Christ Church Sermons

Jesus reveals himself as the Savior-King who summons us to obedience, saves us through his grace, and silences the noise of the world and our hearts with his truth. His commands are not restrictions on our freedom but invitations into it. Yet knowing about Jesus is not enough. We must be joined to him by faith, receiving the righteousness only he can give. So, we must ask ourselves: What do we think of the Christ?

Reconciliation is possible because God enters into the midst of our broken relationships. Through Joseph’s testing of his brothers, we see the transforming power of repentance, culminating in Judah’s willingness to take Benjamin’s place. Joseph’s story reveals how God provides a route to reconciliation, makes renewed relationships possible through repentance, and ultimately points us to Jesus, who stands in the place of the guilty.

Our exhaustion is not merely physical; it is shaped by what we believe about God’s kingdom and our role in it. Jesus calls us to sow faithfully, then rest, trusting God to bring the growth we cannot produce or control. The kingdom advances through God’s power, not our striving. We are called to be faithful, not frantic, farmers. Because God never stops working, we can rest.

Canon Travis Wilson teaches that identity and security are rooted in the love of God—not in our ability to love him, but in the truth that he first loved us. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians reminds us that who we are in Jesus comes before anything we do. God invites us to let his love reach every part of our lives, healing and redeeming even the places of our deepest shame or sorrow.

In the sixth week of our sermon series, The Gospel According to Joseph, we focus on Joseph’s rise to leadership in Egypt: how he faithfully and effectively interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and credits God with providing a path of survival during the coming famine. Bishop Paul reminds us that Joseph’s fruitful life ultimately points to what Jesus has done for us. We are God’s fruit—the joy set before Jesus at the cross—and our lives can be faithful, effective, and fruitful because of him.

The Right Reverend Alan Hawkins, Bishop of our Diocese of Christ Our Hope, examines the parable of the landowner who hires workers at all hours yet pays them each equally. In this parable, Jesus reveals how God gives his lavish grace fully to all, and lest we complain by comparing our situation with others, we must take joy in God’s generosity.

In the fifth week of The Gospel According to Joseph, Bishop Paul teaches that Joseph remains faithful during his time in prison, because he knows that God is: present with him, purposeful in the “pit experiences,” and trustworthy to fulfill his promises. Like Joseph, we come to our own “pit experiences” that may feel unjust, unending, and unexplained. Yet God invites us, like Joseph, to trust him even here.

In a world marked by conflict, the church has an opportunity to show a better way. In Matthew 18, Jesus gives his people a biblical and brilliant path toward reconciliation—not an advanced technique, but basic Christianity. When brothers and sisters pursue one another in love and live in harmony, the church becomes a powerful witness to the gospel that brings unlikely people together—and keeps them together.

In the fourth week of The Gospel According to Joseph, Bishop Paul teaches how Joseph resisted temptation at a great personal cost. Yet Joseph is not the hero of the story—God is. When our own strength fails, God remains with us, giving grace in our hardest moments of temptation. Joseph does what is good not by grit, but by grace. His story points ultimately to Jesus, the one greater than Joseph who helps us to live from the reality of our baptism more and more.

Dr. Ken Wilgus shows us how the question Jesus asks Peter about his identity is the most important question we will ever answer: “Who do you say that I am?” The Christian path to identity begins not with defining ourselves, but with knowing Jesus. Just as Peter receives his identity when he recognizes who Jesus is, we discover who we are by letting Jesus name us. True peace comes when our identity rests not in who we say we are, but in who he says we are.