Sermons

Bible Text: Exodus 14:5-14, 16:1-4 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels | Series: Exodus Series By grace we’re saved, through faith. And once we’re on the right side, does it still come down to grace and faith? Or do we handle sin only with judgment, finding it hard to forgive ourselves and others? God’s grace is still required. Or do we get angry with God when life doesn’t come together the way we want? Faith in Him is still required. That’s because getting rescued from bondage to sin is a beginning, not an arrival. There is a long journey ahead.

Bible Text: Exodus 12:1-13, 24-32 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels | Series: Exodus Series A special service, we’ll be celebrating communion and remembering the story of Jesus right alongside the story of the Passover. Jesus was the firstborn Son of God and was sacrificed to protect and liberate us. Other sacrifices protected the ancient Israelites and led them to freedom. The Israelites were to mark time by the Exodus event and Christians mark time by Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection. All the connections show that the Old and New Testaments are one story and tell us of one faithful God whom we can trust

Bible Text: Exodus 6:28 - 7:7 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels | Series: Exodus Series The ten plagues of Exodus are a wholesale spiritual take-down of the life and gods of Egypt. But God knows it’s needed so that the Egyptians know that the Lord is God. The Israelites need to know it, too. And we need to know it. When God takes out idols, it is rarely painless for His people, but it is always salvation.

Bible Text: Exodus 5-6:1 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels | Series: Exodus Series As we live our suburban Chicago lives, it’s easy to settle in for the comforts of homes, jobs, family nearby, church going, and the stable rhythm of the years. But what if God calls us to change something? Surely since it’s His Will, when we obey, things will go smoothly… right? But actually no. God’s Will stands in opposition to a sinful world and our own sinful hearts, so obedience will meet resistance. Do you have the courage to see God glorified?

Bible Text: Exodus 1 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels | Series: Exodus Series This Sunday, we start a new sermon series in Exodus that will take us all the way into December. Exodus begins with God’s people, and then with them in a lot of trouble. They are subject to historical forces beyond them, a powerful king who doesn’t know God, and even they, too, seem to have forgotten their destiny. But the turn of the tide begins in God’s blessings, even a small one, because two women resist pharaoh. We, too, can learn to watch for the great moves of God beginning in the small.

Bible Text: Acts 15 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels In this third week of vision-renewal, we’ll hear from Acts 15, when the Jews pulled off a stunner and made things easy for the Gentiles. After 1500 years of separate-ness, God was grafting them into one community of Jesus-followers, and it was up to them to be intentional in forming new community and bending away from their own cultures and toward one another

Bible Text: Matthew 8:18-22 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels On this second Sunday of vision renewal month, I’ll be addressing the topic of discipleship, that is, how we live in a way that obeys Jesus. To do so is more difficult than we can grasp when we first respond to Jesus’ call, but that never excuses us from continually being led and getting better at walking His way. What’s your next step?

Bible Text: Isaiah 49:1-7 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels It’s to review and renew the NHC vision, mission, and values. We’ll start with outreach, and remembering that we are not the Savior, but the saved. It was Jesus’ destiny to be the light to the nations; we are the nations who have received the light. That means outreach has to come from humility, not pride in “being right.”

Bible Text: Deuteronomy 10:12-22 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels If we really love a person, we often try to imitate their best qualities, even if those qualities don’t come naturally to us. And what of God? God is love, we read in the Bible, but that’s not a vague or general ideal. The Bible gets specific – God loves His creation, yes, and His people, yes, and sinners, yes, and also the most vulnerable. How are you doing with imitating the love of God?

Bible Text: Leviticus 16 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels Maybe you’ve heard the idea that Jesus acted as a substitute to receive the consequences of our sin, but how does that really work? Can we really “transfer” sins or shame to someone else? To figure this out, we have to go back to the Old Testament and a special Israelite day called the “day of atonement.” On that day, the Israelites could come near again to their holy God as they offered sacrifices to cleanse themselves. All sinners must do the same, but the good news is that God has made it possible.