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Although it is easy to be confused by the imagery in the book or distracted by theories that surround the book, this is actually a book about discipleship. Ultimately, this book gives us one of the biggest, clearest, and most encouraging portraits of Jesus in all of Scripture. Its purpose is to be...

This week we stand between two sermon series: “Know the Story” and our upcoming Revelation series. In this in-between, we are invited to pause and examine our hearts. We look at Proverbs to learn the great irony of humility: The road to obtaining honor is not pride, but being lowly in spirit. The way up is really the way down. As we walk this road, let us look less at ourselves and more at Someone...

Note: Due to a power failure, a clip of the audio cuts out. In our sermon series “Know the Story,” we can see that God has woven together one narrative about His redemption of His creation for His glory. And at the very center of this narrative is God’s Son, Jesus Christ. For the past couple weeks, we have been learning about Jesus’ life, teaching, and works. Most importantly, we have learned abou...

In our sermon series “Know the Story,” we have been tracing the big picture storyline of the whole Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, God has woven together one narrative about His redemption of His creation for His glory. Although there are many passages that capture the essence of this sweeping narrative, Romans 3:21-26 is one of the most powerful and succinct. In these six verses, we find the v...

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on August 21, 2022

Last week, we learned that the direction of the king’s heart determines the direction of the kingdom. An imperfect king turns the heart of the kingdom away from God, but we long for a better King in Jesus who never turns the kingdom away. This week, we learn that God is doing a new thing. He is making a new covenant. His people had broken the covenant, failing to keep terms that God gave Moses on...

Last week, we caught a glimpse of God's ultimate plans for His people. He was forming a kingdom that would one day culminate in a King whose throne would be established forever. In our passage this week, we learn just how important who the king is. The direction of the king's heart determines the direction of the kingdom. David's son Solomon is on the throne, and the people he's surrounded himself...

Message from Patrick Tetzlaff on July 31, 2022

As we saw last week with the Passover, God expects the Israelites to follow His instructions in order to live in fellowship with Him. But after the Israelites failed to follow God’s covenant before it was even ratified (e.g. the golden calf), God graciously gives Moses the terms of the covenant on Mount Sinai again. The rules that Moses is receiving are the rules that Israel needs to follow in ord...

This week we are continuing our series “Know The Story” where we are taking a wide view look at the whole Bible to see that it tells one cohesive story, from Genesis to Revelation. In this week's passage, God’s people the Israelites, the sons and daughters of Abraham, have been made slaves in Egypt. But God has a plan to rescue them. In His final plague, He will pass through the land of Egypt and...

In our passage this week, we find the dynamics of the temptation and fall into sin. While last week we found God’s original design for His creation, this week we find the breach of that design and God’s response to that breach. We find the origin of the pattern played out in the rest of Scripture: Why is there struggle and toil? Why is there fear and shame? Why are the relationships with creation,...

This week we begin a new series tracing the big picture storyline of the whole Bible. Even though the Bible is written by about 40 individuals over thousands of years in multiple languages, the story it tells is singular. From Genesis to Revelation, God has woven together one narrative telling of His redemption of His creation for His glory. In our passage this week, we find a detailed and dynamic...

In our passage this week, Paul concludes his letter to the Thessalonians with final instructions. For the last couple chapters, Paul has been discussing how the Thessalonians can live lives that are pleasing to God (4:1). Now, he wraps up this discussion with a string of imperatives (see vv. 13b-22 and 25-26 in particular). And while this may seem like a disjointed list of imperatives at first gla...

In our passage this week, Paul turns from discussing the fate of the Christian dead to the fate of the Christian living. Since the Thessalonians were fully aware that the Day of the Lord was inevitable, yet unpredictable, Paul moved to discuss his primary concern: That they prepare themselves. Knowing ahead of time that this Day would come, they could prepare themselves like an owner of a house wo...

In our passage this week, Paul turns to address the Thessalonians’ concerns about their brothers and sisters in Christ who had died. Not wanting them to grieve as those who do not have hope, Paul holds up the Coming of the Lord as the source of that hope. And his message to them is the same as it is to us: As you grieve, encourage one another with the hope that the Lord is coming. Jesus will come...

In our passage this week, Paul begins to discuss the main content of his letter. Bookending the passage with the exhortations to walk and to please God (v. 1) and to walk properly before outsiders (v. 12), Paul implores the Thessalonians to do so more and more (v 1, 10). And he gives them three pictures of how to do so: Abstain from sexual immorality (vv. 3-8), love one another (vv. 9-10a), live q...

In our passage this week, we find that Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy have been torn away from the Thessalonians, a church they love deeply. And although they tried, again and again, to return to them, their plans were thwarted. As the passage proceeds, we can see Paul’s deep love for the Thessalonians as he sends Timothy to exhort them in their faith and as he expresses his most profound wish for th...

In our passage this week, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are thankful that the Thessalonians received and accepted God’s Word. Now this Word was at work in the believers, even in the face of great suffering and opposition. Considering this suffering and opposition, Paul encourages the Thessalonians to keep doing what they’re doing: Do not let go of this Word. Do not be moved. The suffering they were...

In our passage this week we are presented with a clear picture of the way Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy set out not just to preach the gospel, but to put it into practice before the young believers in Thessalonica. The witness of the gospel isn't just in their words, but is in their deeds, or the way they conduct themselves. And this gospel living required complete sacrifice. As Paul writes in verse...

This week we begin our series in 1 Thessalonians. The church in Thessalonica was one of the first churches to be formed in Europe during Paul’s second missionary journey. You can read about it in Acts 16 and 17. Paul and his fellow missionaries only spent a few weeks with these people, but the powerful effect of the gospel of Jesus was evident. As we read of the report that Paul has received about...

This week we come to the end of the story of Abraham. At 175 years old, it tells us that “Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man, full of years, and was gathered to his people.” By any measure, Abraham had lived an incredible life. God chose him to make an eternal covenant promise, that he would be the father of a multitude of nations, and that his offspring would possess...

In the passage this week, we see God remain faithful as the promise begins to be passed from Abraham and Sarah to the next generation in Isaac and Rebekah. We last left Abraham purchasing a field and a cave to bury his beloved Sarah but also gaining his first bit of real estate in the land God had promised Him. Now, with Sarah gone and Abraham continuing to age, Abraham sends his servant to find a...

Message from Pastor Mike Matheson on April 17, 2022

In our passage for Palm Sunday, we’re looking at a few verses from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi to encourage them in their faith, and more specifically to help them grow in their Christ-likeness. One way Paul talks about this is when he says that we are to have the same mind as Christ. And he goes on from there to explain that the mind of Christ was no...