In one of Jesus’ most well-known parables, he compares spreading God’s word to a sower spreading seeds. Jesus says something crazy, though- to spread the seed even in places where it might not grow. Why? Because when we spread God’s word, we don’t know what kind of soil it will land on. Pastor Josh dives into this text from Matthew 13, and seeks to equip us to be ready to spread God’s word to all.
Are you caught in the spin cycle of life's endless demands? Drawing from Matthew 11:28, Chaplain (COL) Gary Hill shares how Jesus invites the weary and burdened to find lasting rest through His forgiveness, faithful promises, and victory over sin and death.
You’ve heard the phrase “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” It means you better make sure you have what you need, what is appropriate. Jesus declares that He has come not to bring peace, but rather a sword. This may be confusing because elsewhere the angels say that Jesus did come to bring peace on earth! What Jesus means is that there is a time to bring peace, and there is also a time to bring a sword. Jesus does not come to speak peace to a world ruled by sin. This would only serve to solidify their sinfulness and condemn all people! Jesus comes to bring a sword–His ministry will cause division between those who believe Him and those who don’t. His ministry will be painful for sinners. But ultimately Jesus is the one who will face the “sword”--He will go to the cross to divide people from their sins, and to actually establish lasting peace on earth. Jesus does not bring a fake peace that reinforces a sinful worldview. He brings the appropriate weapon to the fight to free us from sin, death, and the devil.
In Romans, Paul sets up a scenario: serving an old master or a new one, sin or Jesus. While the choice might seem obvious to us all, we struggle to follow through on living that out. Join Pastor Josh as he dives into Romans 6 and discusses this problem, and what hope there is for us.
Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew chapter 9 to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest. Jesus says this after seeing lost sheep, harassed and helpless, and having compassion on them. There are plenty of people who are lost and in need of a Savior. There are relatively few people actively laboring to bring them to Jesus. Just a couple of verses later, at the start of chapter 10, Jesus answers the disciples’ prayer…by sending THEM! Isn’t that just the way things are sometimes? We pray for something, and God uses US to answer the prayer! In this sermon we will take seriously the reality Jesus describes about the need for His people to participate in His mission to seek and save the lost. We will look at how there is a need for people to answer the call by going into full-time church work ministry. But that is NOT the only way to serve the kingdom. We will explore the other ways too, and we will discover together how every single person in the kingdom of God has a role to play to bring the lost to Jesus.
Faithful saints have gone before us and serve as examples of faith. While marred by sin just like us, through the Gospel, they were redeemed and accomplished great things in Christ. Better, Christ in the saints has done great things! Pastor Pastor Buegler takes us on a study of Acts 6:1-6 and John 10:27-30 as we see the faithfulness of those who have gone before us in Christ.
