Sermons

Sun, Sep 12, 2021

Duration: 44 mins 21 secs

Jesus's compassion explodes on the scene with four successive miracles. He heals a bleeding woman, resurrects a dead child, gives sight to two blind men, and casts the demon out of a mute person. The crowds marvel. The Pharisees grumble. Acts of compassion are not always celebrate. In fact, Jesus's increasing fame comes with rising opposition. Followers of Jesus should be aware when they do good in his name, their acts of compassion will not always be welcomed.

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Inflated Egos

Sun, Sep 05, 2021

Passage: Genesis 3:1-9 & James 4:6-10

Series: Hateful Eight

Duration: 42 mins 53 secs

Pride is the final and foundational "deadly sin." It surfaces in the Garden of Eden, evident and Adam and Eve's choice to reject God's law and pursue their own deification. They take from the Tree of Knowledge and eat so they could be "like God." This act is the archetype of pride, which sets independence over submissions. Pride says, "You can't tell me what to do." It looks for loopholes in laws and treats personal tradition as more important than divine mandate. God wants our submission. He orders life for our good. We must learn to trust him.

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Trusting the Impossibilities

Sun, Aug 22, 2021

by Herb Bateman

Passage: Hebrews 11:1-40

Duration: 46 mins 14 secs

God calls his people to do extraordinary things. Build arks and altars. Defy kings and walk through deep waters. Critical to every call is an act of trust. We trust God because he keeps his promises. The call to trust and assurance of God's trustworthiness encouraged the Hebrews. It defined all those mentioned in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11). Today, it will encourage us as we look at 4 examples.

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Lazy Bums

Sun, Aug 15, 2021

by Tim Sprankle

Passage: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-11 & Matthew 11:28-30

Series: Hateful Eight

Duration: 53 mins 1 sec

Sloth is not always what we think. It manifests in curious ways: inordinate busyness, restless activity, and, of course, mindless entertainment. At its root, sloth lacks love for God and the opportunities he has given; it fails to see good outcomes from our efforts. Instead, it settles into the path of least resistance, opting for leisure over hard work, willing to leach off others. Paul address this thinking in 1-2 Thessalonians. Jesus models for us a healthy call to rest, the counter-virtue, which is relational, restorative, and rhythmic.

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Clenched Fists

Sun, Aug 08, 2021

by Tim Sprankle

Passage: John 2:13-17 & James 1:19-20

Series: Hateful Eight

Duration: 45 mins 24 secs

We all get frustrated. Irritable. Agitated. But would you call yourself an angry person? We're probably quicker to act on our anger than claim this hateful vice as a common part of our life. Fortunately, Jesus shows us not all anger is created equally. There is righteous anger, driven by a love for justice. Unfortunately, we're prone to the kind of anger that bubbles up, blurs our vision, boils our blood, and battles back. This morning we will consider anger and its counter-virtue: patience.

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Fallen Faces

Sun, Aug 01, 2021

by Tim Sprankle

Passage: 2 Corinthians 2:1-8 & Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Series: Hateful Eight

Duration: 46 mins 33 secs

Want to know why sorrow is the least know "deadly sin"? It was struck from the original list. However, when sorrow takes control of our minds, it has a deadly effect: pulling us from the present and stealing our joy. This message will consider variations of sorrow, the reality of depression, and importance of wisdom--sorrow's counter-virtue--in managing our emotions, eliminating our excuses, and expanding our life narrative.

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Grabby Hands

Sun, Jul 18, 2021

by Tim Sprankle

Passage: 1 Timothy 6:3-10 & 2 Corinthians 9:7-8

Series: Hateful Eight

Duration: 47 mins 29 secs

We like stuff. We like money. We like to keep and store (and keep score) and call things "mine." There's a word for this: Greed. It's the basis of a consumer culture and one of the deadly sins. It also plagued the early church, as evident in Ephesus (see 1 Timothy). This sermon will illustrate what greed wants, says, and thinks. Then it will make a case for generosity as the way of Jesus. Get those grabby hands ready.

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Stealing Second Glances

Sun, Jul 11, 2021

by Tim Sprankle

Passage: 1 Corinthians 5:1-6:20 & 1 Timothy 5:1-2

Series: Hateful Eight

Duration: 49 mins 28 secs

To say our culture has an unhealthy concept of sex is an understatement. Sex drives movies, marketing, and magazine sales. It has reshaped public education and self-perception to the point that even sixty-year olds are encouraged to retain their sex appeal with the right diets, outfits, and skin care products. Sex is central to the American experience. Like the Corinthians, we rarely blush, unless, of course, we're talking about the "old-fashioned, outdated, repressive institute of marriage." Today we are. More broadly, we're talking about the deadly effects lust and humanizing virtue of purity.

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Big Empty Bellies

Sun, Jul 04, 2021

by Tim Sprankle

Passage: Exodus 16:1-36 & Numbers 11:4-35

Series: Hateful Eight

Duration: 51 mins 10 secs

Our relationship to food is more important than we think. Not only does it sustain us, for some, food ruins us. We eat too much. We eat the wrong thing. We eat to indulge big empty bellies in ways that only God is meant to satisfy us. The disordered relationship with food is called "gluttony," and it comes in various forms. Its counter-virtue is temperance. We'll learn about them today in our new series.

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The Inner Skeptic

Sun, Jun 27, 2021

by Tim Sprankle

Passage: Matthew 8:23-9:17

Series: The Master Plan

Duration: 49 mins 51 secs

Miracles are hard to believe in our secular age. We are trained to be skeptics, to view the world as a closed and often cold system. If God ever existed, he left us long ago, thinks the skeptic. But Jesus gives us a glimpse of "God with us" and engaged in powerful acts of healing, restoring, and welcome. He has authority over nature, demons, sin, and death. These are evidences he is Messiah, Son of God. And we should let the evidence address our inner skeptic, so we see the world buzzing with divine life.

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