Sermon Podcasts

03/14/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Six – Healing Through Pain

Peter encouraged 1st Century Christians to find meaning and healing in the midst of their struggles. How can we, as 21st Century Christians, lean into our struggles in a way that would perhaps create meaning and foster healing? To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ljM683O0g&t=635s

03/07/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Five – Peter Denies. Jesus Restores

John 13:34​-38; 18:15​-18, 25-27; 21:1-19. So far in this series, we have watched Peter leave his nets to follow Jesus, walk on water (albeit briefly), profess Jesus as Messiah, and much more. This Sunday, we turn our attention to Peter’s denial of Jesus, followed by his restoration. To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc8mGFdmOQA&t=580s

02/28/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Four – Tents and Swords

Mark 9:2-8; John 18:1-11. If you grew up in the church, you likely have heard Peter described as the disciple who is loud and brash and regularly sticks his foot in his mouth. He’s an act-first, think-later, kind of person. Our two texts today — the mount of transfiguration where Peter offers to build 3 tents, and the garden of Gethsemane where Peter cuts off the ear of the High Priest’s servant —these two stories are classic examples of this. But in these two stories, Jesus is revealing to Peter, perhaps more clearly than in any other story, just exactly who he is. To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGp7VIXGSAw&t=652s

02/21/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Three – Peter is the Rock … and the Satan

Matthew 16:13-28. In the span of less than one chapter in scripture, Jesus refers to Peter as “the Rock” after Peter’s remarkable confession of who He is, but then refers to Peter as “the Satan” after Peter rebukes Jesus for predicting His death. How is it that Peter stories so quickly shifts from such affirmation to such rebuke? To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjl7F-weOpg&t=687s

02/14/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part Two – Peter Walks on Water

02/07/2021 – Upon This Rock – Part One – Peter Drops His Nets

Matthew 4:17-20; Luke 5:1-11. Throughout the gospels and the first half of Acts, besides Jesus there is no one mentioned more frequently than Peter — nearly 200 times. Throughout church history, he is often portrayed as largely one-dimensional. Impetuous, loud and overbearing. But as we will discover throughout this series, he is much more complicated … just like us. To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNdtqCyHLu0&t=723s

01/31/2021 – 5th Sunday Worship with Dr. Donna Battle

Genesis 20:1-18; Matthew 8:1-4. 5th Sunday Worship with special guest, Dr. Donna Battle. Several years ago, we decided to commit every 5th Sunday to the topic of Racial Justice. Of course, this issue is part of what it means to follow Jesus all the time, but 5th Sundays have been a powerful and important spiritual discipline for us to keep compassion, healing, and justice always at the forefront of our minds. Using texts from Genesis 20 and Matthew 8, Dr. Battle will teach on self authenticity, identity and how it impacts our relationship to God and others. To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykuhNRSGbeE&t=512s

01/24/2021 – Refresh: Pandemic Edition – Part Four – Money

Luke 6:27-38. In addition to walking through a few graphs and figures and charts that show our budget and our giving over the past 12 months, today we also ask the question: why should generosity be our posture toward the world? Often, our standard Evangelical answer to this question falls short and leaves us with a distorted message about God. To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79tli26_5D8&t=508s

01/17/2021 – Refresh: Pandemic Edition – Part Three – Community

Colossians 3:1-14. Of the four topics in our annual Refresh series, “Community” might be the most challenging to talk about in this current cultural moment. How do we encourage and foster community when gathering together is the very thing the pandemic is preventing us from doing? To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7gEaGg-UDo&t=735s

01/10/2021 – Refresh: Pandemic Edition – Part Two – Discipleship

Luke 18:9-14; Matthew 19:16-22. In a previous “Refresh” sermon series, we defined discipleship as “everything we do that shapes our habits and thoughts to be more and more like Jesus.” In this message, we discuss how discipleship can become toxic when confined to a narrow part of life. What does a robust whole-of-life discipleship look like?  To watch this message on our YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTndEG5PZL8&t=776s