the Cross Orlando

Continuing the Galatians series with chapter 5, this message centers on "for freedom Christ has set us free," explaining that believers are no longer bound to keep the law to earn God's favor but are freed by grace to live, building toward the fruit of the Spirit.

Continuing the Galatians series with chapter 4, this message addresses the controversy over whether Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law, with Paul explaining that in the fullness of time God sent his Son to redeem people from the law so they could receive adoption as sons and heirs.

Continuing the Galatians series with chapter 3, this message addresses Paul's rebuke ("O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?") and his argument that the Spirit and righteousness come by faith, not works of the law, pointing to Abraham who believed God and so all nations are blessed.

Continuing the Galatians series with chapter 2, verses 15 through the end, this message centers on justification by faith in Christ rather than works of the law, and Paul's declaration "I have been crucified with Christ," while considering what Jewish identity meant in Israel's history.

Continuing through Galatians, this message covers Galatians 1:11-24, where Paul insists his gospel came by revelation of Jesus Christ rather than from men, recounting his former zeal in Judaism, his persecution of the church, and his conversion and call to the Gentiles.

Continuing the Galatians series, this message opens Galatians 1, examining Paul's self-identification as an apostle sent not by men but by Jesus Christ, alongside the backdrop of his missionary hardships and his earlier role persecuting the church.

The opening message of a summer series through Paul's letter to the Galatians, setting context from Paul's missionary journey in Acts 13, discussing the dating and recipients of the letter, and how the New Testament books were affirmed at Nicaea.

Guest speaker Demetrius, filling in while Ben is on vacation, preaches from the book of Jonah on God's great compassion and faithfulness, examining Jonah's rebellion and his angry response to mercy shown toward people he felt didn't deserve it.

A guest speaker walks through the book of Hosea, using the prophet's marriage to an unfaithful wife as a picture of Israel's cycles of unfaithfulness, judgment, and salvation broken at the cross, drawing parallels to America's idols and the modern challenge of AI and technology.

A Trinity Sunday message on Paul's doxology in Romans 11:33-36 ("from him and through him and to him are all things"), reflecting on the unsearchable wisdom of God and the conviction that there is a God who is not us and who knows what he is doing.

A Pentecost Sunday message on Acts 2, recounting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire, Peter's sermon, and tracing how the Spirit of God has been at work from creation through Christ to this new release into the world.

Guest pastor Adam Barkod of New City Church preaches on the seventh Sunday of Easter about the disciples waiting between Christ's ascension and Pentecost, drawing on Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit in John alongside Ezekiel 36 and 1 Peter 4.

A guest speaker filling in preaches from James 5 on suffering and patience through trials, sharing his own personal story of a difficult 2012-2013 season including his wife's bed rest pregnancy and job loss, encouraging listeners to look to God rather than their circumstances.

Continuing the "your kingdom come" series, this message connects the clean and unclean food laws of Leviticus 11 to a story in Acts, exploring holiness, the people of God set apart, and how the kingdom is both already here and still to come.

On the third Sunday of Easter and continuing the "your kingdom come" series, this message examines Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana in John 2, as a sign of God's kingdom breaking into the present world.

Continuing the series on the Lord's Prayer petition "your kingdom come," this Easter-season message turns to John 18 and Jesus' statement before Pilate that "my kingdom is not of this world," exploring what it means to pray that an other-worldly kingdom would come into this world.

Drawing on the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 and Jesus' sending of the seventy-two in Luke 10, this message begins a series on the petition "your kingdom come, your will be done," exploring prayer and what it means for God's reign to come on earth.

An Easter resurrection message drawn from Psalm 118, focusing on humanity's universal need for rescue and the image of "the stone the builders rejected" becoming the cornerstone, pointing to Christ as the source of salvation and new life.

On Palm Sunday, marking the start of Passion Week, this message looks at John chapter 12 and Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, with encouragement to commemorate Holy Week practices like foot washing and Good Friday at home.

In this installment of the Lenten Sabbath series, guest speaker Brian (filling in for Ben) reflects on the idea of a final, eternal Sabbath rest, camping out in Psalm 16 verses 1 through 11.

In the fourth week of the Lenten Sabbath series, this message examines Sabbath as commandment in Exodus chapter 20, set at Mount Sinai where God gives Israel the Ten Commandments after delivering them from Egypt.

Continuing the Lenten series on Sabbath, this message turns to Exodus chapter 16 and the giving of manna in the wilderness, where God teaches newly freed Israel to gather a double portion and rest on the seventh day.

Week two of the Lenten series on Sabbath returns to the creation account in Genesis chapter 2, framing the seventh-day rest as the culmination of God's good work and Adam's call to tend the garden as an invitation to rhythms of rest.

Marking the first week of Lent, this message introduces a season-long focus on Sabbath and rest as a practice of dependence on God, beginning with the creation account in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

Concluding the series on the church's four core values (story, peace, lineage, life), this message focuses on life by walking through the whole of John chapter 11, the raising of Lazarus from the dead.