Ebenezer Church Podcast

When enemies joined forces to trap Jesus with a question about taxes, His answer exposed their hypocrisy and raised a deeper question: what belongs to God? Drawing on Matthew 22, Genesis 1, and Isaiah 49, this sermon reminds us that we bear God's image and are engraved on His hands, so our whole lives belong to Him, not just the leftovers.

After a season of sabbatical rest, this message returns to Psalm 40 and the confession that none can compare with our awesome God. Discover why praising God for who He is matters as much as thanking Him for what He has done, how the fear of the Lord frees us from the fear of the world, and what God asks when we finally slow down enough to listen.

The greatest thing the world will ever see in a church is not its building, its music, or its reputation; it is love, and that love belongs to Jesus Christ. In John 13, the King of glory wraps a towel around his waist, washes his disciples' feet, and then goes to the cross, showing that love is not merely a feeling but a love that serves and gives everything. Peter's refusal exposes the false humility that says "I can clean myself up," but those who believe, confess Jesus as Lord, and have been washed in baptism are already clean, and Christ still washes the dust from our feet. Closing the First Impressions series, this message reminds us that the world will know we belong to Jesus by one thing: how we love one another.

Jesus welcomes sinners, leaves the ninety-nine to find the one, and carries the lost home rejoicing. From Luke 15:1-7, this message confronts the world's question, "What has he done for me lately?" with the scandal of the gospel: there is no ledger for those who belong to Christ, only mercy. Because God has been merciful to us, we are sent to be merciful to one another and to a changing community that needs his grace.

The third message in the First Impressions series, from John 1:1-18 and Psalm 19. The people of God are glorious because they belong to the God of glory. Earthly glory fades, but the Word became flesh, and to all who receive Him He gives the right to become children of God. That glory is an inheritance, not an achievement, so do not trade it away for fleeting applause.

Pastor Brad's second first impression of Ebenezer is that this church is powerful, because the God who is with it is powerful. From Mark 4:35-41, where a squall swamps a boat full of professional fishermen while Jesus sleeps in the stern, the message is that the storms in our lives are real and bigger than we are, even when the world cannot see them. But Jesus is in the boat, he has defeated sin and death, and with a word he can calm the greatest storm.

Our new Associate Pastor shares his first impression of Ebenezer, and it is not flattery but plain truth: you are holy. From John 6:52-69, where Peter confesses Jesus as the Holy One of God, holiness is traced back to Christ and out to everyone he claims, with store brand communion bread as the proof that the holiness was never in the groceries. Holy things are meant to be used rather than stored, which is why the good plates come out for every meal with God.

Peter goes from the greatest confession in history to rebuking the Lord in the space of a few verses, because God's plan included suffering he did not want to hear about. From Matthew 16:21-27, this message is about trusting the plan when it collides with our own: slow down, take a breath, and work to understand before being understood. The battle is not a fair fight, good wins, and no one is a fool who gives up what he cannot keep to attain what he cannot lose.

Some questions we can afford to answer badly. This one we cannot. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus moves past what the crowds are saying and asks his disciples directly who they say he is, and Peter's confession becomes the rock the church is built on. Knowing the name of Jesus is not the same as knowing him, and this message presses toward the certainty that a person can plant a flag on.

Paul says we are saved by grace and not by works; James says faith without works is dead. Both are right: works are not the root of our salvation, they are its fruit. This message from James 2 shows why the answer to a fruitless faith is not to try harder, but to abide in Christ and let His love overflow.