Church of The Word | Sunday Sermons

America’s founding should not be treated lightly. It is a profound blessing to live in a country shaped by biblical ideas—ideas like law over rulers, limited government, justice, representation, liberty, property, and accountability before God. But those foundations are being eroded, and when a people forget the source of their blessings, they should not be surprised when the blessings begin to disappear.

The modern story often says America was built mainly on the Roman Republic, but Scripture gives us something older and better: the Hebrew Republic. Long before Rome, God gave Israel a form of representative government. The people were not meant to be ruled by raw mob power, and they were not meant to be ruled by unchecked kings. They were to be governed under God, by law, with leaders who represented the people and remained accountable to the Lord.

That matters because a republic is not the same as a pure democracy. A democracy can become two wolves and a sheep voting on dinner. A majority can vote to steal, oppress, punish, or destroy. Powerful people can manipulate the masses, buy influence, and use public emotion to create tyranny. That is why a constitution matters. A constitution places a higher law over both the rulers and the people. It says there are limits. There are boundaries. There are rights and duties that cannot simply be erased by the passion of the moment.

And that principle is deeply biblical. In Israel, the law stood over everyone. It stood over the people. It stood over the judges. It stood over the king. No man was ultimate. No ruler was sovereign. No majority was god. The law came from the Lord, and that meant justice was not whatever the powerful could get away with or whatever the crowd demanded. Justice had to answer to God.

That is why Isaiah says, “The Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; He will save us.” God is the source of true judicial, legislative, and kingly authority. Every human government is derivative. Every ruler answers to Him. Every law must be measured beneath Him.

So representative government is not merely a political preference. Rightly ordered, it is a biblical blessing—especially for a people willing to live under God’s moral order. But if a nation wants the fruit while cutting down the root, it will not keep the fruit for long. A people cannot abandon God’s law, mock His authority, despise His design, and still expect liberty to survive.

The call, then, is not merely to celebrate the country, but to recover the foundations that made its blessings possible. Christians should think biblically about government, law, justice, liberty, and national life. The Lord is Judge. The Lord is Lawgiver. The Lord is King. And only a people who remember that are prepared to steward freedom without destroying it.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith #church

I believe the spirit realm is real and active, and Christians must engage that reality with gospel-first discernment and spiritual weapons. Demons can deceive, so any contact with the occult must be cut off and repented of. The first step when spiritual trouble appears is submission to God, then biblical resistance—putting on the whole armor of God—not simply running straight to secular solutions. That said, discernment is needed: some struggles are physical or psychological and deserve wise care, but too often the default is to treat everything as merely chemical while neglecting prayer, Scripture, Christian community, and spiritual warfare. Complete spiritual protection requires all parts of the armor; whatever piece is missing becomes an open door for the enemy. Pastoral ministry must begin with the gospel, call people to repent of occult involvement (even “cultural” items that open doors), and equip believers to pray, confess, remove idols, and stand firm in Christ.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith

The Beatitudes build upon one another as a picture of the Christian life. It begins with poverty of spirit—recognizing sin, need, and helplessness before God, and crying out for the riches of grace given at Christ’s expense. Then comes mourning, where sin, death, and the shortness of life teach the soul to seek comfort from God. Meekness follows as strength brought under the hand of God, power restrained and submitted to the Lord. Then comes hunger and thirst for righteousness, the spiritual appetite that drives growth and receives God’s promise of satisfaction. Mercy flows from having received mercy, and purity of heart marks the ongoing work of God cleansing His people.

Now Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” This is not merely a call to avoid conflict, but a call to reflect the mission of the Son. The Father sent the Son to reconcile sinners to Himself, and those who have been reconciled are now given the privilege of serving as ministers of reconciliation. Peacemakers bear the family resemblance of God because they seek what He seeks: peace through truth, forgiveness, righteousness, and restored relationship.

Christians should therefore be the most peace-seeking people—not weak, passive, or unwilling to confront evil, but eager for reconciliation wherever righteousness allows it. They should be patient when wronged, slow to anger, quick to forgive, and willing to bear long with the sins and failures of others. This should be seen in the home, the church, the workplace, the neighborhood, and the community. The forgiven should become forgiving, and the reconciled should become reconcilers.

This also means Christians should be a sobering voice in the world, especially when nations rush toward war. The civil magistrate does bear the sword to punish evil and protect the innocent, but because men are sinful and power corrupts, Christians should be slow to embrace war and careful to ask whether it is just. There are always people who profit from bloodshed, power, weapons, and conflict, and God’s people should not be easily manipulated by fear or propaganda. A peace-loving people should pray for nations, missions, neighbors, rulers, enemies, and the spread of the gospel.

Peacemaking, then, is part of the identity of God’s children. Those who belong to the Son are called to reflect the Son’s reconciling work. They seek peace without compromising righteousness, pursue reconciliation without ignoring truth, and labor for harmony because they have first been brought near to God through Christ.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith

First, there is an important overlap between men and women: both are created in the image of God, both are fallen in Adam, and both need to be saved by grace through Jesus Christ. Men and women share equal dignity before God, equal need of redemption, and equal value as image-bearers.

But equality in worth does not erase distinction in design. God created men and women differently, with different strengths, roles, duties, and callings. Those differences are not the result of cultural accident or oppression; they are part of God’s good creation. Everything God made was good, and the distinctions between male and female are meant to be received with gratitude rather than resentment.

The sermon confronts a culture that struggles to understand, honor, and celebrate these created differences. Men and women are not meant to be in competition with one another, but to complement one another according to God’s design. Adam was not complete alone. The one thing God called “not good” before the fall was that man was alone, so God made woman as a suitable helper for him. This means masculinity and femininity are not enemies, but gifts meant to work together for God’s glory.

The focus, then, is on what God has uniquely entrusted to men—biologically, spiritually, and morally. Godly masculinity is not something to be despised, distorted, or abandoned, but something to be understood from Scripture and lived faithfully before God. Men are called to receive their created design as good, embrace their responsibilities, and live in a way that honors the Lord who made them.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#sermon #masculinity #fathersday

The commands to love God with all the heart and to love neighbor as self expose sin more deeply than outward laws ever could by themselves. A person may be able to say they have never murdered or committed adultery in a courtroom sense, but Jesus presses the law into the heart. If someone does not love God with the whole heart, they have broken the first table of the law. If someone does not love their neighbor as themselves, they have broken the second. The law does not merely judge outward behavior; it searches motives, thoughts, desires, words, and hidden intentions.

This should leave every honest person poor in spirit. If salvation depended on perfect obedience from the heart, there would be no hope. God sees not only what has been done, but what would be done if there were no restraint, no authority, and no consequences. External obedience is not enough. Jesus calls His people to wage war at the level of the heart—taking thoughts captive, fighting sinful desires, and seeking obedience that comes from love rather than mere outward conformity.

But this heart-searching truth is also filled with hope for those who belong to Christ. Believers are already children of God, though what they will be has not yet fully appeared. Justification happens the moment a sinner trusts in Christ, but purification continues throughout the Christian life. The Holy Spirit convicts, exposes, cleanses, and leads God’s people to confess sin, seek forgiveness, make things right, and walk in the light. Those who have this hope purify themselves as He is pure—not to become God’s children, but because they already are.

The Christian life is therefore an ongoing work of purification. The believer still battles sin, but not as one abandoned or condemned. The promise remains: when Christ appears, His people will be like Him, because they will see Him as He is. Until then, the call is to bring the heart into the light, surrender sin to Christ, and keep walking with Him. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith

God is merciful, and He favors the merciful with mercy. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” This Beatitude calls Christians to reflect the character of their God by becoming compassionate, forgiving, patient, and kind.

God’s holiness and justice must never be forgotten, but neither should His mercy. He cares for the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden, and those who suffer. He is slow to anger and ready to forgive. His mercy is most clearly displayed in Jesus Christ, who came from heaven to relieve the suffering of a rebellious and sinful people. He loved us when we did not love Him.

Because believers have received this mercy, they must extend it to others. Mercy motivates Christians to forgive quickly, care for their neighbors, alleviate human suffering, and carry the gospel to the farthest reaches of the earth. Just as God commands His people to be holy because He is holy, He calls them to be merciful because He is merciful. The church should therefore be known as a compassionate people who reflect the mercy they have received from God.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith #mercy

Every person is hungry for something. Nobody is neutral. Everyone is filled with thoughts, driven by desires, pursuing something—going to bed with something on the mind and waking up chasing it again. And Jesus is going to press that issue in the Sermon on the Mount: what is the appetite of your life? What do you crave? What do you daydream about? What do you pursue when no one is watching?

That’s why Matthew 5:6 matters:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

The sermon’s point is that Christians—people who truly call Jesus “Lord”—don’t just agree that righteousness is good. They long for it. They crave it the way a starving man craves food and a dying man craves water. Not merely righteousness as an abstract idea, but righteousness as a living reality: a life shaped by God, a conscience cleansed, a heart made clean, a world made right.

And the focus of that hunger is God’s Word, because righteousness isn’t invented—it’s revealed. God’s Word tells what is good, what is true, what is clean, what is holy, what pleases the Lord. So hunger for righteousness shows up as a hunger for Scripture—because Scripture is where God’s ways are learned, where the mind is renewed, and where the heart is trained.

And here’s the promise that makes this beatitude so hopeful: the hungry will be filled. Jesus doesn’t shame hunger—He blesses it. He doesn’t tell the starving soul, “Try harder.” He says, “Come.” The one who truly wants God, wants holiness, wants truth, wants to be changed—will not be left empty. God satisfies that appetite. He fills those who come to Him with real righteousness: Christ’s righteousness counted to them, and Christ’s righteousness worked into them over time.

So the question that sits underneath this is simple:

What has your appetite right now?

What are you hungry for?

Because whatever you hunger for is what you’re going to chase—and Jesus is calling His people to crave the kingdom and righteousness more than anything else.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith

Matthew 5:5 gets slowed down on purpose because the Beatitudes aren’t just beautiful sayings—they’re a portrait of what a Christian is supposed to look like. There’s a time to dig into typology, complexity, and deep doctrine, and that matters. But there’s also a time to lean into orthopraxy—right living—because right doctrine that doesn’t produce a right life becomes hypocrisy.

And hypocrisy doesn’t just hurt the hypocrite—it damages the witness. If the world hates Christians because they look like Christ, that’s glory. But if the world despises Christians because they talk big and live small, because they claim Jesus and don’t resemble Him, that’s shame. Peter’s point is simple: suffering for righteousness is blessed; suffering because of sin is deserved.

So this Beatitude is approached as a call to visible Christian character. The focus is on meekness—and the sermon frames it as “inherit the earth” with this main point:

Christians are called to exhibit self-control and gentle strength.

Meekness is not weakness. It’s not timidity. It’s not being a doormat. Meekness is strength that has been mastered. It’s power under control. It’s a man—or a woman—who could retaliate, could dominate, could lash back, but refuses because Christ rules the heart. It’s restraint, patience, and steadiness that comes from fear of God, not fear of man.

And that’s why meekness marks true disciples: it proves the heart is no longer ruled by ego, anger, and entitlement. It shows a different King is on the throne.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith

Matthew 5 is introduced with a warning most people don’t expect: the Sermon on the Mount is not meant to make people feel safe in themselves. It’s meant to leave people astonished, exposed, and emptied. When Jesus finishes, the crowds aren’t comforted—they’re stunned, because He teaches with authority, not like the scribes. And the sermon doesn’t wrap up with a soft landing. It ends with a dividing line: hear and do these words and you’re a wise man on the rock; hear and ignore them and you’re a fool building on sand.

That’s because Jesus is not handing out moral tips. He’s taking a wrecking ball to self-righteousness. The man who thinks he’s fine because he hasn’t murdered anyone gets cut down: anger, contempt, and “you fool” put a person in danger of hell-fire. The man who thinks he’s clean because he hasn’t committed adultery gets cut down: lust is adultery in the heart. The religious man who prays, gives, and fasts gets cut down: if it’s done to be seen by men, it profits nothing—he already has his reward.

So the Sermon on the Mount drives people into poverty—not financial poverty, but poverty of spirit. It leaves them asking the question that shows up later in Matthew: who then can be saved? That’s exactly what happens with the rich young ruler. He comes asking what good thing he must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus presses him until the truth shows: he’s not “good,” and he won’t surrender what owns his heart. He walks away sorrowful, and the disciples don’t respond with smug relief. They respond with shock: then salvation is impossible.

And that’s the point. The sermon is designed to destroy the lie that people can balance good deeds against bad deeds and earn acceptance—like a spiritual scale where morality can outweigh sin. That’s not biblical theology. The Bible says everyone is a sinner, everyone has offended an infinitely holy God, and no one has anything in themselves to recommend them to Him.

So the Sermon on the Mount does something merciful and severe: it leaves people empty-handed. It brings them to the throne of grace not with confidence in performance, but with open hands begging for mercy. And that’s why the most hopeful line in the entire sermon is the first one:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The kingdom doesn’t belong to the impressive.

It belongs to the broken.

Do you want to support Church of The Word?

https://cotwstl.org/give/

Check out our church here!

https://cotwstl.org/

#biblestudy #faith