First Pres Colorado Springs Sermons

How amazing is God’s grace? There are none who are so far from Christ that they cannot hear His voice, turn and live. Do you share Jesus with expectation that the person in front of you may soon be your eternal brother or sister in Christ? Can you see the unseen future of the lost being found and finding a new identity in Christ? There are amazing stories of conversion and revival. But every testi...

In one way or another, you will spend your life. The question is what will you spend it on. Jonah realized they were all doomed if he did not change course. He realized that death was coming over all of them, including himself. There was no more choosing. There was only one thing to do—give his life for theirs’. At that moment, he was willing to die to save the lives of the shipmates. Jesus said t...

What is your first reaction to God’s purposes in your life? Do you embrace them? Even the hard things? God had an errand for Jonah—go and preach grace to the citizens of Nineveh; go and preach love to your enemies. Jonah probably had a list of reasons in his own mind why he got on a boat to flee in the opposite direction. We are given an errand today. Go and preach forgiveness to the ends of the e...

What does it mean to have eternal life? It means you are in the love of God. Love goes on forever. As Paul said, hope lasts only as long as you are waiting for what you are hoping for. Faith lasts only until you know by sight the thing you once believed without seeing. But love. Love goes on forever and only grows greater. To put your faith in Christ is to be in Christ, in His love, which goes on...

The cross is the culmination of Jesus’ mission of love. The only way that God could be both just and the justifier of sinners, both righteous and the forgiver of rebels, is to send His own Son to pay the due penalty for our error and rebellion. God would not do that unless He loved us. God so loved the world, so loved the fallen, rebellious, spiteful world, that He gave His Son, His only Son. That...

On Palm Sunday, Jesus came into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Many crowded around singing “Hosanna!” Everyone wanted to see Jesus. Can you see Jesus? In this conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus says something has to happen before you can see. You must be born again from above, born again spiritually, fundamentally transformed and regenerated. Like a baby that opens its eyes for the first time,...

Jesus was forceful about removing the marketeers from the House of the Lord. The disciples were no doubt embarrassed and concerned. I wonder if they made up excuses for Jesus. “Honestly, He’s never like this!” Love and truth are connected. Sometimes love looks like this. Love removes what is damaging and perverse to return your life to right relationship with God. Jesus is willing to stand for tru...

Jesus turned water into wine. Jesus loved being Jesus. He must have! Look at how much fun He has. It was not a parlor trick. It reveals how invested Jesus is in people and the problems they have. Jesus is invested in us the same way. We ask, “Do all people matter to God?” Here is a seemingly insignificant young couple getting married. Jesus cared enough to expose His power and threaten His agenda....

When Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, they were moved to drop everything and follow. The conviction was immediate. We have a hard time trusting. Trust is a big deal. You have to earn it. It takes time to build up and can be destroyed in an instant. How did these men and women trust Jesus so quickly? People ask “Can I trust you?” They want someone to trust. Jesus is worthy of all our trust...

God took on flesh in Jesus to become for us the perfect sacrifice of atonement. Jesus came to give His life away in order to rescue us from sin and death. Other gospels tell us all about Bethlehem, where faultless lambs were bred and raised for sacrifice in the Temple. John washed the surface of a person with water. Jesus is the only one who can die for us and make us clean. People want to know, “...

Activated Disciples know what their ministry is. It’s not just about learning more and more information. It’s about serving Christ on mission in this world. Every member has a ministry. What is your ministry? Paul says to see him as a servant of Christ entrusted with mysteries revealed by God. We have been given a trust. How will you use it? The Core is those members who have found their ministry....

Disciples need deeper discipleship. Worshipers gather on Sunday to experience the joy of worship, but do they grow from milk to solid food? Worship is not a 1-hour a week thing. We belong to Jesus as Disciples. Have you taken a next step? Do you read the Bible at home? Do you pray outside of church? Do you worship God wherever you are? A disciple wants to be like Jesus in everything they do. They...

Worshipers need community to begin to grow into disciples. New believers have so much to learn. They are like infants drinking milk. We need the milk of Christian community. Learn how to be together, from all walks of life, and be part of a community of faith, the family of God. These are people who need to be encouraged in Christian community. This is the congregation encouraged to build communit...

Participants have stepped into the stream of the Jesus community, now they need to learn how to worship. These are people who need to be invited to exalt the Lord. We gather this crowd in services of worship and lift up Jesus among them so they can see and know the Lord. Paul told the Corinthian church there was just nothing higher, nothing more important, nothing more glorious than “Jesus Christ...

Community Members hear something about Jesus and his community, his followers. These are people who need to be Evangelized. We reach them through outreach. The believers in Corinth were entrusted with a remarkable mission—reaching people who were very different from Judeo/Christian values. Speaker: Tim McConnell

We sing songs of heaven today. Like a foreigner or immigrant who still sings the folk songs of her native land, we sing the songs of our coming Kingdom. We know them already. The Spirit has ingrained them in our hearts. When heaven comes down, these songs will fill the earth as the water covers the seas. Heaven is singing right now. Can you hear it? Can you join in the song? Speaker: Greg Hartnett

Speaker: Jamal Sarikoki

The shepherds were captured in a song of heaven. The chorus of angels appeared in the sky. Suddenly there was an inbreaking of heaven in their ordinary lives. Something interrupted and captured everything in the light of God. The song of heaven broke into the realm of earth. Can you hear the song of heaven? Can you hear the music of God? Can you respond in song? If you are in Christ, if Christ is...

But are you happy? What is your deepest longing? What have you been waiting to see from the core of your being? For Simeon, it was the fulfilment of a promise that one day he would see the “consolation of Israel.” I have seen the Lord! Nunc Dimittis, now dismiss your servant in peace. What would it take to say the same? To say, the Lord has provided for me and I am glad. Speaker: Tim McConnell

Zechariah speaks for the prophets about the prophetic work of John the Baptist. John will accompany the prophets in preparing the way for the Lord. When Kings traveled, roads had to be built before them to allow them to come with all their retinue. John the Baptist, and all the prophets before him, call on us to prepare the way for the Lord. Lower the high places, raise the lowered places. Make hi...

Mary’s song is sometimes called The Magnificat. My soul magnifies the Lord, she sings. Like many “songs” in scripture, it doesn’t necessarily say that she sang it, but the text is so lyrical and balanced it quickly became a song in the church if it wasn’t one originally. Mary’s song is a reminder of God’s faithfulness through history. God has intervened in the past. God will intervene again. God i...

How does a peacemaker make peace? Like a parent short on patience you could be tempted to simply yell, “Stop it!” But that’s not real peace. That’s not lasting peace. Peace, it is said, is not the absence of conflict but the presence of justice and righteousness. Shalom. The world made right as God intended. The world gives a promise of a kind of peace. Take three breaths as your Apple watch vibra...

Swipe left for love. Or is it right? I don’t know. But I do know this: love grows sweeter with time. Can there be love at first sight? Yes. But romantic fascination only turns into life-giving love with commitment over time. Marriage is an opportunity to grow longstanding love. So is friendship. The church is a housing for the development of longstanding love. The long and faithful love of God for...

There are many offers of instant joy, instant happiness, instant satisfaction. They never satisfy. Jesus is invested in your joy. Jesus is sacrificially sponsoring of your joy and happiness. It doesn’t come with the instant solution, but with humble obedience to the Lord’s Word over time and variable experience. Abide with the vine, Jesus, and watch joy emerge from the deepest and darkest roots un...

Abide in me, says Jesus. Hang on to me as I hang on to you. Stay attached. A vine is like a hose in being connected to the source, but it is so much unlike a hose in the slow and unseen way that life moves through it in its connection to the trunk. You don’t grow fruit by dipping the roots of a fruit tree into the soil once or twice a year. You keep the roots in the good soil and you watch, and yo...