Theology Matters: Recent Episodes
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This is the sermon from Sunday morning March 29, 2020. The Scripture passage is a word for word artistic rendition of the "Good News Bible" translation from John 11:1-45.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning December 29, 2019. In the last Sunday of the year, Youth Director Steve Piper presented a sermon on New Year’s Resolutions. Special music is presented by Hailey Barnes, Ava Cunningham, Regina Riemann, and HtooWah Tee.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning December 22, 2019. Christian Education Director, Dean Christianson, spoke as part of the Children's Christmas Program.
This is our Christmas Cantata which was presented in our 12-15-19 10 a.m. Worship Service.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning November 3, 2019. It was Confirmation Sunday at First Presbyterian Church and Youth Director Steve Piper presented our sermon - for the Confirmands.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning September 29, 2019. It was Football Sunday at First Presbyterian Church where Youth Director Steve Piper introduced our 5th and 6th grade football teams to the congregation.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning July 28, 2019. Youth Director Steve Piper presented the sermon about many people are too comfortable in their Christianity. Included below is his Top 10 list from the sermon.
Top 10 signs your Christianity is Too Comfortable
10) You are not attending church with a high level of expectancy.
9) Your happiness on Sunday mornings is more important than what it takes to reach the unchurched. As long as you get your parking spot, your seat, and hear the music you like, everything’s fine.
8) You never feel challenged, only affirmed.
7) There’s absolutely no friction between your Christianity and your partisan politics.
6) You haven’t had a spiritual conversation with a non-Christian in a long time.
5) You no longer seem to be concerned about the spiritual condition of neighbors, family members, or
your co-workers.
4) There are no paradoxes, tensions, or unresolved questions.
3) Pictures of overseas suffering do not move you to action.
2) You never think about or even remember the Sunday sermon on Monday.
1) It doesn’t even dawn on you that God could do something incredibly radical in your life at any moment today. It’s not even on your radar.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning July 7, 2019. It was our Youth Mission Trip presentation and Youth Director Steve Piper presented the sermon about how our lives should be full of Service.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning June 30, 2019. It is the 16th in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning June 23, 2019. It is the 15th in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning June 9, 2019. It is the 15th in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed. In this message, Pastor Dwight references a song by Billy Joel "The River of Dreams." We recommend going to YouTube and searching for "billy joel the river of dreams lyrics" and watching the video. It will help you to understand the references to thy lyrics in the sermon.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning June 9, 2019. It is the 14th in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning June 2, 2019. It is the thirteenth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning May 26, 2019. It was "Graduation Recognition Sunday" and Youth Director Steve Piper presented the sermon – a charge to our graduating seniors that we can all take something from.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning May 19, 2019. It is the twelfth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning May 12, 2019. It is the eleventh in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This week, in Highlife we will talk about restoration and direction. In our Bible passage today, we see that Jesus is asking Peter if he loves Him – Peter has already seen Jesus a couple of times since the resurrection. I am sure that in Peter’s mind, he was unsure about where he stood with Jesus. The first thing Jesus does is ask Peter three times (the same number of times that Peter denied Jesus) if he loved Him. He gives Peter three opportunities to rectify the denials. Then, Jesus clearly tells Peter what to do as a result of the love he proclaims – AND indicates that Jesus has forgiven him and restored him. How often do we mess up and feel like we have failed God? Sinned and literally denied Jesus? I want you to know that Jesus can and will forgive you. AND He will restore you and put you back on the starting team.
Consider these questions while listening to this podcast:
1) Think of a time when you failed Jesus and how you felt when He forgave you.
2) Do you believe Jesus can forgive you AND restore you?
3) If we accept the gift of forgiveness and allow Jesus to restore us to our area of ministry, shouldn’t the actions that follow this be visible to those around us?
This is the sermon from Sunday morning May 5, 2019. It is the tenth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
The scripture passages for this message are: Acts 1:6-11 and Ephesians 2:1-10. This is the sermon from Sunday morning April 28, 2019. It is the ninth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This week, in Highlife, we will talk about the wonder of the resurrection. Trying to “keep it fresh” can be difficult as a Christian. We celebrate Easter every year. So we are going to take a mental journey back to the actual resurrection and try to get a look at what it would have been like for Jesus’ followers. Steve thinks that often we get complacent in our beliefs – the miracles of Jesus’ birth and resurrection are incredible! We need to celebrate because our God has risen from the grave! He’s the only one who has conquered death AND He is coming back again!
Consider these questions while listening to this podcast:
1) Think about Easter. Is it just a family celebration? Or something so much more?
2) How do we keep the joy of the Resurrection "fresh" in our lives?
This is the sermon from Easter Sunday morning April 21, 2019. It is the eighth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning April 14, 2019. It is the seventh in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This week, in Highlife Steve will talk about having peace with God through faith. We live in a world of turmoil and Steve thinks that a reminder of the peace we have with God is a good one. The good news of our Bible passage today should propel us to reach out to others who desperately need peace. Think about all the people who want peace. Many live life looking for a sense of contentment. They want to be able to go to bed at night without any fear of tomorrow. Our world offers no guarantees of happiness, safety, or peace. We can and do find those in our relationship with Christ.
Consider these questions while listening to this podcast:
1) Think about a time or situation in your life when you felt totally at peace.
2) Why do so many followers of Jesus not live with a feeling of peace.
3) Justified – “Just As If I’d” never sinned. Romans 5:1 tells us that we are justified by our faith in Jesus. When God looks at you, He sees a sinless creation because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. With this in mind, how should we live our lives?
4) Do you really believe what Romans 5 is telling us? If yes, how should you respond to God?
This is the sermon from Sunday morning March 31, 2019. It is the sixth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This week, in Highlife, Steve will talk about Jesus declaring that “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” He make proposes the idea that part of the reason that there aren’t enough laborers is simply that we are “inward” focused instead of “outward” focused. If we truly felt compassion for the lost, like Jesus did, we would be willing to do the work. Some people might say that Christians are simply lazy. While this might be true for some, Steve believes that it is more due to Christians not seeing the world through the eyes of Christ.
Consider these questions while listening to this podcast:
1) Do you believe that feeling compassion for people would change you?
2) Explain to yourself why so many Christians seem un-concerned about the people who are not saved.
3) Are you willing to allow God to make you feel compassion for the lost? Even if it will “cost” you?
This is the sermon from Sunday morning March 24, 2019. It was "Youth Sunday" and Youth Director Steve Piper presented the sermon.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning March 17, 2019. It is the fifth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning March 10, 2019. It is the fourth in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This week, in Highlife, Steve talks about how being “on mission” requires us to love one another. And how we are directed to take that love to those in the world. It is easy to love the lovable people. It is much harder to love those who are unlovable and / or those who just flat out don’t like us. Jesus set a standard that was unlike any the world had heard of when he proclaimed that we should love our enemies. He then proceeded to explain how loving those who love you and treating people nicely who treat you nicely is something that even sinners do. How does that set us (Christians) apart from the rest of the world? Jesus has really called us to be separate and to live in a way that makes others take pause. Do we do that? Or do we take the easy way out and do what comes naturally?
Consider these questions while listening to this podcast:
1) As you go “on mission” do you think living the concept of love as explained in today’s Bible passage would make you more or less likely to win others to Christ?
2) Do you believe that genuine love would make our message stand out from all the other messages people are “selling” today?
3) Is the problem of attracting non-believers to Jesus as simple as loving them where they are at?
This week, Steve talks to the Frontline students about traveling with Jesus. Can you imagine the things that the disciples witnessed? How amazing were the sights and experiences they got to be a part of! As Christians, we will get to be a part of amazing things as well. And like Peter, we will always want to remain in the “mountain top” experience – never wanting anything to change. However, if Peter, James, and John had not come down from the mountain top, think of all the things they would have missed! For example, the very next day, Jesus cast a demon out of a boy. Scary and cool to witness at the same time. Luke continues to chronicle experience after experience that the disciples would have missed if they hadn’t moved from that extremely significant mountain top experience. And we need to remember that as we travel with Jesus through our life we need to keep moving with Him. Each day is a new day with new experiences as we grow in our faith. Each day is a new day that He may reveal a brand new “mountain top” for us to experience.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning March 3, 2019. It is the third in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This is the sermon from Sunday morning February 17, 2019. It is the second in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.
This week, in Highlife Steve talks about why people would come to Jesus when He walked the earth vs why they would come to Him now. In the days of the Bible it seems obvious why people would follow Jesus – He fed people, He healed people, He loved people. And even when He said things they didn’t like, the crowds still seemed to show up. Today – it seems less obvious why anyone would follow Jesus. We will be discussing those reasons – and touching on the reasons we don’t “market” His superior product.
Consider these questions while listening to this podcast:
1) If Jesus were alive and walking on the earth today, would He still draw the same type of crowds?
2) Why do we not see people flocking to Jesus today like we did in the Gospels?
3) So is the problem of attracting non-believers to Jesus simply “marketing” – or is it something deeper?
This is the sermon from Sunday morning February 10, 2019. It is the first in a 16 week series from Pastor Dwight on the Apostle's Creed.