Sermons: Recent Episodes
Christ the King: Joplin, MO
Text: John 1:35-51 | Speaker: Levi Bakerink | Description: At the start of John's Gospel we read the fascinating story of the beginning of Jesus' church. As Jesus is walking by, John the Baptist cries out: "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36). Immediately two men start following Jesus, then another, and then two more. Each of these five brand new Christians had one thing in common: they all went to see Jesus for themselves. Likewise, we all are called to come and see for ourselves who this Jesus is. And when we do, we find that he knows us, loves us, and will never cast us out.
At the end of the Minor Prophets, and the end of the Old Testament, God’s people are still left wondering if it has all been worth it. “What benefit is it,” they ask, “for us to follow God?” Through his prophet Malachi, God answers by reminding them of who they are, and what’s to come. They are God’s treasured possession, and abundant, everlasting life awaits them.
The future Day of the Lord is a day of great hope and joy as the people of God will be with our King and Warrior who delights and rejoices over His people.
The Prophet Joel's message declares there are both present and future realities for those who call upon the name of the Lord.
The Prophet Hosea is told to return to and love his unfaithful wife, just as God continues to love unfaithful Israel.
Those in the New Covenant come to a better mountain than even Mount Sinai; to a mountain where they rejoice at the voice of their Lord.
We may have full confidence in the promises of God as He has proven Himself faithful in the lives of His people.
The author of Hebrews discusses how God's people encountered and enjoyed the presence of God in both the Old and New Covenants.
Psalm 46 shares with us the wonderful reality that God is the refuge, relief, and redeemer of his people.
Christ, a better high priest whose ministry takes place in a better sanctuary, is the mediator of a better covenant.
David's request in Psalm 27:4 portrays well the reality that the Lord is to be our soul's one true desire.
Psalm 110, the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, displays David pouring out praise to his Lord, who is the reigning warrior-priest.
True Daughters and Sons of the True King are those who embrace their poverty, hunger, and sorrow, love their enemies, and seek a sure foundation on Christ's Word alone.
Psalm 92 is uniquely titled a Sabbath Song, which calls us to praise our God because mankind is at our best when we praise and worship God now and forevermore.
God invites His people to rejoice and delight in God, yet God also rejoices and delights over His people.
The glory of the Lord is declared in both creation and the law, and our only appropriate response is worship.
Life is full of seasons of cheer and of toil, in Christ, the Christian may have hope in every possible season.
In Christ, the Church has the hope of heaven yet fights in the here and now, though our tactics differ greatly than those of the world.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth to direct them in their division to refocus on the source of their unity: Christ.
An essential aspect of the life of a Christian is to be involved in the ministry of Christ's Church.
God's people often look at the circumstances of life to determine whether or not the Lord is near, yet God's people ought to presuppose the presence of God.
The Church has been made righteous by Christ, and so we may pray confidently and boldly as the transformed faithful people.
Christ holds a threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King. This message sharpens our focus on the Ministry of Christ as a King.
Christ holds a threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King. This message sharpens our focus on the Ministry of Christ as a Prophet.
Christ holds a threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King. This message sharpens our focus on the Priestly Ministry of Christ.
Jesus' activities on two Sabbath days (his allowance for his disciples to pick grain and his healing of a withered hand) are the arena which Jesus battles the Pharisees, where Jesus redefines the Sabbath, having gone from a day of rest to a day of liberation.
Jesus' disciples did not fast like those of the Pharisees because the system of mourning was incompatible with the presence of Jesus.
With Jesus telling Levi the tax collector to follow him, we see the radical transformation that life in the Kingdom of God provides.
The paralytic is brought before Jesus by his friends, and receives forgiveness of sins.
The New Age is brought about in part by the cleansing touch of Jesus, as seen in his restoring of the leper to human wholeness.
In Jesus’ great catch of fish he demonstrates his lordship over all creation, and Peter comes to faith.
Luke's record of Jesus' first sermon demonstrates Christ's mission to the world as he rejects Nazareth.
Through the temptation of Christ, our Savior confronts the devil and the fate that is awaiting him in Jerusalem.
One of our greatest contact points with Jesus is his baptism, where the Son of God identified himself with his people.
John the Baptist’s ministry prepared and reoriented a people to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry.
Jesus’ experience at the temple as an adolescent reminds us that Jesus became and still is like us. He partook of our lives so that we may partake of His.
The presence of God in Christ is a blessing to those who have it, who are to bless others as well.
The birth of John the Baptist is another demonstration that the Lord was on the verge of doing something big: the delivery of His people.
The Lord begins to reverse the fortunes of His people by looking with favor on a young, poor Mary, whose response is to worship.
Mary the Mother of God is told the plan of God for her to give birth to Jesus, the Second and Greater Adam.
From the small interests of an insignificant couple, the message goes out that the world is about to change.
Saul hurls his spear at his son Jonathan, whose allegiance now belongs to another kingdom.
Saul continues to war against David, yet David’s battle plan is to fight by hiding in the Lord.
The love which Jonathan has for David paves the way for David's ascension to the throne.
David and Goliath demonstrates our battles belongs to the Lord, we need only to rest, hope, and wait.
David and Goliath is the rewriting of history, and is the enthronement and inauguration of the King of Israel.
Habakkuk looks to God’s mighty and glorious feats among His people in times past for the source of his trust in God’s promises and rejoices even in the midst of unimaginable hardship.
Jesus was faced with great distress and anguish as he took the cup of God’s wrath upon himself in the garden.
The Apostle Paul proclaims the glorious truth that the redemption of God’s chosen people is decreed by the Father, purchased by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit.
The eternal, holy, and faithful nature of God gives Habakkuk and all God’s people the grounds from which we may wrestle with and wait upon the Lord.
The Prophet Habakkuk demonstrates that casting our anxieties onto the Lord requires honesty, sincerity, and boldness in prayer.
Jesus, through his miracle at Cana, demonstrates that he is present with his followers in their social dilemmas.
The humble will be exalted and the needy will be received into the Kingdom of God, as is depicted by Jesus’ reception of children.
The church is identified by God as a royal inheritance whose redemption is firmly secured.
Scandalous grace, contemptuous pride, and bounteous mercy are on display during an intimate and provocative moment at a meal Jesus has been invited to.
Jesus uses the persecution of the early church by Saul as the grounds to identify himself with them.
This sermon is geared toward our church and its fellowship while Reed is on Sabbatical.
Jesus reinstates Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where the story first began.
As Pilate interrogates Jesus, he stumbles into some of the greatest truths of our salvation.
Jesus' hour has finally come and the ruler of this world is allowed to lay hands on God's Servant.
Israel demands a king because they want to be like their neighbors, and that is just what happens.
God continues to intervene into the world of the Judges and establishes his salvation for the rest of the world.
The rise of the King of Israel starts with a barren woman faithfully praying to the God she serves.
Isaiah 53 gives us the clearest picture of the atonement in all the Bible: Christ suffered and died so that we could live.
Deliverance does not come through strength of world leaders, it comes through a holy servant who was filled with faith.
Our Great High Priest not only comes to us in our sin and humanity, but Christ takes us with him to the place we could never go.
Hebrews 4 shows us that true rest cannot come through any means other than faith in Jesus Christ.
Christ is better than Moses. The salvation that comes to us through Christianity far exceeds that which came through Judaism.
Christ became man so he could identify with us and bring us into the presence of God the Father.
In the incarnation, Jesus doesn't just become our Redeemer and our King, he also becomes our Brother. We are adopted into the family God had already had!
Hebrews 1:1-4 shows us that Christ's appearance is the definitive moment that reorders everything
In John 17:6-8, Jesus tells the Father what he has been up to and how his disciples are faring.
One of the greatest mysteries: God the Son and God the Father's relationship since the beginning.
After all that Christ has accomplished, and in the moment when his hour had come, the Son looks to the glory that comes from the Father.
How does the Book of Judges show us the love of God, the grief of God, and the wonder of the Incarnation of Christ?
In the final chapter of Ruth, we find a beautiful picture of Christ's work to redeem us, his bride.