Lori Minor: “There above it stood the Lord and He said . . . ‘I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’” This sermon will explore the results of an encounter with God!

Steve DeNeff: “Now that I know you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” The altar is a place where we lay down what we can least afford to lose.

Steve DeNeff: “They built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord . . . (even) though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.” There is a difference between a church with an altar, and an altar with a Church.

Ethan Linder: Our world is broken (that’s no surprise to us). In Revelation, John writes of a world made new; and if Revelation isn’t just a prediction about the end of the world, but a window into God’s work now, how do we make sense of the brokenness going on in the world? In this sermon, we’ll talk about what it means for God to make the world new, and how we (even amidst our brokenness) can join God in the work of repair.

Steve DeNeff: “Let us rejoice and be glad, for the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.” The single most compelling metaphor for salvation in the Bible is not a trial with God on the bench and humanity in the dock. It’s a wedding with Christ at the altar, awaiting the arrival of his bride, the Church. When we think of salvation in these terms, it changes almost everything about the way we live each day.

Emily Vermilya: “I looked and there before me was a door standing open in heaven and the Voice I heard speaking to me said, ‘Come up here…’”. Despite the controversy over worship in the Church today, there is no confusion in heaven. Here, in what some call the center of Revelation, is an open door with an invitation to join the worship already in progress. When we join the worship of heaven it redescribes the world as we know it. It re-interprets all that is happening and empowers us to be faithful in the present age.

Steve DeNeff: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” What would Jesus notice if he came to Church, to His people, and looked at their heart? For some it would be an unnerving visit from a familiar stranger, someone they knew who knows everything about them. The seven letters of Revelation are descriptions of seven different souls. Which one describes us? Which describes you? And what would Jesus tell us to do?

Steve DeNeff: “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last… I am alive forever and I have the keys.” Revelation is the last word on Jesus and what makes it so relevant is that it’s spoken in a time when everything is coming apart. It’s a commentary on all that’s happening in John’s day and in ours. It’s a manifesto of sorts to the faithful, calling us to resist the pull of empire and to follow the Lamb no matter what.

Nathan Metz: Relax. Have you ever started a project, a mission or a new year with relaxation in mind? It seems oxymoronic. Yet, when asked to describe Jesus in a word, Dallas Willard responded “relaxed”. Surely he isn’t implying something negative, tired, lethargic or detached. Perhaps there’s something worth considering in this idea! Let’s explore the imagery of the vine in John 15 and chariots in 2 Kings as we envision a Christ-centered life.

Andrea Summers: Two very different responses meet the birth of Jesus. Herod responds with fear, suspicion, and self-preservation; while the Magi respond with curiosity, humility, and sacrifice. Matthew invites us to see that it was not who they were or how much they knew that mattered most, but their willingness to worship. The Magi teach us that when we worship Jesus, even imperfectly, God is often doing more than we know.