Stonebridge Presbyterian Church: Recent Episodes
Various
In Genesis 1:1, Pastor Taylor considers the question, How big is your God? Because God is big, we should give Him our hearts, but there is a more mysterious and wonderful reason to give Him our hearts: the Father has created us for Himself.
In his final “Galatians” series of sermons, Pastor Taylor Summarizes with St Paul, that the key to the gospel is not our works (efforts) nor our lack of effort (faith) but whether in fact there is a new creation. That there is evidence that a person has changed; has become “new” in their motivations, they […]
In Chapter 6 of St Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he states three “commands” to which Christ followers should adhere: 1) restore, 2) take care, be humble, and 3) evaluate yourself. Pastor Taylor addresses these commands in Sunday’s sermon.
YIKES! Those are some big words! Theological words? These big words can scare some people off. Pastor Taylor’s sermon on Sunday attempted to explain these in “layman’s terms”.
1 Corinthians 2:9 says: ‘But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.’ Martin Rossol took us on a little exploration of just what these ‘unimaginable’ … Continue reading You Can’t Even Imagine It! →
St Paul is coming in for a landing relative to his arguments against those trying to convince the Galatian believers they needed to perform certain acts, duties, works, in order to be certain their status with God was secure. It is in Chapters 5 and 6 that St Paul brings in “the cross”. What exactly … Continue reading The Offense of the Cross →
In Galatians chapter 5, St Paul is ‘coming in for a landing’ with his arguments about the covenant of grace vs earning God’s favor by performance or merit. Pastor Taylor points out that verse one of this chapter begins with the word “Freedom”! And then Paul explains what that freedom Christ as actually bestowed on … Continue reading For Freedom →
St Paul turns several events of Genesis to make his case that the gospel of Jesus Christ is actually the fulfillment of the covenant of grace; that promised to Abraham; as opposed to the covenant of the law under which the Israelites lived for millennial.
In Galatians chapter 4 St Paul expresses some of his personal heart, his pastoral heart. And his focus is on the seeming inclination of the Galatians reverting to Jewish traditions, rules and laws. The gospel which Paul has preached is one of “freedom” to live in obedience to God; this opposed to being a slave … Continue reading A Pastor’s Heart →
St Paul uses the analogy of adoption from a Roman perspective; not Jewish perspective, in Galatians 4. Why does he talk about adoption? What is it? How can we know we are adopted? Makes for a very packed-full sermon!
Pastor Taylor suggests in his sermon that Galatians 3:23-29 can be understood by asking and answering three questions: 1) When is the promised salvation of the Lord coming? 2) Where is this salvation to be found? And 3) Who is this salvation for? Is it for anyone?
St Paul, in Galatians 3 now asks the obvious question: If keeping “the Law” doesn’t make people right with God, why did God give the Law? It doesn’t seem as if it is really necessary, so why did God go to the trouble- and humanity have to deal with it -give the Law to his … Continue reading Why the Law? →
What in the world is being stated in Psalm 67? Rejoice at God’s judgement? Well, that’s a fair question. Listen to Pastor David Menzel for some insight into this Psalm.
If the promise to and believed by Abraham was what justified Abraham, why did God give the “Law” at Mount Sinai”? A very good question; one which Pastor Taylor addresses in this sermon!
In this sermon Pastor Taylor explains what St Paul is talking about when he states that Jesus became a curse for us because he was hung on a tree. Strange, no? Well, St Paul defends his statement(s) by referencing several passages in the Old Testament.
One faith? Didn’t people in the Old Testament live under different ‘rules’ than we do now? Pastor Taylor continues his series in St Paul’s epistle to the Galatians chapter 3.
Pastor Taylor continues his Galatians series in Chapter 3. St Paul again questions how it is possible- are they possessed? -that the Galatian ‘Christians’ are seeking to grow in their faith by following rules and pleasing God by how they live. Do they really understand what FAITH is?
The bulk of St Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians is concerned with “justification”: How sinful humans can be absolved or forgiven of their crime [or sin] against God and how there can be peace between what are/were enemies. Pastor Taylor continues his series in today’s sermon taken from Galatians 2:17-21.
St Mark, when writing about Jesus arrest, trial and crucifiction, is rather out of character. Mark’ usual writing style is to be short on details moving more quickly to the overview of the events he shares. Yet when he comes to this part of his gospel he goes, not only into detail, but rather graphic … Continue reading Meditation on Jesus’ Death and Resurrection →
In Galatians chapter 2, St Paul relates a rather public conflict between he and the apostle Peter. St Paul accuses Peter of hypocrisy: teaching that gentiles were reconciled to God based on faith, but then behaving as if specific efforts or behaviors also mattered. St Paul argues that you can’t have it both ways. Pastor … Continue reading Justification: The Instrument And The Process →
Pastor Taylor’s text was Galatians 2:1-10. The key take-away: If we want the church to succeed we need to guard the true gospel. This involves putting priority on the gospel message, standing and defending against attacks which attempt to add to, take away, or change the gospel, and in all this demonstrate love as we … Continue reading Priority Of The Gospel →
“The gospel message is about a new creation.” This was the first assertion Pastor Taylor made today in his sermon. Continuing his series in the Epistle to the Galatians, Pastor Taylor made three points: 1) the gospel is revealed through grace; 2) that God reveals Jesus by grace and from grace, and 3) the character … Continue reading The Gospel Is Revealed →
Before we can know how to “bear another’s burden” you probably first need to know what St Paul means by ‘burden’. Dom Marko help the congregation understand just that in this sermon. He also went on to explain that there is correct way and an incorrect way to do this ‘bearing’.
The fourteenth chapter of St John’s gospel has occupied many, many sermons. Rarely is it preached through in one or two sermons. Yet, do to limited time, Jim Scullion as accomplished the task in three sermons. In this, the last of the three, Jim explains the impact of Jesus promising to send ‘another comforter’ after … Continue reading The Helper →
The 7th chapter of St Paul’s letter to the Romans is one of the most controversial chapters Christians have wrestled with over the centuries. How is it that St Paul, REALLY???, struggling with sin? Struggling against sinful inclinations? Well, Randy Meyers shared his thinking on this chapter in this sermon.
The Rev. Dean Turbeville preached today’s sermon for the installation and ordination of Taylor Wright to the gospel ministry. 2 Kings 6:1-7 may seem like a strange text for this kind of occasion. And yet, Rev. Dean didn’t take long to help those in attendance see how the event in the life of Elisha in 2 Kings relates to what Taylor is embarking on.
True disciples, true followers of someone often ask for instruction, direction or guidance. This was true of Jesus disciples and should be true of believers today. Pastor David Menzel’s sermon focus Sunday was on the disciples’ request that Jesus teach them to pray. Why is praying important? How can we pray well?
St John chapter 14 consistently ranks very high as a favorite of believers in Jesus. And in many ways it is no surprise. The chapter is filled with hope; both for the present and for the future. But in v. 12 Jesus makes an incredible statement: Those who believe in him will not only do the works that Jesus has done, but will do even greater works that these! What to make of this statement?
If Christians have “died with Christ” and are supposed to have “a new life in Christ”, why do Christians (maybe not you) struggle with sin, or plainly “just sin” more than they wish they would? Randy Meyers’ sermon addresses this vary question.
Its almost February, but Eric Keel used an illustration of a well-known Christmas story to help illustrate truths from St Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. Sarah and Hagar, from Genesis ‘fame’ represent two covenants, and St Paul is arguing that if we are ‘children of the free woman’ we should behave accordingly.
What exactly does it mean- in the Lord’s prayer -“Why will be done”? And that followed up with “On earth as it is in heaven.” Pastor Jerry helped us see that it means a lot more than perhaps it seems on the surface.
Why would Jesus request “Let not your hearts be troubled…”? Its because human hearts do become troubled. We do fret, worry and become anxious. Jesus himself was ‘troubled’ on more than one occasion. Jim Scullion wanted to let this congregation know that Jesus urges his followers to not let their hearts be troubled because he is the solution to those troubles.
Randy Meyers challenged the congregation with a reading of Genesis 12 that most had not heard. Yes, God promised to bless Abram, but Randy argues that an equally valid reading is that Abram should be a blessing to others. There is support for this in other Scripture passages, including in 1 Peter 3.
What is the difference between Covenant Theology and Reformed Theology? Well, that is a good and fair question. Pastor Galardi takes up this question and a few more in Sunday’s sermon. He draws primarily from Genesis 12, 15 and 17 but slips in a few more references for good measure.
Most of us have experienced more “fear” the past two years than we likely have the past 5-10. New administration. COVID. Vaccine. Lockdowns. Tucked into the middle of Zechariah’s prophecy in Luke 1, is a statement that got Martin Rossol thinking about fear and how Jesus followers should respond: “..that we, being delivered from the hand or our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days, . . . ” Martin talked to us today about fear.
Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent 2021. Advent is all about expectations. Anticipations. And that idea was the basis for Martin Rossol’s sermon today. Who was expecting the Savior? Who was NOT expecting the Savior? And what should our response be to the Savior who came – irrespective of whether or not we had been expecting him?
St Paul’s letter to the Galatians talks much about slaves and sons? Which are we? What is a ‘slave’ and what a ‘son’? And from where does this imagery come? Eric Keel shares his thinking on this subject in his Sunday sermon.
King David is a “type” of Christ in many respects. He typifies what the final King would be like. And yet David, the man, was beset by some of the maladies with which humans are beset. Specifically, David has an inclination to anger. In today’s sermon based in 1 Samuel 25, Martin Rossol show us this negative example from David; and example which should make us guard against allowing anger to motivate our actions in the way it motivated David. But in the same event we see the wonderful way in which God used Abigail to restrain David’s anger; to help David see the error of that anger and the damage it would cause.