In our final sermon of the Encounters with Immanuel series, Pastor Donny Fisher examines the story of Simeon in the book of Luke, whose bold worship of the baby Jesus shows that when God's promises are fulfilled in our lives, that's the best news ever.
It's Big Give Sunday 2020! In this sermon, Pastor Adam looks at Jesus's words in Matthew 6:19–21. In the passage, Jesus tells us what kind of treasure we should treasure. When that message drops into our hearts, it frees us to give big for God.
How should we react to the fact that God has come to dwell among humans? In Matthew 2, King Herod reacts in a very different way than the wise men who come to see him to inquire about a New King of Israel. In this sermon, Director of Discipleship Sarah McCarthy unpacks this passage in Matthew to show that the right response to Jesus' arrival is not control, but worship.
In this first part of our Encounters with Immanuel series, Pastor Donny looks at the life of Joseph in Matthew 1:18–25. Being a Christian means being willing to give up your plans for God's plan, and Joseph's story gives us courage to do it willingly and joyfully.
This week is the week of Thanksgiving, which also means it's almost time for Advent and the coming of the Christmas season! Today, we're preparing ourselves for Advent by examining the genealogy of Jesus from Matthew 1. What is Advent all about, and what hope do we have in this unusual year of 2020 that Advent will bear a meaning that speaks to our suffering and hardships? In this sermon, Pastor Justin from Aletheia Providence explores how Advent reminds us of God's undying faithfulness to those...
We're wrapping up our series in Daniel this week by examining what it means to have hope in the midst of suffering and waiting. The Book of Daniel ends with layered and intricate visions of kingdoms in judgment and divine beings in action. What can these visions teach us about hoping in God in the midst of cultural and societal turmoil? In this sermon, Pastor Adam explores Daniel 12 to show how enduring hope is forged in tension.
We're wrapping up our series in Daniel this week by examining what it means to have hope in the midst of suffering and waiting. The Book of Daniel ends with layered and intricate visions of kingdoms in judgment and divine beings in action. What can these visions teach us about hoping in God in the midst of cultural and societal turmoil? In this sermon, Pastor Adam explores Daniel 12 to show how enduring hope is forged in tension.
It's the week after election week, and some folks are joyful, and other despondent. However, the unity of the people of God isn't grounded in earthly political regimes, but rather in the celebration of the Lordship of Jesus. In this sermon, Pastor Tendai explores Daniel 9 to uncover how longing for the right kingdom - God's kingdom - bring true and lasting hope.
It's the Sunday before Election 2020! What better time to dig into one of the most obscure and crucial passages of Daniel? In this sermon, Pastor Donny examines Daniel's vision of the Son of Man with the beasts from the sea to explore how Jesus is Lord over all our beastly nations and desires.
Today we're looking at one of the Bible most famous stories - Daniel in the Lion's Den! What can we learn about emotional maturity, character, virtue, and dealing with evil from this story? In this sermon, Pastor Adam shows, by Daniel's example, that God empowers us to be markedly different from the unstable and unsteady world around us.
As we continue our sermon series in the book of Daniel, campus director Kevin McKenzie walks us through the contrasting stories of King Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar. One of these kings was received and restored by God; the other torn down from his authority and judged. What was the difference? In this sermon, we observe that the enemy of enduring hope is indeed sin-filled pride.
As we continue our sermon series in the book of Daniel, campus director Kevin McKenzie walks us through the contrasting stories of King Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar. One of these kings was received and restored by God; the other torn down from his authority and judged. What was the difference? In this sermon, we observe that the enemy of enduring hope is indeed sin-filled pride.
The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is well-trodden territory as an example of biblical loyalty to God, but what can we learn about hope and its sources from this story? What kind of hope would motivate these Hebrew men to accept the death sentence by rejecting the popular idolatry of their day? How can we look to these men for hope as we reject idolatry in our own lives? In this sermon, Director of Discipleship Sarah McCarthy looks to Daniel 3 to uncover how hoping in God proves superi...
Have you ever felt the frustration of trying to talk to God and hearing nothing back? How do Christians go about hearing God's voice? In this sermon, campus minister David Fulton offers practical tips about how to cultivate meaningful conversation with God.
As we continue in our series "w/ God," we're exploring why sometimes it feels difficult to experience the joy which is promised to us in Scripture. How do we cultivate a life of joy in the presence of God? In this sermon, Pastor Justin of Aletheia Providence looks to James 4 to help us understand how our habits shape our experiences of joy in Jesus.
How does being with God shape the way we relate to other people? In this sermon, Pastor Adam looks to 1 John 4 to examine how being with God produces love in God's people that radically unites us in the mission to love others.
In this sermon, Campus Director Kevin McKenzie explores John 15 to emphasize the essential worship of abiding in Jesus and details practical ways to enter into the peaceful presence of Jesus.
Our new sermon series is about discovering how to spend time with God. Some of us find ourselves chasing after wealth, sex, money, power, and other sources of pleasure in the world. Others of us find it hard to seek because we feel we aren't worthy to seek God, or we bear difficult resentments against God. In this sermon, Pastor Adam examines the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 to show us how we indeed can come home to be with God.
What is the aim of our lives in Christ? Is it evangelism, obedience, righteousness, or something greater than all of these? In this sermon, Pastor Donny Fisher explores a number of passages in the Scripture to unveil how the beautiful mission of God calls us to unleash our skills and talents towards reflecting His Image in the world.
This week in The Good and Beautiful Vision, we're exploring God's vision for the family. What does it really mean to honor one's father and mother? And what do we do with the complicated legacies our families sometimes leave to us? In this sermon, campus minister David Fulton examines the commandment to honor one's father and mother and unpacks the truth that maturing into God's vision for the family means redeeming the sins of our ancestors.
Human existence is characterized by suffering, uncertainty, doubt, and powerlessness - so much so that it can be difficult to have hope in the triumphant narrative of the Scriptures. How do we tap into the hope that the Scriptures offer to followers of Jesus? In this sermon, Pastor Donny explores the beautiful beginning and end of the Scripture to provide us with a good and beautiful vision of relationship with Jesus in the now.
Human existence is characterized by suffering, uncertainty, doubt, and powerlessness - so much so that it can be difficult to have hope in the triumphant narrative of the Scriptures. How do we tap into the hope that the Scriptures offer to followers of Jesus? In this sermon, Pastor Donny explores the beautiful beginning and end of the Scripture to provide us with a good and beautiful vision of relationship with Jesus in the now.
Being unrighteous doesn’t just mean doing wrong things — although it does mean that! — but also being under the power of sin. But if unrighteousness makes us dead puppets of sin, righteousness makes us alive, kings and queens “seated with Christ in the heavenly places.” In this sermon, Director of Discipleship Sarah McCarthy explores Ephesians 2 to unveil how God meets us in our unrighteousness, and in so doing, gives us new life and a new family.
What if friendship was a vessel of the divine? What if God was going to transform the cosmos through the way you relate to those you love? In this sermon, Aletheia staff member Tyler Parker explores John 15 to uncover the deep, spiritual implications of friendship for developing the Kingdom of God in our world.
What if friendship was a vessel of the divine? What if God was going to transform the cosmos through the way you relate to those you love? In this sermon, Aletheia staff member Tyler Parker explores John 15 to uncover the deep, spiritual implications of friendship for developing the Kingdom of God in our world.
Today, we're wrapping up our series in Ecclesiastes *and* beginning a new, upward-looking series about Good and Beautiful Vision. In this sermon, Pastor Adam draws from the Old and New Testament to offer a hopeful, optimistic understanding of the ways that a good and beautiful vision for anything begins with a good and beautiful vision of God.
Life reveals at least one grim truth: we will all face death at some point. Given that, what is the best way to approach death and overcome fear of it? In this sermon, Pastor Justin explores Ecclesiastes to uncover the Scripture's claims about how we can overcome slavery to the fear about death.
As citizens of one of the most learned cities in the world, we're likely to believe that the Good Life is found in the wisdom of the academy. However, the author of Ecclesiastes proposes a strong challenge to those who would seek salvation in wisdom alone. In this sermon, Pastor Adam navigates Ecclesiastes 7 and 8 to unveil how both wisdom and knowledge without character produce condemnation.
In a thoroughly capitalist society and an increasingly globalizing world, money has attained a kind of divinity. It is the altar at which far too many of us worship. And yet, the worship of money is not a new phenomenon to the author of Ecclesiastes. In this sermon, Pastor Justin unpacks Ecclesiastes' warnings about the futility of the love of money.
