the Cross Orlando

Continuing the series on God as shepherd, this message argues we judge a spiritual leader by the culture of God's reign left in their wake, and turns to Matthew 11, where the imprisoned John the Baptist sends to ask whether Jesus is the one to come.

Continuing the series on God as shepherd with Psalm 23, this message turns to John 10, where Jesus declares himself the good shepherd who came that his sheep might have life abundantly.

Continuing the series on God as shepherd, this message examines how Jewish culture distrusted actual shepherds, then turns to Luke 15 and the parable of the lost sheep, where Jesus as shepherd seeks out tax collectors and sinners.

Continuing the series on God as shepherd, this message turns to Matthew 26, the Last Supper and Jesus on the Mount of Olives foretelling that the shepherd will be struck and the sheep scattered, alongside his prediction of Peter's denial.

Beginning a series on the shepherd metaphor in scripture, this message follows Psalm 23 into Jeremiah 23, where God rebukes Israel's failed shepherd-kings for scattering his flock and promises to gather his people and raise up a faithful shepherd.

Coming out of the series on the church's culture and into an uncertain new school year amid the pandemic, this message turns to Psalm 23, the Lord as shepherd, opening with a personal memory of the psalm sung at the preacher's grandmother's funeral.

The concluding message in the series on the culture of the church, recapping the core values of the reign of God explored over prior weeks, money, economy, rest, work, justice, and love, and how they shape the church living distinctly in the world.

Continuing the series on the culture of the church, this message recaps justice under the reign of God and turns to love as the action that restores what unjust action breaks, drawing on Psalm 51, David's response after his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah.

Continuing the series on the culture of the church, this message turns to justice under the reign of God, arguing it runs deeper than law and order and is grounded in humanity bearing the image of God (Imago Dei) from the creation account in Genesis 2-3.

Continuing the series on the culture of the church, this message recaps the church's values around money and rest, then turns to a theology of work, beginning in Genesis 2 where God places humanity in the garden to work it.

Continuing the series on the culture of the church, this message recaps the church's posture of generosity toward money and economy, then turns to how the people of God value rest, beginning with God modeling rest in creation.

Continuing the series on being the church in Orlando, this message explores the church's distinct culture and its relationship to money, arguing it is marked by generosity rooted in trust that God owns everything, drawing on Psalm 50 and a story about missionary Hudson Taylor.

Continuing the series through Acts, this message moves to the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) and the persecution in Acts 8 that scatters the church through Judea and Samaria, reflecting on Jesus's reign and how the church carries the culture of God's kingdom into every place it goes.

Continuing the series through Acts on the early church, this message returns to Acts 4:32-37, where the believers were of one heart and soul, held everything in common, and shared with the needy, considering what their unity and generosity mean for the church today.

Opening with Psalm 46 and beginning a series through Acts on the early church, this message examines Acts 2:42-47, the fellowship of believers after Pentecost who shared everything in common, and what that unrepeatable moment teaches about being the church today.

Marking Pentecost and beginning a series on what it means to be the church, this message turns to Exodus 3 and the burning bush, where God sees the affliction of his enslaved people and acts to deliver them, connecting it to the racial injustice and protests of 2020.

The concluding message in the "Poverty of Spirit" series by Johannes Metz, exploring how recognizing our human limitations becomes the doorway to encountering God, and how to respond to those decisive, awe-filled moments rather than grasping for control.

Continuing the "Poverty of Spirit" series, this message opens with Matthew 6:25-34 on anxiety and explores the "shapes" of human poverty, especially our provisional nature and lack of control over past and future, drawing also on Colossians 4.

Continuing the "Poverty of Spirit" series on Mother's Day, this message revisits the woman caught in adultery (John 8) as a model of poverty of spirit, then turns to Jesus's account of the final judgment in Matthew 25 to show how that posture works out in action.

Opening with Psalm 103 and continuing the "Poverty of Spirit" series, this message examines John 8 and the woman caught in adultery, contrasting the Pharisees' use of the law of Moses as a power scheme with Jesus's response to human frailty and limitation.

Continuing the meditation on poverty of spirit from Johannes Metz, this message centers on Philippians 2, exploring how the infinite God embraced full human frailty and limitation in Jesus, who emptied himself and took the form of a servant.

Preached in the Easter season, this message reflects on human powerlessness and poverty of spirit, drawing on the Beatitudes and Jesus's temptation in the wilderness in Matthew 4, with help from the book "Poverty of Spirit."

An Easter sermon on the empty tomb (Luke 23-24) and Romans 5, 6, and 8, proclaiming that Christ's resurrection means believers will rise too, that God moves first to reconcile us "while we were yet sinners," and that the risen Jesus gathers the reconciled into the family of God.

A Palm Sunday sermon on the triumphal entry (Luke 19), paired with Jesus' Nazareth manifesto (Luke 4), reflecting on uncontainable, genuine emotion toward Jesus and urging hearers to bring their authentic feelings, even anger, to God rather than settling into self-satisfied complacency.

A Lenten sermon on the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), preached during the early pandemic shutdown, showing how Jesus exposes the "wells" we return to for satisfaction, offers living water and salvation, and empowers her to worship in spirit and truth and become an evangelist.