Tri-State Community Church - Sermons

“I hate myself.” “I look in the mirror and I hate what I see.” “I am too fat.” “I am too skinny.” “I am ugly.” “I am a failure.” “People hate me.” Thoughts and feelings like these are powerful, crippling, and dangerous. As we have seen in our study of Genesis, these emotions have driven people to do dreadful things like selling Joseph into slavery. Because of these emotions you have loved ones sta...

What is true joy? What keeps us from having it? And when we experience it why does it flee so quickly. What are the things that extinguish it and cause it to decay. That is the subject Rick takes up in this message.

What is going to happen to us. This question lingers in the human mind more than we realize. Who do we turn to for answers? The “experts” who formulate theories and peddle them as gospel truth only to abandon them for the next theory? No! We need to hear from the Lord whose word of truth never changes. He has everything to say about what will happen to us in the days to come.

In Genesis 48 the people of God are in a very vulnerable spot. Jacob, the patriarch, is about to die and the household of faith are in Egypt. What will become of the people of God? Will they fall away? Will they be absorbed into the high-life of Egypt? The answer is just as comforting to us as it was to them--the people of God are in God’s amazing hands. This message explores the wonder of our Lor...

The Bible confirms that God is in control of all things. It also confirms that God intimately cares for His children. But how do we allow the truth that God is caring for us to confront our lack of faith in those moments when life's circumstances consume our thoughts and emotions? We need a renewed vision of Jesus Christ!

Do you know you can flourish in God’s grace even as your health, wealth, and success fail? For many years a false gospel of wealth, health, and prosperity has been proclaimed and heralded as the true gospel. These false preachers say “God doesn’t want any of His children to be sick and poor.” But health, wealth, and prosperity are blessings the Lord withholds from many of His true children while g...

To suggest that crisis is your friend could leave you labeled as insane. To teach that prosperity is of the Lord is an easy lesson. To teach the equally true precept that loss is of the Lord is no easy lesson. But to only embrace the first lesson with no knowledge of the second will leave you practically unable to cope with loss--loss you will certainly face in this lifetime if you haven’t already...

As we come to the last Sunday of 2019 we also come to the last Sunday of the decade. Let us recap all of the changes that have taken place. Where were you 10 years ago? What were you doing? Where did you work? Were you in college, school, or in between? Were you married? Had you met your spouse? Where you dating? Had the Lord blessed you with your children? When we entertain these kinds of questio...

What could be more astonishing than the Son of God stepping into time, space and history in the person of the Lord Jesus? Every believer should be absolutely astonished by this! Every human being! So ask yourself--are you absolutely astonished? Are you less than astonished? Has your earlier astonishment dimmed. Was there ever any astonishment? In this message Rick covers a number of reasons for th...

The Christmas story is familiar to many of us. But have you ever asked why a little town in Galilee? Why a virgin? Why a virgin birth? The Christmas story invites us to inquire into these questions and pays great dividends to those who do. In this morning’s message, Rick follows these questions into the very heart of the incarnation and from there sets forth three life-transforming truths taken fr...

This morning’s message is an attempt to speak to Gabriel’s words to Mary, namely, that the child who she will bear--Jesus--will be great. The heights of Christ’s greatness are truly unreachable with human oratory or language. Nevertheless, the Lord calls us to meditate often on the greatness of Jesus for it is one of the best remedies to heal our sin sick souls. May the Holy Spirit raise us to see...

One of the key words of Luke 1:5-17 is the word barren. The state of barrenness is a state of lifelessness--like a barren desert where nothing can live and prosper. In this text the Lord promises to visit his people who are largely barren with the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit through John the forerunner of Christ. This message is as relevant today as it was to the first century. We too are...

There are many who do not believe we can have certainty concerning salvation. But in this message, Rick shows us Luke writes his gospel so that we can have certainty! And Rick goes on to explain how Luke, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, establishes certainty. May your heart be encouraged to know you can have certain confidence in what Jesus has accomplished.

Meandering through life’s difficulties often requires vast wisdom. Perhaps one of the greatest fears we have is failing our children, parents, siblings, friends, and most importantly our Lord. The good news is, in our passage, we get a great lesson in how to negotiate these difficult seasons in a Christ-centered and God honoring way. In this message Rick explains the text calling us to trust Chris...

In this message, drawing from the end of Genesis 46 and the first half of Genesis 47, Rick labors to show that the joy and blessing of having God with us far exceeds all the misery, sadness, and heartbreak of this life.

If you have studied your bible for any length of time then you may have asked, “What do I do with all of these genealogies and lists of names that I cannot pronounce?” Before you skip over them one more time listen in to this message where Rick shows us that: 1) these lists are important to God. 2) these lists are part of God’s revelation to us where He shows us things about HImself 3) these lists...

Preached by Jim Bean

In this message Donald Bean examines the question of God's goodness in light of Revelation 1. How does this chapter and book of the Bible encourage our hearts when life becomes overwhelming? By reminding us that grace and peace are found in God alone and that God demonstrates his love for us perfectly in Jesus Christ.

In this message Donald Bean examines the question of God's sovereignty in light of Revelation 1. How does this chapter and book of the Bible encourage our hearts when life becomes overwhelming? By reminding us that grace and peace are found in God alone.

In this message Rick takes up the question of emotions standing in the way of fighting against our faith. How do we move forward in our faith when our feelings are saying “No!” Or when our feelings are saying “I don’t feel like it.” Or when we are scared of losing what our heart tells us are the good things of life.

In Genesis 45 we encounter two great themes: God’s providence and reconciliation. To many these may sound like cold, lifeless, and academic terms. In this message Rick shows us that an understanding of God’s providence can enable us to find healing, offer forgiveness, and ward off bitterness that may otherwise overtake us when bad things happen to us.

As we have been studying how the Lord is working in the hearts of Joseph’s brothers we have seen them face their sins. But so far they have stopped short of true repentance. In this study, Rick shows us how the Lord brings them to true repentance and what this repentance looks like.

In our previous study Joseph’s brothers began to face their secret sin. In this study, Rick shows us a second important parts of forgiveness, namely, the recognition of God’s mercy in Christ.

Guilt is an unspeakable word to modern society. We explain it away. We justify it away. We attempt to store it away as far as we can get it. But healing can never come until we face it, own it, and repent of it. In this message, Rick takes us through the hard road to repentance as it is illustrated for us in Genesis 42.

There is one thing that profoundly changes the heart and life of a sinner and that is a glimpse of the beauty, majesty, and splendor of Christ. In this message, drawing upon the multiple ways Joseph foreshadows Christ, Rick attempts to put forth Jesus in His beauty, majesty, and splendor.