Emmaus Road Church | Fort Collins, Colorado

Sermon Scripture: Genesis 14:17-20 (NLT)

In the person of Jesus Christ, God has provided a covenant response to himself. Humanity has been reconciled to God through Christ. The work is done. Death and sin are defeated. Our role is to place our faith in this faithful work of Christ. In doing so, we are trusting the faithful work of Christ on our behalf. Christ has become our high priest, so we place our trust in his faithfulness. By doing so we are called righteous and empowered for righteousness.

Sermon Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14, NRSV

As we continue to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we consider the mystery, that God has brought us redemption from our brokenness, and has adopted us into His Kingdom through His Son. Jesus changes us, heals us, makes us better, and enables us to help others to do the same. Join the mystery of God with us and Christ in us!

Sermon Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17, NRSV

As we celebrate the birth of our Messiah, Jesus Christ, we consider how, “God With Us,” effects our hearts, minds, and lives. 

With the coming of Christ, there is no need to put together a picture of God based on limited revelation. No longer a need to surmise what God is like. In Jesus we are given the picture of God. 

This means that when we celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas, we are also celebrating his life, death and resurrection. We are remembering that the story of new creation begins with a baby in a manger. And there, the character of God is revealed.

May we be filled with joy this Christmas as we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us.

Sermon Scripture: Micah 5:2-5 (NRSV)

Bethlehem is place that holds much mystery in our imaginations. The truth is, the ancient city also has modern history, and like so many of our lives, there is both darkness and light to the story.

Just as Bethlehem is broken and beautiful, so are our lives. We could look at the mess and turmoil of Bethlehem, the sorrow of Ephrathah and say, "That's me!" We could look at the beauty of Bethlehem as it is represented in nativity sets and say, "My life has moments like that as well." Just as Bethlehem was place of infinite beauty and real world struggle, so too, are you and I. When we believe in Christ, Jesus is born in us. We become a kind of Bethlehem!

The LOVE that motivated God to send Jesus into our world is the same LOVE we are called to put into action in our lives, too.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Sermon Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-20 (NRSV)

Advent is about learning how to live well while we wait for the fullness of God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. We live with hope; anticipating what will be while living with what is. We live with peace; aligning our lives with the peaceful witness and teaching of Christ. And we learn to have joy, rooted in Christ, while we wait. Joy in the midst of waiting comes from the confidence that this beautiful mess called life will be brought to a good and just end in Christ.

Advent joy is summed up well in the writing of Julian of Norwich, a Christian woman from the 14th century. She writes this in her book Revelations of Divine Love: “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.” May the joy of Christ fill our hearts this Advent season. 

Long before Mary was pregnant with Jesus, God had promised to send a Savior who would bring redemption and salvation to the world.   The people had been waiting a long time for the Savior and they had endured so much oppression and injustice, pain and sickness, hardships and loss during this time.  But God had been with them in these times and they knew the Savior would come… they could sense the joy of the Savior as they knew the depths of despair.  They could imagine the joy of the Savior’s arrival as God was with them in their struggles. 

Share in the JOY and real excitement Mary and Elizabeth have when they meet - and even the little John the Baptist baby! They know the Savior was finally here - the one they and their ancestors had been waiting for!

On that first Christmas, Jesus was born.  The earth received it’s Savior!  True Joy is found in Jesus - Jesus is the Savior who offers us salvation and redemption and that is the biggest truest joy we could know.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79 (NRSV)

Peace comes from the Hebrew word “Shalom” which means wholeness or harmony. We can experience this peace in our personal lives through connection with God, ourselves, and others. But we can also think about peace on a broader scale and ask questions like,  “How peace is experienced in the world?” 

Shalom in the world points us to things like the end of war, violence, hatred, and division. The prophet Isaiah, in thinking about the coming Messiah, described this person as the “Prince of Peace.” Christ is the one who would be capable of bringing personal peace to our lives, as well as peace to the world at large. 

As a sign of God’s rule in our lives we strive to be at peace with one another. We also strive to work for peace in the world.

Christ is the fulfillment of true peace for the world, and it doesn’t come through violence and war - it comes through his self-sacrificial love on the cross.  

When Jesus took on our sin on the cross and responded with forgiveness, the power of sin was defeated! He brought peace, not just for us personally, but he showed us the possibility of peace in our lives together. The kingdom built in God’s name would not be the same kind of kingdoms we’ve seen throughout history. It would be a new kingdom that brings true peace.