Is God the authority of your life? Text: Acts 4:5-22 There's a level of indignation as the Sanhedrin asks Peter and John by what power they healed the lame man. This stems from a desire to protect what they believed was the truth, yet they had missed all the signs that Christ was God, taught with God's authority, and had, by the power of the Holy Spirit, given to the apostles and his church. The whole passage is about the interplay between temporal authority and the authority

The gospel is so much better. Text: Acts 3:17-4:4 We often expect a certain kind of blessing, or that our lives will turn out in a specific way, but God's plans are not always what we expected, but always infinitely better than we could imagine. Peter tells his audience that they are ignorant of the reality of who Christ is and what he has done. He goes on to note just three of the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection. When we put our faith in Christ, our sins are wipe

Come ye weary hearted Text: Acts 3:11-16 In the second of Peter's sermons, we hear another incredible gospel proclamation as people are amazed by the healing of the lame man. Yet again, he reveals the people's sin and shows them that Jesus is the one who can take it away. But it is particularly poignant that Peter makes sure the people know that the healing doesn't happen because of his or John's power or piety. It is in Christ alone that we find healing from our sin, from th

God gives infinitely better gifts than we ask for or could ever expect. Text: Acts 3:1-10 We were blessed to be visited by The Rt. Rev. Ben Fischer, rector of Christ the Redeemer, Nampa, ID, and one of our diocese's suffragan bishops. He preached on Acts 3:1-10 and reminded us how God always gives good gifts. As Peter and John enter the temple to give thanks and worship God, they run across a man who was lame by birth. He asks them for alms, but they have no money to give the

May we be a church that people know God built. Text: Acts 2:42-47 Acts 2:42-47 is the conclusion of Pentecost Sunday. We don't see an ecstatic charismatic moment, but rather the church doing the basic beautiful things of life together. They worship, they enjoy fellowship, and they are radically generous with one another. We like to make Christian life far more complicated than it needs to be. Yet, the early church was grounded in the right things. This passage is a helpful re

Acts 2:14-41 is one of the most wonderful articulations of the gospel in scripture. Text: Acts 2:14-41 In this sermon, we look at Peter's Pentecost sermon. It is an incredible sermon, first because it is thoroughly rooted in scripture, but it is also a profoundly clear articulation of the Gospel of Christ. Peter starts with why the Holy Spirit was given, but quickly moves into reviewing Christ's life, death, resurrection, and exaltation, showing what it all means. As the peop

Text: Acts 2:1-13 The Holy Spirit being given to the church is one of the most significant moments in church history, and it defines who we are as a body. But one of the most amazing things about the giving of the Holy Spirit is that he is given to the whole church, he unites the church, and he makes it so the message may be understood by all who hear the gospel and are ready to receive it. In a very real way, the giving of the Holy Spirit undoes what was done at Babel. But i

How do we as Christians wait well? Acts 1:12–26 We live in a culture that struggles to wait. Yet in Acts 1, after Jesus ascends, the disciples are told to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. What follows is a powerful picture of faithful obedience in uncertain times. They do not panic. They do not scatter. They gather in unity, devote themselves to prayer, search the Scriptures, and act carefully in community. Their waiting is not passive—it is ac

What happens when God says no? Text:  Acts 1:1-11   We start our series working through the Acts of the Apostles, and we meet them in Christ's final 40 days on earth. Luke only briefly tells us that they spent those forty days learning from Christ. But what is interesting is the one recorded question they ask Jesus, "When will the kingdom of Israel be restored?" Except that he doesn't answer them. Instead, he tells them they will receive the Holy Spirit and makes it very clea

The Greatest of These is Love Text: 1 Corinthians 13 In this sermon, we will look at what may be the most well-known and possibly most popular passage of scripture. As we prepare for Lent, we'll sit in St. Paul's call to love well, in 1 Corinthians 13. In this passage, we learn the importance of love, what love actually is, and that in the end, it is the most important thing. But Paul is also clear that love isn't an emotion but an attitude and posture towards others. As we

Should I not pity them? Text: Jonah 4 We finish our travel through Jonah. Nineveh has repented, God has shown them mercy, and then Jonah's true fear is revealed. He wasn't afraid that the Ninevites might hurt him, or that he'd fail; he was afraid that God would actually show them mercy. In the final chapter of the book, we get the true punch, the true point of the whole book: what if God chooses to show mercy to those whom we hate, despise, fear, or think are truly evil? How

We follow Christ without knowing what will come next, but still, this is good. Text: Jonah 3 In this sermon, we look at Jonah 3, which is a chapter of hope. In it, Jonah is told, yet again, to go to Nineveh; he goes, preaches the message that God gives to him, and the Ninevites repent. What makes this chapter especially interesting is the people's hope without promise. The Ninevites in particular realize the despicable nature of their ways, show signs of repentance through in

Text: Jonah 2 In this sermon, we look at Jonah 2. After three days in the belly of a fish, Jonah finally prays. But before he prays, he has to be crushed, brought low. Christ looks at this bringing low as Jonah's death. While it may not be have been a physical death, Jonah certainly reaches a point of being crushed. Sometimes we must be brought low in order to experience new life in Christ. While we would never hope for this, we can meet Christ anew in our lowest moments.

Let us be a people of renewal. Text: Jonah 1 This sermon starts our mini-series working through the book of Jonah. This short book is filled with incredible imagery, beautiful wordplay, and a profound message: God's mercy is deeper than our sin. In Jonah 1, we meet the hapless prophet, who, as we will learn, would really rather not see pagans saved. Yet, even as Jonah runs, even in his rebellion, God uses Jonah to turn pagan hearts to him. The contrast between the sailors and

How do we live in the in-between time? Text: Psalm 134 It is hard to believe that we are ending our time in the Ascension Psalms tomorrow! The final Psalm invites the priests of the Lord to continually bless the Lord. In our new-covenant reality, Christ completes this invitation for us and invites us into it. The Psalm is ultimately about what life looks like in the inbetween and it's instruction is simple: bless the Lord, praise the Lord. In the valleys, on the plains, in t

How beautiful and delightful is the goodness of the Lord. Text: Psalm 133 One of the things we've been thinking about as we've read through the Ascension Psalms is how to read them canonically, that is, how they fit together as a whole. We have seen that we are on a trajectory from Galilee to Jerusalem to the Cross to life in the resurrected Christ. Tomorrow, we are nearing the end. Psalm 133 anticipates, in a deep and hope-filled way, eternity bound together in Christ, in un

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Text: Psalm 132 In this sermon, we will look at Psalm 132, which at first glance seems to wander around, but as we dig into the Psalm, we cant help but think of the beginning of the Westminster Shorter Catechism's first question. What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. In this Psalm, we see an arc of glorifying God, culminating in all of God's people enjoying that

We are called to trust God with the trust of a child. Text: Psalm 131 In this sermon, we look at Psalm 131. This is a very short but encouraging Psalm. In Hebrew it is 3 verses, and each verse represents a thought: Vanquish your proud spirit. Fosert a quiet faith. A calling to hope. (Paraphrased from the WBS Psalms commentary). These three invitations push us to rid ourselves of our desire to be our own king and sovereign and trust the king and sovereign of our universe and o

Christ brings us into the deepest delight. Text: Psalm 130 The Psalm this week begins with this resounding cry:  "Out of the deep. " We've discussed this fairly often, perhaps because it is one of my favorite types of imagery in scripture, but the imagery of the sea is that of uncontrollable, chaotic forces. The Psalmist starts, and there is a sense of being overcome by the forces of chaos. Yet, like last week's Psalm, the Psalmist has a particular faith that God will deliv

God takes hostile ground and makes it holy. Text: Psalm 129 We've probably all faced seasons in our lives when it seemed as though every day someone was mad at us for something. Rumors kept getting spread, and people kept trying to ruin us. In Psalm 129, the Psalmist speaks to this, but unlike other lament songs, there is a sense of victory. One of the best parts of living in the Church is knowing that Christ has already won; he has defeated death and freed us from sin, so th