Grace Lutheran Sermon Podcast: Recent Episodes
Grace Lutheran Church HB
Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Tweitmann and the community at Grace Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach, CA. Listen and learn how God is leading His church and calling His people. http://www.GraceHB.org
Isaiah 61:1-9Pastor Chris TweitmannAs we move ever closer to the arrival of Christmas, the volume begins to be turned up on the songs of the season.Christmas music fills our ears as we step into elevators and walk through grocery stores and shopping malls.Christmas music reverberates from the radios in our cars and the crafted playlists we play on shuffle and repeat through our sound systems at home.As December 25th draws near, we might even find ourselves not just listening to Christmas music but even singing along to our favorite carols and seasonal anthems.The question is, in the midst of all those holiday classics - and let’s be honest, there are a lot of them - are we singing God’s favorite Christmas song?“God’s favorite Christmas song, you say? Not sure if I’ve ever heard that one,” we might be thinking.Well, after today, we’ll be able to say that no more.And more importantly, once we catch not just the words but the music; we won’t be able to stop singing its beautiful melody so that everyone can hear it.Now for those who think they’re already in the know, they might perceive God’s favorite Christmas song as being first sung somewhere in the Nativity story contained in the early chapters of the Gospels of Matthew or Luke.But hopefully by this point in our Advent sermon series focused on demonstrating how what we celebrate as Christmas began to emerge long before the pages of the New Testament, we’ve learned to start looking a little farther back in our Bibles.For indeed, as we’re about to hear, the very first recording of God’s favorite Christmas song was laid down in our passage this morning from the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 61. (TEXT)Sometimes we can idealize the past - “the good old days” so that we remain stuck in the past rather than moving forward.We can become so fixated on things not being the way they used to be that we lose sight of the possibilities of something greater, something better, coming on the horizon.This is the backdrop against which God authors the song of Isaiah 61 through the prophet Isaiah.For the people of Israel, it is a time of great expectation that is being eclipsed by their growing disappointment.After decades - almost a century of living in exile and watching their once great nation split in half and then gradually fall one kingdom after the other, the people finally find themselves free to return to their native land.But as the saying goes, “You can’t go home again.”While we may fondly remember the days of the past, we can never recreate or relive them, no matter how hard we try.For the Israelites, the hopeful idea of their return - of finding their salvation in coming back to where they once were - immediately begins to crash against the reality of what they cannot rebuild.As many do not return and join the family reunion as expected.And those who do come back labor in vain to restore back to their former glory the Temple - the centerpiece of their sense of identity and community - as well as the walls around the city of Jerusalem.In addition, while they have been freed to travel back to their homeland, their country is one that still remains under occupation - under Persian rule.But to a discontented and questioning people who lament the loss of their past, God, through the prophet Isaiah, breaks out into a song about the future being prepared for them.And as we look more closely at the lyrics the Lord begins to sing, we quickly notice its theme is a familiar one.Into the fatalism that so often can overtake our view of not only today but also tomorrow,before the continued cynicism of a broken world that insists the way it is now is the way that it will always be - nothing ever changes, that we ought to accept the way things are because they could always be worse, the Lord sings a counter-narrative -“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,” -Isaiah 61:1one of things getting better, one of hope amid perceived hopelessness; of the assurance of victory before the presumption of defeat.God expresses in verse 3,“to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion —to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” - Isaiah 61:3this alternative vision of mourning turning to joy, of despair giving way to praise, through a succession of vivid images - the most compelling of which involves using ashes as a metaphor.In the ancient world, ashes were something people would place on their head - covering their face - and perhaps even their whole body - serving as an expression of their overwhelming grief and profound sense of loss.Back then, ashes symbolized the sting of death - of being utterly devastated, of having suffered a mortal blow.To a people who see themselves covered in ashes - as having completely burned out, of their life being over - finished - done,the Lord, through Isaiah, sings of“to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion —to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes…” - Isaiah 61:3wiping away those ashes and replacing them with a crown of beauty.The beautiful crown envisioned is a garland woven from either laurel leaves or meadow flowers that is shaped into a beautiful headdress.Picture the sort of crown in the ancient world placed on the head of the winner of an athletic contest or upon a bride on the occasion of her wedding day.To a people waving the white flag, ready to call it quits, preparing to give up, God sings not of impending defeat - but of coming victory - of triumph that will rise up out of the ashes of failure.However, if we go back a verse or two in this divine anthem, something important to notice is the freedom being promised, being offered through this victory is NOT the freedom to go back to the way life once was.“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” - Isaiah 61:1-2No, to a people who are fixated on looking behind them and returning to what they perceive as the good old days - which weren’t as good, which are never as good as we remember,God beckons, the Lord pledges to deliver their freedom, their release not to go back to the way life was but instead to move forward and to live life as it always was intended, as God created it to be.What is anticipated in this divine ode to joy is NOT the resurgence or restoration of the perceived former greatness of Israel; it is the reimagining and transformation ofthe people’s conception of what true greatness is - of what humanity’s understanding of the good life is.And from what the Lord lays out,“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor…For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing.” - Isaiah 61:1,8the good life - true greatness - is marked by freedom for all persons and a shared commitment to justice, where the scales are particularly balanced in favor of those most in need.Not coincidentally, the exact commission given through this song to“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” -Isaiah 61:1 - 2“proclaim freedom for the captives,” “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” is direct language lifted from God’s earlier directions given generations ago for observing what was called the Jubilee.Recorded all the way back in the book of Leviticus, the year of Jubliee was part of the Lord’s instructions for how his people, the Israelites, were to live together in their new home, the Promised land, after having formerly been enslaved in Egypt.Set down as a practice to be observed every fiftieth year, that is once every generation, the year of Jubilee involved the forgiveness of all debts, the release of all those working in bondage, and the equitable redistribution of the land among the people.The Year of Jubilee was intended not only to be a reminder of the way life was supposed to be but also to serve as a practical, forced reset - for beginning again - in actually living life as God created it to be.Curiously, tragically, there is no recorded evidence in the Bible that the year of Jubilee was ever practiced by any generation of Israel.But what humanity has repeated failed to put into action - whether by forgetfulness or willful ignorance, the Lord declares will now become a reality - the recalibration and perfect balancing of social and economic relationships among humankind no longer observed once every fifty years but practiced permanently and celebrated perpetually.What sounds like the start of some strange, radical world order is in fact nothing new under the sun.For the song Isaiah sings on God’s behalf harkens back to the original harmony built into the fabric of all creation - what in Hebrew is known as “shalom” - the universal wholeness, mutual prosperity, and abiding peace of all life - as it was meant to be, as it was - before we divorced ourselves from our Creator and ended up reducing the sum of the human experience to the survival of the fittest, to a never-ending division and an ongoing rivalry between the haves and the have-nots.Let us also pay close attention to exactly how this song progresses.The power to rebuild and the potential for restoration and renewal in our lives and communities are inextricably linked to first embracing and then sharing the freedom God offers on his terms - freedom not to live only for ourselves - in pursuit of our interests - our safety, security, and prosperity;but the freedom to live together - looking out for each other’s interests - advocating for the safety, security, and prosperity of all persons - especially the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the prisoners, as well as those who mourn and grieve.Now perhaps we’re thinking, while this is all well and good, what does this song, as wonderful as it may be, have to do with Christmas?It’s a good question.And the answer is, we know this is a Christmas song because this is the anthem both Zechariah and Mary were separately prompted by sing in response to the angelic announcement of the coming birth of Jesus.On the other side of his initial doubts about the arrival of the Lord’s salvation, after a divinely imposed silence covering the nine months of his wife, Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Zechariah belted out this same song“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago)…to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” -Luke 1:68-70, 77-79as he held in his arms his newly born son, John, who would become the forerunner of the MessiahMary, like Zechariah, could not keep from singing.“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant……His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” - Luke 1:46 - 48, 50-53In response to her cousin’s Spirit-filled proclamation that the child Mary was carrying to term was the long-promised Messiah, Mary burst out in her own magnificent rendition of this same song.And while the words of their individual, divinely inspired choruses of praise and promise may be different, if we look and listen carefully to the melody, the overarching theme of their songs are exactly the same as the one first heard here in Isaiah 61.Beloved, we know this is a Christmas song, dare we say it, it is THE Christmas song - because these words and lyrics encompass the fullness of what Christmas is all about - all humanity’s deliverance and reclamation by our Creator.In a much deeper and wider way, Isaiah 61 conveys what the great company of the heavenly host of angels heralded once upon a midnight clear to shepherds watching their flocks by night - peace on earth and goodwill to all people.And yet, the sticklers among us might still ask, but how we can know this is God’s favorite Christmas song?The immediate and obvious answer is this is the only Christmas song that our Creator wrote.Every other good and true Christmas song is but a derivative of this one.But we can amplify the certainty of this answer with even more evidence.Consider this. Many, many years later after his birth in Bethlehem, as Jesus began what he was born to do and the news about him - his teachings and his works were spreading, as Jesus came back home to where he grew up in Nazareth and the time came for him to place himself and his ministry within the framework of the biblical story,Jesus intentionally turned to this passage and began to sing this song from Isaiah 61.“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” -Luke 4:14 - 18Jesus sang this song - the same song that his mother, Mary, joyously caroled while he was in her womb.But as Jesus serenaded the hometown crowd with this well known tune, he made it his own, as when he finished, Jesus declared this song, that previously had been sung as a means of hopeful protest, now became a promise fulfilled through his coming.In other words, Jesus presented this song as being about him - explaining both why he came, what he was doing, and therefore revealing who he is - the long-promised Messiah.Beloved, Isaiah 61 is God’s favorite Christmas song because the words of this song are the words that become flesh in Jesus Christ.For the One who comes in the Spirit of the Lord, the One who arrives not only to proclaim the good news of our salvation but to enact the inauguration of not our year but our life of Jubileethe One who comes to bind the brokenhearted, to release those imprisoned in darkness, and to comfort all who mourn is none other than God Himself.Jesus is the incarnation - the realization of the full, abundant, and everlasting life repeatedly envisioned and tirelessly proclaimed all those many passing years by the prophets of old.For what we witness through the life of Jesus is more than just talk about changing the world for the better.In the posture, teachings, and actions of Jesus we witness the embodiment of the life we were meant to live, of the relationship we long to have with our Heavenly Father,with each other, and with our very selves.For in a broken world predisposed to conflict, Jesus lived peaceably.In a broken world predisposed to draw lines of separation, Jesus crossed every boundary and barrier that keeps us at a distance.In a broken world predisposed to fear and judge those who are different, those who have failed, and those who are perceived as enemies, Jesus continually modeled acceptance, extended forgiveness, and practiced loving service.In a broken word predisposed to elevate and admire the rich, the successful, and the famous all the while labeling and neglecting the average, the poor, and the sinners, Jesus treated all persons with dignity and respect while still elevating and advocating for the poor, the abused, and the forsaken.In a broken world predisposed to compromise for the sake of laying hold of power and exercising more control - often in either the name of the State or of God, Jesus humbly surrendered taking matters into own hands - daily offering his will even to the point of giving up his life by trusting in the ultimate power and control of our Heavenly Father.In living and dying this way - out of the divine truth of unconditional love and unbroken reliance on heavenly grace, Jesus rises from the ashes of this broken world and offers us not just the model but the means for our lives to be healed, and for all creation to be transformed - forever and ever.For on the other side of His resurrection - his victory over death, Jesus gives to us the Spirit that was first upon Him, the Spirit that sets us free, the Spirit that releases us from the darkness, the Spirit that can turn our mourning and our despair over what we have lost in the moment into everlasting joy and praise through the assurance of our eternal redemption.Beloved, God is still singing this song over you and me.For while we live on the other side of the inauguration of God’s promises - while the opening lines of this song are being fulfilled all around us, we have not reached the crescendo of this anthem - the final resounding note of its conclusion - of all things once and forever being made new.That is why we keep celebrating Christmas - not simply to look back towards the first Christmas, Christ’s birth into our broken world, but also to keep our eyes forward anticipating the last Christmas, the fullness of our rebirth in Christ into a completely changed world, into a fully transformed creation.It’s not the best analogy but perhaps an insightful way to conceive where we find ourselves in the story of our salvation is to think about ordering something online - say from Amazon.How many of us have ordered a gift for somebody off of Amazon this Christmas season?Whether we have or haven’t, this is what happens.When we order a gift off of Amazon, we get an initial response via email that says our order has been placed.A little while later, we get a follow-up email that says our order has been fulfilled.Having been fulfilled means whatever we’ve ordered has left Amazon’s processing center and is on the way.Do we have the package yet? No. It’s not on our doorstep, but it’s on the way. It’s coming.So this is where we find ourselves.In one sense, Christmas has come - God has come down and through the birth - the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has fulfilled His pledge to be with and for us.At the same time, Christmas is still coming, - for through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to born anew as Christ works both in and through us- growing us and cultivating all creation into the fullness of the restoration and renewal God promises.We find ourselves in the middle of the song our Creator continues to sing over us, receiving indications - catching glimpses of how the Kingdom of God is inbreaking into this world - of the arrival, of the change, the transformation, the Lord is bringing in and through us.Beloved, the song isn’t over yet.There are still more choruses to come in God’s favorite Christmas song.Some of us need to hear that today - to hear these words of promise, the assurance that the music is playing.It may be your faith that is in shambles these days.Your doubts - about God, about yourself, about others - have become greater than your convictions.It may be your joy that is hard to come by right now.While everyone else is making merry, while for others this may be the most wonderful time of the year, for you it’s nothing but a blue Christmas - capping off what has been a hard and disappointing year.It might be your hope that is starting to fade, that’s nearly gone.You’ve tried everything you can think of, you’ve exhausted all your perceived options, you’ve called in all your favors, and things just aren’t getting any better. And you are beginning to think, they never will.If that’s you, if that’s us, the good news is the song isn’t over yet.There are still more choruses to come in God’s favorite Christmas song.Jesus is about to be born anew into our lives and world.God is coming once again in Christ to set us free from whatever is holding us captive.Into the captivity of our chronic lack of faith, God sings, Jesus will deliver the forgiveness and peace, the assurance and courage which we cannot muster from within ourselves.Into the captivity of our debilitating lack of joy, God sings, Jesus will release us from the darkness of our grief - our sense of loss, from any guilt or shame that may be burdening us.Into the captivity of our frightening lack of hope, God sings, Jesus will rebuild upon all the rubble of our broken dreams and failed opportunities and restore our vision and our confidence in putting the work and weight of our lives upon something that lasts, something that will stand the test of time.There are still more choruses to come in God’s favorite Christmas song.And how we see the future shapes the way we live in the present.It doesn’t take much, if we are not paying attention, if we insist on trying to make Christmas happen ourselves, it doesn’t take much for us to end up exchanging our birthright thanks to Jesus of assured redemption and continual renewal for a bowl of generic holiday platitudes and wishful thinking.For the future that Jesus extends to us isn’t something for us to put on layaway for tomorrow; the future that Jesus extends to us is intended to be claimed - for us to begin living into here and now.How we see the future shapes the way we live in the present.And we are to live in the present - individually and corporately being shaped by the future God is preparing for us.Allowing old mindsets and bad habits that pull us away from abiding in Jesus to give way, by the Spirit, to regarding our time on this earth, to regarding others no longer from a worldly point of view but rather an eternal one,to embody practices that reflect the new creation that is ours, that we are becoming in Christ.Beloved, the reason why it is so important that we recognize what God’s favorite Christmas song is - that we know the words, that we become familiar with the melody, is not only so that we listen to hear it being played in our lives but also so that we join the chorus.For the message of the song, the meaning of Christmas, is not just to receive but also to give - to share with each other, with the world around us - the faith, the hope, the love, the joy, and the peace of Christ.We cannot, we must not act like Jesus isn’t here - somehow hidden or removed from all that is happening around us - because to believe in and follow, to sing God’s favorite Christmas song is to recognize we are the Body of Christ.In the same way that Mary carries Jesus and delivers him into the world, so too, we carry the Spirit of Christ and we get the sacred opportunity, day after day, to deliver Jesus into the arms of this world.All it takes, by the grace of God, is reflecting the character of Christ in all that we say and do- releasing others into the freedom God offers rather than holding them captive to our desires and expectations- rebuilding and restoring broken relationships instead of causing division and tearing others down- choosing to forgive and extend mercy rather than holding a grudge and choosing to retaliate- offering comfort and acknowledging, making room for those who mourn instead of pretending not to notice or trying to rush them through their griefAs the year comes to a close, the days shorten and grow cold, and as we continue to light candles in the dark anticipating Christmas that once again draws near, let us hear the lyrics and music of Isaiah 61 as the assurance that there never is and there will never be a moment when God is not with and for us - singing over us and making flesh His promises of freedom, comfort, and restoration.Let us not only hear and take God’s favorite Christmas song to heart, let us also add our voices to the divine chorus as the Spirit of Christ stirring within us beckons not only to change us for the better but working through us aims to remake this world into the very best it can be. Amen.
Galatians 4:1-7Pastor Chris TweitmannWaiting is hard.In today’s world of instant gratification - of fast food, express service, speed dating, instant credit, immediate, and online banking, having to wait feels a lot like doing nothing - like a waste of our time.In our “on-demand,” Amazon Prime society where everything happens at the push of a button, we’ve come to believe we shouldn’t have to wait anymore for the good things in life.And yet, try as we may, as increasingly impatient as we’re becoming, waiting is a part of life. In one sense, all of life is one long wait.Waiting to grow up. Waiting to leave home. Waiting to finish school.If we’re so inclined, waiting to get married. Waiting to have children. Waiting for those children to grow up and get out.Waiting for our first job. Waiting for to find our career. Waiting to be successful. Waiting until we can retire.Waiting to feel better again. Waiting until it’s all over, and we leave this life for the next one.Even in the smaller moments of our day-to-day lives, we find ourselves going through seasons, days, and hours of waiting.Waiting for a call. Waiting for a pause or a break in the action. Waiting for our next meal. Waiting for the weekend, our next vacation.And of course, always at this time of year, we are waiting for Christmas.Waiting for gifts to be delivered. Waiting for guests or loved ones to arrive. Waiting to be able to go home for the holidays. Waiting to see what’s wrapped underneath the tree with our name on it.Waiting was very much a part of the first Christmas too.The coming of the promised Messiah, the Savior of Israel and by extension, the world, was an exercise in waiting for generations upon generations of faithful believers.Being no less inclined to wait than we are, and yet like us, finding themselves with no other choice but to wait, all our spiritual ancestors could do was hold on - hold onto the threads of a promise that now and then was repeated through words of prophecy amid the otherwise yawning spaces of uncomfortable, divine silence.Waiting is hard. Sometimes when all we have is waiting upon waiting, we can wonder, we might start to worry, if all our waiting is in vain.If what we end up with, where we find ourselves on the other side of all that time, doesn’t live up to the hype - especially at this time of year.But as the apostle Paul is about to make clear to us through this excerpt from his letter to the Galatians, we need not have any doubts that Christmas is always worth the wait. (TEXT)That we can’t hardly wait for Christmas to come each year, that we lack patience in allowing December 25th to arrive on its own, is witnessed in the growing trend of peoplewho start decorating their homes, listening to Christmas music, and even beginning to celebrate before the Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone.But imagine having to wait for Christmas for a much longer period than four weeks or a couple of months.What if instead of counting down the days or weeks, we had to count down by centuries or several thousand years?Because this was the sort of timeline those who waited for the first Christmas to arrive had to occupy.Let us briefly mark all the time that had to pass before a baby was born in Bethlehem.After an indeterminate number of years from the creation of the world, the ball starting rolling as God initiated a relationship with a Middle Eastern nomad named Abram.God eventually changed Abram’s name to Abraham as the Lord chose Abraham and his descendants to be the seedbed for a promise planted way back in the beginning in a garden named Eden - the first promise of Christmas’ coming through the arrival of a future heir of humanity’s salvation.After that, for the next 600 or so years, not much seemingly happened to move the arrival of the first Christmas any closer.The children of Abraham were many, but they also were messy.Through their relationships with each other - let alone with outsiders to their family, they were hardly a blessing.In fact, after generations upon generations multiplied in Egypt, Abraham's descendants came to be viewed as a threat to Pharaoh - and thus became an enslaved people for a long, long time.And it wasn’t until four centuries later that a man named Moses, a formerly adopted son of Pharaoh, who later tried to run as far away from Egypt as he could, ended up right back in the last place he wanted to be, as Moses became God’s chosen deliverer for guiding the children of Abraham out of slavery, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land.Near the end of Moses’ days, the Lord spoke through him and repeated the promise of Christmas’ coming - the future arrival of someone even greater than Moses to lead the people not just into a new land but into a new life - the life God had always intended for all creation.Through the years after Moses, God raised up many judges, priests, prophets, and even kings, but none proved to be the One whose coming had been foretold.And so the waiting continued as centuries upon centuries passed - centuries upon centuries of greed and gluttony, violence and oppression, and all along the way, war - continuous attacks waged by rival empires.Attacks that exposed the deeper battle and fault lines within - within the country, the children of Abraham who had become Israel until the nation split in two.Eventually, the divided nation of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel both fell into exile and faced the threat of possible extinction as a people.During these dark days as everyone began to lose hope, God raised up prophets like Isaiah, who continually reminded the children of Abraham and Moses, of His promise of redemption, - of the One who had yet to arrive to make all things right and new of the One who became known, who began to be called the Messiah.A long, long winter of God’s prolonged silence soon followed.As the land and people of Israel traded hands between global superpowers until they finally ended up under the thumb of the rule of Rome, the people, with only the lingering memory of that divine pledge to hold onto, the people continued to wait, because waiting was all they could do.Then, finally, one unexpected day, much, much, much later, an angel named Gabriel first paid a visit to an aging priest named Zechariah in the Temple and then to a young, betrothed but yet unmarried girl named Mary in her home and in both conversations declared God’s covenant with the people was about to be fulfilled.Now I don’t about you, but that sure seems like quite a bit of calendar space between God’s giving of His promise and its eventual fulfillment.It certainly amounts to a lot more waiting than the nine months of a pregnancy which typically marks our telling of the Christmas story.And yet when Paul writes to the Galatians, he underscores while it may have seemed like a long time in coming, the birth of Jesus arrived exactly when it was intended to“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son…” - Galatians 4:4- “when the set time had fully come,” or as some translations read “in the fullness of time.”In other words, what we celebrate this season of the year wasn’t some random, spontaneous realization of what God had promised.No, the dawn of what we know as Christmas happened right on time - exactly when our Creator intended for it to occur.This, of course, also means while the people spent all that time waiting, while they probably occasionally felt like nothing was happening, God was working behind the scenes.Even though the people couldn’t see it and even when the Lord was, for long stretches, silent, God, nonetheless, remained on the move - laboring in and through the real choices humanity was exercising along with the typically bad consequences that soon followed.God was laboring to orchestrate the fulfillment of what He had always promised.Paul’s emphasis on the fullness of time further suggests prior to Christmas happening, the world was not yet ready.We as humankind were not ready for Christ to be born.Therefore, looking back in hindsight, what can we perceive about how the Lord was working to prepare the world - us - for the very first Christmas, for the coming of our salvation?To begin with, in our rebellion - in choosing to go our own way - away from our Creator, we needed time to discover and learn how to be - well - human again.Human in the sense of how we were originally created to be rather than the broken and flawed humanity we choose to settle for as we kept trying to do everything on our own - apart from God.This is the crux of Paul’s argument to the Galatians leading up to today’s passage.In chapter 3 of this letter, Paul declares God gave us the Law - the Ten Commandments, our Creator’s Top Ten instructions for living, to simultaneously reveal the way life was meant to be; but also, in so doing, to reveal how far short we fall from living life that way - the way it’s supposed to be.As mentioned last Sunday, God’s Top Ten, on the one hand, inspires us to aim higher in living our best life - rather than to settle for less - for less than for which we are created.But at the same time, God’s Top Ten humbles us, bringing us down to earth - in realizing we can’t live our best life - life the way it was intended to be - apart from our Creator.Paul’s argument is we first received the Law, God’s Top Ten, not in order to prove ourselves or to make things right through what WE CAN DO FOR GOD.The Law, God’s Top Ten, convicts us in our need for divine intervention - for what only our Creator CAN DO FOR US and in so doing, enables us to recognize the One who comes to be our Savior, our true Messiah.That the world’s one true Messiah can only be God come down in the flesh.That our one true Messiah can only be Jesus Christ, the One who is perfect - perfect both in not breaking the Law and in fulfilling the Law completely - in reflecting throughthe character of His words and deeds what it means, what it looks like to be human - again, humanity as God created us to be.But we can see the fingerprints of our Creator’s preparation for Christmas beyond the Law’s reeducation of the nature and character of our humanity.Looking back, we can’t help but notice God also working through the cultural and technical conditions of human history to lay the best foundation for the news and message of Christmas to be spread far and wide.Prior to the rise of the Roman Empire, the Greeks had unified the known world culturally - specifically instituting a central language that could be spoken throughout its dominion.Created as a means of globalizing trade, the formation of this common language made it possible for different tribes of people to communicate with each other.Later, when the Romans came to power, they further unified an expanding world by constructing roads that connected various lands to one another.These highways that lined the Roman empire - so well built that some of them still exist today, these highways enabled a freedom of commerce and travel at a rate and distance that previously had been impossible.Having a language that enabled the known world to hear a message and a growing network of roads that made traveling long distances and sharing that message possible, the historical and cultural stage was set for the coming of the first Christmas, the good news of the Gospel.Looking back, as all creation held its breath all that time with great expectation, and as humanity prayed and cried out “How long, O Lord? How long?” for what seemed like forever, the unspoken question is “Was it all worth it? Is Christmas worth the wait?”And the apostle Paul emphatically provides us with the answer as he carefully outlines exactly what we receive at Christmastime.Of course, to appreciate what we are given on that first Christmas, we need to fully understand what we first lost - what we gave up - when humankind turned its back on its Creator.We’ve all likely heard the expression, “You can pick your friends but you are stuck with your family.”Without our say, without picking and choosing our parents or relatives, we are born into our families.While we may refuse to acknowledge our family or even deny where we come from, we cannot alter our DNA.This truth applies not only to our immediate family but also to our extended family - and by extended family, I mean we are all born, we are all part, like it or not, the family of the human race.And part of what the Bible wants us to understand, something we can see even if we go beyond the pages of scripture, is the human race is a dysfunctional family.While we exhibit flashes and moments of positive potential now and then, overall our history is one of hurting ourselves and hurting each other.In fact, in the next chapter of this letter, chapter 5, Paul describes our default family dynamic as human beings - debauchery; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy; drunkenness, and the like.Beloved, we are, and we remain a dysfunctional family because as Paul writes, even though we were created to be “heirs” - children of God we, through our rejection and disobedience have orphaned ourselves from our Heavenly Father.We have exchanged the freedom of belonging for the slavery of being bound, from serving what Paul calls“...we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.” - Galatians 4:3“the elemental spiritual forces of the world.”In other words, our self-imposed enslavement comes from worshipping what is created rather than our Creator.From trying to find and secure our identity, our purpose, and our destiny through what we create - what we earn, accomplish, or achieve - even though none of it can bear the weight of eternity and all of it crumbles into oblivion once we die.Instead of maturing in our humanity and inheriting the freedom that comes from everlasting life for which we were made, we remain stunted in our growth, childishly enslaved tothe pursuit of doing enough, of having enough, of being enough, but never quite being able to close that loop.Into this vicious cycle of every man or woman for themselves, in desperately seeking to justify our existence, to prove our worth, and to secure some sense, any sense of permanence, - by comparing ourselves with each other even as we believe we have no choice but to compete against each other and thus, constantly living in fear and insecuritythat we mask through arrogant pride or false humility, into this vicious cycle that we know all too well, our Creator lays the groundwork of our redemption.God keeps maneuvering around the chaos that erupts from our continued willful disobedience.Until finally all is ready and our Heavenly Father paves the road for us to come back home.Beloved, we can’t choose our family - and we belong to the family of God. Even though we may not choose God. God chooses us and will not let us go.Our Creator, our God, our Heavenly Father offers a way to come back into the family by coming down to us, by running to where we are, by becoming the way, the truth, and the life that we need in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ.As Paul continues to unwrap what we have received, he moves all the way from Christmas, the birth of Christ to our birth in Christ on the day of Pentecost,“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” - Galatians 4:4 - 6when our adoption back into the family we had once forsaken was made complete as we were given the ultimate manifestation of the gift of Christmas, more than the Word made flesh but the Holy Spirit, the Spirt of Jesus taking up residence in our flesh.Truly Emmanuel - God with us, for us, and in us.The same Spirit by which Mary birthed Jesus into this world is given to us to birth our new life, our true family in Christ - a life and a family no longer broken by dysfunction, fear and slavery because of sin, evil, and death but an everlasting life and a forever family rising up in freedom and reaching out in faith, hope, and love.Beloved, should ever wonder if Christmas is worth the wait, the answer is always a resounding “Yes!”One of the most moving and powerful takeaways from our annual celebration of Christmas is the truth and the encouragement that while we are waiting, God is working.The Lord is never sitting on His hands and simply taking His time to accomplish what He promises.No, just as He did in bringing about the first Christmas, our Heavenly Father is tirelessly laboring - constantly working through and sometimes even around the mistakes we make, our foolish choices, and even our willful disobedience.Listen to the way Paul talks about God’s initiative & exertion on our behalf.“The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” - Galatians 4:2 - 5It wasn’t that we were doing such a great a job moving forward. It wasn’t that we cleaned ourselves up and made ourselves ready - that we were finally good enough, that we at last had our act together, so that our salvation became possible and the Messiah could come.No, Christmas is the witness of how God always makes the first move - and that move, while it seems like a long time in coming, that move reflects not some knee-jerk, impulsive divine reaction but considerable, intentional, and gracious divine planning and preparation again, for our sake.Not because our Creator is too busy or is running a little bit late; but because we’re not ready. Because we need more time.In the silence of what often feels like God is doing nothing, God is preparing us - preparing us in ways we don’t often appreciate until we look back - preparing us for what He is about to do for us - in us and through us.As we survey the story of the Bible, this is God’s calling card - never just giving us answers but carefully preparing us, intentionally leading and shaping us to be able to receive - to recognize, to appreciate, to internalize, and to live out of the answers we are given - answers that are often not what we asked for, what we wanted, but as we come to learn, answers that are exactly what we needed, what is best for us.And so, the question isn’t whether or not we’re going to wait in life; the question is how we are going to wait.Waiting is the universal human condition because, whether, we admit it or not, our lives revolve around our Creator - God’s will - God’s intentions and purposes for us - and not our own.And make no mistake, we’re still waiting.Even though the Kingdom of God is breaking into and beginning to change our world, even though the Son has come down to us and has been raised up from death to resurrection, even though we see the Light of the World, the Light the darkness cannot overcome, on the horizon, the dawn of a new creation is not yet complete.While, thanks to Jesus’ first coming, there is forgiveness to receive, goodness to share, beauty to behold, and truth to claim, such blessings exist alongside the temptations and wounds of ego and pride, jealousy and envy, bitterness and wrath, rumors and lies.We remain in the transitional space between the very first Christmas, the birth of divine love, peace, and justice in this world, the full maturity of these and many other divine gifts that have yet to come until the last Christmas when Christ shall return once and for all.Knowing God’s timeline and trusting God’s timeline are not the same thing.Contrary to the countless and continuing attempts of prognosticators, we don’t and we won’t know the hour or the day of Christ’s return.All we can do - like our spiritual ancestors - is wait.We are all waiting for God to give us something we need - something to born anew in our lives through the Spirit of Christ within.Waiting for a bit of inspiration and direction.Waiting for some encouragement, some wisdom.Waiting for a little peace and rest.Waiting for things to get better - to be reconciled, to be healed.And waiting can be hard - especially when we wait with uncertainty.When we worry if what we’re waiting for will ever happen, sometimes we wonder if it’s even worth waiting at all.As the days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and months turn into years, and nothing appears to change for the better, it can be tempting to give into disappointmentrather than to keep looking for fulfillment.We can learn to settle for what we have rather than waiting for God, in His timing, to provide something more.But the Gospel, the good news of Christmas is that we do not wait without hope.For the season of Advent serves to remind us, to reinforce that our waiting on the Lord is never in vain, that our Creator is forever working on our behalf, that our Heavenly Father always makes good on His promises to us, that we look to and worship the God of perfect timing.In all our waiting, may our anticipation of the birth of Jesus center us in trusting that the Lord is indeed with and for us.Though our life circumstances may suggest otherwise, let us not give up waiting before the time is right.May the reality of God’s coming down to us in Christ assure us that our Heavenly Father is working for our good - that the Lord will come through, on schedule, fulfilling His promises to us all.And this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Deuteronomy 18:15-22Pastor Chris TweitmannWe’re in the second week of the Advent season - the church’s countdown to Christmas, if you will, albeit at a much slower and intentionally reflective pace than the rest of the world.As a means of preparation for Jesus to born anew in our life and community together, the sermon series for the next few weeks is focused on recognizing how the beginning and end of the Christmas story go far beyond the boundaries of the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John.Now with the overture to December 25th well under way, various holiday traditions have kicked into full gear.One of the more widespread customs this time of the year is the sending out and receiving of the annual Christmas card or letter.How many of you have sent out your Christmas cards already?Has anyone received one or more Christmas cards or letters yet?In many ways it is helpful to think of the book of Deuteronomy, where our passage for today comes from, as something of a letter - a letter postmarked for future generations by Moses.Moses, God’s chosen deliverer of the people from slavery in Egypt, wrote the first four books of the Bible - but this fifth one, his last writing, is much more personal than the rest.Having gone as far as he can go, Moses provides his farewell address by way of four sermons to the people who would become Israel.These messages were intended to offer some direction and guidance as the Israelites prepare to enter their new home in the Promised Land.In the twilight of his life, within these final words authored by Moses, we are about to discover something of a birth announcement - yet another hint that the unfolding of the Christmas story began long before the pages of the New Testament. Let us listen closely. (TEXT)On the surface, this appears to be just Moses passing the baton - the exchange of one messenger for God for another.“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.” - Deuteronomy 18:15No doubt that is certainly how the people initially understand what Moses is saying here as they wonder to themselves,“You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.” - Deuteronomy 18:21 - 22how can we recognize a true spokesperson for the Lord and God lays out the answer to this question.But in hindsight - in the years to come, later generations came to perceive Moses was not speaking of his immediate successor, Joshua or in fact, any of the other messengers who would follow.After centuries upon centuries came the realization the One God had promised had to be someone greater than Moses and everyone else who came after Moses.The apostle Peter explicitly declares this realization in one of the first speeches he gives to a crowd of Israelites in Acts, chapter 3“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.” - Acts 3:19 - 22- as he points to Jesus as the One God had promised through Moses.In order to appreciate what finally led to this realization of the great variance between what the people thought they were receiving and what the Lord ultimately delivered in the person of Christ, we have to go back to the foot of a mountainside.For in this excerpt from Moses’ final message to the people, his outlining of a future expectation hinges on a reference to“For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” - Deuteronomy 18:16an earlier experience between the Lord and the Israelites.The backstory to this moment takes us to Exodus, chapter 20, at the foot of Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai.On the other side of the Red Sea, having been led out of their slavery in Egypt, the people are just beginning their journey through the wilderness toward the place God had prepared for them.Before they go any further, however, the Lord seeks an audience on the mountainside with those whom He has rescued.Christmas is often heralded as the time when God came down to be with us, but actually, it is the second time the Lord manifested His presence.God draws near to give the people His word.Before the Word becomes flesh, the word of God was carved into tablets of stone in what we know as the Ten Commandments - our Creator’s Top Ten rules and instructions for living life the way God intended - so that we can experience the best rather the worst that life has to offer.But as the Lord drew near, the people stayed at a distance.“When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance…” - Exodus 20:18Before the boom of the thunder, the crack of the lightning, and the smoke than encircled the mountain,before the raw, unfiltered glory of the Lord’s presence, the people were awestruck and overwhelmed by fear.“Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” - Exodus 20:20And even though Moses assured them not to be afraid and to draw near, everyone insisted if the Lord came any closer they would die.“[They] said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” - Exodus 20:19Promising to listen to Moses as an intermediary, the people begged for less of God rather than more,“The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” - Exodus 20:21as they “remained at a distance.”The Lord initiates an invitation into a deeper relationship but the people opt to keep God at what they perceive as a safe distance from them.They presumably are fine with the laying down of the Law and having a spokesperson for the Lord tell them what to do.But they reject the opportunity to engage and experience the presence of God up close and personal.Initially, the Lord acquiesces to the people’s request and mediates His presence and His word - the Law - through Moses.But if we remember all that happens between this moment on the mountainside and standing on the verge of entering the Promised Land as Moses records these final words, we recall things didn’t go very well for the people.Even though they had promised to listen to Moses, they did the exact opposite - grumbling and fighting against him every step of the way forward - only to end up always taking three steps backward.And those rules they were so eager to follow?They couldn’t even keep the first three, let alone the rest of them.Fast forward to Deuteronomy as Moses, in preparing to retire, now foretells of a prophet, a messager like him whom God will raise up, the Israelites initially receive this as news of a new hire - someone to fill Moses’ shoes as the Lord’s liason to them - somone to keep laying down the Law, telling them what to do for God.What they’ve misunderstood the whole time and will keep struggling to comprehend is the point of that first time God come came down among them.That first time God came down the Lord wasn’t looking simply to lay down the Law; God purposed to be in relationship with His people.On that mountainship, our Creator wasn’t just giving us rules to follow apart from Him.Our Creator was, through His Word, through the giving of the Law, unveiling His character and the character of the life He designed and intended for us to live together.By providing us with the Law, the instructions for life, the Lord’s intent wasn’t for us to go off on our own and do things FOR Him.Following the instructions for life God gives to us isn’t for God’s benefit; it’s for our benefit - to experience life the way it was intended to be.But all along, it was a package deal - the Word AND the Spirit.Not just a list of instructions for living on our own but rather a way of life that is only possible when we are relying on the Lord - not apart from God but abiding in and with God.At that first encounter with the Lord on the mountain, the people wanted the rules without the relationship.And yet that’s the thing about the Ten Commandments, they simultaneously reveal the way life was meant to be; but in so doing also reveal how far short we fall from living life the way it’s supposed to be.God’s Top Ten, on the one hand, inspire us to aim higher - for our best life - rather than to settle for less - for less than for which we are created.At the same time, God’s Top Ten humbles us, bringing us down to earth as to what we can do apart from our Creator - which is nothing good.God’s Top Ten convicts us in all our fruitless and ultimately damaging efforts to play God rather than to solely rely on God.In that first encounter, the people wanted the Lord to keep well away.They falsely believed they could remain at a distance from God without becoming more distant in their mindfulness & reliance on the Lord.But our Creator isn’t interested in remaining distant and detached from our lives, from His creation.The God who made us in His image is a relational God - a God who is single-minded in His desire for us to live full, abundant lives not separated from Him but again through Him- lives that last not just for a couple of decades or perhaps a century - but for all eternity.We were created to worship - to live out of a sense of devotion - devotion to the glory of our Creator and out such devotion to realize and experience the very best life together possible.When we try to keep God at arm’s length, if the Lord is not the focus of our devotion, then inevitably we will end up making something or someone else in our life - a false god- something or someone that cannot bear the weight of the glory of the Lord - what only God can give and do for us.Idolatry - trying to fill that God-shaped hole in our lives with other things - whether it’s our worship of self or our unconscious attempt to try and make someone else be our Messiah, idolatry, the first and original sin, is what fractures and diminishes our life together - leaving us competition with each other rather in mutual, joyous collaboration in seeking to reflect God’s goodness.This is why the first rule of life out of the Top Ten the Lord gives when the people start to pull back from Him is to remind the Israelites of the very first principle of creation, of the relationship:“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them;” - Exodus 20:2 - 4“No other gods before me. No replacement idols made of silver and gold.”Nonetheless, after that first encounter on the mountainside, the people foolishly still thought life would go better if Moses talked to them instead of God; if they operated through a third-party - a meditator, a messenger.However, as the Lord let them discover, as Moses’ tenure in that role clearly bore out; there is no substitute, no replacement for the fullness of the presence and person of God in our lives.Even the best and brightest among us are still just broken and flawed as we are - liable to act willfully and not completely in concert with God.So it was with Moses. So it was with David.Even the strongest and wisest who go before can and do fall victim to the temptation to tell us what we want to know, what we want to hear rather than to always speak the hard but loving truth of what we need to know even though we may not want to hear it.So it was with Saul. So it was with Solomon.As all of Israel’s history in the Old Testament demonstrates, no leader, no prophet, no messenger, no judge, no priest, no king, no one apart from God Himself can take where we need to go, can reshape us into who we were created to be.This is what the later generations - persons like the apostle Peter - came to comprehend at long last on the other side of the Christmas story - that the messenger, the meditator, God promised to the people through Moses could only be God himself.That the One who would be raised up from among the Israelites could only be God coming down, this time not in fire and smoke, but incarnated in our shared humanity.That the One who speaks in God’s name - out of the very words God puts in His mouth - had to be the Word of God made flesh.“...and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.” - Deuteronomy 18:18 - 19That the One who we are to listen to - who speaks to us everything the Lord commands - only what the Father tells him - could only be the very Son of God.That the One who is not false, who we can know is right and true because everything He proclaims in the name of the Lord has taken place and comes true is our Messiah, Jesus Christ.“If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.” - Deuteronomy 18:22Jesus, the One who doesn’t merely teach us the rules of life - but lives and fulfills them perfectly - like no other.And in so doing - ultimately sacrificing Himself out of love - a love so strong it that conquers death,Jesus not only models a way for us to follow but through being even nearer to us than anyone could have imagined - beyond sharing our flesh to giving us His very Spirit, Jesus enables and empowers us to become all we were created to be.Beloved, Jesus is the One the people were waiting for.Jesus is the One we have been waiting for.And yet, the fascinating thing about this time of year is most people and maybe even some of us are waiting for Santa Claus more than we are waiting for Jesus..Don’t worry, this isn’t going to become another religious rant on the man with the big red hat.Jolly old Saint Nick has his place in all our holiday festivities but that place is not to shape our view of who God is.And yet, most people - again some even within the Church perceive and believe God to be something like Santa Claus.A white-bearded, old man who comes from the sky to reward the children who are nice with whatever is on their list of wants, but who also withholds his gifts from those who are naughty - giving them little more than a lump of coal.But a God like that is what the people initially perceived they were dealing with on the mountainside, isn’t it?An exacting, foreboding divine judge arbitrating all life from a posture of frustration and anger.A moral Law Giver - who informs us of the rules of the game and whom we must then appease by being nice instead of naughty.Under the watchful eye of this God, who always knows if we’re sleeping or we’re awake, if we’ve been bad or good, a list is being kept on all of us - a ledger of all our pros and cons that is being checked twice in order to pass final judgment.Follow the rules and we can either earn or merit the blessings we ask for whatever presents our hearts desire – including, ultimately, life after death.Break the rules, step out of line, if we’re not nice enough, we will keep ending up with lumps of coal – not blessings but curses – until one day, all that coal becomes the basis of our final resting place – some place rather warm and uncomfortable – forever.Functionally, if our view of God is something like Santa Claus, engaging us in terms of whether we’ve been bad or good, then we are right to be afraid that Jesus Christ coming to town.If we believe that our standing with the Lord rises and falls on what we do for God - in following rather than breaking all the rules, then the arrival of the One born in Bethlehem is not the birth of our salvation; it is the delivery of our doom.But the good news, the Gospel is the God we worship isn’t like Santa Claus.Make no mistake the God who comes to us in Christ catches all and misses nothing.What we do and failed to do does not escape His knowledge, whether yesterday, the day before, or ages past.And let us also be clear, the thoughts we hold onto, the words we say, and the actions we do or do not take - all have consequences for either good and bad.But we don’t worship a God who is keeping score because in the divine accounting of heaven, there is no good enough.You and I being anything less apart or together than we were created to become is not an option with our Creator.And yet, the deportment of the God who comes to us is not to condemn us for all our shortcomings, wrongdoings, and disobedience - rubbing our nose in the stink we make of what He has created and then confining us to the corner.No, the posture of the God we worship is that of a loving Father who runs to where we are, who comes to us, and then embraces us with forgiveness, clothes us with healing, and procedes to lead us back home.That’s the God we’re waiting for - the One who in the birth of Jesus, doesn’t just come down a chimney for a moment in the night to give us everything we want, only to then magically disappear.No, in the birth of Christ, we encounter the God who empties Himself of all glory, who gets down and dirty, in embracing the vulnerability and fractured nature of our lives who takes hold of our humanity to give us not what we think we want but what He knows we desperately need.And this God, who in Jesus becomes what He has created, comes to us not because He’s interested in either our being nice or in receiving niceties from us.The good news of which Christmas is but the first chapter is not about what we can do for God but what God comes down to do for us - to do in and through us - transforming our life together and remaking all creation.This is the Gospel, though we like the people on the mountainside may remain at a distance from God, God does not keep His distance from us.From His self-revelation at Sinai to His humble birth in Bethlehem and all the way to His self-giving, being lifted up on a Cross at Calvary, Our Creator works to close the gap between us - to mend our brokenness, to redeem our failures, to resurrect our hopes, to reconcile us to become a people of truth, peace and love.As the season of Advent progresses and the arrival of Christmas draws ever closer, let us remember what we celebrate is not a question of who’s naughty or nice.In a broken world filled with broken people, we all manage at times to exhibit either tendency - being naughty or nice.Let us keep that in mind before we are quick to judge ourselves or others.No, the solution to the world’s misery and all that ails our humanity cannot come from within ourselves because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.What we need are not more rules to live by - things to do for God in order to prove ourselves good rather than bad.We have enough already that by ourselves we can’t manage to keep.While our Creator does give us rules to live by, laws that reveal a standard of perfection and righteousness that we cannot achieve or attain on our own, God does not give us these rules in order to set us up to fail.Our Creator gives us the rules to make it clear the kind of life He intended for us all – the good, right, true and beautiful life for which we all long for, the kind of life we can only experience together in communion with Him.God isn’t looking for us to do things for Him in order to prove ourselves good or bad.No, at the height of our naughtiness, it wasn’t Santa Claus who came to town. It was and is Jesus.God came down to us in Jesus Christ to do for us what we cannot do our own apart from Him - to embody the realization of all these laws perfectly lived out.God cames down in Jesus Christ into the reality of our lives as they are - humbly submitting Himself to our difficulties, our temptations, our storms, our hungers, our burdens and our sadness, our suffering and our pain – walking through the darkest valley of our suffering – embracing our terminal affliction, the inevitable shadow of our death - all in order to clear the way forward and to empower us to follow Him into experiencing and sharing the full, abundant and everlasting life for which we were all created.To a sin-stained, self-obsessed, and naughty beyond imagination world, God continues to comes down through the Word and the Spirit of Christ to flesh out His divine vision and our earthly hope for a better life - our very best life.Let us have no fear. Let us not remain at a distance. Let us draw near to the One who will born anew in our lives.O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. On You Alone, we wait and depend. Amen.
Genesis 3:1-15 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Ready or not, it’s that time of year once again. No, I’m not talking about Christmas. We still have – count them – 29 days left until Christmas. I’m talking about – ‘tis the season – of Advent. “Advent” is Latin that means “a coming or an arrival.” It is season […]
Acts 2:42-47 Pastor Chris Tweitmann with guests Joel Kelly from Radiant Lutheran and Jeremy Celentano from Activate Church
Luke 10:1-11 Pastor Drew Williams How many of you have tried to put something together without the instructions? Maybe it was a piece of furniture, or maybe it was a toy for a child. Maybe you had lost the instructions, or maybe you were just of the opinion that you “could figure it out just […]
Luke 9:57 – 62 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Life is about making decisions. Some are simple and obvious. Some can be more challenging for us. But no matter what, every day we cannot avoid making decisions – both small and big. Choices that have consequences. And it’s not just about the decisions we anticipate having to […]
Luke 9:49-56 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Us versus them. When phrased like this – in opposition to each other – these two seemingly innocuous pronouns become the two most dangerous words in our human vocabulary. “Us” versus “them.” At times, the impulse to choose sides feels instinctive to us. While not always intentional or malicious, we […]
Luke 9:45-48 Pastor Chris Tweitmann These days, there is a lot of talk about being the G.O.A.T. Not the furry, sometimes shrieking animal spotted on farms and sometimes on viral memes and YouTube videos. G.O.A.T., the acronym. The Greatest Of All Time. Many sports fans have crowned the NFL quarterback, Tom Brady, as the GOAT […]
Luke 9:37-45 Pastor Drew Williams Last summer, when my daughter, Emmy, was only two and half years old, we took her to her first little amusement park, Adventure City. And she rode all the little rides, but she is a thrillseeker and pointed to the biggest ride in the park, the roller coaster, and begged […]
Luke 9:28-36 Pastor Drew Williams When I was young, my favorite toys to play with were Legos. There’s something about getting a new Lego set, opening the box, pulling out all the pieces, and then following the instructions to make the thing that is on the front of the box. And after you’ve completed it, […]
Luke 9:23-27 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Today’s message is the second of two parts based on a pivotal conversation Jesus had with his first disciples. It’s a conversation that began with a question – a question asked by Jesus. After initially asking about the consensus opinion of the crowds as to his identity, Jesus pivots and […]
Luke 9:18-22 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Life is full of questions. I mean that literally. Have we ever stopped and noticed how many questions that we ask or answer on any given day? Questions asking for information. What are you doing? Where are you going? Questions asking for clarification. What did you mean by that? Questions […]
A combined service with Radiant Lutheran Church and Activate Church, listen to 3 pastors teaming up to answer questions from the audience surrounding Jesus feeding the 5,000.
Luke 9:1-9 Pastor Drew Williams Megan and I love to travel, and before we had kids, we experienced many amazing and unique places together. Now that we have kids, our traveling has slowed down a bit, but it’s not because we don’t still want to see amazing places. It’s because kids make the hardest part […]
Luke 8:40-56 Pastor Drew Williams I’ve recently been thinking about Disneyland, and Megan and I were talking about trying to take our kids there. Now, I love Disneyland, but it’s been a few years since I’ve gone, and I’m honestly a bit FEARFUL of what the experience will be like with two small kids. I […]
Luke 8:26-39 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever heard the expression, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire?” It means to go from a bad situation into a situation that is even worse. One could argue it is a fitting description of what happens next as we turn to our next passage in the Gospel […]
Luke 8:22-25 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We all receive gifts on various occasions and for different reasons. Some gifts we are given are extended to us for a specific purpose – in anticipation of a time when they will be most needed. A fire extinguisher. An emergency flashlight. A first-aid kit. You get the idea. Now, […]
Luke 8:16-21 Pastor Drew Williams Have you ever been given a gift that you didn’t know what to do with? I asked this question on Facebook this week and got a couple good responses. Cynthia Galli got seven tea kettles for her wedding, even though she and John didn’t drink tea. My friend Jeff got […]
Luke 8:4-15 Pastor Drew Williams When I was a kid, my mom tried to plant a papaya tree in our yard. Have you ever had a papaya? It’s a delicious fruit, similar to a melon, that is orange and sweet. My dad used to have some almost every morning with his breakfast. So my mom […]
Luke 7:36-8:3 Pastor Drew Williams This last week, I was talking to a friend about watches, because mine had recently started to not work as well, and so I was asking him about different types of watches, smart watches, normal watches, because he has way better fashion sense than me. And so I was going […]
Luke 7:18-35 Pastor Drew Williams When I was growing up, we went on a lot of roadtrips, so I have lots of memories in the backseat of a little two-door Toyota, looking out the window at some stretch of highway as my parents tried to navigate with their Rand McNally fold-out paper road atlas. Before […]
Luke 7:11-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann If you were to ask me, as a pastor, what is the question you most often get asked about God, my answer would be some variation of the question, “Why does God allow suffering in the world?” It’s a common question because we all experience suffering in this world. It’s an […]
Luke 7:1-10 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We find ourselves increasingly becoming a more and more polarized society – and not just as a world or a nation but even within our families and neighborhoods. The last few years of sheltering in place and social distancing have only intensified our innate tendency to exist in echo chambers that reinforce […]
Luke 6:43-49 Pastor Christ Tweitmann We’ve probably all heard the old saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” This adage is stating what is often an observable fact, that a child usually mirrors the qualities and traits of their parent. In some cases, those traits are passed down genetically. For example, my son […]
Luke 24:36-49 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Happy Easter – finally! Easter Sunday this year is uncommonly late, falling on this date, April 17, for the first time in 62 years – since 1960. If perhaps we don’t know why the date of Easter keeps moving year to year, centuries ago at what was known as the […]
Luke 22:54-62 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Luke 23:13-25 Pastor Drew Williams Luke 23:35-43 Pastor Joel Kelly
John 13:1-17 Pastor Mike Jobst Luke 22:14-23 Karl Kerner Luke 22:24-30 Cindy Glessner Luke 23:39-46 Pastor Marv Combs
Luke 6:37-42 Pastor Chris Tweitmann A week ago, something unexpected happened near the end of the 94th Academy Awards – something made headlines beyond the standard entertainment reporting. The news involved an altercation between two celebrities over a joke told that caused more offense than laughter. Physical violence surprisingly resulted. Tears subsequently fell and apologies – to an extent […]
Luke 6:27-36 Pastor Drew Williams Do you remember the show that used to be on TV, “Kids Say the Darndest Things?” I used to love that show, because you’d always have these little kids, probably 4 or 5 years old, and their parents had gotten them all dressed up really well and they all just […]
Luke 6:12-26 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Fun fact. If we were to head out together towards the North Pole and we relied on a compass as our guide, we could wind up as far as 590 miles off course. This is because the needle of a compass points towards the magnetic north pole and not the geographic north […]
Luke 5:33-39 Pastor Chris Tweitmann If you’ve ever been a part of a wedding party in the United States and Europe, you may have heard someone tell the bride she needs “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” for her wedding day. This popular tradition, driving many wedding parties to make an effort to add something old […]
Luke 6:1-11 Pastor Drew Williams I don’t know how many of you have had the new Disney movie, Encanto, on repeat at your house. It has become a fast favorite in our house, and so I think I may have seen the movie at least four or five times a week for the past few […]
Luke 5:27-32 Pastor Drew Williams There are two types of people: those who keep a safe distance, and those who do not. Now, you might be thinking you are one or the other, but it usually depends on the situation, doesn’t it? If you see a big dog approaching you, you might be the kind […]
Luke 5:12-26 Pastor Chris Tweitmann What do you believe is the greatest need in life? Before we go further, let’s clarify our terms. A need is a lack of something that is required – something essential. So then, what do you believe is the greatest need in life? Is it knowledge or wisdom – an […]
Luke 5:1-11 Pastor Drew Williams Do you trust me? This is a famous quote from a famous literary character that is probably one of the biggest influences on my young life. Of course, the character I’m referring to is none other than Aladdin, the prince of thieves. But NOT the new live-action Disney remake from […]
Luke 4:31-44 Pastor Drew Williams Have you ever gotten into the car and then forgotten where you were going? Like, you sit down, put on your seatbelt, make a mental note that you should really clean out the backseat when you get back, turn on your car, check the mirrors, and then…nothing. Your mind is […]
Luke 4:14-30 Pastor Chris Tweitmann It’s nearly impossible to go through life without any expectations. The human mind is wired to operate according to expectations. Even if a situation or experience is entirely new to us once we’ve been provided with a description of what happened, what it is like, we automatically form expectations – assuming we […]
Luke 4:1-13 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Tests. We all face them. The challenge of being tested starts early in life. Within a few years of being formally schooled, we find ourselves regularly examined in order to test our understanding of what we are being taught. To continue into higher levels of learning, there are tests to be taken. […]
Luke 3:15-38 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The question is a straightforward one. Who are you? It is a question of identity – of belonging and of purpose. Who are you? It is a question that appears to be simple enough to answer. And yet HOW this question is answered impacts not only our self-image and personal […]
Luke 3:1-14 Pastor Chris Tweitmann During the season of Advent, in anticipation of the celebration of Christmas all the way to the conclusion of the festivities with the observance of the 12th Day of Christmas, otherwise known as Epiphany, we reflected on the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke. That brief journey now […]
Luke 2:21-40 Pastor Drew Williams We are almost at the end of the year, and even though many of the holiday parties and activities are done, there’s a few that are still available in front of us. Even here in California, where we don’t get freezing weather all that often, this is still a time […]
Luke 2:1-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann It was an unexpected announcement on that first, not-so-silent night. As angels heard on high spoke to shepherds watching their flocks in fields nearby. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born […]
Luke 1:57-80 Pastor Chris Tweitmann “Are you ready for Christmas?” Has anyone asked you this question yet? Feeling the hustle and bustle of the holiday rush, how many of us are done with being asked this question? I mean, generally speaking, most of us are ready, aren’t we? The tree is up and decorated. Both […]
Luke 1:39-45 Pastor Drew Williams Do you remember the first Christmas gift you ever gave to someone else? I can’t remember what the FIRST Christmas gift I ever gave was, but I have a memory from when I was, like, I don’t know, 5 years old, maybe? My mom took me and my younger brother […]
Luke 1:26-38 Pastor Drew Williams Many of you know my two kids, Emmy and Ollie. Emmy just turned three years old, and it’s really crazy, because it was just like a week ago that I was holding her in my arms all bundled up when she was only a few days old. I was so […]
Luke 1:5-25 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Well, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Christmastime is almost upon us again, although it hardly seems possible, doesn’t it? In the tradition of the Church, the countdown to Christmas is a season known as Advent. As a counter to all the hustle and […]
1 Chronicles 29:10-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann A pro football team had just finished their daily practice session when a large turkey came strutting onto the field. While the players gazed in amazement, the turkey walked up to the head coach and demanded a tryout. Everyone stared in silence as the turkey caught […]
Revelation 3:14-22 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Service expressed, not out of duty but with love. Remaining faithful and courageous under fire. Being shaped not what it is easy or convenient but by the truth. Holding ourselves to a higher standard in representing Jesus. Not coasting on our reputation by alertly living for Christ. Trusting and following […]
Revelation 3:7-13 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Earlier this past year Japan experienced two earthquakes, first in February and then again in March. Both earthquakes, thankfully, did not result in too much damage or loss of life. There was nothing like the devastation and tragedy caused more than a decade earlier on March 11, […]
Besides celebrating the Protestant Reformation next Sunday, it’s also the observance of Halloween – a day widely known for tricks and treats – all against the backdrop of acknowledging and playfully confronting our universal fear of death. Especially around this time of year, as some dress in costumes, one of the more recent cultural fascinations […]
Tolerance is a buzzword. Over the past decade or more, tolerance has been lifted up as an esteemed virtue – to some, the highest good of our humanity. So much so, that to be labeled as “intolerant” is one of the greatest insults one can receive. To be sure, the mark of modern, enlightened, and […]
I’d like to play a game with you today – a game of true or false. I’m going to make a couple of statements. Jot down on paper or mentally in your head whether you think each statement is true or false. Ready? One year of our lives is equivalent to seven years of a […]
Revelation 2:8-11 Chris Tweitmann Thanks to the persecution and punitive treatment of the Roman Empire, the apostle John lives in exile on the island of Patmos – some forty miles off the coast of what is today, modern-day Turkey. Cut from his family and friends – his brothers and sisters in the faith – to […]
Revelation 2:1-7 Chris Tweitmann At the foundation of every healthy relationship is the assumption of love. And there is nothing quite like the feeling of being in love. When you’re in love, time seems to stand still and the world around you disappears into the background. When you’re in love, all you can think about, […]
Revelation 1:12-20 Chris Tweitmann Perhaps no other book of the Bible sparks as much controversy and confusion as the last one – the Book of Revelation. As the perceived conclusion to the story of scripture, some unhealthily obsess over this book – treating it like some sort of puzzle wherein all the pieces fit together […]
Revelation 1:1-11 Chris Tweitmann Have you ever become so engaged – so captured by a story – a story conveyed through a novel or a series or a movie – that you’ve been tempted to skip to the end? Despite living at a time where so many are obsessed with “spoiler alerts” – with not […]
Psalm 67 Chris Tweitmann This Sunday is a rare 5th Sunday at Grace. An occasion on which it has been the tradition of our community to take a second, special offering for one of our missions partners. This additional offering, above and beyond our regular, monthly support, will contribute to our shared effort in extending, […]
Psalm 37 Chris Tweitmann We live in an unjust world. Injustices happen to individuals, mar institutions and befall entire people groups. The fact that injustices occur every day is undeniable to anyone who is paying attention and following the news. Millions around the globe are being denied a basic education as well as a voice in the […]
Psalms 109 Chris Tweitmann This summer we’re exploring selections from the Book of Psalms – what has been long described as the prayer book of the Bible. A collection of 150 diverse prayers and in some cases, songs, – this compilation represents both individual and communal worship of both Jews and Christians for thousands of […]
Psalms 13 Chris Tweitmann This summer we’ve just begun a new sermon series looking at representative selections from the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms is a rich and diverse collection of the prayers and songs of our spiritual ancestors in the faith. Based on how they are quoted and used in worship and as the […]
Psalms 1 & 2 Chris Tweitmann Today we begin a new sermon series based on selections from one of the largest books of the Bible, the Book of Psalms – a collection of the sacred poetry and songs of our spiritual ancestors. Right smack dab in the middle of our Bibles, the psalms resonated with countless generations of […]
1 Samuel 31 Drew Williams I’ve been thinking a lot about legacy recently. Two weeks ago marked the one year anniversary since my dad passed away suddenly. And when something like that happens, you usually find yourself reflecting on big questions. Maybe you’ve experienced something like that. The loss of a loved one. The loss […]
1 Samuel 30 Chris Tweitmann Today, we remember and commemorate our birth as a nation. With barbecues, parades, and fireworks, we celebrate the freedoms upon which this country was founded – the freedoms for which countless, brave men and women have given and continue to offer their lives. And in many ways, this is a good […]
1 Samuel 28 Chris Tweitmann Have you ever prepared to read or listen or watch a story and before it started, there was a caution about the content possibly being too intense or disturbing for some audiences? Well, this next story from the book of 1 Samuel – contained in chapter 28 – ought to […]
1 Samuel 27:1-28:2 Drew Williams Doubt is a very disturbing thing. Like, have you ever gone looking for something that you were sure you knew where you last left it, but then you can’t find it? And you start doubting whether or not you are remembering correctly? Or you are telling a story from your […]
1 Samuel 26:1-12 Chris Tweitmann Writing as often as I do, one of the modern features on my phone or computer that I appreciate as I prepare to send a text, type an email, or craft something longer – like a sermon or a bible study is the “Undo” function. If I accidentally delete […]
1 Samuel 25:1-13 Drew Williams I know that most of the stories I’ve been telling recently have to do with my daughter, but that’s just because I’m a new dad, and I’ve got to try and get the most out of these stories before she’s old enough to ask me to stop. Hopefully I have […]
1 Samuel 21:1-9 Chris Tweitmann We’re taking a brief break from our current sermon series on the book of 1 Samuel in order to mark the occasion of a very special birthday. In case you’re wondering whose birthday we’re celebrating today – it’s yours – and mine – it’s our birthday as the Church – not […]
1 Samuel 21:1-9 Chris Tweitmann Last week we considered how we typically respond and how we ought to respond whenever we encounter the unexpected – what we didn’t plan for, what we didn’t want to happen in our lives. Looking at our human nature through the lens of David, we witnessed how easy it can be to believe […]
1 Samuel 21:1-9 Chris Tweitmann Jesus once said, “In this world, you will have trouble…” Jesus didn’t say we might have trouble. Jesus said in this world we will have trouble. We live in a broken world – where things are not the way they’re supposed to be. Therefore, in this life we will have […]
1 Samuel 19:1-10 Drew Williams Have you ever read a “choose your own adventure” book? I used to love reading those when I was younger. There was something so fun about being able to get lost in a good story, but also retain some of the control of the decisions. I would almost try and […]
1 Samuel 18:1-9 Chris Tweitmann In some ways, reading 1 and 2 Samuel in the Bible can be a lot like experiencing one of those old-time radio or television serials – a story that plays out through installments and in each one the main character finds themselves in a perilous situation which either gets resolved […]
1 Samuel 17 Chris Tweitmann In a world of information overload, with all the noise and hype that bombards our daily lives, stories can be powerful form of communication. A good story cuts through the clutter and captures both our attention and imagination. A good story’s ability to stimulate our senses – to involve us […]
When I was in college, I was a theatre major. That’s why when my two-year-old is being overly dramatic, Megan and I know EXACTLY who she gets it from. (me) But as a theatre major in college, you are constantly auditioning for SOMETHING. There’s always a monologue to memorize, a 16-bar ballad to perfect, a […]
Matthew 28:1-20 Chris Tweitmann Every sunrise, as it first pierces what was once the dead of night and then gradually overtakes the pitch black sky with the brightness of its rays, assures us the darkness is not permanent – that the light of the sun has not left us forever. So it was on the […]
Luke 23:50-56 Chris Tweitmann God is dead. Eons before Nietzche declared it to be so, God died. But Nietzche got it wrong when he claimed we killed God. For yesterday, on the Friday we call Good, Jesus offered his life for ours. We did not execute him as much as Jesus lovingly gave up his […]
John 18 & 19 Chris Tweitmann Right out of the gate, the very first question that Pilate asks Jesus is this: “Are you the king of the Jews?” (John 18:33) Decades ago, a few wise men who were following a star asked a similar question of a would-be monarch named Herod, “Where is the one […]
Luke 22:14-30 Chris Tweitmann Taken together, all four of the Gospel accounts offer us the complete picture of the room where it happened – where Jesus reframes the celebration of an old, treasured, foundational story into a new covenant, a blessed sacrament, a holy table to which generation after generation of Christians have returned to […]
Luke 19:28-42 Chris Tweitmann To start the new year, we began a sermon series on the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel. We reached a significant turning point in that book at the start of the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. It was the moment when the people of Israel demanded that God provide […]
1 Sam 15:1-3, 7-23 Drew Williams Have you ever had someone disobey you? Have you ever had someone not do what you asked them to do even after they agreed? Then this sermon is for you. For the last few weeks, we’ve been watching the decline of Saul’s tenure as king over Israel. It started […]
1 Samuel 14 Chris Tweitmann Have you ever said something that you wished you could take back? Something rash, something in haste, and not fully thought through. Have you ever made a promise or vow to do something that was ill-advised? Something you immediately knew you’d regret having to deliver? Something that ended up […]
1 Samuel 13:1-14 Chris Tweitmann I’m a child of the 80’s. One of the classic rock anthems of my generation declares this truth: “The waiting is the hardest part.” Waiting is difficult, isn’t it? In life, it feels like we’re always waiting on something or someone. Waiting for a green light. Waiting for loan or […]
1 Samuel 12:1-25 Drew Williams This past year, I’ve picked up a few new skills and hobbies. Some of them were fads, and some were just things that I’ve had an interest in before, but had never tried. Some turned out pretty well, and others… not so much. For instance, I learned how to bake […]
Someone once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t’ stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Can we relate? Do you ever get lost in the everyday of life? We can become so focused on all the tasks, all the things on our to-do list, that sometimes can miss […]
Only three days ago on February 14th, we celebrated the joys and blessings of our love for each other. Today begins our journey to remember, in the aftermath of flowers, chocolates and other sweet demonstrations of affection, to remember and not to forget or overlook our most important valentine of all. This valentine is no ordinary […]
1 Samuel 7:2-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever been to Washington D.C.? It is a beautiful, bustling city. For me, one of the most compelling things about Washington D.C. are all of the distinctive and evocative monuments and memorials that have been placed all throughout our nation’s capital. Over the last two centuries, these monuments and memorials have been […]
1 Samuel 5:1-12 Drew Williams A couple years ago, I fell into the Black Friday trap. I had seen some deals listed, and I knew that I wanted to pick up a few things for around the house. Plus, I knew that I wanted a few tools. So, a couple guy friends and I met […]
1 Samuel 4:1-22 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We all have fears – encountering things or finding ourselves in potential situations that make us – at best, nervous or worse, extremely anxious. There are our fears and but then there is our worst fear. The envisioning of our nightmare scenario – when anything and everything goes […]
1 Samuel 3:1-4:1 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever been somewhere and suddenly thought you heard someone calling your name? You turned around looking for that voice, perhaps you even answered out loud, but in the end, you found yourself unable to figure where that voice came from. If there were other people nearby, […]
1 Samuel 2:12 – 36 Pastor Chris Tweitmann As we continue our new sermon series on the book of 1 Samuel, we address an ongoing problem in much of human leadership – power abuse. From today’s narrative, we will be specifically focusing on the abuse of power by spiritual leaders. It’s not a […]
1 Samuel 1 – 2:11 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Today we begin a new sermon series rooted in two books that in truth are just two parts of a single unified story. Coming out of the Old Testament, the focus of this series, the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, as they were written originally […]
Matthew 5:14 – 16 Pastor Chris Tweitmann For most of the rest of the world, Christmas but a distant memory. But within the Christian tradition, at least for the last fifteen hundred years, the celebration continues beyond December 25th for twelve days – a tradition from which is, by the way, the song “The […]
Matthew 2:1-12 Drew Williams, Pastoral Intern Congratulations! We’ve made it to the end of the year! And now that we’ve made it through Christmas, I’ve got a confession to make: I don’t really like giving gifts. Don’t get me wrong, I love giving to people. I love showing them love with a thoughtful or […]
Luke 2:1-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann At last, it is Christmas Eve. The earth falls silent for the time has come. For weeks now we’ve been pacing back and forth in the waiting room of Advent, in anticipation of a delivery. Other gifts have been bought or arrived in the mail. They sit wrapped, waiting to […]
Pastor Chris Tweitmann Revelation 21-22 This is our final week of the Advent season. Christmas is almost here! And we’ve been marking the time, by reflecting on one of the repeated ways that the Bible calls for us to view the coming of Jesus, of Immanuel – God with us – through the image […]
Matthew 17:1-9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Advent is a very special time of the year. It is a season in the Church, a time set aside, to prepare our hearts and minds for the “coming” of Christ. Just as we prepare our homes for the season by decorating, baking, and making everything festive, we can […]
Isaiah 9:1-7; John 1:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Here we are on the Second Sunday of Advent! For those of us who may be unfamiliar with this tradition, Advent is a season within the Church for preparing to celebration Christmas. And by Christmas, we mean the Incarnation – the first, true, and ultimate gift that […]
John 3:16 – 21 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Beginning today, we begin a season long known within many parts of the Church as Advent. For most people outside of our faith, the day after Thanksgiving marks the start of the celebration of Christmas. The tree, the stockings, and the decorations go up. All the cookies […]
Luke 7:36 – 50 Pastor Chris Tweitmann As we gather on this Thanksgiving Eve, gratitude might be the last feeling or practice in which we find ourselves ready to indulge. In the wake of a contested election and our awareness of the gaping divide in our country, in this year of the COVID pandemic […]
Psalm 100 Drew Williams, Pastoral Intern Have you ever met someone who was naturally grateful? Like, someone who just naturally demonstrated thankfulness for the things in their life? I’m not just talking about being bubbly and upbeat. It’s more than just being positive…they’re actually GRATEFUL. Do you know someone like that? Maybe YOU’RE like that. […]
James 5:19-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann There is nothing worse than a bad ending. A book, a movie, a concert, a sporting event, or even a letter, starts in a promising way, captures your attention, and then takes you on a stimulating journey of thought and emotion. But it can all far apart – the […]
James 5:13-18 Drew Williams, Pastoral Intern This last week, I was having a conversation with a friend, and they said something that I’ve felt many times. And I wondered if you’ve ever related to this? They said, “I just wish God would tell me what to do!” Have you ever thought that? Have you […]
James 5:12 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We live in a world filled with lies. Now that may seem like a harsh and pessimistic statement but consider the following the evidence. No one has to teach us to lie. It just happens, doesn’t it? In fact, it’s telling the truth that we have to teach our […]
James 5:7-11 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Americans spend approximately 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. Waiting in daily life is an inevitable and often tiresome experience. We’re wait on hold during phone calls trying to make an appointment. We stand in line waiting to pay for items in stores. We place an order […]
James 5:1-6 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Today, we begin the fifth chapter of the letter of James. This is the last chapter of the book. We’ve only got a few more weeks in this letter. And I’m sure some of us are glad we’re almost done with this series. This has been a challenging read […]
James 4:13-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann “The best laid plans…” “The best-laid plans” is a saying – a proverb from a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1786. The complete line of that poem reads: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” This saying refers to something that has gone […]
James 4:11-12 Drew Williams, Pastoral Intern My daughter, Emmy, is almost two years old. She is curious and brave and has the best belly laugh in the world. She loves being involved in whatever I’m doing, whether it is cooking or working on my laptop or laying in my hammock in the backyard…she NEEDS […]
James 4:1-10 Pastor Chris Tweitmann It’s a question that goes as far back as Cain and Abel. It’s a question that needed to be asked before ancient Israel began divided by a civil war. It’s a question all of us ask at some time in our lives. And yet, it’s a question that no matter […]
James 3:13-18 Pastor Chris Tweitmann One of the reasons I believe the Holy Spirit drew me to preach on the book of James, is because the content of this letter, written by one of the early leaders in the Church, Jesus’ stepbrother, speaks so directly into this moment in which we find ourselves. 2020 […]
James 3:1-12 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The last time we were in the book of James, James spoke to us about true and living faith. “Faith without works,” James declared, “is dead, useless.” Just in case you missed Drew’s excellent sermon last week, James wasn’t telling us we need to work to somehow earn or […]
James 2:14-26 Drew Williams, Pastoral Intern I would love to be a gardener. There is something so nice about the idea of planting things, watering them, working the soil, and seeing growth and life happen. I love the idea of being able to eat fruits and veggies that come straight from our yard. It’s […]
James 2:1-13 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We all know the saying, “Never judge a book by its cover” but have we ever made a snap judgment against someone based on a first impression? We’ve all been taught that “Beauty is only skin deep,” but don’t we still tend to base our opinions on initial appearances? We […]
James 1:19-27 Pastor Chris Tweitmann What is a Christian? How would you answer this question? Say to a curious friend or a family member or to someone who honestly asked having never heard of and encountered the term “Christian” before? If you call yourself a Christian, what does that designation mean to you? What […]
James 1:12-18 Drew Williams, Pastoral Intern I’ve never been very good at self-discipline. It’s not that I can’t do hard things, because I love to take on new challenges. The part that is hard for me is resisting temptation. Because do you know what sounds really good on the second day of a diet? […]
James 1:9-11 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Let me ask you a question. Do you consider yourself rich or poor? Wealthy or lacking? Do you view yourself as one of the haves or the have-nots? Where would you place yourself on the socio-economic spectrum? I’d imagine most of us would say, we’re middle class people. Not […]
James 1:5-8 Pastor Chris Tweitmann As we return to our series of reflections on the book of James, on the one hand, this letter is very pastoral. Skimming the content of what James has written, it’s not hard to pick up on the fact that James is addressing specific concerns – concerns about certain […]
James 1:1-4 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Today, we begin a new sermon series on the book, the letter of James. James was the biological half-brother of Jesus of Nazareth. However, James was a late adopter of his brother’s Messianic claims. The gospels accounts of both Mark and John attest to the fact that James, like […]
Luke 9:18-26 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We come to end of this sermon series looking at what it means for us to be the Body of Christ in the world today – as pictured through a quick snapshot of the early Church right after its birth on the day of Pentecost. On that day, a […]
Acts 4:32-37 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We continue reflecting together on what it means to be the Church. To do this, we’ve been looking more closely at a quick snapshot found in Acts, chapter 2, of the early life and witness of the Church immediately after its birth by the Holy Spirit on the day of […]
Acts 4:23 – 31 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Over these last few weeks, we have been carefully focusing on a momentary glimpse of what the first Christian community looked like as reflected through this intriguing, albeit brief passage in Acts 2:42 – 47. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking […]
1 Corinthians 11:17- 29 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We are in the midst of a sermon series reflecting on what it means to be the Church. We specifically focusing on a beautiful picture from Acts, chapter 2, of what the Body of Christ looked like right after it was first formed through the gift of the Holy […]
“Growing Together in Maturity” (2 Timothy 3:1 – 17) Sunday, June 13, 2020 (Pastor Chris Tweitmann) Two weeks ago, we celebrated Pentecost, the birthday of the Body of Christ, the Church. In light of that celebration and in the midst of these times in which we are living – of uncertainty, of […]
Hebrews 9:11-14 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The book of Hebrews is addressed to a community of Jewish Christians. They are a community of people who have grown up with faith in the Lord and who have been raised with specific and regular practices through which to exercise their faith and to grow in their relationship with […]
Hebrews 9:1-10 Pastor Chris Tweitmann “Out with the old, in with the new.” The idiom literally means to move forward, to move forward by purging, removing or letting go of one thing with the expectation of gaining something else. In many ways, this is the “sum” of all that the writer of Hebrews has been […]
Hebrews 8:1-6 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The New Testament tells us that Jesus is many things. The Good Shepherd. The Bridegroom. The Light of the World. The Bread of Life. The Chief Cornerstone. Our Rock. Our Redeemer. Our Deliverer. Our Savior. The Risen Lord of all. The King of Kings. Only the book of Hebrews, this […]
Hebrews 7:11-28 Pastor Chris Tweitmann (SLIDE #1) Hebrews can be challenging for Christians to understand today. This sermon delivered in the form of a letter draws on a number of specific Old Testament references and allusions that would have been comprehensible to any Jewish follower of Jesus living in the first century A.D. Living thousands […]
Hebrews 7:1-10 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Last week, we finished up Hebrews chapter 6 and focused on the theme of hope. We were encouraged to put our hope in God, the God who not only repeats His promises and swears by Himself to Abraham, but who also gives us His word, who has even become that […]
Hebrews 6:13-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Most of us have felt, at some point in our lives, the anxiety and disorientation of being lost. Various circumstances, from joblessness to crippling debt, to debilitating illness to loneliness, to addiction to powerlessness to depression, can leave us with no idea where to go in our lives. It doesn’t […]
Hebrews 5:11-6:12 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Last week we began exploring a new, extended section of the book of Hebrews. We transitioned from a reflection on who Jesus is to a broader consideration of not only what Jesus has done but also what Jesus continues to do for us. We were introduced to the idea of […]
Hebrews 4:11-5:10 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Today, we start a new section in the book of Hebrews, this letter written or possibly this sermon given, to a community of predominantly Jewish Christians who were wavering in their faith in the face of increasing persecution. The whole book of Hebrews could be divided into three sections. (SLIDE […]
Hebrews 4:1-13 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The book of Hebrews can be a challenging read. As we’ve already discovered, it is chock full of quotations from the Old Testament. It also makes many references to the traditions & practices of the ancient Israelites. For these reasons – including the fact I just used the word, “ancient” […]
Hebrews 3:7-19 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Today, we come to the end of the twelve days of Christmas, (SLIDE #1) a special period of time established by Christians back in the Middle Ages in order to more deeply reflect on the gift of Immanuel – of God coming down to be with us in Jesus Christ. […]
Hebrews 3:1-6 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The anticipation of the big day is but a memory. (SLIDE #1) The gifts have all been unwrapped. We’ve fulfilled all our family traditions. (SLIDE #2) All that remains is for the tree to be taken down, and all the decorations to be put away. For most of us, Christmas […]
Hebrews 2:5-9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Christmas comes in many colors. (SLIDE #1) Red and green are the classic go-to colors for the holiday. The old carol, The Holly and the Ivy speaks to why these two colors have become synonymous with Christmas. The holly, with its deep green leaves, is associated with the crown of […]
Hebrews 2:1-4 Pastor Chris Tweitmann One of the things I love about this time of year are the special, celebratory things that we do to herald the coming of Christmas. All of the sights, smells, and tastes. (SLIDE #1) The dreamy, colorful and twinkling lights. (SLIDE #2) The white dusting of snow – even if […]
Hebrews 1:5-14 Pastor Chris Tweitmann (SLIDE #1) Angels. This time of year, angels are everywhere. (SLIDE #2) Their gilded images adorn the front of Christmas cards. The outline of what we have to come to envision angels to look like – beautiful humans with wings always surrounded by glowing light, complete with halos, harps, and […]
Hebrews 1:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Like it or not, ready or not, Christmastime is here. (SLIDE #1) The truth is the Christmas season already began creeping into our lives long before the month of December rolled around. Christmas decorations started popping up, not just in shopping centers, but across the street in the neighbor’s front […]
(SLIDE #1) Imagine talking a walk in the woods. You spot two fruit trees in the distance. Drawing nearer to these two trees, you notice they are both blossoming with red apples. Ripe for the picking, you anticipate taking hold of one of those apples and enjoying bite after delicious bite. But then, something happens […]
Acts 2:1-13 and 1 Corinthians 12 Margie McClure (Seminary Intern) This week, we continue exploring life in the Holy Spirit by looking at the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When we choose to follow Jesus, God gives each of us unique spiritual gifts designed to be exercised in our walk with Christ. There are three […]
Philippians 2:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann After the macabre revelry of secular Halloween comes a sacred day in the history of the Church for acknowledging & honoring the dead in decidedly different way. (SLIDE #1) I am speaking of the observance of All Saints Day, typically celebrated during the 1st Sunday of November. In the early […]
Acts 5:38-39 Pastor Jon Alexanian As you are grabbing your seats I’ll remind you that for the last few weeks we’ve been trying to get a handle on the Holy Spirit – who he is, what he does, and why he continues to matter today. In a way today, I want to both recap much […]
1 Thessalonians 5 Margie McClure We continue our sermon series focused on better understanding and more fully appreciating the person of the Holy Spirit. This Sunday, we engage one of the Bible’s more cryptic references. On a couple of different occasions, there are brief references to, and even cautions against grieving, squelching, and/or quenching the […]
Psalm 22:1-8 Pastor Chris Tweitmann When I was just about to start 4th grade, my parents bought their first home. On our first day moving into that house, I met two boys who were my age. They invited me to go for a bike ride and check out the surrounding neighborhood. After we had been […]
Ephesians 5:15-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann (SLIDE #1) Given the choice, most of us prefer full to empty. When we get in our car, a full gas tank is preferably to running on empty. (SLIDE #2) No one likes the stress of needing to get somewhere while seeing the gas gauge sitting on “E” or perhaps […]
Acts 1:1-9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann I grew up in a world without the internet and streaming television. (SLIDE #1) When I grew up, we had three major national networks, three smaller local networks, and the PBS channel. We had one television and what was on that television was dictated by my father. As I result, […]
Romans 12:1-21 Pastor Chris Tweitmann I am directionally challenged. (SLIDE #1) Ask anyone who knows me. For the longest time I struggled to know the difference between my left and my right. When it comes to a sense of direction, I definitely have no internal compass. For me, the invention of the GPS (Global Positioning […]
John 3:1-9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever been overlooked by another person? Ignored like you don’t exist? Have you ever been in a room with a group of people only to have no one acknowledge your presence – engage you in any way whatsoever – as if you were someone how completely invisible? Many […]
“I believe in the Holy Spirit.” – The Apostles Creed How would you describe the Holy Spirit? More pointedly, how would you describe your relationship with the Holy Spirit? Most followers of Jesus acknowledge the Holy Spirit as a core part of the Christian faith. And yet, despite this, many believers don’t fully understand or […]
Matthew 25:14-30 Pastor Jon Alexanian Hey church – for the last few weeks we have been unpacking this idea of work as God intended it. This week we will be wrapping up the series by trying to tie it all together by putting work in an eternal context. I don’t think most people ever think […]
Ephesians 4:1-32 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Whether it’s a paid job, an ongoing, regular task we are accomplishing, or even a short-term project to which we commit ourselves, our days and our lives are filled with, marked by our work. If we stop and think about it, our jobs are what we spend the majority of […]
1 Peter 2:9-12; Colossians 3:23-24 Pastor Jon Alexanian For the last few weeks, we have dug deep into the topic of work as God intended. We’ve seen that work is an act of worship, the futile feeling associated with most work was not God’s plan but a result of sin, and how, through the power […]
Psalm 139 Pastor Jon Alexanian As we continue to further unpack this idea of calling this week, I figured instead of giving you more words, I’m pointing you to a video of an incredible woman who wrestled with this idea of calling in her own way. Enjoy! https://vimeo.com/146417905 See You Sunday, Pastor Jon
Genesis 3:1-19 Pastor Jon Alexanian Last week we kicked off a series looking at the topic of work. And if you remember, as we saw, work is a good endeavor. The first verse of the Bible tells us God is a worker, and as we saw, when God intentionally sat down to create us, we […]
Genesis 1:26-28, 2:4-17 Pastor Jon Alexanian After a few weeks of talking about the gift of Sabbath rest, this week we’re going to jump into a new series looking at how we spend our time the other 6 days of the week – or, more specifically, we’re spending a few weeks digging into a theology […]
Mark 2:23-28 Pastor Chris Tweitmann A few years back, I was reading a book review that made reference to a short essay penned in 1931 by the famed British economist, John Maynard Keynes. Titled “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren”, Keynes speculated on how the world would be a century later. Himself living in an age […]
Psalm 130 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Sabbath. Resting in order to work. It’s a divinely created rhythm. It’s a rule for life given to us by our Heavenly Father. It’s a means of acting justly – of recognizing, respecting, and protecting our common humanity. It’s the gateway to our freedom – to being healed from all […]
Luke 13: 10-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This week we observe our annual commemoration of our freedom as a nation. Each year we celebrate Independence Day so that we would not forget the circumstances out of which the United States was born. More than just some time off, a specific day is designated for us to […]
Isaiah 58 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This Sunday is the fifth Sunday in the month of June. It is our tradition here at Grace to designate these rare fifth Sundays in a given month as Mission Sundays. Our regular gathering time for worship is dedicated to reflecting upon and celebrating our various mission partnerships in witnessing […]
Deuteronomy 5:12 – 16 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Last week, we reflected on the biblical fact that we are created by God to rest. As we build a world that is being defined more and more by how much we do, by how busy we are and by how long we can go without sleep or […]
Genesis 2:1-3 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Rest. Relaxation. Recreation. These three words encompass our deepest longings as human beings. And yet these three words, in the thick of our chaotic and busy world, are orientations that most of us struggle to actualize. We are working longer and harder. The average workday is longer—up from 8 to […]
I’m burning the candle at both ends… I’m completely drained…. I’m basically running on fumes… I’m at the point of exhaustion…. I’m stressed to the max… I’m on the edge of burnout. Have you ever heard yourself or someone else utter these words? At one time or another, most of us have been there. We […]
Two years ago, we initiated a new ministry partnership with a longtime member of our staff, Lee Humerian, and his wife, Katie. Together they answered a call from the Lord to become missionaries in the war-torn country of Ukraine. This sacred calling came about from a series of service trips they led and embarked upon […]
Acts 1:1-11 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever experienced something – an encounter or an event and have not been sure what to make of it? I’m talking about being confused or uncertain as to how this particular happening fits alongside everything else you’ve encountered. In the story of Christian faith, there is one such […]
2 Corinthians 8 – 9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Since the dawn of civilization, human society has revolved around economics. Various systems have been created to orchestrate the production, consumption, and distribution of resources – goods, services, and wealth. Through it all, God has revealed His own economic system. However, the Lord’s economy does not operate […]
Luke 18:11 – 14; Matthew 6; Mark 12:38 – 44 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Over the last several centuries, the modern advancement of human society has resulted in an increasing trend towards compartmentalizing life. Instead of living a life of integrated relationships, the various spheres in which we daily operate remain isolated from each other. We […]
Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Exodus 36:1-7 Pastor Chris Tweitmann https://vimeo.com/334500432 We live in a world where we tend to perceive there is not enough. “There’s not enough time.” “There’s not enough talent.” “There’s not enough money.” “There’s not enough information.” “There’s not enough interest.” “There’s not enough participation.” “There’s not enough help.” “There’s not enough […]
Genesis 28:10-22 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever been so thankful, so inspired by a moment, an experience, a realization, that you found yourself suddenly inspired, perhaps even immediately compelled to respond? A story or a picture grabs your attention. A conversation takes an unexpected turn and stays with you long after it’s over. A […]
Ephesians 2:4-9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Easter, as the world often celebrates it, is nothing more than a brief weekend escape – a momentary Sunday getaway from the everyday madness and brokenness of our lives. The attraction of the holiday becomes all about the candy, the jelly beans, and the marshmallow peeps. There’s nothing quite like […]
John 19:38-42 Pastor Chris Tweitmann On Saturday, before the silence of a sealed burial chamber, we will wrestle with the death we all try to deny and avoid we must face. Life, we will realize, is empty and meaningless without God. In the shadow of the greatest loss we can ever face, our perceptions and […]
John 18-19 Pastor Chris Tweitmann On Friday, your next step be to follow Jesus, even as you recognize your own face in the crowd. Where he will go, we cannot follow yet. However, we must confront our own reflection and darkness in where he ultimately goes. At first, we aren’t going to like what we […]
John 13 Pastor Chris Tweitmann You’re invited to discover and experience the true meaning and significance of Easter. This journey, however, asks more of you than just an hour this Sunday. To fully receive and appreciate all you have been missing, the One who comes for you – to change your life, you’ll need to […]
John 12:12-29 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week – seven days commemorating Jesus’ decisive journey towards embracing the death we deserve and ultimately, offering us the kind of life we could only every imagine, let alone hope for. The first step towards the work of our salvation is taken as […]
John 17:9-26 Pastor Chris Tweitmann One of the things we learn from the gospels is Jesus had a very consistent and vibrant prayer life. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John offer us several glimpses of Jesus’ ongoing and regular conversations with the Father. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus even teaches us how to pray. […]
John 17:1-8 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Every Sunday, as part of our regular rhythm of worship, we end our time spent together in pray by reciting the words of what we refer to as the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer is outlined for us in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 6, verses 9 through 13. However, if we look […]
John 15:18 – 16:33 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Our Lenten journey continues as we listen to Jesus share with us his final instructions, what is formally known as his “Farewell Discourse,” before he hands himself over to die. Jesus is talking to his disciples as they make their way toward the Garden of Gethsemane. When we […]
John 15 Pastor Jon Alexanian As we continue working our way through the Gospel of John this Sunday, we turn to one of its most well known chapters. In this chapter, Jesus describes himself as a vine on which we, as the branches, are connected. The purpose of the metaphor is to better help his […]
John 14 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This weekend as we “spring forward” and set our clocks ahead by one hour, we enter the beginning of what is known as Lent, which means “springtime or renewal.” Lent is a season created by followers of Christ sometime during the 4th century. Officially kicked off this past week on […]
John 11:1-44 Pastor Jon Alexanian Synopsis – Jesus has the power to overcome the greatest enemy – death As we’ve continued to work our way through the Gospel of John, I have repeatedly, some might even say unrelentingly, tried to emphasize that when Jesus speaks of eternal life, his primary focus is on the life […]
John 9:1-41 Pastor Jon Alexanian As we continue our journey through the Gospel of John, we find ourselves in the midst of the greatest Jewish festival of the year – the Feast of Tabernacles. And as we saw last week, on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stands up and declares 3 […]
John 7-8 Pastor Jon Alexanian Jesus has no equal – he is the source of salvation, the hope of nations, and God in the flesh Over the last few weeks as we have worked our way through John’s Gospel, we have seen Jesus and others make some bold claims about him. As John the Baptist […]
John 6:1-70 Pastor Jon Alexanian What do you have to do to be saved? What do we have to bring to the table to experience the most in life? What is required of me? As Christians, especially those in the Lutheran Tradition, our answer to these questions is easy – nothing. There is nothing we […]
John 4:43-5:9 Pastor Jon Alexanian If you remember, last week I told you we were going to look at a passage that makes religious people uncomfortable – namely, how Jesus extends eternal life to a sinful woman with no strings attached. This week, I may make even more people uncomfortable with a discussion of the […]
John 4:1 – 30 Pastor Jon Alexanian Truth be told, I was not originally going to preach on this story when I crafted this sermon series. It doesn’t fit with the “Signs” passages (the miracles of Jesus). But it is simply my favorite story in the Gospel, so I’m fitting it in. This story has […]
John 2:1-11 Pastor Jon Alexanian There are just some stories from Sunday school that stick with a you: Jonah in the whale, Noah’s Ark, the Burning Bush – classics. But one story that I always enjoyed as a kid, and probably even more as a teenager, was the one where Jesus showed up at wedding […]
John 1:19-51 Pastor Jon Alexanian If you were with us this past Sunday you heard Pastor Chris declare it – 2019 is the year we dig into who Jesus is. Now I know, as I write this I am writing to insiders (or else you wouldn’t get Hearts Up); I am writing to those of […]
Matthew 3:13-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann For most of the rest of the world, Christmas is but a distant memory. But within the Christian tradition, at least for the last fifteen hundred years, the celebration continues beyond December 25th for twelve days. The endpoint of each annual observance of Christmas in the Church, the twelfth day […]
Hebrews 1:1-4 Pastor Chris Tweitmann For many, after December 25th, things go back to business as usual. But not in the Church. In the tradition of the Christian faith, there are 12 days of Christmas. Why, you may ask? Well, contrary to how many Nativity scenes portray it and even some books and movies tell […]
Philippians 2:5-11 Pastor Chris Tweitmann On Christmas Eve, we huddle together in the dark for two services at 4 pm and 9 pm and begin to celebrate the coming of the Light of the World, of Jesus born anew in our lives. Once again, we will retell the story that is the reason for the […]
Luke 2:8-18 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Just a few years ago, Time magazine conducted an exhaustive survey of U.S. copyright registrations for Christmas songs. In doing so, they determined “Silent Night” is the most popular Christmas song. In fact, Time also surprisingly discovered, in terms of ranking the most recorded Christmas tunes, the heavily religious songs […]
Psalm 98 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Music is undeniably powerful. It is a language of emotion that can give expression and represent different and otherwise incommunicable feelings. Music has a knack for being able to penetrate the hardest heart, the narrowest mind, and even to stir the most lifeless soul. When we find ourselves challenged to […]
Micah 5:1-4 Pastor Chris Tweitmann It is a long-standing tradition of this holiday season to sing. Even those of us who aren’t normally inclined to carry a tune will find ourselves humming the familiar chorus of a Christmas carol as we listen to the car radio or shop in a local store. We continue to […]
Isaiah 7:10-14 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The arrival of Christmas, with all of its festivity, traditions, and gift-giving, is such an exciting and joyous time, we have difficulty waiting for the day to finally come. In an effort to avoid letting our eagerness get the better of us, we label presents, “Do Not Open Until Christmas!” […]
John 18:33 – 19:16 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Happy New Year – to the Church! Yes, I know it’s late November. Of course, I realize we are only just about to observe Thanksgiving and haven’t even celebrated Christmas yet. So then, what gives? We are at one of those places in the year where the Church […]
2 Corinthians 5:14-21 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever visited an embassy? Embassies function as extensions of the particular nation of the world they represent in a foreign country. Framed images of its national heroes adorn the walls. Furnishings and food within the building look and taste like home. Even national holidays are celebrated on […]
Matthew 4:18-22 Pastor Chris Tweitmann In conversations with fellow believers, I often hear the comment, “I can believe in Jesus and be his follower, but I do not need to be part of the Church.” This is slowly becoming the majority opinion of Christians. Is Christianity a private affair? Can discipleship be a solitary activity? […]
Philippians 3:4-14 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Everyone. Everywhere. Flourishing in Christ. In brief, this expresses the focus of our mission as Grace. Our future together will be dedicated to sharing this vision for all humanity offered through the Gospel and experienced as one yields before the reality of God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in […]
James 2:14-26 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This Sunday is Reformation Sunday, the day in which we remember our Protestant heritage and commemorate the 16th century Reformation which took place just a little over 500 years ago. Way back when, Christianity had lost its way as political expediency overtook faithful observance of the Word of God. Abuses […]
Matthew 9:9-13 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Grace is on the move. We, as a community, are moving into the future the Lord has set before us. Our perceived future together has been envisioned in what is called a missional narrative – a brief but detailed description of who we are as Grace, why the Lord has […]
Romans 12 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This Sunday, we continue to reflect upon the vision for our future as Grace. At the heart of this narrative is the biblical theme of flourishing. God’s desire and intention for us and all creation to thrive is an essential part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Two weeks ago, […]
John 15: 1-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann “Failure to thrive” is a phrase used by both pediatricians and veterinarians to indicate young children and/or animals who are experiencing insufficient weight gain. In other words, they are not existing in an optimal state of being. Something is lacking or missing for them. Many people, not just infants, […]
Psalm 1 and Matthew 5:3 – 10 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Flourish. When you read the word, what is the first thought that pops into your mind? Driving the entire story of the Bible, at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and in His inauguration of the Kingdom of God, is the theme of […]
1 Corinthians 3:1-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This Sunday, we begin a new sermon series designed both to unveil and unpack the vision for the future of Grace. Over a year ago, what began as a single idea, to relocate our school back to our church campus, has become a broader consideration of the identity and […]
Luke 10:25-37 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This Sunday, at our monthly combined service and annual Chili Cook-off, we will close out one sermon series and set the stage for the fall series. For a good part of the summer we have been getting behind the full meaning of key biblical words by considering them in the […]
Philippians 1:12-21 Jon Alexanian This week we will be continuing our word study series by looking at the word – Joy. For this week’s Hearts Up, instead of previewing my sermon with words I think this song does a pretty great job. For King and Country – joy. Enjoy! Pastor Jon
Psalm 130 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Two small but deeply impactful words. If heard on the battlefield or in the hospital waiting room, or perhaps within our darkest thoughts, with these two words, everything falls apart. No one ever wants to say them to themselves, let alone to another person. Few are resilient enough to withstand […]
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Over these last few weeks we’ve been digging deep and getting behind our English translation of core words and themes of the Christian and Jewish faith. It has been both a surprising and an insightful journey exploring the meaning of these words in their original languages of Hebrew and Greek. […]
Psalm 42 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We, all of us, read and understand ourselves and everything around us through a certain lens. The particular culture – the specific environment, conditions, attitudes, and behaviors – in which we were raised and of which we are a part, influence and shape how we perceive and interact with the […]
Ezekiel 36:22-28 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Sometimes the same word doesn’t always mean the same thing in another language. A great example of this fact is reflected in the relationship between England and America. Even though we have a history together and both speak English, our two nations remain separated by a common language. For example, […]
1 John 4: 7-21 Pastor Chris Tweitmann What is love? It’s a question lots of people have tried to answer, from William Shakespeare to Haddaway. Many different conclusions about love have resulted. There are those who perceive love as something one falls into and out of. For some, love is nothing more than a meaningless […]
Exodus 3:11-15 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We live in a soundbite culture. In a world inundated with information, where everyone’s schedule is busy, and therefore, our time and attention are limited, we have grown accustomed to living off of bite-sized portions of news, teachings, and even instructions. The shorter the length, the more likely we are […]
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Pastor Chris Tweitmann “Lost in Translation” — The phrase means some of the content of a statement is not getting across, has been forgotten, or is not being focused on. Particularly it describes when the translation of a word or phrase does not convey its true or complete meaning from the original language. […]
Proverbs 3:1-6 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Thanks to host of dedicated and amazing workers and a sizable bunch of curious and exuberant children, we have been enjoying a fantastic week of Vacation Bible School. Together we’ve been learning about courage – how the Lord gives us courage in the midst of the unexpected and sometimes, unwanted […]
Galatians 5:1-6:10 Pastor Jon Alexanian FREEDOM! The great call of war given by William Wallace (Braveheart), the mantra of the American Revolution, and the idea behind several of the greatest letters of written – The Edict of Milan, The Magna Carte, the Declaration of Independence, and Paul’s letter to the Galatians. This past week we […]
Galatians 3:19-29, Matthew 5:17-20 Pastor Jon Alexanian As we’ve been working through Paul’s letter to the Galatians we have dug deeply into the richness of what Jesus did, and the impact that had not only on the Jews, but on all people. As Paul beautifully articulated, Jesus put himself under the Law in order to […]
Pastor Jon Alexanian Faith is one of those words that gets thrown around all the time – and yet I doubt many of us have stopped to question what faith is. Throughout his letter to the Galatians, Paul continues to repeat the mantra that we are made right with God by faith – not by […]
Galatians 3:1-4:7 Pastor Jon Alexanian As we continue our journey through Galatians we find ourselves smack dab in the heart of Paul’s impassioned appeal to understand the impact Jesus had on the world. This week, we are going to focus on the mechanics of salvation. Specifically we’re going to ask, how does trusting in the […]
Galatians 2:11-21 Pastor Jon Alexanian For the last couple weeks we’ve been looking at Paul’s letter to the Galatian church – a letter that radically changed the course of human history. The first week we talked about the great tug of war the early church found itself in as it wrestled with the implications of […]
Galatians 1:12-2:10 Pastor Jon Alexanian How did a devout Jew – a man so zealous for the traditions and purity of his people that he was willing to kill to preserve it- become the greatest proponent of removing any and all barriers that prevented all people from coming to God? What exactly happened to Paul? […]
Galatians 1:1-11; 4:8-20 Pastor Jon Alexanian The Galatian church has been infiltrated by people trying to force the Gentiles to essentially become Jews (obey the Law). The problem is this is entirely counter to the Gospel Paul has come to embrace, and is also counter to the Gospel he originally preached to them – a […]
John 15:1-8 Pastor Chris Tweitmann It happens to all of us. Part of a conversation or an incident is shared with us. We read or hear the headline of a news report. Perceiving we have the full picture of what happened or what was said, we move forward sharing this information with others even as […]
John 16:33 Pastor Jon Alexanian Hello Grace! It was great to be back with you this past Sunday and I am very much looking forward to celebrating Mother’s day with you this Sunday. As we gather, we will be continuing our series looking at stuff Jesus never said. This week’s phrase, “God never gives you […]
Luke 13:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Part of our fallibility as human beings is our tendency not to think before we speak. When we are passionate about a subject of conversation that, perhaps, isn’t going the way we believe it should, we feel compelled to say something. Someone we care about continues to struggle or hurt […]
Matthew 19:16-26 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We’ve just began a new sermon series: “Jesus Never Said That.” The focus of this series is to identify popular sayings that have been incorrectly associated with Jesus. These statements have been erroneously repeated on Christ’s behalf by both well-meaning followers of Jesus and non-believers alike. Our goal over these […]
Mark 1:14-15 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Unquestionably, Jesus is one of the most influential figures of history. Even those who do not believe He is the Son of God and Savior of the world have heard of Jesus. Most people perceive themselves to know something about Jesus – typically in regard to His teachings and commands. […]
Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 16:6-10 The story of the Bible reveals relationships as the most vital aspect of human existence. Jesus Christ, as the Word made flesh, reinforces this when He summarizes the entirety of biblical instruction as being two responsibilities: loving God and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. The centrality of love – which […]
Acts 1:1-11 Pastor Jon Alexanian He is risen – He is risen indeed!… Now what? After a week of incredible highs and terrifying lows, the disciples have been on one crazy roller coaster, and understandably now that Jesus is alive again they have questions. One of their great questions is recorded in Acts 1:6 – […]
Acts 9:1-19 Pastor Chris Tweitmann -Experience Holy Week- Are you the type of person that reads the last chapter of a book before you start it? Or maybe you’re the one who in the midst of hearing a story, thinks to yourself, “Just skip to the end already! Just tell me the punch line!” Perhaps […]
Pastor Jon Alexanian Are you the type of person that reads the last chapter of a book before you start it? Or maybe you’re the one who in the midst of hearing a story, thinks to yourself, “Just skip to the end already! Just tell me the punch line!” Perhaps you’d love to hear more […]
And so we draw near to the end of the season of Lent. Since Ash Wednesday, we have been following Jesus in learning how to love our neighbor like He did. Now, as He turns His face towards Jerusalem in order to finally accomplish what He came to do, we become the neighbors that He […]
Matthew 5:13-16 Pastor Chris Tweitmann One of the biggest stewardships in our life is the stewardship of our relationships with others. Jesus reinforces the significance of this calling upon our lives as He inseparably links our love of God with our love of our neighbor. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He goes on to share […]
Mark 5:1-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Bad neighbors. Every community has at least one. Someone who stands out to everyone else in a negative way. That person is universally regarded as being a problem, a hindrance or maybe even a threat to the wellbeing of the rest of the neighborhood. This Sunday as we continue our […]
Luke 7: 11-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Okay, so I have a confession to make. I am a fan of the television show, “The Walking Dead.” If you’re not familiar with this long running program, here’s the gist of the plot. Our planet has been overrun by a plague that killed most of the population and […]
John 5:1-15 Pastor Chris Tweitmann We are more than a week into our journey through Lent. The season of Lent is not outlined in the Bible. It developed out of the tradition of the Church as a time dedicated to intentionally focus, reflect and prepare for the celebration of Good Friday and Easter or Resurrection […]
Luke 10:25-37 Pastor Chris Tweitmann, Lt. Kenton Ferrin (HBPD), Batallion Chief Bill Reardon (HBFD), Carol Burtis (CERT Coordinator HBFD) Last week, we took our first step on the pilgrimage with Jesus known as Lent with our observance of Ash Wednesday. Marked by the sign of the Cross in ashes, we began, just as one ought […]
Micah 6:1-8 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Have you ever had one of those moments when you seem to be in the right place, with the right people, perhaps experiencing just what you want in that moment? Things are going so well. You are so content, so satisfied that you find yourself thinking, whispering or maybe even […]
Micah 5:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann I like going for long drives. For me, there’s something relaxing – centering – about being on the open road and just moving forward towards a destination. Part of my enjoyment derives from the various sights I get to take in while on the road. In particular, I am fond […]
Micah 4:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann For thousands of years, Jews have been greeting each other with the blessing, “Shalom aleichem,” (“peace unto you”) with the other person responding, “Aleichem shalom” (“unto you peace”). This traditional greeting is also the name of the song that begins the Sabbath meal every Friday night. It echoes the final […]
Micah 2-3 Pastor Chris Tweitmann “And justice for all.” These are the last four words of the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States – a declaration most of us memorized from repeating it every morning before the start of class in school. The phrase encapsulates the idea that each person is equal under the […]
Luke 2:41-52 Pastor Jon Alexanian Do you ever put yourself in a box? Have you ever had someone unable to see things your way? Do we ever miss where God is working, because we are too focused on the limited way we are used to seeing things? This sermon tries to dig in to these […]
Micah 1:1-16 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This Saturday, January 6th, is the 12th day of and official end to the festive Christmas season. Brits know it as “Twelfth Night,” whereas others call it “Epiphany.” The word “Epiphany” comes from Greek and means “manifestation.” A more modern definition of the word would be “usually sudden manifestation or […]
Luke 2:21-38 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This is a season for making lists. Early this past month or perhaps even sooner, children made their wish lists for Santa. As the arrival of Christmas morning gives way to the fresh start of a new year, many adults begin to make a list for their New Year’s resolutions. […]
Luke 2:1-20 Pastor Chris Tweitmann The day is almost upon us. Christmas is nearly here. Every year on the 24th of December, we journey back to Bethlehem through the darkness, following the star, carried along by choirs of angels, to gaze into the manger – to behold the Light of the world made flesh. Are […]
Revelation 12:1-7 Pastor Chris Tweitmann If someone asked you to tell him or her the Christmas story, you’d probably turn to the Gospel of Matthew or the Gospel of Luke. Matthew’s Gospel was written by one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke was authored by a physician, a traveling companion […]
Luke 1:46-55 Pastor Chris Tweitmann ‘Tis the season for singing. Whether you enjoy Christmas tunes on the radio or listening to carol singers, one of the things most of us like best about this season is the music. Even for those of us who don’t particularly like to sing, Christmas carols – both old and […]
Luke 1:39-45 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Our journey through the season of Advent to the coming of Christmas – of Jesus born anew in our lives and world has only just begun. Last Sunday, our chosen guide for this annual pilgrimage was revealed. It is none other than Mary, the mother of Jesus. As I highlighted […]
Luke 1: 26-38 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Depending on when you read this, another national day of thanksgiving will be just before or right behind you. There either will be a turkey feast in your future or the annual holiday meal leftover sandwich to enjoy. That treasured after Thanksgiving dinner nap might be in your future […]
Revelation 21: 1-5 and 22:1-5 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Eleven months ago, we set out on a journey together in worship: to read the Bible, from cover to cover. Our primary tool for undertaking this task was The Story – an abridged, chronological and seamlessly woven together narrative account of the Scriptures. The hope was this […]
2 Timothy 1:1-14 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Famous last words. It’s a well-known phrase, often used ironically these days. Someone makes a statement and then we throw out this expression as an expression of disbelief. The other person has just spoken optimistically about something and we offer these off-handed comments as a sort of prediction that […]
Ephesians 2:1-10 Pastor Jon Alexanian This week we will continue celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation by looking at the theology behind the Reformation. A theology that was far from new, as it was espoused by the early church. But a theology none the less that had been forgotten by the time of the […]
Acts 1-8 Pastor Jon Alexanian This Sunday we gather to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the date when a young monk named Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg which set off a train of events that radically changed the course of human history. Needless to say as […]
1 Corinthians 15:1-22 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Last week, we wrestled with the largeness – the fullness of a Gospel – the good news that we tend to make rather small and therefore skewed. The message of the Cross is not merely Jesus died to forgive our sins so we could go to heaven when we […]
John 13:1-17 Pastor Chris Tweitmann This week, our journey through The Story brings us to the moment God has been leading everything that has preceded it toward. It seems so long ago (way back in January), we were in Genesis, chapter 3 at the scene of the crime. Sin entered into our lives and embedded […]
Matthew 16:13-26 Pastor Chris Tweitmann With Act Two of “The Story” well underway, the tide now begins to turn. When Jesus first arrived on the scene teaching and revealing the Kingdom of God through signs and wonders, he became a real crowd pleaser. News traveled quickly about His ability to do things no one had […]
John 6 Pastor Jon Alexanian Hey everyone! This past month of learning to be a dad has been great but I am very much looking forward to being back with you this Sunday! I get to pick up where Pastor Chris left off as we continue our look at the life of Jesus. This week […]
Luke 4:14-22 Pastor Chris Tweitmann Last week we began our journey back into The Story – a condensed, chronological narrative of the Bible – by engaging Act Two – what is known as the New Testament. After prolonged waiting and hoping for the fulfillment of the promise of a coming Messiah – a Savior, God […]
Pastor Chris Tweitmann | John 1:1-18 We’ve had a long, insightful and hopefully, encouraging, summer break journeying through the wisdom section of the biblical library. Now, it’s time to return to The Story – an abridged, chronological narrative of the scriptures. We ended the spring by finishing the first half of this narrative – what […]
Pastor Chris Job 42 Sometimes we don’t get the ending that we want. We open ourselves up for a story. We get invested in what is happening. Carried along by the suspense of the narrative, we eagerly anticipate – maybe even try to predict – the resolution of the ending. Then we turn the final […]
Job 38-41 We’ve been spending the last few weeks going through a very difficult book in the Bible, Job. If you have been with us each week, or have caught up with the podcast, you know that we’ve been trying to discern what wisdom the book has when referring to how we deal with suffering. […]
Job 32-37 When we last left Job, three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, who had come to comfort him in his great suffering, became a cruel extension of his agonizing pain. Initially, they had let their presence – their solidarity in sitting with Job in his grief for a week – do all the talking. […]
Job 3 – 31 Suffering is a part of life. At some point in our lives and usually more often than once, we all experience pain. When we do, the immediate question most of us ask is “Why?” The more we have suffered or the more acutely we feel the pain of our loss, the […]
Job 1-2 There is almost nothing more certain in life than suffering. We all encounter it. It can show up anytime, anywhere, with anybody. Suffering comes in all sizes and varieties – big and small. You stub your toe. You come down with the flu. You lose your job. Someone steals your car. You are […]
Song of Songs 8:4-7 Sparks were flying last week as we engaged in the first half of our exploration of one of the most unread, rarely taught and typically overlooked or ignored parts of the Bible: the Song of Songs. Belonging to the wisdom section of the Bible, sometimes this book is referred to as […]
Song of Songs Our summer vacation from “The Story” – a condensed narrative presentation of the scriptures – and into the Wisdom literature – the more poetic, reflective and less story-driven section of the Bible – leads us this Sunday into the Song of Songs. This book is a unique and distinctive member of the […]
Ecclesiastes Hey church! This week we are diving into one of those books most people try to avoid – the book of Ecclesiastes. For centuries this has been one of those books that Christians and Jews alike have all struggled to understand. It is not like the other books of scripture: there is no direct […]
Genesis 28:15 This was such a good week and we are so excited to share it with you here! For the past week, our children’s ministry was throwing a Summer Bible Camp on the church campus. Each day the kids got to sing praise songs, play games, make a craft, and hear the Good News […]
Proverbs 1: 1-7 Just a few weeks ago we began our shared furlong from our engagement of “The Story” – a narrative arrangement of the stories of both the Old and New Testament on Sundays and Wednesdays. But just because the sun is out and the surf is calling, we have not abandoned all together […]
Psalm 2 Hey church! This time we are continuing our look at the introduction to the book of Psalms. If you remember the previous sermon from Pastor Chris described Psalms 1 and 2 as the key to unlocking all of the psalms. He looked at Psalm 1 and in doing so, showed us the personal […]
Psalm 1 Last time, as we concluded our reading of the narrative of the Old Testament, we ended the first part of “The Story.” We are at the halfway point of our yearlong goal to read through the Bible together. Kudos to all of you who have made it this far reading, studying and reflecting […]
Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi In the beginning, God created a majestic and beautiful universe – forming and breathing into life at the center of it all – the very reflection of the image of His glory, humankind. All was very good until humanity chose to disobey God – to go their own way rather than […]
Ezra 1-6 There’s an expression: “You can’t go home again.” The thought behind this saying is the perception that you truly can’t go back to the place you once lived because so much will have changed since you left and therefore, it will not be the same place anymore. As we turn to the next […]
Daniel 9:4-19 Previously in our journey through “The Story” (a thirty one chapter narrative summary of the Bible), we witnessed the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah lose all that was near and dear to them. A little over a century before, their rival, the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the other half of their […]
Jeremiah 29:1-14 As we continue our journey through “The Story”, we come to the total collapse of the people of God. Over the last few weeks we’ve seen their moral and spiritual decay lead first to the Northern Kingdom’s sacking by the Assyrian Empire, and here we will see the final blow to the kingdom […]
2 Kings 17-20 2 Chronicles 29-32 Sometimes we repeatedly can find ourselves in the same situation. Everything goes down the same way every time. What happens can become so predictable; we just expect it rather than question what’s happening or asking if things could be different. Maybe we call it bad luck. Perhaps, we tell […]
1 Kings 18 We’ve entered the third part of “The Story” – a thirty-one chapter narrative summary of the Bible and things are quickly turning from bad to worse. In just two chapters we moved from the height of Israel’s prominence and preeminence to the beginning of the end as civil war has broken out […]
1 Kings 12:1-25 Hi church! Here we jump back into our journey through “The Story”, and as we will see, from here on out, things get pretty pitiful for Israel. This is the part of Israel’s history few are familiar with. As we will see, Solomon’s son had as much stupidity as his father had […]
Where are you on the road through Jerusalem? Are your eyes still on Jesus? Are you following him closely? Or has this been just another week for you? Have the busyness and the routine of your schedule left you on the side of the road—too preoccupied to notice what is going on? Have the demands […]
Mark 11:1-11 Here, we are taking a short detour in our journey through the Story as we turn to celebrate Holy Week, Jesus’ journey to the cross and from the grave. As we do, however, we will be reflecting on what we have learned from the Story thus far. For instance, as we celebrate Palm […]
1 Kings 1-11 1 Chronicles 28 – 2 Chronicles 9 Throughout 2017 we’ve been going through a book called The Story – which is the Bible put into story-form from start to finish. In chapter 13, we focused on King Solomon. I think typically in the church when we think of Solomon, we often think […]
2 Samuel 12:1-9 Previously, we looked at the first half of David’s life. When he was only a teenager, David went from tending his father’s flock as a shepherd to being anointed by his Heavenly Father to care for the people of Israel as their next king. His fulfillment of this calling did not come […]
1 Samuel 16:1-13 Poet. Warrior. Musician. Shepherd. King. Sinner. Few people can be accurately described using all of these adjectives, but we find one such person in the Old Testament — David. No human being is mentioned more in the Old Testament than David. Not Moses, Jacob or even Abraham. In fact, David’s story is […]
1 Samuel 8:1-9 We entered into the season of Lent by engaging the book of Judges. After the passing of Joshua, Israel was governed by a series of judges – regional political and military chieftains. For nearly three centuries, the people were caught in a vicious cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. Things progressively […]
Ruth 1:1-14 This Sunday, we are going to be entering into the Book of Ruth. Though only four chapters long, the Book of Ruth has a very engaging narrative. For one, it has the story arch of a modern day dramatic novel. There’s tragedy, there’s controversy, there’s a touch of romance, and it all culminates […]
Judges 3:12-30 If you have ever read the book of Judges you have probably asked yourself a series of questions like: Didn’t this just happen? How stupid are these people? And, when does this stop? Now, you typically don’t ask these questions because the book is boring, quite the opposite! It’s one of the most […]
Joshua 1:1-9 This Sunday, we turn to chapter 7 of “The Story” – a condensed, chronological and narrative presentation of the Bible. When we last left the people of God, they were still in the wilderness, on the other side of a whole lot of wandering. Two decades earlier, at about the halfway point of […]
Numbers & Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 8:1-11 This Sunday, as we continue our year-long journey through the Bible by way of the condensed, thirty one chapter narrative called “The Story,” we come to the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy. The book of Numbers recounts the traveling of God’s people from Mt. Sinai to the Promised Land called […]
Exodus 19-40 One of the challenges in engaging the Bible is the temptation to skip over sections of it that we don’t want to read. So we skip exhaustive instructions about rules that no longer apply in our day. We jump past design specifications, measurements and the décor of furniture, clothes and building projects that […]
Exodus 6:1-11, 15:1-18 This Sunday we continue looking at the Story of God by turning from the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) to the time of Moses. Of all the Old Testament stories this is typically the most familiar. The stories of the burning bush, the ten plagues and the crossing of […]
Genesis 37:3-13;17-20 This Sunday we begin week three of our year-long study of the entire Bible using a book called The Story. The Story is a condensed version of the Bible organized in 31 chapters—or stories. It’s Scripture arranged chronologically with a few editorial comments to tie all the stories together. We’re reading one chapter […]
Genesis 12:1-20 Do you like jigsaw puzzles? When our kids were younger, our family went through a jigsaw puzzle phase. At its height, we were attempting the challenging 1000 piece puzzles – together spending an afternoon or evening trying to put all the pieces together. One thing we learned early on about assembling a jigsaw […]
Genesis 1-11 This Sunday, we begin our yearlong journey through the scriptures – from Genesis to Revelation. For those of you who have never read the Bible cover to cover, this promises to be a life-changing year for you. For the first time you will read and experience God’s word not as a collection of […]
Isaiah 55 Merry Christmas and happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a great time with family and friends, and are recovering from the craziness of the season. As we now approach the New Year many of us turn our minds to hopes for the next year, goals, and eventually resolutions which most of […]
John 3:16-21 Christmas is almost here! Have you gotten the message yet? I’m not talking about all the advertising for the last minute shopping deals. I’m not even referring to the well-intentioned but ultimately generic sentiment of spreading a little holiday cheer. I am speaking of THE message of Christmas. The existence of this worldwide […]
John 1:9-14 There are now exactly ten days until Christmas. Does this news fill you with tidings of comfort and joy? Or does this announcement, in the face of what you still have left to accomplish leave you with a pit in your stomach wrapped around a bundle of stress? Has your childlike anticipation of […]
John 3:9-15 Tis’ the season to believe. “Believe” is a word that is thrown around a bunch during these weeks of Advent. It’s plastered in big letters on festive banners decorating shopping mall parking lots in December. It’s the focal word captioning Christmas cards and ornaments. This singular word often stands alone on holiday coffee […]
John 3:4-8 Sometimes in the telling and retelling of a well-known story a character can get overlooked. This especially tends to happen when there are lots of players involved in the tale. The Christmas story is no exception. We know and recount the events leading up to the birth of Immanuel – God with us […]
John 3:1-3 With the arrival of Thanksgiving, the holiday season is officially underway. The countdown is on. We are about to run the gauntlet that begins with Black Friday through Cyber Monday and leads all the way to Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day. As the anticipated busyness of these next few weeks prepares to […]
Daniel 12 When you’re reading a good book, you don’t want to know how it all ends before you come to the last chapter of the story. Being kept in suspense, not giving away the punch line, makes for a good story. Courtesy demands letting other people know when you are about to reveal a […]
Daniel 10 – 11 We’re coming into the home stretch of our reflection upon the book of Daniel. Starting with chapter seven, historical narrative (stories about how God had worked in and through the life of Daniel) became apocalyptic literature (visions revealing how God would work in and through the life of the people of […]
Daniel 9 We are continuing the second half of our series in the book of Daniel. With chapter seven, we experienced a jolting shift from linear, historical narrative – stories about how God worked in and through the life of Daniel in the past – to apocalyptic literature – four visions given to Daniel of […]
2 Chronicles 34 Katie and Lee Humerian share about how God has been weaving their story towards full-time ministry in Ukraine.
Daniel 8 Last week we turned a corner in our study of the book of Daniel. Through the first six chapters, as we read stories about God working through Daniel’s life in Babylon, Daniel’s prophetic credentials were established. By God’s grace, his integrity, spiritual commitment and proven ability to interpret mysteries are presented and reinforced […]
Daniel 7 In the library of the books of the Bible you might have noticed the book of Daniel is filed under the Major Prophets – listed under Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. (A brief pastoral reminder: “major” versus “minor” refers not so much to the book’s importance as it does to the length.) Being six […]
Daniel 6 Integrity would appear to be an endangered character trait these days. If we pay attention to news headlines or even just listen more carefully to the conversations in our neighborhood, we cannot help but notice compromise eclipses consistency when it comes to our ethics and values. Morally, judicially, politically and spiritually, compromise has […]
Daniel 5 Daniel’s fourth chapter ended on an amazing high note. Nebuchadnezzar, the king who conquered Jerusalem and brought Daniel and his friends back to Babylon, has been literally brought to his knees and humbled by the God of Israel. All of his encounters with Yahweh through weird dreams, statue building, playing with fire and […]
Daniel 4 As we’ve been going through the book of Daniel these last few weeks, we’ve seen two out of three of our church’s goals (be a witness, establish an embassy and leave a testimony) clearly demonstrated in the first few chapters. We saw Daniel being a clear witness of God in the kingdom of […]
Daniel 3 The Book of Daniel was written as an encouragement in the midst of living in exile. Through the example of Daniel and his friends, we, like the people of Israel, glean what it looks like to thrive in the midst of captivity and how to be effective witnesses of the Kingdom of God […]
Daniel 2 When we last left Daniel, he and his three friends had just graduated at top of their class in Babylon’s three-year cultural immersion program. Fully and respectfully engaged with the culture of their new home and yet not blindly assimilated, together they have already made an impression as to the power and presence […]
Daniel 1 As we say our final goodbyes to summer and prepare for the emergence of the autumn season, we begin a new sermon series on the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel begins in the midst of a crisis. Known as the Babylonian exile, it is perhaps the greatest crisis the people of […]
Matthew 14:22-33 Next week, we will begin a new sermon series on the Book of Daniel called “Kingdom Living In A Time Of Exile.” From September through November, we will walk together through this insightful and mysterious book of the Bible. Despite it’s cryptic nature at times, Daniel’s journey wonderfully dovetails with our recent exploration […]
One day, Jesus was teaching outside the temple and He brought a seemingly ordinary sight to His disciples’ attention: a woman was putting two small coins into the offering. They had been sitting there a while, and had seen (and heard) large amounts of money dropped in by others already, so this woman and her […]
Matthew 13:51-52 Have you ever heard the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” If you haven’t, the meaning of this adage is you cannot make people change their established patterns of opinion and behavior. For many, this is a universal law about human nature that only becomes more ironclad as a given […]
Matthew 13: 44-46 We’re about halfway through our exploration of the parables of the Kingdom of God found in Matthew, chapter 13. Encountering so many of these stories told by Jesus in a row, we might be tempted to stop hearing them individually and instead try to find a way to connect the dots between […]
Matthew 13:31-33 Ever been to the gym and told yourself you were going to be committed to working out regularly? You feel so good about yourself those first couple days – well until you wake up the next day in agonizing pain. But you feel like you are doing something right. And so you stick […]
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 With the events of Dallas,Texas, Nice, France, and Turkey still fresh in our minds we were further reminded this past Sunday that evil is present in the world. Evil fueled by hate, violence, injustice, and fear. Its hard in these moments to not stop and ask the question why? Why does this […]
Matthew 13:1-23 This week we are kicking off a new series looking into the parables of the kingdom. Parables are simple stories Jesus would tell that contained a profound truth. And yet, the truths He would speak were often poorly understood. In our parable this week, Jesus explains why some people are able to hear […]
3 John Last week, we looked at 2 John and considered the inseparable relationship between the truth and love of God both revealed in Christ and, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit, reflected through us to others in our walk with Jesus. We close out this sermon series looking at the apostle John’s […]
2 John This week and next week, we are going to be studying the two shortest letters in the New Testament: 2 John and 3 John. In total, the apostle John’s second and third letters each contain less than 300 Greek words. In other words, these are really short letters when compared to others in […]
1 John 5:13-21 And so we come to the end of John’s first letter to the Church. Some have read his closing words as little more than a collection of unrelated topics. You’ll notice this interpretative bias reflected through the way most translations of this passage break it up into different short paragraphs rather than […]
1 John 5:6-12 Have you ever heard the old adage that pastors really only have one sermon that they repeat over and over again? Well, I don’t know how true that is for all pastors, but when I look at my sermons, when I assess my theology that is a very true statement. A number […]
1 John 5:1-5 Last Sunday, we revisited one of the central themes of John’s first letter to the Church: love. Together we attempted to wrestle with one of the most astounding declarations – perhaps the most important statement – about God in all of scripture, namely, that God is love. God’s very person – everything […]
1 John 4:7-21 The apostle John doesn’t pull any punches in the writing of his letters to the Church. As we have seen thus far in his first letter, John has no qualms about making some absolute and non-negotiable assertions in terms of what it means to believe in God and more specifically, to follow […]
1 John 4:1-6 “Theology” is a word that either intimidates or turns off a lot of people these days. Some associate it with thick, dense books filled with big, fancy words strung together and therefore reserved for the scholarly or intellectual elite. Others view it with caution or suspicion, viewing theology as generating more heat […]
Acts 2:1-12 Happy Birthday Church! This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, the giving of the Spirit and what many call the birthday of the Church. As a way of celebrating our birthday this year we are going to take a journey through the history of the church, looking at its good moments and its bad moments, […]