Church of the Advent - Denver, CO

How can there be peace when there is sin? What Jesus finishes on the cross is what makes peace possible. In his Good Friday homily, Pastor Jordan Kologe explores the meaning of atonement and its implications for us.

We often treat Jesus as if he is a magic genie in a bottle, granting our every request. And yet if Jesus never did another thing beyond the cross and his resurrection and ascension on our behalf it would be enough. In her Maundy Thursday homily on John 13:1-15, Deacon Cindy Hamilton asks, “Do you know what Jesus has done for you?”

This Palm Sunday we begin companioning Jesus from Gethsemane to Golgotha, into his descent into desertion, into mockery, into abandonment, and ultimately, into death. Pastor Jordan Kologe challenges us to companion Jesus as his disciples desert him, the soldiers mock him, and the Father forsakes him. Why? Because we see in his descent the depths of his love.

In our darkest moments of suffering, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that things would be better if we just had a little more faith. If we just prayed the right words. But this way of thinking neglects the important role of the Holy Spirit. Luke Elmers explores themes of Spirit, breath, and rebirth in the vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37), and the raising of Lazarus (John 11).

John 9 records Jesus’ healing of a man who was born blind. In this account, the disciples, the Pharisees, and the man healed of blindness teach us about suffering, spiritual sight, and worship. Pastor Jordan Kologe’s sermon reveals truths we can learn from the people in this scene.

When the Samaritan woman meets Jesus at the well, she encounters the truth that transforms everything she thinks about what (or who) can save and satisfy her. Pastor Jordan Kologe teaches from John 4 and invites us all to find ourselves in the woman at the well and, in turn, to seek and find the only one who truly saves and satisfies. 

Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus recorded in John 3:1-16 leads us to explore the Who, what, where, and how of becoming “born again.” Pastor Jordan Kologe teaches on spiritual new birth. To view the BibleProject video referenced in this sermon, please visit bibleproject.com.

While we are prone to think of Jesus' temptation as an exercise of his divinity, it is really a revelation of his humanity. Watching how Jesus resists the devil teaches us how to respond to our own temptations as fully human and empowered by the spirit: embracing resistance that is not strong but weak, not clever but foolish, and not striving but restful. Pastor Lisa Elmers shares from Matthew 4:1-11.

Lent is a season gifted to us for self-examination. Deacon Cindy Hamilton invites us into a holy Lent in her Ash Wednesday homily.

A. W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” We move toward our own mental image of God, which forms our worship both individually and collectively. Pastor Jordan Kologe uses the transfiguration of Jesus, recorded in Matthew 17:1–9, to stir our minds toward pure worship, that our souls may be enflamed with an image of God who is heavy, holy, and beautiful.