Weekly teaching from Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Minnesota. Our pastors are of different ages, genders, and backgrounds and offer practical, thoughtful, Bible-based teaching to help us grow in our understanding of and relationship with Jesus. Learn more about CPC at cpcedina.org.
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Jesus teaches that prayer is not a performance to impress others or a formula to manipulate God, but a relationship with a loving Father who already sees, knows, and cares for us. Pastor Emily challenges us to recognize that both performative prayer and the avoidance of prayer stem from the same misunderstanding of God's character, inviting them instead to trust His love and make space for honest, regular connection with Him. Ultimately, prayer becomes less about saying the right words and more ...
This sermon explores the gap many people feel between who they are and who they think they should be, especially when it comes to living out their faith and inviting others to follow Jesus. Drawing from 1 Thessalonians, Pastor Jonathan emphasizes that the Gospel is not just a message to believe but a power that transforms lives through the work of the Holy Spirit, and that genuine invitation flows from experiencing that transformation personally.
Jesus teaches that His followers should reject retaliation and respond to wrongdoing with grace, generosity, and forgiveness. Emily emphasizes that this is only possible when we remember the abundant grace God has shown us. She challenges listeners to see the humanity in those who hurt them and seek their good rather than revenge.
This sermon teaches that Jesus’ kingdom calls believers to abandon retaliation and revenge, responding to wrongdoing with grace because they are living in the new reality of God’s kingdom. Through examples like turning the other cheek and going the extra mile, Jesus invites his followers to affirm both their own dignity and the humanity of those who harm them, refusing to answer evil with more evil. Ultimately, the sermon points to Jesus’ own death and resurrection as the foundation for this way...
In this episode of Pastors Cut, Gabby Gustafson reflects on Jesus’ teaching about oaths and truthfulness in Matthew 5, exploring how both covenant commitments and everyday speech reveal the condition of our hearts. The conversation highlights the importance of honesty, integrity, and vulnerability, emphasizing that truthfulness leads to wholeness while dishonesty fragments us and damages trust.
This sermon challenges our tendency to create loopholes around truthfulness, from childhood promises to adult deceptions, and explores Jesus' teachings in Matthew 5 on marriage and oaths. It highlights how untruthfulness fractures relationships, distorts our hearts, and damages our trust in God, leading to hiding and self-protection. Ultimately, it emphasizes that the way of Jesus offers restoration through grace, transforming us to live openly, honestly, and truthfully before God and one another.
Melissa Schaser and Carrie Gleason discuss Petey Crowder’s sermon on Jesus’ teaching about lust and adultery, emphasizing that sin and spiritual deformation happen gradually and begin in the heart long before outward actions occur. They explore how Christian sexual ethics apply across every stage of life — including singleness, dating, and marriage — and stress the importance of accountability, community, and learning to see others as image-bearers of God rather than objects.
The sermon explores Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 that adultery and lust begin in the heart long before outward actions take place, comparing sin to Icarus flying too close to the sun, as the damage starts before the fall is visible. It challenges listeners to take sin seriously while recognizing that true change does not come from rules or self-control alone, but through surrendering to Jesus and allowing Him to transform the heart. The message ultimately offers hope, reminding people that no st...
Hosts discuss a Mother's Day sermon initially focused on anger, which evolved to emphasize Jesus' radical call for reconciliation. They explore how anger is often mischaracterized, especially in motherhood, and how true reconciliation requires vulnerability, drawing parallels to community conflict and God's own pursuit of humanity. The conversation highlights the practical application of these teachings and concludes with a personal reflection on the freeing nature of God's grace.
This sermon reflects on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 about reconciliation, emphasizing that because God sacrificed to reconcile humanity through Jesus, Christians are called to pursue reconciliation in their own relationships, even when it is painful or uncomfortable. Using personal stories about motherhood and conflict with her daughter, the pastor illustrates how pride, fear, justification, and shame often keep people from apologizing or taking the first step toward healing, while true reconci...
This episode explores Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing that He came not to abolish the Old Testament law but to fulfill it, shifting the focus from rule-following to a transformed life rooted in trust in Him. The conversation highlights how Scripture is meant to shape and transform us relationally, not just serve as a checklist, producing righteousness over time as we grow in faith.
This sermon emphasizes that while rules are good and necessary, they cannot transform our hearts—only a relationship with Jesus can truly change who we are. Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it, shifting the focus from external rule-keeping to internal heart transformation and a life rooted in connection with Him. Ultimately, the Christian life is about receiving Christ’s righteousness and becoming more like Him, rather than trying to earn it through checking religious boxes....
This sermon contrasts the “way of the saint” with the pursuit of celebrity, emphasizing that Jesus calls his followers to live as “salt and light” by humbly depending on Him and drawing close to the needs of others. Using biblical imagery and examples, it explains that God’s people are meant to bring transformation and blessing to the world through faithful presence, not personal influence or success. Ultimately, the message highlights that Jesus Himself embodies this calling, and as believers r...
This episode explores the final Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing that following Jesus may lead to suffering or persecution rather than earthly reward, but ultimately grounds believers in God’s kingdom. Petey Crowder explains that Christians often mistakenly expect comfort, success, or recognition, when in reality living out Jesus’ way—through humility, justice, and sacrifice—can put them at odds with the world and cost them approval or opportunity. The conversation concludes ...
This sermon uses the image of hiking against a crowd to illustrate how following Jesus often puts believers at odds with the world, especially when living out the Beatitudes. It explains that persecution is not something to seek or exaggerate, but something that naturally comes when one faithfully lives in allegiance to Jesus rather than worldly values. Ultimately, while this way may cost approval and comfort, it anchors a person in God’s kingdom, where true blessing, purpose, and lasting securi...
This episode introduces a new sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing the importance of slowly engaging Scripture and trusting God to transform people through His Word. The conversation explores how the Beatitudes are not a checklist for earning blessing, but an invitation to depend on Jesus—revealing both our need for Him and a way of life shaped by His presence and grace. Ultimately, the discussion highlights that a “blessed life” is not self-made, but formed by surrendering self...
This sermon contrasts the world’s definition of a “blessed” life—success, status, and self-achievement—with Jesus’ teaching in the Beatitudes, where blessing means experiencing God’s presence, not perfect circumstances. A truly blessed life begins with recognizing our need for God and grows as His character overflows into others. Rather than striving to earn blessing, we are invited to release self-sufficiency, grieve misplaced pursuits, and receive a life with God, where blessing is found in Hi...
This episode introduces a post-Easter conversation where Melissa Schaser interviews Petey Crowder about his Easter sermon, which focused on baptism and the call to leave behind old patterns of sin to embrace new life in Christ. They reflect on Holy Week traditions—such as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Watch Night service—highlighting how each service prepares believers to understand Jesus’ death and resurrection more deeply.
This sermon emphasizes that people often search for fulfillment in places that ultimately leave them empty, like returning to a permanently closed store, rather than turning to Jesus. Through the resurrection story in Luke 24, it highlights that Jesus’ victory over death offers true, lasting life and freedom from old patterns of sin, shame, and dissatisfaction. Easter is presented not just as an inspiring story, but as an invitation to embrace a completely new life in Christ and live in the real...
Emily Hamilton dives deep into the sacrament of baptism, defining it as an outward sign of God's initiating and saving love, symbolized by water's biblical significance. The discussion covers the theological reasons for baptizing both infants—reflecting God's prior claim—and adult believers, emphasizing its role as a public profession and communal marking of identity in Christ. The episode also touches on the different forms of baptism and concludes with community updates and a personal testimony on experiencing the gospel in grief.
This sermon reflects on Jesus walking on water in Matthew 14, showing that true courage is not found in favorable circumstances or personal strength, but in trusting Jesus amid fear and uncertainty. Through Peter’s experience, it teaches that courage is a steady commitment to follow Jesus, even when faith falters, because Jesus comes to us, reveals Himself, calls us to be with Him, and saves us when we cry out. Ultimately, the message reminds believers that despite doubt and failure, Jesus never...
This episode centers on Jesus’ baptism, emphasizing that God’s love comes before His call—Jesus is affirmed as beloved before beginning His ministry, showing we act from God’s love, not to earn it. The conversation explores how God’s love is relational and unconditional toward our identity, yet not the same as approving all our actions, highlighting the importance of repentance and ongoing forgiveness. It concludes by illustrating how weakness and need open us to experience God’s grace more deep...
This sermon teaches that Jesus’ baptism was not about His need for cleansing, but about identifying with humanity so He could make all things right and bring us into His life. At that moment, God declares Jesus as His beloved Son before He does anything, showing that God’s love always comes before His call—a truth that defines our identity as well. The message invites believers to stop striving for approval and instead live from the secure, unchanging reality that they are already deeply loved b...
This episode of Pastor’s Cut reflects on a sermon about Naaman’s healing in Second Kings, focusing on themes of humility, obedience, and the transformative power of simple spiritual practices. The discussion explores theological perspectives on physical and spiritual healing, emphasizing faithful trust in God’s work amid both miracles and suffering.
This sermon reflects on the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5, emphasizing that even a powerful and successful person could not overcome his deepest need for healing on his own. His eventual willingness to humbly follow God’s simple instruction reveals that true healing comes through surrender, trust, and God’s grace rather than human achievement or status. The message ultimately points to Jesus and baptism as signs that God offers deeper healing for the soul, inviting people to stop striving for sel...
This episode of Pastor’s Cut features a conversation about a sermon on Exodus 14, where God parts the sea to deliver the Israelites, illustrating how sin can both surround and pursue people like the sea and the Egyptian army. The pastors discuss how sin is not only personal wrongdoing but also a broken force in the world that pushes people toward needing God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ. They also connect the story to Baptism, describing it as a gift that marks believers as part of God’s ...
Pastor Melissa Schaser preaches on the Israelites’ fear in Exodus 14 when they were trapped between the sea and Pharaoh’s army, illustrating how sin both blocks our path and pursues us. She explains that the Hebrew word "Yeshua" (deliverance) points forward to Jesus, who ultimately rescues humanity from the power of sin. Baptism is presented as a sign that believers belong to God and can trust that He will make a way even when they feel surrounded or stuck.
