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Sermon Series
- Christmas Is Life 4
- Come and See 1
- Disciples Making Disciples 9
- Ephesians: Together in Christ 10
- Fight for Joy! 8
- Fighting Fear with FEAR 6
- Forever Now 7
- From the Garden to the Cross 3
- Heartbeat 5
- Hebrews: Jesus is Better 14
- Jesus' Heartbeat 3
- Joy Full 20
- Legacies Are Unavoidable 1
- Let's Be Honest 6
- Living for Jesus as the Nation Heaves 2
- Mission Conference 1
- Praying For... 5
- Press Pause 4
- Rethinking Suffering 6
- Share a Meal With Me 2
- Speak! 3
- Stories of a Kingdom 10
- Strange Encounters 3
- The Doctor's Cure 17
- The Final Countdown 27
- The Last Words of Jesus 8
- The Story of (Your) Life 12
- The Story of Jonah and God's Relentless Love 8
- Transitions 6
- Truth Be Told 5
- Upside Down Christmas 3
- Visions of Hope 6
- Visions of a King 4
- Welcome Home 5
- What If? 2
- Which Kind of Parenting is Best? 5
- Worth the Wait 3
Topic
- Anxiety & Fear 5
- Blessing 1
- Christian Growth 21
- Confidence 1
- Eternity 8
- Evangelism 1
- Grace 21
- Hope 19
- Hospitality 2
- Humanity 2
- Jesus' Identity 23
- Joy 22
- Justice 2
- Kingdom 4
- Mission & Discipleship 17
- Prayer 7
- Relationships 18
- Repentance 4
- Rest 4
- Sabbath 4
- Salvation 23
- Sin 14
- Suffering 2
- The Character of God 16
- The Church 28
Date
- April 2025 2
- March 2025 5
- February 2025 4
- January 2025 4
- December 2024 5
- November 2024 4
- October 2024 4
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- July 2024 4
- June 2024 5
- May 2024 4
- April 2024 3
- March 2024 5
- February 2024 4
- January 2024 4
- December 2023 5
- November 2023 4
- October 2023 4
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- August 2023 4
- July 2023 5
- June 2023 4
- May 2023 4
- April 2023 5
- March 2023 2
- February 2023 4
- January 2023 5
- December 2022 4
- November 2022 4
- October 2022 5
- September 2022 4
- August 2022 4
- July 2022 5
- June 2022 4
- May 2022 5
- April 2022 4
- March 2022 4
- February 2022 4
- January 2022 5
- December 2021 4
- November 2021 4
- October 2021 5
- September 2021 4
- August 2021 5
- July 2021 4
- June 2021 4
- May 2021 5
- April 2021 4
- March 2021 4
- February 2021 4
- January 2021 5
- December 2020 4
- November 2020 5
- October 2020 4
- September 2020 4
- August 2020 5
- July 2020 4
- June 2020 4
- May 2020 5
- April 2020 4
- March 2020 2
The Cost of Discipleship
Kyle Kauffman
The history of the church is bloody because the history of the church is full of suffering and persecution. While many people identify Stephen as the first martyr, in many ways he simply displays what was often true throughout the Old Testament: God’s people will be persecuted even to the point of death. Jesus told his disciples to expect that people would treat them the same way they treated him. We should never forget that being a disciple of Jesus throughout history has often meant that you will face persecution. And while the story of Stephen should sober us who live in the West and know very little of this persecution, it should also fill us with hope and fortify us for the day when we may face more severe persecution for our faith. Because in the story of Stephen we find that God rules over the suffering of his saints, uses it to advance the gospel, and reveals the prize that no persecution can ever destroy.
Acts 6:8-8:4
The Fear Factor
Kyle Kauffman
Who we fear will shape how we live, what we say and don’t say, and ultimately who we seek to serve and please. The Bible consistently warns against the fear of man in our lives and calls us instead to fear God. We know that fear of many can lead to all sorts of problems in our lives, but sometimes it can feel impossible to fear God instead of man. Fear of man is one of the greatest things that can get in the way of obeying God as we seek to be a part of his mission and make disciples. And on the flip side, fear of God can be one of the greatest sources of help and strength in obeying god. 5:1-42 gives a very powerful picture into the danger of fearing man and the freedom of fearing God. And along the way it gives us reasons why we should place our fear in God and not in man.
Acts 5:1-42
A Kingdom of Superior Worth
Kyle Kauffman
In two short valuables we are told that God’s Kingdom is so valuable it is worth sacrificing everything else in this life for. Which might lead us to ask, “What is it that makes God’s Kingdom so valuable?” And the answer to that question comes in the form of a person. Jesus is the great treasure of God’s Kingdom. This means belonging to and living in God’s Kingdom involves both trusting Jesus as savior and treasuring Jesus above all else in this world. And those who see Jesus as their greatest treasure are then willing to gladly sacrifice and give up everything else for his sake. This means that one of the most important parts of living in God’s Kingdom is to have our hearts and minds happy and satisfied in Jesus. Those who know the worth of Jesus are those who joyfully give up their lives and the things of this life to follow Jesus and make him known.
Matthew 13:44-46
A Kingdom of Radical Forgiveness
Kyle Kauffman
God’s Kingdom is marked by radical forgiveness. Though we owe him a debt we could never pay, He fully and freely forgives us. And he now calls us to do the same with others. Our lives bear testimony to God’s great forgiveness by how we forgive and forbear with the sins of others. And yet so often we are like the servant in the parable who refuses to extend forgiveness as we hold grudges or try to make others ‘pay’ for the wrongs they’ve done to us. Jesus means for this parable to both shock us with the wonder of God’s forgiveness and shock us with how quickly our lives can fail to appreciate and reflect that forgiveness in how we relate to each other.
Matthew 18:21-35
A Kingdom of Persistent Prayer
Kyle Kauffman
Our lives in this world are full of mystery. We often cannot understand why God doesn’t always answer our prayers, especially when we perceive the thing we are praying for is a good thing. It’s easy for us to give up praying or to doubt God’s goodness. Jesus knew this would be the case. And so he told a parable that can encourage us to persist in praying. We find that one of the ways we display our faith is by continuing to pray and trusting God to do what is right. We find that God is pleased with us as we pester him in prayer. Because He is a God who loves to be “bothered” by his people.
Luke 18:1-8
A Kingdom of Mercy NOT Merit
Kyle Kauffman
We cannot save ourselves or prove ourselves worthy of God’s Kingdom. It’s only when we realize how unworthy we are that we are then prepared to receive God’s Kingdom as a gift. We are prone to think we can save ourselves because we believe our sin is not that bad and that we are actually pretty good. This is only heightened as we look around and compare ourselves to other people. It’s easy for us to start to think God loves us and will save us because we are better at keeping “the rules” then others. But God’s Kingdom is full of people who are “really big sinners,” because only “really big sinners” know how much they need mercy. Meanwhile there are a lot of “really good people” who never enter God’s Kingdom because their “goodness” keeps them from knowing how much they need mercy.
Luke 18:9-14
Hearing the Words of the Kingdom
Joel Wood
God’s Word, and specifically the good news of the gospel, is what God uses to draw people into His Kingdom. But not all those who hear God’s Word respond to it in faith and believe. Jesus reveals the various responses people have to the message of the Kingdom in the story of the sower, or more accurately, the story of the soils. This surprising story calls out those who are hardened to the truth, shallow in their faith, or distracted by their world, leaving only one type of hearer who believes. . .whose heart is fertile and ready soil for the Gospel. The response reveals the heart and ultimately their relationship to God and His Kingdom. This story also presents an encouragement to all who proclaim Gods’ Word. We must remember the results lie outside of our control, but remain in the sovereign hands of the King who rules over the results of His Word, which far outweigh all our expectations.
Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
Introduction to Stories of a Kingdom
Joel Wood
Jesus was, and still is, the greatest teacher the world has ever known. While Jesus taught in many ways, one of the most specific and impacting was in using parables. Often, we think of Jesus parables as sermon illustrations or stories that merely helped people pay attention. Jesus stories were certainly captivating and they helped to illustrate truth, but there is more happening in Jesus’ parables than that. Jesus spoke in parables to reveal the secrets of God’s kingdom, to help us to understand what that Kingdom is like, what it means to belong to it, and how we are to live our everyday lives in light of it. More than that, Jesus also spoke in parables to reveal who was truly a part of God’s kingdom. In fact, the parables Jesus shared were purposely designed to reveal the condition of His hearers’ hearts and bring the gospel to bear on their lives. Using a simple story to convey a singular and powerful point about the Kingdom of God, Jesus’ parables either draw us in to a closer relationship with Him through repentance and faith, or push us away in confusion and rejection. Our response to them makes all the difference in our lives both for today and for eternity.
Matthew 13:10-17
Who Says?
Kyle Kauffman
Who gets the final say in what is true in your life? Who do you look to tell you what is true? Who are the authorities you submit to? Authority and truth are inevitably connected because we will look to some authority to determine what is true. But we are prone to have a skepticism and cynicism towards authority. As sinful human beings we don’t like to live under the authority of God or other people. We view authority outside of ourselves as being constricting rather than liberating. We can also look at lots of different ways that authority has been abused or wielded in a way that is destructive. As a result, we are prone to set ourselves up as the ultimate authority. This leaves us in a position where the only authorities we listen to are the ones we like. We accept an authority if it reinforces our views and reject an authority if it challenges our views. The Bible presents itself as the ultimate authority. It presents itself as being the very words of God. If we are to know what is true, then we must submit ourselves to the Bible as our authority. This will mean believing what the Bible says is true and living according to what the Bible says is true. Rather than this limiting our freedom, we find it frees us to actually live as we were designed to.
2 Timothy 3:14-4:4
What is Truth?
Kyle Kauffman
What is truth? It’s a question that’s as old as time. And it’s a question that’s as important as life itself. We ask this question because we want to know what is true and what is false. But even more importantly we ask this question because we want to know if truth really exists and if so, how we can come to know the truth. We live in a world where absolute truth is viewed with suspicion. We prefer phrases like this is “my truth” or “your truth” to the idea that something is universally true for all people. We are prone to look inward to our feeling and desires to discover what is true rather than looking outward to some source of truth outside of ourselves. We tend to think the truth can be changed to fit our preferences rather than recognizing truth that my preferences must conform too. In short, we live in a time where we seek to make truth what we want it to be rather than seeking to know what is really true.