Sermons

Bible Text: 1 Samuel 15:1-31 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels Saul is Israel’s first king and he is God’s appointed guardian to keep the people in right relationship with God. The trouble is that Saul’s heart is divided about this. Following God might be unpopular! So Saul disobeys God to please the people, but loses the Kingdom. Is your heart undivided in obedience to God? Or do you prefer excuses, circumstances, and peer pressure? The “Lent” season has started, and it’s time for heart-examination and for God to undivide our divided hearts.

Bible Text: 2 Thessalonians 3 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels The Thessalonian Christians were under pressure – false teaching, persecution, and anxiety about the end-times challenged their young faith. But Paul writes to them to remind them from where they can receive the perseverance and the peace to do the next right thing. As long as they keep relying on God in faith and love, they’ll make it through. So will you.

Bible Text: 2 Thessalonians 2 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels Thinking of the “end times” and trying to clearly interpret Biblical prophecy and vision about them often raises our anxiety. In 2 Thessalonians 2, there is talk of rebellion and lawlessness and a restrainer, but it is very difficult to be sure who is who and what is when. How can we rest if we don’t have the answers?! The same way Christians have always been told to rest: keep the faith in Jesus.

Bible Text: Colossians 3:1-2 | Preacher: Evangelist Raphael Beecham, Jr. Evangelist Raphael Beechams who is the guest pastor will be coming from Colossian 3:1-2 and sermon titled: Staying Focused on Jesus in the Midst of Worldly Distractions.

Bible Text: Matthew 1:18-25 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels What if God came to us in a perfect story? Born into a nice family who has it all together, Jesus’ birth is only cause for rejoicing and an darling gender reveal post. He becomes the prom king, then takes on the family business from his father and earns success by hard work and skill. Then, after a transcendent experience in baptism, just like how it’s usually painted, He does God’s Will… That would be a nice story, but it’s not the true one. We need the true one because if God’s rescue comes through a mess, it gives us realistic hope for what God can do with our own real messes.

Bible Text: Joshua 2 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels It’s one thing to learn from our mistakes or come to accept and peace that God can use our mistakes. But what about those mistakes that follow us, cling to us, and come to define us? What about those sins that root shame deep in us? Today, we’ll hear two stories of shamed women who have become part of God’s plan. The third story is up to you – will you let God’s grace redeem your shame?

Bible Text: Exodus 2 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels We heard how God can make the ordinary beautiful by being present in the midst of the ordinary. This week, we take a deeper step: God can make our messes and mistakes beautiful by making them serve His purposes in us. That’s what He does in the life of Moses, the boy who lived, a killer, and an exile, who becomes the leader of liberation for God’s people.

Bible Text: Exodus 26:1-7, 14-15, 30-37 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels From Exodus to an advent series about God making beautiful things.  This week, we’ll consider the meaning of the materials used in the tabernacle. They sound extravagant, but come from very common sources along the Israelites’ route out of Egypt toward God’s promised land. That way, every time they went to worship, they’d remember the story of what God had done for them. If you could take a small bag with simple items in it to remember and tell your story with God, what would you take? (Exodus 26)

Bible Text: Exodus 19:1-8, Exodus 20:1-21 | Preacher: Pastor Daniel Roels | Series: Exodus Series When we read the laws in the Old Testament, sometimes we get the impression that the Israelites had to live up to the rules in order to be God’s people. That would be relating to God on the basis of how good someone is, in other words, “works-righteousness.” But in fact, the Israelites already ARE God’s people when they receive the law. They were saved by grace, too, and the law is how they were to live once they had been delivered from Egypt. So God has worked the same way throughout history, and that means we have another reason to trust him.

Bible Text: Acts 17:16 | Preacher: Rev. Robert Price We welcome Pastor Robert Price to the pulpit:  Our electronic culture is moving away from face-to-face oral tradition toward a virtual, visual culture that emphasizes sight. Young people sit next to each other and text to communicate. Sound is not important in text world. We have many Facebook friends, but few real friends that know the sound of our voices. “All the lonely people, where do they all come from?”