Sunday Sermons

Last week, we looked at two visions of judgment for Israel that the Lord revealed to Amos concerning Israel, in which the Lord relented in response to Amos’ intercession. In contrast, the two visions in this week’s passage depict judgments that will certainly come to pass. They serve as a sobering reminder that God’s patience will not endure indefinitely and as a warning that His people today must take seriously.

As we approach Amos 7, we are confronted with a series of visions that the Lord shows the prophet concerning Israel’s future destruction. However, the opening section of this chapter (7:1-6) provides a slight shift in tone from everything we have read so far. It provides a glimpse of God’s mercy in response to Amos’ intercession on behalf of the people.

After calling Israel out for their meaningless and superficial displays of worship in chapter 5, the Lord continues to expose the nature of a life lived devoid of genuine acknowledgement of God. Even though they are the Lord’s chosen people, their sin must be addressed and punished.

In the second half of Amos 5, God confronts Israel’s false assumptions in their standing before the Lord. This misplaced assurance is evident in their eagerness for the “day of the Lord” to come, as well as their continued outward religious practices. Yet God is not impressed with their external displays of devotion. Their hearts remain far from him and his righteous judgment will soon come upon them.

Amos 5 continues to reveal the nature of Israel's coming judgment as well as the reason for it. Even in the pronouncements of his righteous judgment, we also gain a greater glimpse of God’s heart for his people. Though the message of what is to come may be sobering, there is still hope to be found for those who are genuinely seeking it.

The second half of Amos 4 focuses on the things that God has done to get Israel’s attention. Even so, they refuse to turn to him and continue their rebellion. This week’s passage offers a glimpse of God’s incredible patience towards his people while also revealing the extent to which the human heart can become hardened.

This week, we move into chapter four, where God has a word for the women of the land who are complicit in the nation’s sin. This passage gives us greater clarity regarding Israel’s actions and what God is going to do in response. The issue is not only their outward behavior, but also the posture of their hearts toward God that lies behind those actions.

In God‘s continued indictment against Israel, Amos moves the case further in 3:9–15. In this passage, we get further explanation into the nature of Israel’s evil as well as the way God is going to punish them. It is a lesson that serves as a warning for us on what we can expect when we are insistent to hold onto sin.

After calling out the nations for their sin and proclaiming judgment upon them, God turned his attention to his own people in last week’s passage. The focus will remain on Israel throughout the rest of the book. In the beginning of chapter 3, God reminds Israel of their relationship to him as his people and shows how the very nature of this relationship actually serves as a witness against them in their continued rebellion.

In last week’s passage, God delivered a word of judgment for the outside nations. In this week’s text, the Lord centers his attention on the sins of his own people. This serves as a humbling reminder that God’s grace is not to be taken lightly and that the way we live our lives matters to Him.

Last week, we were introduced to the idea that God has a difficult word to deliver through Amos–he is about to roar at his people, Israel. However, before he delivers his message to them, the Lord declares judgment on the nations that surround them (1:3-2:3). It is a reminder that all people will be held accountable to a holy God, and that no injustice will go unpunished.

Honoring God is the first principle in a sermon series entitled “Thriving on Chaos” and correlates to Chapter 10 in Hear Me Now on the mark of praise. “We are called as Samuel was to a life given over wholly to the Lord,” Pastor Jerry said. He emphasized that no matter what, we can have confidence that as we honor God and do the right thing, God will honor us and, more importantly, he will honor himself. The key is God’s glory! Fernando, someone whose story was shared during this sermon, was not casual in any way about praising God. He illustrates how the joy of honoring and glorifying God far outweighs any cost.

Now that we have concluded our series in Matthew, we go back in time approximately 700 years, before the birth of Christ, to the book of Amos. It is a time of prosperity for God's people. But it is also a time of moral decay and empty worship. In these first two verses of the book, we see that God is sending a messenger to deliver news that will upend the comfortable life of the people of Israel.

He is risen indeed! On this Resurrection Sunday, we conclude our more than two-year-long series in the Gospel of Matthew by celebrating our Lord’s glorious resurrection and the calling that is placed on His disciples’ lives in response to His victory.

On this Palm Sunday, we have arrived at the point to which the Gospel of Matthew has been guiding us over the last two and half years: the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this account of the events of that day, the author doesn’t spare the details of the utter humiliation our Lord faced. Yet, at the moment Jesus yielded his spirit, we get a glimpse of the Lord's victory through the responses of some of the witnesses, including creation itself.

After Jesus has been abandoned, betrayed, arrested, and accused by his own people, Matthew depicts Him standing trial before the Roman governor Pilate. Unlike the Jewish religious leaders, Pilate doesn’t personally find any fault with Him. Nevertheless, God’s sovereign plan for redemption moves forward as Pilate yields to the external pressures of the crowd.

In this week’s passage, we briefly turn from what is happening to Jesus and focus on Judas’ demise. Clearly, Judas is affected by how events have played out after his great betrayal, which leads to the taking of his own life. However, the real conflict of this text is the question of what to do with the money, and it tells us a great deal about what is going on in the hearts of the characters involved.

At this point in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has been arrested. This week's text gives us two scenes of events immediately following his arrest: Jesus standing before the high priest, and Peter with bystanders in the courtyard just outside. The truth is being questioned, and only one is willing to testify to it.

Our entire journey through Matthew over the last two and a half years has been all about the anticipation of God’s plan to establish his kingdom through Jesus. In this week’s passage, we clearly see that plan get put into motion with his betrayal and arrest. Though it may seem unlikely to us, Jesus’ abandonment and His being taken into custody by human authorities were necessary for fulfillment of this kingdom.

As we journey through the events of Holy Week in Matthew 26, the narrative leads us to the account of Christ instituting the Lord’s Supper. This is a profound and dramatic moment in which Christ reveals the significance of His death and explains how it applies to His disciples. It also demonstrates that the condition of our hearts shapes the manner in which we partake of the meal.

As we turn to chapter 26, we now enter into the home stretch of the Gospel of Matthew. This week's text confronts us and the disciples with the reality of the Lord's impending death and gives us a glimpse inside the minds and hearts of those involved. However, it is not meant to be a mere description of events as they played out. This passage provides a means to examine our own hearts as we consider what it means to worship the King.

In our brief pause from our walk through the Gospel of Matthew, we take some time to consider the overall mission of God revealed in the pages of Scripture. From the very beginning, God has had a plan, and that plan includes using His people to bring it to fulfillment. This is an idea that ought to shape the lives of each and every one of us as we consider how we live in this world today.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus finishes his long answer to the question that the disciples asked in Matthew 24:3. In the preceding passages, Jesus has identified the signs to watch for and has instructed his followers on how to live in preparation for his eventual coming. In concluding this section of Matthew he focuses squarely on the nature of the final day—a reality that is both sobering and encouraging.

In last week’s message, we walked through Jesus’ words to the disciples concerning what they (and we) ought to expect at the end of the age. In 24:45-25:30, Jesus presents three parables to teach us how to live in light of these realities. It is a message that is meant to both encourage

In last week’s text, Jesus began to answer the disciples’ questions about signs of the end of the age. In this week’s text, he goes further, offering greater detail about what the disciples themselves can expect in the days ahead. Although this chapter of Matthew has long been a source of controversy for many Christians throughout history, the main reason that Jesus is communicating these things is to prepare us for how we should be living in light of them.

Now that we are firmly into 2026, we enter into the home stretch in our journey through the Gospel of Matthew. In this week’s text, Jesus addresses a question that his disciples, and all followers of his since, have asked: When will the end come? Our Lord gives us a word here that is meant to steel our resolve and prepare us to persevere in this age.

As we move beyond the Advent season, we look ahead to journeying together into 2026. Our hope is that we will grow in our love for Christ and mature as his followers. Our engagement with his Word is central to this goal. Deuteronomy 6:4–9 gives us a picture of what it means to be God’s people and shows how our approach to Scripture shapes our relationship with him.

Worship Guide

Christmas Eve serviceWorship Guide

Worship Guide

As we move into the third week of Advent, we continue to see what the New Testament epistles have to say about the incarnation of Jesus. Interestingly, in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatian church, where he is emphatic about living in the truth of the crucified Christ, he takes a turn in chapter four to also recognize the importance of the incarnate Christ.

The second week of Advent is often associated with the idea of peace. As we continue to anticipate “God With Us” by exploring what the New Testament epistles say about the incarnation, we as believers, can rejoice and rest in the peace that comes only through the generosity of Jesus Christ.

Advent is a season for us to reflect upon the profound miracle that God would become fully man in order to save us. But it is not something that is to be merely appreciated from afar. The incarnation of the living Lord is meant to be embraced in such a way that we are changed in meaningful and magnificent ways.

This week we took a look at the topic of assurance of salvation. Whether we can be sure that we are truly saved is a question that almost all believers struggle with from time to time, but it is not a question that lacks an answer.

In this final passage that we will look at before the Advent season, we see our Lord’s last verbal confrontation with the Pharisees in Matthew. It proves to be the strongest indictment against the religious establishment yet. The nature of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy is laid plainly before them and we get a glimpse of what is to come as a result of their sin.

In this portion of Matthew 22, we witness an assault by the religious leaders on Jesus through a series of questions. Even though they were asking him the “impossible” questions of their day, our Lord answers each one of them directly and leaves everyone speechless with his responses. This week's passage gives us another example of an attempt by Jesus' enemies to destroy him without success.

At the beginning of Matthew 22, Jesus continues his teaching through parables. And in this week's passage we are presented with a parable of a king whose invitation to a great wedding feast for his son is met with some surprising responses. In understanding these responses we learn what type of people will be part of the kingdom as well as those who won’t.

After the events of Jesus entering into Jerusalem and overturning tables in the temple, Matthew includes an interesting, and slightly odd, story of Jesus cursing a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. The broader point that is being made by the Lord is with the religious leaders over his authority and where they stand in regards to the kingdom.

Chapter 21 opens up with a well known story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the stir he causes within the temple grounds. These events may be familiar to many of us, but this story is filled with imagery and Old Testament references which paint a fuller picture of who Jesus is and what he came to do.

At the end of Matthew 20, we come across this short story of Jesus’ interaction with two blind men on the road toward Jerusalem. This interaction teaches something crucial about our Lord, as well as the type of people that will populate his kingdom.

In this week's passage, the disciples are reminded again of the Lord's upcoming suffering. This is followed up with a bold request that is made by the mother of James and John. Jesus takes this as an opportunity to teach his followers what life in the kingdom actually looks like and how different it is from what we see in the world.

After last week's interaction with the rich young man, Jesus gives a parable concerning reward in the kingdom. He presents a story that is meant to prompt a reaction as he speaks of a master that approaches work and reward in an unorthodox manner. What we are taught is that our Lord approaches things differently than we would and that the economy of the kingdom is not the same as that of the world.

In the latter half of Matthew 19, we come across the familiar story of the rich young man who asks Jesus what he needs to do to get eternal life. It's a unique interaction in the gospel because it's one of the few places where someone approaches Jesus in full sincerity and yet walks away in sorrow. This is a story that cuts right to the heart of what it really looks like to follow Christ and one that often brings conviction when we dig into it.

After a great summer studying the life of Jacob, we return to the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter 19, we see the Pharisees testing Jesus in regard to permitted divorce. Instead of taking the bait, Jesus uses it as an opportunity to talk about bigger issues of the heart.

Genesis 35 marks the end of the story of Jacob and brings our summer series to a close. In this last chapter Jacob moves further into the promised land with his family while experiencing some tragedy along the way. Though the saga of Jacob ends here, the story of the promise carries on well beyond him.

In chapter 34 of Genesis, we are presented with a story of a great injustice done to the family of God as they settle in the land. It is how they handle it that seems to make everything worse. While the outcome of this story is less than satisfying, it is a true reflection of the world in its fallen state.

Jacob has met God face-to-face, and he is now, in chapter 33, ready to meet his estranged brother. But things don't go as Jacob had thought they would. This week's text shows us a beautiful picture of God's reconciling work as well as his faithfulness to keep his promises to his people.

In chapter 32 of Genesis, we find Jacob back in the land of promise. Jacob isn’t quite settled because of one major, outstanding issue; he is going to have to face his brother whose birthright and blessing he stole. Though the fear that Jacob feels is crippling, it leads him to a unique encounter with God that defines him from that point forward.

After our short break with VBS week, we are back to the story of Jacob where we find him still working for his uncle Laban. It is now time for Jacob to go back to the promised land of his fathers. Although, it isn’t as easy as just picking up and leaving. This week’s text gives us a living example of how God is willing and able to get us out of the messes we create, and even the ones we don’t.

As we focus this week on a passage that has been an integral part of our VBS this year, we see one of the most familiar verses in the Bible. In spite of its familiarity, let’s look again at it together and see what the Holy Spirit may use regarding this “I Am” statement of Jesus to help us grow in our love and worship of him this week.