A Sunday morning sermon by Peter DuMontAs we approach New Year’s Sunday, may we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah with fresh ears:I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,                the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us,                and the great goodness to the house of Israelthat he has granted them according to his compassion,                according to the abundance of his steadfast love. (Isaiah 63:7)Isaiah’s practice of remembrance--even in the midst of difficulty--suggests a rhythm of celebration that we might pursue: that of bringing to remembrance the works of God. As we do this, we gain a fresh sense of our identity as centered on the creative and redemptive work of God. Like the Israelites of old we need to celebrate the ways God carried us in the wilderness seasons of life. This practice enables us to look toward the future with a hope rooted in who God is, what God has done for us, what God is doing in our midst in this season, and what God will bring to completion in days to come.May we enter this New Year as brothers and sisters who carry the mark of God’s love and respond with our lives to His call.

A Sunday morning Christmas sermon by Peter DuMont

A Christmas Eve sermon by Pastor David Singh

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh. After Jesus begins his ministry, there is an explosion of healing and deliverance.  However, let us not forget that he was here on earth for almost 27 years before this movement of healing begins. Jesus is here on earth, and his presence is unknown. It was not the opportune time for the work of the Son of God to begin. Christmas is a reminder that God is very present among us and that we must wait for the opportune moment when God chooses to reveal more of his glory. It is hard to wait. The people of Israel pinned their hope in the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah has come. Let us learn to trust the timing of God to bring more of the kingdom of God among us. 

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.The coming of Jesus is truly a paradigm shift in the way we look at God. From the beginning of creation, human relationship with God has been a mix of fear and obligation. The story of the Old Testament speaks of a reluctant obedience by the people of God. By nature, we are rebellious and think we know better. Repentance is learning to think differently.  It is learning that God knows better. Isaiah 11:3a says: “He delights in the fear of the Lord.” This is a prophetic description of Jesus and what it is he is inaugurating. Jesus gives us a new capacity to hear God and enjoy imitating him. Obedience is not motivated by the fear that God will punish me unless I do what he says. Obedience is motivated by the delight that I can begin to imitate God and his righteous ways. This is wisdom for life.  And I can delight in the discovery that fear of God is life giving.May the Holy Spirit anoint us with such wisdom! 

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.I pray that our sense of thanksgiving increases through advent and as we move into Christmas.  The coming of Jesus is the greatest reason to give thanks. It is like an ancient invitation to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the city of peace, to meet with God. Jesus by his coming demonstrates that God wants peace, not war. Advent is a preparation to have a fresh experience of Jesus so that we move from a life of repentance for rebellion to a life of peace in the Spirit. It is a move from war into peace.Throughout history, Christmas has been a time for ceasefire between warring nations. Too often the war and bloodshed stop for one day and resumes the next.  We are called to beat our swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Let us pray that as a nation we will be present wherever there is peace!

A Sunday morning sermon by Peter DuMont.It’s easy to view people in the Bible as saints or icons rather than people like us. This has always been true, James 5:17 reminded first century hearers that Old Testament prophet Elijah “was a man just like us.” Zechariah was ‘a man just like us’ in Luke 1. He was a righteous and blameless and childless man, serving faithfully in God’s temple while surely carrying some disappointment and grief. When a moment of profound angelic visitation came upon him, all he could see was the natural impossibility of the child God’s messenger was promising him.Zechariah received a consequence; in the language of our household he was put in a ‘time out.’ During that season of silence God worked something profound in him. As the child grew inside his wife, a new faith and understanding of his moment in time grew within him, so that he was filled with the Spirit and burst forth in praise and thanks as his silence ended, prophetically declaring:Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,  for he has visited and redeemed his peopleand has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David…that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. (Luke 1:68-69, 74-75)We too are people of promise, people walking with God in times of waiting. God has work for us to do as we wait. Let’s come to worship Sunday ready to be instructed, challenged, and awestruck at the way in which God fulfills his promises, and the hope we carry for things to come in the work of Jesus’ kingdom.

A Sunday morning sermon by Dr. Jesse Joyner.We live in a dark, broken, and painful world. It sometimes causes us to lament as the Psalmist does in Psalm 13: “How long, Oh Lord!” But there is hope. And that hope is in the Lord and the Lord alone. God gave us the gift of His Word. And all through His Word are found prophecies and promises of what has already started and what is yet to come. The exciting thing is that we can daily pray what Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” We don’t need to wait until heaven for heaven to appear. By God’s grace, He gives us glimpses of heaven here and now.Our readings this week are such glimpses: Isaiah 65:17-25 and Revelation 21:1-7. In Isaiah’s time and for many generations after him, God’s people were suffering under the oppressive rule of the Assyrians and Babylonians. They were in peril. Yet God gave them a vision of what was to come someday: a restored city to call home. That vision had partial fulfillment when the exiled people returned to Jerusalem. But there is also a fuller fulfillment of heaven that all God’s people are looking towards - the new heavens and new earth. And through Christ, the New Jerusalem will be a place of worship for every tribe, nation, and tongue. We will explore these tastes of heaven and ask God to instill in us a vision of heaven that changes our everyday lives here on earth. My prayer is that we will lean into these glimpses of heaven with a redemptive imagination and look ahead, not behind, with both our hearts and actions.

A Sunday sermon by Pastor David Singh. Prophet, King, and Priest all together provided the leadership for Israel.  Each one was accountable to God, and they were accountable to each other. The prophet brought the Word of God, the king ruled to make the nation strong and safe, and the priest called the people to worship. All these three offices of prophet, king and priest come together in Christ the Messiah. These three offices are meant to continue in the life of every congregation. We are called to be a “royal priesthood of all believers.” We, Eternity Church, are learning what it means to be a “prophethood of believers.” Have we cultivated the mindset of the king to be strong and to build a strong community of God’s people?We are not a church that is on the retreat. We are confident that even in times of transition it is a time to build and to trust that the Presence of God is the primary leader. 

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor David Singh.All the great stories of the bible are a catalogue of God’s work that is above and beyond human capacity or cause.  All we can do is bear witness and share the testimony.  The Old Testament begins with Creation, Noah, Exodus, angelic hosts fighting against Israel’s enemy, Elijah and the fire from heaven, Daniel in the lion’s den, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego in the pit of fire; all these are just precursors to the amazing work of the Messiah. The virgin birth, the star in the sky guiding the magi, angelic hosts announcing the birth are just the opening events of the New Testament, and Jesus breaks into history turning water into wine, walking on water, stilling the storm, feeding the thousands with very little, reversing leprosy, healing genetic diseases, and even raising the dead. Miracles are a part of major historical turning points in human history, as well as a consistent revelation that God is God. Has God changed so he no longer performs these miracles? Can we expect miracles to happen today?  Aren’t we called to be the church, a community that believes and continues with revelation history?William Carey reminds us: “Expect Great things from God, Attempt great things for God.”