Emmaus Road Church | Fort Collins, Colorado

Sermon Scriptures: Matt. 7:1-5

Jesus warns that anonymous judgment is dangerous to our hearts. Imagine the moral watchdogs, the fault finders, those who are ready to point the finger of judgment at others with no effort to involve themselves in helpful ways with the growth process to overcome these faults in those they condemn.

Honor is the call to recognize the value (Imago Dei) someone possesses. It enables us to esteem that person as God does, despite their shortcomings or failures. As we honor one another, flaws and all, we leave room for Holy Spirit to begin work among us, gently identifying and healing our flaws through our shared formation. As a result, we become communities experiencing God’s intended Shalom (right relatedness with God, others, and creation), thereby ushering the Kingdom of Heaven into the here and now.

Sermon Scriptures: Matt. 6:9-15

This passage is all about money and things that money can buy.   Jesus gives guidance about this topic addressing how one should live if you have it and what to do if you don’t.  In both cases, how we respond is a reflection of the condition of our spiritual heart.   Finally, Jesus gives the principles of the kingdom – seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness and turn over concern about these things to God – and he will come through for you.

Sermon Scriptures: Matt. 6:9-15

Tiina Mitchell will share from her deep, personal history with The Lord’s Prayer, and share with us the challenge that God gave to her. To allow the beautiful simplicity of Jesus’s instruction on pray to shape our hearts and lives, inviting us into a meaningfully contemplative practice of praying the words Christ gave us.

Sermon Scriptures: Matt 6:1–6, 16-18

Join us as we consider Christ’s admonition in faithfully engaging in three core practices of the Christian Faith: giving, prayer, and fasting.

Sermon Scriptures: Matt 5:13-16

Jesus says, I want you to be salt. Kingdom disciples in the midst of all kinds of religious and moral options out there, and don’t worry about how big or small your opportunities may look, if you are faithfully representing me, the Kingdom will be there in a potent way.

If Jesus were here living through me in my situations, what would he say, how would he respond, what would his instincts be?

That is our call, and to the degree that those questions and motivations become the prevailing factors in our daily lives is the degree to which we are living up to his command to be salt and light in the world.

Sermon Scriptures: Matt 5:9-12  Do we have any idea of the parameters of the Kingdom of God? How can we recognize the people who live there, and will we be comfortable among them? One way to answer these questions is to look for people doing the hard and troublesome work of making peace.

Sermon Scriptures: Matt 5:6-8

Like the preamble to our U.S. Constitution the Beatitudes proclaim what is, in the light of the Kingdom of Heaven, unassailably true.

Our first and primary identity is as citizens in the Kingdom of God, steeped and formed by our Kingdom identity. We should live everyday benefitting from the ideals, systems, and structures of the Kingdom of Heaven.

When Jesus’ early listeners heard his words about hungering and thirsting for righteousness, they would have understood that Jesus meant doing the right thing regardless of the circumstances, and having a disposition toward justice, no matter the cost.

Sermon Scriptures: Matt 5:3-5

The blessings that Jesus is announcing in The Beatitudes are not saying ‘try hard to live like this’ but are announcements for the people who already ARE like that and it’s good news for them.

Those who follow Jesus are to begin to live by this rule here and now - that’s the point of the sermon on the mount and the beatitudes in particular. They are a summons to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God’s promised future.

Sermon Scriptures: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Psalm 8, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

Join us as we celebrate the mystery of faith and unity of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through a series of readings and reflections.

Sermon Scripture: Acts 2:1-21, John 14: 15-21

The Day of Pentecost is thought of as the birthday of the church. On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the disciples.

God’s power and purpose in our lives are built upon the active experience of God’s presence (the Holy Spirit) in our lives. This presence is not some esoteric idea, it is not a theory.

There is only one condition given in this promise, that we follow the commands of Jesus. We know of only one commandment that Jesus gave: Love one another as I have loved you.