The Tabernacle Sermons

Our greatest battle is with our flesh, and the consequences of sin put us in bad situations. We are our own worst enemy and desperate for a Savior.

If we harden our hearts and ignore God’s word, we cannot expect his help in desperate times. But if we seek God while he may be found, he always answers.

We are saved by God’s grace through faith. But sometimes we allow fear to overcome our faith, causing us to sin against God. Our faith must be fixed on Jesus, the one true King, to overcome all our fears.

As people invited to follow Jesus, we will find ourselves at crossroads of having to answer the call of living with what gets us through our circumstances or living by conviction to God’s call for our lives. Deja vu seems to happen and once again Saul’s life is in David’s hands. While David navigates what’s presented to him vs. what God had called him to well, we’re reminded that neither Saul or D...

Life is not a series of disconnected events. God is sovereign, and works everything together for the good of those who love him according to his master plan.

The Bible frequently describes the church as an army of believers, with a purpose to glorify God and fulfill His mission. Unfortunately many of us struggle to know who, whose we are, and the truth of the Gospel. We must understand that who God is and what God does is what determines who I am and what I do. This is the ‘Gospel Ladder.’ If we reverse it and begin with what I do as the determining fa...

In Ezekiel’s vision, the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet,(Ez 37:10). The rattle of revival begins individually, but is lived out and sustained collectively in community. The triune God exists eternally in community. God created man in his image and declared it not good for man to be alone. Jesus himself said he could do nothing on his own (Jn5), and chose a crew of tw...

Being a Christian can be expressed as being as much like Jesus as possible. We are flawed and sinful and our attempts will at times be a pretty ugly picture of the true Christ. However we are awash in grace and and our goal is not perfection but progress. When we look at the life of Jesus we see that he often sought a quiet place: Mk 1:35 rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark,...

The Resurrection of Jesus rattled human history like no other event. His followers were hopeless and helpless after his death, and the shock, horror and grief from Friday to Sunday must have been overwhelming. But when an angel first brought the news of Jesus’ resurrection with the words, ‘he has risen’, everything changed. The final word on Jesus was in. His resurrection was proof of divinity, hi...

The Tabernacle is a group of imperfect people desiring to be changed by the love & grace of a perfect God. We gather on Sundays to worship Jesus, then scatter to our communities as missionaries throughout the week.

On Palm Sunday Christians commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem, which announced his claim as the Messiah-King less than a week before his crucifixion. Jesus had changed the lives of his disciples and followers who now publicly proclaimed him. They laid their robes and palm branches on the route in front of him, and formed a giant parade that rattled the whole city. John’s Gospel records...

In the time of Ezekiel Israel was hopeless and helpless, spiritually dead and literally in captivity because of their sin. But God promised them new hearts, new spirits, and spiritual restoration (Ez 36:26-27). The vision of the dry bones demonstrates that God can revive lives by the power of his Spirit and through the obedient repentance of his people (37:1-10). When Ezekiel obeyed and prophesied...

Saul renews his pursuit of David, and providentially chooses to relieve himself in a cave that David is hiding in. David refuses to kill Saul, but stealthily cuts off a piece of his robe instead. Nagged by his conscience, David confronts Saul outside the cave, indicating he could’ve kill him but did not, and appeals to God to judge between them. Saul is moved to tears by David’s kindness and decla...

David is still on the run and Saul is bent on murder. At God’s leading he and his outlaws save Keilah from the Philistines. But Saul gets wind of it and God directs David to flee Keilah, protecting him from the pursuers into the wilderness of Ziph. Jonathon risks one last meeting with David, and God uses it to encourage him. The Ziphites join in hunting David, and at the last second he’s only save...

These chapters give us a sight on how two kings interact with the very same priest, do it poorly, and what each of them do that interaction. We’ve seen the flaws of the sitting king and this week we begin to see flaws in David. In both Saul and David, we see the fear of their present circumstances. We see two people with the decision if they’ll be spectators to their circumstances and get eaten al...

Actions in this life echo in eternity, and there is only a sliver between us and death. Ultimately, all that matters is where our supreme allegiance lies, and how we've responded to the love of God. Saul is in a rage and David is on the run. David finds Jonathan and tells him that Saul’s determined to kill him. Jonathan devises a plan to find out if this is true so he can warn David. Jonathan prom...

Life is a battle whether you are a Christian or not, with people and things battling for supremacy in our hearts. The only question is who or what will win the war for the throne? Spirit-filled David is a threat to spirit-less Saul who makes four more attempts on David’s life. The first is thwarted by Jonathon, the second by David’s quick feet, the third with Michal’s help, and finally the Spirit...

The dust has settled from the David and Goliath showdown, and we begin to see allegiances shift in Israel. They begin celebrating their new champion, and Saul isn’t happy about it. In this chapter we see the continued theme of The Spirit of God making the difference. This time we see it in the friendship that is formed between David and Jonathan, it says “Jonathans soul was knit to David’s”. This...

The story of an unlikely champion facing a giant enemy is the most famous duel in History. It’s not a myth or child’s fable, it’s fact. But who was the real hero? Time passes, and the army of Israel finds itself in a standoff with an enemy army across the Valley of Elah. The Philistines send a giant to defy Israel, challenging them to send a champion to fight Goliath to the death, with the losing...

God frequently chooses the most unlikely people to do his work. This is because the Lord sees differently than man, which is evidenced in the anointing of the future king, David. God instructs Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint the next king, one who would be “after his own heart.” Seven impressive sons of Jesse are paraded in front of Samuel, but none are selected. David, the youngest son, has...

Obeying God is for His glory and our good. But many of us are only willing to obey on our terms, choosing to obey the commands we like and ignoring those we don’t.

Trusting God seems like a risky proposition. It seems better to only trust yourself and what you can control. But scripture teaches that is not what faith looks like. Israel is threatened by a massive enemy. King Saul is in a cave, but his son Jonathon picks a fight armed with not much more than his faith in God. Jonathan courageously kicks off a battle believing that perhaps God might intervene b...

Trusting God might sounds simple but it is not easy. Saul foolishly chose to trust his own understanding, disobeyed God, and started down the easier way of destruction. One year into Saul’s reign, Jonathon kicks off a war with their enemies the Philistines. Saul calls the nation to face an overwhelmingly larger army, and the people are filled with fear and hopelessness. Many hide and flee, and the...

Christmas is past and gifts are given and opened. A gift costs something. Hand-made seem to be more from the heart. God’s gift to us is the most humble, perfect gift ever. And boy, did it have an unimaginable cost. We hear the story told this time of year, but often we don’t count the cost. We have mangers, sheep, Mary & Joe, lowing cattle, shepherds, angels on high, a cool star, wise men worshipp...

With Christmas Eve being the celebration of the SSK series coming to fruition in the flesh, we want to build off of those three roles of Christ. With Christ sitting on the throne of our lives in those three areas, then we truly have what he said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” (John 14:27). The moment we feel sit in shame of our past(Chri...