Vernal Presbyterian Church Sermons

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us about two gates and two roads. The broad road is easy and leads nowhere good. The narrow road is hard and leads to life. This message works through three practical imperatives: take the right path, follow the right people, and make the right plea.

Jesus's words in Matthew 7:1–12 are among his most familiar — and most misunderstood. The world quotes "judge not" to resist accountability, and everyone knows the Golden Rule. But what is Jesus actually teaching? This sermon argues that Jesus calls us not to avoid judgment altogether, but to exercise biblical wisdom and discernment — beginning with honest self-examination. When we rec...

In this final petition of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus reckons with the danger that follows reconciliation — not just the temptation to sin, but the active opposition of "the evil one" when temptation fails. The sermon explores how Satan sets snares disguised as something good, how testing drives us to Christ rather than away from him, and why the prayer is ultimately not for comfort but f...

Most of us think of our sin as a few bad items on the ledger — manageable, if we just make the minimum payment. But we owe God perfection even before we consider our sins, and then add the penalty of each one on top. It's a debt that no one in history has ever repaid — except Christ, who took the hit on our behalf. The forgiving heart, Jesus says, is the heart that is ready to receive that.

We think of prayer as something reserved for big, spiritual things — but Jesus himself commands us to pray for bread. In this sermon on the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, we explore what it means to trust God with our most ordinary needs, and discover that the Father who provides for us on earth has given his Son, the Bread of Life, to feed us forever

Kyle Palmer of First Presbyterian Biloxi preaches on the true repentance God requires of us.

Most of us come to God with a list. "Thy will be done" is Jesus reorienting us before we get there — and it turns out there's more grace in that reorientation than we might expect.

In this sermon, we continue our series through the Lord's Prayer, moving to the second petition: "Thy kingdom come." What does it mean to pray these words? We explore what the Bible means by "kingdom," how Satan's kingdom of accusation and deception holds people captive, and how Christ's kingdom of grace and power is designed to overthrow it. We also look forward to the...

What's in a name? In our modern world, names often feel like arbitrary labels — just stickers we can swap out. But the Bible tells a different story. God's names reveal who he truly is, and when Jesus teaches us to pray "hallowed be thy name," he's inviting us to lift our eyes above our problems and our requests and to see the glory and majesty of the God we're approaching.

In this first sermon in a new series on the Lord's Prayer, Pastor Reid slows down to examine the opening words Jesus gives his disciples: "Our Father, which art in heaven." Why does Jesus address God as Father — and what does that mean for us? We explore what the Bible means by calling God Father (as Creator, divine Son, and adoptive Father), how all three persons of the Trinity are pr...

In this sermon from Matthew 6:22–34, we see that Jesus speaks not a word of rebuke but a word of comfort to anxious disciples. He diagnoses two sources of anxiety — spiritual blindness and divided loyalty — and offers two cures: returning to the light of God's promises, and seeking first his kingdom. At the center of it all stands Christ, who bore our full anxiety in Gethsemane and on the cros...

Jesus cuts through every false version of religion with one question: what are you seeking? The hypocrites practiced righteousness to be seen by men. But our Father, who sees in secret, calls us to something higher — stores of treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys. This message examines the heart of true religion: giving, prayer, and fasting done not for our own glory, but as sp...

Pastor Reid preaches on the newness of life found in Christ.

Pastor Reid preached for Good Friday.

Pastor Reid preaches on Jesus' command to love our enemies.

Pastor Reid preaches on Jesus' teaching about oaths and vows.

Pastor Reid preaches on sins of the heart.

Pastor Reid preaches on how Christians relate to the Law of God.

Pastor Reid preaches on the church's mission in the world.

Pastor Reid preaches on the beatitudes of Jesus.

Pastor Reid preaches for a special mid-week service.

Pastor Reid preaches on how the kingdom of heaven overcomes the kingdom of darkness.

Pastor Reid preaches on temptation.

Pastor Reid preaches on the baptism of Jesus.

Pastor Reid preaches on the message of John the Baptist.