Emmaus Road Church | Fort Collins, Colorado

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

In Epiphany we are reminded that God knows our road — the roads we've travelled so often they become mundane and the roads we have never paid any attention to. Most of us are facing crossroads of many kinds today on this first Sunday of 2025. Jesus may be opening up new ways before you, or he may be causing you to see old worn roads in a new light. Our story is about following Jesus in surprising, beautiful, and sometimes challenging ways.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79

This week we hear the story of Jesus' presentation at the temple, where Simeon and Anna recognize Him as the long-awaited Messiah. Their joyful proclamation reminds us that God is faithful to fulfill His promises, even after years of waiting and longing. As we celebrate Christ’s arrival, we are invited to live like Simeon and Anna—devoted, watchful, and ready to declare His light and salvation to the world.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

The truth that we celebrate in Christmas is that the light of the world has come. Jesus Christ, our messiah, our savior is born. This is why candle light is so important at Christmas. These lights proclaim the THE light has come.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79

God chose Mary; 15-years old, poor, and unwed. He chose Elizabeth, a senior in the old folks home, used up, overlooked, too old. And you know what? He chooses you! This anthem for a new age that Mary sings about, this different kind of Kingdom that she envisions, that Jesus comes to demonstrate, it only happens when it is lived out in you.

In our contemporary context we need a Christianity formed by the Magnificat. In the American superpower we are typically inclined toward ideologies of success and anthems of strength. But the grace of God does not run uphill toward the pinnacles of success and strength, it rolls downhill toward the low places of humility and trust.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79

“Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

These words spoken by the priest Zechariah at the birth of his son John (the Baptist) profess the goodness and faithfulness of God in keeping the promises given and bringing peace. Yet, the world Zechariah lived in was anything but peaceful. This week, we consider how to be and enact peace.

Sermon Scripture: Psalm 25:1-10

No matter where your heart is today, no matter the unsettled state of our world, the words of Psalm 25’s promises fuel our hope. 

Advent is a season of longing in the darkness, recognizing our need, clinging to God’s promises, and stoking our faithful hope that Christmas dawn is already growing on the horizon.

Sermon Scripture: Daniel 7:13-14, Revelation 1:5-7, John 18:33-37

On Christ the King Sunday, we consider anew, which king and kingdom do we serve. We look to Jesus, crucified and risen, unveiled in his power and mercy, who destroys every false image of earthly power. 

May we look to Jesus and thus find the courage to look within our own hearts, renewed and empowered to follow the ways of Jesus and his revolutionary Kingdom in confident trust and hope.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 13:1-8

Here in our final week of study through the book of Hebrews we see the power of love and hospitality in our care for one another. Learning to live in this way is how we connect ourselves to the miraculous power of God’s Kingdom.

Through our interactions, each of us become the hands of feet of the Kingdom to others — or perhaps, we find ourselves receiving this divine gift in surprising ways. 

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3. 12:1-3

Stories of hope are so important for us. They are not only wrapped up in our imaginations as inspiration, but they empower our actual living.

We look to those who lived lives marked with great faith as an inspiration in our challenges. We remind ourselves of the hope, of the faith, that carried them on. We acknowledge, lament, and confess their shortcomings, but ultimately we see the hope and faith they carried as fuel for us in our own lives.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 9:11-14, 19-22

The overall aim of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews is to convince Jewish Christians not to turn away from their new faith back to the Judaism they grew up in. He makes a case that Jesus is better in every way—greater than angels, prophets, Moses, priests who came before him.

This week, Hebrews makes its final argument of the supremacy of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice and savior for all humanity.