The Upper Room – April 27, 2025

Read the passage: John 13:1-17

This week we’re starting a new sermon series on the Upper Room.

It’s about some of Jesus’ most important conversations with his disciples. And today’s conversation is about radical service.

Jesus gave us a standard (and it’s a high standard) for serving others. He wants us to have an attitude of radical love that extends not just to our friends but also to our enemies. It’s an attitude that is difficult to have.

Jesus also wants us to serve both people’s physical and spiritual needs. We need both! So we get our hands dirty helping people. We follow the Holy Spirit into love and joy (the fruits of the Holy Spirit) and we use our gifts to help people with the problems of their heart.

The Book of Judges – April 13, 2025

Judges 16

Sometimes, being distracted matters, especially when we are distracted spiritually. Maybe you feel lost, and you don’t know where you are going. Or maybe your relationship with God feels lethargic and you feel apathetic in obeying Him. These are all symptoms of spiritual blindness that we all wrestle with.

Take heart! We have a God who wants to free us from our spiritual problems. He helps us with stories from the Bible. Today, I want to talk about the story of Samson, a man blessed with supernatural strength.

He’s kind of like the Bible’s version of the Incredible Hulk! He’s a literal one-man army. Here’s some context before we read our main passage, Samson had just fought against a thousand Philistine enemies all by himself. They attacked him when he didn’t have a weapon, so he found a random bone lying on the ground, and he killed all his enemies with it. Which is crazy, but it just shows how invincible he was! So, after killing an army of Philistines, he heads to Gaza which was their capital city!

The Book of Judges – March 16, 2025

Judges 11:29-40

I think Christianity in its purest form is a relationship with God that brings beauty and hope to the world! But like anything it can go astray. People have used Christianity to justify evil things like wars, terrorism, slavery and sexual abuse.

Many people get our religion wrong. So, my big question today is: How can we have the right kind of religion? We’ll see our answer in the story of Jephthah! It’s a crazy story from the Book of Judges! Our story takes place in one of the darkest times in Israel’s history.

Israel is completely lost spiritually! They have turned away from God and are now being oppressed by other nations. But because of God’s mercy and compassion, God raised up powerful leaders called Judges to help Israel.
He would give these judges supernatural powers that would help Israel fight against their enemies. Today, our main character, Jephthah, is one of those Judges. But the thing is, he is really lost spiritually. He makes terrible decisions that trigger an incredible tragedy.

Letters to the Corinthians – February 23, 2025

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:1-8

People can be frustrating, but it’s a bit easier to take criticism if it’s a stranger online because you don’t see them every day. But many times, it’s the people closest to us like close friends, a family member or even a spouse who can cause the most pain in our lives.

So, my big question today is: What can bring peace to our chaotic relationships? Our Bible passage today tells us that love is the answer.

Letters to the Corinthians – February 16, 2025

1 Corinthians 6:1-7

Our big question today is: How can we get better at conflict management?

Our Bible passage teaches us to remember eternity. If we’ve been wronged, remember eternity. Then we’ll see which conflicts are worth fighting about, and we’ll remember the importance of love and mission and forgiveness and community, even in the middle of our conflict.

But sometimes, we are the offender. In this case, we need to remember eternity too. We need to see how bad our sin is and see how great God’s grace is. When we do this, we won’t be crushed by our guilt, but we’ll turn away from our sins and we’ll start living a better life.

Letters to the Corinthians – February 2, 2025

1 Corinthians 5:1-2; 9-13

We start a new series on Paul’s letters to the Corinthians.

I really believe that every Christian is meant to experience a type of fellowship where you feel loved, where you feel like you belong and where you experience Jesus in every aspect of your life. Maybe you’ve found that at this church, and that’s great! But a little warning: we can’t take that for granted.

We have to protect it because sometimes there are sins so great that they can break the fellowship. This is the reason why the church needs to have standards to protect its members and to protect its reputation. So, my big question today is What moral standards should we have in the Church?

The Book of Joshua – January 19, 2025

Joshua 5:1-3; 6:2-5

The world is changing fast, which brings me to my big question today: How should Christians respond to an ever-changing world?

My answer is: we need to live by faith and not by sight. That’s what we’ll see in the Bible today.

Today we’re going to cover TWO Bible stories. These two stories were placed side by side in the Bible, and they have the same message, so they complement each other.

The Book of Joshua – January 5, 2025

Joshua 2

Many religions and belief systems have followers that have “blind faith, which means faith without evidence. They operate on a single witness who claimed to have a vision in private. The problem, however, is there’s no other witnesses to corroborate if that vision happened

It’s different with Christianity. The most important events – like Jesus dying on a cross, the resurrection (empty tomb), the miracles – are all very public. The Bible rejects blind faith! I think it actually invites skepticism; it encourages you to ask good questions and dig deep on the evidence.

We do need faith, but it’s different from what a lot of people think. My question today is: what does excellent faith look like? I’m going to try to show you that excellent faith is bold with the big idea, and diligent with the details. That’s what we’ll learn from the story of an unlikely hero.

Christmas – December 22, 2024

Luke 2:8-14

Our story is about a group of Shepherds that encounter an Angel that was so glorious that it put their whole life on hold. They were the first to experience the glory of the Christmas story, but they were not meant to be the last!

Because like them, we can still experience the glory of the Christmas story today.

Christmas – December 8, 2024

Luke 1:5-20

Sometimes we underestimate preparation, but it can make all the difference, and that theme is fitting today as we begin a series of Christmas/Advent sermons that aims to prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus.

So, my big question today is: how should we prepare when we inevitably face the most important moments in life?

Our Bible story will show us that we need to prepare with everyday faithfulness, and everyday faith. Today our Bible Story takes place a year and half before the birth of Jesus. And it’s about an old priest named Zechariah and the time he meets an angel.