Genesis

Being a Godly Man

The Lord Will See

March 10, 2021

What does it mean to be a man? The answer to this question isn't always easy to arrive at, especially given the confusion we see in our modern culture. Like everything in creation, man was created with a certain design and purpose, but that design was corrupted by the fall. This sermon examines what is perhaps the chief launching point for God's answer to this problem—the restoration of God's purposes for men in the calling and ultimate test of Abraham. Abraham was the father of all who believe. And it was his belief in God as his ultimate provision that led him to leave a legacy for other men that will echo into eternity.

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Entering God's Rest

There Remains a Sabbath Rest

May 3, 2021

Part 1 of the series, "Entering God's Rest" (July 2019). If you're like most modern people, you have some trouble with rest. Most of us spend our week chasing the never-ending demands of work, whether it's job deadlines, needy children, or unending laundry. But as disciples of God we don't only have the benefit of rest promised to us, it is also a holy expectation. Are Christians meant to observe the Sabbath? Perhaps not in the way they did in the Old Testament. But our very growth and health in the Christian walk is dependent upon us following the rhythm of God's creation. This starts with regularly stopping what we are doing to conquer our world...to pause and sanctify the God who created everything. Entering God's rest is the only way we can give our work the dignity and effectiveness we so greatly desire.

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Marriage and Singleness

Cross Purposes

May 31, 2021

Part 1 of the series, "Marriage and Singleness." God created marriage for different purposes. One of the chief purposes was to give us the most complete picture of his nature, and to also show the ideal way that human beings can come together to love God and love each other well. However, our purpose for marriage is often at "cross-purposes" with God's. How can we pursue God's purpose for marriage in the midst of our fallenness? The answer is making the cross the fundamental purpose and driving-force behind our marriage. Only through the cross can two truly become one under God for a lifetime. (Note: Due to technical difficulties, you will experience some gaps and broken continuity during the message.)

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Marriage and Singleness

It Is Not Good for Singles to Be Alone

June 14, 2021

Part 3 of the series, "Marriage and Singleness." The word "single" certainly seems to be associated with the word "alone." Whether you're single as a young person, never married but still want to be, whether you've lost a spouse due to death, separation, or divorce, or whether you look at your singleness as a lifetime calling––being single can leave a hole in your life that you constantly want filled. How can a single person view their aloneness, their place in God's Kingdom, their desire for wholeness that seems to come only from marriage and romantic relationships? Is there anything they can do to remedy these problems for however long they're single? This message attempts to answer these questions, both for the single person, but also for the church who is called to love, value, and support single people in their desire for purpose and relationship.

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Belonging to Him

Life Is Relationship

August 2, 2021

Part 1 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. This introductory sermon claims that the deepest need of the human heart is to belong to others in healthy, fulfilling personal relationship. And by no coincidence, God is both personal...and relational (sermon recorded in 2018.)

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Belonging to Him

Everything Personal

August 16, 2021

Part 3 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. This final introductory sermon declares that in the midst of an impersonal, lonely world, God has shared his personal name and has called us by name. From the very beginning of time through the coming of Jesus, God has reached out to us in the most intimate way imaginable: showing compassion for our affliction, delivering us from sin, coming alongside to walk with us in life's journey. For this transcendent, holy God of Scripture, everything is personal (sermon recorded in 2018.)

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Belonging to Him

It Is Not Good That Man Should Be Alone

August 23, 2021

Part 4 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. Over seven billion people live on this planet. And yet, the world can be such a lonely place. So often in our despair and hopelessness, we don't know where to turn. But God, more than any other person in the universe, understands our loneliness and offers us the path to belonging to him (sermon recorded in 2018).

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Belonging to Him

The Warm Embrace of Grace

September 20, 2021

Part 8 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. Are you in need of a big hug? We all are at times. How about a hug from God? Exploring the story of the Prodigal Son and Jesus's words in the Beatitudes, we can discover the warm embrace of grace and forgiveness that God offers to our love-starved, weary, and heavy-laden souls (sermon recorded in 2018).

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Belonging to Him

True Relationship

October 4, 2021

Part 10 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. So many are in our world are searching for truth. But for most of us, the deepest needs of our hearts aren't fundamentally satisfied by an awareness of truth, but by the integrity of our personal relationships. So, yes, we should ask, "What is truth?" But we also need to ask, "Who is faithful?" "Who will keep their promises?" To satisfy the deepest needs of our heart, we must also ask, "Who is true?" (sermon recorded in 2018).

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Belonging to Him

The Word of Relationship

October 11, 2021

Part 11 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. Words have power. They shape our world. They inspire and instruct. They create and destroy. God's words, or God's Word (the Bible), does all these things too. But God's Word also transforms us. And God's Word ultimately, as the living embodiment of Christ himself, is the chief means God uses to invite us to live in relationship with him...and belong to him (sermon recorded in 2018).

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Belonging to Him

Freedom in Relationship

October 18, 2021

Part 12 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. For many of us who live in democratic nations, it is right to elevate ideals like independence, freedom of religion, and speech. But these are civil liberties and can never truly liberate us from the deeper areas of bondage: depression, prejudice, compulsive behavior, hopelessness, separation from God. Freedom from that kind of bondage can only be found when we surrender our spiritual right to self-government to the lordship of Jesus Christ. True and transcendent freedom isn’t just about being liberated from what binds us, but liberated for relationship with God and our neighbor in need (sermon recorded in 2018).

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Belonging to Him

Absolute Relationship

November 1, 2021

Part 14 of 23 in the extended series "Belonging to Him," which takes an in-depth look at the Gospel through the lens of personal relationship. Traditional Christian apologetics focus mainly on defending absolute truth. While this should be part of our focus, our first priority should be living in absolute relationship with God. We must know him intimately in every possible way, experiencing the reality of eternal life long before we ever set foot in heaven. Like with his first disciples, it must be clear to others that we have been with Jesus (sermon recorded in 2018).

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Advent and Christmas 2018

Born Again

December 6, 2021

(Note: We're taking a break from the "Belonging to Him" series for the holiday season and will pick back up with Part 2 on January 17th. This week, you’ll be hearing the second sermon John shared from a 4-part Christmas series while pastoring a church in the country of Honduras.) Jesus says that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must become like a little child with a childlike faith. The same applies when it comes to the nature of our focus during the season of Christmas. Like a child, we must return to a pure heart of faith, hope, and dependence, and to an embrace of the new life offered through the birth of Christ. In essence, we must be "born again" during Christmas, and return to the purity of heart that exists within any newborn child of God.

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Advent and Christmas 2018

But…God

December 20, 2021

(Note: We're taking a break from the "Belonging to Him" series for the holiday season and will pick back up with Part 2 on January 17th. This week, you’ll be hearing the final sermon John shared from a 4-part Christmas series while pastoring a church in the country of Honduras.) One of the best ways to describe the birth of Christ is with the phrase, "But...God." It goes like this: the world was sinking deep in sin, but God entered into our world, became one of us, and joined us in our weakness and suffering so we could join him in eternal strength and joy. The light shines in the darkness and, because of the coming of Christ, the darkness will never overcome.

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A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven

Forward and Back Again

December 27, 2021

(Note: We're taking a break from the "Belonging to Him" series for the holiday season and will pick back up with Part 2 on January 17th. This week, you’ll be hearing the first sermon John shared from the series, "A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven" while pastoring a church in the country of Honduras.) Every year around New Year's Eve, people take stock of their lives and make a New Year's resolution. They look forward into the coming year. They look back at the year that was. But looking forward and back again with God offers you a resolution—and revolution—for how to view time itself.

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Belonging to Him

Who Does He Say That I Am?

January 31, 2022

Part 17 of 23 in the series, "Belonging to Him". Jesus once asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" In our encounters with Jesus, we should also answer this question, but then we should ask, "Who does God say that I am?" Understanding and claiming our identity in Christ should be a foundational and constant confession of faith. Because who we are is shaped by who we're with. And who we are in Christ will define what we have in him and how we then choose to live (recorded in 2019.)

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Belonging to Him

No Greater Romance

March 14, 2022

Part 23 of 23 in the series, "Belonging to Him." It may seem odd to imagine that we're called to have a "divine romance" with God. But the human marriage and intimacy with God have many parallels, seen especially in the Garden of Eden and in Revelation's Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In the time in-between, Jesus serves as our mediator, calling us to healing and restoration with God. And Jesus serves as our Suitor, the bridegroom who sacrificed himself so we could live with God happily ever after. There's no greater romance than that (sermon recorded in 2019).

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