First Pres Colorado Springs Sermons

Show me a picture of home. Is that too much to ask? God doesn’t think so! In fact, Revelation paints the picture well. Like a brochure of a coming glory land, we have a picture of heaven. Not enough to fill in every detail, but enough to make us hunger and know that we will one day be satisfied. Like the brochure for Alpha Centauri in “Lost in Space.” I can’t know every detail, but it looks good!...

Hope is borrowing the future to pay off the present day. The reality of what is coming changes the reality of what I experience today. Home is out there. It is on the way. My longing is not just endless, existential angst. It is a thirst that will one day be slaked, a hunger that will one day be sated in a glorious exercise of feasting before the Lord with joy. This promise is not an empty encoura...

Yes, you have already been adopted into the family of grace. You have a home waiting and you are beginning to see your place at the table. You are on your way home. Your story (narrative) attaches to God’s great story (metanarrative). The fact that you are part of that larger story makes your own story tolerable. How can I keep connecting to that larger story? Prayer, the Word, sacraments and sanc...

Finally, yes, finally, we come to Jesus. What if I told you that Jesus Christ is the satisfaction of every longing you have? He is the fountain of life that satisfies the thirsty; the bread of life that satisfies the hungry. He is the way home for the lost and wandering. He is the home, and He is the way home. Scattered across the globe are believers in Jesus Christ meeting today at table to recei...

But is there a home? It seems so far away now, I can hardly recall it. Maybe there is no home, just the longing. No. The longing proves we were made for something called home. (“…physical hunger does not prove that man will get any bread…but surely a man’s hunger does prove that he comes of a race which repairs its body by eating and inhabits a world where eatable substances exist.” C S Lewis, The...

It is the story of the people of God. They wandered. Abraham wandered from his homeland (a wandering Aramean). The Israelites wandered in the desert after liberation from Egypt. The people of God wandered away from faithfulness over and over, called back to salvation by a faithful and loving God. I wonder how you handle the wandering in your own soul? Has it caused you to make a few wrong turns? T...

Now we all long for home. We are wanderers in a foreign land. It’s hard to remember what home was like. Ruth is a good picture of this. Far from home, she seeks solace in a connection with her mother-in-law. It is a good connection. But the real home she needs is somewhere held by a Kinsman Redeemer who will welcome her into the family she was always supposed to join, the land where she was always...

Something in us is always leaving. Yearning pulls us. Longing unroots us. Our wandering hearts are always edging toward the door. How could you lose such a home as Eden? What could compel the human spirit to walk out of God’s carefully-fashioned home for us? Temptation creeps in where our hearts long for more. It is two truths and a lie. A little falsehood mixed in with a body of truth and our dis...

In the beginning, we were home. We were very much at home. Everything the Lord created, the Lord created to make us feel at home. The world we live in still reflects so much of this. The anthropic principle stuns us thinking about the carefully crafted home that sustains our life. Deep within every human being is a knowledge that there is a place called “home” that we must somehow find. Speaker: T...

Never forget God is there. This is a psalm worthy of memorization. Hide it away in your heart. When you are challenged, shaken, pressed upon and sad, this is the message to remember. The Lord is my shepherd. God is there, even when I feel like He is absent. He never stops caring for me. He never stops guiding me. He never stops restoring my soul. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Never forget the Lord w...

Never forget God is there. This is a psalm worthy of memorization. Hide it away in your heart. When you are challenged, shaken, pressed upon and sad, this is the message to remember. The Lord is my shepherd. God is there, even when I feel like He is absent. He never stops caring for me. He never stops guiding me. He never stops restoring my soul. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Never forget the Lord w...

Never forget God is there. This is a psalm worthy of memorization. Hide it away in your heart. When you are challenged, shaken, pressed upon and sad, this is the message to remember. The Lord is my shepherd. God is there, even when I feel like He is absent. He never stops caring for me. He never stops guiding me. He never stops restoring my soul. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Never forget the Lord w...

Depression, like anxiety, can be a serious mental and emotional disorder. It can be a cause to reach out for help and bring a professional into your life. If you are looking for help, we have a Counselors Coalition. Remember when you are sad, or even if you are walking through a long season of depression, coming to terms with your emotional health as a part of your life that doesn’t sit right all...

Sometimes smart people do dumb things; wise people do foolish things; good people do bad things; godly people do sinful things. The older I get, the more tempted I am to think that God may just be done with me. Will God really forgive me AGAIN? When you fail and fall into sin, it is time to turn toward God, not away from God. You need humility and forgiveness, not shame and guilt. God will forgive...

I do love that phrase, “an ever-present help.” What does it mean to be ever-present? That’s more than just present. Can I believe that God is ever-present to me in my life? In times of joy and laughter, God is there. In times of distress, God is there. When I’m thriving, God is present. When I’m active in sin, God is even there. Sometimes we fall fearful. Sometimes we burn with anxiousness or even...

When you get a bad deal, or something comes out in your life unfair, it can turn your heart away from God. Why would God let this happen to me? Doesn’t God care that I am being treated this way? The Psalms are the prayerbook of the Bible, and in many ways a wonderful guide to the range of emotions we experience in life, and in our life with God. Psalm 73 is a guide for us. How can we navigate thos...

Walking With Jesus begins when you put your faith in Him and believe. It doesn’t just change your mental landscape. Belief in Jesus is not just one more idea to add into your conception of the world around you and the life you lead. Putting your faith in Jesus is the opening of a door and walking through, a commitment of your whole life into His hands, a stepping out on the water from the boat. Th...

Have you ever had the experience of showing a friend around town who comes from another place? All of a sudden, you see everything through his or her eyes. It all seems new and fresh! Walking with Jesus has a way of making all things new. The light of Jesus shines on all we see. Embrace the newness of life by Walking with Jesus. Speaker: John Goodale

There seems to be so much power in those words, “Follow me,” from Jesus. Never does it read, “So the person said to Jesus, ‘OK, I’ll think about it. I’ll get back to you.’” No. It is always just as it is for Matthew here. So he got up and followed Him. Matthew was leaving a lot behind. It was a radical and transforming decision to stand up, walk away from his past, and begin walking with Jesus. An...

Who has the authority to forgive? A judge can expunge your record. A principal may be able to erase your demerits. Usually, the person you wronged has to offer and provide forgiveness if you want to be forgiven. Who can forgive sin against God? Only God. In this moment, Jesus claims the authority to forgive sins. The man had a problem with his physical body. Jesus gave him the ability to walk. But...

Know that God is our Savior (v 35). How? In Jesus Christ. Jesus has come near to save. Jesus has delivered us among the nations. Keep the fires alive. Keep the honor and reverence and worship alive. Let’s be serious about our salvation. Let’s be serious about our relationship with God. Jesus gave His life to save us. Honor the Lord. Fear the Lord. Worship the Lord. Jesus is our Savior. What is you...

God is worthy of praise. It is right to give Him thanks and praise. It is good for you to worship the Lord and to take pause to remember all that God has done for you. Remember His covenants. Remember the answered prayers. Remember how God has moved from generation to generation. We sing and celebrate the faithfulness of God today in our moms, kids, grandkids, graduates and more. Lift God higher a...

Is it really necessary to spend so much? Is it really appropriate to make such a big deal of worship? Is it worth the cost of bread, cakes and dates for every citizen? David is extravagant in celebration of the Lord. In fact, David lets his passion go and dances in the street before the ark in the presence of the Lord. His wife didn’t like it. But David told her, “I will become even more undignifi...

It wasn’t a problem of making too much of God; it was a problem of being too familiar with God. When I was a child, God seemed very distant and frightening. I was relieved by Jesus’ teaching to pray to God as Abba, Father. I was relieved to see how Jesus wants to call us friends (John 15:15) and wants to walk intimately with us. But have we lost something of the reverence? Not a distant fear of an...

This is one of the stranger moments in the Scriptures. What was so wrong with trying to steady the ark and keep it from falling? Did this man really need to lose his life for this error? Nevertheless, this is how the life of Uzzah came to a sudden end. Lives end suddenly in all kinds of ways, and those of us watching should try to learn what we can in our confusion and grief. David did learn. He w...