All Saints Church

Where can we find a gracious God, and how can we be justified before him? On Reformation Sunday, Fr. Josh Lake turns to Romans 3 to explore the heart of the gospel: we cannot earn God's acceptance through our own righteousness, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we receive his righteousness as a free gift. In Christ, the law's condemnation is silenced, our striving comes to an end, and we are welcomed into God's presence as beloved children.

When the Pharisees try to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar, he turns their challenge into a far greater question: To whom do we belong? Fr. Sam explores how Jesus’ answer reveals that we bear the image of God and owe him not merely a portion of our possessions, but our entire lives. Yet the good news is that the God to whom we belong has freely given his Son to save us, setting us free to offer ourselves in grateful service to him and our neighbors.

The invitation to the great wedding feast has gone out, but who is worthy to sit at the King's table? Through Jesus' parable of the wedding banquet, Fr. Josh Lake explores the astonishing generosity of God's grace, which welcomes sinners into his kingdom—not on the basis of their goodness or merit, but through the righteousness of Christ. We are invited to come as beggars, clothed in Christ's righteousness, and rejoice in the feast he has prepared for us.

The gospel does more than expose our sin—it tears down the false hopes we build for ourselves and leads us to the only hope that can save. Fr. Sam explores Jesus’ parable of the wicked tenants and the rejected cornerstone, showing how God’s love for his wayward people leads all the way to the cross, where Christ turns even humanity’s rejection of God into the means of our salvation.

In this sermon Fr. Sam Behar preaches on the lectionary passages for the 16th Sunday after Trinity Sunday. The gospel has a way of undermining our assumptions about who deserves the mercy of God. Through Jonah, the laborers in the vineyard, and the life of St. Paul, we discover that the kingdom belongs not to those who have earned their place, but to sinners who receive the astonishingly free grace of God in Jesus Christ—and are then sent to extend that same mercy to others.

The world teaches us to pursue greatness through achievement, independence, and power, but Jesus turns our understanding of greatness right side up. In his kingdom, greatness is found in humble dependence upon the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost, saves sinners, and brings his people home.

We naturally want a Messiah who leads us from glory to glory, but Jesus leads his disciples toward the cross. In calling us to take up our own crosses and follow him, Jesus shows us that our suffering is neither forgotten nor wasted—and that in losing our lives in him, we finally find the life for which we were made.

Peter’s confession that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” marks a turning point in Matthew’s Gospel—but Jesus reminds him that this recognition is itself a gift from God. Our hope rests not in our ability to understand or save ourselves, but in Christ, the Rock and cornerstone upon whom his Church is built.

When Jesus walks across the stormy Sea of Galilee, he is doing more than displaying his power over nature—he is giving his disciples a glimpse of his victory over death. Like Peter sinking beneath the waves, we cannot rescue ourselves; our hope is found in the Lord who reaches down and lifts us up. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the grave that once threatened to swallow us has been trampled beneath his feet, and we are given new life in him.

The Bible is honest about the human condition—we are sinners who repeatedly fall short of God's holiness. Yet the greater story of Scripture is not our unfaithfulness but God's unrelenting compassion. From Israel's wilderness wanderings to the feeding of the five thousand, we see a God who draws near to forgive, provide, and save. Join us as we discover how Jesus reveals the very heart of the Father and why nothing can separate those who are in Christ from the love of God.